56 THE BOOK OF THE SWEET PEA 



when the planting-out period arrives in the spring. 

 He should have a sturdy batch of plants, nice and 

 hard, and ready for planting outdoors much earlier 

 than those raised in the spring, and this should ensure 

 an earlier display as a consequence. 



We may also point out what we have proved to 

 be a fact, that plants resulting from sowings made 

 indoors in January and February undoubtedly produce 

 their flowers a week or two earlier than those plants 

 raised a month later. Sowings made in pots in March 

 have seldom flowered satisfactorily until the first or 

 second week in July, except perhaps in a forward 

 season. We are very much the victims of circumstances , 

 for we have sown Sweet Peas one year in early March 

 and have been unable to gather the resulting flowers 

 until mid-July, and a year later we have sown at 

 the corresponding period, and have gathered beautiful 

 flowers, and plenty of them, in the later days of June 

 and the earliest days of July. Our remarks are based 

 on the experience of a normal season, and this is what 

 growers look to for their guidance. 



