GROWING SWEET PEAS 71 



space from start to finish. Rows can claim points 

 either for beauty or picturesqueness. As screens or 

 hedges they are charming in the garden, and where large 

 flowers of high quality are wanted for exhibition we 

 feel confident that better results may be obtained by 

 these means. 



WHAT IS CLAIMED IN FAVOUR OF CLUMPS ? 



Adherents of the culture of Sweet Peas in clumps 

 claim that the plants secure more light and air by these 

 means, but we fail to see this point. It must be 

 admitted that light and air is the immediate environment 

 of the clumps, but we have to remember that the dense 

 mass of growth from Sweet Peas planted in this fashion 

 make it a matter of impossibility for the laterals, etc., 

 inside the clumps to obtain much advantage from what 

 is going on outside. The tendency of the growths to 

 get entwined necessitates constant supervision to keep 

 the tendrils from their work of spoliation, which 

 invariably results in the loss of many growths and 

 flowers too. There are enthusiastic growers who claim 

 that they can obtain twenty per cent, more flowers by 

 this method, but we find it difficult to give credence to 

 this statement. Less resistance to the wind is perhaps a 

 point in favour of the clumps, but there is not much in 

 it after all. Every grower of Sweet Peas knows that in 

 stormy weather many flowers get blown about and 

 damaged, but we fail to appreciate the argument that at 

 least one side of the clumps can be relied on to produce 

 good flowers as claimed by one zealot. Cannot the 

 same be said of plants in rows, and with more force too ? 

 We are not aware that for practical purposes the system 

 of growing in clumps has any real advantage over rows 

 in any respect. There are Sweet Pea devotees who 

 proclaim that clumps make a better decorative effect in 



