SUPPORTING THE GROWTHS 79 



We invariably save the better seared growths of the 

 Michaelmas Daisies for use in the spring. We wish for 

 nothing better. A good collection of this autumn- 

 flowering subject will provide a beautiful lot of small 

 stakes that may be used either for plants in pots or for 

 Sweet Peas growing in rows. 



Some growers advocate the use of wire-netting with 

 a four-inch or larger mesh. With such openings in the 

 netting it is, of course, possible to control the growths 

 fairly well, but where large blooms of high quality are 

 desired, this system cannot be recommended. In 

 gardens where it is proposed to make hedges of Sweet 

 Peas, wire-netting has certain advantages, but in such 

 cases the growers are usually satisfied with a free display 

 of blossoms, independent altogether of the question of 

 quality. 



There is also another method of providing support 

 for Sweet Peas where stakes are difficult to acquire. 

 Stout uprights are inserted as supports at each end of 

 the row, and similar uprights are also inserted here 

 and there in each row, to which wire or stout string is 

 securely fixed. There should be a space of about 

 fifteen inches between the two uprights which determine 

 the width of the row. The series of rows of wire or 

 string affixed on both sides of the row should be about 

 ten inches to a foot apart right throughout the row ; 

 by these means it is an easy matter to carry the growths 

 several feet high. Having considered the respective 

 merits of stakes and wire-netting, etc., and there being 

 such a preponderance of opinion in favour of the first- 

 mentioned system, let us see how best to insert the 

 stakes. 



In earlier days it was quite a common practice when 

 staking either culinary or Sweet Peas, to insert the 

 stakes in a slanting position at a given angle, arranging 

 the stakes on the other side of the row in an opposite 



