LATHYRUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LATHYRUS. 531 



tree-stump, or the side of a trellis or sum- 

 mer-house, is where they delight to grow 

 undisturbed. 



L. MAGELLANICUS (Lord Alison's Pea). 

 The most beautiful of blue-flowered Peas. 

 It grows from 3 to 5 feet high ; the flowers, 

 many in a bunch, are of medium size, 

 violet-blue with darker veins, opening in 

 June and continuing until the end of July. 

 This species is said to have been originally 

 introduced by the cook of H.M. ship Cen- 

 turion, commanded by Lord Anson, in 

 1744, and was cultivated by Philip Miller 

 in the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. S. 

 America. 



L. MARITIMUS (Beach Pea). This is a 

 very interesting native plant, inhabiting 

 the seashore, and not so vigorous as the 

 preceding kinds. It is, however, pretty 

 and worth a place on open parts of the 

 rock garden, in gravelly or gritty soil. 

 The stems are prostrate, 18 inches to 3 feet 

 long, sea-green in colour ; flowers in 

 summer, purple fading to blue. N. 

 Europe, America, and Asia. 



L. ODORATUS (Sweet Pea). Perhaps the 

 most precious annual plant grown. There 

 are many ways in which it may be prettily 

 used in a garden. A common method is 

 to sow little patches in borders, the seed 

 being generally that of mixed varieties, 

 and by placing some stakes against them, 

 to secure pillars of flower. Where it can 

 be done, a hedge of Sweet Peas is an 

 attractive sight, and sometimes Sweet Peas 

 can be used to hide an unsightly place 

 during the summer. Many people grow 

 a hedge of Sweet Peas in order to yield a 

 supply of cut flowers, but it is useless to 

 grow the Sweet Pea except in good soil. 

 Some sow in late autumn ; this is not 

 always satisfactory, though, when it 

 succeeds, the result is good. By sowing 

 indoors in pots or boxes about the middle 

 of February, and gradually hardening off 

 the young plants when they are i inch 

 high, Sweet Peas may be made to acquire 

 a sturdiness and toughness which, when 

 they are planted out in good well-manured 

 soil in April, conduces to rapid growth and 

 to immunity from birds and slugs, which 

 would otherwise attack the tender shoots 

 the moment they appeared above the 

 ground. The soil should be well trenched, 

 and plenty of good stable manure should 

 be worked in ; and after the plants have 

 been rather thickly dibbled in, supports of 

 hazel stakes or netting should be placed 

 round them. Then, with a little attention 

 during dry weather and the regular 

 removal of incipient pods, they yield 

 abundance of beautiful and fragrant 

 flowers all through the summer and 

 autumn. When getting past their best 

 they should be cut down level with the 

 top of the sticks, and the result will be 

 that from the bottom to the top a new 

 growth will spring up, and there will be 

 an abundance of bloom until the end of 



October. There are now many fine 

 varieties of the Sweet Pea, varying chiefly 

 in colour. 



Mr Eckford, of Wem, Salop, now so 

 well known for the many varieties of 

 Sweet Peas he has raised, in writing to 

 me as to their good cultivation, says : "I 

 do not like the Celery-trench fashion. If 

 the ground is in a tolerably good state of 

 cultivation -that is, has been fairly well 

 dug simply put on a fair coat of stable 

 manure and dig deep, leaving it rough. 

 In the beginning of March, when the soil 

 is in good condition, thoroughly break 

 with a fork, which will be sufficient pre- 

 paration for the seed. To obtain the best 

 results, clumps of two or three plants at 

 i or 2 yards apart are better than con- 

 tinuous rows. In staking put three or 

 four bushy stakes thus : : round the 

 clump, but well away from the plants, 

 which should have a few smaller sticks to 

 lead them up to the taller ones. Round 

 the whole put a string or bit of wire to 

 keep them together, so that when the 

 plants have grown up a sort of cone may 

 be formed. The sticks should be, if pos- 

 sible, 8 or 10 feet high, as planted in this 

 way the Peas will, if mulched with half- 

 spent manure or any kind of refuse to 

 protect the roots from hot sun, grow very 

 strong and tall, and if the flowers are cut 

 close every morning, so that no seed can 

 form, they will continue to bloom till the 

 frost puts an end to them. Should the 

 weather prove dry, a soaking of weak 

 manure water two or three times during 

 the season would be beneficial. Should 

 they from excessive growth get untidy, 

 take the hedge-shears and clip them over 

 neatly ; they will in a few days throw out 

 fresh growths and a profusion of flowers. 

 If this way of growing Sweet Peas is 

 adopted, it is a good plan to put the seed 

 singly into small pots, and when the seed- 

 lings are strong enough to plant them out ; 

 in doing so make the ground very firm 

 about them they delight in firm ground. 

 If the weather be dry tread well in." 



Sweet Peas do admirably in Scotland. 

 Mr Brotherston thus writes concerning his 

 mode of treatment at Tynninghame : 

 " Mr Eckford (the raiser of many charming 

 varieties of Sweet Peas) was here a few 

 weeks ago, and he confessed to be unable 

 to grow them so fine. He said that he 

 had never previously seen the flowers of 

 his own Peas grown to so large a size or so 

 fine in colour. Grow the plants singly, 

 allowing each plenty of room. If you are 

 able to get plenty of good loam, allow 

 each plant one and a half barrowfuls, and 

 of leaf-soil half a barrowful, incorporating 

 these with the top spit of the garden soil. 

 Heavy dressings of manure produce rank 

 growth when the plants are young. I 

 prefer to add manure as a surface dressing ; 

 my favourite manures for this purpose 

 being soot, pigeon manure, superphos- 



