148 AUGUST 



eschscholtzia mandarin, antirrhinum snow queen, 

 and such-like things. Get these, if you can, from 

 a penny man, if economy is an object. The second 

 list should contain all mixed seeds, as well as those 

 named ones which the penny man does not sell. 

 Order these from the best dealers. 



Sweet peas are among the most useful of flowers 

 for cutting just now. We sow a row under a 

 south wall in October or November, and from 

 February to June more are drilled in for succession. 

 Those sown in the autumn, however, often outlast 

 the spring ones, and if the seed pods are kept 

 from forming are useful well into the autumn. 

 The June planting is rather flukey ; in a warm 

 October you may pick large quantities, but in many 

 seasons all that one can hope to get from them 

 are their lovely trails of green to add to bouquets 

 of other flowers. But even if one has no more 

 than this from them the trouble of sowing is well 

 repaid. 



It is a great pity that growers are trying to 

 change the form of the sweet pea. The wings 

 with rounded top, which are taking the place of the 

 old cleft wings, may be pretty enough, and at any 

 rate the change in this respect is no disadvantage. 

 But the hooded shape which these wings are 

 assuming through the efforts of the specialist 

 growers is anything but an improvement. It can 

 be seen at its very worst in the hideous object 

 called Red Riding Hood, which was introduced 

 five or six years ago ; and if our new varieties 

 are to follow the form of Red Riding Hood, 

 I shall take care to preserve a strain of the good 



