Sweet Peas 



necessary to stake Sweet Peas in some way; 

 they cannot be left to support themselves as in 

 California, and therefore it is necessary to sow in 

 rows at least five feet apart. Staking of course 

 in the field does not require to be done so care- 

 fully as in a garden, and such stakes have to be 

 used as can conveniently be obtained by cutting 

 down hedges or brushwood, or by using wi/e 

 meshed wire netting. 



It will be readily understood that sowing seeds 

 in the open field of very choice varieties is at all 

 times rather a risky business, and besides valuable 

 stock seed can be made to go a very much longer 

 way by being sown in pots or boxes under glass 

 and planted out in spring. This is the method 

 \ followed by my firm, Messrs. Dobbie & Co., at 

 their farm in Essex, and the results obtained by 

 them are admitted to be the best in Europe. It 

 means more work, more expense, and a large 

 extent of glass, but success is much more certain, 

 and, as I have already said, the utmost possible 

 can be made out of scarce things, yet, in addition 

 to the method just described, it has been found 

 necessary by Messrs. Dobbie & Co. to adopt 

 a still more reliable system, i.e. the growing 

 of some sorts under glass for seed. Several 

 of the most charming varieties are so uncertain 



70 



