SWEET PEAS UP TO DATE 



BUDS DROPPING 



Where the plants have been well cultivated and heav- 

 ily manured and the vines consequently are growing, 

 vigorously, it sometimes happens that a large propor- 

 tion of the first buds drop from the flower stem before 

 opening. A sudden change in the weather will often 

 bring on a bad attack of bud dropping. This may be 

 due to heavy rains following a dry spell, or low night 

 temperature, which naturally causes a check to the sap 

 flow. But the grower need not be alarmed at this, 

 as the vines will soon assume their natural mode of 

 procedure, all buds subsequently opening and remain- 

 ing on the stem as they should do. Bud dropping is 

 most frequently met with in a wet season. 



WINTER FLOWERING SWEET PEAS UNDER 



GLASS 



Not so many years ago the winter flowering Sweet Pea 

 was more or less of a side line or catch crop with the 

 florist a sort of "fill in" when other crops had failed 

 or stocks run short, but this can not be said of it today, 

 It is now a "regular" in all markets, and its place would 

 be hard to fill. 



To grow successfully, a heated greenhouse is indis- 

 pensable, and the seeds may be sown on raised benches, 

 in pots, or the solid bed or border. The date of sowing 

 will depend on when the Sweet Peas are wanted to 

 bloom. The forcing of winter flowering varieties takes 

 from two and one-half to three months from the date 

 of planting until blooming, if started about the middle 

 of August. Later sowings take rather longer; there- 



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