FLOWERS 



407 



is produced principally in California, and on this account a 

 large number of new forms have been secured in America. 



Although the cultivation of fancy strains has been made a 

 matter of competition, the sweet pea is still a home-garden 

 plant and is usually one of the few selected for planting. 

 Garden soil is needed, but it must be remembered that too 

 much enriching will result in a vigorous vine at the expense 

 of flowers. The soil is prepared in the autumn, and the 

 seeds are planted as soon as the frost is out of the ground. 

 The seeds are placed in rows and cov- 

 ered so that a little furrow is left for 

 the retention of moisture. Germination 

 and early growth should be allowed to 

 proceed slowly, and very superficial till- 

 ing should be employed. The usual 

 garden varieties need a firm support of 

 some kind, about six feet high ; but 

 there are bush varieties that require no 

 support; and also low varieties that 

 spread compactly over the ground. 



115. Chrysanthemum. This is not 

 an ordinary home-garden plant (Fig. 72), 

 but it is so familiar a flower and has 

 had such an interesting history that some information in 

 reference to it is not out of place. It belongs to the com- 

 posite family (Compositse), the ranking family of flowering 

 plants, associated with golden-rods, asters, sunflowers, 

 dahlias, dandelions, etc., its so-called flower being a compact 

 head of small flowers surrounded by leafy bracts (involucre), 

 as described under lettuce (p. 380). 



The cultivated chrysanthemum holds the same con- 

 spicuous position among the cultivated flowers of the orient 

 that the rose holds in the Occident, the original forms growing 

 as natives in China and Japan. There are very many types 

 in cultivation, but those ordinarily exhibited have large and 



FIG. 72. A chrysanthe- 

 mum. 



