LATH YR US. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LATHYRUS. 



62 5 



very interesting native plant, inhabiting 

 the sea-shore, 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 in. to 3 ft. 

 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 use- 

 less 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 in. 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, sup- 

 ports 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 

 tops 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 

 preparation for the seed. To obtain the 

 best results, clumps of two or three plants 

 at i yard or 2 yards apart are better than 

 continuous 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 

 possible 8 or 10 ft. 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 concern- 

 ing his mode of treatment at Tynning- 

 hame : Mr. Eckford (the raiser of many 

 charming varieties of Sweet Peas) was 

 here a few w r eeks 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 dress- 

 ings 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- 

 phate of lime and sulphate of ammonia. 

 Peat litter, which has passed through a 



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