114 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



ordinary cultivation, but we must urge that what is done 

 should be done well. A piece of mellow soil in an open 

 situation should be prepared, by being well dug and rather 

 liberally manured, in autumn or winter, and when the seed 

 is sown this should be dug over again and the lumps 

 broken to make a nice seed-bed ; then sow in a neat drill 

 an inch and a half deep, and very soon after the plants 

 appear put to them stakes of brushwood about four feet 

 high, selecting for this purpose the neatest and most 

 feathery pea-sticks you can find. Peas that are grown to 

 eat may be supported roughly, but peas that are grown 

 to be admired for their beauty should be supported in 

 the neatest manner possible; therefore wire trellises and 

 " rissels " made for the purpose may with advantage be 

 employed, especially when the peas occupy a prominent 

 situation in the garden. 



In the event of dry hot weather occurring early in 

 the summer, sweet peas should be liberally watered two 

 or three times a week, and if the natural soil is sandy or 

 chalky it may be advisable to mulch the rows with half- 

 rotten stable dung, which, if needful, can be concealed 

 with a sprinkling of earth. To keep them flowering freely 

 to the end of the season, all the pods should be removed 

 upon becoming visible, and the plants, being thus relieved 

 of the tax upon their energies the swelling- of the seed 

 would entail, will maintain their vigour more completely, 

 and flower the more freely in consequence. 



The commonest sample of sweet peas, that may be 

 bought for a penny at the nearest stall, is worth sowing 

 and growing, -and will give delight to all who see and smell 

 the flowers. There are no bad sorts in cultivation, and so 

 if the seed is alive, that is enough. But those who take a 



