22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1894. 



two packets each of the 12 novelties, — about 24 seeds each, and, in 

 the case of Ovid, I got not a single plant ; four plants of Venus ; 

 about six of Lady Beaconsfield and Lady Penzance, and so on. 

 Another gentleman in Springfield had four packets each of the set of 

 12 novelties, and, though he has a fine clay loam, the results showed 

 up about as well as mine. But this year I should have little fear of 

 putting every seed I got from these vines right into the ground, and I 

 think hardly one will fail. 



9. Now, to go on with the rules, along the first week of June is a 

 critical time on account of the cut worms. And yet I feel little 

 respect for any one who will let a cut worm get more than one plant. 

 If you have filled in your trench an inch or two by the time the cut 

 worms come, they will simply cut off the part that shows, and there 

 ought still to be left a joint or two of the plant, and it will sprout 

 again. But if you have from the start covered your seed four inches 

 and the cut worm cuts them down the plant is gone. But why let a 

 cut worm operate more than one night. Poke him out at once and 

 snap him. 



10. About the first week of June the question of bushes or trellis 

 is on you, for supporting the vines. I use white birch brush entirely. 

 I have them brought to me in lengths of 12 or 14 feet, and of each 

 one I make two, cutting the stout end in seven-foot lengths, and 

 using the more bushy top to fill in between. I always plant in 

 double rows so as to bush between. And unless you have stout brush 

 on which they can climb six feet some August storm will lay them 

 out for you. I find it difficult to persuade people to bush them 

 strongly. Last year I paid a man a cent and a half for each 12-foot 

 brush delivered. 



11. Now the chances are when you find that some of your seed 

 did not germinate, and the cut worms have foraged on them, and the 

 blight still further has depleted them, you will wish you had planted 

 your seed thicker. But first mind this, if, when your vines are 

 beginning to bloom, they stand three inches apart that is all right. 

 And if you take them in time you can supply missing places by trans- 

 planting. But I would plant seed enough, not thickly in straight 

 lines, but sow the double rows in a loose line, by which you can put 

 in twice as much seed without crowding. And do not fail to thin out 

 at last if necessary. 



Let me urge upon you great patience in growing Sweet Peas. The 

 month of May will find you wond(U'iug why they grow so slowly. By 

 all means let them grow slowly in May. It is a great virtue. They 



