Round the Year in the Garden 



be taken to prepare the ground, and it must be culti- 

 vated really well to secure satisfactory Sweet Peas. 



There is probably no flower so disappointing when 

 it fails as the Sweet Pea; the plants have such a 

 miserable, sickly appearance that one longs to pull 

 them up ; the blooms are small and the stems so short 

 as to be useless for cutting, and this is essentially a 

 flower for gathering. The soil should be dug not less 

 than 2 feet deep ; if 3 feet deep so much the better. 

 The bottom of the trench is the place for decayed 

 manure, which is of great benefit, especially in a dry 

 summer, inasmuch as the roots find both moisture and 

 nourishment in soil thus enriched. In the upper 12 

 inches bonemeal and soot may be freely sprinkled ; 

 yard manure ought not to be within reach of the 

 roots of the seedlings. The latter will be ready for 

 planting out of doors about the second week in April ; 

 as soon as they show through the soil they need to be 

 exposed freely to fresh air, so that sturdy little plants 

 may result. Those who grow for exhibition restrict the 

 number of stems on each plant to one, two, or three, 

 according to the vigour of the variety. When about 

 6 inches high the central stem is pinched off and two or 

 three of the basal shoots are trained as stems. 



There are some very beautiful varieties among 

 modern sorts, and the following are an excellent 

 dozen : R. F. Felton, lavender ; Maud Holmes, crimson ; 

 Clara Curtis, palest yellow or cream ; Royal Purple, 

 purple ; Hercules, pink ; Rosabelle, rose ; Doris Usher, 

 cream pink ; John Ingrnan, carmine ; Afterglow, reddish- 

 mauve ; Edna May Improved, white ; Elsie Herbert, white 

 with rose edge ; and President, orange red. 



Freesia from Seed. The fragrant Freesia is com- 

 monly regarded as a winter flower, and when grown 

 in the usual way, from bulbs potted in July and August, 

 the blooms open from Christmas onwards. But if seeds 

 are sown now the plants will be in flower in August 



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