CHAPTER V. 



SWEET-PEAS UNDER GLASS 



EA.RI.Y sweet-peas are generally looked upon, and treated, as 

 a catch crop. We do not look upon them in that light, but 

 as a regular routine crop to complete the circuit of the year 

 in the tomato houses. Here is the routine : 

 Tomatoes . . . . March till October. 

 Chrysanthemums . . October till December. 

 Sweet-peas . . October till December, in early stages, 



concurrent with 'mums. 



. . December till April. Overlapping 



tomatoes through March. 



It can scarcely be necessary to remark that no individual 

 house is really full of sweet-peas, but a house 100 feet long 

 by 16 feet can very well accommodate 150 pots (g-inch) without 

 unduly trespassing upon the tomatoes while in their early 

 stage. And from 150 pots of sweet-peas we have, on occasion, 

 cut flowers to the value of 35 ! 



Of late years it is becoming far easier to grow and force sweet- 

 peas than it was but a short time ago, and this is due to the 

 advent of the early flowering Spencer varieties, the number of 

 which is rapidly increasing. We have throughout this work 

 purposely refrained from specifying by name any varieties of 

 plants we have dealt with on the ground that many intro- 

 ductions so soon become obsolete, and their names would be 

 of no assistance whatever, say, five years hence. Therefore, 

 excellent as are the present set of early-flowering Spencer Sweet- 

 peas, we are not here greatly concerned with their names, but 

 would respectfully refer those interested to the catalogues of 

 any sweet-pea specialists where the best and latest are listed ; 

 but nearly all the colours are represented, and in form and 

 substance they are the equals of the ordinary summer flowering 

 varieties. 



The seeds are sown in small 60 pots (3-inch) in late October 

 and germinate on the shelves above chrysanthemums. They 

 remain there until most of the chrysanthemums are cut down 



45 



