ADVANTAGEOUS COLORS 



to climb. Usually a place can be readily found for 

 this, as a line of sweet peas serves not only as an ex- 

 quisite screen, but also as a picking garden. This trellis 

 should be strong and long, since there are few people 

 who could have too many of these elfin-like flowers. 

 Their colors, while many, never clash; in outline they 

 rival each other in piquancy, while with unerring 

 instinct they bend their firm fingers to grasp and uplift 

 their stems on the trellis. In fact, their tendrils do not 

 hesitate to strangle the leaves of a neighbor to death, 

 provided it stands in the way of their reaching the 

 desired support and giving their flowers the right poise 

 in which to show their translucent grace. 



The mixed varieties of sweet peas that unfold in 

 innumerable colors are seldom sown now. It is prefer- 

 able to choose a number of distinctive varieties and 

 place one after the other along the trellis. There may 

 then be seen groups of deep cream-colored flowers, 

 as shown by the Queen Victoria; others of exquisite 

 lavender, as the variety called "admiration." The 

 "navy blue" is well known and deeply toned; the early 

 Blanche Ferry is seen in pink and white; Dorothy 

 Eckford, with its broad, high standard, is pure white, 

 and the white Spencer of more recent introduction 

 is very beautiful. Some of the salmon-colored varieties 

 are lovely, and the black knight, in deepest maroon, 

 offsets them well. There are, besides, so many others 

 of clear or striped colors and distinctive forms that it 

 would be vain to try to recall them all. 



When the aphis attacks them, as is not unusual, 

 they should be sprayed consistently with kerosene 



[157] 



