SWEET PEAS 



DURING the last ten or fifteen years these charming and 

 fragrant annual flowers have been exceedingly popular, and 

 there are few gardens where some, at least, are not grown. 

 For exhibition purposes some growers go to a great deal 

 of trouble in removing all side shoots from the stems, but 

 for ordinary show purposes such steps are not necessary. 

 The following article by Mr. E. H. Christy, a well-known 

 grower of Sweet Peas, describes their cultivation in a sensible 

 way, and for that reason is quoted here. 



"Sowing the Seed. First of all I am very keen on autumn 

 sowing, so my year begins at the end of September, for the 

 following reasons : I find that seeds germinate much better 

 then than they do in, say, the first week in February. The 

 temperature of the soil is much warmer, the plants show- 

 ing in a fortnight or three weeks, according to the season. 

 Then, again, autumn-sown plants are far stronger and 

 have more roots than spring-sown ones ; they bloom about 

 two weeks earlier, and I am certain give better flowers ; and, 

 above all, are more able to resist disease and stand the checks 

 they get by sudden changes in temperature, provided, of 

 course, they have been kept very hardy all through the 

 winter and not coddled in any shape or form. I know that 

 many growers, who sow in the end of January and start their 

 Sweet Peas in a heated green-house, then remove the plants 

 to cold frames before they are at all drawn up and nicely 

 harden them off, have almost as good results ; but I have 

 not this accommodation for the quantity I grow, so the 

 autumn is the time for me. The pleasure I get in watching 

 the plants during the dull winter months counts for some- 

 thing also. 



"Soil for Sowing. A week or so before sowing, prepare the 

 soil, which consists of good turfy loam that has been stacked 

 up to mellow, passing it through a coarse sieve, and then mix 

 some good leaf-soil with it and add a small quantity of sand, 

 well mixing the whole together. I do not use any manure, 

 as seedlings do not want it, provided you get the right sort 



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