r,R 



THF CANADIAN HOT^TTPTnTTTRTRT 



Marrh, iqi:; 



Oimicifupa, the tall, hardy, herbaxMjous peren- 

 nials here shown, are ornamental in character 

 and suited for the baok of planting or for par- 

 tially shaded places in the wild garden. They 

 are faulted by some because of their smell. 



garden at home. My plan was to grow 

 sweet peas, — the very best that could be 

 grown — and find, or if necessary, make 

 a market for them. If I failed the money 

 loss would be trifling and my time being 

 worth nothing, I would be fully repaid 

 for any outlay in the open-air exercise 

 and the abundance of flowers I should be 

 able to give away if they proved a drug 

 on the marl--et. My plan proved a suc- 

 cess, and this is how I carried it out. 



Everyone knows that the first point in 

 sweet pea culture is to get the seed into 

 the ground as early as possible. On this 

 account, the ground ought to be well 

 prepared to a depth of three feet the 

 preceding fall and left exposed to the 

 weather all winter. As January was al- 

 ready well along I found that this was 

 not possible so I decided to do the next 

 best thing and have it prepared just as 

 early as possible in the spring. 



I chose a piece of ground that had 

 been ploughed the previous fall where 

 my father intended to plant corn but he 

 had no objection to breaking a new 

 piece for that purpose, so I felt that 

 something had been done and that there 

 would be a possibility of getting that 

 ploughed strip dug up very early. In 

 the meantime I decided to force the sea- 

 son. I knew that in the height of the 

 season, sweet peas are plentiful and the 

 florists have an abundant supply engaged 

 ahead, so my only chance to market 

 mine would be to have them actually 

 better and, if possible, earlier than those 

 usually on sale. With this in view I or- 

 dered from the most reliable seedsmen 

 the most choice and incidentally the 

 most expensive varieties. 



About the middle of February I plant- 

 ed a few samples of each packet in sep- 

 arate, small pots and placed them in the 

 cellar w'here they would not quite freeze. 

 They were a long time in germinating 



but as soon as they were up I transfer- 

 red them to a light window, and has- 

 tened to have a mild hot-bed made for 

 them. By the middle of March they were 

 put into the hot bed but were transfer- 

 red, as soon as the weather made it pos- 

 sible, to a cold frame. They had devel- 

 oped a great deal of root and I changed 

 them to larger pots. The last week in 

 March I began operations on the plough- 

 ed strip where I was to raise my main 

 crop. Part of my outdoor exercise for 

 the last two weeks had been to clear the 

 snow off that piece of ground so that the 

 sun could thaw and dry it more quickly, 

 and now the surface was thawed to a 

 depth of a few inches, though it was 

 ns hard as rock farther down. The 

 hired man had very little to do just then, 

 and I got him to work for me. With 

 pick and spade he lalx>red under my 

 supervision and dug and hewed out nice 

 deep trenches, throwing the half-frozen 

 earth up on the side. The strip was 

 about one hundred feet long and he was 

 able with such assistance as I could 

 give, to prepare two or more lengthwise 

 trenches a day. When eight trenches, 

 about five feet apart, were finished, I 

 called a halt. 



The next few days nothing more could 

 be done but leave the sun to dry the 

 earth a little to make it workable. I 

 chose this time to hire a couple of boys 

 who understood the art, to cut two 

 large loads of birch pea-brush, paying 

 them one dollar and a quarter a load. I 

 had no idea of buying eight hundred 

 feet of wire fencing when the pea-brush 

 is so much more picturesque as well as 

 more comfortable for the peas. 



The last day of March I planted the 

 seed. In the bottom of the trenches I 

 put about two inches of manure, working 

 it up well with the soil ; this I covered 

 with five or six inches of the mellowest 

 soil lately dug out of the trenches, press- 

 ed it down with the hoe, and then 

 planted the peas in a double row about 

 three inches apart, covering them with 

 about four inches of earth, which was 

 was pressed down firmly once more with 

 the hoe. 



The potted p)eas in the cold-frame 

 were now clamoring for attention. They 

 were nearly six inches high and were 

 being drawn up too fast, I thought, un- 

 der the glass, so I removed J:hem one 

 warm day while I prepared the soil in 

 the frame very deep, made it moderately 

 rich, worked in some bone meal and, 

 gently knocking the plants out of the 

 pots so as not to disturb the roots, I set 

 them into the ground, sinking them 

 over three inches lower than they had 

 grown in the pots, thus insuring for 

 them deep roots and sturdy growth. 

 Sweet peas do not mind the cold and I 

 thought I could safely remove the sashes 

 entirely but fearing that, having been 



started more or less warm, they might 

 sufTer from a severe frost, I left the glass 

 over them, raising it a few inches to 

 give them plenty of ventilation. 



Now, there was nothing to do but 

 await developments, but I watched for 

 the peas in the trenches and as fast as 

 they poked their heads above ground I 

 covered them over with a little fine earth 

 until they were on a level with the sides 

 of the trench. When the vines were two 

 or three inches high I put up the brush 

 supports, sticking the base of each brush 

 stick well into the ground, one on either 

 side of the row and slanting them to- 

 gether, tent-like, at the tops. Here and 

 there I tied the tops together so that 

 they would be sure to withstand the 

 wind. The vines simply loved these 

 supports and climbed all over them, 

 spreading out so that the sunlight could 

 reach every leaf and twig, and how they 

 throve ! 



Things began to look promising for a 

 fine crop of splendid flowers and my next 

 care was to find a market. I got the 

 names of all the chief florists in the city, 

 and wrote a short note to each, inform- 

 ing them that I expected to have sweet 

 peas early, and of extra fine quality, 

 and asking them if I might send them'a 

 sample bunch, and if there was any pos- 

 sibility of their giving me an order, if 

 mine proved actually superior to those 

 they usually handled. 



I wrote to fifteen florists and, of those, 

 ten did not reply, three curtly informed 

 me that their supply was already order- 

 ed ; but two conceded that though they 

 were usually overstocked with sweet 

 peas during the season, still I might 

 send them a sample bunch. I promptly 

 forgot the unlucky thirteen, and was 

 overjoyed with the two mildly encourag- 

 ing replies. 



On May 20th I hailed with delight the 

 first blossom from the cold-frame sweet 

 peas and by pinching off the tips of the 

 vines and throwing all the energy into 

 a fe^\- blooms I coaxed them to give me 

 on June ist two modest bunches of beau- 

 tiful sfjecimens which I wrapped in cot- 

 ton, in case of still possible frost on the 

 journey, and shipped along with my high 

 hopes to the two encouraging florists. 

 One I never heard from again but the 

 other sent a prompt reply engaging all I 

 could supply, shipped three times a 

 week, provided they were of uniformly 

 hig'h quality. He off'ered twenty-five 

 cents a hundred sprays in bunches of 

 twenty-five sprays apiece of the same 

 color. 



!My open-air sweet peas commenced to 

 bloom about the middle of June, and by 

 the last week in June I was able to send 

 my first shipment to town. From that 

 time on I shipped them regularly three 

 times a week, prolonging the season of 

 profuse flowering by pinching the tops, 



