14 



The Florists^ Review 



OCTOBEK 7, lOliO 



l)od is best. The roots and soil moisture 

 nre under better control and the {growth 

 hardens more, causinfj the Imds to hold 

 better. There is no doubt about fjetting 

 more flowers from a raised bench than 

 a ground bed durinj>' the average win- 

 ter months, but after a few warm spells 

 in t\'irly sjiriufj the bench ]dants shorten 

 iil> fast and are ready to be thrown out, 

 while those in ground Ixds, with their 

 roots on a eool bottom and with four 

 times as nnudi soil to woik through, 

 are still producing heavily. The low 

 iu'd allows more head room, jnoduces 

 liner flowers and do(>s not need to be 

 rebuilt or have the soil renewed. The 

 soil ill the raised bed must be change(l 

 ."Innually, while the ground bed produces 

 better results each succeeiiing year. 

 When a raised bed is fdled with roots, 

 it i(M|niii's such )iea\y watering that 

 mostSTT tlH> life is uaslicd out of it. 

 On the other hand, the ground lied, 

 under certain conditions as to diainage 

 rtnd character of soil, may not require 

 the api)lication of any water during 

 November, DetemluM' ami January. 1 

 liave had ground beds (i to S years old, 

 which produced, in the original soil, 

 growth strong enough tn make stems fif- 

 teen to twenty inches Imig, .and these 

 beds annually ]iroduced a ci'op of peas. 

 }?et\viH'n tht>se lie;i\>' crops 1 try to get 

 in something else, su(di as chrysanthe 

 mnins or asteis. ' Oi', if time jiermits 

 nothing els(>, a sod of rye or oats is 

 turned under. 



Building Ground Beds. 



As already stated, we mulch these 

 catch crops liberally with good manure, 

 washing it into the soil for the benefit 

 of the succeetiing jtea croji. Every sea- 

 son, .also, we give an apjilication of bone 

 meal (»• acid phosphate, at the rate of 

 about 200 poiinds per thousand square 

 feet of bench. 



To build ground beds, IL'-inch pecky 

 cyj)ress is used. In handling the croj) 

 these sides are siibjrcted to considerable 



wear and they should be substantially 

 sup])orted. A convenient width for the 

 beds is five or six feet, according to the 

 system of planting used. If two rows 

 run lengthwise the 6-foot bed is neces- 

 sarj', but sucli a bed is too wide for 

 handling the crop conveniently if the 

 rows are planted across the bed. 



Unless the soil is underlaid with 

 gravel or is otherwise perfectly drained, 

 a 3 or 4-inch drain tile should be laid 

 about eighteen inches below the top of 

 the bed. ]-?ef(ire filling the bed with 

 the prepared compf)st, we ]uilvcri/t> tin- 

 soil thoroughly down to the tile, incor- 

 porating as much good manure as ])0S- 

 siblo. The roots are strong and able to 

 assimilate plenty of feed by the time 

 this lower depth is reached. 



If raised beds are used, the propor- 

 tion of manure should be reduced to 

 one part in three or four parts of soil 

 and particular attention should be paid 

 to having it well mixed. The roots seem 

 to succeed in finding all the manure at 

 once in six inches of soil. Hence an 

 overdose on a raised bed, especially in 

 hot weather, rots the roots quickly, 

 Wlieji this occurs a new root system 

 jiromptly breaks out near the surface, 

 but the plants have received a check 

 and careful handling will be required 

 to bring them around. With ground 

 beds I find it safer to have the toji 

 four or five inches of soil entirely free 

 of manure. This root-rotting occurs only 

 with July and August plantings. With 

 the cooler weather- of late Septendier, 

 it disappears. 



After the plants are well established 

 in a raised bed and cooler weather sets 

 in, they can be fed according to their 

 needs. 



The Successive Crops. 



Sweet peas can be started as early 

 as the middle of July, but August is 

 better. If successfully carried through 

 the hot weather, this planting will begin 

 flowering in October. With an averag(> 

 amount of sunshine during the dark 



Vase of George J. Ball's S^veet Pea, Columbia. 



months, this is the most profitable croji. 

 He(-aiise of the excessively high temper- 

 ature at starting, however, this j)lant- 

 ing is often either lost entirely or sur- 

 \ ives in poor condition. If successful 

 it gi\<'s a. good crop for Christmas and 

 St. Valentine's day, but the plants are 

 generally exhausted by Easter. Nothing 

 liiit a light, well exposed house, in which 

 the ])lants have ten to fifteen feet of 

 head room, will do for this midwinter 

 crop. We have a service building 

 ;i gainst the end of one of our early pea 

 houses, and within fifteen feet of this 

 end we cannot get a profitable growth. 

 The main ])lanting, particularly for 

 beginners, should follow a catch crop, 

 generally mums. Good plants, either 

 from 2 inch ])ots or seed beds, planted 

 after early mums, will require ten feet 

 of overhead room. If planted after late 

 mums, they do not get much over six 

 to eight feet high. All these after- 

 mum ])lantings should be in heavy crop 

 for Kaster and under average weather 

 conditions will last until Memorial day. 



Late Winter Planting. 



If good plants are used, planting can 

 be done at any time in January or Feb- 

 ruary for a good spring crop. However, 

 it must be remembered that these late 

 plantings do not have time to produce 

 the strong growth and consequent 

 strong-stemmed flowers which we get 

 frf)iu the early jilantings. Side benches, 

 wlH>re the head room is limited to four 

 or fivt> feet, or space cleared of some 

 cro|) about St. Valentine's day or the 

 beginning of Lent, can be used advan- 

 tageously for this late planting of win- 

 ter-blooming peas. They wdll be in full 

 croi> throughout May. If the late or 

 summer blooming kinds are used at this 

 time, they will not be in by Memorial 

 day, unless the spring weather favors 

 them. After March 1 we take our 

 chances with the late type, as it is 

 stronger and better able to produce a 

 fair crop before the hot weather puts 

 an end to the sweet pea business under 

 glass. 



I have followed a crop of early sweet 

 peas, thrown out April 1, with strong 

 4 inch pot plants of late Spencers, seed 

 of which was sown February 1. They 

 were potted March 1, four plants in a 

 ])ot. They came into full crop by June 

 1 and continued in heavy crop through- 

 out June. They were on a raised bench, 

 and required heavy and almost daily 

 watering, a heavy top-dressing of ma- 

 uun^ and light shading. 



However, 1 do not recommend such 

 intiMisive methods on beds to be used 

 for peas the following winter, unless 

 the soil is to be changed. T prefer to 

 rotate with another crop. Throughout 

 •Tune there is an active demand for peas 

 at fair jirices and the winter-blooming 

 types are har<lly available urdess the 

 s)uiiig weather proves favorable to 

 t liem. 



Under ordinary conditions of ripen- 

 ing, the outer covering of a sweet pea 

 seed becomes extremely hard, sometimes 

 reouiring as long as two months in the 

 soil to soften. Some lots of seed may 

 nearly all come along in a week or ten 

 days, luit generally about a third will 

 drag ;ilong. Consequently, if they are 

 drilled in wh(>re they are to grow, the 

 result will be a more or less uneven 

 stand. The late ones will become the 

 weak plants of the row. 



To avoid this, we soak all our seed 

 two or three days, pick out and sow 

 the swelled ones and resoak the re- 



