October 7, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



^^'i , .,■ 



A Heavy Crop of Sweet Peas at the Height of the Season in a House at Glen Ellyn. 



nuiiiidor. The liaid oiios will 1)10111 ptl.N 

 swell if the outer covering is broken 

 witli a sharp knife without diatiirhiiig 

 tlie eye of the seed. 



Sowing the Seed. 



Sweet pea seed may be drilled directly 

 in j)ernianent quarters or sown thickly 

 in a well prepared seed bed and trans- 

 planted, or potted if the bed is not 

 ready. A pound of seed will drill ap- 

 proximately 400 feet. By the trans- 

 l)lanting method, if the plants are set 

 about two inches apart, the same quan- 

 tity of seed will easily reach twice as 

 far. In drilling, some of the seed will 

 rot or plants will damp off after getting 

 through, making it necessary to sow 

 thickly to allow for such loss. Thinning 

 out after the plants are up will do for 

 low-priced seed, but those "good old 

 days," when we could better afford to 

 be indifferent about results, are gone. 



For early crops, the ]>lants should 

 stand two or three inches apart in the 

 row. The late stock does not have time 

 to grow so large and should be planted 

 one to two inches apart. 



During warm weather the seedlings 

 must be potted or planted in permanent 

 quarters within two weeks from the 

 dale of sowing, but in cooler weather 

 four to six weeks may elapse. About a 

 week or ten days will be gained by 

 potting to 2-inch pots. If allowed to 

 harden up in the pots, they will never 

 make good plants. 



yweet peas are planted in rows from 

 one to five feet apart, according to thf 

 date of planting. Tlii' early jilanting 

 jtroduces lateral growths freely if the 

 spacing is liberal, while stock planted 

 as late as ]\Iarch flowers from terminal 

 growths only and there are but one or 

 two of these to a plant. 



The planting can be done either cross 

 wise or lengthwise of the bed. We find 

 the work of jiicking and supporting de- 

 cidedly easier with the lengthwise rows. 

 On the other hand, figures show a few 

 more flowers can be iii<krd if the same 

 length of row is run across tiie bed. 

 With our (i-foot bc<ls we prct'cr the 

 long rows for early work, plant iiii;- two 

 rows in the foot bed. In ;1-foot ImmJx 

 the s))aciiig of lengthwise rows would 



be didicult to arrange. With th 



beds. 



therefore, we use cross rows, spacing 

 them three feet apart, but reducing this 

 to one foot for the lat(>st jilanting. The 

 fact that growers are about e\ciily di- 

 vided with reference to thes(> ]d:iiitiny 

 systems would indicate that there is 

 really little difVereJice and that the ]>lan 

 to be used should be determined by the 

 local arrangement of house and beds. 



In Big, Modern Houses. 



Unless a profitable catch crop is grown 

 between them, I have found the s|iac- 

 ing of rows five feet apart does not pay. 

 1 have seen growers with mo<lcrn, wide 

 houses disregard the beds entirely, 

 Jilanting on the open ground across the 



iioiise. It' the drainage is well provided 

 I'or, I see no reason why this should 

 not be an ideal plan. It might not be 

 so convenient for the handling of the 

 small crops that are sometimes grown 

 between peas or between crops of peas, 

 but this is a small matter if an improve- 

 ment in handling the main crop is at 

 stake. Where this plan is used I should 

 suggest spacing the rows four feet apart, 

 leaving a wide walk through the center 

 of the house. 



With our regulation beds we run steam 

 pifies along both edges, as we find it 

 necessary to use these in danifi weather, 

 especially in late spring, when a pro- 

 longed spell of soft weather might pro 

 iluce lloweis that would go to pieces in 

 a day or two. All that can be done to 

 avoid such a result is to have steam well 

 distributed through the house and give 

 all air possible. Where the cross-row 

 system is used in a modern house, this 

 distribution of steam could he provided 

 t'or easily. 



Planting in Hot Weather. 



Before jdaiiting a bed in hot weather, 

 the soil should be thoroughly soaked. 

 .\fter the surface is dry enough to 

 handle and the idanting is finished and 

 watered, the top soil should be raked to 

 conserve the moisture, making it un. 

 necessary to do any further watering 

 for a week or ten days. As the surface 

 soil becomes dry, light syringing is 

 necessary to keep down spider, which 



