18 



The Florists' Review 



March 24, 1921. 



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SWEET PEAS 



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PEAS: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Winter-Flowering Varieties. 



To the best of my knowledge, winter- 

 flowering sweet peas were first seen on 

 the Chicago market in 1899. 



In the fall of that year we sowed some 

 of Burpee 's Earliest of All, a pink, more 

 or less as an experiment. Winter peas 

 were not known to the buyers; hence 

 there was not much of a market for 

 them. But we took a fancy to growing 

 them and in the following season we 

 sowed Mont Blanc, a white, and Sun- 

 beam, a primrose color, in addition to 

 Pearliest of All. These peas were of the 

 grandiflora type, the stems averaging 

 but six to eight inches. About ten years 

 later an improvement was offered in the 

 Unwin type, the variety Wallacea rank- 

 ing as the best of this type. 



In 1913, Anton Zvolanek introduced 

 the well-known Butterfly, or orchid- 

 flowering, varieties, which are now 

 grown practically exclusively. I be- 

 lieve that with the introduction of these 

 varieties Mr. Zvolanek has done more 

 to promote the growing of sweet peas 

 than any other producer known to me. 

 At that time he undoubtedly offered the 

 best commercial varieties, but at the 

 present day there are many other va- 

 rieties offered by other concerns .is well. 



Plant Across Beds. 



I do not want to touch on tin- growing 

 (Mi'l of sw<'et pcjis ;it .•ill, but I do want 

 til take this i)j)portunity to say that 

 nfter experimenting season after season 

 we have come to the conclusion that the 

 l)est method of sowing sweet peas is 

 .•(cross the bed iind not lengtliwisc, he- 

 c.-iuse of the mere fact that more flowers 

 are thus obtainable to the S(juare foot 

 (if bench room. 



By using solid beds we have found 

 tliat longer stems are obtained, also that 

 the season of production is longer, hence 

 more flowers arc picked. Solid beds 

 eliminate the trouble and expense of 

 clu-inging the soil yearly. We have on 

 (lur establishment beds whicli have not 

 been changed since the erection of the 

 houses thirteen years ago. 



Our picking season extends from the 

 first part of October to the end of the 

 following July. Most of the i)eas which 

 .•ire picked in June and July are tlie sum- 

 mer-flowering kind, or spring peas, as 

 they are commonly known. Tliese peas 

 are seeded in January or February iI^ 

 jiots or flats, as one sees fit, and by the 

 time the early winter peas are torn out 

 and the beds prepared these will be in 

 fine shape for planting. They flower in 

 about ten weeks from the time of plant- 



ing. 



Interesting History. 



According to Zvolanek 's little pam- 

 phlet, the first sweet pea was discovered 

 in 1695. 



In the year 1889, D. M. Ferry intro- 

 duced the famous Blanche Ferry. It 

 was the best seller in the early days 



Paper on "Sweet Peas" read by Henry Webr- 

 iiiaii, of Maywood, at the ineetiiur ot tho Coin- 

 mercial Flower GrowerH of t'liicai;n, .M.u-'li 17 



and is the best seller to this day in its 

 color. In 1893 Peter Henderson & Co. 

 introduced the wonderful long-stemmed, 

 snow-white sweet pea, Emily Hender- 

 son. This and Blanche Ferry were the 

 most popular varieties grown. 



About twenty years ago our method 

 of culture was altogether different. We 

 grew carnations on high benches and 

 planted these peas along each purlin 

 post in August. In the following April 

 these plants covered the entire green- 

 houses, the stems being exceedingly 

 long. Since then we have changed our 

 method of growing. We dropped carna- 

 tions; pulled out our high benches; built 

 solid beds, and sowed, or planted, our 

 winter-flowering peas in July and fol- 

 lowed these with the summer-flowering 

 peas as mentioned before. We picked 

 about 1,500,000 last season. 



them. Provided your soil has been well 

 enriched and prepared, the plants will 

 easily cover the supports with stout 

 haulm. Watering, of course, in dry 

 weather will greatly benefit them, also 

 a mulch of old manure, straw or hay. 

 . C. W. 



CINERARIAS FOR EASTER. 



Can cinerarias be sown in October- in 

 a house with a temperature of 40 or 45 

 degrees, be transplanted when they 

 come up and be ready for sale at 

 Easter? N. R.— Del. 



It would be preferable to sow cin- 

 erarias in September in the tempera- 

 ture named and, by running them cool 

 all the time, they can be held until 

 April 16, 1922, the date of the next 

 Easter. I have heard of few cinerarias 

 being too cool. Anything above freez- 

 ing will suit them. C. W. 



TRANSPLANTING SWEET PEAS. 



I sowed some sweet peas March 7 in 

 small pots and put them in coldframes. 

 When and how would you transplant 

 them into the open? Did I sow them too 

 late? N. E.— Del. 



MURILLO TUUPS. 



We have mailed you two Murillo tulip 

 bulbs in bloom. There is something the 

 matter with the stems. Our other tulips 

 are not affected, as far as we have no- 

 ticed, but just this variety. 



R. L. C— Mich. 



Your sweet peas might well have been 

 sown two or three weeks earlier. They 

 can safely be planted outdoors in your 

 latitude from April 1 to April 10. 

 Place them twelve inches apart in the 

 rows and furnish good brush to support 



It is difficult to determine what is 

 the trouble with the Mnrillo tulips 

 from plants so badly dried out. Murillo 

 is a late variety and you are liable to 

 have trouble with it if you start it 

 early. For Easter it is excellent, but 

 attempts to force it into bloom with 

 the standard early varieties will cause 

 many to come blind. The condition of 

 the stems might be due to excessive 

 dryness at the root, followed by soak- 

 ings of water. C. W. 



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FERTILIZER 



BONE MEAL OR PHOSPHATE? 



Members Mistake Meaning. 



I read with great interest the j)aper 

 j)rinted in The Review March 10, headed 

 •'Foods for Flowers," which was pre- 

 pared by Dr. P. A. Lehenbauer and 

 given at the meeting of the Illinois State 

 Florists' Association. In discussing this 

 paper with some of the members present 

 at the meeting I find that, unfortunately, 

 a good many carried away an impres- 

 sion that may result in an unfairness 

 to the fertilizer trade and also to florists 

 in general, unless the point is brought 

 out. 



In his paper Dr. Lehenbauer states 

 that "one hundred pounds of purchased 

 acid phosphate contain approximately 

 forty-six pounds of actual acid phos- 

 phate and fifty-four pounds of gypsum." 

 In speaking of bone phosphate he states: 

 "Good bone meal should contain on the 

 average about twenty-two per cent of 

 phosphoric acid and steamed bone from 

 twenty-eight to thirty per cent." 



Those members present to whom I 

 spoke came back from Urbana with the 

 impression that Dr. Lehenbauer told 

 them that the acid phosphate contained 

 forty-six per cent of phosphoric acid, 

 while bone meal contained onlv twentv- 



tvvo for raw and twenty-eight to thirty 

 per cent for steamed bone. 



Price and Proportion. 



In his table of comparison of acid 

 phosphate and bono meal on roses he 

 shows the correct analysis of both; 

 namely, seven jier cent of phosphorus, 

 equal to sixteen per cent phosphoric 

 acid, in acid phosphate and 12.6 per cent 

 phosphorus, equal to twenty-eight per 

 cent phosphoric acid, in bone meal. 



In the table referred to, he shows 

 that acid phosphate at $15 per ton is 

 more economical to use than bone meal at 

 •t28 per ton, but he also shows that the 

 ]iresent price of acid phosphate is $.35 

 per ton, which is also about the present 

 price of steamed bone. I am sure Dr. 

 Lehenbauer does not claim that it is 

 more economical to buy acid phosphate 

 for use as fertilizer on roses ip green- 

 houses if the price is the same as steamed 

 bone meal, containing nearly double the 

 percentage of acid phosphate, in addi- 

 tion to one or two per cent of nitrogen. 

 From personal experience I should like 

 to say that as long as the price of acid 

 phosphate remained about half the price 

 of bone meal I founi it more economical 

 to use acid phosphate, but since the price 

 of acid phosphate rose to nearly the same 

 as bone meal I much prefer to use bone 

 meal. w. J. Keimel. 



