HOW THEY BLOOM AT LOMPOC. 



Mrs. Skach's Winter Sweet Peas. 



If you grow swe '; poas to any con- 

 siderable extent, you have already 

 formed a pleasing acquaintance, prob- 

 ably, with the light pink variety known 

 as ^Irs. A. A. Skach. The purpose here 

 is to introduce you, not to the flower, 

 but to the lady after whom the llower 

 is named. You see hef — in the photo- 

 graph, for the ]»ictorial sort of intro- 

 duction must fulUce — you see her as she 

 is engaged in picking some of the sweet 

 peas that cluster around a bay window 

 on the front of her residence at Lom- 

 poc, Cal. 



As is propc r for a person who has a 

 namesake in the list of sweet peas, she 

 is an ardent lover of these flowers and 

 an enthusiastic amateur grower of 

 them. She is not only enthusiasti'', but 

 successful, as is testilied by her neigh- 

 bor, A. C. Zvolanek, who surely is well 

 qualified to pass .iudgment on such a 

 matter. Mr. Zvolanek describes the 

 methods that she followed in growing 

 the 15-foot row of sweet i)eas which 

 enclosed the bay window, and he also 

 gives a statement of the number of 

 blooms picked. The figures, he says, 

 though they may seem st;irtling, are 

 compiled from carefully kr])t records. 



The Culture and the Crop. 



The soil where the pons grew, says 

 !Mr. Zvolanek, is a dei'p sediment. 

 Along the l-lfoot s<'micirrl'', one wheel- 

 barrow load of short cov manure was 

 spaded in to a depth of fifteen inches. 

 The soil was tlien thoroughly tramped 

 down and soak('(l. Six days later, Sep- 

 tend)er 12, the surface was well raked 

 and the seed v, :■< planted, with two 

 inches of a covering. About thirty 

 seeds — one-fourtli of a ]iae!''l of the 

 Zvninnek wintiT-orchid-llowering (idid 

 !MeilaI mixture — were used. After sow > 

 ing, no watering w;is done until tin- 

 plants were about four inches liigh, 

 when they were thinned out to twelve 

 single ]>lants, about fifteen inches apart. 



Tli(> first flowers were picked Novem- 

 ber 2't, wiien the jilants were three and 

 onodialf feet high. At tliat date, and 

 at each succeeding interval of four 

 weeks, a good soaking of cow manure 

 water was gi\ en. The llowers were s<dd 

 locally or donated to various societies. 

 The record, says ]\lr. Zvolanek, was as 

 follows: November, 400 flowers; Decem- 

 ber, 950; Januarv, '-'.G-IO; Februarv, 

 ■A;M0; :\Iarch, il.^r.O; April, 4,780; total 

 to ^lav 1, fr(un the twelve plants, 17,- 

 390. 



Six Months of Bloom. 



The jihotograph was taken late in 

 February. About the miildle of ]May 

 the jilaiits were over twelve feet high 

 anil were still covered with a mass of 

 good, thdiigh shoitstenuned, llowers. 



During the winter there were many 

 frosty nights, with a temperature, on 

 .two occasions, of 25 degrees. But, 

 though some of tlie flowers were frozen, 

 the ]dants themselves suffered no ap- 

 l)areut harm. 



The twelve plants which formed tlu^ 

 15-foot row, says ^Ir. Zvolanek, were: 

 Two ])lants of Mrs. A. A. Skach, two 

 Zvolane]< 's I?ed, ojie Miss L. Gude, one 

 Orange Orchid, one Black Lady, one 

 White Orchid, one Zvolanek 's Blue, one 

 Mrs. Charles Zvolanek and one ^Mrs. 

 I'aul Dusha. That reckoning, however, 

 seems to leave one plant unidentified. 



Speaking of the length of the bloom- 

 ing season of his winter orchid sweet 

 ])eas, ]\rr. Zvolanek says: "If sown in 

 localities where hard freezing prevails, 

 just before the winter sets in or as 

 early as possible in the spring, they 

 will bloom from the middle of May. 

 If sown ns late as July, they will bloom 

 in Sei»tember and continue until frost 

 kills them. In semitropical regions, like 

 (,'alifornia, southern Texas and Florida, 

 if sown in September they will bloom 

 the whole winter." 



MAYWOOD, ILL. 



A Profitable Season. 



l''or the Maywood gr()wer>, whose 

 output all is sold by commission houses 



in Chicago, the season, of 191G-17 lias 

 been one of IIk; most successful on 

 record. it has not been witlniut its 

 embarrassments, especaaliy iu the 

 matter <jf obtaining fuel and labor, but 

 the increased costs cif doing business 

 have licit destroved tlie satisfaction 

 with wliicli the season is ri'viewed, nor 

 lia\e tlu-y imi)aired confidence in the 

 I'iil lire. 



One dilTcrcMice from a ,\oaf ago is 

 noted, iidwever: AX tliis time last year 

 all tiic growers were hard at, worlc on 

 Jmprcnenieiits — new hoiisi's, new boil- 

 ers, larger (diimueys, new [nunps and 

 iiiSQrvoiis, or idanting new \arieties. 

 This\ year the disposition is to sit 

 tight, to do only necessary work and, 

 because of tlie scarcity of htdj), to re- 

 plant as few roses as [lossible. Today 

 1li(> .Maywood rose growers are prac- 

 tically all set for next season. 



A. F. Amling Co. 



Tlie oldest and largest gidwer iu 

 Maywood, the A. i . Ainling Co., re- 

 |daiito<l the lusL iioiiso last week. Ti.e 

 |ilai-e is all in roses — 'Jli),Ooii plants. 

 All tlie K'ussell were carried over and" 

 se\(Mal additional houses planted with 

 this |Mt|)nlar rose, ^vliich is said to 

 lia\e yfcrn the most profitable v.arietj'' 

 on till'' plact? tills season iu spite of the' 

 fact that a large ]iart of the stock was 

 young plants' and with Russell one 

 iiuist take time to grow a /big, robust 

 plant bel'oie the vari(dy caii^ be ex- 

 pected to show its real worth. Two 

 houses have been planted to Shawyer, 

 a variety not heretofore grown, and 

 one to I-]\td_\n Xesbit, a corsag<', toso 

 that impressed Otto .\mliiig on a 

 trip east. The stock was obtai:ied 

 irom A. X. I'ierson, Inc. To obtain 

 ilie space, Ward was discarded, as the 

 least prolit.'xble rose on the list; Kill- 

 arney iirilliant was cut down, as al- 

 ready having become a bacdc number, 

 and White Killariiex- was cut down, 

 as in less dcniaiiil than cidored \ari- 





Mrs. A. A. Skach and Her Row of Sweet Peas. 



