14 



The Florists' Review 



July 16, 1814. 



EXPEET ADVICE ON SWEET PEAS. 



Zvolanek Tells How to Grow Them. 



Ant. C. Zvolanek, of sweet pea fame, 

 has written a little book on his favorite 

 flower, with directions as to its culture 

 both under glass and outdoors. The 

 ideas contained in the booklet should 

 be worthy of as wide publication in the 

 trade as possible, since the author's 

 skill as a grower and hybridizer is be- 

 yond question, and since he is the origi- 

 nator, according to his own statement, 

 "of every winter-flowering sweet pea 

 in commerce." The interest attached 

 to Mr. Zvolanek 's utterances on the 

 subject should be a sufiicient reason, 

 then, for the reprinting of the following 

 passages, taken from the part of the 

 book which treats of indoor culture: 



"The ideal soil for the sweet pea is 

 sandy loam or bjack prairie soil, such 

 as that found around Chicago. Red 

 shell soil is excellent if taken from 

 about six inches of the surface; and 

 coarse gravelly soil, if well fertilized, 

 will also grow good sweet peas. Soil 

 taken from swampy places, provided it 

 is not heavy clay, but only black sedi- 

 ment, is good if not used the same year. 

 Such soil should, in the fall, be spread 

 out about sixteen inches thick on high 

 ground. Left there over winter, the 

 rain and frost will wash out any alkali 

 which the soil may contain; white 

 clover seed scattered over this is also 

 beneficial. In about six months, or say 

 in June, compost may be made of this 

 soil by using one part of short manure 

 to three parts of soil. Use some air- 

 slaked lime and coarse bone. 



"Every florist should also have a con- 

 crete reservoir, say about 20x50 feet 

 and three feet deep. This may be 

 constructed cheaply, especially where 

 gravel and sand are plentiful. All 

 stable manure, if stored in this reser- 

 voir, kept moderately damp and stirred 

 occasionally, makes the ideal manure. 

 Such a reservoir, if about four feet 

 higher than the greenhouse, may be 

 piped so that the manure water, when 

 properly diluted, may be used for the 

 sweet peas. 



The Greenhouse and the Beds. 



"For December and January cutting, 

 only large houses should be used, so 

 that the sun can penetrate every corner. 

 The sides of the houses should be at 

 least eight feet high and made of glass, 

 at least all but the lower three feet. 

 Only in such houses is it possible to get 

 satisfactory crops during these two 

 cloudy months. If you have not an 

 up-to-date greenhouse, the sweet peas 

 should be sown later, say in October, 

 after the fall crop has been harvested, 

 such as chrysanthemums, etc. Sweet 

 peas sown late this way will not bloom 

 before February, at which time there is 



sufficient sunshine for a good flowering 

 crop. All that is needed is eight feet 

 of head room. 



' ' Solid beds of one and a half to 

 two feet of good soil are the best. If 

 the present soil is of the right kind, 

 enrich it well with the prepared short 

 manure, mixing it down to the base so 

 that no big lumps are left either in the 

 manure or in the soil. If the soil is not 

 suitable, compost soil such as that men- 

 tioned should be put in place of it. Of 

 course all this will be expensive, but 

 in a few days it will be repaid by a 

 good picking of flowers. After the soil 

 is well prepared in the beds, it should 

 be well tramped down, and if too dry, 

 watered down evenly to the base, leav- 



Glass Dome, Palace of Horticulture. 



ing it for several days, until the soil is 

 just in proper condition to work. 



Germination of the Seed. 



"Some years the seeds germinate 

 more or less poorly and most of the 

 seedsmen claim that certain varieties are 

 hard-shelled, causing the seeds to take 

 a longer time to come up. Judging 

 from my own experiments, I find no 

 difference in the varieties, all depending 

 upon the temperature at the time when 

 the seed ripened. After experimenting 

 with reference to this point for a num- 

 ber of years, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that all seed which ripened in 

 the hottest part of the season became 

 hard-shelled, and if sown would lie in 

 the ground for several months before 

 germinating. To prevent slow germina- 

 tion, soak the seed in water for about 

 fifteen hours just before sowing. This 

 will cause the seed to soften and swell 

 so that, when sown, it will germinate 

 quickly. Those seeds which still remain 

 hard should be filed. The best method 

 is to use a fine flat file, taking one seed 



in each hand and striking it once or 

 twice over the file just enough to cut 

 the hard skin. The seeds treated in 

 this way should be dropped back into 

 the water, and within another fifteen 

 hours they will be soft, swollen and 

 ready to sow. One person can prepare 

 a large number of seeds in this way in 

 a short time. 



Sowing the Seed. 



"When the beds have been well pre- 

 pared as described, press the soil down 

 as firmly as possible and rake every. 

 thing off smoothly. Then make rows 

 at least five feet apart and drop the 

 seed about three inches apart in the 

 row, not more than one and a half inches 

 deep. Be sure before sowing the seed 

 that the soil is in just the right work- 

 ing condition. Never sow seed in soil 

 which is too wet and sticky; rather 

 wait a few days, until all is right. 

 Moreover, never sow white sweet pea 

 seed in dry soil which will have to be 

 watered before the seed is up. Any 

 seed of this variety, if sown in dry soil 

 and watered soon after being sown, will 

 seldom germinate. 



' ' After all the seed is in, rake the 

 surface of the bed until it is quite fine 

 to a depth of about one inch. This will 

 make a fine pulverized soil mulch on the 

 top, which dries off soon, thus prevent- 

 ing the lower moisture from escaping, 

 besides keeping the entire lower soil 

 cool, which is needful to sweet peas 

 when starting. If these directions are 

 carried out, no watering will be neces- 

 sary for ten days at least; or at any 

 rate as long as all the seed is not up, 

 or so long as you can find moisture 

 about four inches below the surface. 

 Sometimes I have let three weeks elapse 

 before watering the beds. This method 

 encourages the seed to sink the roots 

 deep in the soil, hunting for the mois- 

 ture. Such sweet peas, with deep roots, 

 can withstand the hottest days without 

 damping off, as is so often the case 

 when the moisture is kept only on the 

 surface. If it becomes necessary to 

 water, you should water well down to 

 the base, but not too often, keeping the 

 surface rather dry and well worked. 



"After sowing, the temperature 

 should be kept as low as possible; and 

 if the seed is sown in August, when 

 the weather is extremely warm, the 

 glass should be whitewashed slightly as 

 long as the hot weather continues. 

 Spraying the plants and glass from the 

 inside between 11 a. m. and 4 p. m. also 

 helps to keep down the extreme lieat 

 After the sweet peas are up the plants 

 may be sprayed several times each day 

 during such hot spells. 



[To be continued.] 



TRADE DISPLAYS AT EXPOSITION 



To show what has been accomplished 

 by horticulturists during the last ten 

 years is the avowed aim of the depart- 

 ment of horticulture of the San Fran- 

 cisco exposition. Originators of ne* 

 varieties of fruits and flowers that have 

 passed the experimental stage and 

 given assurance of practical comme'' 

 cial value will receive every ern'ouf' 

 agement to exhibit the results of their 

 endeavors. A $1,000 cup has been oi- 

 fered for the finest unnamed secdli^? 

 rose exhibited for the first time at the 

 exposition. Such workers as Luth^f 

 Burbank, Myrtle Shepherd Francis. 

 Albert Etter, Professor and Mrs. ''o*;"; 

 erell, Carl Purdy and Anton C. 5^^"' 

 lanek will be represented. 



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