14 



The Florists' Review 



July 30, 1914. 



EXPERT ADVICE ON SWEET PEAS. 



Placing the Supports. 



' ' After the plants have reached the 

 height of about six inches," says A. C. 

 Zvolanek, in his recently published mon- 

 ograph, "they should be given some- 

 thing to climb on. The best method, 

 and the cheapest, is to run one wire 

 at the bottom and one from eight to 

 ten feet above each row, connecting 

 these two wires with strings as is done 

 in the case of smilax. Strings should 

 also be run lengthwise of the row, about 

 every ten inches, as the plants advance 

 in growth. At the same time it is well, oc- 

 casionally, to help the vines to climb the 

 strings. The upper wire must be one of 

 the strongest, for when the sweet peas 

 are in full bloom they are usually ten 

 feet high, and one row of 100 feet will 

 weigh a ton. If, at any time, the wire 

 should break, all the flowers would be- 

 come bruised, crooked and of little 

 value. In order to divide the weight, 

 wooden or iron supports should be 

 placed by the upper wire every eight 

 feet. 



Picking and Grading the Blooms. 



"The flowers should be picked dur- 

 ing the afternoon, as at that time they 

 are in full bloom. Where many thou- 

 sands of flowers are picked daily, the 

 most experienced hand should go over 

 the row first, picking only the best, 

 with three, four or more flowers, with 

 the longest stems, bunching them at 

 once, ten selected flowers to a hunch. 

 The second hand may go immediately 

 after, picking the second grade, put- 

 ting twenty-five sprays to a bunch; and 

 finally the thir<l hand should pick all 

 the short and crooked flowers. 



"If the flowers are to be sent a 

 long distance to be sold the next day, 

 pick all those flowers having three or 

 more blooms and one or more buds. Re- 

 member that these flowers which you 

 pick today will be distributed among 

 the flower-buying public twenty-four 

 to thirty-six hours afterward, and all 

 must look fresh if you want good re- 

 turns for them. 



Packing and Shipping. 



"As soon as a certain number liave 

 been picked, place them in water, so 

 that they are sure not to be wilted. 

 Flower pots about 6x6 are ideal for 

 the sweet pea. Deep vases or large 

 pails should never be used, for the 

 blossoms may become^ wet and thus 

 lose their fragrance. 



"After the flowers have been in 

 water for about three hours, they 

 are ready to be shipped. Each bunch 

 should be wrapped separately in fine 

 wax or tissue paper, then packed in 

 boxes Sx.^O. Pack each wrapped bunch 



in the box, moderately firmly, with 

 the flowers. to the ends and the stems 

 in the middle. During extremely cool 

 weather the boxes should be well lined 

 with cotton sheeting, to prevent freez- 

 ing. Between the stems use dampened 

 paper or soft moss. Flowers packed in 

 this way can be shipped 1,000 miles 

 without losing either fragrance or 

 color. If the flowers are to be shipped 

 the next morning, they should be 

 packed the evening before, and kept in 

 a room where the thermometer registers 

 about .'50 or 55 degrees. They should 

 never be left in water over night, or 

 kept in a cool room, as this will cause 

 them to lose both color and fragrance. 



When to Sow. 



"To obtain a good crop of flowers 

 for the Christmas trade, seed should 

 be sown, anywhere north of Washing- 

 ton, D. C., between August 10 and 20. 

 It is difficult to prescribe just the right 

 time, for if the weather should be ex- 

 ceptionally warm and bright in the 

 fall when the seed is sown, the main 

 crop will be ready early in November, 

 when sweet peas are cheap. On the 

 other hand, if the weather is cool and 



C. Scbmieg. 



cloudy in the fall when the seed is 

 sown, the flowers will probably be too 

 late for the Christmas trade. It is 

 much better to have the crop in Jan- 

 uary, for during that month and the 

 following, the prices are usually just 

 as high as during the Christmas week. 

 The flowers should never be forced, 

 for then the entire crop is apt to be 

 lost. If the seed has been sown after 

 August 25, in any place north of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, fine flowers will be pro- 

 duced just after New Year 's, when they 

 are most needed. 



Other Crops with Sweet Peas. 



' ' One of the most -successful things 

 to grow after the sweet peas are over, 

 is the tomato. If you have small and 

 moderately warm greenhouses, or 

 propagating beds, sow the tomato seed 

 in November and then transplant into 

 small pots and keep repotting until the 

 plants are in 5-inch or 6-inch pots. 

 When the sweet peas — we may say 

 after Easter — are becoming short- 

 stemmed, take them out and put the 

 tomatoes, which should be in bloom, in 

 their place. Plant them about 16x20, 

 train to single stem, and you should 

 have good returns in June and July, 

 having the space ready for sweet peas 

 again in August. 



"Violets, also, are successfully 

 grown in rotation with sweet peas. 

 These should be planted the last day of 

 September, The beds should be five 

 to six feet wide, with a space twelve 

 inches on the north side for one row 

 of sweet peas, and all the rest planted 

 with violets. Both of these flowers 

 may be planted at the same time, as 

 the violets need a low temperature, 

 not much over 40 degrees. The sweet 

 peas will grow slowly at first, probably 

 not being over three feet in height by 

 the last part of February. By this 

 time the violets will have almost fin- 

 ished blooming, and anyway will be 

 extremely cheap. Now is the time to 

 raise the temperature to suit the sweet 

 peas, and in a short time you will have 

 a splendid crop of sweet peas, lasting 

 until late spring. 



* ' Chrysanthemums may also be 

 grown with sweet peas. If you have a 

 house with such early varieties as Gold- 

 en Glow and Pacific, these will prob- 

 ably all have been cut by October 20. 

 If sweet pea seed is sown in 4-inch 

 pots September 10, there will be fine 

 plants by the time the chrysanthemums 

 are over. The soil should be prepared 

 and the sweet peas planted at once, 

 so that they will begin to bloom by the 

 latter part of January. Other things 

 may be grown between the sweet pea 

 rows, such as all kinds of bulbs, and 

 small ferns in flats. 



Feeding the Plants in Bloom. 



"After the sweet peas have been in 

 bloom for some time, and have begun 

 to shorten in stem, they should be fer- 

 tilized. The best thing is liquid cow 

 or sheep manure, or pulverized man- 

 ure. Nitrate of soda should never be 

 used, for it will do more harm than 

 good. 



"Another thing never to be used is 

 hydrocyanic acid gas, for, although 

 this destroys all insects, at the same 

 time it destroys all the buds then in 

 formation, so that there will be no 

 flowers for many months to come. 



Good Greenhouse Varieties. 



' ' There are a great many varieties 



