8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Apbil 23, 1908. 



higher they grow the more and better 

 flowers you get. We plant the rows five 

 feet apart and in a line with the sup- 

 ports of the greenhouse. The uprights 

 are twelve feet apart, so in supporting 

 we run twine from one support to the 

 other on each side of the row. This I 

 have found the best method of support- 

 ing. I have tried wire netting. This is 

 only a nuisance, as the vines do not cling 

 to the wire, which causes just as much 

 tying as if it were not there. It also 

 causes injury many times to the vines. 

 As a sweet pea stretches many time^ 

 more than a foot in developing, if held 

 back by anything in growing the growth 

 looks like a spiral spring and the picking 

 of the blooms is made very difficult. The 

 side rows are planted five feet from the 

 sides of the house and all the heating 

 pipes are on the sides. They are, very 

 susceptible to red spider, and as they 

 will not stand syringing, the farther you 

 can afford economically to have them 

 from the pipes the better. 



The Soil. 



We have not changed the soil in the 

 houses since they were built four and 

 five yearsNAgo, and we find the vines are 

 getting moi« vigorous each year. In the 

 same soil a crop of tomatoes and violets 

 are harvested each year. The soil was 

 originally eighteen inches deep, but by 

 the application of manure each year the 

 depth is now two and a half feet. The 

 tomato crop is on the wane by the middle 

 of August. When these are cleaned out 

 we trench the house over as deep as the 

 soil, bringing the bottom soil to the sur- 

 face. In the bottom of the trench we 

 put three inches of decomposed cow ma- 

 nure; one foot from the surface we put 

 on three inches more of the same mate- 

 rial. The house is allowed to remain in 

 this state until nearly time for sowing 

 the seed. The soil is then usually very 

 dry, so we dampen it down enough to 

 cling together while the house gets an- 

 other fork over. This time we go down 

 one foot and mix the top layer of ma- 

 nure with the surface soil. We then 

 make the surface as nearly level ^s pos- 

 sible and thoroughly water the soil, giv- 

 ing enough to penetrate the entire mass, 

 with a strong dose of liquid horse ma- 

 nure. In about three days, depending on 

 the weather, the house will be ready to 

 plant. 



We sow the seeds about one inch and 

 a half apart. We make the drills one 

 inch deep and do not allow more than 

 one inch of soil over them. We do not 

 pull any more soil toward the root, as is 

 often recommended, but let it remain 

 level. If more soil is pulled around the 

 base of the plant, stem-rot is sure to fol- 

 low. We do not water the plants again 

 until they are up about three inches. Of 

 course, you can grow them on a bench 

 with a few inches of soil, but the results 

 will be just what you make them, a 

 weak growth and a crop of short -stemmed 

 flowers. These soon play out, as there 

 is not enough soil or food for. the vines 

 to live on. 



The Temperature. 



They may be made to flower any time 

 you wish by increasing the temperature, 

 but the best results are obtained by grow- 

 ing at a temperature just above freezing 

 until the buds can be felt in the crowns 

 of the plants. Then the temperature 

 should be gradually increased, say 1 de- 

 gree a night, until you reach 48 degrees. 

 This, I think, is about right, although 



in midwinter I think they move a little 

 better at 50 degrees. As the days 

 lengthen, a little cooler* temperature 

 seems to suit better. A rise of 10 to 15 

 degrees should be given during the day 

 in sunny weather. In spells of cloudy 

 weather, 55 degrees is high enough dur- 

 ing the day. If a high temperature is 

 given in dark weather, the growth gets 

 soft and wilts when the sun comes out 

 bright again. 



While the plants are young they should 

 be regularly fumigated, so that there 

 will not be a sign of lice when the plants 

 commence to flower. If they are clean 

 at this stage it will not be necessary to 

 fumigate while they are in bloom. It is 

 impossible to sell sweet peas that smell 

 of tobacco. Tobacco, also bleaches the 

 flowers of some varieties and makes them 

 look like some other variety. 



We sometimes hear of some one having 

 trouble by the buds dropping. This is 

 more the case in midwinter than at any 

 other time. This is caused by too cool a 

 temperature or a sudden chill, or too 

 much water. Should a house be allowed 

 to go near the freezing point in mid- 

 winter, the wholesale, droppipg of buds 



Kindly discontinue my classified 

 advertisementlin 



The plants are all sold. I shall 

 use your columns a^ain when- 

 ever I have anything to sell; the 

 Review is the best of them aU. 



HENRY -HANSEN. 

 Catskill, N. Y. 

 April % 1908. 



will be sure to follow. Diseases have 

 not shown themselves with us. Some- 

 times we see a plant that looks stunted, 

 with yellow streaks in the foliage. This 

 we have attributed to too rich soil or the 

 roots striking manure that was not thor- 

 oughly decomposed. 



They take an abundance of water in 

 the flowering season, but require very 

 little in the early stages of their growth. 

 They should be provided with proper 

 drainage, so that if too much water is 

 given it will settle into the subsoil, and 

 no bad results will follow. 



Time of Flowering. 



I find in experimenting with the newer 

 varieties of peas that some come into 

 bloom ahead of the others. Take re- 

 selected Earliest of All and Watching, 

 for instance. These two will come into 

 flower fully two weeks ahead of the other 

 varieties, and for early purposes they are 

 a fine pair to grow together. They are 

 both black-seeded. These will flower in 

 October if sown in August, and will be 

 in full crop for Thanksgiving. For a 

 later crop I prefer Christmas Pink and 

 Florence Denzer. These are the peers 



among sweet peas at the present tim.. 

 The Denzpr is two weeks later thau -^ 

 Christmas Pink and is white-seeded. It 

 should be sown in sand and transplanted 

 into flowering quarters at the time you 

 sow the seed of Christmas Pink. They 

 will then commence to flower together. 



There is now quite a demand for some 

 of the fancy varieties. These sell best 

 in the spring, but will soon get into de 

 mand all winter. They are something; 

 new and the people are a little skeptical 

 about buying them. They will, however, 

 find a ready sale when once there arc 

 enough of them around to attract atten- 

 tion. Among the new varieties I think 

 Mrs. Charles Totty the best. It is the 

 same shade as the Countess of Eadnor, 

 and is a very strong grower, having a 

 2-foot stem. W. W. Smalley comes next. 

 This is a shade of satin pink. It is a 

 fine seller, but a trifle short in stem. 

 Mrs. Alexander Wallace is a good one. 

 The color is dark lavender and sells well. 

 Mrs. Wm. Sim sells well. The color is 

 salmon pink. It produces very long 

 stems, many being two feet in length. 

 The improved Mrs. F. Delansky I have 

 great hopes in. It is the color of an 

 Enchantress carnation. A limited quan- 

 tity of Le Marquis and Christmas Cap- 

 tain can be sold. Both are purple shades. 

 The same may be said of Blue Bird. 

 Mrs. Eddy Wild is deep crimson, but the 

 flowers are small in size and the stems 

 rather short. It is a strong grower. 



A Warning. 



To those who are contemplating grow- 

 ing sweet peas the one important thing 

 is to have the right seed. You may get 

 your house in the best possible condition, 

 yet without the right seed failure is sure 

 to follow. Many seedsmen are selling, 

 as seed of the early varieties, what are 

 not the early varieties. Very few seeds- 

 men know that there is any difference 

 between the two, and substitute with the 

 late varieties. Not a winter passes but 

 what some poor grower gets hit hard in 

 this way. He sows his seeds. They 

 start finely. They grow well, but he gets 

 no flowers. He is paying high for his 

 experience. 



I will tell you an experience of my 

 own, to show what harm can be done in 

 not knowing what you are planting. A 

 few years ago I planted a house with 

 Earliest of All. I bought my seed from 

 a reputable seed house. This turned out 

 to be the best house of peas I had ever 

 sown. The seed was all true and, to be 

 sure of seed for the following year, I 

 bought seed again from this same firm, ' 

 with the assurance that it was the same 

 as I had bought the preceding August. 

 My intentions were to build another 

 greenhouse and raise two crops, one for 

 early, the other for late cutting. The 

 house was buil^ and put into the best 

 possible condition. The seed was sown 

 in August and all came up in fine shape. 

 They grew lovely, but somehow or other 

 they did not look right to me. The vines 

 looked too heavy and strong. However, 

 I did not like to disturb them and I let 

 them ' grow. 



The other house was planted the mid- 

 dle of November, after a crop of mid- 

 season chrysanthemums. I procured the 

 seed for this house from another source. 

 The beginning of March they commenced 

 to bloom and by the first part of April 

 $2,000 worth of peas had been sold from 

 this house. The other house had not com- 

 menced to flower in the beginning of 

 April. The vines had reached the glass 



-kJ 



