ao 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



March 14, 1912. 



given a night temperature of 48 to 52 

 degrees. The latter figure, however, 

 must not be exceeded. As the plants 

 now grow quite rapidly, the ties must 

 never be neglected, for if the haulm 

 becomes twisted it means a percentage 

 of bent and unsalable flower stems. 

 With increasing sunlight, the soil will 

 now dry out more quickly and the 

 water supplies must be increased. Just 

 as soon as flower stems start to shorten 



of artificial heat they will develop more 

 slowly, but will come stockier and 

 hardier. In frames some covering over 

 the glass may be needed for a few 

 weeks vet. 



Planting out can be done when the 

 weather becomes settled, anywhere 

 from the beginning to the end of 

 April, according to location. Sweet 

 peas started in pots will come into 

 flower ten to fourteen days earlier than 



Exhibit of Wm. Sitn, CHftondale, Mass., at the Chicago Show. 



up, it is a sure indication that the food 

 supplies at the roots are inadequate, 

 and liquid manure, top-dressings of cow 

 manure, pulverized sheep manure or 

 fine bone should be given; this should 

 be scratched into the soil lightly before 

 watering. 



The Safest Fumigant. 



A recent inquiry is, "What is the 

 safest fumigant for sweet peas?" The 

 tobacco papers are excellent. Some 

 large growers, once a week, take small 

 piles of tobacco stems or dust and set 

 fire to them, laying them on the floors. 

 In using the dust, a little kerosene 

 sprinkled over it will make it smolder 

 away better. Never give strong fumi- 

 gations, as the foliage is quite easily 

 burnt, particularly if the night should 

 be a warm one. Above all, avoid the 

 use of hydrocyanic acid gas; this is 

 too much for sweet peas. Some varie- 

 ties, particularly Watchung, have a 

 faculty of dropping many of the buds, 

 especially in winter. Under the same 

 treatment Florence Denzer will not 

 drop a bud. This would seem to in- 

 dicate that Watchung has some organic 

 weakness; still, it is so wonderfully 

 free flowering that many still grow it. 



Starting Seeds in Pots. 



While the ground will not be open 

 for some time, except in the warmer 

 states, those wishing for an early out- 

 door crop should start a quantity of 

 seeds in pots. I like 4-inch pots for 

 this purpose, sowing four or five seeds 

 in each and afterward thinning these 

 out to three. A cold greenhouse, or 

 better still, a cold frame, answers well 

 for this early sowing. It appears that 

 if the seeds are raised without the aid 



those sown outdoors in the average 

 season. They should not be planted 

 closer than ten or twelve inches apart. 

 This will allow them to make strong 

 haulm and to branch freely, which is 

 out of the question where they are set 

 too thickly. In England, where stems 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches long are 

 produced, the individual plants to pro- 



duce exhibition flowers are set eighteen 

 inches apart and the shoots on these 

 reduced in number. The general tend- 

 ency always is to sow sweet peas much 

 too thickly. If they germinate thickly 

 it pays to thin severely, as it will al- 

 ways mean much stronger haulm and 

 finer flowers. It is easy for any grower 

 to prove the correctness of this state- 

 ment by trying a few each way. 



Sowing Seeds Outdoors. 



If the ground was deeply plowed or 

 spaded last fall and liberally manured, 

 it will be in the best possible mechan- 

 ical condition for sweet peas. This fall 

 preparation of the soil is not half ap- 

 preciated and is utterly ignored by 

 many good growers. It is satisfactory 

 to note, nevertheless, a growing dispo 

 sition on the part of wide-awake grow- 

 ers to prepare the ground then. Those 

 who did not prepare ground in the fall 

 — and those are the overwhelming ma- 

 jority — should lose not a moment when 

 once frost has left the ground and it has 

 sufficiently dried out to be workable, 

 in preparing the ground for this im- 

 portant crop. The deeper the ground 

 can be plowed or spaded and the more 

 liberally it is manured, the better will 

 the peas grow and flower. 



The Trench System. 



While splendid sweet peas can be 

 grown on land containing good, friable 

 loam, well manured, flowers of extra 

 quality can be had if a trench twenty 

 four to thirty inches wide and of sim- 

 ilar depth is dug out, and filled with 

 alternate layers of well decayed manure 

 and loam, finishing with several inches 

 of soil on top. This method entails 

 much labor and is only to be recom- 

 mended where fancy flowers are 

 wanted, but deep digging or plowing 

 gives almost as good flowers, which are 

 not, however, "produced over so long a 

 season as when a deep trench is exca- 

 vated. The idea should be to loosen 

 the ground as deeply as possible, in 

 order to allow the roots to penetrate 

 well below the surface in dry weather. 

 Fine bone, well worked into the soil, 



Table by E. Wieahoebet G>., at the Chicago 3pru>E Show. 



