Ueckmbeu VI, liil: 



The Florists' Review 



45 



SWEET PEAS UNDER GLASS. 



[An extract from a Itullelin issuefl b> ihc 

 Cornell Kxperiment Station, at Ithaca, K'. \.. 

 where the trial grounds ol the American 

 Pwoet Pea Society are located.] 



Wiutf'i-Howering swoot peas grow six 

 to ten or more feet liigli, and it' they 

 nro to attain tln'ir full development a 

 house Avitli this amount of head room is 

 lequired. They also need all the light 

 they <aii get, as the lighter the house, 

 the more blooms there will lie. TjOw or 

 dark houses are not praetioahle. 



Sweet peas may be grown on benches, 

 hut solid beds are better, sinee the 

 plants require a deep, moist, cool soil. 

 The roots shoidd be given an opportu 

 uity to go down, by properly prejiaritig 

 the soil two or three feet in depth. 

 With this depth of prepared soil it is 

 imperative that the beds have good 

 drainage, for oversaturation is detri- 

 mental to the young plants and any ten 

 dency to keep them in this state brings 

 on sourness, which is fatal to sweet 

 peas. Having the beds raised at least 

 one foot above the walks will assist iti 

 keeping the soil tiniformly sweet. 



Preparing the Beds. 



When planning to grow sweet peas 

 under glass in solid beds, the house 

 should be <deared as early as possible. 

 Trench the <soil two feet deep. If the 



Sweet Peas of C. W. Curtis, Irondequoit.N.Y. 



b(uls have been inaiiuri^d ainuially, the 

 bottom soil may be brought to the sur- 

 face. In new houses, in case the beds 

 are to bo raised a foot, trench the soil 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches deep if 

 it is a good loam; if not, remove the 

 soil and fill the beds with good soil. 

 This gives an additional foot of loos- 

 ened soil when the bed is full, but it is 

 needed for additional drainage. In 

 turning this original soil in a new bed, 

 apjtly a heavy coat of good, decomposed 

 cow manure in the tremdi. Then s[)read 

 on top a 3-inch coat of manure and fill 

 in with the prepared soil. In the oil 

 beds, put a 3inch layer of manure in 

 the bottom of the trench .and another 

 about a foot below the top. The soil 

 should remain thus until about the 

 time for sowing; if a month or more 

 intervenes, it is much better. .Vt this 

 time fork over the top layer one foot 

 deep, which mixes the upper layer of 

 manure with the surface soil. 



While good crops of sweet jx'as may 

 be grown on benches, yet they require 

 more care than when in beds. The 

 sweet pea is frequently grown as a crop 

 to succeed chrysanthemums, j^articular 

 ly by those llorists who do not devote 

 a great amount of space to ]iot plants. 

 Tn order to have flowers for ' hvistmas, 

 the early chrysanthemums should be 

 cleared from the house li>' '>ctol>er 2i^ 

 and the s|iace filled with good sweet 

 pea^^TftTyits transplante'l i'miw pot«. 



The Seed. 



good, Istroug-gerniinating seed 

 should be used, and the best for the 

 purpose is the outdoor-grown stock of 

 this type. If the grower raises his own 

 seed for the earliest planting, that from 

 outdoor fall-sown plants is jtreferable: 

 otherwise it will always jiay to pur 

 chase stock from the sjiecialists who 

 produce seed under California cnndi 

 tions. Seed procured near the end of 

 the season from exhausted greenhouse 

 grown plants often germinate^ poorly 

 or produces weak jdants. Sometinu^s, 

 even though the seedlings start otV fair 

 ly well, they later exhibit I'oiHtirut ional 

 weakness. 



If the steam ]d]ies arc in\ th.' side 

 walls, plant the first row ot' M'cds five 

 f(>et from them. If the nnvs run east 

 and west, plant the others ti\f feet 

 ajiiirt: if the rows run north and -niith, 

 space them three feet apart. Make the 

 drills one or one and a half inch deep, 

 and drop the seeds one to one and a 

 half inch apart. Cover the ilepth of 

 the drill, and keep the surface level. 



Sowing. 



The winter-flowering varieties may 

 l)e sown in the beds or benches where 

 they are to stand, or they may be sown 

 in pots. The former method gives the 

 better rc-ults. .\ day or two before 

 planting, the beds should be thoroughly 



saturated with water; William Sim, the 

 most extensive grower, advises a strong 

 dose of liquid manure instead. \s soon 

 as the top has dried o(f so as to be in 

 a good, friable condition, plant the seed. 

 One large grower sows the seed in flats 

 or benches, in sand, transplanting the 

 seedlings as soon as the ujjper side root 

 is one-half inch long. Two plants are 

 ])laced in each 2',;jinch jiot. 'J'hese are 

 planted, four pots to one foot of row, 

 in the greenhouse. The varieties with 

 white seeds are best sown in sand; or, 

 as jMr. Zvolanek advises, soaic the seeds 

 for ten hours in water, scatter in 

 flats, and allow to remain for two days 

 or until the seeds begin to swell. The 

 seeds may then be sown in moderately 

 dry soil in the same way as other varie 

 ties. The white-seeded varieties, more 

 than any others, re((uire >'areful atten 

 tion in the watering. 



Watering. 



If the soil has been saturated before 

 planting, no more water should be ap 



Sweet Peas of C. W. Curtis, Irondequoit.N.Y. 



plied for perhaps .i week, or only when 

 the soil is no lon^i'r moist three inches 

 below the surface. When a thorough 

 watering is not ajiplied first, and the 

 seed is sown and watered in, as a rule 

 not enough water is given to saturate 

 the soil deeply. The result is that the 

 plant confines its root area to this shal- 

 low moist layer and does not root deep- 

 ly. It therefoii! sutlers from extremes, 

 and any lack of moisttire is followed by 

 a check from whi(di it ne\('r recovers. 

 On the other hand, if the preparatory 

 watering is given and water withheld 

 until there is need of it, the roots strike 

 downward into moist and cooler soil. 



