aw 
) 
.) 
THE SWEET PEA. 
Lathyrus odoratus. 
T is a singular circumstance that 
the sweet pea has been com- 
monly regarded as a half-hardy 
annual, whereas it is as hardy 
as any pea in cultivation, and 
the seed may not only be sown 
in February in the open ground, 
but in November, and if the 
mice do not eat it the winter will 
not kill it, and in due time the 
plants will appear with the sunshine 
of the early spring. But this fine 
AGS 5]. Bae 4 a 
a plant deserves extra care, and should 
—~ never be grown in a careless manner. 
XS | 
It is the custom with many gardeners 
to sow the seed in pots and nurse the young 
plants in frames, but we prefer to sow them 
where they are to remain, and to defer 
doing this until the middle of March, for if the plants 
come up with a flush of warm weather before the frosts 
are over, they are apt to be nipped, and transplanting 
puts them hack, so that to raise them in pots for the 
purpose is decidedly objectionable. Thus we simplify the 
Q 
