30 CULTURE OF THE SWEET PEA 



be made and raked in. Care should be 

 exercised not to get the soil too loose, and 

 for this reason it is best to confine all stir- 

 ring of the soil to smoothing the surface. 

 Especially is this true with light soils, 

 which, if stirred deeply in the spring, must 

 be well firmed. Heavy soils that are 

 likely to bake may be improved by work- 

 ing in a light dressing of old, thoroughly 

 rotted manure. 



Sweet peas should be sown as early in 

 the spring as the soil is dry enough to 

 work, even though it is probable that 

 heavy frosts will follow. The writer 

 thinks that one reason why even the most 

 inexperienced amateur usually has such 

 good average results with sweet peas, is 

 that he gets his annual "violent attack of 

 gardening fever" in early spring, and he 

 begins his operations at just the right time 

 for sweet peas to go into the ground. 



