20 COST AND PROFITS 



kinds of retail floral work. From seeds sown in the middle 

 of September, say the 15th, flowers can be cut from the 

 resulting plants in a period of fourteen to sixteen weeks, 

 and the time that the plants will yield a profitable crop 

 of blooms will vary from eight to twelve weeks. It is con- 

 tended that the new Australian variety, Yarrawa, will 

 bloom well for three months continuously. 



But a great deal, of course, depends on the cultivation 

 that is given. If the plants are in shallow benches or in 

 soil with a less depth than 3 feet, it is doubtful if, with all 

 the other care one can give, the crop of blooms will continue 

 longer than five or six weeks at most. 



The Iat3 Robert Sydenham, a well-known English 

 seedsman, made the following statement as to yield. (See 

 " All About Sweet Peas," 1910, page 18) : " As an example 

 of what Sweet Peas will do, I have sown the seeds 3 feet 

 apart, and have been able to gather from 450 to 500 sprays 

 of bloom from one single nlant, and I have on one or two 

 occasions picked about 50 sprays of bloom from one plant 

 at a time. One of my correspondents also wrote me on 

 October 6, 1905, saying, ' From the produce of 420 seeds 

 I have given away quite 40,000 sprays of bloom, and the 

 plants are still flowering.' A reverend gentleman said, 

 'Eight shillings' ($2) worth of seed gave me a crop from 

 which I have sold nearly aio (I50) worth of cut flowers 

 for charitable purposes.' " 



We would not, however, encourage the reader to expect 

 "500 sprays of bloom from a single plant." The firm of 

 Dobbie & Co., Edinburgh, Scotland, which is unexcelled 

 by any in the United Kingdom for the raising and growing 

 of Sweet Peas, whose house of these plants in bloom is 

 illustrated in this book, grow 1200 plants for exhibition 

 blooms, the rest being left to develop for seed. The house 



