Folded Hooded Type 



Class I, Grandiflora. The common important group containing nearly all of the old favorites. The flowers are large, on long stems, and all fall one way 



The Fine Art of Sweet Pea Culture— By E. D. Darlington, 



Penn- 

 sylvania 



THE EXPERIENCE OF A VARIETY-TESTER WHO HAS GROWN EVERY KIND FROM THE BEGINNING 

 OF THE "CRAZE" AND HAS EXAMINED COUNTLESS REPORTS FROM ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY 



THE conditions for success with sweet 

 peas are practically the same as for 

 the common garden or culinary peas. Where 

 the garden peas can be had only during the 

 earliest part of summer, the flowering period 

 of the sweet pea will be correspondingly 

 short and only early-flowering sorts should be 

 chosen, and the seed should be planted at 

 the earliest possible date. Where good 

 garden peas can be produced throughout 

 the summer, the sweet peas may be had in 

 flower from early in the summer until killed 

 by freezing in the fall, and the largest flowered 

 and most refined varieties may be planted 

 with the most gratifying results. In the 

 warm South, fall plantings of early varieties 

 only should be made, or early spring sowings 

 of the dwarf extra-early bloomers, but in 

 well-drained soils, compact dwarf types of the 

 Cupid and Bush class will do well as bed- 

 ding plants during the hottest summer 

 months. 



The sweet pea prefers a rich, deep loam, 

 but it will grow well in almost any well- 

 drained soil. The plants can absorb and 

 use large quantities of moisture, but they 

 do not like "wet feet." Too often the mis- 

 take is made of planting the sweet pea in a 

 trench which is slightly hollowed below the 

 surrounding surface. Then, when the young 

 plants are well started, there will come a heavy 

 rain and they will be given a too liberal water- 

 ing, or the water remains standing about the 

 plants and the soil becomes sodden and sour. 

 Under these conditions, the vines turn to a 

 sickly yellow and rot just below the surface. 

 This is the sweet pea blight, and when it 



appears, plant your sweet peas in a fresh 

 location another year. The best preventive 

 is to draw loose earth up in a slight ridge over 

 the row after planting the seed, and to keep 

 hilling up to the vines as they increase in 

 growth. This method, in connection with a 

 slight slope to the ground, will ensure good 

 surface drainage, and cause the surface 

 moisture to drain away rapidly. If in a dry 

 season it is desirable to water or irrigate the 



Class II. The orchid-flowered sweet pea Coun. 

 tess of Spencer. The edges of the standards and 

 wings are wavy or fluted 



rows of sweet peas, make a shallow drill or 

 furrow on each side of the row and run these 

 trenches full of water, instead of putting it 

 directly on the root stems. After a heavy 

 watering of this kind, allow the surface soil to 

 dry out, and work it as soon as it will crumble 

 readily into small particles. 



Sweet peas may also be grown in warm, 

 sandy soil, if the seed is planted very early, 

 and they will flower freely until hot weather 

 sets in, but the flowers will not be as large, 

 nor the stems as long as when planted in 

 cooler, heavier soils. The period of flower- 

 ing may be prolonged when grown in light 

 soils by placing a mulch about the roots to 

 keep the soil cool and watering the row 

 copiously at frequent intervals during dry 

 weather. 



With me, paradoxical as it may seem, I 

 secure the best flowers and longest season of 

 flowering in a comparatively dry, warm 

 summer. Under these conditions, the vines 

 make a moderate growth ' during the cool 

 spring months, and blossom profusely from 

 the latter part of June until the vines and 

 foliage are destroyed by the small mite, 

 known as the red spider, during the hot 

 weather in August, 



On the other hand, if the summer season 

 is cool with continued heavy rains the vines 

 make a large, soft growth of foliage, are late 

 in making flower buds, and if a heavy rain- 

 storm comes in the afternoon or evening, so 

 that the buds do not dry off before nightfall, 

 the buds blast and drop from the stems with- 

 out opening. For this reason, I would 

 caution sweet pea growers against syringing 



