FLORICULTURE 
plantings during the early stages of 
growth tend to give them a more dwarf 
and compact habit. For late flowers 
seed sowings may be made in the open 
ground in May. If plants that began to 
bloom late are carefully lifted and potted 
in the fall they will flower freely during 
the winter in a house or room that is 
tolerably cool and moist. The blossoms 
are very lasting. The average height of 
the stocks is from one to one and a halt 
feet. 
Sunflower 
Helianthus 
These tall growing, bright flowered an- 
nual plants have not received the atten- 
tion they deserve. They have suffered the 
misfortune of having been cheapened by 
use aS a burlesque. In reality, however, 
the tall growing, large flowered sorts, as 
well as the dwarf, many flowered var- 
ieties, are useful when skillfully employ- 
ed in mixed plantations with other herb- 
aceous annuals. The golden yellow disks 
are like sunbursts among the shrubbery. 
The tall habit of the plant and the dense 
foliage of some varieties suit them well 
for backgrounds and screens. Their long 
stems and extraordinary lasting qualities 
make them of value as cut flowers. 
The seed should be planted in the open 
garden in spring, at about the same time 
that corn is planted, and the plants thin- 
ned to stand from two to four feet apart, 
according as the plant is dwarf or tall 
growing. There is wide variation in the 
height and habit of growth of the differ- 
ent varieties, which range from two to ten 
feet in height, with from one to many 
flowers. 
Sweet Peas 
Lathyrus odoratus 
The sweet pea during the last decade 
has been greatly modified and improved 
by careful selection and cultivation, the 
flowers being larger and more varied in 
color and marking than formerly. The 
result is that the sweet pea has come to 
be one of the most popular annual flow- 
ering plants. It repays well the attention 
given it. The flowers are well suited for 
bouquets, and lend themselves well to 
table decoration. While the climbing 
999 
habit of the plant is such as to prevent its 
use in groups and borders, its height is 
not sufficient to allow its use as a cover 
or screen for a lattice. The most satisfac- 
tory method of growing it is in long rows 
provided with rabbit netting wire, sup- 
ported by strong anchor posts and inter- 
mediate stakes, to prevent the wire from 
sagging between its supports. 
Sweet peas require a soil deeply tilled 
and well supplied with plant food. A 
satisfactory method is to open a trench 
about a foot wide and ten inches deep in 
rich garden loam, in the bottom of which 
about three inches of well rotted manure 
are placed, with two inches of fine top 
soil scattered immediately over it. Upon 
this bed scw the peas in double rows 
about eight inches apart, the seeds be- 
ing placed from half an inch to an inch 
apart in the row. Cover the seed about 
three inches deep, and after the young 
plants appear and have attained sufficient 
height fill the trench completely. 
As the sweet pea can hardly be placed in 
the soil too early in the spring, all gen- 
eral preparatory work should be done in 
the autumn, and the seeds sown as early 
in March as practicable. In sections with 
a winter temperature less severe than that 
of Washington the best results will un- 
doubtedly be obtained from fall sowing. 
SwEET WILLIAM. See Pinks. 
Sweet William 
Dianthus barbatus 
The sweet william, which is to be found 
in every grandmother’s garden, is one of 
the most satisfactory members of this 
group for annual planting. While seed 
can be sown in the open early in the sea- 
son, about corn planting time, the best 
results in the way of early bloom come 
from plants produced from seeds sown in 
a hotbed not later than the 10th of March 
in the latitude of New York, the young 
plants being pricked out into flats or, 
preferably, into thumb pots, and later 
shifted to three inch pots before planting 
in the flowering border. The outside 
planting of hotbed grown plants should be 
delayed until the season has advanced suf- 
ficiently to prevent the plants suffering 
from a check by cold after being placed 
