440 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



March, 1914 



pairs of leaves remain at the top ; 

 remove any ilower buds, and all 

 lower leaves and leaf-stipules. Kach. 

 cuitinji should show a clean uu- 

 bruised stem, with nothing to en- 

 courage decay or damping ofi. 

 While making the cuttings, it is 

 advisable to keep them out of 

 strong sunshine, in order to avoid 

 any needless flagging. 



— Putting in the Cuttings. — 



Have ready a piece of twine as 

 long as the width of the frame, 

 and attach it at either end to a 

 short stick. Insert the stick in 

 the soil, stretching the line rather 

 tigntly across the surface of the 

 soil. Now put in the first line of 

 cuttings, 1% or 2 inches apart, ac- 

 cording to their siz«. A twig of 

 wood cut to the required length 

 will serve for measuring the dis- 

 tances in the first line, and the 

 distance apart of the succeeding 

 rows. Use a small blunt-pointed 

 dibl>er, and work it round so as 

 to make holes of a fair size ; a 

 small hole discourages free rooting, 

 by the caking of the soil induced. 

 As each hole is made, a little of 

 the surface sand will work down- 

 wards into it. It will be remem- 

 bered that the more sandy the 

 rooting medium, the more Hkely 

 are the cuttings to resist decay 

 and damping otf. Press in each 

 cutting carefully against the line of 

 string, as far down as the lowest 

 leaves. The hole made must be 

 only so deep as to allow the base 

 of the cutting to touch the soil ; 

 otherwise the cutting will be 

 " hung," a condition not favour- 

 able to root formation. 



Move the line down to the dis- 

 tance measured, and insert the 

 ne-xt row, making the cuttings al- 

 ternate with those of the previous 

 row. 



When a bed or frame is liUed, 

 water the cuttings lightly. I'ut on 

 the sash — which should l>c prevo- 

 ously . cleaned — and shade w ith 

 mats for two or three days, to 

 hinder flagging as far as is pos- 

 sible. 



— Alter Treatment. — 



Keep close until the roots have 

 formed. When on examination this 

 is found to hape taken place, al- 

 low plenty of air if the weather be 

 fine, and water when necessary. Do 

 not allow any d;unped-off cuttings 

 to remain. Keep the soil weeded 

 and stirred over, and remove any 

 flower buds which may make their 

 ai)i)earance. As growth proceeds, 

 pinch out the tips of the plants 

 once or more to secure a bushy 

 habit. 



The plants should be allowed to 

 remain undisturbed until removed 

 to their flowering quarters, when 

 thev may be carefully lifted, each 

 with as large a ball of soil as 

 possible. 



If the instructions are followed 

 out with care, the result should 

 give a fine and healthy stock of 

 plants. — Exchange. 



Sweet Peas. 



Preparing the ground for Sweet 

 Peas is an important operation, as 

 the success of the entire work may 

 be said to depend upon it. Whe- 

 ther the row or clump system be 

 adopted is wholly a point for indi- 

 vidual decision, and though, per- 

 haps, the finest blooms come from 

 plants in clumps, satisfactory re- 

 sults may be achieved either way. 

 Take out a station or trench be- 

 tween 2 feet and 3 feet deep, place 

 in the bottom a layer of cow man- 

 ure and work back the soil, incor- 

 l)orating with it more good na- 

 tural manure, with a light dressing-, 

 of mineral superphosphate and sul- 

 phate of potash. Make the whole 

 moderately firm before planting, 

 but immediately after working 

 have it loose and rough. 



To sow the seeds, make a trench 

 lay the seeds about two inches 

 apart, and replace the soil. Under 

 ordinary conditions more plants 

 will appear than are really re- 

 quired, and they will have to be 

 thinned out later. Expensive seeds, 

 however, can be sown two or three 

 times as thinly. 



Some reader may be undecided 

 whether to grow clumps or rows. 

 P/ach system ^las its advocates, but 

 as reirards the quality of the flow- 

 ers yielded, there seems to be very 

 little to choose. It is fairly gener- 

 ally admitted that where a plot of 

 STound is to be devoted to Sweet 

 Peas, rows are the more economi- 

 cal of space. On the other hand, 

 however, most persons of taste 

 \vill agree that where Sweet Peas 

 are grown in a mixed bed or bor- 

 der, clumps indubitably give a bet- 

 ter decorative effect. 



If several parallel rows are 

 grown, they should be at least five 

 feet apart. Six or seven feet is 

 none too much where the plants 

 grow very tall. 



Complaints are sometitmes made 

 that mice eat the seeds before they 

 germinate. Where there is any 

 fear of the dejiredations of these 

 rodents, it is wise to damp the 



coats of the seeds before sovnnji 

 and sprinkle them with red lead. 



The birds, like the poor, are 

 ways with us, and if they have 

 opportunity, they will work have 

 with the young seedlings whe 

 they appear. How many a ti 

 has the seedsman been blamed fc 

 the non-gerir.ination of the seeds, 

 when, if the truth were known, the 

 seedsi germinated well, but the 

 birds removed the young plants 

 directly they appeared. No man 

 who values his plants will leave 

 them unprotected. Many de\ices 

 may be known to the reader, but 

 one of the cheapest and, at the 

 same time, one of the best, is the 

 liberal use of black cotton streech- 

 ea tigniiy along the rows. To en- 

 sure safety, three or four lengths 

 of cotton should be stretched on 

 each side of the rows, at heights 

 \arying from one to five inches 

 above the level of the ground. If, 

 when the plants outgrow this pro- 

 tection, the birds attack them, 

 more cotton must be added. 



Roses from Seed. 



The operation is one of the 

 greatest interest, and certainly de- 

 serves the attention of some of 

 our rose enthusiasts. The one ob- 

 jection is, that it is slow, it being 

 at the lowest reckoning, at least 

 two years before any visible result 

 is secured. 



The seed pods should be (gathered 

 when quite ripe, taking care only 

 to collect them from roses of es- 

 tablished merit. The removal of 

 the fleshy outside envelope is some- 

 what tedious, and is best perform- 

 ed by burying the hips in the damp 

 ground for several weeks, when it 

 will be found that the covering has 

 rotted, and the seed may be easily 

 cleaned. 



If i^lanted in August or Septem- 

 ber some of the seed.ings may be 

 showing above ground in three or' 

 four weeks, whilst others may not 

 make their appearance for a month, 

 or even two months, later. 



, The young plants must be kept 

 moving straight ahead from the 

 very beginning. When the seed- 

 lings are u]) give them any amount 

 of sunlight and air ; don't keep the 

 soil too damp, but they must not 

 suffer from the slightest suspicion 

 of drought. When they have at- 

 tained a height of, say, three 

 inches, take them out of the seed 

 pan with a thin pointed trowel, 

 thus securing with each a little ball 

 of soil round the roots. Replant 



