Sweet Peas — Autumn Sowing 
thereby caused, the coldness and wetness of 
the soil jointly were responsible for not a 
little loss of seeds and still more perhaps of 
tardy and often enfeebled vegetation with all 
its attendant disadvantages. To-day all these 
are swept aside by the simple expedient of 
sowing in autumn — it may be in the open 
ground, in pots, or in boxes, just as soils, 
locality, and experience dictate or prove to 
be the best. Primarily, the advantages of 
autumn sowing are that the plants are enabled 
to obtain a greater hold upon the soil, and, 
endowed with increased vigour and hardihood 
by reason of slow growth during the winter 
and the greater length of time between seed- 
sowing and flowering than is possible by any 
other method, are enabled to give of their 
best when the flowering time arrives. The 
greatest gain, however, is the earlier flower- 
ing of the plants, and instead of having to wait 
till July as of yore, Sweet Peas are made possible 
from the third week of May. 
Autumn sowing in the open . — Probably but 
comparatively few cultivators do this to any 
extent, though, where soil and local conditions 
admit, there is little doubt that it may be 
turned to a good and profitable account. Better 
suited to the commercial seed-grower and the 
grower of flowers for market than to the amateur 
in general, the latter need not be deterred from 
