FOURTH NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 147 
as is sometimes advocated. If you are going to plant only one single or double 
row, dig a space of at least two feet on each side of the centre of the row, and if 
you are going to plant parallel rows, set five feet apart from centres, then you 
will dig and manure the whole space. After the ground is dug, and before it is 
raked, add one pound each of ground boncmeal and air-slaked lime to each 
three square yards of ground. 
PLANTING 
While Sweet Peas may be planted in groups, or in various other ways, yet 
where the main consideration is the production of flowers for house decoration, 
double rows, with the plants set alternately about a foot apart either way, and 
five feet from centre to centre if several rows are planted, will be found to give 
the best results. 
Take all precautions to avoid checking the growth of the plants. Be sure 
that they are always supplied with water while growing in the pots or boxes, 
and select a cloudy day for transplanting to their permanent growing place- 
Do not expose the roots any longer than you can help when planting, and firm 
the soil thoroughly around the plants when they are planted. The importance 
of a firm soil is very often overlooked by beginners. 
SUPPORTS 
Look ahead in this matter of supports and determine what you are going 
to use before you actually need it. Forethought in this, as in most of the other 
affairs of life, will pay a large interest. If you find that two inch wire netting 
six feet high is the only material you can use, get it in place before the plants are 
set out. We prefer good brush to the wire netting, and this may also be placed 
first, and then the plants have something to get hold of right away. Nothing 
so appals the young Sweet Pea plant as to find itself without any visible means 
of support, and to be allowed to sprawl on the ground in a helpless manner. 
Sometimes it is necessary to give the plants a tie to start them up the supports, 
and the enthusiastic grower will not begrudge this little extra work. 
SPECIAL SUPPORTS FOR EXHIBITION PEAS 
The ordinary methods will hardly do if the very finest exhibition flowers 
are the aim of the grower. The method here evolved is to use bamboo canes, 
eight foot long, to each shoot, and to restrict the number of shoots to three or 
four per plant. In using the canes for support, it is necessary to have good firm 
posts at both ends of the rows and to run a wire from end to end, tying the canes 
firmly to the wire (see Figure i, page 88). It is even advisable to use such 
post and wires where brush is used, as it will prevent the brush from swaying 
too much in strong winds. Growing on bamboo canes involves a great deal of 
tying, and cutting away the tendrils — but nothing that is "worth while" is 
accomplished in this world without lots of work. 
