INC. 
^^FLOWER SEEDS FOR FLORISTS 
WINTER PEAS 
A field of our early, or winter-flowerins sweet peas. Our Ball Rose Improved is shown in the 
foreground, White Harmony in the back and our Ball Orange, the most vivid of all orange peas, 
is shown on the left. These fields, as well as our crops under glass, are under our close, personal 
supervision and we are very sure that more carefully rogued and handled seed cannot be had 
from any source. 
PLEASE 
NOTE 
The lack of germination frequently complained of, especially during hot 
weather, is not due to dead seed but to rot in the soil that attacks it. The 
past few years we have treated Sweet Pea and some other seed, for our 
own use, with a material known as Cuprocide, or red oxide, and we find 
it a real protection against rot. We have decided, beginning July 1, to 
treat all Sweet Pea seed we sell with this material unless requested not to do so. When so treated, 
the seed must not be soaked in water to swell before sowing as is sometimes done. 
In sowing at any time do so in fresh or sterilized, and fairly moist soil. Cover about a half inch 
and apply no water, but protect the surface soil from undue drying until the seed comes thru. 
All the seed we are sending out was tested for germination during June, and we know that it 
will grow if you give it a chance to do so. 
CULTURAL NOTES 
T FHE past season we produced an unusually successful crop of mid-winter peas. The method used 
might be of interest. The sowing was made July 15, in soil that was thoroly saturated with hot 
water that was piped from the blow-off of our steam boiler. The water entered the soil at a 
temperature of 185° and was pushed well into the lower soil. All the watering was done by means 
of sub-irrigating, thru 4 in. drain tile buried 16 in. below the surface. No water at all was applied 
to the surface at any stage of their growth, except the little that hit it thru syringing for spider during 
the heat of summer. This left the top soil loose thruout the growing season. It also prevented that 
excessive atmospheric moisture during mid-winter that is largely responsible for a brown spot disease 
and mildew, that has always destroyed much lower foliage for us. The foliage on our plants was clean 
thruout their life, from the ground up. Frequent use was made of a German sulphur machine, and this 
may have been partly responsible for controlling spot and mildew,- but we believe the absence of 
muddy soil and damp atmosphere following the ordinary watering were factors in maintaining the 
foliage, and the good foliage helped the growth. 
The favorable conditions we seem to have maintained for early sown Peas has induced us to sow a 
month earlier this season. By doing so we will have the growth so well hardened when the dark days 
set in that bud drop will be controlled. 
For fuller details of our method of managing the early sowing of Peas and soil sterilizing consult the 
new edition of our BALL RED BOOK. 
[ 8 1 Failure uith Peas is nearly always due to rot infected roots. Freshen the soil 
