54 
The Garden Magazine, March, 1924 
planted thickly, at least one seed every inch. 
If the rows are more than three inches apart the 
plants will not start up the rack as easily. The 
seed should be covered lightly and the ground not 
allowed to bake, for Sweet-pea plants are tender. 
When the plants come up and are two inches 
high begin filling around them with dirt. This is 
a tedious job and can only be done slowly and 
carefully by hand. The easiest way for me is to 
use a trowel and fill in around only a few plants 
at a time while I hold them upright. If the dirt is 
thrown with any force and directly on the plant it 
is broken and dies. After this first filling, since 
the plants are a little stronger, I let them grow 
four or five inches high before filling around 
them again. Repeat until the soil is level with 
the ground. This method, as you can readily see, 
gives each plant a very long root system which 
will extend down to moisture for the dry season. 
Get the rack up, or whatever means of sup¬ 
port you use, as soon as the vines are level with 
the ground for the sooner this is up the easier it 
is to train the Sweet-peas upright. If the rack is 
FRAMES THAT DO DOUBLE SERVICE 
When emptied of their spring contents these frames are 
pressed into summer service and make a fine place 
for growing pole Beans on bamboo trellises as here 
shown; Eggplants flourishing in foreground. Mrs. 
Peckham’s garden at New Rochelle, N. Y. 
are tied together with strong string, making a firm 
checkerboard lattice. Now the soil is forked lightly 
again, well raked and watered, and left to settle. 
1 he next day a shallow drill is made with a hoe at the 
base of the bamboos, and the Beans, generally of the 
variety Kentucky Wonder, are planted about two 
inches apart and covered with an inch of soil which 
is well firmed on top with the palm of the hand. 
After the tiny seedlings put in their appearance the 
beds are kept watered, and when the second leaves 
are on, the soil is hoed up against the stems to lean the 
plant toward the supports and a piece of “grocer’s 
twine” used to hold them in place. Tendrils soon 
begin to take hold, and the plants twist themselves 
around and climb up like magic. No more attention 
is needed except to give some water, preferably with the hose, each 
evening at the top and in the center of the bed. 
The great advantage of growing Beans in this way is one’s indiffer¬ 
ence to periods of drought, the watering is so easy and Pole-Beans 
should be kept “a moving on.” The crop here is generally amazingly 
heavy; it is remarkable how many quarts two beds will produce. 
Kentucky Wonder is a delicious Bean if the pods are picked young. 
They attain such size that this can easily be done and a big, economical 
bean be had, for they are tender when quite large and are nice also for 
canning. The aesthetic effect of the growing Beans is good and if the 
crop is kept well picked more flowers will appear followed by a second 
crop, not so prolific as the first to be sure, but just as good eating. 1 
think Beans grown in the frames have a better flavor than those from 
the garden, the speedy growth giving a tenderness and a “bouquet” 
missed by the usual slow development.— Ethel Anson S. Peckham, 
Davenport Neck, New Rochelle , N. Y. 
Sweet-Peas Till Frost 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine; 
M OST people admire Sweet-peas and would grow them but for the 
fact that the vines become dry and brown during the hot weather 
of July and August. With the right kind of planting and a little water 
during the extreme heat I have been able to keep the vines green and 
blooming until frost. 
Before planting, and that should be early March or possibly April, 
dig a trench eighteen to twenty-four inches deep and twelve or more 
inches wide. In the bottom of this put three or four inches of manure, 
for Sweet-peas require very rich soil. Then add the dirt and mix as 
well as possible, filling the trench to within six inches of the level of the 
ground. The seed should be planted at this level in drills an inch deep 
and two or three inches apart. Two rows will be enough if the seed is 
SWEET-PEAS TILL FROST 
Planted and tended with care. Sweet-peas flower the season through 
on fresh green vines at Edgewood Farm, the Iowa home of Mrs. Arney 
up before the vines begin to branch out, with a little handwork you can 
get them to start directly without running along the ground. 1 like 
four-foot chicken wire best for a support and each fall I take it down 
and store away until the next spring. There must be enough posts to 
keep this wire tight, and brace wires and stakes are needed at each 
end. 
For two years I let my work with the Sweet-peas stop at this point 
and the vines went through the dry season but did not bloom any during 
that time. But for the last two years I have added grass clippings 
constantly, sifting them carefully around the roots every week, until 
there is a mulch four or five inches thick by August. Straw may be 
used but one has to be careful to work it in around the roots. 
With this kind of culture the blossoms are much larger and finer and 
the stems are six and eight inches long. Although the vines may not 
produce many flowers during the dry season they will live through and 
when the fall rains come the blossoms are as fine as in the early summer. 
I never gather Sweet-peas except by cutting with scissors. Also, 
I watch for the seed-pods that form very quickly and keep those 
clipped off, for the blooms will cease if any are allowed to go to seed. 
—Agnes Dunshee Arney, Edgewood Farm, Albion, Iowa. 
An Alluring Reward in Zinnia Culture 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
F OR unequivocal beauty in the Zinnia garden none of them equals 
Golden Pheasant, surely. It belongs to that remarkable new and 
distinct class of Zinnias known as Giant Picotees and is unsurpassed for 
richness of brilliant tones. Because of just this, it is an ideal flower 
