HAND BOOK FOR THE GARDEN 29 

decomposed. Allow plants plenty of room; rows should be 8 feet 
apart and 15 inches between the plants in the row, but the distance 
may be less according to the habit or growth of the variety. 
The aster beetle or fly is one of the worst pests but there seems 
to be only one crop of them, and these if caught and killed are not 
usually followed by others. Dusting the plants with air slacked lime 
or dry ashes will be found beneficial. Root lice and cut worms are also 
troublesome. Applications of kerosene emulsion or tobacco water 
around the roots are effective. Aster blight or ‘‘yellows’’ can usually 
be traced to the work of the above pests. 
The plants should be pulled and burned if they should become 
badly diseased. Growers should remember that prevention is better 
than cure. Good cultivation and the timely use of the remedies sug- 
gested should produce healthy, vigorous plants. 
Sweet Pea Culture 
Preparation Soil. Prepare a trench 2 feet deep and at least 
1% feet wide. Fill in with a mixture of rich loam and well rotted barn- 
yard manure or 5 lbs. of sheep manure and 1% lbs. of bone meal for 
each 8 feet of row. Cover with 6 inches of good soil. The manure should 
be worked in deep down and carefully mixed through the soil at bot- 
tom of trench. 
The trench should slope gradually towards the center, which is 
to be 2 inches deeper than the sides. 
Planting. Should be done the first day the soil is dry enough 
to work without becoming sticky. If the soil is worked while wet it 
may ruin the crop. 
White Seeded Sweet Peas should not be sown until the ground has 
thoroughly thawed. Sweet Peas require a long period of slow growth 
under cool conditions which are necessary for good root formation. 
Late sown Sweet Peas, especially when planted after May 15th are 
seldom worth while. Sow 1 lb. of seed for 100 feet of row. 
Make a furrow in the center of trench 6 inches wide and 3 deep. 
Sow the seed in this furrow in two rows, 4 inches apart and 2 inches 
apart in the row. Cover with about an inch of fine soil and tamp down 
firmly. If soil is damp and heavy tamp more lightly than if dry and 
loose, After tamping, rake another inch of soil over seed. Do not cover 
seed more than 2 inches deep altogether. 
Cultivation. When vines are 5 inches high, fill up the 4 inches 
between the rows with fine soil, drawing the soil to each side, cover- 
ing the vines to within an inch of their tops. Do not cover up the 
vines entirely. Straighten any crooked plants and remove weeds. 
After the vines have grown another 5 inches repeat the operation; at 
this time hoe up the soil outside the rows to a level with the soil 
around the vines, so that what was originally the trench becomes a 
ridge. 
