SEPTEMBER 7, 1903. 
' THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER, 
soil contain mineral elements, phosphoric 
acid, potash, and lime, but a crop ofa nitrogen 
gathering plant will add to land enough nit- 
rogen to support several crops of wheat. By 
ploughing under a crop of aleguminous plant, 
such as red clover, cow peas, or soja beans, 
vegetable fibre is also added to the soil, which 
is of value, especially if the land has been 
cultivated for some years, and therefore defi- 
cient in this. For field culture this is espe- 
cially. valuable, and if green manuring were 
better understood it would be more widely 
practised. The presence of nitrifying bac- 
teria in the soil is essential, but they are 
usually presént in fields which have been 
under cultivation, and the presence of these 
bacteria can be recognised by the nodules 
which are formed on the roots of these legumi- 
nous plants. Keeping these points in mind; 
the securing of suitable soil is comparatively 
easy.,.—W. R.- Pierson, Florists’ Ex- 
change. 
= G6e6 2566> 
MALMAISON CARNATIONS. 
Probably no flower, with ‘the exception of 
the Rose, finds greater favour with the cul- 
tured classes of England at the present day - 
than the beautiful Malmaison Carnation. 
When the controversy was raging in Coro- 
nation year as to which was really the 
Queen’s favourite flower, Her Majesty so 
frequently appeared at public functions 
wearing Malmaison Carnations that had 
the controversialists not been blinded by 
their prejudice for another of Flora’s gems, 
they must at least have recognised the 
claims of this noble Carnation. It is still 
fashion’s favourite, and one had only to note 
the enthusiasm aroused in the Upper Ten by 
the magnificent exhibits of this Carnation 
at the Temple Show to feel that its position 
as such is very secure. 
~BSRS8SSS + 
Sweet Peas. 
SeoOooxnr 
Like every other plant growing in. our 
gardens, Sweet Peas have suffered con- 
siderably in this most untoward of seasons. 
Fortunately, however, for the happiness of 
their ever-increasing army of devotees they 
possess remarkable powers of recuperation, 
and a few sunny hours work wonders with 
the plants, bringing up buds where none 
could be'seen seven or eight days before. 
In my anxiety to bear testimony to the in- 
iquity of the weather I had well nigh for- 
gotten. to attach any blame to the voracious 
slug, who has certainly had far more than 
a fair share of the Sweet Peas this season. 
Let us hope that the advent of July will 
bring with it warm days and growing 
nights, when we: shall soon forget that 
trouble ever existed. 
Tt is at this period of the plants life that 
one usually commences a little special feed- 
ing, and it. will be wise to exercise more 
than ordinary care in doing it this year. 
The chances of the growths being sappy 
are very great indeed, and plants in this 
condition are invariably more difficult to 
feed than those which have a strong, 
thrifty nature. The danger lies, of course, 
jn overfeeding, this tending to the produc- 
tion of growth that is still more succulent. 
Nitrogenous manures should be studi- 
ously avoided, reliance being placed on 
foods of a phosphatic and, in a lesser de- 
gree, of a potassic character.. Two:or three 
days prior to a show it will be permissible 
to give a very light application of nitrate 
of soda, as this imparts color as well as 
size to the flowers. Those persons, and 
there are many such, who are shy of using 
this, may find almost equal benefit from 
soot, but this is slower in its action, and 
must be applied earlier—say, seven days in 
advance of the date at which the flowers 
are desired to be at their best. 
An important point in the growing of 
Sweet Peas for exhibition lies in the reduc- 
tion of the sprays on a plant. Assuming 
that the utmost care has been taken of the 
clumps from the time they were first 
formed, in the way of allowing abundance 
of room for every shoot to come away un- 
trammelled py its neighbors, and that the 
small sticks which are advisable imme- 
diately cae planting is done have been 
supplemented by thoroughly efficient 
stakes, there will certainly be more flowers 
set than the plant can possibly bring to 
perfection. Some buds must, therefore, be 
removed, so as to afford every chance to 
those which are retained. 
To numerous persons this may sound to 
be a considerable sacrifice, and for the 
moment it does entail a loss in garden 
effect, but it is only for such a short time, 
and our show blooms are so much finer for 
the thinning that no one should hesitate to 
carry it out. Once the all-auspicious day 
is passed, and the coveted prize is won 
(or lost), the plants may be allowed, nay 
encouraged, to flower away merrily, as they 
undoubtedly will do if they are properly 
looked after. To cease to trouble about 
the plants when ‘the show is past is a sin, 
as they are yet full of vigor, and ~ still 
give scores os excellent sprays. 
Sweet Peas have no equal amongst the 
dozens of annuals that are regularly grown 
in English gardens for persistence of 
blooming, provided they receive the atten- 
tion to which they are indubitably entitled. 
The principal thing is to (pick the flowers as 
closely as possible, so as to prevent even 
the semblance of the formation of seed 
pods. If the grower once allows the plant 
to turn. its energies towards the direction of 
seed development he will quickly see the 
effect upon it. In its anxiety to do one 
thing well it will let the one thing be that 
which will go towards its perpetuation— 
seed production—rather than to the bring- 
ing forth of more flowers. In good ground, 
watered and fed as may be necessary, 
Sweet Peas seem to’ have the power of 
practically perpetual blooming, and this 
is a trait that all lovers of the fragrant 
flower should encourage. 
ish, ab. Waricut, in “The Gardener,” 
TO CLASSIFY THE SWEET PEA. 
Colour vet'sus Form versus Nothing. 
“What has the Sweet Pea done that it 
should be subjected to all the horrors of 
classification?” is a question that many a 
lover of this. charming flower will growl out 
as soon as the subject of classifying it is 
mooted. : The answer must be, I fear, that 
we want to classify everything nowadays, 
we like to make the simple complex, the 
straight path crooked, and then to sit 
; down and glory in the beautiful tangle of 
rules and obstructions that our ingenuity 
has called into being. rm 
The florist isa wonderful fellow. There 
is no simple flower that he cannot hedge 
about and classify—to this end was. he 
born, and we have only to accept the 
situation. When Mr. W. P. Wright sug- 
gested at the Sweet Pea Conference two 
years ago that classification by color was 
the method he favored, the listening florist 
rubbed his hands and smiled a guileless 
smile. He smelt .complexities ahead. 
That color scheme is simple now: it will 
not be so simple presently. We are con- 
tent for the most part with selfs now, with 
a few half-hearted bicolors. By-and-bye 
there will be fancies and shows and Picotee- 
edged flowers, a galaxy of stripes, and 
spots, and bars, and then nobody will quite 
understand the arrangement, and the 
florist will be happy. - 
The alternative scheme, of classification 
by “form,” especially of the standard, has 
been discussed not a few times. I fancy 
that it was the Rev. Mr. Hutchings who 
first suggested that here was a natural 
grouping offered for those who chose to 
take advantage of it. 
The so-called ‘‘hooded” form is perhaps 
the most highly evolved type of all, but, 
sad to say, it-is closely related to a type 
where .th¢* standard is erect, and the 
margins are: not-curled over atall. This’ 
is the Sweet Pea of the damp, growing 
season, and the up-to-date cultivator who 
believes in “thin seeding’”’ and good soil. 
The notched standard is sufficiently 
noticeable, and it would be easy 
to separate novelties where — stan- 
dards were notched in this way 
from others in which the standard was en- 
tire. So farit all seems quite easy. We 
have but to cry “notch or no notch,” as we 
used to cry in those far-back schooldays, 
when the choice of innings at a Satur- 
-day’s cricket match was in progress, the 
while a pocket-knife with a chipped handle 
was flung skywards. But, stay, the 
quality monger comes in and declares that 
the notch is a defect, and that he will not 
grow varieties thus marked. He finds 
many people to agree with him, too, and 
it may well be that the Sweet Pea of the 
notched standard is on the high road to 
extinction. Then there will be only one 
group left, and classification by the form of 
the standard will have gone by the board. 
Perhaps it will then be color. or nothing. 
I fancy that I shall not want supporters 
when I say that I hope it will be nothing. 
~~‘ The Gardener,” - Cryptos, 
