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The Sweet Pea

Lathyrus odoratus.

IT is a singular circumstance that the sweet pea has been commonly regarded as a half-hardy annual, whereas it is as hardy as any pea in cultivation, and the seed may not only be sown in February in the open ground, but in November, and if the mice do not eat it the winter will not kill it, and in due time the plants will appear with the sunshine of the early spring. But this fine plant deserves extra care, and should never be grown in a careless manner. It is the custom with many gardeners to sow the seed in pots and nurse the young plants in frames, but we prefer to sow them where they are to remain, and to defer doing this until the middle of March, for if the plants come up with a flush of warm weather before the frosts are over, they are apt to be nipped, and transplanting puts them back, so that to raise them in pots for the purpose is decidedly objectionable. Thus we simplify the ordinary cultivation, but we must urge that what is done should be done well. A piece of mellow soil in an open situation should be prepared, by being well dug and rather liberally manured, in autumn or winter, and when the seed is sown this should be dug over again and the lumps broken to make a nice seed-bed; then sow in a neat drill an inch and a half deep, and very soon after the plants appear put to them stakes of brushwood about four feet high, selecting for this purpose the neatest and most feathery pea-sticks you can find. Peas that are grown to eat may be supported roughly, but peas that are grown to be admired for their beauty should be supported in the neatest manner possible; therefore wire trellises and "rissels" made for the purpose may with advantages be employed, especially when the peas occupy a prominent situation in the garden. In the event of dry hot weather occurring early in the summer, sweet peas should be liberally watered two or three times a week, and if the natural soil is sandy or chalky it may be advisable to mulch the rows with half-rotten stable dung, which, if needful, can be concealed with a sprinkling of earth. To keep them flowering freely to the end of the season, all the pods should be removed upon becoming visible, and the plants, being thus relieved of the tax upon their energies the swelling of the seed would entail, will maintain their vigour more completely, and flower the more freely in consequence. The commonest sample of sweet peas, that may be bought for a penny at the nearest stall, is worth sowing and growing, and will give delight to all who see and smell the flowers. There are no bad sorts in cultivation, and so if the seed is alive, that is enough. But those who take a pride in growing fine flowers will do well to secure seeds of some of the named varieties of sweet peas that are offered by the great seed-houses, for they are distinct and glorious, and will contribute in a most especial manner to the delights of the garden, and at a cost so small that it would be a breach of politeness in this connection to talk about money. Secure a supply of each of the sorts that are on offer, and sow them separately; you will then have only half a dozen rows at the utmost, for there are not more than as many sorts in the lists. Or--happy thought !--mix them and sow them thinly in well-made ground, and then you will be able to gather several sorts on the same spot, which will often prove a convenience. They are extremely useful for decorative purposes and large "nosegays," but must be used with caution in bouquets and button-holes.

Peas are "papilionaceous" plants--that is to say, their flowers are like butterflies. "Here are sweet peas, on top-toe for a flight, With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white."

They are also "leguminous" plants--from legumen, pulse--the seeds being substantial nutritive things produced in cases or pods which are sometimes like parchment, sometimes like paper, and sometimes tender and sweet, so that, as in the sugar pea, the whole thing is eaten, or, as people say, the "whole hog, skin and bristles." Poor "Bully Bottom" called upon Master Peas-blossom to scratch his head, and being thus scratched by Master Peas-blossom, he must needs have a donkey's appetite, and desire "a bottle of hay" or "a handful or two of dried peas." Nor need the donkey be ashamed of his relative, for the choice of peas was not a bad choice, and it might be well for mankind at large, as well as for the asinine brotherhood, were peas more extensively relied upon as a kind of food likely to "stick to the ribs." As regards usefulness, the pea family is one of the wonders of creation; but as we cannot afford space to be scientific, we shall quietly quit the subject while our shoes are good. "An early worshipper at Nature's shrine, I loved her rudest scenes--warrens and heaths, And yellow commons, and birch-shaded hollows, And hedgerows bordering unfrequented lanes; Bower'd with wild roses, and the clasping woodbine Where purple tassels of the tangling vetch With bittersweet, and bryony inweave, And the dew fills the silver bindweed's cups. I love to trace the brooks whose humid banks Nourish the harebell, and the freckled pagil; And stroll among o'ershadowing woods of beech, Lending in summer, from the heats of noon, A whispering shade, while haply there reclines Some pensive lover of uncultured flowers."