report. It is the most important educational agent in the hands of the Ontario Horticultural Association, and we are anxious that everyone should get a copy. The motion was carried.

W. B. BURGOYNE: Those of us who have attended this convention since its inception have noticed how it has grown. Six years ago, when it was organized, there were about twenty members, who met in a small room on Victoria Street. For the next few years we had the honour of meeting in one of the committee rooms in the City Hall, which was admirably adapted for the purpose so long as our attendance was moderate. Two years ago we had occasion to come into this room, and the same difficulty arose then as occurs to-day. The acoustic pro

perties are so bad that it is not a pleasure to meet here. Unless one speaks very loudly he cannot be heard in the distant parts of the room distinctly. Our Association has outgrown the committee room the City Council have always been willing to place at our disposal, but this room is not suited to our purpose. Our Society is not so poor that we cannot procure rooms suited for our purpose. Mover by W. B. BURGOYNE, seconded by J. GRIEVE: "That the Board of Directors be instructed to procure more suitable quarters for the annual meetings of this Association in future." Carried.

E. E. C. KILMER: If in the columns at the back of the annual report it were stated whether a Society was a member of the Association or not, that would encourage the payment of fees.

J. LOCKIE WILSON: That suggestion is a good one and I will consider it. THE PRESIDENT: I will call on our representative on the National Exhibition Board to make a report.

MAJOR H. J. SNELGROVE: I consider it a very great honour to represent this Association on that Board. I was a member of the Horticultural and Agricultural Committee last year, and in that capacity took part in the revision of the prize list. The old list favoured the commercial florist, and was not in the interests of the amateur grower. I did not have much success at that time, but this year, I am glad to say that we succeeded in very largely altering the character of the prize list, so that a reference to it now will show that practically the entire list is framed in the interests of the amateur grower. The same thing applies very largely to the prize list for fruit. Last year the Exhibition was attended by 926,000 people, which shows its magnitude, the largest and best under municipal auspices in the world. Those who saw the exhibit of fruit from old and new Ontario must have been greatly impressed.

It was, however, a matter of regret that this year the vegetable growers and fruit growers were forced out of the Horticultural building and had to use tents, while the Ontario Government's exhibit of minerals was safely housed inside. That Government is rich enough to have a building of its own. The exhibits this year were better arranged than ever, and we have to thank the Superintendent of that building, and a good deal of credit is also due Mr. J. Lockie Wilson, who was constantly in attendance there. I moved that our President act as the judge of cut flowers. His excellent judgment and impartiality made him one of the best judges on the grounds. There is a rule that judges shall only act for a certain time, but I trust Mr. Whyte will again officiate. I trust that my work on that Board has been satisfactory to you, for it has been a labor of love to me.

SWEET PEAS: CULTURE AND VARIETIES.

THOMAS D. DOCKRAY, TORONTO.

For the decoration of the home and the garden no flower is more popular than the Sweet Pea. More seed of it is sold than of any other flower, and to create a new variety is the dream of every hybridist.

SOIL. To produce the largest and earliest blooms, Sweet Peas should be grown in full sunlight. If the slanting shadow of a tall tree or building should happen to fall upon them for an hour or so in the afternoon it will help to prevent them from burning in the sun, but more shade than this will make them weak and ineffective. Heavy clay soil is said to be the best for them, but in Toronto we have had a fair success on clay loam and even on sandy soil. Prepare the ground in the fall by digging the earth out of the place where the Sweet Peas are to grow to a depth of three or four feet. Then mix the earth thoroughly with about the same amount of manure, the older the better, and fill the hole dug with this mixture to within six inches of the top. Break up some decayed sod fine and mix some bone meal and soot with it, also some wood ashes and a little lime, and fill up the remaining six inches. If the soil is not prepared until spring then use only the manure, at least one year old, and bone meal.

CHEMICAL FERTILIZER. Superphosphate is recommended as a chemical fertilizer, or a mixture of 3 pounds of superphosphate, 1 pound of bone flour, 1 pound of nitrate of potash, 1 pound of sulphate of potash, and 1 pound of nitrate of soda. This mixture should be lightly dug in early in March and is sufficient for a patch 16 feet square or a strip 3 feet wide and 85 feet long.

In Toronto, sowing in the fall is useless. About March 20th is the earliest one may venture to sow here. From the 5th to the 10th of April is usually safe. Some seeds should also be sown in boxes or pots under glass or in the house, so that the young plants may be transferred to the place in the row where the seeds have failed to germinate. Plants should not be grown closer than six inches together. A birdscare of some kind should be put up at once, or the sparrows will get the seeds.

HEDGES. For hedges, only varieties, well mixed, of about the same height and vigor, should be grown. Sow in two rows, leaving a space from 8 to 12 inches or more between the rows. Plant stout posts, painted or stained green, along the rows, with cross pieces on them to which to fasten the wire. When the plants are up, say a couple of inches. place a slender twig about 18 inches long by each for support. Then string the first wire 18 inches from the ground. Tie the plant loosely to the twig and tie the twig firmly to the wire. Some varieties have very few tendrils until they are over a foot high, and all seem to shrink away from the wire during the earlier stages of growth. The upper wires should be supplied only as needed. Use the finest galvanized wire that will stand the strain. The whole object of this method of stringing is to get the best decorative effect in the garden by making the support as nearly invisible as possible, and by keeping the tops of the plants all the time just above the support. If wire netting is used, it should be put up before sowing, and be at least six feet high and with a six inch mesh or larger.

BRUSH. The advantage of brush as a support is that it does not burn the tendrils and permits the plants to put out their branches naturally in all directions, as a tree does, instead of only to the right or to the left, as when trained on

wires. But, until heavily covered by the vines, brush is very unsightly. You must put up the brush early, and people coming into your garden say, "Isn't it a pity your sweet peas died so soon?"

ON WALLS OR FENCES. Sweet Peas may also be planted to run over the lower branches of a climbing rose or vine, and will thus escape the scorching heat that is reflected from a bare wall or fence. They will begin to flower just as the other climber is fading. But the ground must be made very rich, otherwise the Sweet Peas will not be able to compete with the woody climber.

IN TUBS. Even for formal decorative effect Sweet Peas may be grown in large tubs and placed, like clipped box trees, along walks or on terraces. The tubs should be of wood, painted green, deep rather than broad, and with some holes bored in the bottom. Some broken flower pots should be put in and then a mixture of old sod, roughly torn up, and old manure, to within a few inches of the top, then some fine good soil. An early start may be obtained by planting the tub in a greenhouse, and removing it to the kitchen garden or some other inconspicuous position when all danger of frost is past. When the plants have come up, they should be thinned out until they are about 3 inches apart. Some strong support, such as galvanized wire rods, fastened together here and there, or a cylinder of wire netting, should be provided at once and the vines carefully trained up it, so as to prevent the support being seen. That's the great drawback. When the plants are about to flower, the tub may be removed to the terrace, lawn, or other position for which it has been specially designed. Liquid manure and other stimulants should be used, but not too much, lest the lower leaves wither. Varieties that do not grow very high are the best to plant in tubs as they flower early in the season. Mont Blanc, a white, does well in quite small tubs, or large flower pots, as it grows only about 18 inches high. It is also splendid for bare spots here and there in the perennial border. I have found Cupid Sweet Peas to be utterly useless in pots, in tubs, or in the open ground.

IN CIRCIES. A favorite way of growing sweet peas in the Old Country is in circles in the middle of beds of annuals. A little tent of brush or wires is set up first and tied at the top. Then the seeds are sown. If the plants show a tendency to stretch away from the support, a light twig or wire can be so worked in as to encourage the tendrils to take hold. Here this has the disadvantage that the support is unsightly until midsummer.

WATERING. Sweet peas require a great deal of water in Toronto. The best way is to give them, say, half an hour with a very fine spray at sundown two or three times a week rather than a hasty splash every evening. But soft water that has stood in the sun is better than the chilly water from the hose. The fine spray. however, is most useful in knocking the green flies off the plants.

CULTIVATION. After watering, the ground must be stirred up around the plants and always kept from looking smooth. Or a mulch of dried grass clippings may be laid upon the ground, but not too close to the vines. In this case not so much watering will be required and the ground need not be stirred up so frequently, as the mulching will prevent its baking hard and will keep it moist. A constant watch must be kept on the mulch itself lest it become mildewy or pasty and afford a pleasant rendezvous for injurious insects.

The foregoing methods of culture may appear extremely difficult and possibly forbidding. I have given you the hardest things to do in every line. But we have only to turn to the horticultural magazines and books of the Old Country to see that what we consider tender care of Sweet Peas here would there be looked upon as rank neglect. For they get their magnificent successes with Sweet Peas only

after persistent vigilance against rabbits, cats, moles, mice, blackbirds, slugs, snails, stripe, mildew and a number of fancy fungous diseases that we are not troubled with here.

VARITIES. The superiority of the Spencer varieties is admitted on all sides, and nearly all shades of the older Grandiflora type may be obtained among the new ruffled varieties.

Among the pure whites, Etta Dyke Spencer is the best, excelling Dorothy Eckford in waviness, but both have very large flowers, usually four on a long stem under good treatment. Florence Wright and Nora Unwin are also good whites. Mrs. Collier is a warm white, almost cream, but unruffled.

The best and clearest buff yellow is Clara Curtis Spencer. Other good buffs are Lady Knox and Mrs. A. Malcolm, but both may incline to a fawn shade on the Standards.

Mrs. Routzahn Spencer is the best cream pink. Like it are said to be Romani Rauni and Mrs. Hugh Dickson. Constance Oliver is also good. Paradise Ivory is a most delicate cream with just a suspicion of rose, but it does not seem to expand fully in Toronto. It doesn't sun dry and seems to have too much moisture.

Elsie Herbert Spencer is the best white with a pink edge, having very large flowers, but Picotee Spencer gives a large percentage of stalks with four wellspaced blossoms. Dainty, when not ruffled, has the pink edge beautifully defined. For a cream with a pink edge, the choice would fall upon Mrs. C. W. Breadmore or Evelyn Hemus, both Spencers, and practically identical. Dora Breadmore has a pink edge, but is slightly hooded, and the cream becomes fawn as the season advances.

Countess Spencer, the type of the ruffled hybrids, is still unexcelled as a pink. Marjorie Willis, Marie Corelli, or Gladys Unwin, rosy pinks; Mrs. Hardcastle Sykes or Elfrida Pearson, blush pinks; Mrs. R. Hallam or Miriam Beaver, deep cream pinks, are all most desirable in this popular colour.

The great fault of the orange Sweet Peas is that they are apt to burn in the sun. The best are Helen Lewis, an orange pink, and Thomas Stevenson, an orange scarlet, both Spencers, and very vigorous. Other good orange Spencers are Edna Unwin Improved, Dazzler, St. George, and Anglian Orange. A new unruffled variety, said to be nearly a true orange color and almost sunproof, is Orange King. Because they burn so badly, Henry Eckford and Agnes Johnson should not be grown here.

At least one scarlet has been produced that will stand the sun fairly well, and that is Queen Alexandra, a fine, large flower of the old, plain type. Doris Burt, George Stark, Scarlet Monarch and Scarlet Gem are not always sunproof, but are Spencers.

For a crimson, King Edward Spencer is the best, having displaced Salopian, just as Salopian displaced Coccinea. Sunproof Crimson and Maud Holmes are two splendid new varieties. Perhaps the purest ruby color is King Edward VII., a large flower, but not a Spencer. Of a good garnet color are Cherry Ripe (the Spencer form of Coccinea) and Chrissie Unwin. John Ingman, George Herbert and Mrs. William King, all practically alike, are fine rose magentas of the Spencer type. Rose du Barri is an odd-looking burnt pink.

The bronze, or maroon, section is not much in favor. The best here is Douglas Unwin. It is of a rich purple wine colour, and the surface of the flower almost suggests a pansy in its velvetiness. Black Knight Spencer, Othello Spencer, Nubian and Tom Bolton, all practically alike, are of chocolate or mahogany color and are shiny, thus running some risk of burning.