There is scarcely a plant more generally cultivated than the _Sweet
Pea_, and no wonder, since with the most delicate blossoms it unites an
agreeable fragrance.

Several varieties of this plant are enumerated by authors, but general
cultivation extends to two only, the one with blossoms perfectly white,
the other white and rose-coloured, commonly called the _Painted Lady
Pea_.

The Sweet Pea is described as a native of Sicily, the Painted Lady
Variety as an inhabitant of Ceylon; they have both been introduced since
the time of PARKINSON and EVELYN.

It is an annual, and not a very tender one; seedling plants sown in
Autumn frequently surviving our winters.

As it is desirable to have this plant in flower for as great a length of
time as possible, to have them early, we must sow them in the Autumn,
either in pots or in the open border; if sown in pots, they can the more
readily be secured from any severe weather, by placing them in a hot-bed
frame, a common practice with gardeners who raise them for the London
markets, in which they are in great request: others again should be sown
early in the spring, and the sowings repeated every month; they grow
readily in almost any soil or situation, and by this means may be had to
flower most of the year through.

If sown in pots, care must be taken to water them frequently.