REVISED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 '"*/ " PHILADELPHIA. 
 
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 \ ~^ ^ popularity destined for Sweet 
 
 I Peas, we steadily prepared ourselves 
 
 \ until we are accepted 
 
 Headquarters for Seed 
 
 1= of the best varieties. 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., 
 
 SEED GROWERS, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. PA. 
 
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ALL ABOUT 
 
 SWEET PEAS 
 
 A COMPLETE EPITOME OF THE LITERATURE 
 OF THIS FRAGRANT ANNUAL 
 
 REV. W. T. HUTCHINS 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED^ 
 
 &0° 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO 
 
 PHI LADELPHI A 
 1894 
 
<$ 
 
 Copyright, 1894, by W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 
 
 WM. F. FELL A CO., 
 
 ELECTROTYPERS AND PR.NTER8, 
 
 13JO-24 SANSOM STREET, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It has fallen to the writer's lot, — and has been wel- 
 comed as a delightful diversion, — to do pioneer work in 
 the literature of Sweet Peas. Only the briefest para- 
 graphs on the subject had found their way into the 
 floral papers, when, less than three years ago, the 
 writer, who had adopted the culture of this charming 
 flower as a specialty, began to let his enthusiasm out 
 in articles for the press. 
 
 The literature of Sweet Peas could not have begun 
 at a more opportune time. Mr. Eckford's successful 
 work in improvement and selection had begun to be 
 recognized in this country, and down Boston way, at 
 least, people had learned something of the magnificence 
 revealed in a successful hedge of Sweet Peas. But 
 still the introduction of the Eckford novelties in this 
 country seemed to "HANG FIRE." 
 
 Only the enterprise of some thoroughly national 
 5 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 seed firm was needed to take up this beautiful flower, 
 and to make its rare possibilities known throughout 
 the land. 
 
 Indeed, people bought their Sweet Peas mixed and 
 very cheaply, and some seedsmen took liberties with 
 the names of many varieties, so that, beyond the fact 
 that the flower was a favorite garden annual, little was 
 said or known of it. 
 
 But the new era began in this country as soon as 
 the more distinct Eckfords found purchasers who gave 
 them thorough trial. 
 
 The success with these has awakened a deeper 
 interest in the culture of the flower and has brought 
 the older varieties into greater prominence and demand. 
 
 The Sweet Pea has risentoa newand well-deserved 
 dignity, and now takes rank among our most carefully 
 cultivated flowers. 
 
 This new book is the first attempt made in America 
 to treat the culture of the flower with some degree 
 of thoroughness, and the writer takes great pleasure 
 in having the book brought out by Messrs. W. Atlee 
 Burpee & Co., whose enterprise in the selection of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 seed strains, and in making known to the flower-lov- 
 ing public of America the rare merits of this delightful 
 annual, has been signally successful and liberal. 
 
 The writer would especially say that he has writ- 
 ten this book with entire impartiality, and has tried to 
 have the work as complete as if he were publishing it 
 himself. It is to be hoped that better books will follow 
 as our knowledge increases, but in this work as it is 
 the writer has tried to make the culture of a neglected 
 but beautiful flower as inviting as possible. 
 
 W. T. HUTCHINS. 
 Indian Orchard, Mass., Nov. 28, 1893. 
 
THE QUEEN. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction, n 
 
 A Word of Cheer, 21 
 
 A Study, 30 
 
 How are New Varieties Made? 38 
 
 Varieties of Sweet Peas, 44 
 
 Complete List of Varieties of Sweet Peas, . . 53 
 
 The Latest Eckford Novelties, 62 
 
 The Seed Grower, 70 
 
 A Word to Seedsmen, 77 
 
 As an Exhibition Flower, 82 
 
 Monstrosities, 85 
 
 Soil and Preparation, 87 
 
 Fertilizers, 95 
 
 Time for Planting, 98 
 
 In the Southern States, ic2 
 
 Deep Planting, 103 
 
 Dropping the Seed, icy 
 
 Transplanting, no 
 
 Bushing and Trellising, 112 
 
 Watering, 117 
 
 The Rot or Blight 120 
 
 Sweet Peas Out of Season, 123 
 
 Questions* .' 124 
 
 9 
 
TO A SWEET PEA. 
 
 CHAS. I. JUNKIN. 
 
 Sweet little flower, who cares to sing thy praise? 
 
 Who crowns thee with the gem of glowing words? 
 Thou'rt but a simple thing, of every day, 
 
 Familiar as the myriad-numbered birds. 
 
 Thou canst not match the Lily's purity; 
 
 The royal Rose bedims thy utmost glow; 
 And tar Japan has sent her fairest queen 
 
 To bid thee bow thy head and bend it low. 
 
 Thou'rt built of common earth; no royal blood 
 Flows richly through thy humble, peasant veins; 
 
 Not thine the palace, better thou shouldst keep 
 Thy lowly place beside the village lanes. 
 
 And yet, sweet heart, thou hast a fairer place 
 Than princely Mood or grace could give to thee, 
 
 A quiet resting place in gentle hearts 
 That love thee for thy sweet simplicity. 
 
 Let high-born flowers contend to win the crown ; 
 
 Let nobles strive to seat them on the throne; 
 Do thou, sweet flower, in quiet, fragrant peace, 
 
 Possess the loving hearts that are thine own. 
 10 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 HE POET WORDSWORTH speaks of 
 " the flowers of Sicily." The Sweet Pea 
 
 is a native of that island, and was brought 
 into notice nearly two centuries ago.* As 
 a favorite garden annual it has long been 
 familiar to us, although its cultivation has really but 
 just begun. Since coming from its native Sicily home, 
 where nature gave to it the pink-and-white beauty 
 which has always been so popular, it has by the 
 florist's art been developed into other colors, such as 
 scarlet, purple, blue, brown, etc. But now, in the 
 hands of a specialist like Mr. Eckford, of Shropshire, 
 England, who has for seventeen years devoted him- 
 self to its improvement, it is like a new discovery, 
 and is already in the front rank as a fashionable 
 
 * Curtiss' Botanical Magazine, date 1793, says the variety known as 
 Painted Lady originated in Ceylon, but names Sicily as the reputed native 
 home of the Sweet Pea. 
 
 II 
 
i2 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 flower, with unlimited promise as to color, form, and 
 size. It is the coming flower. 
 
 Paxton's English Botanical Dictionary gives a list 
 of about sixty species of the genus LATHYRUS, of 
 which LATHYRUS ODORATUS, our beautiful Sweet Pea, 
 is one. Some of the other species are coming into 
 favor, like the Perennial Pea (Lathyrus latifolius), 
 which can now be had in several varieties, and others 
 which are better known in England than here ; but 
 the queen of them all is doubtless the Sweet Pea. 
 The tiny, bright blue Pea, known as Lord Anson 
 (Lathyrus carnullus), is rather pretty, and desirable 
 in a mixed row, as is also the crimson Pea, Lathyrus 
 tingitanus. These latter begin to bloom earlier than 
 the Sweet Pea. The Lord Anson, white, is worthless. 
 
 In this country the Sweet Pea wave now indicates 
 that its day is come. And while the popular interest 
 may recede somewhat, yet this fragrant annual can- 
 not be otherwise than a popular flower, and the 
 improvements made in its culture will give to it a 
 permanent rank among exhibition flowers. Heliotrope 
 and Mignonette have little besides their fragrance to 
 
MRS. GLADSTONE. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 commend them, but the Sweet Pea rivals them in per- 
 fume, and then for size of blossom and range of color 
 compares with the finest flowers that depend upon 
 beauty alone. If mass of color is wanted in a bouquet, 
 an abundance of fresh blooms wait every morning to 
 be picked, and if grace and airy lightness are desired, 
 nothing can surpass this queenly flower. That it is 
 everybody's flower is seen in the fact that the largest 
 seed-houses handle tons of the seed every year. This 
 country now even exports the seed to England. Pro- 
 bably two hundred acres in California, New York, and 
 Michigan were devoted this year to the growing of 
 this seed. 
 
 But still few comparatively have seen 
 either the finest Eckfords or, indeed, 
 , any Sweet Peas grown to perfec- 
 |[j tion. It marks an epoch in the 
 / life of a flower lover when he 
 first succeeds in growing this new- 
 old flower so as to bring out its true 
 thrift and luxury of vine and lavish wealth of 
 blossom. The writer will always remember 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 15 
 
 the day when he saw Sweet Peas 
 thus grown for the first time by 
 a gentleman who for several 
 years carried off the first prize 
 from the Boston Annual Ex- 
 hibit ; and that was before the 
 finest Eckfords had appeared. 
 Even the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 
 have followed a somewhat conservative and 
 stereotyped rule in regard to this flower, and 
 a few seed-houses only have timidly kept pace with 
 the new introductions. This is not strange, for it has 
 not only needed a specialist in England to introduce 
 the new varieties, but specialists on this side to pay 
 the price of the seed the first year, and succeed in 
 testing them. The Hampden County Horticultural 
 Society, of Massachusetts, gave a Sweet Pea show at 
 Springfield in July, 1893, which came nearer to a com- 
 plete exhibit of all the varieties than any ever held in 
 this country. And this is but the beginning of the atten- 
 tion this flower will receive for exhibition purposes. 
 But its real value is in its claim of being the 
 
16 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 people's flower. The cheaper mixture furnishes the 
 humblest cot with a complete flower garden, and no 
 fair lady of fortune was ever kissed by sweeter lips 
 than the royal and titled beauties that are now taking 
 the places of the old plebeian varieties. Already the 
 price of some of the finest new Eckfords is within the 
 reach of everybody. Three years ago the writer suc- 
 ceeded in nursing three plants of 
 the beautiful lavender Countess 
 of Radnor into bloom, but this 
 year a fine stock of this variety 
 will be offered at a price that 
 will make it a general favorite. 
 And so with others. 
 It may not be generous to compare the Sweet 
 II Pea with other flowers. All have their good points. 
 I\ But the praises of this flower, when justly sung, will 
 appeal to those who distinguish between the loud and 
 flashy gaudiness of nature's coarser flowers, and those 
 whose sweetness and adorning are in their delicate 
 grace and simplicity. The Sweet Pea was first intro- 
 duced like a blushing virgin in chaste pink and white, 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 17 
 
 and all the new shades are either of this soft, pure 
 coloring, or else of the richest dark shades that have 
 nothing loud in them. What will suggest the most 
 brilliant complexion like the Blanche Ferry ? And 
 then the beautiful range of pink shades, the dainty 
 edgings and shadings of- blue, ancf, if one wishes, the 
 intensest scarlet and crimson, like glowing coals of fire. 
 And then from a glistening white as pure as the driven 
 snow to deep blue and darkest maroon the broad range 
 is enjoyed. 
 
 The fragrance of the Sweet Pea defies the per- 
 fumer's art. Shut your eyes, and this 
 flower is still wondrously beautiful. 
 The sweetness which the Creator 
 has put into it delights the ^^^^"^ 
 very soul. Poems have been written 
 1 upon Sweet Peas, but not the poems 
 1 that are to be. No tribute thus far paid to its native 
 '• beauty or simple modesty even, as an old flower, can 
 ] now do justice to its merits. It commands its way 
 ; among the rich, .and yet seems on a mission sent to 
 convey the most spiritual suggestions to the lowliest 
 
 2 
 
IS 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 child. What can better adorn a pulpit or cheer a sick- 
 room ? 
 
 As a corsage bouquet, or held in a dainty hand, 
 this flower outshines any cosmetic, and excels any 
 bottled perfume. To the successful grower of a hedge 
 if even moderate length it will be 
 le pleasantest daily task to keep 
 the blossoms picked, and the whole 
 neighborhood may share the 
 pleasure in the distribution of 
 bouquets. From June to Octo- 
 ber the writer is not without blossoms 
 i 
 
 for a day. Walking through this bower 
 
 of beauty, as the names become familiar, is 
 
 like being received at court. In royal grace 
 
 the Sweet Pea stands to greet you, and is 
 
 not like the Pansy, to whose impish face you must 
 
 stoop and brush the dirt off. 
 
 Mr. Eckford, in a recent letter, writes: 'Mam 
 much pleased and delighted to know that my favorite 
 flower, the Sweet Pea, is so much admired and appre- 
 ciated by such a shrewd and cultivated people as the 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 19 
 
 Americans, and of whom a prominent characteristic is 
 that whatever they approve they warmly and eagerly 
 adopt. This, I think, is a grand trait in the American 
 character ; and the Sweet Pea mania which has 
 sprung up in recent years is a grand proof of the 
 cultivated taste of the florists and flower-loving public 
 of America. It is the sweetest of all sweet flowers, 
 and, in addition to its glorious fragrance, revels in the 
 most exquisite and diversified tints of coloring ; and, 
 moreover, the possibilities of the Sweet Pea are only 
 in their infancy, and with the improved system of 
 cultivation now adopted it will hold its own against all 
 comers as the popular summer flower." 
 
MRS. ECKFORD. 
 
A WORD OF CHEER. 
 
 Since this book is chiefly for amateurs, a word to 
 those who have lost heart in trying to grow Sweet 
 Peas will be in place. Don't give up. Perhaps your 
 interest brightened up last spring, and so much was 
 said about them you thought some new charm or 
 patron saint had cast a spell over them, and all 
 you would need to do would be to sow the seed, 
 and wait for the bright picture of the seed catalogue 
 to bloom right out before your eyes. You invested in 
 seed, and about half of it came up. And while you 
 were wistfully watching to see the thin row of plants 
 grow, behold ! the cut worms took half of them. Half- 
 heartedly, you provided something for the few remain- 
 ing vines to climb on, when for no apparent reason 
 vines that looked thrifty yesterday are drooping to- 
 day, and day after day you see them turn yellow and 
 die. And in this I am not describing the experience 
 
 21 
 
0?VRIGf, r 
 
 BYW.A.B.&Cd. 
 
 TYPE OF THE SENATOR. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 23 
 
 of those who know little about floriculture, but of 
 
 many who have mastered other flowers. All around 
 
 me are people whom I have supplied with the same 
 
 seed I use myself, and who see just how I grow Sweet 
 
 Peas, and yet their vines often look like the scattering 
 
 hairs on a bald head. Now, don't 
 
 blame the seedsman. The seed was 
 
 certainly fresh. And, any year, if 
 
 half the seed germinates, that is 
 
 enough. Almost every year I have 
 
 a section of a row here and there of seed 
 
 that I know is only one year old fail for 
 
 some reason to germinate. To meet this, 
 
 I plant little extra rows of each variety 
 
 for the purpose of transplanting, and thus fill 
 
 all vacant places. Then come the cut worms. 
 
 We are very apt to say, " Perhaps there won't be 
 
 any cut worms this year." But there will be, and 
 
 very likely a whole colony of them. But what 
 
 of that ? I left my eight hundred feet of rows 
 
 for three days right in the cut-worm season in the 
 
 hands of a little girl to hunt for them. A glance of 
 
24 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 the eye each morning will show you the suspicious 
 signs of the cut worm. Their depredations last but a 
 few days. Make it a capital offense for one plant to 
 be cut down. Unless you love to scratch in the dirt 
 get some bright boy or girl to poke the worms out of 
 their hiding place each morning. Spade your ground 
 up late in the fall and there 
 will be fewer cut worms. 
 It is not the object of this 
 chapter to give the remedy for each 
 difficulty, but to say to those 
 who have failed, success 
 is close at hand if you 
 will patiently look at 
 the situation. 
 „ Probably, last June, as one dubious fact fol- 
 lowed another, you said, "Well, I won't try 
 again," because without calmly considering each diffi- 
 culty by itself you lumped the whole together in a 
 vague way that magnified the real size of it, and you 
 wire discouraged at the time, and not in a mood to 
 study the problem point by point. Success with this 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 2< 
 
 flower is certainly worth the continued thought and 
 persistent effort you will need to give it. 
 
 I hear you say you followed the rules. But did 
 you season the rules with a little common sense, so as 
 to adapt them to your case ? Who can make rules fit 
 all circumstances ? For instance, an experienced 
 English seedsman said he followed my rule of putting 
 soapsuds on his Sweet Peas, and he shouldn't do it 
 again, for it nearly killed them. He thought English 
 soap must be stronger than American. But I suspect 
 he applied the soapsuds when the vines were too 
 young and tender, before they would 
 bear strong feeding. You don't feed 
 a baby as you would a strong boy 
 or a working man. Read the chap- 
 ter on the slow growth of the Sweet 
 Pea, and use judgment in the way 
 you try to force it along. If you 
 made an unscientific sort of a spurt 
 last year, just end up all that thoughtless 
 kind of floriculture, and find the pleasu 
 there is in a little mastery of difficulties, 
 
26 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 in answering for yourself in a thoughtful way the 
 questions that come up. Don't cultivate so beautiful 
 a flower at a venture and have three failures for every 
 success, but get down to business 
 and make success the rule. After 
 you have learned the point 
 about fertilizers, for instance, 
 you might say you have no rules. 
 The elements of plant food are to 
 be found in so many forms that 
 you may never supply your 
 potash and phosphoric acid 
 and nitrogen twice in the 
 same way. This fall I shall put tobacco 
 stems into my trenches for potash. That I have 
 never done so before is nothing. It stands to 
 reason that they will make good plant food fo 
 Sweet Peas as well as for other crops. 
 
 But you want simple rules to follow. Ah ! you 
 will be likely to blame the man who made the rules, 
 although he has boiled his best experience down in 
 making those rules. Go back to some old way if you 
 
 : 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 27 
 
 have had better success thus ; but this is probably 
 true, that as our most popular flowers are carried up 
 to higher forms by the florist's art, only scientific 
 rules will succeed. 
 
 . Now you will start in again this year with a pur- 
 pose to study principles rather than follow rules. We 
 shall not try to boil the rules down 
 in this book, but discuss the rea- 
 son for this and that. 
 
 Do what you do thoroughly, 
 if you sow but a nickel's worth 
 of seed. 
 
 Have you thought how, when 
 the fever is on, people go into some popular flower 
 as they do into the poultry business ? They have 
 read just how to do it, and are going to astonish all 
 their neighbors by immediate success. If expensive 
 seed will do it, then the price paid makes their hearts 
 bound-with hope. And of fertilizers there shall be no 
 lack. And they seem to think they can inject their 
 sudden ambition right into the little, dry seeds, and 
 hurry them along. And they propose to make up for 
 
28 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 lack of experience with energy and enthusiasm. 
 But nature is a great plodding machine, 
 and is no friend of sudden spurts. 
 In this, as in other things, we pay 
 a dear price for some lessons. 
 Simple as they are after once 
 learned, the inspiration of a prophet 
 cannot teach them, and only by making 
 ourselves the patient pupil of nature can we, year by 
 year, get a practical knowledge. And every new 
 spring-time we come back to our task with sobered 
 purpose and humble submission to nature's jealous 
 laws. 
 
 Try again this year ; you may lead the way to 
 permanent success. 
 
INDIGO KING. 
 
A STUDY. 
 
 The Sweet Pea is a queenly flower in all its 
 habits. Its favors are unbounded to those who make 
 a conquest of its culture, and there are no florist 
 secrets to bring it into most luxuriant bloom. It 
 laughingly says, "Win me if you can," and yet there 
 is a sweet condescension in its nature that makes it 
 take as kindly to the cottage garden as to the skilled 
 culture of the mansion grounds. Study the points. 
 
 i. It is an annual. It is wonderful how you can 
 lock all this summer luxuriance and beauty and pleas- 
 ure in a little, dry seed, and lay it away in safety 
 while the winter storms are raging. 
 
 You need exercise but little care how you spade 
 in rank manure about your perennial roots. But when 
 will people learn how to bring an annual through its 
 first tender stage up to that stronger period when 
 heartier feeding is needed ? The very term, annual, 
 
 30 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 31 
 
 suggests the extra nursing, care, and judgment 
 needed to get the plant along where it will 
 shift for itself. 
 
 2. The economy of ground required 
 for Sweet Peas. You can afford to take 
 more pains with them because they ask 
 for only the narrowest strip of your 
 precious garden. Take the two 
 sides of your Sweet Pea hedge 
 in full bloom, and you have a 
 garden in the air ten or twelve 
 feet wide, and all it asks is just enough soil to hold 
 the roots. You could hardly devote a space ten feet 
 wide to Verbenas or Phlox, and yet that would be 
 the equivalent of your row of Sweet Peas. But to 
 offset this economy of ground you must take all the 
 more pains in preparing it. 
 
 3. They have a growing season of six months. 
 Before the spring frosts have gone the Sweet Pea 
 germinates and sends up its great shoot, and on 
 through the summer drought and dog days, on through 
 September rains, till the mellow days of October alter- 
 
" WABACo. 
 
 DUKE OF CLARENCE. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 33 
 
 nate with cool and even frosty nights, the green vines 
 and beautiful blossoms of this flower adorn an un- 
 rivaled length of season. This length of season and 
 thrifti ness of growth at once suggest to the florist 
 that the soil must be rich and deep to sustain the 
 long growth of the plant. 
 
 4. The study of the root. 1 never examine the 
 root of a thrifty Sweet Pea vine without surprise. It 
 is remarkably small to feed such a growth of vine. 
 Examine it at different stages. The first week or two 
 after it germinates it has a root out of all proportion 
 to its tiny top. By the time the plant has a top an 
 inch high it has sent a long, slender tap-root down 
 three or four inches. That first root is an index of 
 the nature of the vine and seems to say, "I must 
 begin at once to get ready for the summer drought." 
 But pull up a full-grown vine, and you find that after 
 all, for such a rank growth, the root has remained 
 comparatively small. Now that tap-root, which gets 
 to be six or seven inches long, indicates the rule 
 which we follow of deep planting ; and that tap-root 
 will probably go as deep as the soil allows. But 
 3 
 
34 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 when you see a thrifty mass of vines in August you 
 would naturallyexpect to find quite a mass of fibrous 
 roots to support such a growth. And yet, as a rule, 
 there are not many, and it looks more like a root that 
 would starve instead of feed such a vine. This latter 
 fact points to another thing that is fully verified by 
 experience. The Sweet Pea is a slow grower. It 
 has to be in order to go through so long a season. 
 You will wonder all through the month of May what 
 it is doing ; it grows so slowly. And people are then 
 apt to overfeed it in trying to get it along faster. For 
 
 id- 
 ito 
 appear to feed 
 rapidly. I believe that a scientific 
 study of the Sweet Pea root will 
 go far toward making success the rule 
 among amateurs in its culture. Im- 
 atient to help their vines along, people are 
 to soak' them with soapsuds or stir in fertil- 
 izer, which not only acts as overfeeding would 
 on a baby, but, when the June heat begins to 
 
 V^-^ days it seems almost at a stanc 
 \ still. Not until well along in1 
 <^k' ' i i i) 1 June does the root appear to fee 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 35 
 
 pour down, it finds around those tender vines more or 
 less rank matter to ferment. Pour on your soapsuds 
 when you see your vines have begun to feed rapidly, 
 but don't do it for two months, or during April and' 
 May. Indeed, treat that root as you would a child. 
 Put the fertilizer not where the baby roots will get 
 burned up in it, but where in due time the strong 
 vine will get it when needed. The Sweet Pea is too 
 queenly a flower to be a gross feeder, and its needs 
 deserve to be studied. Of course, these suggestions 
 are for the amateur only, who goes about its culture 
 more or less blindly, with such conditions of soil as 
 make a special preparation necessary. And what is 
 said is more to suggest intelligent thoughtfulness, 
 rather than to give specific rules. An education in 
 ione flower like this will make success in all flowers 
 surer. 
 
 The writer hears a great cry about the vines 
 idying down at a certain stage. Fine-looking vines 
 are suddenly decimated in June. As a prevention, let 
 us begin to act intelligently right from the root. A 
 root study certainly indicates the rule of deep plant- 
 
3 6 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 ing, and as for the habit of slow growth, the root 
 indicates that also, and suggests that we, too, go slow 
 in fussing over them and trying to bring them along. 
 Indeed, this slow growth is one cause of abundant 
 bloom, for many know to their sorrow that their vines 
 have sometimes rushed along with a rank growth 
 without blossoms. 
 
 5. The habit of the vine. The 
 Sweet Pea vine has a double 
 tendency. It is a great 
 brancher and it is an abun- 
 dant bloomer. You can take 
 advantage of this either way, and drive 
 it into just a rank growth of stalk and 
 branches, or you can make it take on abundant 
 bloom. Too much rank manure will send any tall 
 Pea into vines. So at certain stages you can use 
 stimulants that will set the vine into abnormal growth 
 and stop the bloom. Probably if we did not practice 
 deep planting, and should disturb the roots by hoeing, 
 we should start up a new growth which would check 
 bloom. But Mr. Eckford would say, " Press the soil 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 37 
 
 1 firmly about the roots and don't disturb it." Have 
 
 , the fertilizer right and in the right place. Be at ease 
 
 when you see your vines growing slowly at first, for 
 
 1 they are getting steadied down to business. It would 
 
 be a vice for them to grow fast. 
 
 Have your roots deep enough, so that your weed- 
 ing will not disturb them. Put on your mulching as 
 soon as the summer heat begins to dry the surface. 
 Those first buds that show the last of June are a 
 precious indication that your vines have not taken 
 on a "fast " habit, but are going to keep you busy 
 picking blossoms. 
 
HOW ARE NEW VARIETIES MADE? 
 
 There is no danger of giving away any valuable 
 secret here. The simplest way of making new varie- 
 ties is to grow Sweet Peas by the acre, and be on the 
 alert for an occasional " sport," or to develop by selec- 
 tion some peculiarity of which indications are seen, or 
 to follow up some special shade, marking, or form, of 
 which the seed of those flowers that come the nearest 
 to what is wanted must be carefully saved each year. 
 " Sports " give quickest results, for selection is a pro- 
 cess of years. As to direct hybridizing, try it if you 
 wish. You will deserve to succeed if you do succeed. 
 You will probably get no result from crossing the 
 pollen of one open blossom to another, for the simple 
 reason that each blossom fertilizes itself before it is 
 fully open. 
 
 Mr. Eckford writes as follows about his experi- 
 ence : — 
 
 38 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 39 
 
 " When I first took up the Sweet Pea there were 
 six or eight distinct varieties in cultivation, and ex- 
 perts in the art, as far as I could learn, had come to 
 the conclusion that it could not be further improved, 
 and in the first two or three generations of the work 
 it appeared a fair conclusion ; but I should say that I 
 had been for many years working on the improvement 
 of various forest flowers, and which had proved so 
 eminently successful that a first rebuff did not deter 
 me from further attempts, with the results some of 
 which you are now acquainted with, and others which 
 can only be presented to the public as I can get stocks 
 of them. I took up the Sweet Pea in 1876, collecting 
 six of the most distinct varieties I could find, carefully 
 fertilizing the one with the other, year after year 
 selecting the most promising for recrossing, keeping in 
 view properties most desirable to develop, viz.: color, 
 form, substance, size. At first progress was slow, but 
 after seven or eight years' patient working the varie- 
 ties, some of whose praises you have so well sung, 
 [made their appearance." 
 
 To any one afflicted with a sudden spurt of desire 
 
New- 
 Sweet Pea, 
 
 American 
 -Belle. 
 
 An important departure 
 from the coloring and 
 markings of all other 
 varieties, being neither 
 striped nor mottled, but dis- 
 tinctly spotted. This point of 
 beauty is so novel and striking 
 that it is instantly seen with 
 . wonder. It belongs to the very 
 
 ' .Surpee&cq. ear, y- flowerin S class of Sweet Peas, of 
 which we have so few members. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 41 
 
 to try this work of hybridizing, we would simply say 
 that it is a most delicate, painstaking, and persistent 
 process. In some flowers you need but to shake the 
 pollen 'from one open blossom on to another. The 
 gentlest zephyr will convey the powdery pollen from 
 the tassels of the corn to the silk of other corn, it 
 may be rods away, and cross fertilize it. The " busy 
 bee" is like a winged anther carrying the pollen 
 from flower to flower. But the Sweet Pea smiles at 
 all this. You must skillfully begin back with the bud 
 a third grown, and first prevent a blossom from fertil- 
 izing itself, and in due time, by such process as experi- 
 ence will teach you, attempt the crossing. It is very 
 interesting to those who can pay the cost of time and 
 patience. Hybridizing can hardly be done on the 
 small scale of the amateur, for the reason that he 
 must keep generation after generation of the seed he 
 is experimenting upon. And if he succeeds in break- 
 ing up the blood of some old variety he must follow 
 up everything that comes from it, for he cannot tell 
 what freak it will suddenly develop. Two samples in 
 the writer's experience this year will illustrate. 
 
42 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 From a half dozen pods saved from a single vine 
 two years ago the product this year was a broken up 
 lot of about six varieties. Two years ago it was a 
 small white with the faintest lavender shadings. This 
 year, among three or four new developments, appeared 
 two old varieties to which the original had borne not 
 the remotest resemblance. There is no telling what 
 seed from any one. of those might produce next year. 
 It shows how, when a break comes, it is a fertile 
 source of new varieties. And out of this lot the one 
 I prize most is one that I have lost before and may 
 lose again. Another case is that of an unnamed 
 "sport," the seed of which this year flew into as 
 many as six varieties, most of them bearing resem- 
 blance to named sorts. On the other hand, my best 
 "sport" has for five years reproduced itself ninety 
 per cent, right along. Now that we have the Sweet 
 Pea grown for seed in various parts of our country, 
 very likely the differences of soil and climate will 
 bring out new sorts, as seems to be the case of the 
 American Belle, a California "sport" of this last 
 
 "ii. A shallow limestone soil made the Miss 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 43 
 
 Blanche Ferry. Selection is the surest process. Out 
 of an acre of a variety like the Primrose the seed of 
 the deepest color may be saved from year to year, 
 probably in time giving us a yellow that will far sur- 
 pass what we now have. And so with others. 
 
 The difficulties in hybridizing the Sweet Pea are 
 in its favor, for it goes to prove what a remarkable 
 flower it is in reproducing itself as an annual true to 
 seed. 
 
VARIETIES OF SWEET PEAS. 
 
 Do not say a Sweet Pea is only a Sweet Pea. 
 Probably in no flower is the distinction and naming of 
 varieties more genuine than in this. This matter of 
 naming varieties is doubtless overdone in some popular 
 flowers, but when you can get annuals to come true 
 from seed they are certainly as deserving of names as 
 the varieties of those flowers which must be propa- 
 gated by cuttings. Sweet Pea seed saved from 
 particular variety does not reproduce "anything an 
 everything" next year, as a Chrysanthemum migh 
 do. One of the first questions, when people see 
 collection of Sweet Peas growing side by side, is, 
 "Don't they mix?" The best answer is to sho 
 them a blossom, and tear open the keel containing th 
 stamens and pistil. Each blossom is at once seen t 
 be independent. And then go further and tear open 
 a bud about two-thirds grown, and the remarkable 
 
 44 
 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 45 
 
 act is seen that each blossom has already fertilized 
 tself. Even artificial hybridization is extremely diffi- 
 ult. While a small percentage of even the purest 
 ■eed will revert to some old or kindred variety, re- 
 [uiring a careful " rogueing " by the seed grower, yet 
 he writer is testing this matter every year, and finds 
 nost of the varieties very true. 
 
 How true the Sweet Pea is from seed may be 
 een in a variety like the Fairy Queen, a white, with 
 'ery delicate veins of crimson on the standard. The 
 'olid colors are especially pure. And even a " sport " 
 vil-1 sometimes take a fixed habit at once. On the 
 ither hand, the striped varieties, both in scarlet and 
 'mrple, are somewhat inclined to shift. They vary 
 rom solid colors to the striped form. This is truer of 
 he higher Eckford blood, the Princess of Wales and 
 he Captain of the Blues running into each other, 
 nd the Senator and Monarch doing the same. Still, a 
 lufficiently large percentage to establish their variety 
 lames comes true. And as in the case of the Count- 
 ss of Radnor, a delicate mauve, that, as yet, it is 
 iifficult to hold, several shades may appear, but only 
 
46 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 enough to make it interesting. Careful "rogueing" 
 will soon give them fixed habits. Then as autumn 
 advances there is a tendency in certain varieties to 
 take on blotched markings. Peculiarities of soil may 
 occasion this. Our confidence in the varieties of 
 Sweet Peas is also strengthened by the marked differ- 
 ences in the seed which have been 
 eveloped. Not only are there 
 white, and black seeds, but 
 those that have the distinct 
 mauve shadings, like the Rad- 
 nor, Tennant, Violet Queen, etc., 
 have much smaller seeds of brown and 
 drab markings. And the Orange Prince and 
 Crown Princess of Prussia have a smallish brown 
 seed. While you cannot tell the Primrose from 
 White seed, you know it from all other varieties. This 
 classification of seed is not only an evidence of fixed 
 varieties, but is very helpful to the seedsman in judg- 
 ing whether his stock of seed is true to name. 
 
 The writer has, at the request of seedsmen, tried 
 to make the list of varieties which is published in this 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 47 
 
 book as nearly standard as can be made. It is impar- 
 tial. With commendable fairness our large seed-houses 
 are now careful to give only the names that are found 
 on the best English trade lists. 
 
 It is a good time now to determine the standard 
 names, for we are just at the beginning of a new era 
 [in Sweet Peas, and are likely to have American 
 introductions, after which chaos in nomenclature will 
 probably follow in this as in other flowers. Here and 
 ; there a house on the outskirts of the trade does not seem 
 to have found out that to-day about seventy varieties 
 of Sweet Peas have been regularly christened with 
 jnames to which they have as sacred right as the 
 jstandard varieties of any popular flower. A reliable 
 seed-house will not tamper with Mr. Eckford's list, and 
 even where the old varieties have such prosaic names 
 as Black, White, Light Blue and Purple, etc., no one 
 on this side is authorized to give them any fanciful 
 names. Sometimes the term "invincible" is appro- 
 priately given to a specially good strain. Again, in the 
 case of the Miss Blanche Ferry vs. Blushing Bride, the 
 difference is simply in the habit of growth. The 
 
48 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 blossoms are identical, but the former was introduced 
 as having a dwarf habit, and the originators are still 
 trying to dwarf it more ; while the Blushing Bride was 
 offered as a more thrifty grower and more abundant 
 bloomer. The public patronage and interest will 
 probably go more with the name Miss Blanche Ferry, 
 although the writer prefers a thrifty growing habit and 
 a corresponding bloom for all varieties. Whatever we 
 
 call it, it is the most 
 popular of all the Sweet 
 Peas. The history of 
 the Miss Blanche Ferry 
 may be in place here. It 
 )) j^***' was first discovered by 
 W. W. Tracy of Detroit in a 
 humble country yard in a limestone region in New 
 York State, and was so dwarfed that its bright blos- 
 soms were at first taken to be those of some Geranium. 
 Growing in the shallow layer of soil above the lime- 
 stone rock, it had taken on a pink brilliancy that still 
 gives it the lead among all the pink and white Sweet 
 Peas. It has practically displaced the old Painted Lady. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 49 
 
 Now, up to this year Mr. Eckford has received the 
 Royal Horticultural Society's first-class certificate and 
 award of merit on seventeen out of forty-two of his 
 varieties. To these are now to be added nine novel- 
 ties, the merits of which another season 
 will prove in this country. 
 
 In certain cases Mr. Eckford has 
 simply given improved form and size 
 to old varieties, and has newly named 
 them. The old Black he has made 
 into the Monarch. The old sal- 
 mon-buff Crown Princess of 
 Prussia he has now made into 
 the Venus, the finest introduc- 
 tion last year. The old Adonis he 
 has carried up into the Miss Hunt. The old striped 
 varieties are now the Senator and Princess of 
 Wales, etc. These improved varieties will take 
 the place of the old as fast as their price brings 
 them within the popular reach. In new shades and 
 colors Mr. Eckford has given us more than a dozen 
 varieties. His Orange Prince, Countess of Radnor, 
 
 4 
 
5 o ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 Primrose, Boreatton, Dorothy Tennant, Splendour, 
 Mrs. Gladstone, Lady Beaconsfield, Indigo King, and 
 Imperial Blue are all especially remarkable in their 
 originality of color or shade, and some of these he is 
 still improving in size and form. 
 
 The seedsman cannot exclude old varieties from 
 his list. The public will decide that by their patronage. 
 In recommending lists of varieties the same colors may 
 be had in cheaper form, or the improved size for an 
 increased price. 
 
 The florist is especially interested in the white 
 varieties. Before the Mrs. Sankey was brought out 
 there had been but little improvement in the white. 
 And the Mrs. Sankey having a black seed and the 
 expanded form made its advent very interesting. The 
 old white, with white seed and common form, had 
 perhaps shown some little improvement in size, but 
 nothing that was remarkable under ordinary culture. 
 Just now the rivalry is like some of the other races we 
 are having. The Mrs. Sankey has made an unique 
 place for itself, but the Emily Henderson now bids for 
 a leading place as a white-seeded white. And this 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 coming season Eekford's new Miss Blanche Burpee, 
 which is also a white-seeded white of large form, will 
 enter the race. 
 
 A little fact which ought to go into the history of 
 American varieties is that the novelty now offered as 
 American Belle was shown as a sport at the Springfield 
 show in 1893, and, as a compliment to a lady botanist 
 of that city, was, for the day, called the Mrs. Owen. 
 The California originators had it in bloom first, and 
 have had a voice in giving it its present name. 
 
 This leads to a point of great importance in the 
 floral world, both in the interest of the seedsman and 
 the public. Both parties want a standard list of 
 varieties, and want all synonyms reduced to their 
 correct names, and the entire list made perfectly fair 
 toward all parties. A list can be of no value to the 
 floral world if seedsmen attach names which merely 
 advertise their own house. 
 
 When a flower is developed into a large number 
 of varieties and becomes a popular competitive and 
 exhibition flower it is necessary to know what is what, 
 and have standard names. To avoid disputes as to 
 
52 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 correct names, and as to who shall have the right to 
 name a variety, either the claim to priority should be 
 established before some prominent horticultural society,, 
 or the originator should have his novelty recognized 
 and named at some regular horticultural show. Only 
 such should have either the recognition of the trade 
 or the confidence of the public. And only in this way 
 can we avoid the chaos of floral nomenclature. 
 
A COMPLETE LIST OF 
 SWEET PEAS. 
 
 The following is a complete list of all the varieties 
 known by the writer at this date. The Eckfords are 
 indicated by an *. The varieties which have received 
 an award of merit or a first-class certificate from the 
 Royal Horticultural Society are noted. Those followed 
 by (1894) have just been exhibited in England, but 
 are not yet offered to the trade. 
 
 1. ADONIS. Rosy-pink. Small but good. 
 
 2. ALBA Magnifica. A strain of common white. 
 
 3. American Belle. A new sport of Blanche 
 Ferry, with blotched wings and almost scarlet stan- 
 dard. Is offered this year by W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 
 
 4. * APPLE BLOSSOM. Shaded pink and rose. 
 Large and well named. 
 
 5. * Blanche Burpee. (1894.) A very large 
 Dure white from white seed. (Award of Merit.) 
 
 53 
 
54 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 6. *THE BELLE. (1894.) Not described. 
 
 7. BLACK. (Invincible Black.) Dark maroon- 
 brown standard, wings blue. 
 
 8. Blanche Ferry. (Blushing Bride, Improved 
 Painted Lady.) Very popular; pink and white. An 
 American variety. 
 
 9. BLUE EDGED. Still listed, but does not hold 
 distinct from Butterfly. 
 
 10. * Blushing Beauty. Soft pink of expanded 
 form. 
 
 11. *BOREATTON. Very dark. Deep maroon 
 self. 
 
 12. * Bronze Prince. Not listed by Mr. Eckford 
 now. 
 
 13. BUTTERFLY. White, blue edged, shaded and 
 laced later with blue. 
 
 14. '-CARDINAL. Intense crimson-scarlet. 
 
 15. Captain Clarke. (Tricolor.) White, stand- 
 ard penciled and flushed with carmine, wings blue 
 edged. Often sold for Lottie Eckford by mistake. 
 
 16. * Captain of the Blues. (First Class.) No- 
 ble flower. Standards purple-mauve, wings pale blue. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 55 
 
 1,7. Carmine Invincible. A beautiful strain 
 when grown from reliable seed. 
 
 18. * Countess of Aberdeen. (1894.) Very 
 pale pink. Large flower. 
 
 19. * Countess of Radnor. (First Class.) 
 Pale mauve standards, wings pale lilac. Very fine. 
 
 20. Carmen Sylva. Of the Vesuvius order. 
 
 21. Crown Princess of Prussia. (Salmon, 
 Flesh.) Light blush, opening with buff standards. 
 
 22. * Delight. White, with standard at first 
 crested with crimson, which becomes very softly 
 diffused. This should not be confounded with Fairy 
 Queen. 
 
 23. * DOROTHY TENNANT. (Award of Merit.) 
 Pucy-violet or rosy-mauve. Large. 
 
 24. * Duchess of Edinburgh. Scarlet, flushed 
 crimson, frequently with marbled edge. 
 
 25. *DUCHESS0FY0RK. (Princess May.) (1894, 
 First Class.) A delicate shade of pale lavender, 
 darker when expanded. Large. 
 
 26. * Duke of Clarence. Rosy-claret. Large. 
 
 27. * Eliza Eckford. (1894.) Not described. 
 
c6 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 28. * Emily Eckford. A large flower, fading 
 from reddish-mauve into blue. 
 
 29. * EMPRESS OF INDIA. Pink and white. Of 
 less merit than Blanche Ferry. 
 
 30. Emily Henderson. A new American variety, 
 pure white, and of marked substance, having all the 
 excellent points of the Blanche Ferry, of which it seems 
 to be a sport. 
 
 31. * Excelsior. (1894.) A new scarlet. 
 
 32. Fairy Queen. White, with fine lines of 
 carmine on the standard. 
 
 33. * FIREFLY. Glowing crimson-scarlet, of good 
 size and substance. Best scarlet up to 1893. 
 
 34. * Gaiety. White, delicate stripes softest pink. 
 
 35. *HER MAJESTY. A very large, showy, bright 
 rose-pink. 
 
 36. IGNEA. Corresponding nearly to the true 
 Invincible Carmine. 
 
 37. * IMPERIAL BLUE. (Grand Blue, Invincible 
 Blue, Imperial Purple.) Blue, shaded mauve. 
 
 38. * INDIGO KING. A dark maroon-purple shad- 
 ing into indigo.. Notched standard. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 57 
 
 39. *ISA ECKFORD. (First Class.) Creamy 
 vhite, suffused with rosy-pink. 
 
 40. *LADY BEACONSFIELD. (Award of Merit.) 
 50ft salmon standard, wings primrose yellow. Distinct 
 ind beautiful. 
 
 41. *Lady Penzance. (Award of Merit.) A 
 /ery bright pink, beautifully laced with rose. A 
 >uperb flower. 
 
 42. * LEMON QUEEN. Large, almost white, with 
 1 very soft tinting of lemon and blush. 
 
 43. Light Blue and Purple. 
 
 44. * LOTTIE ECKFORD. Not what is commonly 
 sold. Was introduced as a creamy-white with blue 
 sdge. Mr. Eckford this year gives this name to a new 
 /ariety having pale mauve standards, the wings white, 
 beaded with soft mauve. 
 
 45. *METEOR. (1894.) Bright orange-salmon, 
 .vings light pink. 
 
 46. * MISS HUNT. Pale carmine-salmon standards 
 *vith soft pink wings. 
 
 47. * MONARCH. (First Class.) Bronzy-crimson 
 standards, rich deep-blue wings. Large. 
 
58 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 48. *MRS. ECKFORD. (Award of Merit.) A grand 
 flower. Delicate shaded primrose. 
 
 49. *MRS. Gladstone. (First Class.) Opens 
 a buff and soft pink, and becomes a beautiful pale blush. 
 
 50.' *MRS. Sankey. (First Class.) Black-seeded 
 white. Of largest and finest form. 
 
 51. * NOVELTY. (1894.) Very large. Scarlet, 
 orange-tinted standard. 
 
 52. * ORANGE PRINCE. (First Class.) Of well- 
 earned fame. Bright orange-pink. Effect when bunched 
 very striking. 
 
 53. *OviD. Rosy-pink with rose margins. 
 
 54. Painted Lady. (Nellie Jaynes.) Old popu- 
 lar Pink and White. 
 
 55. * PEACH BLOSSOM. Salmon-pink standards, 
 upper half shading into buff-white, wings soft pink. 
 Distinct. 
 
 56. * Primrose. (First Class.) Near approach 
 to yellow. Pale primrose, but deeper than Mrs. Eckford. 
 
 57. Princess Beatrice. Rose-pink of much 
 merit. Improved form. Comes between the Glad- 
 stone and Hunt. 
 
 1 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 59 
 
 58. * Princess OF Wales. (First Class.) Shaded 
 md striped mauve on white ground. Large. 
 
 59. * Princess Victoria. Similar to the 
 Duchess of Edinburgh, but larger. 
 
 60. PURPLE. A rich shade coming between 
 3oreatton and Black. 
 
 61. Purple and Blue Striped. 
 
 62. PURPLE BROWN. Comes in a dark-striped 
 : orm. 
 
 63. * PURPLE PRINCE. Maroon shaded with 
 bronze and purple. Ought to give way to the Duke 
 3f Clarence. 
 
 64. * QUEEN OF ENGLAND. Ordinary white. 
 
 65. QUEEN OF THE ISLES. (Invincible Red 
 Striped.) Scarlet ground, white stripes. 
 
 66. * ROYAL ROBE. Delicate pink, but very 
 close to Blushing Beauty. Of large size. 
 
 67. RISING SUN. Curious mixture of orange and 
 rose, shaded carmine ; wings pale rose, shading to 
 blush. 
 
 68. Scarlet Invincible. Good scarlet for the 
 popular trade. 
 
6o ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 69. Scarlet Striped. White ground, red stripes. 
 
 70. * SENATOR. (First Class.) Large, bold 
 flower. Shaded and striped chocolate on creamy 
 ground. 
 
 71. Splendid Lilac. Standard bright pink, 
 wings shaded lilac. 
 
 72. * SPLENDOUR. (First Class.) Superb flower 
 of rich, bright rose color. 
 
 73. * STANLEY. (Award of Merit.) A repetition 
 of the Boreatton, although larger under favorable con- 
 ditions. 
 
 74. *THE QUEEN. Dull pink standard, wings 
 light mauve. 
 
 75. * VENUS. (Award of Merit.) The finest intro- 
 duction last year. Salmon-buff variety of improved 
 form and size. 
 
 76. VESUVIUS. Standards shading into violet, 
 with crimson spots. 
 
 77- VIOLET Queen. (Princess Louise.) Pink 
 standard, violet wines. 
 
 78. *WAVERLY. Rosy-claret standards, blue wing 
 shaded rose. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 61 
 
 79. WHITE. (An English white offered as Snow 
 'Queen.) Common white ; averages well. 
 
 80. Perennial Pea. (Lathyrus latifolius.) Can 
 )e had in Red, White, and Pink and White. No 
 mention is made of the original varieties, on which the 
 writer has been at work five years. 
 
 81. Lord Anson, Blue. (The white is of no 
 iccount.) A small true blue, good for a mixed row. 
 Not fragrant. Early. 
 
 82. Lathyrus Tingitanus. A rather pretty 
 :rimson climber. Blossoms early. 
 
THE LATEST ECKFORD 
 NOVELTIES. 
 
 The twelve new varieties which were tried by 
 the writer last summer are a good criterion for judging 
 Mr. Eckford's work on this flower. He offered to the 
 trade only six of these last year, but as a special 
 favor sent the entire twelve to the writer. In addition 
 to six offered the year before, it seemed like an almost 
 incredible production of new varieties, and was a bold 
 challenge to the flower public to judge his work. 
 
 The following are the names and fuller descrip- 
 tions of the twelve seen in this country for the first 
 time last summer : — 
 
 Blushing Beauty, a soft, light pink, about the 
 same shade as the Mrs. Gladstone, but of the larger 
 expanded form ; DUKE OF CLARENCE, rosy-claret 
 like the Purple Prince and Monarch in form, but mor 
 of a wine color than either of those ; EMILY ECKFORD 
 
 62 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 63 
 
 i reddish mauve when it first opens, and on the first 
 
 lay closely resembles the Dorothy Tennant, but they 
 
 3art company in color after that, and the former then 
 
 ipproaehes, as Mr. Eckford says, a true blue, — it is 
 
 :haracteristic of all the blue Sweet Peas that they are 
 
 not blue till about the third day ; FIREFLY, the intens- 
 
 st scarlet-crimson variety we have yet had, and of 
 
 excellent size ; GAIETY, supposed to be a white flower 
 
 striped and flaked with bright, rosy lilac, but with us 
 
 part of the blossoms have a clear red stripe, and the 
 
 rest have had very faint lilac markings, — it either does 
 
 not hold to the description or is not remarkable ; LADY 
 
 I 
 
 BEACONSFIELD, not a loud variety, but of very high 
 
 quality, remarkable for its primrose-yellow wings, and 
 having a soft, 'salmon-blush standard ; LADY PEN- 
 ZANCE, one of the most striking and pleasing of all, 
 the entire flower being a beautiful lacework of bright 
 rose-pink, and of improved size ; OVID, another pink 
 variety with margins of deeper rose ; PEACH BLOSSOM, 
 a buff-pink, the buff on the standard fading almost 
 into white ; ROYAL ROBE, a delicate pink of fine form, 
 but slightly different from Blushing Beauty ; STANLEY, 
 
64 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 a deep maroon, and promised to be a large flower, 
 which it probably is in England, but with us has been 
 no improvement on the Boreatton ; VENUS, a beautiful 
 salmon-buff, and the best variety out this year. 
 
 A year ago we could hardly judge of the six 
 varieties then offered as novelties, but this year we 
 have seen just what they are. These are the 
 DOROTHY TENNANT, HER MAJESTY, IGNEA, LEMON 
 
 Queen, Mrs. Eckford, and Waverly. The Mrs. 
 Eckford leads the list, and is a primrose-yellow of 
 splendid form. Her Majesty is a beautiful rose, a 
 shade softer than the Splendour, and larger. Lemon 
 Queen hardly holds to its name, because in twenty- 
 four hours it has faded into white, but it is large. 
 Dorothy Tennant is a fine mauve several shades 
 deeper than the Countess of Radnor. Waverly at 
 first can hardly be told from Captain of the Blues, but 
 while the latter changes into blue, the former holds 
 its rosy-claret color. Ignea is a crimson-scarlet, 
 shade deeper than Firefly. 
 
 This may be said, that the last two years' intro 
 ductions prove that Mr. Eckford has mastered th< 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 65 
 
 problem of improving the Sweet Pea. We want them 
 •as fast as he can give them to us. At the same time, 
 'the demand for the entire list will be confined to only 
 a few seed-houses, and here and there a collector of 
 varieties. ' Everybody who wants fine Sweet Peas 
 ought to have some of them. 
 
 Of the twelve which the writer tried last summer, 
 'the six which will for the first time be offered to the 
 trade this season are the Lady Penzance, Stanley, 
 Royal Robe, Lady Beaconsfield, Ovid, and Peach 
 Blossom. For all of these Mr. Eckford will get two 
 shillings six pence for a sealed packet of twelve 
 seeds. 
 
 No truly fair judgment can be passed on these 
 unless they are grown under as favorable conditions 
 as they have been in England. The writer feels 
 enthusiastic in their praise, even under the somewhat 
 unfavorable conditions of a severe New England 
 climate. But his own success did not equal that of 
 some grown in one of the Pacific States. There they 
 took on larger size and were far more prolific. One 
 season is not sufficient to try them, for they need to 
 
 5 
 
66 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 be acclimated. Another thing : many people are will- 
 ing to pay the price of Mr. Eckford's novelties, but 
 they want to know how to succeed in germinating and 
 bringing them into bloom. No seedsman can put the 
 shadow of any warrant on his high-bred seed. The 
 buyer must take far more risk on it than on any 
 common seed. In appearance, the more one pays for 
 Sweet Pea seed, the more worthless it looks. This is 
 the price we pay for a good thing, and we must besto 
 fourfold more care on it to bring it to anything. 
 
 How shall this seed be treated ? It is often small, 
 shriveled seed of low germinating power, and has 
 come from a milder climate than ours. We can trust 
 our plump, acclimated seed in the early spring ground 
 but not these. 
 
 The main point is in germinating them. Get them 
 an inch high and they can be transplanted with safety 
 I shall use next year eight-inch flower pots to start 
 them. Do not germinate them in a hot-house or a 
 super-heated room. They need just a little milder 
 condition than they would get out-doors. Plant 
 them the time of planting out-doors, and as soon a 
 
 11 
 
 • 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 67 
 
 •:hey are an inch high set them right out, unless they 
 seem to need a little hardening off. I transplanted 
 mine this year about the third week in April, which 
 would ordinarily be late for this latitude. Of course, 
 seed of low germinating power needs to be favored 
 with extra heat to force it a little, but as soon as it 
 starts it should be held back rather than forced. In 
 Order to have Sweet Peas bloom abundantly, we must 
 make haste slowly. 
 
 In sowing the seeds in pots, use a garden soil that 
 will not bake too hard. The depth at which they are 
 planted in the house is not as important as out-doors, 
 since the reason for shallow planting out-doors is that 
 the sun's warmth may reach the seed. 
 
 The drainage and porous nature of pots keep the 
 5oil from being over water-soaked. Let the sun supply 
 the heat. This expensive seed does not germinate 
 Very uniformly, so that care is needed in picking out 
 plants not to injure others just sprouting. In no case 
 break the Pea from the young seedling, and use a 
 dibber in transplanting, so as to give the tap-root its 
 natural depth. 
 
68 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 After they are properly transplanted they are 
 hardy enough, and nothing but cut-worms need be 
 feared. 
 
 In the complete list of varieties given in another 
 chapter there will be noticed nine varieties marked 
 1894. These were shown in London last summer, but 
 Mr. Eckford has not sufficient stock to offer the 
 to the trade for at least another year. 
 
 SELECTING A FEW VARIETIES. 
 
 . 
 
 Everybody used to have the Painted Lady ; but 
 now the popular favorite is the Blanche Ferry, or its 
 Boston synonym, Blushing Bride. These and th 
 Blue-edged Butterfly make a pleasing bouquet. 
 
 But you ask for the best ten or twelve of the 
 cheaper varieties ; to give you a good, economical row, 
 I would name Adonis, Black, Blanche Ferry, Butterfly, 
 Captain Clarke, Carmine Invincible, Crown Princess 
 of Prussia, Imperial Blue, Indigo King, Mrs. Gladstone, 
 Mrs. Sankey, Queen of the Isles. If you want to add 
 another twelve without much more cost, I would say, 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 69 
 
 Apple Blossom, Boreatton, Captain of the Blues, 
 Countess of Radnor, Duchess of Edinburgh, Miss 
 Hunt, Orange Prince, Primrose, Princess Beatrice, 
 Princess of Wales, Senator, and Splendour. 
 
 If you want a few of the very choicest of Sweet 
 Peas up to date, take the following list : — 
 
 Blanche Ferry, Blushing Beauty, Boreatton, 
 Countess of Radnor, Dorothy Tennant, Firefly, Her 
 Majesty, Lady Penzance, Mrs. Eckford, Mrs. Sankey, 
 Orange Prince, Venus. 
 
THE SEED GROWER. 
 
 Four years ago it was not thought that Sweet Peas 
 could be successfully grown for seed in this country. 
 But we have been driven to it by the demand, and it 
 is a success. It is estimated that one hundred tons of 
 seed was sold in the United States in 1893. Previous 
 to this revolution in seed growing we depended on 
 England, Germany, and France for our Sweet Peas; 
 and for our purest stocks of some old varieties we are 
 not yet independent of those countries. Our Pacific 
 coast is certainly giving us fine seed. One grower 
 writes me that next year he expects to get from two 
 to five ounces of seed from each vine of the novelty 
 sorts by giving them plenty of room. Each ounce 
 represents from sixty to seventy pods. There were 
 more than one hundred acres planted to Sweet Peas 
 on the California coast this year. In New York State 
 the experiment of growing the seed was tried by a 
 
 70 
 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 71 
 
 old culinary pea seed grower, and though the first 
 year barely returned the seed planted, the experiment 
 seems to be a success now. Michigan is still in the 
 experimental stage, and Canada is growing Blanche 
 Ferry and Emily Henderson. Our large seed-houses 
 have their trial gardens, and some of them adopt the 
 excellent practice of sending the carefully selected 
 stock of varieties which they wish grown to special 
 growers. It requires two years at least to get a stock 
 of Eckford's novelties in this country, but our growers 
 have worked wonders already in supplying the Ameri- 
 can seed trade with the finest Eckfords. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that with the success 
 that has attended this experiment there should also 
 be some murmurings. It is going to be a problem how 
 to grow the varieties in large quantities and keep 
 them pure. The writer believes this can be done, 
 and will in fairness to all parties hold the position of 
 an impartial critic. Simply as an amateur specialist, 
 he will judge all seed that comes under his notice by 
 the most exacting standard. It is not the province of 
 this little book to tell how to grow a hundred acres of 
 
72 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 Sweet Peas. The conditions of growing for seed, evei 
 in a small acreage, are quite different from those 
 under which they are cultivated for the enjoyment ol 
 three months' bloom. But the writer believes thai 
 whatever the acreage, every pound of seed stock froi 
 which next year's crop is to come ought not to have 
 "rogue" in it. A small percentage of the purest see( 
 will revert or break away from the parent variety, 
 and in the general stock which the grower expects t( 
 put on the market I do not see how he can make 
 every hundred pounds of a given variety absolutely 
 pure. The public ought to bear the inevitable pa- 
 tiently. But here is a flower which comes wonder- 
 fully true from seed, considering how irresponsible 
 and uncertain other flowers are. And the grower can 
 do one thing which will reduce the mixed condition of 
 things to the smallest minimum : he can grow his own 
 seed stock entirely separate from his trade stock, and 
 can give that which he is to plant next year every 
 possible advantage to make it reach its best estate; 
 and he can mercilessly eradicate every "rogue" vine 
 that appears in it. And in this way' he can not only 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 73 
 
 hold the Eckfords at their best, but carry them on to 
 higher perfection. 
 
 He can put expert labor and skillful attention on 
 one acre at least, and subject that acre to the demands 
 of the very highest standard of "rogueing" and 
 culture. We sincerely hope that the mere demand 
 for cheap seed may not deprive our flower patrons of 
 the privilege of getting the very best by paying what 
 it costs to grow it. 
 
 Of course, a large acreage that must be harvested 
 at the least expense must be driven along with the 
 one idea of making seed, and must be grown so as to 
 ripen uniformly, but should be grown so that the 
 vines will reach a natural maturity and a vigor of 
 growth and abundance of bloom that will show the 
 crop has not gone to seed too rapidly. 
 
 We believe that however rich the soil may be, 
 the vines will, if the pods are left on, mature in good 
 season and in a uniform way. This is all different 
 from what the amateur wants. He wants his vines to 
 be making fresh growth as long as possible, for the 
 sake of a long season of bloom. With plenty of plant 
 
74 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 food and the pods kept picked, the vines will take 
 care of that. 
 
 Now there ought to be some growers who will be 
 constantly working for the improvement of the stock 
 by special culture, and by throwing the strength of 
 the vines into a few of the best pods. 
 
 We see no advantage in doubling the Sweet Pea, 
 although it frequently shows a tendency that way. 
 But size and substance, and more blossoms on a stem, 
 are points of great value in the improvement of the 
 Sweet Pea. 
 
 The question of support or no support for the 
 vines of a large field of this flower is one that confronts 
 the grower. I cannot quite satisfy myself that field 
 culture with no support is going to keep the seed stock 
 at its best. I certainly think that the grower himself, 
 who wants to perpetuate a first-class seed stock, 
 should give to that part which he is to use for his own 
 planting more favorable attention than he does to the 
 general crop which will be consumed by the public. 
 It would seem to be practicable to grow a portion 
 every year especially for seed, and to give these at 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET "PEAS. 75 
 
 least the benefit of a few vines, that the natural climb- 
 ing habit may be somewhat favored. 
 
 A photograph just received of the trial garden of 
 Sweet Peas of a large Detroit house shows a model 
 form of trellis. The plants are in triple rows, and all 
 along on either side four-foot poultry wire is firmly 
 stretched, with framework at the end to brace it. 
 Wire is cheap and stakes are easily driven, and even 
 four wires on a side of triple rows would give 
 sufficient support. If you give them six-foot brush 
 they want it all, but if they find nothing higher than 
 four feet they adjust themselves accordingly. 
 
 We would not advise anyone to launch out on 
 this extensive growing of Sweet Pea seed without a 
 great bump of caution. Yet we rejoice at the present 
 remarkable outlook. 
 
 This flower has come into the front rank, and the 
 increasing demand will soon make our present acreage 
 of seed growing far too small. 
 
TRIPLE ROWS WITH POULTRY WIRE FOUR FEET WIDE 
 
 ON BOTH SIDES. 
 
 76 
 
A WORD TO SEEDSMEN. 
 
 This flower is to be popularized, and grown under 
 its distinct variety names, probably more than almost 
 any flower. Since it comes so true from seed the 
 public will soon know what the best varieties are, and 
 demand seed-that is strictly true to name. 
 
 A seed-house that values its reputation will not 
 sell for Boreatton seed that is three-fourths Black, nor 
 sell Butterfly for Miss Hunt, nor Beatrice for Mrs. 
 Gladstone. Now that the flower has a literature, 
 specific information of its true names and descriptions 
 will be staple matter for the floral and trade journals. 
 
 The recent popular demand for seed has hardly 
 given our large growers time to acquaint themselves 
 with the standard list, so that some of our most 
 reliable seed-houses have been misled this past year. 
 But it will be seen that it is far* from their own 
 interest to either be deceived in or send out by mistake 
 
 11 
 
78 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 seed of a flower like this, which is now being grown 
 so largely by amateurs under its specific variety 
 names. Mr. Eckford has had to protect his reputation 
 by disclaiming anything sold as his varieties without 
 his trade stamp on a sealed packet. And after this 
 year our responsible seed-houses, and back of them 
 our growers, will have no excuse for not getting pure 
 seed stock, and at least giving the public the guarantee 
 that their seed is as true to name as it can be when 
 only one or two generations removed from Mr. Eck- 
 ford's guaranteed stock. We can have evefy variety 
 as true as the Blanche Ferry. 
 
 Fifty-two thousand copies of the little book, 
 "All About Sweet Peas," went out last year, and 
 now, followed by this book, a beginning is made 
 toward popular intelligence and a knowledge of this 
 flower that will sharpen the vision of thousands, and 
 put many a buzzing bee in the seedsman's bonnet if 
 he does not fill his orders with true seed. 
 
 But, my amateur friend, be patient with the seeds- 
 man. His interest and yours are identical. Don't go 
 at him tooth and nail. Give him a year every time 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 79 
 
 to remedy what you show him is wrong. He is far 
 more anxious to please all his customers than you 
 alone are to be pleased. Try to create in your com- 
 munity a definite knowledge about names and true 
 descriptions, so that the seedsman will have all the 
 more reason to cater to an intelligent trade. 
 
 We especially want to appeal to all our seed- 
 houses to help by all fair means to keep the nomencla- 
 ture of Sweet Peas free from all names but such as 
 the trade generally, or our responsible horticultural 
 societies, are willing to recognize. 
 
 And we are likely to have a good many new 
 varieties in this country from ''sports" that our 
 peculiarities of soil and climate develop. And there 
 may be question as to who has prior claim, and the 
 right to name them. 
 
 We are very glad that W. Atlee Burpee & Co., 
 instead of naming the new "sport" which they bring 
 out this year after some member of their family, call 
 it the American Belle, a name which no firm will 
 object to using. 
 
 Personally we think that, all interests of the 
 
8o ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 trade considered, it is better in naming new varieties 
 to select names that will not be objectionable to other 
 seedsmen. 
 
 SWEET PEA SPECIALISTS. 
 
 We broach the question whether America is not 
 now ripe for the undivided enthusiasm of SWEET PEA 
 SPECIALISTS. We do not limit this to merely ardent 
 amateurs. Indeed, all grades of Sweet Pea lovers are 
 wanted. But every district in this country that is far 
 enough along to have any kind of a flower show, and 
 especially every State or section of a State that boasts 
 a horticultural society, should have one or more 
 persons to champion the Swe"et Pea and exhibit it at 
 its best. And, further, a great field is. now opening to 
 expert florists to here and there turn attention as a 
 specialty to this flower. We are likely to have a 
 great deal of cheap seed in this country. You can 
 buy cheap Pansy seed, and you can buy it also for 
 thirty dollars an ounce. So also of Sweet Peas. We 
 do not expect the name and prices of Mr. Eckford are 
 going to long represent the only Sweet Pea specialist, 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 81 
 
 although he has done the pioneer work in showing us 
 what this flower amounts to. I do not imply that even 
 an expert florist can in any short time get the points 
 and begin to reap success; but here is a great flower, 
 and here is a great country and continent to be 
 supplied. And we are passing out of the old five-cent 
 seed business into higher tastes, and broader require- 
 ments to satisfy them. A mixture of Sweet Peas 
 that costs three times the price of the old cheap 
 mixture is now bought with avidity, and a popular 
 interest is now developing in the new-named sorts. 
 
AS AN EXHIBITION FLOWER. 
 
 The time has now come when the public should 
 see Sweet Peas at their best, and when they should 
 enter the lists among other highly cultivated flowers. 
 The Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Boston has 
 led the way for several years. The conditions on 
 which entries are made there on Sweet Pea day are 
 simply that there shall be thirty varieties separately 
 bunched with fifty stems of each. Sometimes they 
 are solid bunches of blooms, and again others loosen 
 them out with their own foliage. The prizes are six, 
 four, and three dollars, with an occasional special 
 prize, like the silver vase taken last year by William 
 Patterson of Quincy, Mass., for the best two exhibits 
 in three years. 
 
 Last year this Society introduced a new class, 
 admitting bunches of six stems each, to meet the case 
 of the latest expensive varieties. 
 
 82 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 83 
 
 The Hampden County Society gave a Sweet Pea 
 day at Springfield, Mass., last July. The first prize 
 was ten dollars. A complete exhibit of all the varie- 
 ties was made, including the latest novelties. 
 
 No score of points on this flower has yet been 
 adopted. Mr. Eckford, in writing of a standard to 
 judge them by, says they should have, "for self 
 flowers, standards bold, large, finely rounded, and of 
 good substance, fully expanded and quite smooth, not 
 loppy ; wings large, smooth, and sufficiently expanded 
 to form a center to the flower, but not so much so as 
 to unduly expose the keel ; shade of color bright and 
 uniform. For fancy flowers, whatever the ground 
 color, the stripes or flakes should be uniform and 
 distinct." 
 
 None can realize how remarkable the Sweet 
 Pea is in coloring till they see such varieties as the 
 Orange Prince, Radnor, Primrose, Boreatton, Splen- 
 dour, Venus, etc., bunched. With seventy-five differ- 
 ent bouquets setting each other off, the effect is very 
 beautiful. 
 
 An exhibit, to have educational value, should have 
 
84 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 every variety carefully labeled — the Eckfords by them- 
 selves and the latest varieties prominent. And yet 
 the arrangements by colors must not be spoiled. Vari- 
 eties which have been awarded special recognition 
 should be so marked. 
 
 Exhibitions should be made within a month after 
 the vines have come into bloom. It is yet too soon 
 for competent judges to be found. They will come as 
 soon as exhibits can be produced that call for close 
 judging. The latest novelty may be inferior to many 
 of its predecessors, but a judge who passes it by had 
 better lapse into a mere spectator. A judge who allows 
 a lusty bouquet of some common sort to eclipse a few 
 stems of something that has cost ten times the amount 
 of money and patient labor needs coaching. Especially 
 in judging a flower of the refined qualities of the Sweet 
 Pea the closest familiarity with its delicate shades is 
 needed, and an eye that, at a glance, can discern a 
 sport or any candidate for a new name. It is hoped 
 that this book will help toward exhibits of real merit, 
 and awaken in many minds a desire to make a close 
 and full study of this flower. 
 
MONSTROSITIES IN SWEET PEAS. 
 
 The recent higher cultivation of this flower has 
 developed some abnormal growths. It is not likely 
 that the doubling of the Sweet Pea will be tolerated, 
 although we now frequently have the standard and 
 wings thus doubled. Like the Pansy, it would be no 
 improvement in the blossom to thus change it. As a 
 nodding flower of delicate grace, it must be the edict of 
 refined taste that it shall remain in its single simplicity. 
 We cannot tell what it may yet attain in size, and, for 
 that matter, it may be questioned whether it can be 
 called an improvement to make it very much larger 
 than the finest Eckfords are now. Something will, 
 doubtless, yet be done toward enlarging the stand- 
 ard, although it has now been expanded into nearly a 
 circle. It seems well nigh to have reached perfect 
 size and form. Where, then, shall the future improve- 
 ment be ? There is abundant room for it to go into 
 
 85 
 
86 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 the substance of the blossom. Still more is there un- 
 limited room for adding to the number of blossoms on 
 a stem. In this latter we have made great advance, 
 and we also have monstrosities in double stems that 
 give us occasionally seven blossoms, and quite fre- 
 quently five. But four blossoms on a single stem is 
 now a very common occurrence, and a good strain of 
 the Splendour will give nearly fifty per cent, of such. 
 The normal development of the Sweet Pea must be as 
 a bouqueting flower, and the two points open to great- 
 est improvement in the future will thus be the sub- 
 stance of the blossoms and the number of blossoms 
 on a stem, while holding on to the present improved 
 form and size. 
 
SOIL AND PREPARATION. 
 
 Do not get the idea that any particular soil is 
 necessary for Sweet Peas, or that the preparation of 
 the ground is a difficult matter. Any one who has a 
 sunny strip of ground can have fine Sweet Peas. If 
 you have a garden of tolerably rich loam that has been 
 well worked to a depth of twelve inches, just hoe out 
 little double furrows ten inches apart and five inches 
 deep, choosing the sunniest place, running the row 
 north and south. 
 
 Here is what Mr. Eckford says about preparing 
 the ground: "If not already tolerably rich, a liberal 
 dressing of thoroughly decomposed stable manure 
 should be dug in some time before the ground is 
 wanted,— leaving it rough— what gardeners call rough- 
 digging,— and allowed to consolidate before sowing." 
 
 But I shall assume that I am now giving direc- 
 tions to amateurs, who want to know how to prepare 
 
 87 
 
88 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 the soil from the very beginning. If you have only a 
 yard filled in with coal ashes and tin cans, you may 
 smile at the difficulties and have the finest of flowers. 
 You can always dig a trench, and put into it just the 
 right compost and soil. Especially with Sweet Peas, 
 
 Where the garden soil is already rich enough, hoe out 
 double furrows like this. Cover seed one or two inches 
 at first. After they are up fill in till ground is nearly 
 level. Do not cover crowns of plants. 
 
 where only a narrow strip wide enough for a row is 
 wanted, is this easily done. 
 
 If you have the sunshine and a place to dig, you 
 may supply the rest perfectly. 
 
 Now, while a soil inclining to clay is more natural 
 to this flower, and makes success easier, still, it is not 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 89 
 
 essential. It probably makes a more compact and 
 moist soil, and the young vines do not seem to suffer 
 so much from the prevailing blight in such a clay loam. 
 The writer has never had a clay soil, although he 
 would prefer it. His present ground having been 
 about as poor as it could be to begin with, his method 
 of preparing it may not be uninteresting. 
 
 At this moment his eight hundred feet of rows 
 have just been cleaned up, bushes and vines bunched, 
 and the soil is being prepared both for next spring 
 and also for two years ahead. 
 
 Just where the rows were this year I get the 
 ground ready for two years ahead. I trench these 
 about fourteen inches deep, and fill in with livery sta- 
 ble manure, so that when trod down there are six 
 inches of it solid. The old soil is filled in above. 
 This will be left until a year from next spring. And 
 even then my care will be, in spading up those 
 trenches, to keep the top soil free from fertilizer, and 
 to keep the rotted manure down where it belongs. 
 That can easily be done, when the time comes, by 
 shoveling to one side the upper six or seven inches of 
 
9° ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 soil and then stirring the rich bottom soil, covering i1 
 a little, preparatory for the seed, with the top soil, an< 
 following rules for planting. 
 
 But after these trenches are thus prepared for 
 two years ahead, I shall go over the ground and gel 
 the trenches for next spring ready. As I plant my 
 rows each year, there is a space of about four feet left 
 between them. The rows next year come in the mid- 
 dle of the spaces that were left clear this year. The 
 same piece of ground is thus used year after year, 
 the next year's rows simply coming between this 
 year's rows. This space of four feet is none too 
 much to give comfortable room for walking between 
 the rows when the vines are in full bloom. 
 
 Now, in preparing for the rows that are to be 
 planted next spring, much the same process as that 
 described will be gone through, although instead of 
 putting into the trenches fresh stable manure I shall 
 use something that will be all ready for plant-food next 
 spring. Of course, if you have been making it the 
 rule to manure the trenches two years ahead, they 
 will be ready for planting when the time comes. But 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 91 
 
 I am now speaking of a case like my own. where the 
 soil is not up to where I want it; and so I shall make 
 sure that where the rows come next spring there is 
 nothing that will burn the tender vines or ferment 
 around them, and yet that there is a good supply of 
 food deep down where the vine feeds. 
 
 Neither plowing nor ordinary spading goes deep 
 enough. In preparing for Sweet Peas, especially in 
 light soil, you want to lay the top soil off for six or 
 seven inches, and then work in what you can safely 
 use for fertilizer in the sub-soil. Treat the top soil 
 merely as a covering or mulch. Into my trenches for 
 next spring I shall put about three inches of tobacco 
 stems, and above that work some bone flour into the 
 soil. Besides this, I shall put the richest of the soil 
 into the bottom and bring the lightest to the top. 
 After I get the practice of manuring two years ahead 
 under way, it will be a simple matter to get ready for 
 each spring's planting. My experience teaches me 
 that, with all the pains I take, I must still guard 
 against having anything of a rank or heating nature 
 about Sweet Pea vines. It is a wonder to me how a 
 
92 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 vine that loves the cool spring and autumn so well cai 
 be in full bloom in July and August ; but it love; 
 sunshine above if it can have coolness and moisture 
 below. I have known people to manure their grounc 
 for Sweet Peas in the spring and to spade it in withoul 
 special care, and to succeed ; but there is such a large 
 percentage of failures that it is evident no premium 
 can be put on carelessness 
 
 Now, we have been describing rather an extrava- 
 gant method of growing this flower. How shall any- 
 one who can have but a ten or twenty-foot row, and 
 whose yard consists of the refuse fillings of a city lot, 
 prepare a bed ? If you plant a piece of turf ground, 
 first remove the sod a width of four feet, that the 
 grass may not draw on your fertilizer. Then, if you 
 have taken time by the forelock, and are preparing in 
 the autumn, you can put into the bottom of your 
 trench even a partially decomposed compost or manure, 
 and let the trench lie partially open during the winter. 
 But if you wait till spring you will need to make 
 doubly sure that your compost or manure is thoroughly 
 decomposed, and that only the unfertilized top soil is 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 93 
 
 allowed to come in contact with your vines above the 
 roots. It doesn't matter how little richness there is 
 in the upper five inches of soil, although after your 
 vines are up, and this top soil is filled in, it should he 
 somewhat trodden or firmed. 
 
 This kind of culture implies that you intend to 
 keep the pods off, and your vines growing until 
 October. 
 
 One special advantage of trenching is that you 
 can cut off all the robber roots that come from your 
 fruit and shade trees to steal the fertilizer and moisture 
 of your Sweet Peas. This I find is one of the most 
 serious hinderances to thrifty vines. I sometimes 
 have fine rows sapped of their life, and before the 
 season is half over, unless they are watered with some 
 rich liquid, they show every sign of being starved. 
 
 Now I have tried to emphasize the need of a rich 
 sub soil, and of a top soil that can in no way injure 
 the early, tender vines. We must plant deep to meet 
 droughts, but our practice of filling in the soil for about 
 five inches about the vines seems somehow to burn or 
 rot them when they are tender, and as a preventive 
 
94 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 we must have that top soil as free as possible fro 
 everything upon which the June heat can have a bad 
 effect. Just what it is that rots them we do not know 
 Our rows are often decimated, apparently less in 
 clay than in a sandy soil ; whatever the cause is 
 about the first of June seems to be a critical time 
 
 It will at least be a partial remedy to keep the soi 
 as cool as possible about the vines. 
 
 from 
 d 
 
FERTILIZERS 
 
 In the chapter on "Soil and Preparation" we have 
 given some of the most essential hints, which need not 
 be repeated under this head. Good stable manure 
 must always stand first among fertilizers, as, when 
 liberally used, it feeds the growing vines and accumu- 
 lates a good body of humus or vegetable matter in the 
 soil, which holds moisture. Horse and cow manures 
 have their relative values, but, like all natural manures, 
 need to be composted and given time to be well 
 decomposed before being applied to Sweet Peas. 
 With comparative safety, however, they can be spaded 
 in in the fall, even if somewhat fresh, although it is 
 hardly best to put a considerable body of such fresh 
 manure into the bottom of a trench. Sweet Peas need 
 to have the soil kept as cool as possible consistently 
 with the process of vegetable assimilation. 
 
 Though cow manure is cooler, horse manure is 
 95 
 
9 6 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 richer in fertilizing constituents, and if properly com- 
 posted will be all right. If the only manure you can 
 get is still fresh, spade it in a little to one side of the 
 vines, where its richness may, during the rains, soak 
 through. Or if you think your ground is not rich 
 enough, and you have nothing else, give a good soak- 
 ing of soapsuds every week; but don't apply this 
 until your vines are three feet high. You will find 
 unleached wood ashes or anything rich in potash 
 specially good to make the woody growth of vines and 
 stems ; but apply these things some time before the 
 time to plant. Bone flour is a staple article for 
 florists, and works especially well with some form of 
 potash. 
 
 One can go into the subject of special fertilizers 
 and formulas for preparing them ; but for common 
 amateur work, outside of good stable manure, thor- 
 oughly rotted and composted, such simple articles as 
 unleached wood ashes and bone flour are excellent. 
 A little basic slag phosphate (odorless phosphate) 
 sprinkled over the manure renders it more soluble and 
 destroys root-eating insects which attack the plants. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 97 
 
 The writer hesitates about advising the use of nitrate 
 of soda except by skillful gardeners. 
 
 If you have had much experience in flowers you 
 already make a practice of preparing a good compost 
 heap and keeping a stock of thoroughly decomposed 
 plant food on hand. Such a pile, rich in stable 
 manure and a year or two old, is ready then at any 
 time ; or plan your Sweet Pea row two years ahead, 
 and fill in a trench as full of fresh stable manure as 
 you wish, and let it lie there until another year. 
 Don't take any stock in the idea of your fertilizer 
 leaching through the soil and being lost. 
 
 As long as the moisture in the ground is drawn 
 upward, the dissolving plant food will not go the other 
 way. The safest place to keep manure is in the 
 ground, provided trees and weeds are not allowed to 
 steal it. 
 
TIME FOR PLANTING. 
 
 : 
 
 No rule is more imperative in Sweet Pea culture 
 than early planting. The market gardener under 
 stands the nature of common Peas, and he will tak 
 advantage of even premature spring weather to get 
 his Peas in. It is not because he is impatient with the 
 tardy season, but because they need to make root 
 growth in the cool, moist spring ground. The only 
 thing to wait for is for the winter frost to get out o 
 the ground so that it can be worked. All this applies 
 as well to the Sweet Pea. It wants to start almost as 
 soon as the Crocus wakes up. 
 
 We suspect that those people who succeed best 
 with Sweet Peas are the ones who enthuse at th 
 sight of the first Pussy Willows, or who feel a 
 answering thrill to the first bluebird's note. 
 
 One needs an element of impatience in order t 
 be on time in getting their Sweet Peas in. The sam 
 
 98 
 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 99 
 
 bounding impulse that catches up the first pretty 
 Houstonia, or peers into the sunny corner where the 
 Anemone peeps out, also hears the Sweet Pea seed 
 rattling with impatience to get out of its winter prison. 
 The Corn and the Cucumber demurely say, "Don't 
 plant us till it is time to 'make garden,' " and flower 
 seed has to wait its turn. But not the Sweet Pea. 
 Flower though it be, it is as hardy as a Dutch maiden, 
 and gets the color on its cheeks by being the first 
 out-doors. (With many people Fast Day is the reg- 
 ular time for planting, and that is all right where 
 Fast Day does not take the chances of a late Easter). 
 Of course, the time of planting is first dependent 
 on latitude. The fall is the time for the Gulf States. 
 The great California growers plant in February. 
 Whatever the latitude, do not be far behind the Crocus 
 bloom in getting your seed in. The earliest life that 
 spring wakes up is the harbinger to notify you to plant 
 your Sweet Peas. While it may not be too late for a 
 month after it is time to plant, we think those that are 
 planted first will give the most abundant bloom. In 
 England Mr. Eckford advises planting a succession, 
 
ioo ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 and we may to some extent do that here.' The latest 
 seed ought not to go in later than a month after the 
 winter frost is out of the warmest part of your garden. 
 Fifty miles north or south makes a difference of a 
 week or more. In the latitude of New York city the 
 second or third week of March would be planting time. 
 
 Your rule ought to be something as follows : The 
 sunniest place in your garden is where you should 
 plant Sweet Peas, as there the winter frost will be 
 out earliest. The first bright day after you discover 
 that you can work that sunny spot of ground is the 
 day to plant, whether it be the middle of March or the 
 middle of April. 
 
 Now, why so early ? Because each variety of 
 seed was for a wise purpose made to germinate at its 
 own special temperature, and the Sweet Pea germi- 
 nates at a low temperature. Then it needs to make its 
 own peculiar root growth, so that it will be at its best 
 in the most trying summer months. For five or six 
 weeks it grows slowly above ground, and will run to 
 vines unless at this period it is working below ground 
 rather than above. It seems to need these first six 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 101 
 
 weeks to steady it down, so that it will bloom instead 
 of running into a rank vine. Certainly the abundance 
 of bloom seems to depend on the earliness of planting. 
 
 No matter when your neighbors plant their Sweet 
 Peas, rest assured the most successful growers watch 
 for the earliest day to get their seed in. 
 
 But what if there are black frosts and snow- 
 storms after they come up ? Ah, they are as happy 
 as a boy in a snow bank, and it requires a freeze well 
 on down toward zero to injure them. 
 
 If you pity them, on cold nights throw some old 
 sacking over them. 
 
 For questions of fall planting see next chapter. 
 
IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 
 
 Fall planting should be the rule anywhere south 
 of the frost belt. Our Southern friends may have 
 beautiful Sweet Peas. It is useless for them to con- 
 form to our Northern time for planting, and it will be 
 safe to cover the seed to the full depth at which it is 
 to remain. They will probably have to be content 
 with a shorter season of bloom. 
 
 North of the Gulf States the time for planting 
 should be governed entirely by the first indications of 
 spring. Plant as early as it is possible to get any 
 kind of seed in. February will be the best month for 
 quite a belt of States, and for such States, even though 
 the winter is mild enough for fall planting, the seed 
 will probably do as well planted in February. And 
 the precautions necessary at the North about covering 
 the seed lightly would not apply in States where 
 winters are mild. 
 
 102 
 
 
DEEP PLANTING. 
 
 The rule in this country has varied from four to 
 six inches, with mulching above that. Read the 
 chapter on "Soil and Preparation" before you ask 
 how deep to plant. 
 
 Consider that when Culinary Pea vines have in 
 midsummer mildewed and dried up, the Sweet Pea 
 must be at its best, full of blossoms, and still branch- 
 ing and growing It must be grown in the way that 
 will best save it from summer drought. Three inches 
 depth with mulching may do in moist England ; five 
 inches or even more are better here. And the mulch- 
 ing in either case is a grand thing. We may prepare 
 our trench or hoe out our furrows at the depth we 
 decide on. But now how shall we cover the seed ? 
 The rule of covering the seed lightly at first does not 
 apply to all cases. It would not apply in the Southern 
 States, where the ground never gets very cold. It 
 
 1C3 
 
io4 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 would not apply in the North if one waits till the 
 coldest part of the spring is past before planting. 
 
 The reason for covering the seed 'lightly at first is 
 that here at the North our early spring ground is cold, 
 and the seed should not be deeper than the sun's 
 warmth can reach them. 
 
 
 TRENCH AS FIRST DUG. 
 
 Quite often, however, people cover them six 
 inches at once, and if they have located them in the 
 warmest part of the garden and in warm soil, they 
 will have no trouble. Indeed, by following the rule of 
 light covering it may sometimes be disastrous, for in a 
 wet place the alternate freezing and thawing of the 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 105 
 
 seed may possibly rot them. Six inches down in a 
 comparatively warm soil there would be no danger of 
 this. I am satisfied this rule of covering the seed only 
 an inch needs adjustment to circumstances. 
 
 In a short row it would be well to cover lightly 
 and lay a board on top for two weeks, so that the 
 
 1§||£„,. 
 
 TRENCH AFTER PLANTED. 
 
 nightly freezing might not reach the seed. If your 
 soil is light, two inches' covering would be well. 
 
 Still, throughout the Northern States, as a rule, 
 our early spring soil is cold and wet, and to bury seed 
 more than an inch away from the sun's warmth is a 
 risk. 
 
 Then, after the plants are up, comes the filling up 
 
io6 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 of the trench. It is not best to be in any haste about 
 this. In no case cover the crowns of the plants. And 
 this top soil which is brought up to the vines ought to 
 be entirely free from anything that can possibly injure 
 them. If only a light loam, into which no fertilizer 
 has recently been put, is used for this top filling of the 
 trenches, we think there will be little trouble about 
 the vines dying. 
 
 Please remember, then, that the rules of depth 
 and light covering are very adjustable. Light or 
 heavy soil largely governs. 
 
 Two weeks' difference in time of planting may 
 make the rule imperative or doubtful. 
 
DROPPING THE SEED. 
 
 Some successful amateurs like to sow their Sweet 
 Peas in rather a loose single row, about an ounce of 
 seed to ten feet. I much prefer to plant in double 
 rows, so as to bush between. By this latter method 
 the rows will be ten inches apart; and hereafter, 
 instead of dropping the seed in straight lines, I shall 
 drop them in a looser way, using enough seed to allow 
 for quite a percentage of failure. 
 
 How thickly to sow the seed depends on the 
 expensiveness of the seed. If you buy the cheaper 
 mixture by the pound, sow it liberally, and, after it 
 comes up and gets by the cut-worms, thin out. But 
 if your mixture or collection of varieties is of the 
 higher-priced seed, you will want to make it go as far 
 as possible. 
 
 It is necessary at first to ask, How near together 
 should the vines stand ? There is no question in my 
 
 107 
 
io8 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 mind that we are crowding our Sweet Peas too closely 
 together. Three inches apart in the row is better 
 than less, and for varieties that cost five cents per 
 seed, six inches apart will pay. 
 
 The Sweet Pea is a branching plant and should 
 be given more room for that reason. We shall have 
 as many blossoms with the vines three inches apart 
 as with them two inches, and the blossoms will be 
 larger, because the vine is more stocky. 
 
 But in sowing our seed we must calculate on the 
 failure of some to germinate, and we had better reckon 
 in the cut-worm tax, and, lastly, there are the chances 
 of the blight taking some. Moles trouble mine and 
 break a good many vines off at the root. 
 
 Now, I shall sow in double rows, dropping the 
 seed loosely along on each side of this trench, of the 
 cheaper seed fifteen or twenty peas to the foot. But 
 after they are past the usual dangers they should not 
 stand nearer than three inches apart. 
 
 They must have room for their branching habit. 
 In August, your vines fill the bushes out so fully that 
 you forget how scattering the plants seemed in May. 
 

 
 
 
 TRENCH 
 
 WITH 
 
 SINGLE 
 
 ROW 
 
 OF SEED. 
 
 
 
 
 "| 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 • 
 
 ; • 
 
 • 
 
 
 '""•".•- 
 
 • •**%' 
 
 • * % , 
 
 "• * • 
 
 "• 
 
 
 • • 
 
 • 
 
 v 
 
 TRENCH WITH LOOSE DOUBLE ROW. 
 
 NO. 2 
 
 » » » 
 
 ' • • *, 
 
 TRENCH WITH REGULAR DOUBLE ROW. 
 
 NO. 3. 
 
 DROPPING THE SEED. 
 109 
 
TRANSPLANTING. 
 
 This is an important topic, especially with regard 
 to the very expensive, imported varieties. And, 
 indeed, it might be well for some amateurs to trans- 
 plant their entire row. If you have trouble in making 
 your Sweet Peas germinate in the place you want 
 your row, it is a perfectly simple matter to sow the 
 seed in some sunny nook, or even in a cold frame or 
 box, and when they are an inch high transplant them 
 to the row. 
 
 If the trench is not ready when the time comes 
 to sow Sweet Peas, just go ahead, and plant them in 
 any warm corner, and that will give you two or three 
 weeks to get the trench ready, when you can trans- 
 plant them. If you do this, begin very early. And 
 in handling the seedlings do not break off the seed 
 pea nor break the tap-root. Do not run the risk of 
 having your row half a failure from the start, but, 
 
 no 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. in 
 
 after sowing your row, sow some more somewhere 
 else from which to fill up all vacant places. 
 
 In regard to the expensive English novelties, we 
 must start them in the house or cold frame and 
 transplant them. See chapter on their culture. 
 
 The only trouble in transplanting is with the long 
 tap-root. A long, narrow trowel is needed to lift them. 
 They may sometimes have a root four inches long. 
 A dibber is very useful in setting them. Set them at 
 just the depth you found them. 
 
BUSHING AND TRELLISING. 
 
 There are all degrees of success in growing Sweet 
 Peas, and the answer to the question of what kind of 
 support to give them depends largely on how thrifty 
 your vines are. I expect my own vines to make a 
 strong growth, at least six feet high, and besides the 
 matter of height, it is quite evident that such a weight 
 of vines when wet, and when the strain of a gust of 
 wind comes broadside on them, will require a very 
 strong support. If you care for only moderate success, 
 smaller bushes or four-foot poultry wire may be suf- 
 ficient. If your soil has neither depth nor richness, 
 and you provide a six-foot hedge of birches, your 
 bushes will be more conspicuous than your Sweet Peas. 
 Or, if .you neglect your vines, and let them go to seed, 
 they will dry up when two-thirds grown. Or, if you 
 plant them too thickly, they will make a spindling and 
 shorter growth. You are the one to decide whether 
 you want a four- or a six-foot support. 
 
 112 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 113 
 
 Then, if you ask what to make the support of, 
 judging from most people, you will use that which 
 comes most convenient. 
 
 Here are the points to be considered in a support 
 for Sweet Peas. Grow them at their best, and 
 provide for both height and strength. Then allow for 
 their loose, branching habit, and give them width 
 enough to ramble. While a six-foot single trellis of 
 poultry wire running between the double rows is 
 passably good, it cramps the vines, and I would prefer 
 to plant the seed in a triple row, and set four-foot 
 poultry wire on each side of that triple row. If they 
 grow above that, a few strands of wire will give the 
 tops something to cling to. Or, if you still prefer to 
 use a single support of six-foot poultry wire, "frame it 
 up well, and tack on to the posts short cross pieces, 
 from the ends of which stretch wires to hold the vines 
 well up to the poultry wire. 
 
 I use birches entirely. They are brought to me 
 in twelve- or fourteen-foot lengths, just as cut from the 
 patch, and from each of these I get one good stout one 
 seven feet high, and the lighter top is used to fill in. 
 
 8 
 
U4 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 These are set with a crow-bar firmly in the middle of 
 the double row, and should be trimmed a little. They 
 are less unsightly if the tops are clipped to an even 
 six-foot level, and the sides are trimmed sufficiently 
 
 TRENCH AFTER THE BRUSH IS SET. 
 
 to present a neat view from the end. These twiggy 
 birches are a more natural support, and in the scorch- 
 ing sun do not heat, as wire will. Of course, birches 
 last but one year, and should be procured early in the 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 ii5 
 
 spring before their leaves start. Make ashes of them 
 in the fall. 
 
 There is no limit to the styles of trellis that can 
 
 LOMBARD 
 
 TRELLIS 
 
 Simple frame, with twine carried from one small 
 nail to another. 
 
 be made, and they should be so made as to take apart 
 easily for storing away in the winter. By painting 
 the ground end of the posts or uprights with asphaltum 
 
n6 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 they will last longer. The printed designs are mere 
 suggestions of what can be made cheaply. It ought 
 hardly to be necessary to set the trellis up before the 
 vines are ready. 
 
 The posts need not be so large but that a crow- 
 bar will suffice to set them, and thus digging is 
 avoided. In constructing your trellis, judge by the 
 sweep which the wind has how near your posts should 
 be set. Be somewhat over-cautious about the danger 
 of your beautiful hedge blowing down, for that would 
 be a serious calamity. The time to bush or trellis 
 your vines is as soon as you have filled your trench 
 in, and the tendrils begin to reach out for support. 
 Keep your vines green and growing as long as you 
 can. Good, rich ground, and keeping the pods off, will 
 do this ; and when the vines get above six feet, clip off 
 the tops, and they will send up new branches. 
 
WATERING. 
 
 We advise patience all the way through in 
 cultivating Sweet Peas. Do not begin to water them 
 before it is necessary. Occasionally an early drought 
 may make it necessary; but as a rule it is not well to 
 begin before the summer droughts strike them. 
 Much depends on what kind of soil you have, for, of 
 course, if the drainage is good, water will not harm 
 them. Still, do not vent your impatience on them, and 
 drown them because they seem to grow so slowly. 
 Unless you have reason to believe that the ground is 
 getting very dry in May, do not try to hurry them 
 along. 
 
 On the other hand, look out for summer drought. 
 There is but one way to water Sweet Peas when they 
 need it, and that is to soak the ground thoroughly. A 
 mere surface sprinkling is of little benefit, for the 
 water is needed down where the roots are. 
 
 117 
 
n8 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 They do need plenty of moisture after they begin 
 to grow rapidly. Leave the ground a little hollow 
 along the row, so that water can be poured on by the 
 pailful, or that the hose with the nozzle removed 
 may run a full stream and thoroughly soak the 
 ground. Do not turn the hose on to your foliage in 
 
 TRENCH AFTER BEING FILLED IS LEFT A 
 LITTLE HOLLOW. 
 
 the sunshine or wet your blossoms. After the bloom 
 is on the vines water only at the roots. If you mulch 
 the ground an occasional thorough watering will last a 
 good many days. You cannot hasten your vines along 
 by watering in April or May. You don't want to. 
 After they begin to grow rapidly above ground, you 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 10 
 
 can then know they wil! both feed and drink boun- 
 tifully. Water in the evening. 
 
 y%\ 
 
 ii 1 
 f 
 
 Jk 
 
 t#A 
 
 
 
 MULCHING. 
 Use old leaves, pine needles, lawn rakings, any fine 
 litter that has no weed seed in it. 
 
THE ROT OR BLIGHT. 
 
 Just what it is that causes the tender green bark 
 of the vine to become slimy and to decay for a few 
 inches above the root is not yet very clear. One 
 investigator says, "The shriveled stem is due to a 
 cryptogamic disease which attacks the plant just 
 above the surface." He recommends deep mulching 
 and frequent applications of soapsuds to enable the 
 plant to resist the attacks. 
 
 We advise caution in using soapsuds when the 
 vines are tender — not to apply it strong. A practical 
 English grower recommends a spraying of diluted 
 nicotine, one part of nicotine to ten of water. 
 
 But we hope every one who is interested in this 
 troublesome disease will consider the common-sense 
 means of preventing it. 
 
 All Pea vines love a cool soil for their root growth. 
 They want plenty of sunshine above, but coolness 
 
 1 20 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 121 
 
 and moisture and a slow feeding process below. The 
 study is how to give them the plant food they need, 
 and yet keep the ground cool after the summer heat 
 comes. And especially must we study how to keep 
 that part of {he soil cool which comes in contact with 
 the tender vines above the root. The root itself, 
 while it should have only thoroughly decomposed 
 manure about it, will still bear more fertilizer than the 
 tender stalk above it. We think if the upper five 
 inches of soil which comes in contact with the vines is 
 entirely free from everything like fermenting manure 
 there will be little trouble from the decay of vines. 
 And if above that there is a good mulch to shade the 
 ground and hold the moisture, the soil which comes in 
 contact with the vines will be kept still cooler. The 
 danger of the vines decaying lasts only while they are 
 tender. After they begin to get their stocky growth 
 well under way they feed more rapidly and will stand 
 the disease. 
 
 If they begin to die down, watering will not save 
 them ; indeed, it might increase the decay. It might 
 be well for you not to fill the trench in more than two 
 
22 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 inches above the seed until the base of the vines have 
 become somewhat hardened to the weather, and along 
 the first of June, after they show a stocky body and 
 start into more rapid growth, bring three inches more 
 of soil up to them and put on the mulch. I speak of 
 this simply as an expedient, for the letters that have 
 come to me indicate that last year there was an 
 exceeding bitter cry over the decimation of vines by 
 blight. The rule of firming the ground around the 
 vines would also have a tendency to keep the soil cool 
 and moist. 
 
 If your vines show a serious indication of decay- 
 ing, whatever you do, don't apply anything to them 
 which under June heat will raise the soil temperature 
 around them. Keep them cool anyhow. . 
 
 You might try the experiment after they are a 
 few inches high of laying some narrow boards close 
 up to them to shade the ground for a time. And keep 
 cool yourself, for you are likely to have as many vines 
 as there will be room for when they have branched 
 and rebranched into their August thriftiness. 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 123 
 
 SWEET PEAS OUT OF SEASON. 
 
 The writer has just read in a botanical work one 
 hundred years old that Sweet Peas were grown in pots 
 a century or more ago. It seemed to have been a 
 favorite method for getting extra early blossoms. We 
 have seen them germinated in pots and transplanted in 
 the open ground. We have seen them grown to three 
 feet in height in pots, and the whole ball of earth and 
 vines turned out into the garden. But the full-grown 
 vine has such a modest root that there would seem to 
 be no reason for taking them out of the pot. 
 
 We think the fall planting of Sweet Peas must 
 be left to mild climates ; not but what such seed may 
 in our Northern States either come up in the spring or 
 the small vines be wintered with some protection, but 
 even if they survive the spring-planted seed comes 
 into bloom just about as early. They are easily 
 grown in the greenhouse in winter. 
 
 I still believe there are cheap ways in which they 
 can be forced in something analogous to a cold frame. 
 If, for instance, a trench running east and west, in some 
 
124 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 
 sunny, sheltered place, were dug, and the southern side 
 of the trench were slanted off to let the sun's rays in, 
 and the northern side kept sheltered, and glass be used 
 to germinate them, and then cloth be kept for a night 
 covering as long as frosts lasted, it seems to me blos- 
 soms may be had in May. 
 
 I have tried rolling up small paper pots, and filling 
 a shallow box with them, and dropping a seed into 
 each. 
 
 They have been germinated in the house, and the 
 paper pots set into the garden at regular planting time ; 
 but the season held them back, so that nothing was 
 gained. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 i. Why do vines make a rank growth and have no 
 blossoms ? 
 
 Answer. — Gross feeding, especially with a good 
 supply of rain, drives all tall peas to vines. And proba- 
 bly lateness in planting causes a quick germination and 
 too rapid a start. One of the advantages of early 
 planting is that it gives them a slow start, and steadies 
 
ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 125 
 
 them down to a virtuous habit, which is quite sure to 
 give bloom. Such a naturally thrifty climber easily 
 makes a vice of rank growth. If planted early, it will 
 make a good root, and will be held back above ground 
 for six weeks. That holds it down to duty, and to 
 almost certain abundance of bloom. 
 
 2. Why does a percentage of seed, when either 
 planted or put to soak, fail to swell ? 
 
 Answer. — We would say, at first, that it is old seed 
 if it does not swell. But I do not consider that the 
 reason. Seed a year old sometimes seems to have this 
 fault. I think the real reason is that it is stored in too 
 dry a place. It gets baked. It stands to reason that 
 the seed of this flower, which is so nearly hardy, would 
 naturally lie in the ground through the winter. Much 
 of our Sweet Pea seed is stored away for eight months 
 in an unnaturally warm place. I believe cold storage 
 will largely remedy this. 
 
 3. How many seeds are there to the ounce ? 
 Answer. — Of the old plump, acclimated varieties 
 
 there are about 425 seeds to the ounce. 
 
 Of the small, shriveled varieties there are some- 
 
126 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS. 
 
 times 600 or more. The light mauve varieties, like the 
 Countess of Radnor, have the smallest seed. Plump- 
 ness of seed is no sign of quality. The cheapest seed 
 looks the best. 
 
 4. Can seed be saved from a mixed row ? 
 Answer. — Why, it will germinate and you will get 
 
 blossoms. But after picking blossoms all summer it 
 cannot but be inferior seed. And only the commonest 
 sorts would probably appear next year. A florist would 
 not want it at any price. And now that the finest 
 varieties are being grown in such quantity by large seed 
 growers, the price of the best is already remarkably 
 cheap. 
 
 5. How about soaking the seed ? 
 
 Answer. — The only objection to doing this is, that 
 if you follow the rule of early planting the ground is 
 comparatively cold and wet, and to put seed already 
 soaked into cold, wet ground is likely to rot it. If it 
 should prove to be an unusually dry spring, or if you 
 are a week or two late in sowing the seed, a previous 
 soaking would not be hazardous, and might hasten 
 germination. 
 
Make supports of common 
 
 furring strips, also top rail. 
 
 Set supports eight feet apart. 
 
 For horizontal wires use No. 
 
 16 galvanized. Avoid knotty lumber. Run 
 
 wires from every dot, twenty-six in all. 
 
 Height above ground six feet, and twelve 
 
 inches wide. 
 
 127 
 
Set the supports eight 
 feet apaFt. For horizontal wires 
 use about No. 16 galvanized. 
 Have the lower wires come just 
 outside the double row of vines. 
 Make supports and top rail of 
 pine or spruce one and a quarter 
 by two and a quarter inches. 
 Height above ground six feet, 
 and twelve inches wide at base. 
 
 2.S 
 
This trellis is made of part 
 twine. It has three-inch-square 
 posts, and an upper and lower frame of fur- 
 ring strips. At each end are two perpendicu- 
 lar wires of No. 10 galvanized, and running 
 lengthwise are two horizontal wires of the 
 same. The diamond work can be made of 
 strong twine, and should be fastened both at the 
 middle wire and top and bottom strips. Have the 
 rows of vines come inside. Set posts eight feet 
 apart. One foot is enough for width. 
 
 129 M 
 
Made of coarse meshed 
 poultry wire. It can some- 
 times be bought with seven- 
 inch mesh. Posts three- 
 inch-square stuff, and top and bottom rails 
 as per cut. Set posts ten feet apart. Height 
 six feet. It is well to run three horizontal 
 wires on each side about six inches out to 
 hold the mass of vines where they fail to 
 fasten securely. 
 
 130 
 
Make posts of three-inch-square 
 
 stuff. Height above ground six 
 
 feet. Each rail has No. 10 galvanized wire, 
 
 as per Fig. A, which represents top of rail. 
 
 Extend the loops out six inches on each side, 
 
 and bend them a little alternately up and down. 
 
 Use furring strips for rails. Put posts eight 
 
 feet apart. 
 
 Pi« a 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 linn 
 
 Horticultui 
 
 000 924 099 8 
 WHY WE PUBLISH THEM. 
 
 IN the success of the planter is the germ of our suc- 
 cess. First, the best SEEDS, BULBS, and PLANTS ; 
 next, the plainly told practice of experts in gardening. 
 This is why we publish books on HORTICULTURE, and 
 from a modest beginning this feature of our business 
 has grown to very considerable proportions. 
 
 OUR BOOKS UP TO DATE ARE : 
 
 PRICE, POSTPAID. 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL FLOWER GARDEN. A delightful book 50 cts. 
 
 INJURIOUS INSECTS. A valuable book 50 cts. 
 
 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING 10 cts. 
 
 ONIONS FOR PROFIT. Based on modern methods 50 cts. 
 
 MANURES: HOW TO MAKE AND HOW TO USE THEM, .... 50 cts. 
 
 CELERY FOR PROFIT. An expose of modern methods joxts. 
 
 ALL ABOUT SWEET PEAS *>cts. 
 
 HOW TO COOK VEGETABLES. Not for sale ; free as a premium only. 
 
 HOW AND WHAT TO GROW IN A KITCHEN GARDEN, 50 cts. 
 
 THE POULTRY YARD: HOW TO FURNISH AND MANAGE IT, 50 cts. 
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 ROOT CROPS FOR STOCK FEEDING, and HOW TO GROW THEM, 30 cts. 
 
 HOW TO GROW MELONS FOR MARKET, 30 cts. 
 
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 For $4.00 we will send, postpaid, the set of 15 volumes named above. 
 
 CAN BE ORDERED FROM THE PUBLISHERS, OR 
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