230 xVgricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Its single flower is effective, and in mass it gives a shade of which 

 one never tires. It, too, is an early and profuse bloomer. Of 

 the whites, Mrs. Langtry is, perhaps, the most pleasing, but is 

 surpassed in earliness and productiveness by the Fairy Queen. 

 Of the purples, Cardinal Wolseley stands foremost both in rich- 

 ness and harmony of color. Nevertheless, it has a rival in earli- 

 ness and bearing qualities in the Imperial Black, but it is not 

 equalled in quality. The Orange Prince, while only a moderate 

 bloomer, must not be overlooked. It approaches the Painted 

 Lady type, but is characterized by its orange banner and rose- 

 pink wings. It is pretty, but not the best. It is different from 

 all the rest, and the collection would be incomplete without it. 

 As to which sweet pea is best of all, the Improved Painted Lady 

 seems to me to be most satisfactory, and I am willing to cast 

 our lot with it. 



" It is a common practice to show together a number of varie- 

 ties and to call them mixed, but when one tries it, he finds that 

 it does not give the satisfaction which comes of a single variety. 

 Although the colors may be related, the mixtures do not produce 

 the harmony which is essential to the best effects. If there must 

 be a mixture, it is much better to follow the pattern of a single 

 flower by giving a decided tone to the mass with some one char- 

 acteristic variety, of a profuse bloom, as the Invincible Scarlet^ 

 and then touch it up slightly in the two directions of light and 

 shade, — with a light pink, as Mrs. Gladstone, and a white, as 

 Fairy Queen, and perhaps vv^ith a moderately dark pink and pur- 

 ple, — the less purple the better, — as the Captain of the Blues, 

 discarding lilacs — which may be good in themselves, — and also 

 all striped purples, which seem to be inappropriate to any orna- 

 mentation whatever. 



" The use of the sweet pea in ornamental w^ork can be best 

 understood by considering its natural character and adaptability. 

 It is a common and rather cheap plant. It seems to have some- 

 thing in common with weeds as well as with refined exotics. It 

 is naturally modest and retiring. It is not improved by the so- 

 ciety of other flowering plants. It is beautiful when growing by 

 itself in masses in half-secluded places, but does not bear great 

 prominence. I remember to have seen one place where it looked 



