232 AcxRicui/ruRAL Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



in the first days of May. The soil was a stiff clay loam. The 

 area was about 150 feet long, and one end of it was naturally 

 more moist than the other, 3'et this difference in soil did not 

 appear to exercise a great influence upon the season of bloom. 

 The entire area was well tilled throughout the season (as ex- 

 plained on page 219). The yines were tied up as they grew to a 

 trellis of five horizontal wires, and the pods were removed as 

 they formed. The plants continued to bloom throughout Sep- 

 tember, and even on the 8th of October, w^hen the last notes were 

 taken, several of the varieties were still producing good flowers. 



In rating the merits of the flow^ers in this list, we have called 

 those varieties " good ^' which rise to the accepted standard of 

 excellence of the modern improved sweet peas. A variety which 

 rises above this level, or has some superlative merit, is desig- 

 nated " very good." Varieties which fall below this level are 

 variously designated, usually as " fairly good." These are varie- 

 ties of indifferent merit. Below these are the. varieties which 

 were distinctly poor. The reader should remember, however, 

 that these opinions are founded solely upon the behavior of the 

 varieties upon our own grounds last year. They are not in- 

 tended to serve as a general or infallible estimate of the varieties. 

 The accounts of these varieties are all made directly from the 

 plants as they grew on our grounds, uninfluenced by published 

 descriptions. 



One who is sensitive to inelegant or pretentious expressions 

 must deplore many of the names of the sw^eet peas. Ambitious 

 names are always in bad taste, but nowhere more so than in 

 the sweet pea, of Avhich the most pronounced characteristic is 

 modesty and indifference. We cannot expect to control the 

 names which come to us from abroad, but our own originators 

 should exercise a care to give names at least worthy the plant 

 which is to bear them. 



The name in parentheses in the following list is that of the 

 dealer who suplied us with the seed. The varieties marked with 

 an asterisk (*) w^ere originated by Mr. Eckford, and to some of 

 these the date of introduction is added. Several dealers have 

 kindly contributed to this test of varieties, and Mr. Hutchins sent 

 us a good collection of seeds " for the good of the cause." 



