212 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



"When that simple standard is displaced by two or three, and the 

 shield becomes shapeless and contorted and contrary, the flower is 

 no longer the sweet pea of the dear old gardens, but is apt to be a 

 mussy and impudent thing. We want not bigger flowers and more 

 petals, but we want more sweet peas. That is, we want more pro- 

 ductive plants — if that is possible — and more flowers in the cluster. 

 We need, also, more very early and more very late varieties, a still 

 greater range in color, and some improvement in the texture of the 

 flowers. But let us keep to the sweet pea type. Those contrary 

 individuals who are always trying to grow tomatoes on potato plants 

 and stravi'berries on blackberry bushes, would leave the world a 

 better legacy if they were to grow more .tomatoes on tomato plants 

 and better strawberries on strawberry plants. 



My reader w^ants to know how these new sweet peas are obtained. 

 The process is simple enough, but, like most simple things, it is hard 

 to learn and harder to perform. The most important part of the 

 process is a well laid plan of action on the part of the operator. He 

 must determine what improvement the plant needs. Then he must 

 study the plant closely to learn its habit of variation, and how it 

 adapts itself to the diiierent conditions in which it is grown. He 

 will then put himself in sympathy with the plant, simply trying to 

 improve or augment the little differences which appear, and not set 

 himself squarely against the line of evolution of the plant by 

 attempting the impossible. He has a picture in his mind of a deep 

 clear pink flower. Very well ; he goes through the rows of his 

 pink-flowered varieties and marks those plants whose flowers are 

 nearest his ideal. The seeds of these plants are separately saved, 

 and sown. Amongst the offspring, he again selects, and he again 

 sows, taking care that his stock does not become crossed with some 

 other type. Presently, his new color is obtained, the seed« have got 

 in the habit of " coming true," and the brood is given a new name 

 and introduced to the trade. More often, however, the operator 

 has no distinct ideal in his mind, but he watches his plants carefully 

 and every marked departure or " sport " from the type is saved and 

 sown. From such sports the greater part of our novelties, of all 

 annual plants, have come. The sports are frequent enough, but it 

 requires rare judgment to distinguish those which will likely per- 

 petuate themselves, and to carry on the subsequent selection by 



