Sweet Peas. 223 



Another word may be said upon the size of the sweet pea flower. 

 The accompanjing engraving (Fig. 78) shows three types of peas, 

 exactly natural size. All illustrations of objects which have depth 

 and rotundity in them, look smaller than the objects which they 

 represent, until the eye becomes trained to see the perspective and 

 the solidity in the picture. The small flower, on the left, is the 

 Rising Sun. It is about the size of the sweet peas of the last gen- 

 eration. The flower on the right is Etna, and is of good size, as. 

 sweet peas go. The middle flower is Dorothy Tennant, and is one 

 of the modern grandiflora type. The flower is large enough for a 

 good sweet pea, in my opinion, although it might be somewhat en- 

 larged without losing its daintiness. Yet this flower measures only 

 an inch and a quarter across, whilst a catatalogue illustration before 



78. — Three typical sizes of sweet pea flowers. 



me has them two inches across. I do not deny that such peas are 

 possible, with high culture and pruning, but it is a fair question if 

 they are desirable. The Apple Blossom, Fig. 80, is one of the 

 grandiflora type, a development from the old Painted Lady, but the 

 illustration is the merest trifle oversize. All the other pictures of 

 varieties in this bulletin, except Fig. 74, are exactly natural size, 

 and are made from flowers grown in ordinary conditions, in too 

 thick planting. 



Along with the increasing tendency towards doubling of the 

 flowei's, the sweet pea has also developed a tendency to enlarge the 

 flower cluster. This often comes as a result of fasciation or ab- 

 normal broadening of the stem. As many as eight perfect flowers 

 were developed in some clusters of Apple Blossom in our planta- 



