Sweet Peas. 67 



Ferry growth, and all varieties that have blue in them come 

 a Light Blue and Purple. This is always the rule when crossing 

 on Cupid. Here and there are plants of Cupids, but these come 

 because the crossing was not made perfectly. It is very hard to 

 cross on Cupid as the pollen breaks away when the bud is very 

 small. Several years ago I put Cupid on Venus and last year I 

 got a weak Blanche Ferry of ordinary Blanche Ferry growth. 

 Last year I put Cupid onto this cross and now I have a Cupid 

 again. This is three-fourth Cupid blood and one-fourth Venus, 

 and still it does not show any of the latter. It cannot be distin- 

 guished from the thousands of Cupids we have growing. 



" Of the other crosses, that is, those on the taller varieties, the 

 results are also discouraging. There are several new things, 

 however, that save the whole summer's work from being a total 

 failure. My stock of Penzance on Venus '95 was put onto Co- 

 quette (a plant which I found last year and a variety which 

 Eckford will introduce in this country next year) brought me a 

 variety with a pale pink standard and white wings. It has the 

 grand iflora form and is very pretty. Lottie Eckford on Eliza 

 Eckford brought me a flower like the former, but color of reddish 

 mauve. Last year I had an 'Improved Royal Robe.' It was 

 a result of Penzance on Venus and was the finest stock on Royal 

 Robe I ever had. This year it broke up into many new and sev- 

 eral old varieties, but all of very fine form and color, such 

 as buflf, with a suggestion of pink, a rose edge, a pink edge on 

 white ground (Eckford' s Countess of Aberdeen), a pink edge on 

 bufi" ground ; there are fine shades of white, also improved 

 Ovids, Royal Robes, Lady Penzance, Blushing Beauty, etc. It 

 is truly the finest mixture in sweet peas ; there is not a flower 

 of poor form or color in it. We will also have for next year's in- 

 troduction a pink which will correspond to Grey Friar. It is 

 better than the latter, as the color in much finer." 



It is hoped that this bulletin may contribute something to the 

 joy of rural life by interesting persons who have a rod of land to 

 spare, in the delights of plants and the restfulness of nature-study. 



L. H. Bailey. 



