Culture of the Sweet Pea 691 



and eighty of those are varieties originated at Wem. One fifth of the 

 remainder are of the old varieties introduced prior to 1880. As late as 

 1907 we find that in Mr. Morse's list of the fifty leading varieties, based 

 on the amount of seed of each demanded by the trade, twenty-eight of 

 the varieties originated on Eckford grounds. In his selection of the best 

 fifty varieties Mr. Morse included thirty-one Eckford varieties — a truly 

 remarkable record of achievement for one man as against the field, espe- 

 cially when we take into consideration also the fact that after Mr. Eckford 

 had " broken the type " many of the results obtained in California were 

 rendered possible. 



Mr. Eckford 's fiu-ther introductions are as follows: 



1901, Coccinea, George Gordon, Honorable Mrs. E. Kenyon, Lady 

 Ormsby-Gore, Miss Wilmott. 



1902, Gracie Greenwood, Jeannie Gordon, Lord Rosebery. 



1903, Agnes Johnston, Dorothy Eckford, King Edward VII, Mrs. 

 Walter Wright. 



1904, Mrs. Knights-Smith, Marchioness of Cholmondeley. 



1905, Black Michael, David R. Williamson, Princess Maud of Wales, 

 Romolo Piazzani. 



1906, Henry Eckford, Queen Alexandra, Sybil Eckford. 



1907, Agnes Eckford, Earl Cromer, Horace Wright, Maud Guest, Queen 

 of Spain. 



1908, H. J. R. Digges, James Grieve, May Perrett, Mima Johnston, 

 Primrose Waved, Purple King, White Waved. 



1909, Annie B. Gilroy, Dodwell F. Browne, Mrs. Charles Masters. 



1910, Mary Vipan, Mrs. E. Gibnan, Vicomte de Janze. 



American horticultural history 

 The first American variety of sweet peas was that epoch-making variety, 

 Blanche Ferry, introduced by D. M. Ferry & Co. in 1889. It was de- 

 lineated by a colored plate, which was the first colored plate of a sweet 

 pea to appear in an American seed catalog. This variety was derived 

 from the Old Painted Lady.* Then followed Captain Sharkey (Breck, 

 1889), Joanna Theresa (Breck, 1889), Alba Magnifica (Henderson, 1891), 

 Blushing Bride (Breck, 1891), and Emily Henderson (Henderson, 1893). 

 The last-named variety was for many years the standard white, and 

 florists especially preferred it. In 1894 W. Atlee Burpee & Co. intro- 

 duced American Belle, and Breck sent out Harvard. In 1895 D. M. 

 Ferry & Co. introduced Extra Early Blanche Ferry and Katherine Tracy. 

 In 1896 Burpee sent out Daybreak, originated by the Reverend Mr. 

 Hutchins, and also Grey Friar, Juanita, Oddity, and Ramona. The 



* For an account of the origin of Blanche Ferry, see Bulletin 319 of this station, page 625. 



