162 



HORTICULTURE 



August 10, 1907 



British Horticulture, 



THE SWEET PEA SHOW 



The sweet pc-a cult is still booming on this side, judg- 

 ing by the success attending the annual show of the 

 National Society. The entries numbered 797, arranged 

 in 88 classes, wliilst the bunches of flowers totalled 3,"217 

 — 1,200 more than at the exhiliition last year. The 

 season has proved unfavorable for the northern growers, 

 and in consequence the chief awards went south. 

 Among the winning novelties was a very fine introduc- 

 tion named St. George which will be sent out by Messrs. 

 Hur.st and Son. The standard is bright orange red, 

 whilst the prevailing color of the wings is bright rose. 

 It received an award of merit at the IJoyal Horticultural 

 Society's show at Holland House, Kensingion. Elsie 

 Herbert is a picotec flower of the (Jountess Spencer 

 fyije. The margins of the petals are tinged with rose, 

 which fades in the centre of the flower to almost pure 

 white. Silas Cole, who raised the Countess of Spencer 

 and other popular varieties, received an award for a new- 

 variety bearing his own name. The blooms are of a 

 bluish-violet in the centre, shading to a deep maroon 

 in the outer parts of the petals. The other awards were 

 granted to the following : Nancy Perkins, pale orange- 

 scarlet, shaded with tcrra-cottii ; The Marquis, lavender; 

 Eosie Adams, centre parts of a heliotrope tint, merging 

 to rose in a large standard, and Evelyn Hemus, creamy- 

 wliite with rose-colored margins. 



THE SWEET PEA TRIALS 



A further series of sweet pea trials has this year been 

 conducted at the University College gardens, Eeading, 

 under the direction of Chas. Foster, the horticultural 

 superintendent. After the show a party of members of 

 the National Sweet Pea Society journeyed to Reading 

 and inspected the trials. The floral committee made an 

 exhaustive inspection of the seedlings, and as a result 

 five of the varieties which received awards at the show 

 were confirmed. A first-class certificate was granted 

 the American introduetion, Helen Pierce, the popular 

 marbled blue, which is scheduled as the best variety in 

 this section in the Society's audit class. It was noticed 

 that many of the strains were considerably mixed, and 

 it was a diflicidt matter to find the real variety. There 

 is certainly a need for greater care in sending out new 

 varieties. Endless confusion' has been caused by the 

 unnecessary hurry of raisers in placing novelties on the 

 market before they are properly fixed. At the recent 

 show in two cases flowers which were apparently Lord 

 Boseliery were shown as .fobn Ingman and these were 

 disqualified, to the chagrin of the exhibitors. I hoard 

 of an instance this week where a grower has .Tohn Ing- 

 man and several other kinds coming out of the seed 

 purchased as Henry Eckford. It is also reported that a 

 variety known as Coral (iem is a hooded form of 

 Countess of Latham. There is evidently plenty of scope 

 for the National Snrietv in keeping an up-to-date list of 

 synonyms, as a guide to growers. 



A NEW DEVELOPMENT 



Tile IJoyal Horticultural Society has further extended 

 its usefulness by the establishment of a laboratory and 

 research station in the gardens at AVisley. The society 

 IS establishing a school of horticulture for training 

 young gardeners, and it will now be able to train 

 students in the scientific branches as well as in the rou- 

 tine of cultivation. The Surrey County Council has 

 arranged with the society to send a number of boys from 

 the county schools for instruction. As explained by 

 Lord Avebury, who performed tlie formal opening 

 recently, the society has two objects in view in extend- 

 ing its work, viz., the improvement of horticulture by 

 giving the best possible training to a certain number of 

 young gardeners, and the promotion of horticultural 

 and botanical science by experiment and investigation. 

 J^ord Avebury added '"Among the subjects it is hoped to 

 experiment upon in the near future are soil-sterilization 

 by steam as a means of destroying pests of plants which 

 live in the soil; an investigation into the influence of 

 sterilization on the plants cultivated in the soil; study 

 of the bacterial flora of the soil ; etherization of plants ; 

 investigation of certain plant diseases. Each of these 

 subjects will entail a large amount of laboratory work, 

 as well as experiments in the garden." The work which 

 will be undertaken at the lal.ioratory is of such national 

 importance that the society should not be called upon 

 to rely for voluntary effort for the necessary funds. It 

 is a case where state aid can be legitimately claimed. 

 The British Government has never been very liberal in 

 aiding the valuable work of societies of this character, 

 for we are not as fortunate in this respect as America 

 and tlie Colonies. 



MESSRS. SUTTON's TRIALS 



ilessrs. Sutton and Sons for some time have been con- 

 ducting a valuable series of potato trials on their ex- 

 tensive experimental grounds. At the Temple show an 

 interesting feature was their display of wild species of 

 tuberous solanums and hylorid seedlings raised from 

 them. Amongst the former were the wild potato of 

 Uruguay, Solanum Commersonii, S. Maglia, S. ver- 

 rucosum and others. Respecting these, Messrs. Sutton 

 state: "It is especially noteworthy, in view of the fact 

 that so many scientists are new engaged in the search 

 for the original wild type of Solanum tuberosum, which 

 gave rise to the cultivated potatoes, i. e., the potatoes 

 of commerce, that in no case do any of the seedlings 

 raised from the wild types grown by Messrs. Sutton and 

 Sons show any variation whatever from the parent 

 types, whereas on the other hand seedlings raised from 

 the cultivated potato never come true, and seldom, if 

 ever, show any marked resemblance to the parent." A 

 jiarty of experts who visited Reading lately were greatly 

 im])ressed with the value of the experiments. There 

 have lieen some trials if plants raised from seeds and 

 tubers received from W. Slua'-t, of the Vermont Agri- 

 eultural Station. 



>tV. Qdit^. 



