April 25, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



503 



WINTER-FLOWERING SWEET 



PEAS. 



(Read before the Gardeuers' aud Florists' 



Club of Boston by Wm. Sim.) 



The sweet pea is one of the staples 

 in cut flowers, ranking in this respect 

 next to -the violet. I will not go into 

 the ancient history of the sweet pea, 

 but confine my remarks as much as 

 possible to the winter or early flower- 

 ing section, the advent of which I think 

 is within the memory of the youngest 

 member here. It is only within the 

 past ten or twelve years that the sweet 

 pea has been placed before the people 

 in the winter months. By growing the 

 old varieties under glass it was only 

 possible to have them at the most five 

 months of the year. With the advent 

 of the early flowering section it was 

 made possible to cut flowers all the 

 year. The first sweet peas 1 grew un- 

 der glass were such varieties as 

 Blanche Ferry, Emily Henderson, 

 liatherine Tracy, Countess of Radnor 

 and Emily Ecliford. These are of the 

 late or summer floweriug section. 

 These varieties when sown under glass 



.January, 1892, he found some of the 

 plants producing flowers which were 

 small in size, and the plants only at- 

 tained the height of two feet, but by 

 crossing and recrossing a s.train pro- 

 ducing large flowers on long stems, and 

 growing six feet in height, was se- 

 cured. At this time Mr. Zvolanek was 

 not in business for himself, and raised 

 them mainly for pleasure, and gave 

 seed to any of his friends who waated 

 some. While in the employment of 

 Mr. Thonias Young of New York in 

 1S9.5-G he had two houses of Christmas 

 Pink. If this story is correct it shows 

 that he must have had ttem about the 

 timd he states in order toi get seed 

 enough to plant two houses in 1895. 

 This was three years before it was put 

 into commerce by Burpee. 



The origin is also claimed by Thom- 

 as Gould of A'entura, California. This 

 is the variety sent out Ijy Burpee as 

 "Earliest of .\]V in 1.S98. It*l am 

 right, I think this strain of Mr. Goulds 

 was first seen in bloom among plants 

 of Blanche Ferry. In 1898 Mr. Zvolanek 

 started with Emil Leuly of West Ho- 



Eaulv Fl<_iwei;inu Sweet 



At Wm. Sim's, 

 in August would not come into bloom 

 until the end of the following April, 

 and seed sown in January wbuld 

 flower as early as that sown in August. 

 They have a season of flowering and 

 will not flower before that time, no 

 matter when the seed is sown. The 

 early-flowering sweet peas are just the 

 opposite in this respect, for in many 

 cases they commence to flower when 

 only a few inches above the soil, and 

 if sown in July they will flow'er in Au- 

 gust. They make a very poor growth 

 in summer aud do not do so well as 

 the late varieties. In the winter 

 months, however, they make a very 

 strong growth, and while making this 

 growth they bloom. 



Origin. 



The origin of the winter-flowering 

 Fweet pea is something that seems to 

 be a mystery. A. C. Zvolanek of 

 Bound Brook, New Jersey, is one of 

 several who claim to have been the 

 originator. He claims that he made 

 his t'lTsi experiments twenty-five years 

 ago, but did not succeed until he made 

 a cross with the European vetch In 



Pea, Mrs. Geo. W. Lewis 



Cliftondale, Mass. 



boken and had at that time six houses 

 of Christmas Pink and Florence Den- 

 zer. Now there is no difference be- 

 tween this Florence Denzer and Mont 

 Blanc. They are the same in every 

 respect. Benary of Erfurt. Germany, 

 sent out Mont Blanc I think in 1902, or 

 four years after Mr. Zvolanek was-rais- 

 ing it in Hoboken. If Mr. Zvolanek 

 would again cross with the vetch the 

 old varieties, and secure an early flow- 

 ering strain, his claim would be sub- 

 stantiated. He has promised to do this. 

 Sports. 

 Many claim that the varieties of this 

 strain are habit sports: that they pro- 

 duce flowers identical to the late va- 

 rieties from which they sported. I do 

 not believe thty do sport myself, for I 

 have grovv'n a great many both inside 

 and outside, and have never had one 

 sport with me. Mr. Zvolanek, who has 

 raised practically all the winter- 

 flowering varieties, says he has never 

 had one sport with him. Mr. Zvolanek 

 raised Christmas Captain as a result of 

 a cross between Captain of the Blues 

 and Christmas Pink, A. grower in 



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England claims Captain of the Blues 

 sported with him from the late to the 

 early U pe, but I believe this was only 

 a stray seed of Christmas Captain 

 which had in some way gotten among 

 his Captain of the Blues, for he was 

 growing seed of Mr. Zvolanek's at the 

 time. 1 think the cause is apparent. 

 It is also possible that if he were 

 growing the two types side by side 

 cross feitillzation may have taken 

 place, and the early flowering one may 

 have been the result. It is claimed by 

 some that sweet peas do not mix, but 

 the more I grow of them the more con- 

 vinced I am that they do mix more or 

 less. There is not one variety I grow 

 but what quite frequently exposes its 

 pollen and pistil, so in this case what 

 is there to prevent insects or flies from 

 carrying the pollen? Some claim these 

 are deformed flowers and would not go 

 to seed anyhow, but this is not the 

 case, for if they are left on the plants 

 they go to seed ever>- time and produce 

 fine seed. 1 am told this is far more 

 marked on the seed farms in California 

 than in a greenhouse. I believe the 

 early sweet is the result of a cross be- 

 tween the old type and some other spe- 

 cies. I do not believe the late sweet 

 pea can sport from the late to the early 

 flowering, and will only believe so 

 when I have conclusive proof that this 

 is the case. Many growers on seeing 

 some variety they imagined they 

 sowed, without examination immedi- 

 ately call it a sport. They do not stop 

 to consider that there are many ways 

 for that seed to get there. The seeds- 

 man and seed grower cannot always 

 prevent the seed getting mixed. 



(Ta he Coniinned) 



