74 



HOKTICULTUEE 



July 19, 1913 



sided, about 60 guests being present, 

 and it was a very enjoyable occasion. 

 William Sim was the first speaker 

 when the time arrived for the talk- 

 fest. Then came the new vice-presi- 

 dent of the Sweet Pea Society, Arthur 

 Kirby. George B. Dorr, of Bar Har- 

 bor, Me., followed with enthusiastic 

 praise for the exhibition, and next A. 

 E. Thatcher with a rousing speech. 

 W. J. Stewart next, and then Thomas 

 Roland, who spoke of the sweet pea 

 as "the flower of the people and for 

 the people" and paid a clever compli- 

 ment to the great work of A. Zvol- 

 anek. Secretary Rich of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society congrat- 

 ulated everybody and assured them 

 that Horticultural Hall would always 

 open its doors to this beautiful and 

 coming flower. Secretary M. C. Ebel 

 of the Association of Gardeners spoke 

 nicely for the gardeners. Peter Miller 

 voiced the welcome of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club. Secretary Bun- 

 yard orated with characteristic wit and 

 humor, and Wm. Downs and others to 

 the number of nearly a score added 

 their mite to the general felicitation. 

 and heverbody went 'ome 'appy. 



VISITORS. 



We make no attenii)t to give a com- 

 plete list of the visitors. Among them, 

 however, were the following, most of 

 whom honored the office of Horticul- 

 ture with a friendly call. Leonard Bar- 

 ron, Garden City, N. Y. ; F. R. Pierson. 

 Tarrytown. N. Y.; I. S. Hendrickson. 

 Floral Park, N. Y.; C. H. Totty, W. H. 

 Duokham and M. C. Ebel. Madison, N. 

 J.; Jas. Robertson, Newport. R. I.; Jas. 

 Stuart. Mamaroneck, N. Y.: H. A. Bun- 

 yard, George Struck, A. T. Delamare. 

 J. H. Pepper, A. F. Faulkner and A. 

 Kirby, all of New York City; A. K. 

 Thatcher, Bar Harbor, Me.; Jas. Mac- 

 Machen, Tuxedo Park. N. Y.; G. W. 

 Kerr, Doylstown, Pa.; Prof A. C. Heal. 

 Ithaca, N. Y.; W. A. Manda, South 

 Orange, N, J.; J. J. Karins, Philadel- 

 phia, Pa 



Harry A. Bunyard, secretary of the 

 American Sweet Poa Society, "pro- 

 voked a hearty lau.Kh at the annual 

 meeting of that organization in Horti- 

 cultural Hall. He had been proposed 

 for re-election, and the oflice was gen- 

 erously seeking the man. But he was 

 too modest to seem to want the place 

 and too devoted to the society to sur- 

 render it to somebody else. "I've 

 been thinking It's time for me to have 

 a successor," he said, "but I've not 

 been able to find a man big enough 

 for the job. and — " the members 

 exploded. One of them passed a 

 cigar to Mr. Bunyard and he was 

 promptly made secretary for ctnother 

 yfar. — Boston Traveler. 



REPORT OF THE SWEET PEA 



TRIALS FOR 1913. 



By Prof. A. C. Beiil of Ithao:i. N. Y. 



At this time it may be desirable to 

 note the progress made in the sweet 

 pea trials. This work was under- 

 taken in the autumn of 1909, when 

 plantings were made for the purpose of 

 determining whether it is feasible to 

 plant sweet peas in tlic fall. The re- 

 sults of this work wire reported in 

 Bulletin No. 301. The testing of 

 varieties has covered four seasons. 

 During this period a large number of 



varieties have been grown each year. 

 These have not all been distinct, for 

 a number of varieties have been 

 grown every year for the purposes of 

 comparison. The number of varie- 

 ties grown each year is as follows: 

 1910, 469; 1911, 435; 1912, 370; 1913, 

 200. 



When we began our studies of sweet 

 peas, it was decided to make a thor- 

 ough study of the evolution of the 

 sweet pea, and for this purpose a large 

 number of the older varieties were 

 grown. T'leso have now been dropped 

 from the trials, which explains in 

 large measure the smaller number of 

 varieties grown during the last sea- 

 son. Each year careful and complete 

 notes have been taken of all the va- 

 rieties, which give us, in the case of 

 those varieties grown for comparative 

 purposes, a record of the behavior of 

 varieties in different seasons. In the 

 case of the novelties, however, most 

 of them have only been grown one sea- 

 son. 



Three publications have been issued, 

 and the writer is rapidly putting into 

 final form all the descriptive notes on 

 varieties. This material will be ready 

 for publication at the close of the 

 present season. The publications 

 which we have already issued have 

 had a gratifying reception, not only 

 in this country, but in England. 



This year the seeds which were re- 

 ceived for trial were sown singly in 

 3 in. pots during the last week in 

 March. Each pot was carefully la- 

 beled so that no mixing of varieties in 

 handling could possibly happen. The 

 pots were placed in the greenhouse 

 imtil germination occurred, and then 

 were transferred to coldframes, where 

 tl.ey remained until they were planted 

 in the field. The preparation of the 

 land was similar to that which we 

 have practiced heretofore. There was 

 no rain for three weeks after trans- 

 planting, and for a time we thought 

 the chances of success very unfavor 

 able. However, the plants grew well 

 after the rains and began to bloom 

 about June 20. This year we have 

 sbandoned the use of string as a sup- 

 port, and have employed wire net- 

 ting. This serves the purpose very 

 well, except in the case of some varie- 

 ties which required tying to the net- 

 ting. In addition to the 150 varieties 

 sown in pots, about 100 varieties were 

 planted in the open ground. Owing to 

 the late, cold season these were not 

 planted until the 18th of April, and at 

 the present time only the Blanche 

 Ferry and its near relatives are in 

 bloom in this part of the trial grounds. 

 On the other hand, the plants from 

 seed sown in pots are now blooming 

 freely and are making a splendid 

 show. This affords an excellent Illus- 

 tration of the relative earliness of the 

 same varieties grown by two systems. 



Among the varieties of recent intro- 

 duction now growing on the trial 

 grounds are: 



Barbara, Bertie Usher, Betty, Blue 

 Jacket, Captivation Spencer, Chastity, 

 Coronation, Cyril Unwin, Debbie's 

 Cream, Edith Taylor, Irish Belle, John 

 Ridd, Lady Evelyn Eyre, Lady Knox. 

 Leslie Imber, Margaret Madison, Loy- 

 alty, Mauve Queen, May Campbell, Mel- 

 ba, Millie Maslin Spencer, Mrs. Cuth- 

 bertson, Mrs. Heslington, Mrs. T. W. 

 Warren, Orion, Pearl Gray Spencer, 

 Primrose Beauty, Princess May, Red 



Star, Rosabelle, Scarlet Empress, Scar- 

 elt Emperor, Vermilion Brilliant, Win- 

 ifred Unwin. Zarina Spencer, Andrew 

 Altken, April, Brunette, Bolton's Scar- 

 let, Charm, Clematis, Debbie's Scarlet 

 and Debbie's True Lavender, Earl of 

 Lovelace, Ella Kelway, Felicity, Gus- 

 tav Hamel, Grace Darling, Helen 

 Pierce Spencer, Inspector, Lillian, 

 Laura Wyatt, Lila, Lord Nelson Spen- 

 cer, Lady Miller, May Perrett Spencer, 

 Mrs. E. Cowdy, Mrs. Reginald Hill and 

 Southcote Blue. 



At the present time, so far as we 

 have studied the varieties, it appears 

 that those of merit are: May Camp- 

 tell, marbled carmine on cream 

 ground; Charm (Fordhook Fairy), 

 white, suffused with delicate blush 

 lilac; Orchid, rich, deep lavender suf- 

 fused with pink; Debbie's Scarlet, bril- 

 liant scarlet; Lady Evelyn Eyre, a 

 very large blush variety; Lila, a dis- 

 tinct variety, standards faint lilac 

 deeper at midrib, wings very light 

 primrose; Orion, crimson; Mrs. Cuth- 

 bertson, rose pink standard and 

 white flushed pale rose wings; Walter 

 P. Wright, bluish lavender. 



At the present date we would re- 

 port that Inspector is better than 

 Melba, and that both are better than 

 Earl Spencer. The former shows a 

 good percentage of doubles. 



Dobbie's Scarlet appear? to be the 

 best of the bright scarlets, although 

 Red Star is good. 



Margaret Madison is doubtless better 

 than Flora Norton Spencer. Leslie 

 Imber and Southcote Blue are no bet- 

 ter than the latter. 



Helen Pierce Spencer, May Farquhar, 

 Lord Nelson Spencer, and Millie Mas- 

 lin Spencer are good, but we will re- 

 port on them later. 



Loyalty, Bertie Usher, and Blue 

 Jacket are blue striped varieties. 



Cyril Unwin resembles Arthur 

 Green. 



There are several cream pink, white, 

 orange, maroon, and manve varieties, 

 but nothing which at this date is 

 superior to the standard varieties. 



These brief notes are subject to pos- 

 sible revision after further study, and 

 the members of the Society are re- 

 ferred to our forthcoming report for 

 complete descriptions and comparisons 

 of varieties. 



The recently organized Department 

 of Floriculture proposes to continue 

 to test new varieties of sweet peas 

 each season, and hopes that the work 

 which has been carried on may justify 

 a continuance of the excellent support 

 which the American Sweet Pea Society 

 has given the work hitherto carried on 

 at Cornell. 



A FEW NOTES ON SWEET PEAS. 



I'apfr l>.v GtKirgf W. Kerr. Doylestown. Pa. 



When the evolution of the sweet 

 pea is mentioned our thoughts must 

 immediately go back to the late Henry 

 Eckford. for. had he not given us that 

 fine old pink variety Prima Donna, it 

 may be that the Spencer type would 

 not yet have been evolved, for Coun- 

 tess Spencer came to us as a sport, 

 or, to follow the new term used by 

 the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries — 

 n>utation, front Prima Donna, and as 

 we all know this was the forerunner 

 of the beautiful new race of Spencers, 

 many of which are now the results of 

 careful hybridizing, while others are 



