726 



HORTICULTURE 



May 27, 1916 



The Development of the Modern Winter Flowering Sweet Pea 



An Address by Hov 



r irl bcfoir tiK- Flor 



j( l-'tiil.idclphi.i, on M.irch 



winter flowering sweet pea we must 

 go back to the intrudiiction of that 

 fine old variety. Ulanclio Ferry, for 

 undoubtedly tlie American winter 

 flowering sweet pea can be traced 

 back to that variety, or the early 

 flowering mutations which have since 

 arisen from It. The history of Blanche 

 Ferry Is very interesting and. strange 

 to say, the name of Its originator Is 

 not known. Over fifty years ago a 

 quarryraan's wife In Jefferson County. 

 New York, procured some seeds from 

 a bright flowered plant of that very 

 old. In fact, one of the origiual varie- 

 ties. Painted Lady (infroduced in 

 1700). and for many years after she 

 sowed and selected the best plants 

 from her original selection, thus care- 

 fully and painstakingly improving her 

 stock of what was in later years to 

 be known as Blanche Ferry. 



W. W. Tracy, who was then con- 

 nected with the firm of D. M. Ferry 

 & Co., of Detroit, in passing that way 

 saw the plants and was immediately 

 impressed with their distinct charac- 

 ter and obtained a small stock, only, 

 we believe, about one hundred seeds. 

 The variety was named by the firm 

 Blanche Ferry and was introduced by 

 them in 1889. In 1895 Messrs. Ferry 

 introduced an earlier flowering type 

 of the same variety, calling it Extra 

 Early Blanche Ferry; then, in 1898 

 W. Atlee Burpee & Co. introduced 

 Earliest of All. this being a still earlier 

 type and this variety is what is known 

 on the market and grown so exten- 

 sively as Christmas Pink. There is a 

 much earlier flowering variety, but 

 the growth is smaller and it is ques- 

 tionable if under glass the flowers at- 

 tain quite the size of its later bloom- 

 ing counterpart. Undoubtedly, all our 

 ■winter flowering sweet peas have the 

 Blanche Ferry blood in them. Al- 

 though the crosses later may not have 

 been made on that variety, still, the 

 originals of the type all emanated 

 from it. 



The Telemly sweet pea, which 

 originated with the Rev. Edwin Ark- 

 wright at Telemly, Algeria, also 

 sprung from Blanche Ferry. Mr. Ark- 

 wright explains that a sport from 

 Blanche Ferry showed itself in his 

 garden, blooming in February, when 

 he promptly marked it and the seed 

 saved showed flowers the following 

 January, Prom this time on he got 

 various sports from this and also 

 crossed them with some of the best 

 of the summer flowering sorts. He 

 explains that he sows all his peas 

 about the end of September, and 

 while the summer flowering varieties 



do nut bluom until .Ma.'- lb' ■ ■ 

 varieties come Into bloom from Janu- 

 ary. Ab soon as Countess Spencer 

 was introduced in 1904 Mr. Arkwrinht 

 procured It and has been crossing his 

 original type with the new waved, or 

 Spencer varieties, and 1 believe he 

 has now a number of Spencer early 

 llowerlng varieties ciuile fixed to color. 



Mention sliould also be made of the 

 early flowering type known as Engle- 

 mann's. About 1903 some i)lants of 

 the flowering type sported with hlni 

 producing plants of winter flowering 

 habit. These he grew for some years 

 under glass in England, but on ac- 

 count of the dull weather usually ex- 

 perienced there throughout the win- 

 ter, he has ceased to grow this type. 



The first introduced of Zvolanek's 

 varieties of winter flowering Spencers 

 are, we believe, the direct results of 

 crossing the winter flowering Grandi- 

 floras with the summer flowering 

 Spencer type, but there have also been 

 introduced several varieties of true 

 Spencer form, but winter flowering 

 type, which we understand came as 

 direct sports from the summer flower- 

 ing varieties, namely. Yarrawa, Rose 

 Queen and Anita Wehrman. 



The origin of Yarrawa, is very In- 

 teresting. Arthur Yates, of Sydney, 

 explains that for many years sweet 

 peas were looked upon as one of the 

 most difficult plants to grow success- 

 fully in the warmer sections of Aus- 

 tralia. The regular summer flowering 

 types bloomed in the late spring when 

 they were liable to sudden bursts of 

 hot weather and heavy winds which 

 often shortened their flowering sea- 

 son to a few weeks. Occasionally 

 they failed to bloom at all. However, 

 the introduction of such varieties as 

 Earliest of AH. Mont Blanc and later 

 the Telemly and newer American 

 Grandiflora varieties quite revolution- 

 ized sweet pea culture in Australia, as 

 these early varieties flowered in the 

 winter and early spring, giving them 

 a supply of flowers for several months 

 when practically no other flowers 

 were available. 



This was a great advance and sweet 

 peas soon became one of their most 

 popular flowers. But the quality of 

 the winter flowering varieties was so 

 much below the standard of the mod- 

 ern Spencers that the Australian 

 growers were not satisfied and efforts 

 have been made with considerable 

 success by a few enthusiasts to raise 

 by selection and cross-fertilizing a 

 superior type of the winter flowering 

 varieties of the Grandiflora section. 



However, a decided advance was in 

 view, as in 1908 there appeared in the 

 garden of a Mr. John Young, of Syd- 

 ney. In a patch of new summer flow- 

 ering Spencers, one plant of true 

 Spencer type, but quite distinct from 

 all others. It was different in its 

 vigorous habit and upright growth, 

 earliness and color, and was in full 

 bloom when the others were only a 

 few Inches high and had gone to seed 

 before the normal type had com- 

 menced to show flower buds. The 

 seeds from this plant were carefully 



..i\c-il and M)\Mi tin- fullow iiij; aiilunin, 

 when it came quite true to the parent 

 and instead of remaining more or leas 

 dormant all winter as the original 

 Spencers do It commenced to bloom 

 In the late autumn and continued to 

 flower right tlirough the winter, go- 

 ing to seed in the early spring, as 

 Telemly and American winter flower- 

 ing varieties do In Sydney. 



This early Spencer Is quite distinct 

 In habit from any of the previous 

 early flowering varieties. It is an ex- 

 tremely vigorous grower and with 

 good cultivation will In the vicinity of 

 Sydney top a ten-foot trellis, while the 

 Telemly and American older varieties 

 grown alongside only attain half the 

 height. The Australians have been 

 working on Yarrawa as the seed bear- 

 ing parent of many crosses using the 

 best of the summer flowering Spen- 

 cers and we believe they have now 

 quite a family of Yarrawas In the best 

 colors, but. so far as we can judge by 

 reports they are as yet far from be- 

 ing properly flxed, though doubtless 

 in a year or two this will be remedied 

 and as we consider Yarrawa the easi- 

 est doer of all winter flowering sweet 

 peas, If these Australian children of 

 Yarrawa embody the characteristics 

 of the parent, they will be well worth 

 having. 



My experiences and observations 

 have been that In all lines of plant 

 breeding the experimentor has to ad- 

 mit many times that nature's own 

 crossing produces a type that is fai 

 easier fixed than when one sets about 

 to try and obtain a given color, or 

 type and to no other flower does this 

 apply more than to sweet peas. 



Florists were quick to recognize the 

 superior qualities of the Spencer 

 sweet pea which Burpee first offered 

 in America in 1904 under the name 

 of Countess Spencer and with the dis- 

 tinct new type came an earnest de- 

 sire on the part of those interested 

 to produce, if ixissible. a strain of the 

 proper growth and flowering charac- 

 teristics for forcing under glass. 



The first to endeavor to place a 

 type of winter flowering Spencer on 

 the market was .4ntcn Zvolanek. of 

 Bound Brook, \. J., and later of Lom- 

 poc, California, but Mr. Zvolanek's 

 experience, judging from trials I have 

 made, must have been very similar 

 to those which Morse. Burpee and 

 other growers had had when trying 

 to fix crosses, or sports, of the original 

 or Grandiflora types. . 



As a summer cut flower the Spen- 

 cer so quickly superseded the Grandi- 

 flora type that it was only natural for 

 florists to be most eager for a winter 

 flowering strain producing the same 

 beautifully waved flowers that today 

 appeal to all flower lovers during prac- 

 tically the entire twelve months of 

 the year. To me it seems that this 

 extreme eagerness was solely respon- 

 sible for some selections being placed 

 on the market in an unfixed condi- 

 tion. Such a demand had been cre- 

 ated for the seed of the Spencer type 

 for forcing that many growers were 

 satisfied to pay what might be called 



