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FLORAL NOVELTIES. 353 
FLORAL NOVELTIES. 
MISS EMMA V. WHITE, NINNEAPOLIS. 
Some one defines novelties thus: “Money makers for some; money 
losers for others.” And doubtless there are those before me who 
can testify to the rarity of the latter half of this assertion, and, if all 
the dreadful things we hear said of the tricks of nurserymen are 
true, you can also verify the truth of both sides of the statement. 
But are there really new things, new creations in the floral world? 
Notwithstanding men were told long ages ago by that wisest of 
wise men that “there is nothing new under the sun,” we must assent 
to the undoubted fact of the new. Since the world began mankind 
has had an itching for some new thing. A healthy discontent with 
the present is that which leads to discovery and investigation. And 
the floral world is not without its discontented ones, its investiga- 
tors and inventors. It is the crowning glory of man that hecan 
supplement, nay, perhaps improve upon the works of the Creator. 
God made the rose; man makes an American Beauty. A glance at 
the history and development of the sweet pea well illustrates this. 
The sweet pea was first known in England about 1700, being in- 
troduced there from Sicily, the native home of the white and purple 
varieties. The pink, commonly known as the Painted Lady, is 
thought to have come from Ceylon. Out from these three first 
known varieties, with blossoms small and straggling, we find the 
varieties enumerated today almost by the hundred. The last few 
years especially have witnessed great development both in variety 
and substance, and the catalogues of today contain many names 
unknown three or five yearsago. And each year addsstill other new 
names to the long list. There have been undoubted improvements, 
too. Although the Painted Lady still holds its own among the pink 
and. white varieties, its days are perhaps numbered. Thenew Blanch 
Ferry, much like it but with the standards a more varied pink, 
making a finer contrast and blossoming earlier, it is claimed, is 
fast pushing it to the wall. In white sweet peas, Blanch Burpee or 
Emily Henderson, much alike, are now the favorites, and well de- 
serve to be with their good substance and prolific blooming. One 
of the handsomest new peas I saw last summer was the Stanley,a 
dark, rich maroon, bearing unusually large blossoms, three and 
four to the stalk. The Cupid, the dwarf white sweet pea, introduced 
two years ago and sold at a very high price, has been widely adver- 
tised, but it has not given general satisfaction. It is a weak ger- 
minator, and especially in our more northern latitudes does not 
reach its best development. In some places it is much liked, how- 
ever, and praised asa pot plant. I might speak of many other new 
varieties of sweat peas of equal value with those already mentioned. 
In perhaps no other garden flower has the improvement been more 
marked, and we wonder almost how the future can have anything 
better in store than the present. . 
Among the other new things that have pleased me very much of 
late is the salpiglosis. Though this was introduced from South 
America as long ago as 1824, it is only within a few years that it has 
