CHAPTER II 



THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF THE SWEET PEA. 



THE early history of Sweet Peas is a subject of consider- 

 able interest to growers as well as to botanists, and 

 inquiries are frequently made for particulars regarding 

 their evolution. It hardly seems credible that the 

 beautiful Sweet Peas, as we know them to-day, have 

 such an interesting history, embracing a period of 

 more than 200 years. Sweet Pea growers will ever 

 be indebted to Mr S. B. Dicks, F.R.H.S., who has 

 worked at this subject for about fifteen years, for 

 the wealth of information he has amassed from so 

 many different sources. His first paper was printed 

 fully three years before the Bi-Centenary Celebration 

 at the Crystal Palace in 1900, and although he con- 

 tributed to the conference proceedings on that occasion, 

 the Report of that function hardly did justice to his 

 very excellent paper. 



Since the above-mentioned period Mr Dicks has 

 contributed valuable information to The Sweet Pea 

 Annual in 1905 and again in 1908. For much of 

 what follows under this heading we are indebted to 

 this gentleman for historical notes that he has been 

 pleased to place at our disposal, for which we owe 

 him grateful thanks. 



In the "Historiae Plantarum" of Joannes Bauhinus, 

 Ebroduni, 1650-51, Mr Dicks says he has discovered 

 (on the authority of James Justice) the earliest mention 

 of the plant which is catalogued as Lathyrus angustifolius , 



