CHAPTER XX 



SHADING THE BLOSSOMS 



IN the earlier days no one dreamed of shading the flowers 

 from the scorching rays of the sun, the grower being 

 quite content with the display the Sweet Peas made 

 without any protection of an artificial kind. 



With the advent of high culture, born as a conse- 

 quence of the celebration of the bicentenary of the intro- 

 duction of the Sweet Pea into England, when the great 

 show at the Crystal Palace proved such a revelation to 

 most growers, shading the blossoms has been adopted 

 in the gardens of many of the leading growers. Many 

 of the flowers possessing rich and deep tones of colour 

 were found to be very susceptible to the influence of 

 the sun, and to such an extent was this apparent that 

 flowers growing in open and sunny situations had the 

 appearance of being scalded or bleached and to such a 

 degree as largely to spoil their decorative value. In 

 succeeding years, as the range of colours extended, this 

 scalding became a source of considerable anxiety, and to 

 growers of exhibition Sweet Peas, a matter of much 

 concern. The richer and deeper shades of colour as 

 represented in Henry Eckford, Queen Alexandra, King 

 Edward VII. , Coccinia, Navy Blue, Helen Lewis, Evelyn 

 Byatt, Black Knight, and several others, are among the 

 more notable kinds that suffer from " scalding," and this, 

 to say the least of it, is a great disfigurement of the 

 blossoms. 



There are growers who assert that they grow only sun- 



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