Sweet Peas 



Scarlet and Hercules were bred from selected 

 parents. Raising new varieties is very interesting 

 and very fascinating work, but it takes years 

 to achieve results. By results I mean the fixing 

 a variety after it is raised and working up a 

 stock to make it of commercial value. This 

 need not however prevent the smallest grower 

 keeping a look-out for " breaks," as seminal 

 variations are rather improperly called. A pod 

 or two of seed can usually be saved and the 

 produce grown the following year to ascertain 

 if it is fixed. Then if it is, it can be submitted 

 to an expert to ascertain if it is ever likely to be 

 of much commercial value. 



I will now proceed to explain the process of 

 raising new varieties by cross-fertilization. 

 Supposing, for the sake of illustration, it was 

 desired to endeavour to get a large scarlet 

 variety which would produce four bloom sprays 

 in abundance which no scarlet variety at present 

 does one would ask oneself which was the 

 brightest scarlet. The answer might be Bobbie's 

 Scarlet, Red Star, or Scarlet Monarch. Well 

 one of these would be one of the parents, while 

 the other would be a vigorous growing variety 

 which produced large flowers on four bloom sprays 

 every time. Asking oneself which varieties did 



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