2 SWEET PEAS 



and where the worthy monk discovered the wild Sweet Pea we shall 

 never know. It may be that he had read of it in John Bauhin's 

 "Historia," which was already published, for there is mention of 

 it there ; or it may be that he did not know of its existence until he 

 found it. But it does not matter. The thing that is of consequence 

 is that Cupani found this wilding whose descendants bid fair to 

 rival the Hose in popularity, and all Sweet Pea lovers must be etern- 

 ally indebted to him. No mundane pedestal marks the inestimable 

 benefit which Father Cupani conferred upon the world of flowers, 

 but all devotees of the Sweet Pea have raised a monument to his 

 memory, a monument of silent admiration that but strengthens and 

 consolidates as time flies by. 



First Cultivation in England. It is believed that the 

 Sweet Pea first found its way to Britain in the year 1700. In 

 1713 Dr. Petiver, in a paper read before the Koyal Society, said that 

 the seed was sent to Dr. Uvedale who, in his garden at Enfield, had 

 a number of rare and curious plants from foreign parts. It was in 

 Dr. Uvedale's garden that Dr. Plunkenet, author of one of the 

 herbals of the day saw the famous Lathyrus odoratus, forerunner 

 of the twentieth century Sweet Peas. Events marched slowly in the 

 eighteenth century and it was not until 1730 that Philip Miller (then 

 gardener to the Worshipful Company of Gardeners at Chelsea) was led 

 to make an announcement about the Sicilian Sweet Pea. But even 

 what Miller had to say concerning it seems now of little interest. 

 Apparently the gardeners of the eighteenth century -saw no possi- 

 bilities in the flower, for there is no recorded advance either in its 

 development or popularity. We wait until the dawn of the nine- 

 teenth century before we find that increased attention was directed 

 towards the Sweet Pea. It was about this time that John Mason, 

 seedsman, of 152, Fleet Street, London, issued a catalogue in which 

 the Sweet Pea is mentioned. Mawe's " Gardener," also published in 

 the year 1800 or 1801, throws a little more light on the subject. Annual 

 flowers are there grouped in three sections, and the Sweet Pea finds 

 a place in the third section, which contained the commonest and 

 hardiest flowers. In Page's "Prudomus," published in 1817, six 

 varieties of the Sweet Pea were mentioned white, scarlet, purple, 

 black, striped and " Painted Lady." The latter is described as having 

 a scarlet standard with white wings and keel. In 1842 James 

 Carter, seedsman, also enumerated six varieties. It was not until 

 1860 that Carter offered nine varieties, among them being a blue 

 edged one. 



