CHAPTER VII 



Raising New Sweet Peas 



Cross - Fertilisation. The cross-fertilisation of Sweet Peas, 

 or, in fact, of any flower, with a view to raising new varieties, 

 has a special charm, a charm that is largely due to the fact that one 

 never knows what may " turn up." Ninety-nine per cent, of the seed- 

 ling flowers may be worthless, most probably they will be, but the 

 remaining one per cent, may be worth perpetuating, and may prove 

 of monetary value to the raiser. I have raised many cross-bred 

 Sweet Peas, but, so far, I have not tasted the sweets which have 

 been the lot of more fortunate raisers. Now that so many are cross- 

 breeding Sweet Peas (and it seems as though almost everyone who 

 grows them is trying his hand !) it frequently happens that the 

 same variety comes to light in several gardens, and the grower who 

 is able to fix the variety first is he who may rightly claim the honour 

 of its introduction and whatever cash goes with it. It has been my 

 lot to raise several new varieties of Sweet Peas, which, to me, were 

 very beautiful and quite new, but, alas ! on visits to the National 

 Sweet Pea Show, or some other equally familiar, I have been non- 

 plussed and disappointed at seeing, what was to all intents and 

 purposes, the same new Sweet Pea of which I believed myself 

 to be the sole possessor ! Still I, no doubt in common with many 

 others, am plodding on in the hope that one day something good 

 will turn up something peculiar to my own garden. 



An Unstable Flower. It is the experience of most workers 

 among the Sweet Pea that it is the most unstable of flowers. Mr. 

 Robert Sydenham, who has a wide experience of the raising and 

 distributing of new varieties, says that the waved varieties are not 

 to be depended upon to come true, and, after a season or two 

 of correct blossoming will break away and throw many " rogues" for 

 no apparent reason. The waved varieties are more difficult to fix 

 than the plain standard sorts. Many of the latter re absolutely 

 fixed, and when stocks are obtained from reliable growers it is rare 

 indeed to find "rogues" among them. Who will dare prophesy 



53 



