SWEET PEAS UP TO DATE 



an improvement in size and of a form so distinctly new, 

 the immense standard and wings being beautifully 

 frilled and waved, that it created a perfect sensation 

 at the Show, but since the advent of its introduction in 

 1904 the new waved or orchid-flowered varieties have 

 been added to considerably, these being either sports 

 from the popular Countess Spencer, or the results of 

 the careful hybridist. 



The first "Spencer" sports to appear were John 

 Ingman and Helen Lewis, followed by Mrs. Charles 

 Foster and Mrs. Charles Mander. Since then many 

 new colors have been evolved, a list of which is given 

 on pages 38 to 60. 



About the time that Mr. Cole brought out Countess 

 Spencer the same variety was found as a sport in that 

 fine old grandiflora variety, Prima Donna, by Mr. Viner, 

 of Frome, Somerset, and W. J. UNWIN, of Histon, Cam- 

 bridge, also found a sport in Prima Donna, and this he 

 called Gladys Unwin. It is also of the wavy type and 

 of much the same shade of pink as Countess Spencer, 

 but the flowers do not come quite so large. 



The merest novice in gardening realizes that the 

 Sweet Pea is the most popular annual now cultivated, 

 and this is not to be wondered at when we consider 

 all its qualities: first, there is the primary question of 

 cost, when for a few cents we can have a row right 

 around our garden or clumps among our shrubs and 

 what other flower will give us such glorious results so 

 cheaply? Then, as to cultivation. The Sweet Pea 

 will succeed in practically any good garden soil, though 

 extra cultivation will well repay the grower. And, 

 again, what flower gives us such a multitude of ex- 

 quisite colors and shades of colors combined with such 



