SWEET PEA 



SWEET PEA 



3285 



Eckford, after long experience and signal success as 

 a breeder of florists' flowers, began his work on the 

 sweet pea about 1876. Beginning with a few varieties, 

 he patiently crossed and selected for several years before 

 he began to secure results. His first notable variety, 

 Bronze Prince, was awarded a first-class certificate by 

 the Royal Horticultural Society in 1882. Soon he began 

 to secure new colors and sent out the deep bronze-blue 

 Indigo King (1885), Orange Prince (1886) and the dark 

 maroon Boreatton (1887). These were followed each 

 year by new colors and improved forms of the flowers. 

 The hooded varieties appeared and gave a new inter- 

 est to sweet pea improvement. Although many of the 

 hooded 'varieties that were introduced had flowers in 

 which the standards were hooded so much as to appear 

 triangular in outline, nevertheless many were very 

 beautiful. The perfection of this form was reached in 

 the variety Dorothy Eckford (1903). The increased 

 size of many of Eckford's varieties led to the name 

 Grandiflora sweet peas, but this name is now used to 

 designate all varieties which do not have flowers of 

 the waved or "Spencer" form. 



At the time of the great bicentenary conference on 

 the sweet pea held in London in 1900, Eckford had 

 introduced 115 out of the 264 varieties catalogued up 

 to that time. Even in America the Eckford varieties 

 constituted at least 60 per cent of all lists of selected 

 varieties; and in 1916 of the Grandiflora varieties 

 remaining in the trade, as shown by the catalogue of 

 the leading American dealer, more than one-half origi- 

 nated in Eckford's garden at Wem, in Shropshire. 



Improvement in America. 



The real interest in sweet peas in America began 

 soon after the first introduction of the Eckford varie- 

 ties by Breck and by Henderson in 1886. Added 

 impetus was given by the introduction of Blanche 

 Ferry in 1889, and by Emily Henderson in 1893. As 

 early as 1890 the sweet pea had become a popular 

 flower in this country, and soon local sweet pea shows 

 were held. The demand for seed greatly increased and 

 the competition in the shows was keen enough to 

 bring about a desire for new and better varieties. The 

 growers looked forward with anticipation for Eckford's 

 annual set of novelties. Meanwhile in England there 

 was not yet the keen interest in sweet pea that had 

 taken hold of America. The popularity of the sweet 

 pea in America was Eckford's constant inspiration to 

 better things, but gradually England came more gen- 

 erally to appreciate this flower with the result that 

 since the waved form appeared the sweet pea has sur- 

 passed the popularity it attained in America. The 

 demand for seed was satisfied when it was found that 

 California had superior advantages for seed production. 

 When the Eckford novelties were grown in California 

 they sometimes proved to be unfixed, and some of these 

 variations, together with the results of some artificial 

 crossing, gave the growers some new varieties. Many 

 of the best striped, as well as marbled varieties, are of 

 American introduction. 



The most striking novelty in sweet peas, the dwarf or 

 cupid race, was found in California in 1893 and was 

 offered to the seed trade under the name Cupid in 1895. 

 The first variety was white-flowered. This was followed 

 by other varieties, and soon all the colors then known in 

 sweet peas were to be found in the dwarf type. The 

 Cupid sweet pea grows only a few inches high, forming 

 a dense mass. The dwarfing is the result of the extreme 

 reduction in the length of the internodes of stems. The 

 flowers were of the open and hooded form, borne upon 

 short stems, and characterized by little or no fragrance. 

 They appear to thrive under more drought and heat 

 than the ordinary type. They have not succeeded very 

 well outside of California, for in a season of normal rain- 

 fall in the East the plants are injured by lying on the 

 moist ground. The appearance of the dwarf sweet pea 



offers perhaps the best example of synchronous vari- 

 ation on record. This remarkable variation appeared 

 in California, Germany, England, and France within 

 the period of two years prior to its announcement here 

 by Burpee. 



The Cupids were followed by the bush varieties 

 which were considered to be intermediate in growth. 

 This class did not gam much favor and soon disap- 

 peared. The snapdragon varieties, which had the stand- 

 ard reduced in size and in contact with the wings, giving 

 the blossom the general effect of a snapdragon, were 

 offered in 1897 but attracted little attention. 



The winter-flowering type is the most important of 

 all those originating in America. This type has been per- 

 fected in this country and has tremendously enhanced 

 the financial value of the sweet pea as' a cut-flower. 

 No other country can begin to approximate the extent 

 of the industry of sweet pea growing under glass. 



Development of the waved varieties. (Fig. 3745.) 



At the time of the bicentenary of the sweet pea, it 

 seemed as if the future improvement of the sweet pea 

 would be along the line of an increase in the number of 

 flowers to a spike or the securing of new colors or color 



combinations in the 

 existing open and 

 hooded forms of the 

 flower. No one 

 seemed to realize 

 that the sweet pea 

 was on the eve of 

 the most remark- 

 able improvement 

 in the form of flower 

 and that along with 

 it would come in- 

 creased size and a 

 greater average 

 number of flowers 

 to a spike. This was 

 the introduction of 

 the wavd or, as it 

 is called in America, 

 the Spencer type, 

 in 1904. The first 

 variety was raised 

 by Silas Cole who 

 named it Countess 

 Spencer in honor of 

 the wife of his em- 

 ployer. The parent- 

 age of this variety, 

 although doubted 

 by some, has been 

 given as (Lovely x 

 Triumph, 1898 )x 

 Prima Donna, 1899. 

 It was shown at 

 various English 

 shows for three years prior to its introduction. Countess 

 Spencer was such an improvement in size, and the form 

 so distinctly new, that it created a sensation. The very 

 large standard and wings were beautifully frilled and 

 waved. The clear pink color was also especially pleas- 

 ing. This variety was not entirely fixed when it was 

 sent out and soon numerous sports were offered. Among 

 the first of these were the orange-pink Helen Lewis and 

 the carmine-rose John Ingman. Especial difficulty was 

 experienced when the seed of new waved varieties was 

 grown in California, but from this tendency to sport 

 have been secured many of the finest varieties. 



About the time that the Countess Spencer appeared, 

 W. J. Unwin found a sport in the variety Prima Donna 

 which he named Gladys Unwin. It was also of the 

 waved type of about the same shade of pink as Countess 

 Spencer, but the flowers were not so large. Soon other 



3745. Waved type of sweet pea. (XD 



