3286 



SWEET PEA 



SWEET PEA 



varieties appeared, and for a few years this group vied 

 with the Spencer varieties for popular favor. 



The introduction of the waved form aroused great 

 interest and soon large numbers were growing sweet 

 peas for exhibition. Many took up the production of 

 new varieties, and soon new forms were offered in 

 large numbers. In some cases the same sport had been 

 found and given different names. It was seen that 

 hopeless confusion would result if some means were not 

 found to eliminate the synonyms. The English Sweet 

 Pea Society established trial grounds, and when the 

 American Sweet Pea Society was organized in 1909 

 it established trial grounds in cooperation with the 

 Department of Floriculture of the New York State 

 College of Agriculture at Cornell University, Ithaca, 

 New York. These two national societies hold annual 

 exhibitions, and the American Sweet Pea Society holds 

 exhibitions of winter-flowering varieties at the National 

 Flower Shows held each spring. 



Classification. 



More than 1,000 varieties of sweet peas have been 

 introduced, but some of these represent strains of exist- 

 ing varieties or were applied to seedlings which did not 

 present any improvement. 



123 

 3746. Forms of sweet pea flowers: 1, hooded; 2, waved; 

 3, open. (XD 



The modern sweet pea may be classified as follows: 

 Climbing and dwarf types, the former being subdivided 

 into garden and winter-flowering types. The varieties 

 may be classified as to the form of the flower into 

 open, hooded and waved forms (Fig. 3746). 



Garden type 



Open form 

 Hooded form 

 Waved form 



Winter-flowering 



type 



Open form 

 Hooded form 

 Waved form 



Dwarf type (Cupid) 



Open form 

 Hooded form 



The open form may be further separated into notched 

 and rounded standards; the hooded varieties according 

 to the degree of hooding, the most extreme case being 

 the snapdragon varieties; and the waved varieties may 

 be classified according to the degree of waviness as it 

 appeared to be less or greater than Countess Spencer. 

 This latter classification would require that the flowers 

 be taken from plants under uniform conditions of 

 growth. The National Sweet Pea Society of England 

 classifies sweet peas according to form of the flower into 

 grandiflora or waved, and into thirty-seven color sec- 

 tions as follows: Bicolor; Bicolor (Dark); Light Blue; 

 Dark Blue; Blush-Pink; Lilac-Blush; Carmine; Cerise 



(Pale); Cerise (Dark); Cream, Buff, and Ivory; Cream- 

 Pink (Pale); Cream-Pink (Deep); Crimson; Fancy; 

 Lavender; Lavender (Pale); Lilac; Magenta; Marbled 

 and Watered; Maroon; Maroon-Red; Mauve (Pale); 

 Mauve (Dark); Orange-Pink; Orange-Scarlet; Picotee- 

 edged (Cream Ground) ; Picotee-edged (White Ground) ; 

 Pink (Pale); Pink (Deep); Rose; Salmon; Salmon 

 (Pink); Scarlet; Striped and Flaked (Purple and Blue); 

 Striped and Flaked (Chocolate on Gray Ground); 

 Striped and Flaked (Red and Rose) ; White. 



The bright sunshine and summer heat of America 

 tends to destroy some of these fine distinctions of 

 color, and the varieties can be grouped in about twenty- 

 five color sections. 



Garden culture. 



One of the first essentials in sweet pea culture is the 

 choice of an open sunny location, thus providing 

 plenty of light and air. Plants grown in too much 

 shade are weak and spindling hi growth, producing 

 few flowers. Any ordinary garden soil is suitable for 

 sweet peas, provided it is sufficiently drained so that 

 in periods of excessive rains the water will not lie on 

 the surface, causing the plants to become yellow and 

 the roots to decay. A heavy soil usually gives better 

 results than a light one as it holds moisture better. 



A preparation of the soil as is usually made for the 

 growing of vegetables will give fairly good results; but 

 extra care in the selection and preparation of the soil 

 will be repaid in larger flowers, longer stems, better 

 colors, and a longer blooming-period. 



The sweet pea is a deep-rooting plant, and in order 

 to provide suitable conditions so that the effects of 

 drought are overcome, the preparation must be deep 

 and thorough. Deep preparation not only promotes 

 available fertility, but also increases the area in which 

 moisture and nourishment may be found, and the 

 plant responds by sending feeding-roots in all directions. 



The preparation of the soil should be made in autumn 

 by trenching at least 2 feet in depth. Since this is 

 an expensive operation, it is advisable instead to dig a 

 trench 16 inches wide and 2 feet deep for each row of 

 peas. If the subsoil is poor or of unsuitable character, 

 it should be removed and replaced with good soil. 

 If the subsoil is very heavy, coarse stable-manure 

 should be mixed with it. A good dusting of air-slaked 

 lime, applied while working the soil in the autumn, is 

 very beneficial. Many soils that have been cultivated 

 for a long time are acid, so that leguminous plants, such 

 as clover or sweet peas, will not grow, or at least do 

 not thrive. Lime corrects this acid condition and, 

 furthermore, it releases plant-food that would not 

 otherwise be available in soils which are not acid. Clay 

 soils are made more open, and porous by the use of 

 lime. Half-decayed stable-manure should be mixed 

 with the top soil. Bone-meal applied at the rate of 

 one-quarter to one-half pound to a lineal yard of trench 

 will prove beneficial. The trenches should be filled 

 more than level full, and left rough. During the whiter 

 the soil settles, but if in spring the ridges can yet be 

 seen, it will be found that these dry rapidly and thus 

 favor early planting. 



Sweet peas for the garden are either sown where the 

 plants are to be grown or are sown in pots and trans- 

 planted. Sowing in the open ground may be done 

 either in autumn or spring. South of the latitude of 

 New York, sweet peas may be successfully grown from 

 fall sowings. North of this line the practice is not 

 always successful unless they are planted in a well- 

 drained situation in a sandy loam. The general con- 

 ditions requisite to success are to plant late so that the 

 seed does not germinate and appear above the surface. 

 If any top growth is made, the plants will be killed in 

 sections where the ground freezes. The rows should be 

 slightly ridged up to prevent water standing over the 

 row. After the ground freezes, a mulch of manure is 



