SWEET PEAS 



215 



is probable that most of the sweet pea seed nowadays is self- 

 pollenized. 



The fact of self-pollination probably accounts for the ease 

 with which the numberless varieties of modern sweet peas 

 have been developed to come true to the type. These vary 

 greatly both in color and shape, there being several distinct 

 types as to form. The most pleasing of these is the large- 

 flowered hooded type, in which the 

 standard is symmetrical, but full of 

 graceful curves; commonly it curves 

 outward on the lower margins, and 

 inward above to form a hood over 

 the wings. The wings vary greatly 

 in the flowers with this type of stand- 

 ard ; in some varieties they are nearly 

 vertical; in others nearly horizontal, 

 curving on the margins to a greater or 

 less degree. The Blanche Burpee 

 and the Lottie Eckford are good ex- 

 amples of the hooded sweet peas. 



In another common type of flower 

 the standard is flattened, and in yet 



another it is rolled backward vertically on the outer margins. 

 The Blanche Ferry sweet pea is an illustration of the first 

 and the Primrose of the second. In these forms, which are 

 much less attractive than the hooded flowers, there is gener- 

 ally a greater angle between the standard and the wings 

 than in the hooded type. In addition to these reasonably 

 normal forms there are various abnormal forms, which, 

 fortunately, the seedsmen are not offering to any extent. 

 One of the most peculiar of these is the Red Riding Hood, 



Snapdragon Sweet Peas. 



