1752 



SWEET HERBS 



SWEET PEA 



duly awakened to the uses of herbs, improvements in 

 growing, handling, and in the plants themselves will 

 naturally follow, to the pleasure and profit of all. 



In this country the herbs best known and appreciated 

 are parsley, sage, thyme, savory, marjoram, spearmint, 

 dill, fennel, tarragon, balm and basil, arranged approxi- 

 mately in their order of importance. Since parsley is 

 more extensively used as a garnish than any other 

 garden plant, it is grown upon a larger scale than all 

 other herbs combined. Hence some seedsmen do not rank 

 parsley with Sweet Herbs. Sage is the universal flavoring 

 for sausage and the seasoning par excellence for rich 

 meats such as pork, goose and duck. It is more widely 

 cultivated than thyme, savory and marjoram, which have 

 more delicate flavors and are more popular for seasoning 

 mild meats, such as turkey, chicken and veal. With the 

 exception of spearmint, without which spring lamb is 

 deemed insipid, and the famous mint julep, a thing of 

 little worth, the remaining herbs mentioned above are 

 scarcely seen outside our large city markets, and even 

 there they have only a very limited sale, being re- 

 stricted mainly to the foreign population and to such 

 restaurants and hotels as have an epicurean patronage. 



In many market-gardens both near to, and remote 

 from, the large cities, sweet herbs form no small 

 source of profit, since most of them, when properly 

 packed, can be shipped in the green state even a con- 

 siderable distance, and when the market is over-sup- 

 plied they can be dried by the grower and sold during 

 the winter. Probably more than one-half the quantities 

 used throughout the country are disposed of in the 

 latter manner. 



As a rule, the herbs are grown as annuals and are 

 propagated from seed sown in early spring, though 

 cuttage, layerage and division of the perennials are in 

 favor for home practice and to a certain extent also in 

 the market-garden. Commercially they are most com- 

 monly grown as secondary crops to follow early cab- 

 bage, peas, beets, etc. In the home garden they are 

 frequently confined to a corner easily accessible to the 

 kitchen, where they remain from year to year. In gen- 

 eral, herbs should be planted on good light garden soil 

 of fine texture, kept clean by frequent cultivation, 

 gathered on a dry day after the dew is off, dried in a 

 current of warm, not hot air, rubbed fine and stored in 

 air-tight vessels. 



For specific information see articles on the following: 



Anise, Angelica, Balm, Basil, Caraway, Catnip, 

 Coriander, Dill, Fennel, Horehound, Hyssop, Mari- 

 gold, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley, Peppermint, Sage, 

 Samphire, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme. 



M. G. KAINS. 



SWEET LIME. See Lime. 



SWEET MARJORAM. See Origanum. 



SWEET PEA (Lathyrus odoratus. See Lathyrus for 

 botanical account. For structure of the flower, see 

 Legume). Figs. 2441-44. For its beauty and fragrance, 

 the Sweet Pea is the queen of the large genus to which 

 it belongs. Long a common garden annual, within re- 

 cent years it has been brought to a high degree of 

 development, until it ranks with the most popular gar- 

 den favorites. It is also grown for high-class exhibitions 

 and floricultural competition. 



Its early botanical history has been traced back to 

 1650. The whole history of the Sweet Pea is elaborately 

 treated by S. P. Dicks, of London, in American Gar- 

 dening, for July 24, 1897. The origin of the Sweet Pea 

 is divided principally between Sicily and Ceylon, the 

 original purple variety being indigenous to the former 

 island and Sardinia. Sicily was also the native habitat 

 of the white variety, but all obtainable testimony credits 

 Ceylon with the original pink and white variety known 

 as the Painted Lady. Thence also came the original 

 red out of which the crimson-scarlet sorts have come. 

 Father Franciscus Cupani, a devout Italian monk and 

 enthusiastic botanist, is credited with being the first cul- 

 tivator of this flower, at Panormus, in Sicily, in 1G99, 

 and the seed of the purple variety was sent by him to 

 England and elsewhere. The seed of this flower became 

 an article of commerce as early as 1730. In 1793 a Lon- 

 don seed catalogue listed 5 varieties, the black, purple, 



scarlet, white and Painted Lady, About 40 years later 

 the striped and yellow are found named on the list. 

 Not until 1860 do we find any further advance, when a 

 blue-edged variety was offered, since known as Butterfly. 

 In 1865 Invincible Scarlet won a certificate. In 1868 

 Crown Princess of Prussia appeared in Germany, and 

 gave us the first light flesh-pink. Adonis in 1882 gave 

 a new color in rose-pink, which was soon followed by a 

 better shade in what was afterwards named Princess 

 Beatrice. Several others of less value helped to prepare 



2441. Flowers of Sweet Pea, to show structure. 



the way for the modern Sweet Pea as it has come from 

 the skilled hands of Henry Eckford, the prince of spe- 

 cialists in this flower. 



About 1876 Henry Eckford, of Shropshire, England, 

 after long experience and signal success as a specialist 

 in other florists' flowers, took up the Sweet Pea. He 

 began with the 6 or 7 common sorts, working patiently 

 by means of cross-fertilization and selection for seven 

 years before he had anything of merit to offer. By that 

 time he began to get new colors and a somewhat im- 

 proved size and form. Orange Prince, the dark maroon 

 Boreatton, and the deep bronze-blue of Indigo King, 

 were among the cheering signs of his success in origi- 

 nating colors. But his novelties did not meet with pop- 

 ular appreciation till about 1890, when their merit of 

 size and grandiflora form and originality of color began 

 to excite a new interest in this flower, especially in 

 America. Up to 1898 Eckford put out about 75 varieties, 

 the product of 22 years of patient labor. A large per- 

 centage of his introductions has received certificates and 

 awards of merit from the Royal Horticultural Society 

 and at other English shows. Laxton, of England, and 

 J. C. Schmidt, of Germany, are among those who have 

 done special work in originating varieties. 



At the time when this new interest in Sweet Peas 

 awoke in America the increased demand for the seed 

 led to the successful experiment of growing it in Cali- 

 fornia. The demand soon increased till 125 tons of this 

 seed were produced by the California seed-growers, 

 and now practically the world's supply comes from 

 that source. This also l^d to the production of Ameri- 

 can novelties in this flower, the extensive seed-growers 

 having unequaled opportunity for finding new sorts and 

 also of making them by cross-fertilization. The Ameri- 

 can novelties have the advantage of being introduced 

 with stronger seed than the Eckfords. The complete 

 list of varieties in 1898 numbered about 150 named sorts. 

 The colors now represented are white, light primrose, 



