SWEET PEAS 231 



last named ; and it is perhaps the only thing that we can feel 

 quite certain about. 



How can a natural crossing in a Sweet Pea have occurred, it 

 may be asked, since we have seen that the flower protects itself 

 against cross-fertilisation by the early maturity of its organs, and 

 by its structure? Well, one or two buds may have been mal- 

 formed, and permitted a bee to gain access to their interior before 

 they had become selfed. Be that as it may, we now have a large 

 number of colours with the waved or Spencer form, some of which 

 come quite true, while others are still unfixed. 



The frilled Sweet Pea may be described as the modern type, 

 and with it came increased size. The best varieties of the present 

 day come with four large flowers on each stem. 



The range of colours is great, but not quite complete. We 

 have blues of various shades, reds of different tints, whites, striped, 

 veined, and splashed flowers, Picotee-edged forms, bicolors, and 

 so on ; but we still lack a rich yellow. Curiously enough, the 

 nearest approach to real yellow has not come in the self or one- 

 colour varieties, but in those in which the yellow exists only as a 

 groundwork. However, the fact that we can get near it at all is 

 encouraging, and there is much ground for hope that the yellow, 

 which has baffled raisers for so long, will eventually come, and in 

 a deep, rich form. It has to be remembered that raisers were at 

 work a great many years before they developed a true scarlet. 

 There are now several of this brilliant tint. 



In dealing with the culture of the Sweet Pea we may consider 

 by turns the ordinary amateur, who merely wants to have a bright 

 display of flowers in his garden for a few weeks in summer, and 

 the specialist, who wants to have flowers continuously for several 

 months, and to produce them in the highest state. Both classes 

 have to be reminded that the plant is a hardy annual that is, it 

 grows from seed out of doors, blooms, ripens its seeds, and dies 

 within a year. To be strictly in touch with facts we must state 



