THE SWEET PEA. 63 



of 1893, one plant onl}^ being found. The speaker had no trouble 

 ill getting it to bloom. 



James Wheeler spoke of Red Riding Hood as looking deformed 

 rather than pretty, as though it was going back a hundred years, 

 and said it is a shame to put bad things on the market. 



Thomas Harrison said that the lecture took him back fifty 

 years, when some Egyptian Peas sent him gave a race similar to 

 the present Sweet Peas. It was supposed to have been found in 

 ruins in Egypt, when Sir John Gardner Wilkinson Avas exploring 

 there, and was sent to an English firm to propagate and introduce 

 as a Vetch. 



Robert Earquhar thought it was Vicia, not a Lathyrus ; no 

 improvement to the Sweet Pea has come from Vicia. Cupid is 

 undesirable ; we want size, color, fragrance, and length of flower 

 stalk ; also strength to the stalk. Twelve years ago very few 

 Sweet Pea seeds were sold in Boston ; twenty-five years ago the 

 leading firm had only one and one-half bushels ; now we have 

 quantities. Seeds from England are beautifully developed ; much 

 better than those from France and Germany. The speaker said 

 that in two years his firm trebled their sales. To Mr. Hutch- 

 ins, more than any one else, we are indebted for the magnificent 

 development on this side of the water, and more than one-third 

 the specialists on Sweet Peas are in this country. Mr. Hutchins" 

 short list of good varieties is very good; it is just what the 

 seedsman wants. We have to contend with a bright sun, which 

 they do not have in England. 



Benjamin P. Ware said that the best fertilizer for edible peas 

 is ground bone or flour of bone. It supplies phosphoric acid 

 and is adapted to produce flowers and fruit rather than vines. 

 He would use it for Sweet Peas also, putting it on in the fall ; 

 though its effects might not be seen at once they would be last- 

 ing. Cutworms cause market gardeners a great deal of trouble ; 

 acres of onions have sometimes been cut down by them. 

 Wherever you find a Sweet Pea or other plant cut down by them 

 during the night, which is when they do most of their work, 

 you will, if you dig for him in the morning, find the worm 

 near by. 



Mr. Harrison asked whether Sweet Peas are subject to the pea 

 weevil. 



Mr. Hutchins replied that of late years there had been few in 



