Januauy 20, 1921 



The Rorists^ Review 



27 



with the result that I have only one well 

 filled pod to follow up its fortunes with. 

 I have, eonsidcrin<^ the season, a fair 

 quantity of the seed of llobin himself, 

 enough at any rate to form a fair judg- 

 ment of his j)ossil)ilities next season. 

 After that? The future, as alvwiys, lies 

 in the lap of the gods." 



NEW TYPE OF SWEET PEA? 



British Grower's Discovery. 



"EoLin Goodfellow, I call it, the pros- 

 pective father of a new race of sweet 

 peas, a miniature or fairy class, for tliis 

 reason ehrisfencd with tiie name of one 

 of Shakes]ipnre"s fairies," writes T. H. 

 Dipnall in the Sweet Pea Annual for 

 1921, tlie organ of the British society. 

 "Of his origin anon; at present there 

 is only one I'epresentalive of his tribe, 

 himself, but ho lias jiroduced a sufTicient 

 quantity of seed to make it jtossible to 

 tell next year what his decorative value 

 will be. I say decorative advisedly, for 

 there is no question of his being able 

 to compete in size with the least of the 

 waved sweet peas, not even with the 

 grandiflora type. And he has no inten- 

 tion of trying to compete with them. 

 He is in a class by himself, something 

 absolutely new or, and there is a pos- 

 sibility of it, something centuries old. 

 I myself think he is l)oth new and old 

 together, but I have never seen the 

 original Sicili.'ui wilding, only re|)ro- 

 duetions of woodcuts of it. There is 

 certainly a family likeness in the cut of 

 the flower between the newest and the 

 oldest, most es]»ecially in its attitude. 

 'Sweet jieas a-tiptoe, ready for a flight' 

 — with Robin you can umlerstand how 

 accurate was Keats' jjower of observa- 

 tion. With a waxed sweet jiea j'ou feel 

 it is all wrong; the flower is as sessile 

 as a Red Admiral butterfly sipping 

 sweet juices from a fallen plum. The 

 ■wings are half outspread like the under 

 wings of a humming bird hawk-moth at 

 rest, the ki'(d jirojecting as if ready to 

 sot sail and the standard, which is fairly 

 well jiroportioned and slightly wrinkled 

 rather than waved, leans rather for- 

 ward instead of being u]>right. The 

 effect of this jiose is one of vivacious 

 daintiness. 



Half of Usual Size. 



"Tljf wliole flower is siiimH, not more 

 than half the si/e of an ordinary sweet 

 pea, a tliird of the size of nii cxiiibitinn 

 flower, and its standard is quite uii- 

 notched. The foliage is quite distinct 

 from that of the jiresent day plant, the 

 biggest leaves are not more than one 

 and one-lialf inches across and about 

 half as long again as their breadth, and 

 the great majority of them are not more 

 than half an inch in width. The pod is 

 about an inch long and one-eighth of 

 an inch in depth, and slightly hairy as 

 in the ordinary type, while the seeds 

 are round and red-brown in color. The 

 plant grows quite as tall as other sweet 

 peas, and the llowei stems are of the 

 same length, but slenderer and more 

 wiry, with the blossoms set rather far 

 apart and held away from the haulm, 

 adding to its light and ai'rial appear- 

 ance. 



"How did it come into being? Like 

 Topsy, 'it just growed. ' In April I 

 casually took up five plants of Alexan- 

 der Malcolm from a box of seedlings 

 and brought them home from Shelley to 

 plant, and it was not until the gardener 

 had jdanted them that 1 noticed the dif- 

 ference in foliage between Robin Good- 

 fellow and the stock from which it 

 sprang. In the color of the flower there 

 is no difference at all; it is the same 

 brilliant blossom as A. Malcolm itself, 

 and these little splashes of scarlet which 

 look at a distance is if hung in the air 

 .'iround the ])lant, have .-i very light and 

 attractive effect. It is a h.ark-back to 

 the original in habit; there is no retro- 

 gression in color; therein it is the most 

 modern of the moderns. I made several 

 crosses with it, using it as a pollen pa- 

 rent, but the day after the crosses were 

 made the weather went to pieces and 

 the wet and cold spell of July set in, 



CRIPPLED ROOTS ON PEAS. 



My sweet peas are cripjded at the 

 roots or at the surface of the ground. 

 They seem to start out perfectly 

 healthy; then, when the main shoot is 

 up three or four inches, instead of 

 throwing branch shoots they become 

 crippled and form knotty clumjis at the 

 bottom of the plant, while the main 

 shoot continues to grow and looks per- 

 fectly healthy. These plants seem to 

 make little root. Some years they are 

 free from this trouble, but other years 

 thev arc affected with it. What sliould 

 I do? F. C. J.— 111. 



It is hard to give an opinion without 

 knowing something of your soil and 

 cultural methods. If your trouble is 

 bad, I should suggest the desirability 

 of sterilizing the soil before jilanting 

 aiu)ther crop. I do not know what you 

 can do to improve your present plant- 

 ing, but would advise thorough trench- 

 ing of your soil before another crop is 

 planted, as well as sterilization. Keep 

 a night temperature of from 46 to 48 

 degrees until buds show; then 50 to 52 

 degrees will be found better. C. W. 



MOTT-LY MUSINGS 



yr?a'vir?8?iiyevirrstiri^rrg<ir?8vifir8vih«<irystir?svir?8sir^ 



"Raised to the sublime degree," ob- 

 served George H. Mellcn, of tlie George 

 H. Mellen Co., Springfield, 0., "in other 

 word.s, placed in the first class by the 

 American Express Co., whi<'li charges, at 

 lowest, one-third higher rate for the 

 honor. This enhances the value of 

 plants, which, we hope, will be duly 

 ap])reciated by our patrons, who, by the 

 way, are returning to pre war liberality 

 in the placing of orders. ' ' The new 

 catalogue bears on the cover a painting 

 of Rose Alexander Hill Gray, a yellow- 

 hybrid tea and a fine coin]ianion to 

 Alaman Cochet. The cleanliness of tiie 

 houses and the splendid order of ar- 

 rangement is suggestive of a thoroughly 

 practical school where the scholar may 

 learn the entire routine of a mail-order 

 business that embraces practically 

 everything popular in soft-wooded 

 jilants. 



* • • • 



Hovering between life and death in 

 a Chicago hospital. Gustav Schneider 

 received the news of the loss by fire of 

 Ms establishment at Springfield, O., but 

 instead of succumbing to the shock, he 

 luilled himself together and from the 

 ruins has built an up-to-the second 

 greenhouse, supplying the handsome re- 

 tail store presided over by his good 

 wife, who reports the best business in 

 their long and sometimes diversified ex- 

 perience. 



* * • • 



"Is it circumstantial, or are the fates 

 favoring us?" asks Roy "McGregor, of 

 the ^NfcGregor Bros. Co., Springfield, O.. 

 in mentioning that not in five vears 



have orders and inquiries for rose 

 plants in number and from almost every 

 ])art of the country been so large. "Had 

 we 250,000 more rose ])lants on hand, 

 we could place them," lie stated, "and 

 the same condition exists with our 

 neighbors. We consider this the rose 

 center. A similar condition exists in 

 regard to soft-wooded jilants, though 

 possibly in a less degree. T^'ndoubtedly 

 the few mail-order houses throughout 

 the country will ex]ierience a similar 

 state of things ami, before the season 

 ends, be practically cleaned out." The 

 ^^cGregor Bros. Co. catalogue is highly 

 attractive and can hardly fail to bring 

 the desired returns. It was considered 

 a wise move to return to the 7)re-war 

 conditions in this respect, but the prac- 

 tice of issuing the corresjionding fall 

 catalogue may be discontinued. The 

 saving in cost will be considerable, and 

 the question has been raised as to its 

 real need with th(> changed conditions. 

 • * * • 

 The Munk Floral Co., Columbus, O., 

 is cutting fine roses, Columbia, 0])helia 

 and Premier. The firm is one of the 

 few fortuTiate growers, the majority 

 being off crop ami the call correspond- 

 ingly stronger. "It is one of the pe- 

 culiarities of the business," observed 

 Mr. Munk, Sr., "that, when one has not 

 som(> special color, that color is in de- 

 mand. For exanijile. the strong call for 

 several d.-iys lias been for red and notli- 

 ing else would do, because there "was 

 none to be had. Even with our long and 

 close experience as growers and retail- 



