14 



The Florists' Review 



JULT t, Itl4, 



it'vriU uot take lon]^ for the sweet pea 

 to hold the place in American gardens 

 which it holds in England. I do not 

 think I am far wrong in saying that 

 only a small percentage of American 

 seedsmen know a Spencer from a grand- 

 ifiora and'^^Qply a few have interested 

 themselves sufficiently to be able to rec- 

 ognize varieties. Such a condition of 

 things will never popularize the sweet 

 pea in America, and the sooner Ameri- 

 can seedsmen make a start to learn the 

 beauties -rtid possibilities of Spencer 

 sweet peas, the better it will be xcr 

 their sales and for the public at large. 

 Flower shows should receive every 

 encouragement from the seed tra^e, 

 especially classes devoted to «weet pefas- . 

 Prizes should be offered and aubscrip- 

 tions donated. New societies and horti- 

 cultural clubs should be a&si^ted when- 

 ever they spring up. It is impossible 

 to overestimate what has been accom- 

 plished for the seed trade by the nu- 

 merous flower shows in England where 

 sweet peas have been shown. The fu- 

 ture has much in store for American 

 seedsmen if they will do their part to 

 popularize the sweet pea. 



The California Growers. 



I suppose the matter of growinj,' 

 sweet peas for seed is almost solely left 



Trials have proved it; yet" W6 fead 

 articles in various trade and amateur 

 pap«rs from the pens of men who ou^ht 

 to know better, throwing mud at Cali^ 

 fornia sweet peas because they aoaay 

 have seen some poor stocks from grow- 

 ers not as careful as they might be. 



Prominent seedsmen have also stooped 

 at meetings to air their limited knowl- 

 edge of California stocks. It takes a 

 little more money to buy a good stock 

 than it does a poor one, for reasons ob- 

 vious to all who know sweet peas. I 

 am prepared to acknowledge to anyone 

 the great step forward taken- by some 

 of the Californisk growers of -Spencer 

 sweet peas. ■ •^;'''- ;'-'fvh^''ir;'!^';f-c;''y.J'-^. •■ 



. ' ,. -Wcnrk of^ Swe^t Pea 9o(%tle«. V^ • 



,. iSnglish growers do not, gro^- twelve 

 per cent of the acreage grown in Cali- 

 fornia, so that all must realize the part 

 California sweet peas play in the >gar- 

 dens of the world. The futur^ joints to 

 great things for the seed grower in 

 California who is careful with his 

 stocks, and it is for the seedsmen and 

 amateurs of America to supply the sup- 

 port. The development of sweet pea 

 societies has in the past been remark- 

 able. 



I believe it is some fourteen years 



ranged for, which would stimulate th* 

 interest of all growers. 



A Practical Conclusion. 



Summing up, I cannot but see a great 

 future for the sweet .pea in America, 

 for the grower for pleasure, the florist, 

 the seedsman and the seed grower. We 

 shall have to infuse a little sweet pea 

 sentiment into our business in whatever 

 line we handle. We shall have to pull 

 together, allowing a little more of the 

 spirit of f riendsMp to mingle ^with our 

 competition, if we want to bring abont 

 such a result as I want to see and 

 which we do see in England. 



[Here Mr. Cuthbertson gives a real- 

 istic description of the painstaking zeal 

 of the numerous English amateur sweet 

 pea growers, in preparing their soil, se- 

 lecting varieties, planting and tending, 

 preparing their blooms for exhibition 

 and finally waiting, "with thumping 

 hearts," while the judges are arriving 

 at their decisions. Then Mr. Cuthbert- 

 son concludes with this practical re- 

 flection:] 



That is a fair picture of what sweet 

 peas are to the amateur grOwer in Eng- 

 land today. N«ver before has any 

 flower so captivated men and women 

 or had such an effect on human char- 



Display of W. Atlee Burpee & G>.. Philadelphia, at the New York Show of the American Sweet Pea Society. 



to (Jalifornia growers. As long as 

 grandifloras were solely used, nothing 

 but praise was heard for California 

 sweet peas. 



During the first few years of Spencer 

 sweet peas, California growers were at 

 a loss, as well as English growers, as 

 to how to keep stocks pure. When the 

 first lot of Countess Spencer was sent 

 to California to be grown, it was un- 

 doubtedly in an unfixed condition, and 

 naturally the product returned to Eu- 

 rope was unfixed. Immediately Califor- 

 nia Spencers were given a V)lack eye, 

 which was altogether unfair. The 

 blam^ undoubtedly should have rested 

 on the stock sent out to be grown. Cal- 

 ifornia has since provided an excuse for 

 several English stocks which were not 

 up to standard, which Of course should 

 not be tolerated. True, the English 

 growers were first to get onto the way 

 of fixing stocks and we give them 

 credit. They left the California grower 

 to find out for himself the way to do 

 it, which in the seed business was only 

 natural. At the present day there are 

 seed growers in California who have 

 developed true stocks of Spencers. It 

 has cost money to straighten out stocks 

 and has taken time, but there are stocks 

 of Spencer sweet peas to be had from 

 California which will comoare with the 

 besl ill England. 



since the first sweet pea exhibition in 

 England. Today there are about 125 

 societies afliliated with the national so- 

 ciety, all having large sweet pea exhi- 

 bitions. What the British National 

 Sweet Pea Society has done for the 

 sweet pea would be hard to determine. 

 The effect has been far-reaching, and 

 under its guidance the sweet pea has 

 reached a stage of popularity not yet 

 attained by any other flower. 



The American Sweet Pea Society is 

 today holding its sixth annual exhibi- 

 tion and I understand the interest has 

 urown stea<lily since the society has 

 been organized. 



In the future we look for the society 

 to be much enlarged and to take on 

 larger responsibilities. We want to see 

 more affiliated societies. We want to 

 know as much about the American Na- 

 tional Sweet Pea Society in San Fran- 

 cisco as you do in New York or Phila- 

 delphia. We hope that soon the society 

 will assume the responsibility of carry- 

 ing out trials of its own and that Amer- 

 ican seedsmen will rally to the support 

 of the society in this matter. There 

 ought to be several affiliated societies 

 in every state in America where sweet 

 peas are grown and we look to the 

 seedsmen in the states to start things 

 going. 1 think a number of state ex- 

 hibitions of sweet peas could be ar- 



acter. The start was given this hobby 

 by the introduction of the new waved 

 type of sweet pea in 1902. In the pur- 

 suance of our business, can we have a 

 better ideal in view than that? I hope 

 the time will soon come when the ef- 

 forts of all interested in sweet peas 

 will be rewarded with such a result. 



THE TWO HimDBED CLUB. 



That amiable gentleman, F, T. D. 

 Pochelon, of Detroit, enjoyed a little 

 celebration the other day. Mr. Poche- 

 lon, whose mother called hioi Albert, 

 but who gained ^is treble initials be- 

 cause of the enthusiasm he puts into 

 his work as secretaty of the Florists' 

 Telegraph Delivery, had promi.^od him- 

 self a day off when the F. T. D. achieved 

 its two hundredth member. The goal 

 was reached last w^eek. But, perhaps, 

 instead of goal it should be called a 

 stepping stone or resting point, for long 

 ago Mr. Pochelon adopted the slogan, 

 "Five hundred members in 1915!" 

 Will he get them? He should, for the 

 F. T. D. certainly is stimulating the 

 sale of flowers. The more members it 

 has to tell the public about the possi- 

 bilities of the distant quick delivery of 

 flowers the more such business the pub- 

 lie will entrust to the florists. 



