12 



The Florists' Review 



July 22, 1915. 



the other half is made up largely of 

 . grandiflora named varieties and mix- 

 tures. These latter are still popular 

 for large planters. 



Sweet pea seed in California is usu- 

 ally planted in December and January, 

 and the fields are in full bloom in June. 

 Harvest begins about August 1. A 

 great deal of development work is still 

 being done and the large seed farms 

 operate large areas of what they call 

 "workshops," where selections made 

 from crosses and hybrids are being 

 tried out. 



A great deal of time is now being 

 spent on the development of the earh'- 

 flowering or Christmas Spencer types. 

 As these are shy seeders, they are not 

 handled much as yet in a wholesale 

 way. 



I estimate that fully fifty per cent of 

 all the California sweet pea seed crop 

 goes to Great Britain; some ten per 

 cent goes to Germany and France and 

 other European countries, and about 

 forty per cent is consumed at home. 



Sweet Peas at Exposition. 



My firm has quite an elaborate ex- 

 hibition at the exposition grounds, 

 where we are, growing sweet peas on 

 the cordon system, or the British exhi- 

 bition plan. .These plants were started 

 in pots in the fall; the ground was 

 prepared in the fall and by disbudding 

 and proper feeding we have been able 

 to grow some enormous blossoms, quite 

 equal to any I have ever seen in Great 

 Britain. Needless to say, they are cre- 

 ating a great deal of interest. 



We are hoping that the exhibition 

 given last month is but the beginning 

 of an annual sweet pea exhibit, which 

 will be held as one of the features of 

 the American Sweet Pea Society, and 

 will be held under its auspices. All 

 members of the Sweet Pea Society are 

 cordially invited to visit the seed farms 

 should they ever be in California 

 during the blossoming period, which be- 

 gins about May 15 and ends July 1. 



THE NEW PRESIDENT. 



"William uray, the new president of 

 the American Sweet Pea Society, was 

 born on the Arbuthnot estate, Mavis 

 Bank, near Edinburgh, Scotland, April 

 20, 1874, his father being head gardener 

 there at that time. On his father's 

 side, the profession of gardening has 

 been followed from father to son 

 through several generations. Mr. Gray 

 came to America with his parents in 

 1883. They settled at Middletown, N. 

 Y., the head of the family having se- 

 cured the situation of head gardener at 

 the state hospital there. After leaving 

 school, the young man served an ap- 

 prenticeship under his father and fol- 

 lowed this up with an assistant gar- 

 flener's experience on several private 

 places around New York and in New- 

 port. Having become master of his 

 profession, he served for five years as 

 head gardener for Horace Eussell, 

 Southampton. L. I., and has for five 

 years been in his present position as 

 head gardener for Mrs. William B. 

 Leeds, at Newport, where he has estab- 

 lished an enviable reputation. 



NOTES ON VARIETIES. 



Culture Counts. 



New varieties of sweet peas continue 

 to come out in large numbers each year 

 and anyone, in order to be at all up-to- 

 date, must secure some of these new 

 things. At the Newport show of the 

 American Sweet Pea Society a small 

 proportion only of the prize-winners in 

 the more important classes had been in- 

 troduced five years and the latest novel- 

 ties in some cases showed decided im- 

 provements over the standard varieties. 

 Under the disbudded plan of growing 

 prize flowers, even the old sorts are so 

 improved as to be almost unrecogniz- 

 able. I doubt if this will ever be a pay- 

 ing proposition commercially, but such 

 flowers would easily command a fancy 

 price, especially at this season, when 



Display by A. J. Dorward, Newport, at the Sweet Pea Show. 



sweet peas are probably the most popu 

 lar flowers on the market. The extraoi 

 dinary success of Edwin Jenkins, oi 

 Lenox, and of his near-by neighbors, 

 S. W. Carlquist, of Lenox, and Arthui 

 N. Edwards, of Pittsfield, showed whai 

 remarkable flowers can be produced in 

 the high altitude of the Berkshire hills, 

 under the disbudded system. 



The Best WMtes. 



In pure whites, Constance Hinton was 

 easily the leader and decidedly ahead 

 of King White, its nearest competitor. 

 Some nice vases of Nora Unwin and 

 White Spencer were shown, but they 

 could not compare with Constance 

 Hinton. 



King Edward came out a little ahead 

 in the scarlet and crimson classes, but 

 Scarlet Emperor, lighter in color, was 

 good. Fiery Cross, in Burpee's collec- 

 tion, was the sensation in this color. 

 It is the best pure scarlet yet seen and 

 I look to see it in the forefront next 

 year. 



Robert Sydenham, in the salmon- 

 orange class, was beaten by May Unwin. 

 Both are beautiful varieties, but the 

 first named, as shown in one or two 

 collections, was decidedly the better of 

 its shade. May Unwin is a fine pure 

 salmon, ahead of Thomas Stevenson. 

 Of course this color must be shaded to 

 show its true color; it burns more easily 

 than any other color. 



Rose and Pink. 



Rosabelle is a wonderful new rose 

 and 'easily distanced such older sorts as 

 John Ingman. The light pinks were 

 more largely shown than the deep pinks. 

 They are so much more beautiful that 

 it is really surprising that commercial 

 growers continue to favor the deeper . 

 shades. Elfrida Pearson stood well 

 ahead of all the light pinks. Mrs. Hugh 

 Dickson was still good, however. Her- 

 cules, which is a glorified Countess- 

 Spencer, was easily at the head of the 

 deep pink class. Countess Spencer was 

 its nearest competitor. 



Blue and Lavender. 



Blue is not a particularly attractive 

 color in sweet peas. There are many 

 shades of it. The new May Farquhar 

 proved the best, but its color is less 

 pleasing than that of Wedgwood or 

 even Blue Jacket. Coming to the laven- 

 ders, Don Alvar, a 1915 variety which 

 beat all others of its shade, is not near- 

 ly so good and pure a lavender as 

 Florence Nightingale. The purest lav- 

 ender I noted was the older Mrs. Hes- 

 lington, as shown by Burpee. 



In the primrose class some grand flow- 

 ers were shown. Sutton's Primrose, 

 from Daniel Hay, was a purer primrose 

 than Dobbie's Cream, which latter was 

 to be seen in almost every prize collec- 

 tion. Leslie Imber, a new variety, was 

 decidedly the best mauve, and well 

 ahead of Orchid. 



Maroon or purple is not an attrac- 

 tive class as a rule, but the new Royal 

 J'urple is fine for those liking purple 

 shades. King Manoel is the best of the 

 maroons. 



The Mixed Colors. 



The picotee-edged class was really 

 quite attractive and Blue Picotee is a 

 variety which should sell moderately 

 with florists; it is certainly a fine thing. 



The striped or flaked blue and purple 

 shades made a good showing and the 

 flowers showed remarkable size. While 



