September 5, 1907'. 



The Weekly Floiists^ Review. 



u 



A Christmas Qop of Swe«t Peas. 



could. I crossed and re-crossed each 

 year, and •ach new hybrid showed im- 

 provement over the previous one, in size 

 of flower, color, length of stem, and in 

 the plant itself. The first seedling of 

 value which appeared was obtained from 

 Blanche Ferry; it came of the same 

 color, but the plant was only twenty 

 inches high, under glass, and produced 

 only about ten single flowers; but after 

 much crossing and re-crossing with the 

 parent variety, I secured fine, lonji- 

 stemmed, large flowers, plants over six 

 feet high, which were covered with masses 

 of bloom all winter. The first sort was 

 named Christmas Pink. 



' ' I now have a large number of vari- 

 eties in all existing colors. All these va- 

 rieties, when grown under glass, begin to 

 bloom when three to four feet high, and 

 continue flowering all winter, sometimes 

 until June. ' ' 



Working: Up Stock. 



The stock of seeds has steadily been 

 increased, but Mr. Zvolanek finds it neces- 

 sary each year to grow his stock seed 

 under glass as in the beginning, because 

 the varieties quickly run out and revert 

 to the ordinary types of spring flower- 

 ing peas if not so handled. La.st year 

 he secured about forty pounds of stock 

 seed in his greenhouses. This seed was 

 planted in the Santa Clara valley in Cali- 

 fornia and in a little valley in Austria, 

 about ten miles from Trieste, where for 

 an area perhaps two miles wide and ten 

 miles long the climate is practically the 

 same as that of the Santa Clara valley in 

 California. If anything it is a trifle 

 more favorable for the growing of sweet 

 peas, because rain rarely falls during 

 the flowering season. Mr. Zvolanek says 

 that the reason he never could grow 

 sweet pea seed outdoors at his home in 

 New Jersey is that rain always fell dur- 

 ing the flowering season and ruined the 

 crop. 



It is a peculiar fact Mr. Zvolanek has 

 found that European growers of sweet 

 peas for cut flowers will have none of 

 this seed grown in Europe. They want 

 the California product, and claim they 

 get better results with the American 



seeds, but the seed grown in Austria is 

 brought here and does excellently for 

 forcing for Christmas flowers. 



Mr. Zvolanek says he has frequent of- 

 fers for his entire crop of seed, which 

 this season he expects to be some 3,000 

 pounds. Every now and then some whole- 

 sale seedsman wants to buy it by the 

 ton, but he prefers to continue handling 

 it as heretofore, in packages direct by 

 mail to the planters. He began sending 

 these packets out several years ago and 

 has steadily extended the circle of his 

 customers- until now he has a list of 

 3,000 florists, not only in the United 

 States, but covering practically ¥very 

 country in the world, who send to him 

 direct for seeds each year. 



Two Sweet Pea Houses. 



In the accompanying illustrations the 

 two interior views were taken at dif- 

 ferent dates. One of the pictures shows 

 one of Mr. Zvolanek 's houses of sweet 



peas at Christmas week in 1906. There 

 are several varieties in the house, mostly 

 lavender, salmon and blue. These were 

 sown in the first part of September, 

 in 5-inch pots, and were planted in the 

 latter part of October, following a crop 

 of the earliest chrysanthemums, which 

 had held the houses up to that date. 

 Because of the unusually dark weather 

 of November and December the peas 

 were later than usual and did not reach 

 perfection for Christmas as usual. 



The second interior view is another 

 house of sweet peas photographed the 

 week before Easter. These were from 

 seeds sown about the middle of October, 

 in 4-inch pots, and planted out in the 

 first days of December, following a crop 

 of late chrysanthemums. Cutting began 

 about Februafy 20 and a heavy crop was 

 produced until June 10. Each of these 

 greenhouses is 31x200, with side walls 

 seven feet high. The peas are grown in 

 solid beds, the compost being renewed 

 once a year. 



Ne^tf Sorts. 



Mr. Zvolanek began with only one vari- 

 ety, Christmas Pink, but he has now ex- 

 tended his list to include practically 

 every color. Among the new sorts short- 

 ly to be introduced he considers Mrs. Wm. 

 Sim and Mrs. George Lewis to be among 

 the best. The Mrs. Sim is a salmon- 

 pink self, a new color in sweet peas. 

 This and another variety called Le Mar- 

 quis, a large dark blue of the same 

 shade as the Princess of Wales violet, 

 will be sent out this season. The Mrs. 

 Lewis is a white sort and because of a 

 short crop of seed this year will not be 

 sent out until 1908. The illustrations 

 give an idea of the growth of these va- 

 rieties. 



A Word Biographically. 



Anton C. Zvolanek landed in New 

 York in 1888. He was born in Krusen- 

 burk, Bohemia, Austria, September 13, 

 1862, and acquired a public school educa- 

 tion prior to his thirteenth year, when he 

 chose commercial floriculture as a profes- 

 sion. From that time to this he has been 

 engaged in his chosen occupation, his 

 experience embracing almost every de- 

 partment of the trade. For thirteen 

 years he worked in leading European es- 



An Easter Crop ot Sweet Peas. 



