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10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JULT 6, 1011. 



these have been an expense to the so- 

 ciety, no charge for admission being 

 made. The only source of income is 

 from the active memberships, life mem- 

 berships and the guarantors who have 

 generously come to the front when 

 needed. We have today 110 active mem- 

 bers and twelve life members. 



The Exhibitions and Their Besults. 



Personally, I know that good results 

 have accrued from our exhibitions. Per- 

 haps the most material results are from 

 the Boston exhibition. The winter 

 flowering sweet peas shown by William 

 Sim, of Cliftondale, Mass., excited more 

 than general interest and admiration, 

 so much so that several florists in the 

 vicinity of New York are building 

 houses especially to grow sweet peas 

 this winter. 



The great difficulty in holding exhi- 

 bitions in this country is its vastness. 

 What would be a good date in Phila- 

 delphia would be too early for New 

 York and a good date for New York 

 would be too early for New England, 

 and that applies also to the west; so 

 that the exhibition really resolves itself 

 into a local show, which is a good rea- 

 son for changing the place of meeting 

 from year to year. Of course, this year 

 has been exceptional, owing to weather 

 conditions. It has been suggested by 

 one of our exhibitors that the date 

 should be set at this meeting and should 

 be either the last week in June or the 

 first week in July. This would give 

 growers the opportunity to sow their 

 sweet pea seed to conform with these 

 dates. It is much easier for a grower 

 to hold off for a week than to force his 

 plants into bloom. I trust that the con- 

 vention will seriously consider this mat- 

 ter. 



Signs of Progress. 



Our society has helped to popularize 

 the Spencer varieties of sweet peas 



Anton Zvolanek an entirely new race of 

 sweet peas, some of which equaled and 

 others even excelled the beauty and 

 type of the Spencers. Mr. Zvolanek de- 

 serves great credit for his work, and I 

 hope that in the near future this so- 

 ciety will be able to accord medals to 

 hybridizers and raisers of new varieties. 

 I understand that W. Atlee Burpee & 

 Co., at Fordhook, are also working along 

 these lines and have some promising 

 seedlings. Credit is also due to the 

 gentlemen who have helped to finance 

 our society, not only from its inception, 

 but also at a time when guarantee 

 funds were needed for prizes, etc. I 

 wish at this time to thank the gener- 

 ous donors of prizes, and your presi- 

 dent, W, Atlee Burpee, for his time and 

 moral support so generously given, 



A Selection of Varieties. 



If I were asked to name the best 

 Spencer, Unwin, grandiflora and winter 

 flowering sweet peas today, I would 

 give the following list, apart from the 

 varieties introduced this year: 



SPENCER VARIETIES. 



Asta Ohn Spencer, pure lavender, tinted pink- 

 ish rose, self color. 



Aurora Spencer, orange, rose or salmon striped 

 on white. 



Apple Blossom Spencer, standard bright crim- 

 son rose, wings white tinged with pink. 



Captain of Blues Spencer, bluish purple with 

 distinct margin of lilac. 



Countess Spencer, the original Spencer, clear, 

 bright pink. 



Helen Lewis, standard crimson orange, wings 

 orange rose. 



Flora Morse Spencer, delicate blush with pink 

 margin. 



George Herbert, rose carmine. 



John Ingman, rose carmine with rose veins. 



King Edward Spencer, pure, bright red or 

 crimson scarlet. 



Lovely Spencer, standard light blush pink, with 

 blotch or rose at the base. 



Othello Spencer, deep velvety maroon. 



Mrs. Routzahn Spencer, primrose and buflT, 

 with margin and edge of light salmon. 



Mrs. Walter Wright Spencer, rosy purple, self 

 color. 



Primrose Spencer, pure light primrose yellow. 



White Spencer, pure white. 



Dreer's Aqtiatics at the National Sweet Pea Show. 



among growers, private and commer- 

 cial, and while some of the grandiflo'ras 

 are still popular, they are fast being 

 'displaced by the Spencer and Unwin 

 types. 



At Boston there were exhibited by 



UNWIN VARIETIES. 



Frank Dolby, lavender and mauve. 



Gladys Unwin, clear, bright pink, a little 

 deeper at the edges, almost self color. 



E. J. Castle, bright rose crimson, with veins 

 of deeper rose. 



Mrs. Alfred Watkins, bright pink at base, 

 shading to blush and buft at edges. 



Nora Unwin, pure white. 



GRANDIFLORA VARIETIES. 



Bolton's Pink, orange or salmon pink, reined 

 with rose. 



Burpee's Earliest White, pure white. 



Dorothy Eckford, pure white. 



Edward VII, pure bright red or crimson 

 scarlet. 



Extra Early Blanche Ferry, standard bright 

 crimson rose, wings white tinged with pink. 



Helen Pierce, marbled blue on ivory white. 



Ho^. Mrs. E. Kenyon, clear, light primrose. 



Lady Grlsel Hamilton, standard light mauve, 

 wings lavender. 



Lord Nelson, standard Indigo and violet, wings 

 Indigo. 



Lovely, deep pink, shading to very light pink 

 at edges. 



Miss Wlllmott, orange pink, with veins of 

 deeper orange rose. 



Mrs. George Higginson, Jr., clear acure blue, 

 the lightest and clearest blue In sweet peas. 



Prince Olaf, light blue, striped on white. 



Queen Alexandra, very bright red, almost a 

 true scarlet. 



WINTER FLOWERING SWEET PEAS. 

 Canary, primrose yellow. 

 Christmas Pink, standard rose, wings white. 

 Christmas White, pure white. 

 C. H. Totty, sky blue. 

 Flamingo, crimson scarlet. 

 Christmas Captain, blue and purple. 

 Florence Denzer, pure white. 

 Greenbrook, white, slightly touched with lav- 

 ender. 



Mrs. Alex Wallace, lavender. 

 Mrs. E. Wild, rose crimson. 

 Mrs. Wm. Sim, salmon pink, 

 Mrs. W. W. Smalley, satiny pink. 

 Snowbird, pure white. 

 Wallacea, lavender. 

 Watchung, pure white. 



While experts may differ with me on 

 my selection, people will not go far 

 wrong in planting the foregoing varie- 

 ties. 



Cornell University, where, under the 

 care of Professor Craig and A. C. Beal, 

 the trials of our society have been 

 held, has just issued bulletin No. 301, 

 entitled "Sweet Pea Studies." This 

 has been mailed to all members 

 through the courtesy of the university, 

 under frank without cost to the society. 

 Thanks are due for the energy and work 

 of the above gentlemen. If any mem- 

 ber has not received a copy, I would 

 ask them to kindly notify me at once. 



Care in Naming and Disseminating. 



Keferring to the foregoing selection 

 of sweet peas, I think we are somewhat 

 blessed in this country by not having 

 such an interminable quantity of new 

 varieties placed on the market as they 

 have in England every year. Unless it 

 has real merit over existing varieties, a 

 new variety has no place in the Amer- 

 ican seed catalogue or in the garden; 

 neither do we have the same conflict of 

 synonymous varieties under different 

 names. Our growers in California, where 

 eighty per cent of the sweet pea seed 

 of the world is grown, are exceptional' 

 ly careful, not only as to the new varie- 

 ties they disseminate, but also as to 

 roguing their stocks; neither do they 

 send out new varieties, to their knowl- 

 edge, unless they are thoroughly set. 

 Among the most distinct breaks of re- 

 cent years are the varieties Stirling 

 Stent and Earl Spencer, In reality these 

 are Henry Eckford Spencers, and this, 

 I believe, would be a better name. Many 

 colors we have today cannot be bet- 

 tered. The colors the hybridizers are 

 aiming for are a real buttercup yellow, 

 the scarlet of the geranium and the blue 

 of the Delphinium Belladonna. 



In the meantime the hybridizers 

 should concentrate their efforts upon 

 the improvement of the stock with ref- 

 erence to the size and substance of the 

 flower, number of flowers on a stem, 

 length of the stem and strength and 

 habit of the plant, and should aim to 

 produce an American breed of flowering 

 sweet peas that will stand our hot sum- 

 mers, so that not only in name, but in 

 fact, they will become the poor man 's 

 orchid and the rival of that flower. 



