530 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
other roots must be gone over, to elimi- 
nate all that are defective in shape or 
color. 
Harvesting is largely hand-work, and 
runs from July to September, inclusive. 
Work is all done and seeds are threshed 
and cured before the fall rains begin. 
Sweet peas are cut with a mower, and are 
left in the sun for many days to cure. 
Onions are topped by hand and hauled 
to the drying ground, and lettuce must be 
spread out, turned and dried in the sun. 
Threshing is done in a variety of ways : 
by machinery, by rollers, and by the old 
hand-flail. Onions are threshed and 
cleaned by machinery, and the seed is 
then washed, spread out, and dried, the 
utmost care being taken to insure purity 
and cleanliness. Special machinery is 
used for various kinds of seed, electric 
power being generally available, the clean 
seed coming down the prepared chutes, 
at the mouth of which it is sacked. 
The list of seeds grown is long, and 
the variety of single kinds is surprising. 
"The majors," as they are called, are let- 
tuce, onions, radishes, and sweet peas. 
One field of lettuce is shown that is two 
miles long (page 527), and sweet-pea 
fields embrace from 100 to 500 acres or 
more. They yield the most in pounds 
per acre. 
Radishes are grown in large tracts, and 
nearly a dozen varieties of our common 
table vegetables produce seed by the ton 
on several well-known farms. 
Flowers are a fashion and the demand 
for seed is extremely variable, but the 
list is fairly long and the various bright 
colors, arranged in parallel rows over a 
hundred acres — or several times a hun- 
dred, if sweet peas are included — make 
what has been called "a veritable carpet 
of Paribanon." 
The sweet pea holds its vogue year 
after year, and it is a beautiful sight to 
see a great field of these exquisite flow- 
ers. Where the many varieties are sepa- 
rated by the intervention of some other 
flower or vegetable, so that the pollen 
will not mingle, the bands of color gather 
to a point in the distance, perhaps a mile 
away, a broad belt of many hues. 
In England much enthusiasm is shown 
in sweet-pea culture, and the National 
Sweet Pea Society holds, in London, an 
annual show of immense proportions, 
exhibiting but this one flower. 
In that climate the growers produce 
remarkable blossoms, but at the expense 
of the seed, and experts and enthusiasts 
come yearly to California to inspect the 
sweet-pea fields, to hunt for novelties, to 
buy seed, and to write of the industry. 
By far the largest part of the sweet- 
pea seed for the world's planting is 
grown in California. Here the seed is 
planted long before the Christmas holi- 
days, and flowers are often at their best 
by the middle of May. Making but little 
growth during the colder months, they 
elaborate a strong root system, and as 
spring comes on, with its steady warmth, 
they fairly rush up the trellis and break 
into bloom. 
In the fields the grower must be busy 
as the season advances. The tendency 
to variation is constant and demands 
careful attention. Men are seen up to 
their waists in flowers, on the lookout 
for "sports," or natural cross-breeds, and 
for "rogues," or plants which show a 
tendency to revert to the original strain. 
"Roguing," as it is called, is the de- 
struction of all non-typical plants, but 
"sports" are possible prizes, and are care- 
fully scrutinized, for a fine hybrid may 
be worth a thousand dollars or more. 
The sweet pea will illustrate the diffi- 
culty. If "roguing" this year is carelessly 
done, it will "queer" the next year's crop. 
Or a "break" in the strain may cost much 
extra labor. 
The "Countess of Spencer" is consid- 
ered the most remarkable varietal break 
in floriculture. The type is well defined, 
but from it has sprung a family of many 
shades and colors, and it has cost the 
sweet-pea grower much money and ef- 
fort to fix the type for trade uses and 
bring this capricious beauty under the 
law of descent. 
Growers strive, too, to originate fine 
plants, keeping skillful gardeners at work 
selecting and hybridizing species, seek- 
ing to create new and improved varieties. 
And in California they have the advan- 
tage of a climate that gives vigor to the 
seed, that stimulates the growth of the 
plant, and anticipates the efiforts of the 
seed-farmer to produce reliable seeds and 
improved types of vegetable and flower. 
