xii PREFACE 



since this delicate flower is gaining so rap- 

 idly in popularity. 



The chief difficulty encountered by the 

 growers of the sweet pea is the combating 

 of diseases, in which they have had very 

 little help. Massee and Chittenden in 

 England have devoted some time to the 

 "Streak disease," but these workers have 

 been misled in their observations by at- 

 tributing this disease to the fungus Thie- 

 lavia. In the United States, floral pathol^ 

 ogy is still in its embryonic stage, and the 

 sweet pea was not the first to claim the at- 

 tention of Pathologists. The author of 

 this book in the last three years has pub- 

 lished several papers on his own investi- 

 gations, taken up largely because of nu- 

 merous complaints from growers who met 

 with failure in their attempts to grow this 

 beautiful flower. Florists and gardeners 

 have often been hopelessly discouraged 



