August 3, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE, 



597 



ORIGIN OF COUNTESS 



SPENCER SWEET PEA. 



Soin.9 further light is thrown upon the 

 origin of the waved or Countess Spencer typo 

 of bweet pea by the communication made by 

 Mr. Wm. Cuthbertson to the pages of the 

 *' Journal " of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety. It is as follows : — 



" In my lecture on ' New Sweet Peas ' before 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society on February 

 20, 1912, I said, regarding the origin of 

 Countess Spencer (the first of the w^aved sweet 

 peas), tha.t some colour was given to the 

 opinion that it was a mutation from the fact 

 ihait it was supposed to have occurred in 

 other places than at Althorpe about the same 

 time. I have had confirmation of that since. 



Early in March I received a letter from an 

 uifknown correspondent — Mr. E. Viner, 14, 

 Somerset Road, Frome — in which he stated 

 that my name had been given him by a friend 

 as one deeply interested in the development 

 of the sweet pea. Mr. Viner said he thought 

 he could tell me something that would in- 

 terest me about the origin of the waved 

 sweet pea. My reply was that I should only 

 be too glad to hear from him. Subjoined I 

 give the essential portions of Mr. Viner's 

 important letter, which practically convinces 

 nie that Countess Spencer appeared as a 

 mutation in Prima Donna in several places 

 in Great Britain in the same iseason. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Cole 

 claims that his Countess Spencer was the re- 

 sult of crossing Triumph and Lovely, and 

 crossing again in Fi with Prima Donna. 

 Mr. Unwin has put on record that Gladys 

 Unwin (a modified waved form) also came out 

 of Prima Donna, and I have been told by 

 others that they saw the waved form the same 

 season, but could not perpetuate it." 



Mr. Viner's Letter. 



14, Somerset Road, Frome. 

 W. Cuthbertson, Esq., Edinburgh. 



lie Sweet Pea Countess Spencer. 

 Dear Sir, — I received your esteemed letter 

 this morning, and I now proceed to give you 

 the details of the origin and pedigree of this 

 pea. 



As an artisan living close on the town, my 

 garden has always been very limited, and 

 therefore I have to make a selection o-f what 

 serves, or whait I like, best. 



It must have been in the spring of 1900 I 

 procured a few seeds each of Prima Donna 

 and Lovely with the object of choosing the 

 one I liked best, and my choice fell on Prima 

 Donna. I quite discarded Lovely. The fol- 

 lowing year I grew Prima Donna from seed 

 I saved myself, and quite late in the season 

 I noticed a spray of two blooms (on Prinia 

 Donna) at the extremity of a shoot, with a 

 peculiar crimpled character. I marked them 

 and allowed them to seed (no other ilowere 

 appeared), and I obtained seven good seeds. 



The following year I planted them in due 

 course, and all gernfinated, and, to my de- 

 light, five retained the wavy character; the 

 other two were Prima Donna^ — ^pura. But 

 the waved ones were glorious in the fine 

 weather of early July. Now the Bath Show 

 (Rose, etc.) was, and'^is now, held about the 

 second week in July, and I took a bunch of 

 the blooms and got them placed before tho 

 judges and committee, who gave me a certi- 

 ficate for it, and on the spur of the moment, 

 at the suggestion of others, it was named 

 Nellie Viner. Mr. I. House was at this show 

 and s-a-vv the tiow.^^rs, and wrote me later with 

 the object of buying it. Later in the season 

 I sent blooms to Mr. Eckford, to whom I 



eventually sold. 



Through this part of the countrjr it is well 

 known that I secured this variety in the way 

 described, but the fact has apparently never 

 reached these in high places. 

 ^ Mr. Wright, in his book, " Beautiful 

 Flowers and How to Grow Them/' says in 

 ^he chapter on sweet peas that the variety 

 ^'as raised by some amateur, but by whom 

 or where he was unable to say. 



Of course I know Mr. Cole's variety was put 

 the market first, Mr. Eckford being 

 obliged to grow another s-saeon, as the stock 



was small. Mr. Eckford was also informed 

 that the variety on the market was some- 

 thing like his; he therefore dropped the idea 

 of another name, and sent it out as his 

 superior stock of Countess Spencer, I think 

 had it not been for me, the finer form of this 

 charming flower would never have been 

 known. — I ^m, most respectfully yours, 



E. Viner. 



EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL 



TEACHERS 



In Cottag^e and Allotment 



Gardening. 



The Royal Horticultural Society's examina- 

 tion in Cottage and Allotment Gardening, 

 open only to school teachers, was held in 

 various centres on April 27, 1912. 



One thousand and eighty-nine ^candidates 

 ei.tered for the examination, being an in- 

 crease of 592 over the entries for 1911; 106 

 obtained sufficient marks for a first-class, 702 

 for a second, and 209 for a third, leaving only 

 30 failures, 41 absentees, and one candidate 

 vvho was disqualified for consulting notes. 



The examiners, Mr. F, J. Chittenden, 

 F.L.S., Mr. John Fraser, F.L.S., Mr. Alexan- 

 der Dean, V.M.H., and Mr. C. E. Fielder, 

 Y.M.H., r-port that, generally speaking, the 

 answers returned sho\\ed an intelligent grasp 

 of the subjects of tiie questions. The ques- 

 tions on vegetable cultivation, especially, 

 produced very practical ans^wers, and were 

 award-ed corJrespondingly high marks. It 

 i.-;, however, surprising that so many candi- 

 date would make up a hot-bed with well- 

 rotted manure. 



The examiners notice that the word " born" 

 is much used in reference to the germination 

 of seeds. The term is by no means a good 

 one, for, a^ a rule, it applies to animal life, 

 and not to plant life. Want of practical 

 ki owkdge was very apparent where cyclamen, 

 lobelia, and snapdragon were given as sub- 

 jects suitable for training on a cottage wall ! 

 There was a similar want of knowledge, or 

 thought, in recommending arsenical washes 

 for currant and gooseberry bushes attacked 



by caterpillar. 



Question 10 w^as well answered and dia- 

 granim.atically illustrated, but in a large 

 number of cases it was suggested that all the 

 soil should be excavated within a given dis- 

 tance from the tree, instead of taking out a 

 trench only at a certain distance. A still 

 greater fault was the recommendation to us3 

 manure freely '-n refilling the trench, as this 

 might be expected to reproduce the very con- 

 dition of unfruitfulness and gross growth 

 which it is the object of root-pruning to 



counteract. 



In Section B a greater proportion of the 

 candidates showed an appreciation of th? 

 principles concerning w^hich questions were 

 asked than in previous years; but. even so, 

 there was still on the part of many a lamen- 

 table lack of the power to apply princijiles to 

 practical gardening. Questions in Section B 

 are designed to test how far the simple facts 

 of plant^physiology and structure, and of the 

 nature of the soil, are really grasped by the 

 student- -gravspcd, that ivs, in such a way that 

 thev can be actually utilised in garden work. 

 These questions cannot be ad-ijuately 

 answered by those who have only icad ^Hx.ks. 

 ■^'hey require observant acquaintance with 

 the things themselves, and intimate know- 

 ledge of the way a plant works." 



Perhaps the commonest mistakes were in 

 saying that a plant is variegated because it 

 does not receive sutlicient carbon-dioxide ; 

 that hoeing "tills up the capilUiry tubes';; 

 Thai th- cabbage white butterfly pupates in 

 ^lu^ soil ■ and in confusing transpiration with 

 respiration. Such errors result in mistakes 

 in cultivation if an attempt is made to apply 



them, • 



Vov Dretty gardens and lovely flowers read The 

 vAwvfl PaLtn by T W Sanaere. F.L.S. An np- 

 to ^te wS-k o^^^^ plantin^r. and 



meft*of7he ,'ard.n, with description a^^^^^^^^ 

 of fiowem and plants adapfx^^ for 



LordoD. 



LYCHNIS COELI'ROSA. 



Cultivated in gardens a^Viscariaoculata, 

 this beautiful and showy annual possesses 

 merit of a very high order for garden de- 

 coration, being admirably adapted for pro- 

 ducing a lasting and effective display in 

 beds or borders. A native of Southern 

 Europe, and a member of the Dianthus 

 family, it revels in abundance of sunlight; 

 in other respects it is an extremely easy sub- 

 ject to cultivate, succeeding in any ordi- 



nai-v trarden soil. 



Like many of our best annuals, this sub- 

 ject amply repays <arcfu] cultivation, and 

 is indeed never seen at its best unless thinly 

 planted, allowing some 15 to 18in, between 

 the plants. Sown in the open ground to- 

 ward the end of September, and trans- 

 planted to frames for the winter, strong, 

 bushy plants arc obtained that are ready 

 for permanent planting about the end of 

 March or early in April. Growth is exceed- 

 ingly rapid, and by the niiddlo of May each 

 plant will be at least 2ft. through and al- 

 most as high, the entire chimp or bed pre- 

 senting an impenetrable mass of leaves, 

 stems, and blossoms, the latter being so 

 much in evidence at that soason that few 



annuals <an equal it in this respeet. The 

 flowering season of autumn-sown plants 

 extends from early May until the end of 

 Julv, as the effort at seed prfMluction does 

 not appear to impair their vigour to the 

 same degree a« in some other instances, 

 while it is worthy of note that vis<carias 

 transplant with throat freedom. 



Autumn sowing has much to reeommend 

 it where an (^arly display is required, 

 but seetls sowns iu the ordinary way in 

 the open, during March, wiill yield, at least, 

 equally good results, and the plants will 

 form a succession to those sown in autumn. 

 I'he advantage of sowing in situ in 

 spring is readily apparent with many 

 annuals ; increase<l vigour and lasting quali- 

 ties, combined with extra size, are gener- 

 ally in evidence, while it calls for the mini- 

 mum of labour and attention. Staking is 

 neither required nor desirable. 



The best forms of Lychnis coeli-rosa or 

 Viscaria oculata, for garden decoration, 

 include the type, having rosy-purple flowers, 

 the base of the petals being marked hy a 

 heavy dark blotch, and coerulea, a most de- 

 lightful shade of lavender^blue, and some- 

 what suggestive of a blue linum in flower ; 

 essentially a summer colour, it appeals to a 

 very wide circle of admirers. In fulgens 

 the"^ colour is a good shade of blood-red, 

 while picta has flowers almost pure white, 

 with a dark blotch at the base of the petals. 



Viscaria oculata is now regardecl as a 

 species of lv<'hnis, the name given in the 

 ^'Kew Hand List" being Lychnis coeli- 



rosa. 



Coombe Court Gardens. 



Thomas Smith. 



THE JACOBEA LILY. 



Sprekelia formosissima is often met with 

 in bulb catalogues ati Amaryllis formosissima, 

 U a native of Mexico, and, according to the 

 " Dictionary of Gardening," was introduced 

 therefrom as long agfo as 1658. Bulbs can, 

 when dormant, be purchased at a compara- 

 tively cheap rate, and with ordinary care 

 they can be depended upon to flower in early 

 shimmer. The blossoms, which are produced 

 before the leaves, are of an intense crimson 

 colour— a very strikiiig tint. Tliis t^prekelia 

 is not at all a ^lifficult subject to grow. The 

 bulbs should, on receipt in the autumn be 

 potted in a mixture of loam and sand, with a 

 littl- leaf-mould if the loam is of an adhesive 

 nature They must then be kept in a green- 

 house temperature, and given a little water 

 occasionally during the winter months. As 

 the days lengthen more water will be re 

 nuired--— W. T. 



