NEW SWEET PEAS. 



15 



to hear from 'him. Subjoined I give the essential portions of Mr. 

 Viner's important letter, which practically convinces me that * Countess 

 Spencer ' appeared as a mutation in * Prima Donna ' in several places 

 in Great Britain in the same season. 



** It will be remembered that Mr. Cole claims that his * Countess 

 SpfehCer ' was the result of crossing * Triumph ' and ' Lovely, ' and 

 Crossing again in 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. Outhbertsort, Esq., Edinburgh. 



Re Sweet Pea ' Countess Spencer. ' 



]Dear Sir, — I received your esteemed letter thi§ morning, and I 

 imw proceed to give you the details of the origin and pedigree of 

 thi-s \pea. 



As an artisan living close on the town, my garden has always 

 been very limited, and therefore I have to make a selection of what 

 serves, or what 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 foUowmg year I grew ' Prima Donna ' from 

 seed I saved myself, and quite late in the season I noticed a spray 

 (o'f two blooms (on ' Prima Donna ') at the extremity of a shoot with 

 a peculiar crimpled character. I marked them and allowed them to 

 seed (no other flowers appeared), and I obtained seven good seeds. 



The following year I planted them in due course, and all 

 germinated, and, to my delight, five retained the wavy character; 

 the other two were ' Prima Donna ' — pure. But the waved ones were 

 glorious in the fine weather of early July. Now the Bath Show 

 (Eose, &c.) was, and is now, held about the second week in July, and 

 I took a bunch of the blooms and got them placed before the judges 

 and committee, who gave me a certificate 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 saw the flowers, 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 country it is well known that I secured 

 this variety in the way described, but the fact has apparently never 

 reached those in high places. 



Mr. Wright, in his book, Beautiful Flowers and How to Grow 

 Them," says in the chapter on sweet peas that the variety was raised 

 .by some amateur, but by whom or where he was unable to say. 



