July 23, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD iis 
as if the pinnae were showing a tendency to become 
cruciate. Award of Merit. William Marshall, Esq., 
Auchinraith, Bexley. 
Carnation Nell Gwynnb (Martin R. Smith). 
—The flowers of this Malmaison variety are of 
moderate size, pure white, moderately fragrant, aod 
having the petals slightly toothed at the edges. Its 
value lies in its being a pure white Malmaison 
variety. Award of Meiit. Mr. James Douglas, 
Edenside, Great Bookham, Surrey. 
Rose Edith Turner. —This hybrid perpetual 
Rose is conical in the centre, firm, and of beautiful 
shape generally. The central portion is of a delicate 
silvery-pink, with the petals revolute at the edges, 
but the outer ones are much more rolled back, and 
of a pale blush. Award of Merit. Mr, C. Turner, 
Slough. 
Carnation Sundridge.— Here we have a tree 
variety about 3 ft. high, with narrow, glaucous 
leaves, and large flowers of fine form, and brilliant 
scarlet. The petals are slightly involute at the edges. 
Award of Merit. Mr. F. Tapper, gardener to Lady 
Scott, Sundridge Park, Bromley, Kent. 
Rose Perle des Rouges. —The flowers of this 
Polyantha variety are produced in great abundance, 
in flat or corymbose trusses, and are crimson and of 
moderate size. Having considerable resemblance to 
the old monthly Rose, this has evidently some 
affinity with Rosa indica, as well as R. multiflora. 
Award of Merit. Messrs. Wm. Paul & Son, 
Waltham Cross. 
Carnation Mrs. Martin Smith (M. R. Smith). 
—The soft, silvery-rose flowers of this Malmaison 
Carnation are of great size and handsome appear¬ 
ance. They are very fragrant, and the petioles are 
much involute at the edges. The leaves are broad 
and glaucous. Award of Merit. Martin R. Smith, 
Esq. (gardener, Mr. C. Blick), The Warren, Hayes, 
Kent. 
Carnation Calypso (M. R. Smith).—Here again 
the flowers are of immense size, but the petals are 
more erect, and not involute at the edges. They 
are of a charming silvery-blush, and deliciously 
fragrant. Award of Merit. Martin R. Smith, 
Esq. 
Sweet Pea Aurora. —This is one of the most 
handsome of the striped varieties, being attractively 
streaked and marbled with rose on a white ground. 
Award of Merit. Mr. F. G. Foster, F.N.C.S., 
Brockhampton Nurseries, Havant, Hants. 
Sweet Pea Golden Gate.— The name has no 
reference to the colour, but is stated to take its rise 
from the way the wings unfold. The standard is 
mauve, shaded with deep purple on the back. The 
wings are paler mauve, and tinted violet at the 
edges. Award of Merit. Mr. F. G. Foster. 
Fruit and Vegetable Committee. 
Strawberry Veitch’s Prolific.— This new variety 
was derived from Empress of India, crossed with 
the pollen of British Queen. The fruits are conical 
or occasionally slightly compressed, of medium size, 
bright scarlet, and possessing the aromatic and 
delicious flavour of British Queen, with the colour of 
the fruits of the mother plant. Some plants con¬ 
sisting of last year's runners, and a great heap of the 
gathered trusses, showed how prolific a bearer the 
variety is. First-Class Certificate. Messrs. Veitch 
& Sons, Ltd., Chelsea. 
Cucumber Sensation.— The fruits of this variety 
are about 18 in. long, straight as a gun-barrel, and 
but slightly tapered to each end. They are smooth 
or faintly ridged, and of a rich dark green colour. 
First-class Certificate. Mr. S. Mortimer, Rowledge, 
Farnham, Surrey. 
EDIBLE PEAS. 
A large and interested audience assembled on the 
12th inst. to hear Mr. N. N. Sherwood’s lecture on 
"Edible Peas." Mr. A. W. Sutton, of Reading, 
occupied the chair. Mr. Sherwood treated his-sub¬ 
ject under two heads, the first relating to the ancient 
history of the garden Pea, and the second dealing 
with the development of the culinary Pea within the 
last fifty years. Under the first head Mr. Sherwood 
had collected a mass of interesting detail such as is 
only to be gleaned from old and rare books, and the 
information thus got together could only have been 
collected by much careful and painstaking research. 
The garden Pea, said the lecturer, was of very 
ancient origin, and probably its true ancestor was 
not now in existence, nor was its native country 
known. Evidences of its existence had been found 
in the remains of the Lake Dwellers in Switzerland, 
in the Bronze Age, and also in the relics of the 
stone age. There were no records of its existence 
among the early Egyptians and Hebrews, unless, in¬ 
deed, the Lentils eaten by various biblical celebrities 
were Peas, but the plant was cultivated in India at 
a very early age, and is mentioned in the Sanscrit 
under various names. It was introduced into China 
at an early date, and was afterwards known there as 
the Mahomet Pea. With the migration of 
Aryan races westward the Pea was supposed to have 
been introduced to Europe. Pisum sativum was, 
according to A. de Candolle, cultivated by the Greeks 
300 or 400 years B.C. Pliny mentioned in his 
writings that the Greeks sowed their Peas in 
November, but that the Romans did not sow until 
spring. 
The word Pisum was taken from Pisa, near 
Olympia. Gerarde in 1597 spoke of " PesseD," and 
the word subsequently became Pease. " Peasen " 
were said to be one of the chief crops in England in 
1066, and between the years 1403 and 1538 there 
were numerous entries in the accounts belonging to 
old monastic establishments for pottage or porridge 
Peas. They afterwards became a delicacy, and were 
regarded as dainties for ladies, for in ttte reign of 
Charles II. a guinea a pottle was paid on October 
28th for Peas. Gerarde enumerated diverse sorts of 
shelling and edible podded or sugar Peas, and gave 
a good deal of information about their cultivation. 
In the Histone of Plants four photographs of the forms 
cultivated were given. They comprised representa¬ 
tions of P. majus, P. minus, P umbellatum and P. 
excorticatum. These Mr. Sherwood had obtained 
permission from the authorities at the British 
Museum to copy, and some excellent photographs of 
these forms were handed round. 
Proceeding, the lecturer said that in 1629, Parkin¬ 
son, in his Paradisus Terrestris, enumerated several 
of the following varieties of Peas:—Runcifal, 
Spotted, Gray, Sugar and the Fulham or Early 
French Pea. Gardeners at that time were, judging 
from the accounts given, very eager to sow early, but 
they did not always succeed in getting a crop. 
Miller's Gardeners' Dictionary, in 1737, mentioned 
seventeen varieties of Peas. The varieties with 
white flowers and bluish seeds were supposed to 
come from P. sativum, and those with coloured 
flowers and duD, grey or speckled seeds from P. 
arvense, the Field Pea, which had been regarded by 
botanists as a variety of P. sativum. 
Passing to the recent development of the garden 
Pea, Mr. Sherwood remarked that all the old varie¬ 
ties were round-seeded. The introduction of the 
wrinkled type, for which they were indebted to Mr. 
T. A. Knight, of EltoD, near Ludlow, some time pre¬ 
sident of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, 
marked a great step in advance. From Knight’s 
Tall Wrinkled Pea, afterwards sent out as British 
Queen, came a numerous family of wrinkled varie¬ 
ties. In 1850 Dr. McLean took up systematic cross 
fertilisation of the Pea, and the first fruits of his 
labours appeared in J859. Little Gem was the first 
dwarf wrinkled Pea ever sent out. Its height was 
from 15 in. to 20 in. Mr. Laxton, Mr. Henry Eck- 
ford, of Wem, Shropshire, Mr. Culverwell, and 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, had all done 
much to improve the Pea, and as the result they had 
numbers of grand varieties far superior to anything 
in existence before. 
In the year 1877-78 there were offered in nursery¬ 
men’s catalogues 97 varieties of Peas. In 1897-98 
only 46 of these varieties were still offered, although 
the number of varieties was constantly increasing, 
for there were now 625 names. These he could 
safely aver might be easily reduced to a quarter of 
that number. During the present year his own 
house (Messrs. Hurst & Son) were growing 700 rows 
of Peas at the trial grounds in Essex for the sake 
of comparison. 
The chief supplies of Peas for the London mar¬ 
kets came from Surrey, Middlesex and Essex, but 
large quantities were grown at Selby, in Yorkshire, 
and in the Evesham district. 
The lecturer then went on to speak of the great 
vigilance that was required to keep stocks pure and 
true to name. Roguing and selection had to be 
carried on year after year with thoroughness and 
consistency. He also gave a practical description of 
the methods that should be adopted in cross-fertilis- 
ing. The flowers on the plant selected as the seed 
parent had to be operated on some time before they 
were open, and the anthers removed before they 
shed their pollen. One pod of six seeds would pro¬ 
duce a number of varieties from which selections 
had to be made ; indeed, both wrinkled and round- 
seeded sorts had been obtained from the same pod. 
The selections made in the fourth or fifth year 
generally gave the best results. 
Mr. Sherwood had on view a number of baskets of 
Peas, both green pods and ripe seeds of each being 
sho wn for purposes of illustration. He showed by 
reference to these how the work of improvement 
gradually went on, each variety being an improvement 
upon those preceding it. He concluded by saying 
that probably the garden Pea had made greater pro¬ 
gress than any other vegetable during the 60 years 
of the Queen’s reign. 
At the close of the lecture, Mr. H. J. Veitch, Mr. 
A. Dean, Mr. H. Eckford and the chairman com¬ 
mented upon the subject of the lecture, and all 
agreed that full justice had been done to it by Mr. 
Sherwood. 
-—- . ■■■ 
Kitchen Garden calendar. 
The hot weather of the last few weeks has brought 
many of the garden crops to a standstill, particu¬ 
larly where water is scarce. Peas, for example, were 
very late this year and now the hot, dry weather is 
playiDg sad havoc with main crop varieties. Where 
water can be supplied, this should be given without 
stint, for if the plants are once allowed to flag 
mildew soon sets in, which carries off the plants 
very quickly. The advantage of their sowing, will, 
in such weather, be very apparent, particularly where 
the ground is not in the best of heart. 
At this time of the year, when the weather is hot 
and dry evaporation is very great, therefore, mere 
dribblings of water are useless, nothing less than a 
thorough soaking will suffice to keep plants in the 
best of health. Some vegetables, however, require 
more water than others, the softer and larger 
foliaged kinds usually take the most. Cauli¬ 
flower, for example, during such weather not only 
requires plenty of moisture but there must be added 
such acids that will build up the plant. Lime and sul¬ 
phuric acid are-two of these, therefore, to keep them 
in a flourishing condition during such weather these 
constituents must be present to be taken up. Water¬ 
ing is often so carelessly done, that instead of the 
plants benefiting thereby, much injury is effected. 
In the case of small plants, instead of putting on the 
water through a rough rose watering pot use one 
with smaller holes. The same amount of water will 
certainly not be used, but if a second dose be given 
it will go deeper into the soil. Has it never been 
noticed that the water penetrates further after a 
gentle shower than during a heavy storm? In the 
first case the water soaks in as it falls, while in the 
latter much of it runs away on to places not requir¬ 
ing to be watered. 
There is always much difficulty in growing first- 
class vegetables where there is only a scanty supply 
of water, as it is next to impossible during hot 
weather to keep them growing if sufficient moisture 
cannot be afforded. Much, however, may be done 
by husbanding the moisture, as it were, by keeping 
the surface loose and fine. Ground that is left rough 
will dry much faster than if broken down. It stands 
to reason that late digging does much to deprive the 
soil of some moisture. Mulching again should be 
resorted to in good time. Many of the crops which 
now lack nourishment might have been kept in a 
healthy condition with far less labour had this been 
attended to in the early part of the summer. 
As the land is cleared of the crops others should 
be got in whenever the weather is favourable. It is 
useless to plant while the ground is in a parched 
condition, or has not been properly prepared, there¬ 
fore, as the crops are cleared away break up the 
clods and render the ground ready for the next. Do 
not neglect such things as Lettuce, Endive, 
Radishes and other salads, as these are now much in 
request; and to have them in the finest possible con¬ 
dition every attention must be paid to planting out 
and watering. In all cases take time by the fore¬ 
lock, as it is far better to have a surplus than a 
dearth. Cooks, as a rule, are extravagant creatures, 
and unless their wants are kept well supplied there 
is sure to be some unpleasantness,— Kitchen Gardener. 
