August 17, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
811 
wr 
The Issue for August 31st will contain complete 
Index, for Volume XVII. . . . 
Our. 
BIRTHDAY 
NUMBER . 
September 7th. 
SPECIALLY 
DEVOTED ■ 
TO . . 
“BULBS.”. . 
“ GARDENING WORLD," 4, Dorset Buildings, Fleet St., London. 
" Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "— Bacon. 
©arirmnj 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S., F.R.H.a. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17th, 1901. 
The Editorial and Publishing Offices are 
now at 4, Dorset Buildings, Salisbury 
Square, Fleet St., London, E.C., where 
all communications and remittances are 
to be addressed to the Proprietors. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, August 20th.—Grandpont Horticultural Society. 
Wednesday, August 21st.—Banffshire Exhibition; East¬ 
bourne Exhibition ; Hastings Flower Show. 
Thursday, August 22nd.—Horsham Flower Show. 
THE SWEET PEA BICENTENARY 
CELEBRATION.* 
HIS small book, as its secondary title 
indicates, is the report of the com¬ 
mittee under whose auspices the bicenten¬ 
ary celebration of the introduction of the 
Sweet Pea to Great Britain was carried to 
a successful issue last year. It gives a full 
account of the inception of the celebration, 
the exhibition, the papers read at the con¬ 
ference, and other matters transacted in 
connection with the same. 
The papers read at the conference will 
furnish useful data about the Sweet Pea, 
its history and improvement, so far as it 
has been recorded, for all time coming. 
The early history is meagre in details, as 
all histories are, and reminds us of the early 
beginnings of Rome, in so far as certain 
things one would like to know are lost in 
obscurity. Modern historians, unlike the 
ancient ones, strive to arrive at the truth, 
and, though occasionally given to conjec¬ 
ture, they do not substitute fable to fill in 
the details where information falls short. 
The Histovia Plantarum of John Ray, 
London, 1686-1704, is quoted as saying 
that the sweet-scented Sicilian flower had 
a red standard, while the wing-like petals 
surrounding the keel were pale blue. 
Cupani, a devout Italian monk and 
enthusiastic botanist, catalogued the Sweet 
Pea, but said nothing about the colour of 
the plant. In 1699 he sent seeds to Dr. 
Uvedale, of Enfield, England, and during 
*The Sweet Pei Bicentenary Celebration. Report 
of the Celebration of the Bicentenary of the Intro¬ 
duction of the Sweet Pea into Great Britain. 
Published for the Bicentenary Committee, by Mr. 
Richard Dean, V.M.H., Ranelagh Road, Ealing. 
In stiff covers, Price is. Post free is. 2d. 
the following year, we presume, many 
eminent botanists visited the plants, yet it 
does not seem that they made any record 
of the plant, at least in the way of descrip¬ 
tion, so that their botany must have given 
rise to the legend that the science consists 
chiefly of “ Latin names.” 
In 1737 John Burmann published a book 
of plants native to Ceylon, including the 
Sweet Pea, which he describes as Lathyrus 
zeylanicus, odovato flore amoeno ex albo et rubvo 
vavio. From this description it is presumed 
that the variety is what we now know as 
Painted Lady. Burmann also mentioned 
a red variety as coming from Ceylon on the 
authority of the Prodromus of Breynius, 
published in 1680. If this is correct, the 
Ceylon varieties were known as early as 
that from Sicily, and “ thereby hangs a 
tale.” In those olden times the eminent 
botanists were not very particular in dis¬ 
tinguishing between cultivated and purely 
wild plants, so that their modern represen¬ 
tatives decline to believe many of their 
records. 
According to Mr. S. B. Dicks, who wrote 
“ The Early History of Sweet Peas ” for 
the Sweet Pea Conference, a widely preva¬ 
lent belief is that the Painted Lady is the 
parent of the modern race, and that it was 
really known to botanists before the Sicilian 
purple variety. Modern authorities, as 
well as those who wrote more than half a 
century ago, ascribe the origin of the Sweet 
Pea to Sicily; while the Index Kewensis 
merely refers the Lathyrus odoratus- 
zeylanicus, of Burmann, to L. odoratus, 
Italy being given as the native country. 
The chapter devoted to “ The Evolution 
of the Sweet Pea,” by Mr. C. H. Curtis 
and Mr. J. S. Eckford, quotes a portion of 
the early history of the plant, and then 
proceeds to deal with the recorded improve¬ 
ments of the plant in this country, com¬ 
mencing with a catalogue published in 
Fleet Street in 1793, nearly a hundred 
years after its introduction. Little infor¬ 
mation is obtainable until we come to the 
work of Messrs. J. Carter, Noble, Cooper 
& Bolton, Sutton & Sons, Thos. Laxton, 
H. Eckford, and others who are still 
mostly with us, or whose representatives 
are. Mr. Eckford, whose name is so 
prominent in this connection, commenced 
to improve the Sweet Pea in 1870. 
“ A System of Classifying Sweet Peas ” 
is dealt with by Mr. Walter P. Wright, 
who argues that the time has come for 
reducing the prevailing chaos amongst the 
multitudinous varieties of this popular 
flower to something like order; and for the 
formal-adoption of it as a florists’ flower. 
Sweet Peas in this chapter are first classi¬ 
fied according to form, such as “ erect 
flowered varieties,” “ hooded varieties,” 
“ partially hooded or intermediate varieties,” 
and “ recurved varieties,” samples of each 
type being given. Then follows a “ classi¬ 
fication of Sweet Peas by colours,” the 
seifs alone supplying eleven groups or lists. 
There are five groups of flakes, listed 
according to colour; two groups of 
bicolors ; white ground fancies ; and Picotee 
edged varieties. 
“ The Sweet Pea in America ” is ably 
dealt with by the Rev. W. T. Hutchins, of 
Indian Orchard, Mass., U.S.A. Such a 
subject as this admits a wide range of 
treatment, and as might be expected from 
an enthusiastic amateur who has three 
times made a 6,000 mile journey in the 
interests of the Sweet Pea, we get a 
very varied and interesting history of this 
popular flower in the United States. 
Mr. H. Dunkin deals with “ New Points 
in the Culture and Decorative Uses of 
Sweet Peas.” Here again the subject is of 
wide scope, and the many points at issue 
have been compressed into small space to 
reduce them to the limits of a paper. 
Mr. William Cuthbertson follows with an 
article on “ Sweet Peas Under Glass,” and 
another on “Sweet Peas with Perfume.” 
In the summer and autumn of 1895 he 
gave considerable attention to the question 
of perfume, owing to a controversy on the 
subject then taking place. He finds that a 
large proportion of recently introduced 
varieties have only a very faint odour, and 
classifies the varieties he names under 
“ strongly perfumed,” “ medium perfumed,” 
and “ faintly perfumed.” He has carefully 
examined the flowers both under glass and 
in the open air, but does not state whether 
or not the different methods of culture have 
any appreciable effect in altering or modify¬ 
ing the perfume of the varieties mentioned. 
He concluded that “ Princess Beatrice 
excelled all others in perfume,” yet the 
variety is included in the classified lists as 
being only moderately scented. A “Scheme 
of Classification ” was also worked out by 
the Classification Committee, and here 
recorded with the best varieties in each 
group. Some illustrations are distributed 
through the pages, so that altogether a great 
amount of information concerning Sweet 
Peas is included in the book, which all 
concerned would do well to procure. 
- m e — - 
Flower Baskets.—There is a great demand in 
Paris at the present time for baskets filled with 
growing plants and flowers. High handled baskets 
are much in evidence for the purpose, as they offer 
better facilities for introducing climbers. The 
baskets are constructed in most fantastic shapes and 
are fitted with zinc receptacles for the plants. 
The Cripples’ Mission.—A more praiseworthy 
effort is not to be found than that carried on 
by this mission, and it is well deserving of help from 
every quarter. One of the chief objects is to make 
the life of unfortunate cripple children more 
pleasant. They cannot indulge in the romping 
games of their companions, and are therefore often 
additionally afflicted with ill-health. The mission 
has eight homes and in these as many as 7,000 
children are cared for annually. Only those who 
have occasion to be shut up in the oven of London’s 
streets, or the close quarters of any other great town, 
can fully appreciate what it means to have a week 
in the ozone laden air of the breezy seaside. All 
these homes are on the coast, and as they are all 
supported by voluntary subscriptions, they are 
always glad of assistance. The gardener has not as 
a rule a great surplus of money, but he often has a 
great surplus of fruit which does not pay to gather. 
If some of this was sent to the homes for cripple 
children, imagine the joy that would be created in 
hundreds of grateful young hearts, and we are sure 
that the gardener would feel happy, too, if he could 
only see the effect. All particulars of the work done 
may be obtained from the secretary of the Ragged 
School Union, 32, John Street, Theobald's Road, 
London, W.C. 
