544 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
•July 8, 1905. 
his own account. He, therefore, in succes¬ 
sion spent some years at Trentham and Laen 
Wood, Highgate. 
13v this time Mr. Eckford was thirty-one 
years of age, and felt competent to take 
charo-e of a garden, and was appointed to the 
EarTof Radnor, Coleshill, Berkshire. Here 
he had evidently settled down to the business 
of life, for he stayed twenty years, during 
which period he devoted much attention to 
the improvement of various florists’ flowers, 
including Pelargoniums, ^ erbenas and 
Dahlias, many of which were put into com¬ 
merce by Mr. Iveynes, of Salisbuiy. 
He was now attracting the attention of 
owners of gardens, who were charmed and in¬ 
terested with the idea of raising new and 
improved varieties of florists flowers. Hi. 
Sankey, of Sandywell, Gloucester, had got his 
eye on Mr. Eckford, and, being an enthu¬ 
siastic plantsman himself, invited Mr. Eckford 
to come to his assistance at Sandywell. This 
was m the year 1878, and from this time 4 
may date Mr. Eckford’s career and connection 
with the Sweet Pea, His attention was, how¬ 
ever, divided between Sweet Peas and the 
garden or culinary Pea. 
His first step was to procure seeds of these 
and several other things from Mr. Lee, of 
Hammersmith. At this date he was able to 
obtain onlv five varieties of Sweet Pea, 
namely Painted Lady, Butterfly, White, 
Scarlet and Black. Although his fame was 
ultimately to be built up on Sweet Peas, 
several of his improved varieties of garden 
Pea were put into commerce and highly appre¬ 
ciated. His work of improvement was sub¬ 
sequently carried on at Boreatton, which is 
commemorated by the Sweet Pea of that 
1 "me, a remarkable production in the way of 
h,ui\ and which several people have since 
been working upon as well as himself. The 
large and improved forms have since formed 
quite a group, though the original is still 
appreciated in many gardens. 
Since Mr. Eckford settled at Wem, he has 
carried the improvement of the Sweet Pea to 
great perfection, and practically given it a 
renown second to none amongst florist’s 
flowers, and certainly it is the most popular 
of all annuals at the present day. Notwith¬ 
standing these facts, Mr. Eckford has always 
maintained a calm and unassuming demeanour 
with regard to his accomplishments and 
achievements. He has simply been allowing 
his creations to speak for themselves. Like 
many others of Scotch nationality, he main¬ 
tains a large measure of reserve concerning 
his own work, nevertheless I ventured to 
inquire what was the first Sweet Pea which 
received public recognition. 
“ Of the numerous varieties I raised, I was 
somewhat taken with the variety named 
Bronze Prince, and I find that I brought it 
before the public on August. 8th, 1882. I 
was awarded a First-class Certificate for it. 
This was my first public acknowledgment of 
my success, hut the variety would not hold its 
own at the present day.” 
“ To what would you suggest was the failure 
of this variety due P ” 
“ Like other beginners, I had to learn and 
unlearn some of my work, for it had been put 
into commerce before it was thoroughly fixed. 
This being so, it gave rise to numerous sports, 
and the complaint was made that the seeds 
had been mixed. At first the matter was 
difficult of explanation, but the true cause of 
its failure was discovered afterwards.” 
“ You have since, however, received ample 
recognition even from the Royal Horticultural 
Society for the varieties which you have raised 
and put into commerce.” 
“ Yes, that is so, as the number of new 
varieties to which First-class Certificates or 
Awards of Merit were given to me by com¬ 
parison with other raisers and exhibitors will 
amply testify.” 
“ Which were your next successes of 
merit ? ” I ventured to ask. 
“ That depends upon what you consider a 
success. Many of the varieties which I raised 
and put into commerce have been grown to 
the present day by all classes of growers, who 
can with! difficulty be persuaded to replace 
them by varieties with blooms of larger size. 
The beautiful flowers having once become 
popular, growers continue to ask for them 
year after year.” 
.“You had several, however, which received 
Awards of Merit from the Royal Horticultural 
Society ? ” . 
“ Mauve Queen and Primrose were exhibited 
at a meeting on July 12th, 1887, amongst 
others, and received First-class Certificates.’ 
“ I understand, however, that you were re¬ 
markably successful during the nineties.” 
“ That is so, and although the varieties were 
only honoured with an Award of Merit, it 
seems merely some slight alteration of opinion 
with regard to a florist’s flower, and the Award 
of Merit is really the highest honour that can 
now be given to a florist’s flower.” 
Concerning the other varieties which re¬ 
ceived honours, I consulted the records, and 
found that out of twenty-seven First-class 
Certificates or Awards of Merit given to Sweet 
Peas, Mr. Eckford won twenty-two, in addi¬ 
tion to the previously named honour for 
Bronze Prince. First-class Certificates were 
awarded to Mauve Queen, Splendour, the 
strain and Primrose, while Awards of Merit 
were given to Countess Cadogan, Countess of 
Powis, Blanche Burpee, Prince Edward of 
York, Prince of Wales, Dorothy Tennant, 
Mrs. Eckford, Mars, Eliza Eckford, Lady 
Grisel Hamilton, Lady Mary Currie, Lady 
Penzance, Lady Beaconsfield, Venus, The 
Belle, Stanley, Salopian, and Queen V ictoria. 
“ It has more than once been mentioned to 
me that the National Sweet Pea Society came 
too late upon the scene to be of any service 
to the advancement of the Sweet Pea. What 
is your opinion of that?” 
“ No doubt the Sweet Pea can take care of 
itself with or without a society, but the work 
in connection with the Sweet Pea has by no 
means been completed.’’ 
“ Do you think that the Sweet Pea has 
reached its limits of perfection, or can it still 
further be improved ?” 
“ Since that period there has been no 
evidence that the Sweet Pea has reached its 
limits of improvement. For instance, colour, 
form, size of bloom, and constitution are yet 
in the making, and it would be impossible to 
foresee what improvements can yet be made. 
The Sweet Pea Society has set itself a very 
high standard in connection with their Certifi¬ 
cate for new varieties, but although it is now 
difficult to secure a First-class Certificate, a 
number of them continue to be given.” 
“ Can you mention any which seem to come 
near the high standard formulated by the 
Sweet Pea Society ? ” 
“ Some of my most recent seedlings have 
met with their unanimous approval, and I 
need only mention King Edward VH., Dorothy 
Eckford, and Scarlet Gem. The latter comes 
most near the ideal of the society for a scarlet 
flower, though the plant did not do so well 
last year as I expected. King Edward VII. 
has taken a very high position as a crimson 
variety,” 
“ I suppose that some of your varieties take 
a leading place in the classification list of the 
Sweet Pea Society ? ” 
“ That is so, and while the classification is 
issued under the auspices of the society, it has 
the recommendation of having been made by 
the individual opinion of Sweet Pea growers, 
rather than the society as a body. Takino- 
old and new varieties, I may merely state that 
King Edward VII., Dorothy Eckford, Prince 
of Wales, Miss Willmott, Lady Grisel Hamil¬ 
ton, Dainty, and others are varieties of my 
raising which now stand at the top of the list 
as the best varieties of their respective colours 
as determined by the voting of last year.” 
“ What is your most recent acquisition of 
note, Mr. Eckford ? ” 
“ I will only mention Henry Eckford, which 
has been brought before the public on more 
than one occasion, and let it speak for itself. 
It was awarded the First-class Certificate and 
the Silver Medal of the Sweet Pea Society last 
year as the best new Sweet Pea in the exhibi¬ 
tion. The R.H.S. this year have also given it 
their Award of Merit.” 
“ From what I have heard of it, Mr. Eck¬ 
ford, it has already been speaking for itself, 
and causing everyone I meet to speak of it.” 
Mr. Eckford has now been continuously en¬ 
gaged in the improvement of the Sweet Pea 
for the last twenty-six years, and although at 
the age of eighty-two he cannot take a very 
active part in the work of growing or improv¬ 
ing the Sweet Pea, nevertheless he is as en¬ 
thusiastic over his favourite flower as ever. 
He is well seconded in his efforts, however, iy 
his son, Mr. John Stainer Eckford, who wiil 
no doubt carry on the work so splendidly es¬ 
tablished in the further improvement of what 
may be styled everybody’s flower. 
Mr. Eckford himself has no fairy tales to 
unfold, either concerning the origin of the 
several varieties or his part in connection 
therewith. From what I have been able to 
glean, he has simply a keen eye for observa¬ 
tion, and is ever ready to seize upon any¬ 
thing of advantage to the Sweet Pea, and 
desirable in the matter of size, colour, form, 
constancy, etc. 
He commenced by singling out the indivi¬ 
dual varieties worthy of attention, and has 
devoted himself chiefly to the selection of the 
most promising individuals, keeping all the 
points in his mind’s eye which go to the make¬ 
up of a first-class Sweet Pea. He lias simply 
seconded and guided Nature, as it were, in 
the evolution of the Sweet Pea, which Nature 
has moulded in such-feeble form as to require 
support, and painted in such a variety of deli-, 
cate colours. Ever and anon, by shaking up 
the kaleidoscope, as it were, a fresh set of 
varieties is the result, exhibiting subtle and 
delicate colours of inimitable hues which 
painters can but imitate. After many genera¬ 
tions, extending over more than 200 years, the 
Sweet Pea remains the same frail and fragile) 
plant, rejoicing in a profusion of flowers em¬ 
blematical of perpetual youth and beauty, yet 
as fragrant as it was 205 years ago when first 
introduced to Britain. 
Neither does Mr. Eckford give us tales about 
cross-breeding and hybridisation, though tin 
former is possible, and something has been 
effected by it. Nevertheless, the Sweet Pe; 
remains without other botanical title than 
Lathyrus odoratus; in other words, all tlu 
Sweet Peas in existence are merely varieties 
of the plant originally introduced from Sicily 
Although it remains without other than thi; 
title, it takes the first rank amongst annual- 
throughout the land, and a fitting corollary 
is that Mr. Henry Eckford remains tin 
“ Sweet Pea King,” Q. 
