8 4 
TUB GARDEN l XU WORLD. 
February 8, 1908. 
.<d£ 
Sweet j 
Pea Novelties 
c 7 
2.- 
. . . . FOR 1908. | 
-By G. F. DRAYSON. 
| 2 , 
the margin, waved type. First Class Cer¬ 
tificate, Southampton. A splendid variety. 
T-here seems to be great similarity be¬ 
tween several varieties of this colour be¬ 
ing sent out. 
Marjorie Willis, First Class Certificate, 
Southampton, also a very fine variety, 
that may best be described as a Prince of 
Wales Spencer. 
Messrs. Bell and Bieberstedt. 
From Messrs. Bell and Bieberstedt, 
Leith, comes a lovely lavender, named 
Mrs. Bieberstedt. When seen growing at 
Jieir trial grounds it Was perfectly fixed, 
a very strong grower, with three or four 
flowers on a stem. 
Messrs. E. W. King and Co. 
From Messrs. E. W. King and Co., 
Coggeshall, we have— 
Mrs. William King, a lovely Spencer, 
somewhat similar to John Ingman, and 
guaranteed to contain go per cent, fixed 
plants. 
Messrs. Gilbert and Son. 
Messrs. Gilbert and Son have listed 
three novelties : — 
Rosie Gilbert, a waved King Edward; 
Miss West, a large wavy carmine self; 
and Britannia, a fine deep blue. 
Messrs. House and Son. 
Messrs. Isaac House and Son are put¬ 
ting on the market Harold, a fine cream 
self, which is having a good sale. 
Mr. H. W. Mackereth. 
Mr. Mackereth is sending out two very 
fine varieties, both of the old type, 
namely: — 
Devonshire Cream, a very beautiful 
cream self, deeper in colour, than Mrs. 
Collier, and a very strong grower. A 
large percentage of the flower stalks carry 
four flowers of enormous size. 
Finetta Bathurst, a white of the old type, 
which the raiser declares to be an im¬ 
provement on Dorothy Eckford. If so, 
it must well be worth growing. Both 
these varieties were raised by Mr. Bath- 
hurst, Devon. 
I have purposely kept Mr. Mackereth’s 
name to the last, because we find that he 
seems to have the knack of getting round 
the soft side of other raisers and procur¬ 
ing their novelties, as we find from his 
lists that he is justified in claiming to 
have "The Sweet Pea Clearing House.'’ 
He has, however, a formidable rival jn 
Mr. Horace Wright, and by another sea¬ 
son had better look to his laurels. Both 
of these have catalogued the novelties of 
Messrs. Breadmore, Burpee, Perrier, 
Dobbie, Stark, Hurst, Hemus, Stevenson, 
Sydenham, Unwin, etc. Mr. Mackereth, 
in addition to these, has those of Messrs. 
Bolton, Jones, Bell and Bieberstedt, and 
of course his own twin varieties. Any 
reader having difficulty in procuring any 
novelty in commerce should apply either 
to Mr. Mackereth or Mr. Wright. 
Such is the Sweet Pea novelty list for 
the season; truly a most extensive one. 
How many of them will stand the test re¬ 
mains to be seen. In no season have we 
had so many fine varieties offered, but 
while making that statement I am com¬ 
pelled at the same time to say that we 
have never had so many seemingly worth¬ 
less ones, and it will "be no easy matter 
for growers to separate the grain from 
the chaff. 
Last year, when over thirty Sweet Pea 
novelties were distributed, it was gener¬ 
ally considered that the number was very 
large. This year, however, there must 
be something near a hundred, and this in 
spite of the smallness of the 1907 seed 
crop. 
The stocks of many novelties are very 
limited, and in most cases it is not a 
trade dodge when the raiser advertises 
that his stock is small, for, as a matter of 
fact, some few varieties are already abso¬ 
lutely exhausted. Early orders are there¬ 
fore strongly advised. 
There is no doubt that the present large 
number of novelties includes some that, 
when grown together, will prove to be 
identical. This is due to the fact that 
when a new break occurs it is generally 
found with several growers at the same 
time. Each has about as much claim as 
the others to consider it his own novelty, 
and the practice of the N.S.P.S. has been 
to give the privilege of naming the variety 
to the one who exhibits it first. The 
greatest credit, however, is due to the 
grower who first succeeds in obtaining a 
fixed stock. 
Several of this year’s novelties, also, 
although not absolutely identical with 
each other or with previous introductions, 
are yet so nearly alike that only very 
large growers will require -to grow more 
than one of the type. 
Eckfords, who until recent years held 
almost a monopoly in novelty raising, are, 
as would Ire expected, offering several fine 
varieties, five of which are of their own 
raising. James Grieve is not the largest 
cream variety, but it is looked upon by 
many experts as being the nearest ap¬ 
proach to a true yellow that has yet been 
seen, and for this reason it is to be wel¬ 
comed. Purple King is as fine a shade of 
purple as has yet been exhibited, and is 
a flower of good size, although not of 
waved form. We have recently received 
several very beautiful combinations of 
cream and pink from Eckford's, and in 
May Perrett we have another, which, al¬ 
though not of large size, is sure to find 
admirers. Mima Johnston, I do not re¬ 
member having seen, but it is described 
as being bright rose carmine, slightly 
shaded with salmon. H. J. R. Digges is 
a pale maroon variety, the exact shade of 
which has not before been represented in 
the Sweet Pea. 
Eckfords also offer three varieties that 
are being introduced bv wholesale firms, 
and four varieties that are being intro¬ 
duced bv Lobbies. The former will be 
noticed further on. The latter, together 
with two other varieties that Dobbies are 
introducing, were mentioned in a descrip¬ 
tion of .the firm's .Sweet Pea grounds that 
apneared in these pages in the number 
dated 24th August last, so they will be 
described at less length here than per¬ 
haps their merit deserves. Princess Vic¬ 
toria is a variety slightly deeper than 
Mrs. Hardcastle Sykes, of true Spencer 
size and form. The Marquis is a rosy 
mauve form of Countess Spencer, - and 
very large. Prince Olaf, although of 
medium size, is the best blue striped 
flower yet raised. These three varieties 
have each received the Award of Merit 
of the N.S.P.S., the first and third after 
having been tested as to fixity. Menie 
Christie is the best magenta-purple we 
yet have, very like Mrs. Chas. Mander, 
but of a more brilliant colour. Hannah. 
Dale is a large maroon, but not waved; 
Dobbies’ White Spencer is sometimes 
shaded blush, and I do not think it the 
best of its type. After having seen these 
six varieties growing, I believe that they 
are. all practically fixed. 
Mrs. Hardcastle Sykes is this year again 
scarce, but this fact is less serious than 
last year, as there are several varieties 
that can now be substituted for it. In 
addition to Princess Victoria is Bobbie 
K., from Mr. Unwin. After growing it 
last year I can testify as to its fixity. If 
anything, it is superior to Mrs. H. Sykes. 
From the same raiser come also three 
other novelties. Chrissie Unwin and Miss 
E. F-. Drayson are identical in form and 
size. In colour the latter resembles 
Queen Alexandra, but it is of larger size. 
Last summer I measured flowers over 
two inches across the standard. The 
shape is very bold and expanded, but it 
is not of the Spencer type. Chrissie Un¬ 
win is a shade or so nearer to Coccinea. 
Mr. Unwin is distributing his own fixed 
stock of white Countess Spencer or Etta 
Dyke. 
Many English firms are offering Mr. 
Burpee's stocks of White and Cream 
Countess Spencer, and large prizes are 
being offered for bunches of these varie¬ 
ties at forthcoming exhibitions. These 
are not, perhaps, of the greatest substance, 
but in size each should prove unequalled 
in its section. The former is more waved 
than Nora Unwin, and seems a little 
better. It is probably identical with the 
waved whites of several English raisers. 
A stock I grew last year, and several I 
saw, seemed to be somewhat shaded or 
edged wuth green, when first opening. 
Another variety that is Being offered by 
many firms is St. George, which was 
shown in 1906 under the name of Queen 
of Spain. It was obtained from .Gorge¬ 
ous by Mr. Newby of Hurst and Sons, 
who are distributing it. From the 
N.S.P.S. it won the Silver Medal for the 
best novelty put forward in *1907, and a 
First Class Certificate. As I saw it grow¬ 
ing it was quite fixed, and its awards 
testify to this. It is the nearest approach 
we have to orange-scarlet, and larger and 
brighter than Evelyn Byatt or any of the 
other improvements on Gorgeous that 
have recently been distributed; but it is 
not so large as Helen Lewis, and should 
be a companion, not a supplanter, of that 
variety. St. George is of good size, not 
of the Spencer form, although it is, per¬ 
haps, slightly wavy. 
Rosy Adams was raised by Mr. T. 
Stevenson, and is being distributed by 
