Feoiuary 8, 1908. 
THE OARDEMIS/O WORLD. 
«7 
VAGARIES OF 
Sweet Peas. 
Sweet Pea Princess Victoria. Maclaren and Sons. 
Sweet Pea Princess Victoria. 
A Letter to 
the Editor. 
Sir,—After reading Mr. Alex. Grigor's 
note on page 52, I can only repeat that 
he appears to be prone to hasty conclu¬ 
sions, and useless generalisations. I can¬ 
not feel flattered by his suggestion as lo 
my having an axe to grind. Personally, 
I was as much surprised as he to see my 
note or criticism, for I had completely 
forgotten it. A moment’s thought on 
A. G’s part would have convinced him 
that no one would have penned such a 
letter after such a lapse of time. The 
delay in publication was probably due to 
circumstances which neither I nor the 
Editor could control. Respecting 
“A. G.’s’’-latest, I may say that I agree 
that distinctness of colour is a great point, 
but unless a variety gives three or four 
flowered sprays it has no great chance of 
becoming popular, unless it happens to be 
a particularly striking colour. The 
N.S.P.S. makes a clause whereby new 
colours such as pure scarlet or pure yel¬ 
low may receive awards, even if three 
flowered sprays are not the rule. 
I cannot agree with “A. G.” as to Coc- 
cinea’s aptitude for producing two’s only. 
“A. G.’s ” unfamiliarity with varieties is 
apparent when he quotes John Ingman 
and Miss Willmott as being similar in 
colour. 
Probably Helen Lewis is meant; at 
least I am ready to believe “A. G.” has 
made a slip of the pen. 
I cannot now place my hand upon my 
previous letter, but I am quite sure that 
I did not proclaim myself an expert, 
although I might just say that I have had 
a good deal to do with Sweet Peas during 
the past twelve years or so, and have 
made use of my pen for their benefit dur¬ 
ing eight or nine years, as doubtless 
the Editor can testify. 
To my mind no benefit would accrue 
were I to accede to “A. G.’s” wish, for 
no one who aspires to shine as an exhibi¬ 
tor can afford to ignore some of the novel¬ 
ties of 1907 and 1908. On the other hand, 
it would be useless to quote what I con¬ 
sider the finest dozen, for the simple rea¬ 
son that several of them are unprocurable 
this year. Grower. 
-f+4- 
Sunflower. 
NEW MINIATURE. 
For some years past a dwarf growing 
annual Sunflower, under the name of 
Helianthus cucumerifolius, but more cor¬ 
rectly named H. deblis, has been under¬ 
going improvement. The general fea¬ 
ture of the plant in its typical form is a 
slender stemmed but freely growing Sun¬ 
flower, having yellow rays and a black 
disc. Selections have been maiie for the 
purpose of getting dwarfer and more com¬ 
pact varieties, and under the name of New 
Miniature a very fine variety is being 
offered by Messrs. Dickson’s, Chester, with 
bright golden rays and a dark centre, 
which is such a conspicuous and telling 
feature in all this race of Sunflowers. 
The Sweet Pea under notice is a new 
variety now being put into commerce by 
Messrs. Dobbie and Co., Rothesay. It 
was named after Princess Victoria when 
passing through Regents Park last year 
in the company of the Queen. There is 
an old variety of that name with carmine 
standards, but the new comer is one of 
the Spencer type, with waved standard 
and wings. The flowers are of a uniform 
soft pink, except the base of the standard, 
which is white. Both standard and wings 
are somewhat variable in the amount of 
their waviness, but they are quite sufficient 
to show that the variety belongs to the 
Spencer type, while it is not so much 
crimped as to be reduced in size like some 
of those we have seen. It was under trial 
last year at Reading under the auspices 
of the National Sweet Pea Society, the 
Floral Committee of which accorded it an 
Award of Merit. Its superiority may be 
judged, as well as the distinctness, when 
we *say that it was growing alongside of 
other Spencer forms under trial. The 
flowers also showed that the stock was 
true and fixed, and that being so we feel 
sure that the variety will find many ad¬ 
mirers over the length and breadth of the 
land. Our photograph was taken from 
specimens sent us direct from Rothesay 
on the 23rd July last. 
