March 7, 1908. 
s ever, and while size is the desideratum, 
urm may yet vary more greatly than it 
itherto has done; but, above all, there 
re still vacancies to be filled up in the 
aatter of colour. 
A canary-yellow Sweet Pea is eagerly 
joked for, although Primrose w r as one of 
,ie earliest successes of the late Henry 
.ckford. By slow increments it may still 
e possible to attain this end, and the 
lost advanced type which the firm has in 
and is James Grieve, W'hich w r as w 7 ell 
lown last summer. An immense success 
as now been achieved in the yellow 
round Carnation, although it took many 
;ars of labour to accomplish. The Sweet 
ea as a florist’s flower is one of 'the 
lungest, and assuredly has a long life 
;t during which improvements, even in 
plour, may be accomplished. Blue and 
.ack in Sw 7 eet Peas is not such a far cry 
; in the case of the Rose, for already 
:veral blues are in cultivation, and these 
ay yet be greatly improved, while there 
something very nearly black amongst 
e maroon and crimson-maroon shades. 
In order to get some idea of the youth 
: the Sw r eet Pea as a florist's flow 7 er, we 
ay state that the late Henry Eckford 
d not commence improving it until he 
as sixty years of age. Previous to that 
me he w T as a gardener in private service, 
id in that capacity had effected some 
iprovements amongst Verbenas and 
ahlias till he went to Wem, w r here his 
:e-w 7 ork practically commenced when he 
idertook the improvement of the Sweet, 
ea. The first variety he considered of 
.fficient improvement to send out was 
ronze Prince, long since discarded for 
-tter things in the same line, but never- 
eless it marked an epoch in the history 
the Sweet Pea. For some years pro- 
■ess was slow', but various, other im- 
ovements were Brought before the pub- 
:. Ten years from this time he rvas re- 
irded as the Sweet Pea King in the 
timation of his fellow-countrymen, 
lile his fame soon reached America, 
lere the culture of Sweet Peas w r as taken 
), as it were, in a moment of inspira- 
>n and carried to an extent it could 
ver have been dreamed of before. 
He died at the age of eighty-two, full 
honour and in the respect of people 
er the wide world. Previous to this 
ent. however, Lis son, Mr. John Stainer 
rkford, was called upon to take charge 
the business department, which had 
town to large dimensions, as someone 
.s necessary to attend to the increasing 
■mand for seeds. This was eighteen 
ars ago, Jjefore the young man had 
actically made his acquaintance with 
■eet Peas. Since then he has become 
■pally as fascinated with the work of 
rising new varieties as was his father, 
-ivone who has the pleasure of Air. Eck- 
'd's company for a day' amongst the 
eet Peas will come to this conclusion, 
rose who would have Mr. Eckford's 
‘Iids must needs go to Vem for them, 
ley - are all sold direct to customers 
J>m Eckford’s. 
yhen looking down the list of 349 named 
‘rieties, it is surprising what a large 
: mber of them are credited to Mr. Eck- 
"d as the raiser, and these not merely 
: e varieties that have been named, but 
iding ones in the various colour sec- 
ins to which they belong. Besides 
ose we have already mentioned, we may 
me the primrose-yellow Hon. Mrs. E”. 
rtlE GARDENING WORLD. 
Kenyon, the lovely lavender Lady Grisel 
Hamilton, the crimson King Edward VII. 
and Scarlet Gem, which has been re¬ 
placed by the still finer and more perma¬ 
nent Queen Alexandra, which has bright 
scarlet flowers which do not turn brown 
under the influence of the brightest sun¬ 
shine. In the matter of pinks, there is 
a beautiful coral-pink Hon. F. Bouverie 
and Queen of Spain, which was a novelty 
of last year, with delicate soft-pink 
flowers, otherwise described as a pearly- 
pink self. At the Sweet Pea Show in Lon¬ 
don last year this novelty was shown fif¬ 
teen times, or in as many different ex¬ 
hibits. The accompanying illustration, 
lent us by Mr. Eckford, shows flowers 
of this recent acquisition. 
15 7 
Amongst bicolors Jeannie Gordon is an¬ 
other of Mr. Eckford’s selections, and it 
takes a high position everywhere in its 
class. George Gordon is the leading ma¬ 
genta variety, while Sybil Eckford is the 
most important fancy variety at the pre¬ 
sent day. Many others might be men¬ 
tioned, including Coccinea, David R. 
Williamson, etc., all of which have been 
tended with the greatest care, selected 
and brought before an admiring world by 
Mr. Eckford. 
-* 4*4 - 
Cyclamen Low’s Salmon King. 
The flowers of this handsome new' 
variety are of large size with long seg¬ 
ments of a beautiful rosy salmon colour. 
1 r 1 Sweet Pea Queen of Spain. H. Eckford. 
Coming to dark colours represented by 
maroon shades, we may say there is a far 
cry between Boreatton and Black Knight, 
yet the former represents a stage in the 
march of improvement, and ivas an eye- 
opener in its early days when the maroon, 
glossy and metallic-looking flowers first 
made their appearance in public. Black 
Knight is reckoned the greatest advance 
in that colour to-day. Dorothy Eckford 
has long held its own as a pure white, in 
spite of all the beautiful pure white or 
wavy-petalled varieties -which have been 
brought to the front in recent years. Mrs. 
Walter Wright is far and away the fine c t 
mauve variety in general cultivation. We 
have already mentioned Henry Eckford 
as a marvel amongst the orange shades 
that has not yet been deposed from its 
pride of place. At the same tiirie Miss 
Willmott is another shade of orange that 
has long been grovra and shown in al¬ 
most every winning stand of Sweet Peas. 
Award of Merit by the R.H.S. on iitn 
February when shown by Messrs. Hugh 
Low 7 and Co., Bush Hill Park, Middlesex. 
Potato Disease. 
Earl Carrington in the House of Lords 
replying recently to Lord Harris, observed 
that” black scab was first observed in 1901. 
and it had since spread over the whole of 
North-West England and North M ales. 
It w 7 as prevalent in Lancashire, and cases 
had been reported from Scotland. So far 
it had not appeared in the South or East 
of England. The Department were very 
sensible of the danger of this new Potato 
disease, and they were considering the ad¬ 
visability of issuing an order to give power 
to deal with the disease. The noble earl 
added that the recent outbreak of foot 
and mouth disease in Scotland, had, they 
believed, been entirely confined to one 
area, and almost all the cattle had been 
already slaughtered. 
