February 2 , 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
71 
Sweet Pea ]Movelties 
The Opinions of 
Two Sweet Pea Experts. 
for 1907. 
I. By Thomas Duncan. 
Sweet Pea growers will now be laying 
n their supplies of seed, and, as there 
.3 always a great charm in novelty, will 
naturally be perusing the catalogues now 
pouring in from the various experts, in 
the hope that they will find something 
sensational. 
Those who during the past year had the 
privilege of attending some of the prin¬ 
cipal shows, or reading the accounts of 
these in the Gardening Press, will be 
much disappointed to find that very many 
of the varieties that were certificated or 
favourably criticised will not be found in 
any of the lists. This will probably arise 
either from the scarcity of seed, or be¬ 
cause the raisers do not consider them suf¬ 
ficiently fixed. If the latter is the reason, 
judging by the sportiveness of many. c‘ 
the novelties last year, few growers will 
be sorry. 
Those that were favourably commented 
upon, and are not being sent out, will 
include Audrey Crier, a lovely soft pink 
Spencer, and the Silver Medal variety 
at the N.S.P.S. show in London in 
July, 1906; Maud Guest, a blush Spen¬ 
cer ; Princess Maud of \\ ales,_ salmon 
cerise; Etta Dyke and Lady Althorp, two 
splendid white'Spencers ; Queen of Nor¬ 
way, a grand mauve Spencer; May Mal¬ 
colm and Lady Sarah Spencer, two enor¬ 
mous deep pink Spencers; Queen of 
Spain (Hurst), the dazzling scarlet Spen¬ 
cer that drew so much attention at Ulver- 
ston; Elsie Herbert, a blush-tinted Spen¬ 
cer ; Mrs. Rothera, which by the way has 
been purchased by Messrs. Sutton and 
Sons, a white flushed salmon pink ; George 
Stark, a carmine Spencer; and Ivv Mil¬ 
ler, a picotee-edged Spencer. Notwith¬ 
standing these omissions, growers will 
have novelties galore. Turning instinc¬ 
tively in the first place to Mr. Eckford's 
list, we find, besides novelties of other 
raisers, four of his own, which from their 
reasonable price are certain to have an 
enormous sale. They are all of the old 
type, very strong growers, and perfectly 
fixed. Their names are Agnes Eckford, 
a lovely shade of pink, soft and bright 
with very long stems; Queen of Spam, 
a soft pink of ivory' clearness, awarded 
a F.C.C. by the Scottish Horticultural 
Association, and very greatly admired 
wherever shown last year; Earl Cromer, 
a unique flower, quite distinct in colour 
from anything we already have, may 
be described as crimson lake; Horace 
Wright, named after the first secretary 
of the National Sweet Pea Society, and 
who has now entered the lists as a 
dealer in Sweet Pea seed, is the gem 
of the Eckford novelties. It received an 
Award of Merit at the N.S.P.S. show 
in London in July last, and is best de¬ 
scribed as a very' much improved D. R. 
Williamson, which variety it will easily' 
oust. This will rank as one of the very 
best if not the best variety of the vear. 
Another great novelty, and the one about 
which most has been heard, will be Mrs. 
Collier. This variety' has been shown 
during the past year under the following 
names, Mrs. Collier, Dora Cowper, Mrs. 
R. F. Felton, Mrs. Godfrey Baring, Ceres, 
etc., and at London in July last, when 
shown by Mr. Breadmore under the name 
of Dora Cowper, received an Award of 
Merit. As the committee of the N.S.P.S. 
considered that the same variety had 
been shown in the previous year by Messrs. 
Dobbie and Co. as Mrs. Collier, Mr. 
Breadmore was requested to change the 
name to Mrs. Collier, which he has gener¬ 
ously done. Some experts do not consider 
all these varieties as synonymous, and the 
question will require to be definitely set¬ 
tled by growing them side by side. The 
colour is deeper than that found in Hon. 
Mrs. E. Kenyon or Mrs. Eckford, but it is 
a very much stronger grower, three or 
four flowers being freely produced on a 
spike. 
Mr. Breadmore’s other novelties are 
Tweedy Smith and Cecil Crier, the for¬ 
mer a lovely bicolor and the latter a fine 
deep rosy' pink Spencer. 
Mr. Bolton was expected to be sending 
out some of the grand Spencer family 
h© is known to-.possess, but, alas! nothing 
is surer than disappointments, as the only 
one he is putting on the market is Olive 
Bolton, a splendid large deep^coloured 
pink. This variety is perfectly fixed, and 
as the quantity @f seed is small, those who 
Sweet Fea Nora Unwin. [IT. /. Unwin. 
(See Sweet Pea Xovelties jor igoj.) 
