The Flower for the Million and for the Millionaire 
WHY THE SWEET PEA DESERVES A FAR GREATER POPULARITY IN THIS COUNTRY—HOW 
TO GROW IT WITH THE BEST RESULTS—THE CHOICE BETWEEN PLANTING IN ROWS AND 
THE LESS COMMON ARRANGEMENT IN CLUMPS—THE ADVANTAGES OF POT-GROWN VINES 
S T. PATRICK'S Day is the time 
to plant sweet peas in the latitude 
of New York — at least that is the rule 
that has come down from our an¬ 
cestors. Practically, if sweet peas have 
not already been started under glass, 
as will be explained later, they should 
be put into the ground at the first 
moment that the ground is workable. 
I wonder if many people realize 
what the sweet pea is in England. 
They sell about forty tons of seed for 
this annual every year over there. 
Everyone plants it, and almost every¬ 
one who plants it belongs to a sweet 
pea society. They not only plant 
sweet peas; they talk sweet peas. The 
matter of a slight variation in color or 
form is a subject for deep discussion 
among the thousands of enthusiasts. A 
recent list of English books on this 
flower alone contains seventeen titles. 
They really know sweet peas over 
there, and the reason they do lies un¬ 
doubtedly in the merit of the flower 
itself. And yet the sweet pea is essen¬ 
tially an American flower by reason of 
the fact that practically the world’s 
supply of its seed is produced by the 
California growers. They raise about 
one hundred and fifty tons a year in that section of the country. 
And in, England they do not always plant sweet peas in a row 
— in this country we seem to think that that is the only way that 
it can be done. In fact, there are many English gardeners who 
insist that better results are 'obtained by growing sweet peas in 
clumps. The practical reason for this probably is that where they 
are thus grown the smaller space occupied is for that reason much 
more deeply worked and better fertilized. If the rows are actually 
given the same advantages and care, however, there is no reason 
why the results should be inferior. 
One hears and reads muchrabout the Spencer sweet pea or the 
L nwin or the Eckford, but it rritvy not be generally known that 
there are in fact three great groups in the sweet pea family — the 
Grandiflora division, the Spencer type and the Unwin type. The 
original sweet pea was a bicolor flower, usually carrying two 
blooms on a stem. The standards were, as a rule, erect and flat, 
the wings smooth and the segments of the keel were invariably 
closed. That is the first group. This flower prevailed until the 
new variety, Countess Spencer, was exhibited, just about a decade 
ago. In it the rigid outline of the smooth standard was broken, 
so that the standards were waved, and the wings showed the same 
attractive characteristic. Structurally also there is a difference 
between the original flower of the first group and the Spencer 
types—the segments of the keel expand and the organs protrude. 
The third group is composed of the 
Unwin varieties, the first of which 
appeared simultaneously with Coun¬ 
tess Spencer. The difference between 
it and the first or smooth-standard sec¬ 
tion is that the standard and wings are 
waved, but it differs from the Spen¬ 
cers in that the keel is quite closed, as 
in the first group. 
The first group and the Unwin 
group are certain to remain true to 
type; the closed keel renders cross 
ventilization by natural agencies prac¬ 
tically impossible. It would seem that, 
owing to this important difference in 
the Spencer varieties, they would not 
remain constant. Some of the varie¬ 
ties — Audrey Crier particularly — can 
never be expected to yield more than 
ten per cent, true to type. Many 
sorts, however, may be depended upon 
to give from ninety to one hundred 
per cent, true to type. The choice of 
what varieties to plant must be left 
to the reader; it is largely a matter 
of taste and color preference. 
Here are the essentials in the mat¬ 
ter of soil and its preparation in order 
that you may have the best results: 
The ground must be of such a char¬ 
acter that in unusually wet weather the water will not remain 
in the top soil, causing the sweet pea roots to rot out. If the 
soil is not naturally drained there must be some provision for 
draining this moisture off. The vines must have sun and they 
should have air as well. Do not put them up against a wall that 
is baked by the midsummer sun. A little shade from the mid¬ 
day suns of June and July will be very beneficial. The funda¬ 
mental requisite is deep soil — the roots of sweet peas will grow 
to a depth of three feet if you give them a chance, and the deeper 
they grow the less likelihood there is of their feeling the effect 
of a drought. The ground that is to support them should have 
been worked last fall, but if this was not done it should be worked 
as deeply as possible this spring — just as soon as the frost is out 
of the ground and the soil is comparatively dry. Add plant food 
in the spring only in the form of old, well decomposed manure, 
or bone meal, or superphosphate of lime. The latter is spread in 
a fairly heavy coating over the tops of the rows and forked or 
raked into the soil before planting. 
Try the new scheme this spring of planting the seeds in pots. 
Do this at once — before March first, if possible — using three- 
and-a-half-inch or four-inch pots. Use for the potting soil 
a compost of turfy loam, leaf soil and a little sand. Plant four 
seeds to a pot and cover them with an inch of soil, labeling each 
(Continued on page 192) 
by Russell Fisher 
Photograph by Nathan R. Graves 
One of the Spencer varieties of the sweet pea, with 
its characteristic waved standards 
