The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-09-14
WELVE-FIF'HY.

l 52. 900 copies went Into trade the first year. In the meantime ambition had
 grown. too. an Unsuitable for the facts about this flower, for ascorrect knowlege l of each name and type and where the ] varieties came from. This led to one Of the happiast of ali tie experiences
 a direct corresponden with MT. Eek ford in Shropshire, Eng. We were told that it was improbableat that he would
 answer any such letter. But he did, l and since then thewriter has made two visits to his wonderful floral work shop.
 He got in touch with Mir. Eckford at | a very fortunate moment. His work on l this flower had just begun to be timidlv recognized by certain American seed
 houses. The writer invested in some of 1 his novelties at the rate of 6 cents per
 seed. He was the first one to exhibit l the lavender Countess of Radnor and ] the orange Prince in Boston. The
 striped bule and white Princes of Wales
 was the first variety to show the great
 improved size and form of MT. Eek ford's products, and his Boreatton, a deep velvety maroon, was a decided novelty By 1892 we began to get his
 best work, the set of six novelties in that 1 year being a great advance. By that time the sweet pea shows i'll this l neighborhood had begun to excite
 popluar interest. 5. The writer made several exhibits
 each season, in Boston, Worcester, 1 Springfield, Hartford, Holyoke, hun l dred vases being common display, and l the competition lively for several years.
 For some time Springfield was the head
 center of this interest. The sweet peas grown by the writer were soon cast into the shade by other exhibitors, and he found his pleasure in the fact of
 having done something to promote the widespread interest in the flower. l But other interesting chapters in the story followed. The growing interest in the sweet pea created a demand for.
 seed. Large seed growers in California went extensively into the branch of
 seed growing. And by this time there
 were 50 varieties of sweet peas worthy of distinct name, and it was necessary 1 that the seed of these should be grown quite true to name and type. In 1894 l the writer was sent for by these Cali
 fornia growers to come and set them right on the names and type of these | 50 different sorts. He went and spent I the month of May going over $50 acres of peas a visit of great interest in all lines of seed growing and of California sights. Another sweet pea "crank" has
 recently been gathering statistics, and write to a floral trade paper that at present 800 tons of sweet pea seed are grown annually and that one grower l has 300 acres. .' ,..
 | In 1895 some men who had large in- terest in this seed wished the writer to go to England. to visit MT. Eckford. He made a delightful visit there, forming a
 much -prized friendship with that vete- l ran specialist, who was then 73 years of I age. The story of MT. Eckford's work on this flower would itself fill many columns! From that time to this he has had business to keep upiwith the demands which this flower made, to try | to grow g. few each year, to write for ! various horticultural papers, to serve as I judge of exhibits, etc, But the crown l ing experience came in 1900. when the ] floral world of Great Britain had be-