THE SWEET PEA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 35, 26 September 1911, Page 6

THE SWEET PEA.

A 'HUGE PRIZE. ' Tlio sweet pea grows in popularity every season'. Its beauties and its fragrance command a» large and loyal following, comprising all ela'see consequently no monetary inducement is nCoded to keep interest in its culture from flagging. Yet it is doubtful if tftfc-ailttUS; of horticulture can show sudi prizes a.s were offered by London “Daily Mail” and decided at the Crystal Palace on August -(.til. The first prize offered by the “Daily Mai!” £IOOO for the best bunch of sweet pea, consisting of twelve spikes, and not fewer than four varieties. A second prize of £IOO, a third ol£so, 100 silver medals and 000 hronze medals were offered. Naturally the* entry was a. record one. Nearly 10,000 bunches were sent in, yet so excellent was the organisation that this enormous number were handled and judged quickly and without confusion. The lirst prize went to Mrs Eraser, >ho Maine. Sprouston, Kelso, and, extraordinary to relate, 1 'die third went to .Mrs Eiuser's husband. That two bunches from the same garden should have grot two out of three prizes in a competition of neajrly 40,000 is a proof that the judgI ing was sound. Mrs Eraser, we are told, “sent a gorgeous hunch of sear- ! lets, pinks, and purples, selected from varieties of Paradise carmine, Tom Bolton, Arthur Unwin, Constance /diver. It was an absolute contrast, in its blazing, almost ‘military, colour, to the delicate, almost feminine shades of the other hunch sent by the minister of the manse, the Hev. I). I), Eraser, to which some beautiful mauves of the Nettie Jenkins type gave the note.” The second prize went to a bunch sent from the other end of the kingdom, from Hyde, in the Isle of Wight.