Some part of the improvement in the flowers is due
not to hybridization or selection or to the " sport," but simply to better cultivation. That loveliest of all the newer flowers (the Meconopsis Bailleyi, brought from Tibet) possesses only four petals, I believe, in its native haunt. It develops a number more in England, and, to judge by some seen this year, is increasing in size and splendour. No one seems to be quite sure why or how the sweet-pea increases the number of flowers to the stalk ; but if the newer white varieties give a true sign six to a stalk will become a standard number instead of four, which was regarded a few years ago as a great advance. Constitution improves with colour and size. What, for example, could be lustier than those two delightful mauve varieties, Gleneagles and Powerscourt ? They are seven feet high and still bearing four flowers to a stem in my garden, though the plants have not been pinched, trained or given any special cultivation. Ruthless picking for months has been the sole treatment.
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