A unique novelty in sweet peas

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A Unique NOVELTY in SWEET PEAS..

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PHILADELPHIA, July, 1895.

TO THE SEED TRADE :—

Permit us to call .your attention to CUPID,—the first and
only dwarf Sweet Pea,—which may properly be called the floral
wonder of the age. You may have already noticed the advance
announcement, with illustrations from photographs, made on pages
62 and 63 of “A YeEar’s Work aT ForDHOOK Farm,” published in
February last.

This unique novelty can now be seen growing on the farm
of its originator, Mr. C. C. Morse, Santa Clara, California, in the
garden of the Rev. W. T. Hutchins, Indian Orchard, Mass., and at
Fordhook Farm. It will be exhibited, grown in pots, at a meeting
of the Royal Horticultural Society in London, and also at an
exhibition of the Société National d’ Horticulture, Rue de Grenelle,
St. Germain, Paris. It is certainly worth traveling hundreds of
miles to see.

We call your attention to Cupip thus early in order that you
may reserve sufficient space in your 1896 catalogue to properly
present it. It should have at least a full page.

In September we will send you full particulars, showing proofs
of several handsome new illustrations. It is our purpose to offer
it at retail at 25 cents per packet, or five packets for $1.00, or $2.00
per dozen packets. | )

We have seven acres now im full flower, as shown by the
engraving of a photograph of one piece, and consequently hope
to be able to offer very liberal terms to THE TRADE who
catalogue CUPID prominently, as it deserves.

In writing for terms it would be well to name about the num-

ber of packets you expect to use.

Yours truly,

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO.,

475 and 477 North Fifth Street,
476 and 478 York Avenue,

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

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Greatest NOVELTY in Flowers Ever Known!

We propose to introduce in 1896 The Unique, Dwarf Sweet Pea,—_

“CUPID

which, unlike all others, grows only five inches high!

A hundred plants of Cuprp growing in a row was pretty enough last year and
immensely attractive, but to those who are fortunate enough this season to see
growing seven acres of our little wonder, 7¢ zs a revelation.

Fancy seven acres of green area, just as green as Cypress, @ carpet of plants
only five inches high, spreading out from the roots just enough to meet when planted
two feet apart in rows; then fancy this carpet of deep, living green springing
into blossom in one week, a// a mass of white—clear waxy-white ;—Sweet Peas on
stems only three or four inches long and a hundred ona plant; all white—like a
mass of snow: indeed, so well contrasted with the deep green foliage that the purity
of the whiteness of both standards and wings seem even whiter than snow ttself /

Everyone who sees it is amazed,—everyone wants to know what it is, where it
came from,—such a Sweet Pea, yet so unlike a Sweet Pea! It is true that its stems
are short, but it has all the fragrance of the most favored Eckfords. The flowers
are the size of the Hmzly Henderson, but with more substance tn the petals of both
wings and standards than any other Sweet Pea. It bears two and three blossoms
on a stem, all on the end of the stem and all opening about the same time, so that
it is unnecessary to pick a stem with a bud and an open blossom.

It is a grand flower for florists’ use, for floral designs, and only needs to be so
used to prove its merit. Nothing would make a prettier wreath, cross, or pillow
than a mass of Cupip blossoms wired in with ferns, smilax, or other suitable green.
The Violet, the Rose, and the Carnation will now have to share their popularity as
a gentleman’s boufonniere with CupID—it is just the thing—it has the fragrance, the
size, the color, and the beauty, and z¢ zs a Sweet Pea,—the only Sweet Pea that
looks well in the button-hole.

We grow it in a twelve-inch pot, and it just fills the top, and with its blooms
of glistening whiteness is wonderfully attractive in the house, the public hall, the
hotel, or the conservatory. It will be used chiefly, we believe, in the private
garden as a border plant, for it will bear trimming to just the proper shape, and
though you will think the foliage pretty enough for any border, you will be most
enthusiastic when Cupip bursts into a mass of snow-white blossoms, not unlike a
very dwarf hedge covered with snow. There is no plant that can stand in successful
competition with Cupp for the border. Then, too, our public parks use a great
number of dwarf plants for carpet bedding, and when summer comes we are disap-
pointed if we don’t see some new design or some new figure worked out in bright
colors,—and what would surprise a city crowd more than to see a figure next
summer worked in a dwarf Sweet Pea! It seems to us that nothing could be more
novel or more truly beautiful.

All the world will want CUPID, and when Jan-
uary, 1896, rolls around all the world can have it!

THE UNIQUE NEW DWARF SWEET PEA,—CUPID.

The illustration above was accurately engraved from a photograph, taken on May 25th, of one of
the three pieces (in all seven acres) we now have growing of Cupip, but fails to show the beauty of
the photograph. Jt degan to bloom on April 15th, and continues to flower until killed by frost. In

length of season of blooming it excels all other Sweet Peas, while in habit it is, of course, quite unique.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CUPID,
The Only Dwarf Sweet Pea Ever Known.

The foliage is very dark green; blossoms pure, waxy white,
of unequaled substance, and fully as large as “ Emily Henderson.”
The plant does not grow over five inches high, and never more
than twelve to fifteen inches in diameter. The stems are about
four inches long, bearing two or three blossoms, all very near the
end of the stem. It is a wonderfully free bloomer, and begins to
flower as early as May and continues until November. The seed

is white and of usual size.

UNSOLICITED TESTIMONY
From High Authority in America and England.

F Rev. W. T. Hutcuins, the eminent Sweet Pea specialist, writes as fol-

lows of this unique wonder among flowers :— -

PARSONAGE, EVANGELICAL CHURCH,
INDIAN ORCHARD, MAss., November 7, 1894.

Messrs. W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Philadelphia.

GENTLEMEN :—Anything combining novelty and merit in Sweet Peas is
of peculiar interest to me. Ina visit to the California growers last May I
had an eye out especially for new developments, which I expected to find in
so large an acreage. But I was not looking for a novelty such as I found =
there, which amounts to practically a new species of Sweet Pea. This was
the Dwarf White, which Messrs. C. C. Morse & Co. have named “ Cupid.”
I saw one hundred plants of it which had come perfectly true from the seed
of one plant found last year. A zovelty it certainly is. It is the only genuine
dwarf Sweet Pea that I know of, and has sported so at one jump. By some
freak of nature it has lost the habits of a vine, and makes a low tuft of short \
branches which hug the ground, showing no tendency either to trail or climb.
But it has not lost the free-blooming habit, and thus its blossoms form a low,
crowded mass, that nearly hide the foliage. It grows but a few inches high.
So far it has shown up only in white, and the blossoms are uniformly the
purest possible white. I can endorse Messrs. Morse’s enthusiastic praise of
it as a “little wonder.’ It is the American wonder in Sweet Peas. I am
glad you are to be the introducer of this novelty. In Sweet Peas it will be
what your famous Bush Lima was in the Bean family.

Very sincerely,
WoT. UDCA:

%
\ Mr. JAMEs Douctas, F. R. H.S., Edenside, Great Bookham, Surrey,
England, under date of June 17, 1895, writes as follows :—

‘‘Cupid has just opened its first flowers. A lovely thing it is ;—flowers
of full size, purest white, sweet scented, and plants nice tufts six inches high.
You sent twelve seeds, and I have twelve fine plants.

‘‘You must, however, understand that the Royal Horticultural Society
does not give first-class certificates for any new varieties of merely garden
flowers, such as the Rose, Carnation, Dahlia, Sweet Pea, Phlox, Pansy, etc.
The highest is an ‘Award of Merit.’ This is equivalent to a first-class
certificate.

‘The F. C. C. is now only given to a superior new plant, such as a new
species of Orchid, of great merit. Still, the new Sweet Pea, Cupid, is of the
highest merit, and they may go out of their way to give it a higher award.
At all events, they cannot refuse it the ‘Award of Merit,’ it is so distinct and
beautiful.”