Peas and their Pests 



them into gauze bags, are modes recom- 

 mended for their destruction ; but an easier 

 and more effectual mode of prevention is to 

 wash and dust the leaves with substances dis- 

 tasteful or hurtful to them, such as tobacco 

 water, soap-suds, hellebore powder, flower of 

 sulphur, quicklime, soot, &c. Of bird pea- 

 destroyers, house sparrows are by far the most 

 troublesome, commencing their devastations 

 immediately after sowing, continuing them 

 with redoubled perseverance before and after 

 brairding, and making occasional attacks as 

 the plants progress through their after stages, 

 till their works of mischief are consummated 

 by the tearing up of the young pods, and 

 the abstracting of the peas before, as well 

 as when these become fit for the table- 

 "We are not among those who look upon 

 sparrows as being "feathered friends" of either 

 the gardener or the farmer, and consequently 

 have no hesitation in recommending their de- 

 struction, or at least their reduction, wherever 

 they are troublesomely abundant. Of traps 

 they are however Avary ; keeping them off by 

 netting or other appliances is too troublesome 

 as well as expensive, and as the objections 

 against destroying them with poison are not 

 nearly so strong in their case as in that of the 

 mice ; one of the easiest modes to accomplish 

 this end is to use phosphoric paste, spread 

 about double butter-thickness, on quarter-inch 

 shoes of loaf bread, cutting the same after- 

 wards into half inch dices, and spreading them 

 in places where the impudence of sparrows 

 will lead them to resort, although other birds 

 Avill not dare to come. Another mode which 

 we have not yet tested, but which, we are 

 assured on good authority, is not less effica- 

 cious, consists in steeping crumbs of loaf 

 bread in whisky or other spirits, to which 

 the sparrows quickly manifest such an unmis- 

 takable liking, that they will eat till perfectly 

 overpowered by intoxication, when they may 

 be gathered up and converted into sparrow 

 pies, or othenvise disposed of. 



jNIildew on peas, as well as on turnips and 

 some other crops, only becomes very hurtful 

 in lengthy tracts of scorching dry weather, by 

 which the vital force of the plants becomes so 

 impaired that they are easily acted upon by 

 this most insidious of plant diseases. This 



cause of mildew points to its cure ; and if 

 taken in time, or when the first appearance 

 of its powdery whiteness comes upon the 

 eaves, nothing so effectually prevents mildew 

 in peas as copious watering — not mere sur- 

 face sprinkling, but thorough drenching, 

 which will penetrate to the deepest and most 

 distant rootlets ; and this application is the 

 more effectual if the water be slightly mixed 

 with liquid manure, such as dunghill drainings, 

 guano, and the like. 



The numerous kinds of garden peas now 

 in cultivation, and an imperfect acquintance 

 with their relative periods' of ripening, as well 

 as w^eather influences, frequently lead to the 

 production of overabundant supplies at certain 

 times, and deficiencies of crop at others. 

 Although a seemingly unsatisfactoiy state of 

 matters, this is by no means so difficult to 

 remedy as usually supposed — ^judicious stop- 

 ping of the young shoots, and pinching of the 

 floAvers, being all that is required. The better 

 to illustrate this, suppose that four rows of 

 any kind of pea are all soaati at the same time, 

 and so circumstanced that all Avould ripen or 

 reach maturity simultaneously, but that it 

 Avas required that each should come into use 

 successively as the gathering of the other Avas 

 finished, the first roAv should remain un- 

 touched, so as to yield the earliest crop- 

 Then, as soon as the others shcAv the first ap- 

 pearance of floAver buds, pinch these all off 

 and stop the shoots by picking out their ex- 

 tremities; each stem or shoot Avill then set out* 

 young branches, and Avhen these have in turn 

 sheAvnblossom-buds,leavero\v second tobloom, 

 but pick the floAvers and tops again off roAvs- 

 3 and 4, and proceed in like manner Avith 

 these in turn, so that No. 3 Avill be picked 

 tAvice, and No. 4 thrice, taking care that no 

 stray blossoms be alloAved to remain on any 

 roAV before the time for its general blooming. 

 This pinching of the shoots and blooms Avill, 

 if persevered in, not only retard the period of 

 maturing very considerably, but also largely 

 increase the size and bushy habit of the plants, 

 so that a very thin planted roAv will become very 

 thick Avhen thus repeatedly operated upon, 

 and it Avill generally be necessary to thin 

 out the plants in those roAvs on Avhich pinch- 

 ing is to be performed. 



