14 



Careful tests have been made each year, to determine the productive- 

 ness, the quahty, the resistance of the attacks of the pea weevil, etc., 

 of all the varieties under experiment. The table here presented 

 gives the average results of each of twenty-six of the leading varie- 

 ties for a period of seven years. 



It will be observed from the average results given in the table 

 that there is a great variation in the comparative size of the peas. 

 One thousand seeds of the New Canadian Beauty weighed 10.7 

 ounces, and a similar number of the Common Golden Vine variety 

 weighed only 5.2 ounces, the weight of the former being more than 

 double that of the latter. 



The average number of days between the time of seeding and the 

 time of ripening of all the varieties for the seven years is 101. It 

 will be observed, however, that the Chancellor variety matured in 

 S* days after planting, and that the Prince Albert required 109 days 

 to reach maturity. There was thus an average of fifteen days be- 

 tween the dates on which the earliest and the latest varieties reached 

 their ripened stage. 



In the average length of vines there is a great difference, the 

 extremes being 19 inches for the White Wonder, and 52 inches for the 

 Prince Albert variety. Owing to the extreme shortness of the straw 

 of the White Wonder peas, they are suitable only for very rich so'il 

 which naturally grows an abundance of straw. The Golden Vine 

 variety produces a straw which is exactly the same length as the 

 «,verage of all the varieties included in this report. 



In each of the past seven years, very careful notes have been 

 taken regarding the average percentage of peas of each variety which 

 were infested with the pea weevil. In order to obtain this information, 

 two hundred peas of each variety were opened on each examination, 

 and the number of weevilly peas- was carefully counted. It will be 

 seen from the figures given in the table, that all of the varieties were 

 more or less affected. Those varieties having the smallest percentage 

 of weevilly peas in the average of the seven years' experiments were 

 the Egyptian Mummy, 25 per cent., and the Canada Cluster, 29 per 

 cent. The Egyptian Mummy and the Canada Cluster are varieties 

 very similar in their habits of growth. Those varieties having the 

 greatest number of weevilly peas were the Improved Grey, 49 per 

 «ent.; Crown, 41 per cent.; and New Zealand Field, 40 per cent. Of 

 all the peas grown from the twenty -six varieties during a period of 

 seven years, 35 per cent, were weevilly. 



Although all the varieties of the peas grown and harvested in 

 the Experimental Department for seven years have been submitted to 

 the carbon bisulphide treatment, and no live weevils have been sown 

 with the peas during that length of time, yet the percentage of 

 weevilly peas in the resulting crops has steadily increased from year 



