THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



155 



tliey like to send their roots into the 

 moist stuff that is underneath them, 

 and as a consequence of their vigorous 

 growth, they will fight through the 

 longest drought without showing one 

 yellow leaf, and give immense crops 

 of full pods, far surpassing the ordi- 

 nary character of the vai'ieiy grown. 

 For peas so^^"n in summer, to come 

 in late, a somewhat ditierent plan 

 should be pursued. I'll tell you how 

 I grew several sorts, in order to com- 

 pare them as to their relative merits. 

 Last summer, when you remember we 

 had many stretches of dry weather, 

 and late peas were tried a bit, I made 

 the drills as I have just described, but 

 they ran from east to west, and that 

 purposel}', as you will see. The peas 

 were sown quite six inches below the 

 surface, and the drills kept open pretty 

 wide at top, that the young plants 

 might have plenty of air and light. 

 But instead of earthing them up in 

 the usual way, I drew a little to their 

 stems on the north side, and banked 

 them up as usual ou the south. This 

 kept a channel open ou the north side 

 of each, say about four inches wide 

 and three deep. They were twice 

 dressed with soot after being sticked, 

 and along the channel a good deal of 

 soot was left on the surface. Every 

 evening during dry weather that chan- 

 nel Avas fiUcLi witli liquid manure. 

 Some evenings it was filled three or 

 four times as fast as it soaked in, and 

 on washing days the suds were poured 

 into the channel quite warm, and of 

 course these watermgs carried a good 

 deal of soot to the roots. To prevent 

 the water running off, the channel was 

 stopped at each end with a spadeful of 

 earth beaten firm, so as to form ends 

 to the trough, and thus keep the water 

 iu it till it soaked through. Such 

 peas as they were I never saw before. 

 The Old Emperor scarcely knew him- 

 self, for he has been brought down a 

 bit in his day, but for once he lived a 

 life of luxury, and put on a very regal 

 appearance, and as for Bedman's Im- 

 perial, Bedman ought to have been 

 tliere to see. A couple of rows of 

 Emperors, grown in the ordinary way, 

 without manure in the trench, and 

 without a drop of water, came into 

 good bearing at the beginning of 



August, then suddenly got covered 

 with mildew, and gave up the ghost, 

 yielding about half a peck of poor 

 pods from a length of at least a dozen 

 yards, but Knight's Tail Marrows, 

 also grown without manure, stood 

 pretty well through the day heat, and 

 the subsequent heavy rains, and bore 

 well about half a fair crop, and then 

 yielded to mildew ; but not a stained 

 leaf occmTed in the petted rows, 

 which were luxuriant in growth and 

 bearing beyond all precedent, ct least 

 in my experience. If it is said that 

 my plan involves much trouble, and 

 consumes a great deal of manure, I 

 answer that the produce pays for all 

 this, and the ground is in splendid 

 condition for broccoli, or cabbage, or 

 anything that delights in a rich soil ; 

 when the peas come off, and where 

 the peas have actually stood, some 

 rows of plants may be put out with 

 very bright anticipations, seeing what 

 there is underneath them. The fol- 

 lowing suggestion first appeared in 

 the Gardener's Chronicle, and was 

 copied into Moore's Almanac. It is 

 a recipe for growing pea-tops for green 

 pea-soup, and may be useful to many 

 readers of this work : — " Sow in spring 

 as close as to almost touch each other 

 in a box or large pan, and when 

 they are four inches high, cut them 

 down, and use all the tops to make 

 green pea-soup. Use half a pint of 

 any of the blue peas, soaked for twenty- 

 four hours, then boiled, and smashed 

 through a sieve. The tops of a pint 

 of peas set to grow will equal any- 

 thing that can be done with the green 

 peas themselves. We do not pretend 

 to be cooks, nor to dictate what stock 

 is to be used ; but the tops of peas 

 boiled iu a small quantity of water, 

 and smashed through a sieve, and 

 mixed with the half-pint of old ones 

 will rather surprise even the epicure. 

 Of course it wants all the condiments ; 

 the grown peas only fill up the want 

 of real green peas. They also make 

 a splendid dish of green vegetable, 

 boiled like spinach, but with a little 

 mint. Spring soup is greatly assisted 

 by the addition of pea tops, and so ia 

 pea soup, because all the other condi- 

 ments are the same." 



It will not be necessaiy to say 



