42 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



are simply improved strains of old varieties, secured by careful 

 selection on the part of the seed-grower, and oftentimes the strain 

 or stock so secured acquires a character which places it many 

 degrees in advance of the market type, or general average of the 

 parent. Hence, il is not only important to obtain the beat sorts of 

 peas, but the best strains or stocks of the best varieties. 



The pea will thrive in any soil of average good quality, provided 

 it has good cultivation. The ground should be in ever}' case deeply 

 dug, and for all the second early and main crop sorts be liberally 

 mauured ; the best mode of employing the manure being to lay it at 

 the bottom of the trench. For the first early sorts it is advisable to 

 manure less liberally than for those that come into pod later in the 

 season, because a luxuriant growth is antagonistic to precocity of pro- 

 duction, and in the case of the first earlies, the object of the culti- 

 vator is to gather a dish at the earliest date possible, even if the 

 plants are less luxurious, and therefore less productive than they 

 would be if encouraged by heavy manuring. It should be under- 

 stood, however, that although manuring does somewhat delay the 

 season of production, it is scarcely possible to manure too liberally 

 for robust-growing sorts of line quality ; for although the first 

 gathering from them may be obtained less early by a week or so 

 than from the same sorts grown on poor ground, yet in the end 

 high cultivation will pay the best by the superior quality and greater 

 quantity of the produce, and the greater length of time during 

 which the plants will continue in bearing. 



Peas are highly nutritive, and, when properly cooked, are as 

 wholesome as any vegetable in our gardens. Being richer in phos- 

 phates than most other table vegetables, they are particularly adapted 

 for invalids, and especially such as are deficient of nervous energy, 

 the mineral constituents of peas ministering directly to the nourish- 

 ment of the nervous system. The inorganic elements amount to 

 about three per cent, of the entire bulk in ripe peas, but in green 

 peas somewhat less. The principal inorganic elements are potash 

 and phosphoric acid, and therefore it is only in soils rich in potash- 

 salts and phosphates, that peas can be grown profitably, unless by 

 liberal and systematic manuring the deficiency of the soil in those 

 essential elements is compensated for. The importance of keeping 

 the soil rich in these ingredients will be understood when we say 

 that one bushel of shelled peas contains about the following quan- 

 tities of the several elements, namely, of — 



Phosphoric acid 9 ounces 



Lime 2 „ 



Magnesia 1^ „ 



Potash 10 „ 



The best manures for this crop, after farmyard dung, which is 

 undoubtedly the best, are guano, superphosphate, kainit, and gypsum, 

 which may be employed together in a mixture, and dug in when the 

 ground is prepared, at the rate of half a ton per acre. If one compre- 

 hensive manure is required, there is nothing better than phospho- 

 guano,which may be employed at the rate of five cwt. per acre if dug 



