THE COMPARATIVE EARLINESS OF PEAS. 



83 



selves will last many years ; while, if they 

 are allowed to cover the bed, you can, at 

 the most, expect only two crops, and gene- 

 rally the fruit is of little or no value after 

 the first crop. 



It is very idle and useless to attempt to 

 make a new strawberry plantation on old 

 strawberry ground. You may add double 

 the usual quantity of manure, but the soil 

 has been so robbed of other needful ele- 

 ments, that you will fail in growing a 

 healthy crop. 



A word or two may also not be thrown 

 away, respecting the choice of plants. Of 

 course, you will always put out young run- 

 ners, and not old plants ; but something 

 more than this is needful. You must take 



I care to see that they are not runners from 

 j an old and worn out bed ; for nothing is 

 | more certain than that, while runners from 

 a fruitful bed will make fruitful plants, so 

 also, runners from an old and exhausted 

 bed will very often produce only barren 

 i plants. Nurserymen ought to attend to 

 this ; for any respectable and intelligent 

 nurseryman should be ashamed of sending 

 out plants from a bed which is not in a 

 healthy and fruitful state, since his cus- 

 tomers at a distance depend wholly upon 

 his integrity in sending them sound and 

 healthy plants ; not such as inherit feeble 

 constitutions from "a long line" of decrepid 

 ancestors. Yours, &c, 



An Old Digger. 



THE COMPARATIVE EARLINESS OF PEAS. 



BY THOMAS MEEIIAX. PHILADELPHIA. 



Sir — I beg to offer you the result of an ex- ; 

 periment, made to test the comparative ear- I 

 liness of several kinds of peas, and to 

 make a few observations on them. 



On the 3d of April, in the same soil and 

 situation, and under equal circumstances, 

 the following kinds were sowed. The 

 time when each produced pods fit for use, 

 is marked immediately opposite : 



1. Prince Albert, June 10 



2. Bishop's Dwarf, " 17 



3. Thompson's Dwarf, " 17 



4. Early May, " 21 



5. Early June, " 21 



6. Early Frame, " 21 



7. Early Charlton, " 21 



8. Royal Dwarf Marrow, June 25 



9. White Marrow, " 25 



10. Black Eyed Marrow, " 28 



11. Blue Prussian, " 30 



12. Blue Imperial, " 30 



13. Banksian Marrow, July 2 



14. New Mammoth, " 2 



15. Dwarf Sugar, " 2 

 Nos. 5, 6 and 7, prove to be identical, 



in every respect, with the "Early May,' 1 

 [or Early Frame,] as also does " Thomp- 

 son's" with Bishop's Dwarf. 



It will be observed from this, that Prince 

 Albert is seven days earlier than Bishop's 

 Dwarf, and eleven days earlier than the Ear- 

 ly May, — the generally received best earlv 

 pea; and besides this, it is quite aa pro- 

 ductive. "Extra Early," and "Shilling's 

 Early Grotto" bear good names for easi- 

 ness and productiveness; but I have not 

 had an opportunity of testing them myself. 

 "Bishop's Dwarf Pea," besides being tole- 

 rably early, is an excellent pea for growing 

 between drills of other things, or where it 

 is desirable to have peas no higher than a 

 foot to eighteen inches high ; besides this, 



