156 BREEDING 



destruction of a great part of the crop by the ger- 

 mination of the seeds in the pods and their subsequent 

 drying, is not likely to allow me to make the same 

 mistake again. 



To keep the plants secure from the attack of 

 birds they must be hung up indoors. To keep them 

 secure from rats and mice is a more difl&cult matter. 

 The plan I have found to answer this purpose is to 

 suspend the bundles on stout wire stretched from 

 one wall of a disused stable to the other, taking care 

 that the bundles do not touch the walls or any other 

 object from which rats or mice could get at 

 them. 



For hanging the bundles on to the wire I have 

 found a form of picture -hanger so useful that a better 

 thing for the purpose could not have been invented. 

 This is the brass picture-hanger which has a broad 

 hook at one end from which the picture is sus- 

 pended, and is itself nailed to the wall by three nails 

 which pass through three holes, one in each of the 

 three subdivisions of its trifoliate base. In the use 

 to which I put it, the hanger is hung the other way 

 up ; it hangs from the wire by the hook, and a loop 

 from the twine suspending the bundle is passed over 

 the two lateral subdivisions of its base. 



If the weather is hot, the peas will probably be 

 dry enough in ten days' time for the business of 

 recording to be started. But it is well to give them 

 time to become thoroughly dry; say a fortnight or 

 three weeks. 



A. word as to the patch of ground on which the 



