MINNESOTA STATE HorTIcUuLTURAL SOCIETY. 69 
“The « seed stock i is grown and wintered the same as for market. “Plant on mod- 
erately tich ground, as early 1 in the spring as the ground can be worked, in rows 
three feet apart, and from six to eight inches in the row. The onions should be 
just covered with earth. When ripe, the seed bolls are gathered in baskets and 
hauled to » dry air loft, where they are piled in heaps of about twenty bushels, 
the windows closed, and allowed to remain until they begin to heat, when they 
are spread out thinly, the wmdows opened until they are nearly dry, when they 
are piled and allowed to heat again, and finally dried for threshing. This sweat- 
ing process opens the pods, and very much facilitates the labor of threshing. 
We thresh with a flail, run four times through the fanning mill, and float in 
water, to carry off all chaff and broken bits of stem. After washing, the seed 
must be spread out thinly and dried as soon as possible. 
Peas. 
Sown in every garden from Maine to Texas and from Manitoba to Florida, and 
in large quantities at that ; it takes at least one hundred thousand bushels annu- 
ally to supply the demand for garden peas alone in this country. 
This vast territory, or at least nine-tenths of it, cannot produce any peas fit for 
seed, 
The whole country south of latitude 42 is so infested with the pea weevil that the 
peas are unmerchantable for seed or for any other purpose except for food for 
swine. This vast area must either import peas from Europe or have them grown 
in latitude north of 42. 
The climate and soil of central and northern Minnesota is admirably adapted 
to this crop, and there is certainly a field for profitable operation. 
As fine a lot of Champion of England peas as I ever saw were grown for us 
last summer in Le Sueur county. Our own fields near St. Paul prove conclusively 
to us that there is no better place in America to grow this important seed crop. 
New clean land is to be preferred. We plow in the spring as early as possible, 
and drill the peas in four inches deep, two and a half bushels per acre of all sorts. 
Rows run north and south thirty inches apart for dwarf sorts, and thirty-six 
inches for tall sorts. Cultivate thoroughly so as to keep the ground loose, and 
hill slightly to protect the roots from the sun and support the vines. We never 
give support to any field crop of peas; even the Blue Imperial Tall and Cham- 
pion of England are allowed to sprawl around as much as they please, and we 
find the loss does not near approach the cost of bushing. 
From the best stock seed you will always find a few spurious vines that we call 
the Barneys. Go over the field at blossoming time, and pull them out. The 
Barneys, as they are found in Early Kent, Dan O’Rourke, Phil. Ex. Early and 
Carter’s First Crop, will be found with pink blossoms. In Tom Thumb, Little 
Gem and Blue Peter, the color of the blossom is the same, but the vine presents 
a rough, scraggy appearance. 
As soon as ripe we go over the field with steel knives, shaped something like 
the blade of a pruning knife, and about twelve inches long fastened to a handle. 
four feet long. With this implement they are rapidly cut close to the ground and 
left two or three days until thoroughly dry, when the vines are pitched together 
with forks, loaded on a wagon and hauled to the threshing floor, where they are 
threshed with flails. Three good men on the floor will keep two men and a team 
hauling, which gets the crop out of the way quite rapidly. 
ae, 
