341 



PEA. 



Agricultural Cultivation. The common pea is cultivated in the 

 garden and in the field, and there are several varieties of it. The 

 plant is naturally a creeper, having numerous tendrils, by which it 

 lays hold of stronger plants and supports itself. The pods contain one 

 row of round seeds, which at first are soft and juicy, in which state 

 they are used for the table under the name of green peas. They after- 

 wards harden and become farinaceous, and the stem dries up. In this 

 state they are thrashed and stored for use like corn, and serve chiefly 

 to fatten hogs. The straw is given to cattle and sheep in winter. 



There are some varieties of peas the stems of which do not rise or 

 creep, but remain short, and hence are called dwarf peas. These are 

 preferred for early sowing in the garden, and likewise when they are 

 cultivated in the fields to be gathered in a green state. Every gardener 

 strives to raise early peas, and the first which are brought to the 

 London market are sold for a very great price. As soon as they are 

 more common, such quantities are sometimes raised in the fields, that 

 the price scarcely defrays the expense of gathering and bringing to 

 market. When the market is not overstocked, this crop is very profit- 

 able, as it does not exhaust the land, and there is good time for a crop 

 of tares or turnips after the peas in the same season. But the usual 

 purpose for which peas are cultivated in the regular course of hus- 

 bandry, is to fatten sheep and hogs. A white sort, which readily splits 

 when subjected to the action of millstones set wide apart so as not to 

 grind them, is used in considerable quantities for soups, and especially 

 for sea stores. There is also a blue sort which answers the same 

 purpose. The hog pea is of a gray or dun colour. 



Peas contain much farinaceous and saccharine matter, and are there- 

 fore highly nutritious ; no other seed surpasses them in this quality, 

 except the seed of the French bean (Phaseolus). But this is refused 

 by most animals in the raw state, owing to a certain toughness, which 

 makes them adhere to the teeth ; and, even when boiled, they are not 

 relished by them. 



As food for hard-working men, pea* are excellent when well boiled 

 and mixed with some animal fat. In some countries peas-meal is 

 baked into hard cakes, with or without oatmeal or barley-meal. These 

 cakes are nutritious, but are of difficult digestion, except where custom 

 and hard labour have inured the stomach to their use. 



The soil best suited to the growth of peas is a light or sandy loam of 

 some depth, and in good heart ; the usual preparation of it is by re- 

 peated deep ploughing and pulverising with harrows or other instru- 

 ments. It is not advisable to manure the land immediately for peas, 

 as it makes them throw out abundant stems at the expense of the 

 produce in pods. They follow well after barley in which no clover 

 has been sown, and are a good substitute for clover where there would 

 be a danger from the too frequent repetition of clover on the same 

 land. When clover has failed, peas supply its place, the ground being 

 ploughed up before winter, or early in spring, and well pulverised. 

 The wheat is not generally so good after peas as after clover, when the 

 clover is a good crop ; but it is well known that if the olover fails, the 

 wheat will also suffer. It in therefore better to have peas than to risk 

 sowing wheat after a thin crop of clover. If the peas are not well 

 hoed, and do not cover the surface, the land will be full of weeds ; but 

 with good management it may be looked upon as a cleansing crop. 

 Many farmers consider peas as a very uncertain crop : but they are 

 only so when the land is carelessly cultivated. They are, no doubt, 

 often injured by want of moisture in the soil, or by an excess of it; 

 but deep ploughing will prevent the former, and careful draining the 

 latter. If peas are sown on land which is exhausted, or naturally very 

 poor, no certain crop can be relied on. It sometimes happens however 

 that an excellent crop is obtained against all probability, considering 

 the state and tillage of the land, owing to some fortunate coincidences 

 of favourable weather ; and in this case it would appear as if great care 

 in the preparation of the soil were unnecessary ; but this is not often 

 the case, and no prudent farmer will trust to the chances, which are 

 much against success. In nine cases out of ten a slovenly cultivation 

 or an improper succession of crops is the cause of great disappointment 

 and Ion, and it may be laid down as a general rule, that no good farmer 

 will trust to accident, when by a little care and attention and a reason- 

 able expenditure he may almost ensure success. 



Peas must not be repeated on the same land in less than 10 or 12 

 yean, nor are they to be recommended on very stiff clays, on which 

 beans are to be preferred. Wherever beans suit the soil, they are a 

 much better preparation for wheat than peas, admitting of much more 

 frequent and perfect hoeing, besides the application of an abundant 

 coat nf dung, of which the wheat reaps the benefit as well as the beans. 



Peas should be sown as early as the ground will admit of being 

 worked ; and in very mild winters January is a very good time for 

 sowing peas, which are intended to be gathered green, in a sheltered 

 situation sloping towards the south-west. The hog peas may be sown 

 in February or March ; and if they are horse-hoed, and the earth is 

 raised against the young plants, they will not suffer from a moderate 

 frost. When peas are drilled at two feet or more between the rows, it 

 will not take above two bushels to drill an acre. The old method of 

 sowing peas broadcast and ploughing them in is now seldom practised, 

 and to sow them and harrow them in is nowhere recommended ; the 

 birds in this case having much too great a share of the seed. When 

 pea* follow clover, the practice of dibbling them into the sward, which 

 has been turned over with the plough, is much to be preferred. 



PEACH. sa 



Whenever dibbling is generally practised, and there are sufficient hands 

 to put the seed into the ground in a reasonable time, it should be 

 preferred for every kind of crop that can admit of the hoe in the 

 intervals. 



When peas are sown later than usual, it is useful to steep the seed a 

 few hours, in order that it may vegetate the sooner. A week may 

 often be gained in the coming up of the crop by this means. 



The Everlasting Pea, which is so well known in our gardens, has 

 been recommended to be cultivated in the fields for green fodder for 

 horses, which are said to eat it readily. In land which has been well 

 manured, it will produce a very great weight of green food ; and there 

 are probably varieties of it more succulent and sweeter than others. 

 If it could be established in a field, it would produce abundant food 

 for several years in succession, without any other cultivation than 

 hoeing out the weeds and stirring the soil around the plants. The 

 seed should be sown in rows, and the plants thinned out by the hoe, 

 so as to stand a foot or 15 inches apart ; they would then have room to 

 grow out, and would cover the ground completely. By transplanting 

 year-old plants, a still greater crop might be obtained. It is at least 

 worth a trial. 



Peas should be drilled in rows at such a distance as to admit the 

 horse-hoe between them. They should be horse-hoed repeatedly until 

 the stems are so long as to fall down and cover the intervals : a slight 

 earthing of the rows with a plough has the effect of keeping the stems 

 from the ground and allowing the air to circulate under them, by which 

 the podding is much encouraged ; for in wet seasons the stems are apt 

 to lie on the wet ground and to rot. When the seed is ripe in the pods 

 on the lower part of the stalks, the crop should be reaped, or many of 

 the pods will burst, and the seed be lost. The reaping is performed 

 by pulling the straw from the root by hand, or by means of two 

 reaping-hooks, which partly tear up the stems, and partly cut them 

 off. They are then gathered into small loose heaps, and left to dry. 

 After being turned over till they are quite dry, they are carted to the 

 stack or barn. Unless the quantity be considerable, so as to make a 

 large stack, it is advisable to put them in a barn. When the peas are 

 stacked, many of the pods are necessarily exposed to the depreciation of 

 birds ; and, if they escape this, they burst, and the seed is lost. 



The produce of an acre of good peas is from 30 to 40 bushels, and 

 the price about the same as that of beans. They are consequently a 

 profitable crop, and will well repay a little attention in the cultivation. 

 If the land is not in sufficient order and heart to make it advisable to 

 BOW wheat after the peas, barley or oats may be advantageously substi- 

 tuted. If the peas fail, it may be necessary to clean the land with a 

 fallow crop before any other corn is sown, for a bad crop of peas 

 invariably leaves the land foul. 



The straw or haulm of peas, when well harvested, makes excellent 

 fodder for cattle, and especially for sheep, which are very fond of the 

 dry pods when the seeds have been thrashed out. 



In some places, they sow peas and beans together broadcast, and 

 plough them in ; the beans serve as a support to the peas, and a greater 

 return is expected ; but unless it be for the purpose of cutting them 

 up for green fodder, as soon as the pods are formed, this practice is 

 not to be recommended. In Flanders, peas, beans, tares, and barley 

 are sometimes sown thick together, and form an abundant green crop, 

 which is cut as soon as the flower is past, and given to the cows and 

 pigs, which thrive well on this succulent food. The surface of the 

 ground is so completely shaded, that no weeds can spring up ; and aa 

 there has been no seed formed, little is taken from the soil. The land 

 is immediately ploughed up, and sown with another crop, such as 

 potatoes or turnips, which sometimes are off the ground in time to 

 allow wheat to be sown the same year. 



The nutritiveness of the pea as food is explained by analysis, which 

 shows that air-dried peas generally contain about one quarter of their 

 weight of flesh-forming constituents ; one half their weight of starch, 

 sugar, fat ; and the rest fibre, water, and ash. The mineral part of the 

 ash of the whole plant contains a very large proportion (40 per cent.) 

 of lime, and 1 7 or 1 8 per cent, of the alkalies. 



PEACE OF RYSWICK. [TBEATIES, CHKONOLOQICAL TABLE OF.} 



PEACH. The peach-tree (A mygdaltu Persica, or Pertica vulyaris) is 

 generally considered to be more especially a native of Persia. It was 

 known to the Romans, and brought to Italy, where it became distin- 

 guished by the name of Periica ; and this name it still retains under 

 various modifications in the different countries of Europe. But the 

 peach is not indigenous solely in Persia, for it has been found growing 

 wild in various parts of Turkey and Asia. Pallas describes it as 

 existing in the more southern parts of the Caucasus. From the 

 frequency of its occurrence in a wild state, and the perfection which it 

 attains under the most limited share of cultivation in regions situated 

 between 30 and 40 of latitude, these parallels may be presumed to 

 include its favourite habitat. Isothermal lines describe however a 

 wavy tract, and the peach may even find a congenial climate to a con- 

 siderable extent on both sides of the above limits ; but the locality 

 must be very peculiarly circumstanced in which it will acquire full 

 perfection beyond the 48th parallel on the one hand ; and, on the 

 other, its deciduous nature, requiring a cool season of rest, unfits it for 

 the continued high temperature of a tropical climate. 



The peach withstands our winters unhurt, trained against a wall, if 

 they are not unusually severe. It even succeeds in America exceedingly 



