68 VEGETABLE GROK'IXG IN v#IT >OUTH WALES. 



The crop is harvested as required, and if the land is needed for other 

 crops storing in pits in a cool situation will be found quite satisfactory. For 

 lifting, it will usually be found necessary to loosen the ground with a fork. 

 For marketing, the roots should be washed, and may be bunched or forwarded 

 loose in bags. It is always advisable to grade the produce. 



The most popular variety is Hollow Crown, but Student is also largely 

 grown. 



Diseases and Pests. 



Cutworm (page 114) ; eelworm (page 118); white rust (page 109). 



PEAS. 



The popular garden pea can be grown in almost any part of New South 

 Wales, though allowances must necessarily be made for climatic and other 

 conditions in considering the proper time to plant. 



The pea plant itself is not subject to frost, though an inopportune 

 "freeze" at flowering time will destroy the pollen, and therefore the capacity 

 of the plant to set its pods, and will even damage the pods while in their 

 tenderest stages. Young pods that have been frosted, and that are unlikely 

 to develop, may be distinguished by H characteristic white mottled appear- 

 ance on the outside skin. The pea is naturally a cool-climate plant, and little 

 success can be expected from it in the height of summer, except in cool 

 elevated districts. 



A sandy loam is most suitable for the crop, but almost any soil of fair 

 average quality will yield good results. As with all legumes, the supply of 

 nitrogen in the soil is a matter of less moment than that of phosphoric acid, 

 potash and lime, and hence it is that in some localities dressings of fertilisers 

 that contain -the last three have a material effect upon the yield. The crop, 

 has the strong recommendation that in addition to yielding profitably, it 

 contributes to the fertility of the soil for the purpose of subsequent crops by 

 increasing the store of nitrogen, and by enabling the gardener or farmer to 

 add to it a considerable quantity of top-growth of 'a kind than humifies 

 readily when turned under, It does well on newly-broken land, and can be 

 used as a preparation crop ; indeed, there are some farmers who own a 

 decided preference for it as a first crop in their own district. 



In coastal districts, planting may be made as early as March in frost-free 

 situations, and continue till October, vhen the crop for the Christmas market 

 may be sown. 



On the -tablelands, plantings are made from September to a time usually 

 December likely to catch the Easter market. 



Sowing, Cultivating and Harvesting. 



The water requirements of a crop of peas are considerable, arid the pre- 

 paration of the soil should be commenced early enough to enable a supply of 

 moisture to be stored. The land should be cultivated as required to conserve 

 all rain that falls, to destroy weeds, and to produce a good tilth in which 

 the roots will find favourable conditions. 



