176 KITCHEN GARDENS 



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middle of August, thus ensuring a supply of succcssiye 

 crops of delicate green peas. For the latest crops, the 

 Knight s Marrowfat, Hair s Dwarf and the Blue Prussian 

 are among the best. Peas are sown in rows from three to 

 five feet asunder, according to the height which the different 

 sorts are known usually to attain. As they grow up, the 

 earth is drawn to the roots, and the stems are supported 

 with stakes, a practice which, in a well-kept garden, is 

 always advisable, although it is said that the early varieties, 

 when .recumbent, arrive sooner at maturity. When germi 

 nating, or when just rising through the ground, peas are 

 greedily devoured by sparrows and other small birds. 

 Threads of white worsted spread along the lines of the 

 young peas frighten the depredators fully better than scare 

 crows or strings of feathers; but perhaps the simplest and 

 most effectual remedy is to throw over the peas a slight 

 covering of soil, for by the time the young plants have pene 

 trated this they are beyond the attack of the birds. 



The early crops come into use in May and June, and, 

 by repeated sowings, the supplies are prolonged to the be 

 ginning of November. Peas grown late in autumn are 

 subject to mildew, to obviate which, Mr. Knight has pro 

 posed the following method : The ground is dug over in 

 the usual way, and the spaces to be occupied by the future 

 rows of peas are well soaked with water. The mould on 

 each side is then collected so as to form ridges seven or 

 eight inches high, and these ridges are well watered. On 

 these the seed is sown in single rows in the beginning of 

 June. If dry weather at any time set in, water is supplied 

 profusely once a week. In this way, the sap which it pre 

 pared in the summer is expended in the autumn ; the 

 plants continue green and vigorous, resisting mildew, and 

 not yielding till subdued by frost. 



