2 The Progress in Vegetable Cultivation 



now, no very great advance would be possible in the absence of improved Vege- 

 tables to work upon. Without further introduction I will at once refer to the 

 Prince of Vegetables 



THE GARDEN PEA. 



The progress made during the last sixty years in the improvement of the Garden 

 Pea has been fully commensurate with the prominent position this Vegetable 

 occupies. I think also I am correct in saying that this proud position has been 

 attained solely through the progress made in its improvement since 1837 an as- 

 tonishing evolution, as all will admit when the Peas of 1897 are compared with those 

 of 1837. In the thirties and for many subsequent years the gentleman's garden- 

 as well as the market garden was dependent upon such varieties as Woodford's, 

 Bedman's Imperial, Scimitar, Early Charlton, Warner's Emperor, Early May, 

 McCormick's Prince Albert, and Early Warwick, the other principal sorts cultivated 

 being Blue Prussian, Bishop's Early Dwarf, and Auvergne. Such of these Peas 

 as are now grown we, with better varieties at our disposal, look upon as chiefly 

 suitable for boiling in a dry state. Knight's Tall Green Marrow, a wrinkled Pea, 

 was certainly available at that time, but was not so generally grown as the round- 

 seeded sorts, which an old gardener informs me were so hard and dry when cooked 

 that they were known as Buckshot Peas. 



During the next decade a few varieties, such as Sangster's No. 1, Champion 

 of England, British Queen, and Hair's Dwarf Mammoth, were added to the list, 

 the first three of which are still largely grown by those who have had no oppor- 

 tunity of testing better sorts; but no considerable interest was awakened until 

 the advent of that popular favourite, " Ne Plus Ultra," which was introduced 

 under three or four names in as many successive seasons. Even at the present day, 

 when testing year by year all the so-called novelties as they appear, it is frequently 

 found that still another name has been added to the already long list under which 

 "Ne Plus Ultra" is offered. Of its class as a tall late marrow Pea, it is doubtful if 

 any later introduction has ever shown, comparatively, a greater advance on previous 

 kinds. 



In passing it may be of interest to state that three of the principal Peas distri- 

 buted by my house in 1841 were Blue Prussian, Woodford's, and Scimitar, from which 

 we may form a fairly correct idea of the class of Peas then grown by gardeners. 

 Mr. Nutting informs me that in the same year, 1841, his father catalogued the 

 following varieties of Peas : Scimitar, Matchless, Warwick, Groom's Dwarf, 

 Prussian, Woodford's Dwarf Marrow, Charlton, Knight's Dwarf Blue, Racehorse 

 and Knight's Tall. 



It is also interesting to record the fact that in the first Catalogue of Seeds issue 

 by Messrs. Hurst & McMullen in 1843, only five varieties of Peas were offered, 

 viz. : Auvergne, Early Kent, Waterloo, Victoria, and Knight's Marrow. The 

 enterprise for which this house has always been noted soon manifested itself, for 

 we find only three years later that the number of Peas had increased to fifteen. 



Up to 1857 there had been introduced Daniel O'Rourke and our Early Champion 

 as representing improved types of early Peas ; and Glory, Climax, Dickson's 

 Favourite, Prizetaker, and Epps's Lord Raglan. 



