61 4 LEGUMINA CEOUS ESCULENTS. 



summer in British gardens. No vegetable is more highly prized than 

 green peas, and few are more nourishing when nearly ripe, or ripe. 

 The seeds alone are eaten in most kinds, and they are boiled with 

 mint to correct a slight tendency which they have to flatulency ; but 

 the entire pod is eaten of the sugar pea, in the manner of that of the 

 kidney-bean, the outside edges of the pods being stripped off pre- 

 viously to boiling. The inner tough film which lines the pods is want- 

 ing in this variety, which renders it very distinct. Peas gathered when 

 partially ripe, and dried, are used in soups and stews ; but it is found 

 that after they have been kept a year they do not break, or fall well 

 in the soup : it is also understood among dealers in peas, that those 

 which have been grown on stiff soil, or on sandy soil, that has been 

 limed or marled,. will not fall in boiling, whether new or old. Among 

 the best the following may be named : 



First Crop. Carter's First Crop, Beck's Gem or Early Dwarf, 

 Laxton's Supreme, Maclean's Advancer, Sangster's No. l,Eley's Essex 

 Kival, Dillistone's Prolific. 



Second Crop. Champion of England, Fairbeard's Surprise, Au- 

 vergne, Dickson's Favourite, Harrison's Glory, Harrison's Perfection, 

 Maclean's Dwarf Prolific, Napoleon, Nonpareil, Princess Royal, Veitch's 

 Perfection, and The Prince of Wales. 



Late and General Crop. Burbridge's Eclipse (a splendid dwarf 

 pea), Hair's Dwarf Green Mammoth, Ringwood Marrow, Victoria 

 Marrow, Blue Scimitar. 



Late Crop. British Queen, Knight's Tall Green Marrow, Mam- 

 moth, Ne plus Ultra, Knight's Dwarf Green Marrow, Yorkshire Hero. 



Culture. The pea, being a tendrilled climber, whenever it is to be 

 cultivated to the greatest advantage, ought to be supported by pea- 

 sticks, which are branches of trees or shrubs well furnished with spray, 

 and of lengths suited to the height to which the plants grow. These 

 sticks are put in in two rows with the row of peas between them, the 

 sticks or branches in one row being opposite the intervals of those in 

 the other row. They are placed upright, but somewhat wider apart 

 at top than at bottom, to allow room for the branching of the stems 

 as they ascend, and for the larger space required for the top foliage, 

 which is larger than that below, and for the pods. To facilitate the stick- 

 ing, peas are always sown in rows. They are also always earthed up, 

 principally for the sake of keeping the plants upright, as they do not 

 produce roots freely above the collar, like the cabbage tribe. When 

 sticking peas is inconvenient, or impracticable, from the extent of the 

 crop, the rows are earthed up on one side only, so as to throw the 

 haulm to the opposite side, by which means the ground between the 

 rows is more readily kept clean, the crop more readily gathered, and 

 the plants not so liable to be blown about by high winds. Rows of 

 peas which are not to be sticked may be closer together than such as 

 are to be sticked ; because the tops of the plants of one row may ex- 

 tend to the lower parts of the plants of the row adjoining, without 

 doing the plants of either row any injury. Hence when peas are not 

 to be sticked, nor to be gathered green, the greatest amount of pro- 



