Book VI. LEGUMES. 767 



475 1 . The after culture given to pease is that of hoeing, either by hand or horse. Where 

 the method of hand-culture prevails, it is the general custom to have recourse to two hoeings; 

 the first when the plants are about two or three inches in height, and again just before the 

 period in which they come into blossom. In this way the vigorous vegetation of the young 

 crop is secured, and a fresh supply of nourishment afibrded for the setting of the pods and 

 the filling of the pease. At the last of these operations the rows should be laid down, and 

 the earth well placed up to them, the weeds being previously extirpated by hand labor. It 

 has been stated, that in some parts of Kent, where this sort of crop is much grown, it is 

 the practice, when the distance of the rows is sufficiently great, to prevent the vegetation 

 of weeds, and forward the growth of pea crops, by occasionally horse-hoeing, and the 

 use of the brake-harrow, the mould being laid up to the roots of the plants at the last 

 operation by fixing a piece of wood to the harrow. This should, however, only be laid up 

 on one side, the pease being always placed up to that which is the most fully exposed to 

 the effects of the sun. 



4752. In harvesting the ripened pea considerable care is requisite, both on account of the 

 seed and haulm. When pea crops become ripe they wither and turn brown in the haulm 

 or straw, and the pods begin to open. In this state they should be cut as soon as possible, 

 in order that there may be the least loss sustained by their shedding. It is observed that- 

 in the late or general crops, after they are reaped or rather cut up by means of a hook, it 

 is the usual practice to put them up into small heaps, termed wads, which are formed by set- 

 ting small parcels against each other, in order that they may be more perfectly dried both in 

 tlie seed and stem, and be kept from being injured by the moisture of the ground. But in 

 the early crops, the haulm is hooked up into loose open heaps, which, as soon as they are 

 perfectly dry, are removed from the ground and put into stacks for the purpose of being 

 converted to the food of animals, on which they are said to thrive nearly as well as on hay. 

 When intended for houses, the best method would seem to be that of having them cut into 

 chaff and mixed with their other food. Young says, that forward white pease will be fit 

 to cut early in July ; if the crop is very great they must be hooked ; but if small, or only- 

 middling, mowing will be sufficient. The stalks and leaves of pease being very succu- 

 lent, they should be taken good care of in wet weather : the tufts, called wads or heaps, 

 should be turned, or they will receive damage. White pease should always be perfectly- 

 dry before they are housed, or they will sell but indifferently, as the brightness and 

 plumpness of the grain are considered at market more than with hog-pease. The straw 

 also, if well harvested, is very good fodder for all sorts of cattle and for sheep ; but if 

 it receives much wet, or if the heaps are not turned, it can be used only to litter the farm- 

 yard with. It is the practice in some districts to remove the haulm as soon as it has been 

 cut up by hooks constructed with sharp edges for the purpose, to every fifth ridge, or even 

 into an adjoining grass fields, in order that it may be the better cured for use as cattle food, 

 and at the same time allow of the land being immediately prepared for the succeeding crop. 

 When wet weather happens whilst the pease lie in wads, it occasions a considerable loss, 

 many of them being shed in the field, and of those that remain a great part will be so con- 

 siderably injured, as to render the sample of little value. This inability in pease to resist 

 a wet harvest, together with the great uncertainty throughout their growth, and the fre- 

 quent inadequate return in proportion to the length of haulm, has discouraged many 

 farmers from sowing so large a portion of this pulse as of other grain ; though on light 

 lands which are in tolerable heart, the profit, in a good year, is far from inconsiderable. 



4753. In gathering green pease for the market, it is frequently a practice with the large 

 cultivators of early green pea crops in the neighborhood of London, to dispose of them, by 

 the acre, to inferior persons, who procure the podders; but the smaller farmers, for the 

 most part, provide this description of people themselves, who generally apply at the pro- 

 per season for the purpose. The business of picking or podding the pease is usually per- 

 formed by the laborers at a fixed price for the sack, of four heaped bushels. The number 

 of this sort of persons is generally in the proportion of about four to the acre, the labor 

 proceeding on the Sundays as well as other days. It is sometimes the custom to pick the 

 crops over twice, after which the rest are suffered to stand till they become ripe for the 

 purpose of seed. This, however, mostly arises from the want of pickers, as it is considered 

 as a loss, from the pease being less profitable in their ripe state than when green. Besides, 

 they are often improper for the purpose of SQed, as being the worst part of the crop. It 

 is therefore better to have them clear picked when hands can be procured. After this 

 they are loaded into carts, and sent off' at suitable times, according to the distance of the 

 situation, so as to be delivered to the salesmen in the different markets from about three 

 to five o'clock in the morning. In many cases in other parts, the early gatherings are, 

 however, sent to the markets in half-bushel sieves, and are frequently disposed of at the 

 high price of five shillings the sieve; but at the after periods they are usually conveyed in 

 sacks of a narrow form, made for the purpose, which contain about three bushels each, 

 which, in tlie more early parts of the season, often fetch twelve or fourteen shillings the 



