FARMERS' REGISTER 



tSa. n 



ter. But it is remarkable, that a soil that could 

 scarcely have brought one pea to perfection, al- 

 though richly manured with dung, from their run- 

 ning too much to haum, and after blossoming 

 dymg away without becoming ripe, if it has had 

 lime applied upon it, is capable, when properly 

 prepared in other respects, of producing plentiful 

 crops of peas ever after." 



The best time lor sowing peas is as early in the 

 spring as practicable. It is not an uncommon prac- 

 tice among gardeners who cuhivate peas for the 

 table, to sow them late in autumn, and the first 

 warm weather in the spring brings them up. The 

 chief objection to this practice is the danger of 

 their bemg destroyed by mice during vvinter; but 

 this danger would be small in a clean ploughed 

 field, and an experiment in lall sowing may be 

 well worthy of trial, especially as it is an ohjecl to 

 do as much of the work of the farm in autumn as 

 practicable, in order to avoid the hurry of spring. 

 The present is the time for such an experiment. 



The pea-bug has always been found a serious 

 difficulty in the culture of this crop; and as inqui- 

 ries have been recently made in this paper for a 

 description, the following is given. The insect, 

 (^Bruchus pisi) is of an ovate form and brown- 

 ish color, particularly the elytra (or wing-sheaths) 

 which are uniformly besprinkled with specks and 

 lines of a light color, as well as the upper part of 

 the thorax near the joint. The mouth is armed 

 with a pair of serrated foreceps, the under part 

 and legs are of a very dark dusky color, and the 

 whole insect covered with fine hair. When the 

 pods of the pea have arrived at the slate of ma- 

 turity sufficient to show the small peas within 

 them, the female deposits her eggs in the evening 

 or on a cloudy day. These soon hatch, and the 

 young larva eats directly into the young pea. and 

 remains feeding on its contents until it changes 

 into a chrysalis, which takes place before the en- 

 suing spring. The perlect insect emercres during 

 the warm weather, generally about the time of 

 sowing peas. They do not generally leave their 

 habitations until after the peas are planted, (un- 

 less purposely exposed to the hot sunbeams,) 

 when they creep out and remain until new crops 

 invite them; after they have deposited their efrirs 

 they perish. When the peas are green and 

 scarcely full grown, the presence of the worm is 

 scarcely discernible, and does not affect the taste; 

 but when they are quite ripe, there is nothing but 

 a shell enveloping a fat chrysalis. A mos't re- 

 markable fact is that they never injure the nlu- 

 mula or sprout, for almost every pea occupied by 

 the insect, grows and thrives vijTorousIy notwith- 

 standing nearly the whole of the internal part ap- 

 pears to be consumed. This remarkable instinct 

 is necessary for their existence; for if the seed 

 were destroyed, it would end in the extermina- 

 tion of their race. 



Several methods have been proposed for destroy- 

 ing this insect or eluding its depredations. Soak- 

 ing them for a minute in boiling water, which 

 does not destroy their vitality, has been repeated- 

 ly and confidently recommended as an effectual 

 mode for their destruction. But a correspondent 

 in the second number, current volume, of this pa- 

 per says, " I poured boiling water upon the peas 

 and let them stand till the water cooled. I then 

 poured off the water and commenced sowing my 

 peas, when to ray astonishment the bugs were 



crawling about as lively as ever, " He adds that 

 the viiality of the seed was greatly injured, as nol 

 one-half of them came up, A better remedy ap- 

 pears to be in always sowing clean seed. But 

 where, it is asked, is this to be obtained? Clean 

 seed may be procured from Canada ; or it may be 

 had by sowing a portion of the field very late, or 

 with old peas, fot- this^ particular purpose. It ap- 

 pears that this insect disappears fi-om the seed 

 before the middle of the sixth month (June) and 

 consequently sowing later than this time, or not 

 until the following spring, for the purpose of ob- 

 taining seed, would be eflectual, 01 these two 

 methods, however, sowing seed 2 years old is or* 

 the whole undoubtedly the best. By this time, 

 the insect has lived out its period, and no danger 

 from it is to be apprehended. 



Peas fed to hogs immediately alter harvesting 

 are not hurt for that purpose by the bug. 



A very convenient way of raising and feeding 

 peas to hogs is to plant successive crops in dif- 

 ierent fields, and to allow them to be eaten on the 

 ground. At the time the peas are beginning fo 

 harden, they will eat the leaves and stalks as well 

 as the seed. This method is particularly applica- 

 ble to the fattening of large herds upon land 

 which is cheap and where labor is expensive. 



As it is desirable to procure the best varieties of 

 the pea lor seed, so it is requisite that care be 

 taken to prevent their deterioration. They seem 

 to be peculiarly liable to change — to improvement 

 by proper care, as well as degeneracy by neglect. 

 It has been observed in the culture of the early 

 Washington, that seed fi'om the same origin dit^ 

 fers greatly, merely from the management it re- 

 ceives. Genuine seed of this variety may be ob- 

 tained, which will ripen a week or two later than 

 other seed, also genuine. The quality of early 

 maturity may be greatly increased or lessened,- by 

 always selecting the portion first ripe for sowing, 

 or by picking the earliest for the table, and using 

 the remainder for seed. The following statement 

 in the third volume of the Genesee Farmer, by 

 L. Couch, is well deserving of attention : — 



"There is no seed that I am acquainted willi 

 that will degenerate more rapidly thi^n peas. The 

 process that I have pursued lor hoo years wiih my 

 seed peas, is simply sifting them in a sieve that 

 will let through tfie small peas and the small seeds 

 of every description, and leave the largest and 

 the best of the peas to sow. By this means my 

 peas have improved at least twenty-five percent, 

 in quality. I think it answers all the purpose of 

 scalding to clean them of the bugs. By sifiirig 

 them the bug or nit is shaken out of the peas and 

 left with the rubbish, which is given to hogs." 



With regard to other points in the culture of this 

 crop, it may be briefly observed — that plaster, as 

 on clover, operates to the most decided advantage; 

 that a clover sod turned over late in the i'nW, is an 

 excellent preparation for sowing the following 

 spring; that as deep planting is less liable to pre- 

 vent veceiation than in most seed, when sown 

 upon a light or dry soil, they should always be 

 buried by a shallow furrow of the plough ; that 

 when fed upon the ground to hogs, two or three 

 quarts of oats to the acre intermixed, will afford 

 an excellent support for them during tfieir growth; 

 and that by far the best and most expeditious 

 n)ethod of liarvesting them is by means of a com- 

 mon horse rake, J- J» T. 



