PI S 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PIS 



345 



not to tread on the plants. If weeds get up afterwards, they 

 ought not to be meddled with ; for the crop will be pulled 

 about, and spoiled in getting them out. Even horse-hoe- 

 ing should not be ventured on after the plants are near 

 maturity. Some hand-hoe once, and horse-hoe twice or 

 thrice afterwards, as there may be occasion. If broad-cast 

 peas be hoed, it must be whilst they are very young : when 

 they cling together, the hoe does more harm than good ; 

 beside, if the land was in good order, and the seed sown thick 

 enough, they would need no hoeing. Peas when nearly ripe 

 are apt to be devoured by rooks, pigeons, &c. they should 

 therefore be well watched. They are generally cut with a 

 tool called a peas-make, which is half an old scythe fixed in 

 a handle, with which they are rolled, as they are cut, into 

 small bundles called wads, in other places wisps. These 

 should be small, to dry well, and should lie out some days to 

 wither. In some countries they are reaped with a hook, and 

 sometimes mown, but that is an injudicious practiee. Of all 

 crops this is the most uncertain, and it is rarely considerable ; 

 two quarters and a half on an acre, are about the average pro- 

 duce ; now and then four, four and a half, and five quarters, 

 are gained, but probably not once in ten years. The greatest 

 burdens of straw, in crops that perfectly cover the ground, 

 do not yield a very large produce. If a man shades his land 

 well, and gets two and a half, and three quarters, on an acre, 

 he has reason to be satisfied with the produce. When any 

 sorts are intended for seed, there should be as many rows 

 left ungathered, as may be thought necessary to furnish a 

 sufficient quantity; and when the Peas are in flower, they 

 should be carefully looked over, to draw out all the plants 

 which are not of the right sort; for there will be always some 

 roguish plants, as the gardeners term them, which, if left, will 

 cause the others to degenerate. The rest must remain until 

 their pods are changed brown, and begin to split. The plants 

 should then be pulled up and stacked till winter, or else 

 thrashed out as soon as they are dry, and put up in sacks. 

 Let them not remain too long abroad after they are ripe, for 

 wet will rot them ; and heat after rain will cause the pods to 

 burst, and eject the seeds. By diligently drawing out bad 

 plants, and marking those which come earliest to flower, the 

 gardeners have greatly improved their peas of late years, and 

 they are constantly endeavouring to procure forwarder varie- 

 ties. As it is scarcely any object with gentlemen to save 

 their own seed, except in the case of having a particular sort 

 which they cannot purchase; soil is not advisable to continue 

 sowing the same seed longer than two years on the same 

 ground. The principal use of Peas is to fatten hogs ; no 

 other grain agrees better with those animals, especially when 

 they are harvested dry, and ground into meal. Bread made 

 of this meal was formerly much in use in some parts of Scot- 

 land ; but of late it is said to have been almost wholly given 

 up. It is reported to be mixed with wheat flower by the 

 millers, when Peas' are reasonable. The straw, if well har- 

 vested, is a very considerable object for fodder; it is little 

 inferior to ordinary Hay, and all sorts of cattle thrive well on 

 it; but it is apt to gripe some horses, if given too soon. It 

 should not be used before January ; and when it is found to 

 gripe the animal, a few Turnips, Cabbages, Carrots, or 

 Potatoes, will correct that tendency. Culture of Pens in 

 Kent. The following varieties are commonly cultivated by 

 Kentish Farmers : The Reading and Leadma'n's Dwarfs, for 

 Splitting Peas, and fattening hogs ; the Gray Polt; Nutmeg 

 Gray; Early Dun, called Sutton's Gray in East Kent; and 

 Shepherd's Gray; all which are fattening for hogs. Besides 

 these, many others are cultivated for supplying the London 

 S " or1 m " All are drilled in rows, about "eighteen inches 



Seedsmen. 



apart, from the middle of February to the end of March, and 

 sometimes later. They are hand and horse hoed, and are 

 harvested from the middle of July till the end of September. 

 They are reaped with a hook, called a podware hook. The 

 produce is from one and a half to five quarters on an acre. 

 Leadman's Dwarf, and the Early Gray, are thought to be the 

 most prolific. The Early Charlton is frequently off the 

 ground in time to get a good crop of Turnips. Culture in 

 Middlesex. About three thousand acres are annually crop- 

 ped with Peas in this county; they are much on the increase, 

 and are cultivated in the most clean and garden-like manner. 

 On upwards of two thousand acres they succeed a clean crop 

 of Beans ; in which case the Bean-stubble is ploughed up 

 with a thin furrow about January, and during every dry time 

 till March, and soon afterwards re-ploughed a full depth. 

 The water furrows are kept open, and the land remains in 

 this state till seed-time. Peas sown to be sent green to 

 market, succeed Clover, Corn, or any other crop. In Essex, 

 they frequently follow Potatoes. As long as the land is 

 cleared, and properly prepared, which will 'generally be 

 accomplished by the middle of November, White Hotspur 

 Peas are planted for podding for the London Market. The 

 land is generally a dry loamy sand, and manure is constantly 

 ploughed in during January and February ; after which it is 

 harrowed, and is then fit for the reception of the seed, which 

 is put into drills fifteen inches apart, mostly across, but occa- 

 sionally along the ridges ; and the seed is covered in with 

 the hoe. Some persons bush-harrow the" whole. The quan- 

 tity of seed sown is generally three bushels an acre ; such 

 as are intended for podding are put into the ground every 

 week or fortnight, during the months of January, February, 

 and March, for a regular succession of crops to supply the 

 market daily. Gray Peas are sown throughout the month of 

 March. Against the podding season, poor persons from 

 every part of London apply to the farmers who have early 

 Peas. Many of the richer persons sell their Peas by the acre, 

 to persons who employ the podders, and who gather by the 

 sack of four bushels. About forty podders are set to ten 

 acres. Carts are loaded, and sent off, so as to be delivered 

 to the salesmen at market, from three to five o'clock in the 

 morning. In Essex, they are usually sold in the field, at five 

 pounds an acre, reserving the haulm for fodder. The Peas 

 are usually picked twice over, after which, if, from a scarcity 

 of hands, any be left for seed, it is esteemed a loss. When 

 hands are in plenty, the crop is picked clean, the haulm is cut 

 up with hooks, removed on to every fifth ridge, or into a grass 

 field, to dry; it is then put into stacks for horse-feed, and the 

 land is prepared as speedily as possible for Turnips. 



2. Pisum Maritimum ; Sea Pea. Petioles flattish above ; 

 stem angular; stipules sagittate ; peduncles many-flowered. 

 Root perennial, running far and deep among the stones, or 

 into the sand in every direction ; stems short and procum- 

 bent, thickly clothed with grayish glaucous leaves, each com- 

 posed of six or eight oval, entire, generally alternate leaflets, 

 and ending in a divided tendril ; flowers rather large, a 

 little drooping; corolla beautifully variegated with red and 

 purple. It is accurately remarked by Dr. Smith, that this 

 species is almost as nearly allied to Lathyrus as to Pisum, 

 both in habit and generic character; and that Pisum Sativum 

 is not more different in external appearance, from the genus 

 of Lathyrus, than Vicia Faba, or the Bean, is from the other 

 Vicise. These, however, he adds, are matters of opinion ; 

 and in so natural a class, it is very difficult to find out certain 

 and obvious marks of distinction. We learn from the epistles 

 of the learned Cains, that the Sea Pea was first observed in 

 the year 1555, when, in a great scarcity, the poor people on 



