CHAPTER 1 

 BOTANY, HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION 



Peas belong- to the great legume family of plants 

 — a family which constitutes the backbone of an 

 improved agriculture. The Greek and Latin name 

 of the pea is Pisxim and there are six species. The 

 important one is the con^mon garden pea or Pisum 

 satk'itin. Pisum sativum, var. arvense, is the field pea 

 commonly known as Canada field pea. Several so- 

 called peas are not peas at all, although belonging 

 to the leguminosae family. Some are given herewith. 



Flat Pea (Lathyrus sylvestris) is a forage plant 

 closely resembling the sweet pea. It is particularly 

 adapted to light soils, succeeding where clover or 

 corn would fail. Under favorable conditions it will 

 produce a remarkable growth of vines, three to 

 four feet in length, and provide several cuttings 

 each season. A serious objection is that stock do 

 not like it. In experiment, at the ^Michigan station, 

 sheep and cattle lost flesh on rations of either flat 

 pea hay or flat pea silage. It is rich in protein, air- 

 dried hay analyzing 27 per cent protein, and would 

 probably be more largely grown, except that it re- 

 quires two or three years to get it established. 

 Plants grow eight to twelve inches tall the first sea- 

 son, and ground must be kept free from weeds. Can 

 be sown in the spring in drills 18 inches apart. 



Chick Pea (Cicer arietinum), also called Idaho 

 and Egyptian pea, is adapted to a variety of soils, 

 but succeeds best on clay loams. In composition 

 it is similar to the common field pea, but leaves 



