KITCHEN GARDEN. 203 



of northern origin, contains much sugar, is very nu- 

 tritious, and merits more both of cultivation and 

 use than it has received. 



The PEA (Pisum) is a native of the south of Eu- 

 rope, of which, according to Linnaeus, there are four 

 species, and according to Millar six, while other bot- 

 anists recognise only two (the field and the garden), 

 and some even contend that the latter of these is 

 merely a variety of the former, produced by culti- 

 vation. What these naturalists better agree in is 

 the arrangement of the whole family into two 

 classes, those having coriaceous pods (tough and 

 parchment like), and those having pods tender and 

 edible, like the pea itself. These are again subdi- 

 vided into dwarfs and climbers, and, for more prac- 

 tical use, into early and late pease. Of the for- 

 mer, in their order of ripening, the most approved 

 sorts are, the early frame, early Charlton, and 

 golden Hotspur, and of the latter, in the same or- 

 der, the large marrowfat, the white Rounsevil, the 

 Spanish Marotto, and large imperial.* The dwarfs 

 are generally employed in hotbed culture, which, 

 however, succeeds badly, and is neither worth at- 

 tending to or describing, and the less so as early 

 crops may be more certainly had by sowing in the 

 fall in sheltered situations, and covering in the win- 

 ter with a layer of leaves, and another of long sta- 

 ble litter loosely applied, to keep the leaves in 

 their places. After the earth acquires a temper- 

 ature favourable to vegetation, your pea-sowings 

 should be made once a fortnight to keep up a regu- 



* The. dwarf sugar, the dwarf Spanish, and Leadrnan's dwarf, 

 may be usefully interposed between these. These dwarf vari 

 eties are all excellent, the last, perhaps, more prolific than any 

 other of the family. In France the varieties of early and late 

 pease are different, or, at least, called by different names from 

 those we have mentioned. The series of both sorts there are, 

 the Michaux of Holland, the baron, the Blois, the cluster, and 

 the forty days, which are early ; and the nonpareil, the Laurens, 

 the Swiss, the Eul Noir, and the Caimart, which are late 

 16 



