LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 



of the potato, a diminution of pease culture may have 

 taken place in the poorer districts; but peas are al- 

 ways in constant requisition in this country; they are 

 consumed in immense quantities as sea-provisions; 

 they are likewise largely supplied to hospitals, infir- 

 maries, and work-houses, and are in familiar use in 

 every private family. 



The principal varieties of the common pea are the 

 white or yellow, and the gray. Soil and culture have 

 probably produced all the varieties under the two 

 sorts; different as they now are, both in their colours 

 and their qualities, and even in the number of flowers 

 and pods growing from each peduncle. 



Among gray peas, where much attention has not 

 been paid to the purity of the seed, it is not unusual 

 to find several shades of colour from a deep purple 

 almost approaching to a black, to a very pale or nearly 

 white hue. In even the same parcel, some seeds are 

 gray, some mottled, and others purple. 



The white and yellow peas are distinguished as 

 garden peas and field peas. The former being the 

 choice sorts, are raised by more careful and expensive 

 culture for the purpose of being eaten green; the 

 latter, inferior chiefly on account of the manner of their 

 being raised, are allowed to come to maturity. 



The sub-varieties of the common pea are never- 

 ending. These have obtained their names, some 

 from imaginary qualities, some from the peculiar 

 mode of culture, others from the persons who first 

 produced them, and some from more fanciful distinc- 

 tions. Of those no less than twenty-two are enumer- 

 ated as being objects of garden culture, differing in 

 the colour of the flowers, height of the haulm or stalk, 

 time of coming to maturity, produce of legumes, or 

 size and flavour of the seeds. The varieties are in 

 different degrees tender or hardy; if, then, a due re- 

 gard be paid to the choice of soil and situation, and 



