2490 



PAVONIA 



PEA 



setaceous stipules : fls. bright yellow and dark-centered, 

 single on axillary pedicels exceeding the Ivs., with 

 12-14 linear involucral bracts : f r. of downy carpels. 

 This and P. spinifex are reported in Calif. 



P. Makoy&na, Morr. (Goethea Makoyana, Hook.). Lvs. 

 elliptic, short-stalked, with large stipules: fls. in terminal clusters, 

 subtended by large cordate-ovate crimson bractlets. Brazil. B.M. 

 6427. G.Z. 22:169. P. semper flbrens, Garcke (Goethea semper- 

 florens, Nees & Mart.). Tall: Ivs. elliptic, serrate: fls. usually 

 terminal, purple, with brown bractlets. Brazil. L H B 



PAWPAW: Cart co Papaya and Asimina. 



2777. Garden pea, American Wonder. The illustration shows 

 an entire plant, cut off at the surface of the ground. ( X H) 



PEA. As known to horticulturists, the pea is the 

 seeds and plant of Pisum sativum and its many forms, 

 one of the Leguminosae, grown for its edible seeds and 

 sometimes for the edible pods. (Figs. 2777-2783.) 



The garden pea is native to Europe, but has been 

 cultivated from before the Christian era for the rich 

 seeds. The field or stock pea differs little from the gar- 

 den pea except in its violet rather than white flowers 

 and its small gray seeds. There are many varieties and 

 several well-marked races of garden peas. Whilst 

 peas are grown mostly for their seeds, there is a race in 

 which the thick soft green pods, with the inclosed 

 seeds, are eaten. The common or shelling peas may be 

 separated into two classes on the character of the seed 

 itself, those with smooth seeds and those with wrink- 

 led seeds. The latter are the richer, but they are more 

 likely to decay in wet cold ground, and therefore are 

 not so well adapted to very early planting. Peas may 

 also be classified as climbing, half-dwarf or showing a 

 tendency to climb and doing best when support is 

 provided, and dwarf or those not requiring support. 

 Again, the varieties may be classified as to season, 

 early, second-early, and late. Vilmorin's classification 

 (Les Plantes Potageres) is as follows: 



A. The pea round (smooth). 

 B. Plant climbing. 



c. Seed white. 



cc. Seed green. 



BB. Plant half-dwarf. 



c. Seed white, 

 cc. Seed green. 

 BBB. Plant dwarf, 

 c. Seed white, 

 cc. Seed green. 

 AA. The pea wrinkled (divisions as above). 



Left to themselves, the varieties of peas soon lose 

 their characteristics through variation. They are much 

 influenced by soil and other local conditions. There- 

 fore, many of the varieties are only minor strains of 

 some leading type, and are not distinct enough to be 

 recognized by printed descriptions. 



Garden or green peas. 



Peas are one of the earliest garden vegetables to 

 reach edible maturity. The date at which a mess of 

 green peas could be gathered used to be regarded as an 

 indication of a man's horticultural ability. In modern 

 times, green peas grown far away to the South come 

 to northern markets while the ground is still frozen 

 and are eagerly purchased only to result in disappoint- 

 ment and a longing for the old-time quality. Such dis- 

 appointment is inevitable, for even with refrigerator cars, 

 express trains, and modern skilful handling, green peas 

 grown hundreds of miles away cannot come to our 

 tables for many hours, often not for days, after they 

 have been gathered, and with an inevitable loss of the 

 freshness, which is essential for satisfactory quality. 



Peas do well in cool moist weather and will germinate 

 and make a slow but healthy and vigorous growth in 

 lower temperatures than most garden vegetables. The 

 young plants will even endure some frost with little 

 injury, but the blossoms and young pods will be 

 injured or killed by a frost which did not seem materially 

 to check the growth of the plant. For this reason it is 

 generally most satisfactory to delay planting until 

 there is little probability of a frost after the plants come 

 into bloom. 



The cultural requirements are simple, but a thorough 

 preparation of the soil before planting is desirable, and 

 the use of green and fresh manure should be avoided. 

 The best depth of planting varies with the season and 

 character of the soil, and early plantings on clay land 

 should be covered only 1 to 2 inches deep, while later 

 plantings on sandy land do best in drills 6 or 8 inches 

 deep to be gradually filled as the seedlings grow. Gen- 

 erally anything more than surface tillage will do a 

 growing pea crop more harm than good; but any crust 

 formed after rains, particularly while the plants are 

 young, should be promptly broken up. 



Of the better garden sorts, from fifty to one hundred 

 good seeds are in an ounce, and a half-pint should 

 plant 50 to 80 feet of row and furnish a sufficiency of 

 pods for a small family for the week or ten days in 

 which they would be in prime condition. For a con- 

 tinued supply one must depend upon repeated plantings. 



Most of the 

 best garden varie- 

 ties can be well 

 grown without 

 trellising, but the 

 sorts growing over 

 2 feet high will 

 do better if sup- 

 ported. Nothing 

 better for this 

 purpose is known 

 than brush from 

 the woods, but 

 this is not always 

 available and a 

 good substitute is 

 the wire pea trellis 

 offered by most 

 dealers in horti- 

 cultural supplies, 

 or a home-made 

 one made by 

 strings stretched 2 



to 4 inches apart 2778. Garden pea, Champion of England, 

 on alternate sides ( x M) 



