GARDENING AND TRUCK FARMING. 309 



so as to protect it from freezing, and without any damage to the 

 fodder, which can be taken to the barn and fed in the spring. 

 There are but few varieties of parsnips. The Long Dutch or 

 Sugar, and Hollow Crown are those usually grown, and on my 

 soil I have never been able to detect any difference between 

 them. 



Peas. These are a valuable garden crop, either for market 

 or the family, as they can be had early, and by judicious selec- 

 tion of varieties and successive plantings, the season can be pro- 

 longed for many weeks. The soil can not be made too rich for 

 the small, early varieties, nor can they be planted too early. 

 The tall, later varieties will bear good crops on land only mod- 

 erately rich. For early peas always plow and manure the land 

 in the fall, and sow as soon as the land can be worked. In my 

 latitude the earliest I ever sowed was February 23d, and the 

 earliest date at which we have had them for use, May 23d, and 

 in backward seasons it is sometimes as late as June 8th or 10th 

 before we get the first mess. The early, smooth varieties should 

 be used for the first planting, as the wrinkled kinds are not so 

 hardy. 



We have now so many excellent dwarf varieties that I do 

 not plant those which require sticks. These varieties may be 

 planted very thick, rows fifteen to eighteen inches apart, and a 

 pea to the inch, in the row. Planted in this way I have often 

 gathered a bushel in the pod, to the square rod. At a second 

 planting, about the first of April, plant again of the early kinds, 

 and at the same time some of the large, late varieties. A third 

 planting, about the middle of May, should be made of late kinds, 

 as the early ones do not do well during the heat of summer. 

 My diary shows that a planting of Champion of England and 

 Marrowfats, made May 16th, gave a supply from the middle 

 of July till into August. I have not bushed a pea for years, 

 and never expect to again, for even the tallest varieties will pro- 

 duce a fair crop without it. They grow up about three feef 

 high and fall down and form an elbow, and grow up again and 

 produce a crop. You will not get as many peas as if you stick 

 them, but land is usually cheaper than the labor. Two rows, 



