CHAPTER XXVI. 

 PEAS. 



THE GARDEN PEA. Pisum sativum. 



French, pois a ecosser ; German, schal-erbsen ; Dutch, doperwten ; Danish, 

 skaloerte ; Italian, piselli da sgranare ; Spanish, guisantes para desgranar ; Por- 

 tuguese, ervilhas de grao. 



THE LENTIL. Lens esculenta. 



French, lentille; German, linse; Dutch, linze; Danish, lindse; Italian, 

 lente; Spanish, lenteja; Portuguese, lentilha. 



THE GARBANZO OR CHICK PEA. Cicer arietinum. 

 French, pois chiche; German, kicher-erbse ; Italian, cece; Spanish, gar- 

 banzos; Portuguese, chicaro. 



Dry heat is offensive to the pea, and its occurrence imposes 

 the chief limitation to the success of this vegetable in California. 

 The escape from this limitation consists in winter growth, as far as 

 practicable, and in recourse to the coast region where atmospheric 

 humidity is greatest and summer heat least. The pea is very hardy 

 against frost, and this advantage goes far to compensate for its 

 susceptibility to drought, because it enables it to thrive in the winter 

 in the very places where it perishes in summer. The obvious deduc- 

 tion is that in regions dependent upon rainfall the garden planting 

 of the pea must be as early in the fall as adequate moisture has 

 reached the soil, and in regions where irrigation is available, it is 

 desirable that the start should be made in advance of rainfall for 

 the earliest product, and that other plantings follow for a success- 

 sion, until it is ascertained what is the latest date of sowing which 

 will reach satisfactory maturity. If practice proceed upon this 

 basis, the pea will be seen to have a much longer season than in 

 wintry climates, although, in some places, midsummer growth is 

 impracticable. Most failures to realize this satisfaction with the 

 pea are due to late planting and failure to recognize that, in many 

 parts of the state, the pea is a winter and not a summer plant. 



In the growth of field peas most disappointments have followed 

 the same misapprehension, and a monopoly of pea conditions has 

 been conceded to the coast when the interior really can grow large 

 amounts of forage, at least, by taking a different time of the year 

 for it. Fortunately, this fact is coming to be better understood, and 

 large fields of peas are now grown as winter feed for dairy cows 

 and in the orchard to be plowed under early in the spring for green 

 manuring, where only recently the pea was supposed to be unsuited 

 to the climate. These remarks apply to the true pea, not to the so- 

 called "cow pea," which really belongs to the bean family and is 

 very susceptible to frost injury. 



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