PEAS 



491 



complete. Most of these evils may be 

 successfully combated, as I shall show 

 presently. But we will begin with 



THE FIRST-EARLY PEAS.*-These, 

 where glass can be had sufficient for 

 our needs, will comprise several small 

 supplies in pots of some approved 

 dwarf kind, which should be sown 

 in 8 in. pots in November, and be 

 brought on steadily in a pit close 

 to the glass with just the smallest 

 amount of artificial warmth, as Peas 

 do not force well in heat ; and 

 therefore it will not do to be impa- 

 tient. A steady, regular growth, in 

 a very light position, with a tem- 

 perature never exceeding 45 to 50 

 at night, will be best. Ventilation 

 must be given at every suitable 

 opportunity. The first sowing in 

 the open air may take place any time 

 from the beginning of November till 

 March, and the probabilities are that 

 if -the same kind of Peas be planted 

 at both these extreme limits of time, 

 there would not be more than ten 

 days' difference in the time of gather- 

 ing ! But even then the week or ten 

 days gained is thought much of. In 

 cold, wet districts it is as well not to 

 sow till after Christmas, as in such 

 situations the early sown crops are 

 not unfrequently cut off by cold 

 winds. Very often the first early 

 Peas are raised under glass, and 

 when hardened planted out early in 

 March. The seeds of a white 

 round early Pea, such as Sangster's 

 No. i, are sown in pots or troughs, 

 or on sods of turf, and placed in 

 heat, where they soon germinate, 

 when they are hardened off and 

 planted on a warm south border 

 the first week in March. A ridge of 

 earth is drawn up on each side as a 

 shelter, and a few evergreen boughs 

 are added as a further protection. 



Mr. Muir advises sowing early 

 Peas in cold frames, and not in 

 warmer houses or pits : " I like a 



frame about 2 ft. deep better than 

 any other structure in which to raise 

 early Peas. Fill some hundreds of 

 small 3 in. pots half full of soil, 

 then put in ten or a dozen seeds, 

 finish off with more soil, and place 

 them in a frame covered with a good 

 sash ; they will soon germinate and 

 make fine, sturdy, dark green-leaved 

 plants, which may be planted out 

 almost at any time without receiving 

 the slightest check. If a batch were 

 placed in a cold frame and another 

 in a warm house at the same time, 

 by April the frame ones would be 

 by far the best as regards robustness 

 and fertility. There is no better 

 place than a cold frame in which to 

 raise early Peas, and I would advise 

 everybody, especially amateurs, to 

 try Pea-growing in this way. No 

 expense is incurred in getting them 

 up or anxiety in getting them put 

 out and hardened off, as by judicious 

 air-giving on fine days they may be 

 grown from the first in a most natural 

 way, and induced to pod some weeks 

 'earlier than any grown wholly in 

 the open ground." The second-early 

 Peas may be sown at the same time 

 as the early kinds, when these are 

 not sown before the end of February. 

 SUCCESSION. To keep up a 

 regular succession, there should be 

 frequent sowings ; taking account of 

 and giving due weight to the fact 

 that all Peas sown during the months 

 of January, February, and the first 

 half of March will not vary more 

 than a week or ten days at the time 

 of turning in. There will not be 

 much use in making successional 

 sowings during these months. As 

 a matter of fact, I have often sown 

 at intervals of a fortnight or so in 

 order to test the matter, and I have 

 always found that to obtain a suc- 

 cession from first sowing the best 

 plan is to sow at least three or four 

 distinct sorts at the same time > 



* See also p. 765. 



