PEA 



PEA 



323 



They should be cut or pulled up 

 with a sharp hook in the form of a 

 sickle ; fastened to a long handle. 

 Some perform it expeditiously with 

 a common sickle. But this is lit- 

 tle, if at all, less laborious than do- 

 ing it with the hand. 



When land is in suitable order, 

 field pease may be cultivated ac- 

 cording to the new husbandry, with 

 advantage. M. Eyma found his 

 crops were half as large again in 

 this way, as in the old husbandry, 

 besides saving half the seed. The 

 intervals between the double rows 

 should be near four feet wide, or 

 there will not be suflicient room 

 for horse-hoeing. And this should 

 be done with, before the plants 

 begin to trail on the ground. 



Pease are said to be much im- 

 proved for the purpose of feeding 

 hogs by steam boiling. The Do- 

 mestic Encyclopedia recommends 

 grinding them for that use. 



" It is a great error in those per- 

 sons, who sow the rows of tall 

 growing pease close together. It 

 is much better in all those sorts 

 which grow six or eight feet high to 

 have only one row, and then leave 

 a bed ten or twelve feet wide for 

 onions, carrots, or any crops, which 

 do not grow tall. 



" The advantages which will be 

 derived are, that the pease will 

 not be drawn up so much ; be 

 stronger ; will flower much nearer 

 the ground, and in wet weather 

 can be more easily gathered with- 

 out wetting yourself." — Domestic 

 Encyclopedia, 



The same work recommends 

 sowing pease in rows of circles, 

 three feet in diameter, with a space 



of two feet between each circle ; 

 and if you w^ant more than one 

 row of circles, leave a bed of ten 

 or twelve feet before you begin 

 another. 



PEAT, a kind of earth, or ra- 

 ther a fossil, used in some coun- 

 tries for fuel. 



It is often found in low, miry, 

 and boggy places, that lie between 

 hills. That which is the most 

 solid is the most valuable. It lies 

 at different depths ; sometimes, 

 very near the surface ; sometimes 

 eight or ten feet below it. The 

 best way to find it is by boring. 

 The stratum above it is most com- 

 monly mud, or moory earth. 



I suppose many places where it 

 is found to have been originally 

 ponds ; and that they have been, 

 either suddenly, at the time of 

 Noah's flood, or gradually since, 

 filled up with wood, and other 

 vegetable substances, which, by a 

 slow putrefaction, have been 

 changed into the substance we call 

 peat. For some undissolved trunks 

 of trees, bark, &c. are found among 

 it. 



It is sometimes found in interval 

 lands, and near to the banks of 

 rivers. In these places, the shitV 

 ing of the beds of rivers, caused by 

 the choking of the old currents, 

 will afford a probable account of 

 its formation. 



Peat is distinguishable by its 

 cutting very smooth, like butter or 

 lard, by its being free from grit, 

 and its burning freely, when tho- 

 roughly dried. It will not dissolve 

 when exposed to the air for a long 

 time, but become hard like cinder. 



A dry season is the best oppor- 



