618 "EFFECT OF SOILS AND MANURES UPON PEAS. 



are especially rich in substances containing nitrogen (legumin and albu- 

 men), and are therefore fitted to contribute much to the nourishment of 

 those animals which, in consequence of the state of their growth and 

 health, or the purposes for which they are reared and maintained, require 

 a large supply of this important element. 



§ 20. Effect of soils and manures upon the quality of peas and beans. 



The quality of the seeds of leguminous plants is also affected by the 

 mode of culture to which they are subjected, and by the kind of soil in 

 which they are raised. 



1°. Effect of animal manures. — The dung " of sheep or horses has 

 been found to impart a better flavour to the pea, and to render the husk 

 thinner than when that of hogs or oxen has been used." [British Hus- 

 bandry, ii., p. 217.] 



2°. Effect of mineral manures. — The effect of gypsum and of other 

 sulphates upon leguminous plants is universally known (p. 482.) The 

 beneficial influence of a mixture of gypsum and common salt upon 

 sickly crops of beans and peas is very strikingly displayed in the inter- 

 esting experiments of Mr. Alexander, of Southbar, to the details of which 

 1 have already had occasion to draw your attention. [See Appendix, p. 



3°. Effect of lime. — Dr. Anderson says, " that the pea cannot be 

 reared to perfection in any field which has not been either naturally or 

 artificially impregnated with some calcareous mattei^' but that " a soil 

 which could hardly have brought a single pea to perfection, although 

 richly manured with dung, if once limed, will be capable of producing 

 abundant crops of peas ever (?) afterwards, if duly prepared in other re- 

 spects." [Essays, ii., p. 302.] 



4°. Boiling or melting quality of peas. — ^But the most singular cir- 

 cumstance in connection with this class of seeds, to which the agricul- 

 tural chemist has hitherto been directed, is the property possessed by 

 peas and beans of boiling soft or mouldering into a pulp more or less 

 easily, according to the kind of land in which they are raised or to the 

 species of manure with which they are dressed. The observations, 

 however, which I have found upon record in reference to this point are 

 of a contradictory character. Thus — 



a. Sprengel says " that peas which are raised after liming or marling 

 boil sojt more easily, and are more agreeable to the taste than when raised 

 after manure." [Die Lehre vom Diinger, p. 297.] 



6. A French authority, on the other hand, quoted by Loudon, [Ency- 

 clopaedia of Agriculture, p. 837,] says, that " stiff* land or sandy land 

 that has been limed or marled, or to which gypsum has been appUed, 

 produces peas that vnll not melt in boiling, no matter what the variety 

 may be. The same effect is produced on the seeds and pods of beans 

 and of all legumij^^s plants. To counteract this fault in the boihng, it 

 is only necessary ^Rhrow into the water a small quantity of the com- 

 mon soda of the shops." 



c. The author of the British Husbandry, [ii., p. 217,] says, ^' that 

 shell marl or lime is found to forward this crop more than any other 

 mineral manure, though it is said to communicate a degree of hardness 

 to the grain whicn renders it unfit for boiling." 



