PEA. 



PEA-DUG. 



perfect variety can be obtained. We are much 

 in want of observations on this point. If hot- 

 spurs and marrowfats are sown on the same 

 day, the latter will not bloom for nearly four 

 weeks after the first. If the frame variety and 

 the moratto are similarly inserted, the latter will 

 succeed the first in about five weeks. The 

 plants intended for seed ought never to be 

 gathered from. When in blossom, all plants 

 which do not appear to belong to the variety 

 among which they are growing should be re- 

 moved. They are fit for harvesting as soon 

 as the pods become brownish and dry. When 

 perfectly free from moisture, they should be 

 beaten out, otherwise, if hot, showery weather 

 occurs, they will open and shed their seed. 

 Seed-peas preserve their power of germinating 

 for eight or ten years. 



Forcing commences in December, in the 

 early part of which month they may be sown 

 in a hotbed to remain, or thick, to transplant 

 during the succeeding month into others for 

 production. These may be repeated in January, 

 and the transplanting take place in February. 

 It is also a common practice to sow in a warm 

 border during October, and the plants being 

 cultivated as a natural ground crop, are re- 

 moved into a hot-bed during January. 



The temperature employed in forcing may 

 be either progressive, beginning at 40 and 50, 

 for the extremes, at the time of sowing, rising 

 siul 66 when in blossom, and to 55 and 

 70 while the fruit is swelling; or the tempera- 

 ture may be uniformly kept up throughout their 

 growth, having 50 for the minimum and 70 

 for their maximum. 



In New York and some other of the North- 

 ern and Eastern States, the pea forms a highly 

 valuable crop, not only for its intrinsic value, 

 but as useful in preparing the land for the 

 reception of wheat, and other grain, for which 

 purpose it is considered on a par with the 

 turnip and other root crops of England. The 

 soil best adapted to the pea is one that is 

 good for wheat, and where that grain is certain, 

 peas may be considered so. The preparation 

 of the soil demands nothing peculiar; it must 

 only be made in good order for seed, in the 

 manner required for other .spring crops, by 

 being well ploughed, harrowed, and if neces- 

 sary, manured. If manured too highly, how- 

 ever, the vine or haulm is apt to be too abun- 

 dant, and the pea itself inferior in quantity and 

 quality. In this, as in most other cases, too 

 great a growth of vine or straw is incompatible 

 with great crops of pulse or grain. Lime in 

 all countries has been found an essential ingre- 

 dient of pea or wheat soils; and where it does 

 not naturally exist in them, should be applied 

 previous to attempting the culture of these 

 crops. 



The kinds of pea most usually cultivated as 

 a h'eld-crop, are the small yellow pea and the 

 marrowfat. We prefer the latter; as it is 

 equally certain with the other, is excellent for 

 the table as well as for feeding, is as nutritious 

 for animals, and generally more productive. 

 In some situations, or in exhausted soils, the 

 small yellow pea may however be preferable. 

 From 30 to 40 bushels per acre is not an un- 

 common crop, and this highest amount is often 



exceeded. The quantity of seed required per 

 acre may be Mated at 2.} bushels, although 

 some use only 2, and some put on 3 bushels 

 per acre. For covering the pea the cultivator 

 is a very good implement, as it gives them 

 more earth than the harrow and less tl>an the 

 common plough. The ground should be left 

 smooth by the roller or otherwise, as the ease 

 of gathering is greatly depending oil the state 

 of the surface. 



In harvesting the pea, some farmers hook 

 them up with a scythe, some rake them by 

 hand with the common hay-rake, but the most 

 expeditious method by far, is to use the horse- 

 rake in gathering this crop. In whatever way 

 peas are gathered, it is necessary they should 

 be ripe, and of course, if very dry at the time, 

 there will be some loss by shelling, but not 

 perhaps more by the horse-rake than by the 

 other methods, and four-fifths of the time re- 

 quired by the two first methods is saved. This, 

 where the land is to be put into wheat, is fre- 

 quently of great consequence. Once gathered, 

 there is no crop so easily thrashed and pre- 

 pared fr market as the pea, and few that bet- 

 ter reward the cultivator. 



There is no plant cultivated which will bring 

 pigs forward more rapidly than the pea, if the 

 feeding is commenced as soon as the peas begin 

 to harden, and the whole plant is fed out to 

 them. When gathered and hard, two methods 

 of feeding have been adopted, both of which 

 are far preferable to the barbarous practice of 

 giving swine the pea without any preparation. 

 The first is to soak and swell the pea in milk, 

 if it can be had, if not, in water, and feed it to 

 them in that state. The second is to grind the 

 pea, either alone or with other coarse grain, 

 and feed it to animals in that way. This is 

 preferable to feeding whole, as in corn or any 

 other food, the finer it is made the more readily 

 it will be assimilated, and in all cases, if cooked 

 into pudding the advantage will be decisive. 

 In England, where corn cannot be grown, a 

 mixture of peas and barley is considered supe- 

 rior to any other food for making pork ; here, 

 closing the process of fattening with Indian 

 corn, as giving more firmness to the pork, is 

 preferred. 



In the Southern States, a kind of pea, called 

 there the Cow Pea, is cultivated for the purpose 

 of making into hay, and for being ploughed 

 under as a fallow crop, like clover. 



PEA-BUG or BEETLE. In the spring of 

 the year we often find, among seed-peas, many 

 that have holes in them ; and, if the peas have 

 not been exposed to the light and air, we see a 

 little insect peeping out of each of these holes, 

 and waiting apparently for an opportunity to 

 come forth and make its escape. If we turn 

 out the creature from its cell, we perceive it to 

 be a small oval beetle, rather more than one- 

 tenth of an inch long, of a rusty black colour, 

 with a white spot on the hinder part of the 

 thorax, 4 or 5 white dots behind the middle of 

 each wing-cover, and a white spot, shaped like 

 the letter T, on the exposed extremity of the 

 body. This little insect is the Bruchus Pisi 

 of Linnaeus, the pea-Bruchus, or pea-weevil, 

 better known in America by the incorrect 

 name of pea-busr- The original meaning of 

 4E 877 



