•il(i 



NEW ENCILAND FARMER. 



April 27, 183 



From Memoirs of the .V. Y. Board of .Is.-ricidture. i aiVord siitficient proof ut" tlie wonders produccil by 



la very small degree of observation and caro. 



THE IT.A I The general relish for the pea has iiuliiced the 



Is a native of the sonth of Enrope, of which, ac employment of mer_ns to have them on the table 



■ording to Liiinaius, there are four species, and 

 according to Millar, six, while other botanists re- 

 cognize only two, {the Field and the Garden,) and 

 some even contend, that the latter of theae is 

 merely a variety of the former, produced by cul- 

 tivation. What these savants better agree in is, 

 the arrangement of the whole family into two 

 classes — those having coriaceous pods (tough and 

 parchment like) and those having po.!s tender and 

 edible, like tlie pea itself. Those are again sub- 

 divided into dwarfs and climbers, and for more 

 practical use, into early and late peas. Of the 

 former, in their order of ripening, the most ap- 

 proved sorts are — the Early Frame, Early Charl- 

 ton, and Golden Hotspur — and of the latter, in the 

 same order, the Large Marrowfat, the While 

 Rounsevil, the Spanish Marotto, and Large Im- 

 perial.* The dwarfs arc generally employed in lare those exclusively employed in Prance, 

 liot bed culture, which, however, succeeds badly, 



tlie year round. The methods in use, for this pur 

 pose arc two — according to one of them, the pea 

 is subjected to the a,ction of boiling water for two 

 or tiiree minutes, when it is withdrawn, cooled in 

 fresh spring water, dried in the shade, and lastly, 

 hung lip in paper bags, in a dry and well-aired 

 closet. The other process is later and perhaps 

 better — according to this, t!ie poas are put into 

 bottles, Vvhich are afterwards hermetically sealed 

 and subjected to the action of boiling water for 

 fifteen minutes. In both cases, the peas require 

 boiling a second time in the ordinary way, to 

 make them fit for the tabic ; and if preserved ac- 

 cording to the first method, a great deal of boil- 

 ino- — Bosc says, twenty four hours. All the va- 

 rieties are not found to bo equally fit for this pro- 

 cess — the Michau of Holland and the Calmart, 



more propitious, it req ares a change of 

 every fourth or fifth year. All the parts- 

 plant, but particularly the call;: of its 

 yields an essential oil, yellow and odoroH 

 higlily charged with camphor. In the kitcj 

 is used as an ingredient in sauces and st 

 and in what are tcc'mically called forced i 

 The plant may be propagated either by .sea^ 

 by suckers, and requires only to bo kept! 

 from weeds or grasses. 



.flCili'i 



and is neither worth preserving nor describing, 

 and the less so, as early crops may bo more cer- 

 vainly iiad by sowing in the fall, in elieltercd situ- 

 ations, and covering, during the winter, with a 

 layer of leaves, and anotiier of long stable litter, 

 loosely applied, to keep the leave.? in tlieir places. 

 After the earth takes a temperature favourable to 

 vegetation, your pea sowings should be made 

 once a fortnight, to keep up a regular and suc- 

 cessive supply. A loose and warm soil is most fa- 

 vourable to this vegetable, which, by tho way, is 

 neither improved in quality nor quantity, by sta- 

 ble manure. Tho soil of Clichy and of Point de 

 jour des Colombe, &c. &c. in the neigliborhood of 

 Paris, is a pure sand, principally devoted to pea 

 crops and yielding tiiese most abundantly, W"it!iout 

 the application of dung, new orold. What, how- 

 over, in their treatment is essential, are frequent 

 hoeings and occasional watering, if tiio weather 

 be dry, and seasonable propping for tho tall sorts, 

 which ought to be completed by tlie time the 

 plants get to be three or four inches high. The 

 whole of this last description of pea requires 

 double the room given for dwarfs. The rows in 

 which they stand, should not therefore be less 

 Than four feet apart, and they should grow in 

 these, si.\ inches from each other, and their cov- 

 ering should not e.fceed two inches, nor be less 

 than one inch, according to the nature and ccndi- 

 tion of the soil in wiiich they are sown. We 

 need scarcely remark that the different varieties 

 should be cultivated apart. 



Like other vegetables, the pea is susceptible of 

 considerable improvement, and by the simple 

 means of marking the finest plants of each variety, 

 and keeping them for seed. Wilson's frame and 

 the Knight pea have been formed in this way and 



* The Dwarf Sugar, the Divarf Spanish, and 

 Leadman's Dwarf, may be usefully interposed be- 

 ween these. These dwarf varieties are all excel- 

 lent — the last perliaps more prolific than any oth- 

 er of the family. In France, the varieties of early 

 and late peas are different, or at least called by 



different names from those we have mentioned 



The s-erifis of botli sorts there, are — the Michau.\ 

 of Holland, the Baron, the Blois, the Cluster, and 

 tlie Forty-days, which are early, — and the Non 

 Pariel, the Laurence, the Swiss, the Eul Noir, and 

 the Calmart, which are late, 



THE RADISH. 



of this, there are two species, distin^iuished 

 only by tho shape of their roots — that of the one, 

 being long ; and that of the other being round. — 

 The principal varieties of the former are, t!ie 

 Early, the Salmon, the Scarlet, and the Large, 

 which has no characteristic colour. Those of the 

 latter are also distinguished by colour and si:^e — 

 some are large, others small ; some are white, 

 others black ; some aro ash colour, and others are 

 pink and purple. All require a similar soil (loose 

 and rich) and a careful, seasonable, and cleanly 

 cultivation. The sowings of the radish, like those 

 ofspinageand lettuce, must be frequent. "Sow 

 every fourteen days," is the common rule, and it 

 seems to bo a good one, and founded on tho 

 know-n disposition of tho plant, to run promptly to 

 seed. 



RHUBARB. 



Most of the known species of tliis plant are of 

 Asiatic origin, but the two, which alone enter into 

 the food of man, (the Reponticum and Undulatum) 

 are natives of Thrace and Russia. The stalks, 

 which arc the parts used for culinary purposes, 

 grow to the length of twenty-four inches, and ac- 

 quire the thickness of a man's thumb. Stripped 

 of their outer covering, they yield a substance 

 slightly acid, which is much admired, and employ- 

 ed as an ingredient in the composition of puddings 

 and tarts. Cobbet supposes, that a hundred wag- 

 on loads of these stalks, are annually sold in the 

 markets of London, at a shilling sterling per 

 bunch. 



The rhubarb is propagated, sometimes from 

 seeds, and oftener, from offsets from old roots. — 

 It requires a soil, dry and rich and well-laboured. 

 Two years are necessary to render it fit for use, 

 but once established, it will last a century. 



THYME 



Is of a species, embracing not less than twenty 

 varieties, but one of which (the common or culti- 

 vated) comes within the plan of our work. This 

 is generally found in gardens, sometimes in tufts 

 and sometimes in rows ; but however placed, sl- 

 w'ays growing best in poor, light, and warm soils. 

 In those which are cold, stiff, or moist, it does not 

 thrive, its branches become ragged, its leaves few, 

 and its flowers and their peculiar aroma, feeble 

 and faded. When cultivated undor circumstances 



ROSES. 

 Perhaps among all the astonishing prodiii 

 of the vegetable kingdom, there is not one! 

 remarkable than a rose recently introduce! 

 Europe and this country from Cliina, and tlni 

 scribed in Loudon's Gardener's iMaga'zinc, 

 lished in London. Rosa Grevillii, or Gre' 

 China rose : " The shoot of this rose grew eigl 

 feet in a few weeks, and is tho most singuli 

 the rose tribe that ever camo under ray obsi 

 tion. It now covers about one hnndred.i 

 square, Viiith more than a hundred trus.'jcs of 

 ers — some of these have more than fifty budi 

 cluster, and the whole will average about 

 in a truss ; so that the amount of flower but 

 little loss than three thousand. But the moi 

 tonisliing curiosity is t!ie variety of colours- 

 duced on the buds at first opening — white, li 

 blush, deepcv-blush, liglit-rcd, dark-red, si 

 and purple, all on the same clusters. This 

 grows in the manner of the Multiflora, but is 

 ly known by the leaf, which is much larger 

 more rugose than tho common Multiflora." 

 rose lias been introduced into the United State; 

 and we are informed that about fifty phtr.ts ait 

 now in the possession of PJr Prince, of Lon? Is 

 land. Among other roses peculiarly beaiitifu 

 and of recent introduction, is tho sincle uliil 

 Multiflora, tlic double white over-green Multiflota, 

 or Banksian rose. Tho number of China roaes. 

 at present cultivated in the collections at Lqnj 

 Island, exceeds ninety varieties; and of roses of 

 all the difterent species, tiiu number of varicfe 

 eixeed six hundred. [N. Y. Com. Adv.] 



IS" 



TO FARMERS. 

 A writer in one of the Dover papers state: 

 that previously to planting his corn last year, he 

 soaked it as he supposed in a solution of nitre. 

 but fouud, when most of the seed was in th( 

 ground, that through mistake ho had used Glav- 

 her Salts. He planted four acres, the seed for 

 two of which was in its natural state ; that for 

 the other two was soaked in water in which hf 

 had dissolved one pound of the salts. Discover- 

 ing his mistake he of course felt a degree of anx- 

 iety as to the success of his crop. The result was 

 that the seed that was thus soaked came up three 

 or four days before the other, and was not injured 

 by the worms or birds, while one half of the hills 

 on the other two acres required to be planted » 

 second time. He then made several experiments. 

 Some corn that had been thus leached was thrown 

 to a hen, which made seventeen unsuccessful ef- 

 forts to swallow if. When mixed with other corn 

 and exposed where the worms, squirrels and birds 

 could have access to it, he found that it remained 

 untouched, while thp.t which had not been thus 

 prepared was invariably destroyed. — This subject 

 is wortfi the consideration of farmers. The ex- 

 pense is trifling, and it is well ascertained that the 

 salts will have no injurious efl'ects upon the seed. 



i 



