



CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



nated from their colour the grey or white and the green,* both 

 productive, and when separated from the skin that surrounds 

 them, a food of excellent quality for man, wholesome, nutri- 

 tive, and pleasant and for cattle, whether in a dry or green 

 state, much to be recommended. Sheep, cows and horses, are 

 particularly fond of them; and hogs are more promptly and 

 economically fattened on a mixture of pea and barley meal, in 

 a state of acetous fermentation, than by any other food.t 



The pea is extensively cultivated for use in its green state 

 and no species of cultivation is more profitable than this were 

 it can be adopted for the pea being ready for market in May 

 and June, time is allowed for taking another suitable crop 

 during the same season. The practice of gathering them in 

 their green state, must be necessarily limited to the vicinity of 

 cities and market-towns, in which they command a large price. 

 It is rather, therefore, the province of the gardener than of the 

 agriculturist. 



The pea crop is a valuable one, combining peculiar advan- 

 tages with both the wheat and pork husbandry of this country. 

 As a preparation for wheat, nothing exceeds it. In the state 

 of New York alone, thousands of acres are annually sown with 

 peas, and of course, as many acres are prepared in the best 

 manner for wheat. To hogs, the pea crop supplies the best of 

 food, especially in the incipient stages of their fattening; and 

 coming, as the crop fortunately does, to maturity at a season 

 peculiarly useful for that purpose, gives them an additional 

 value. J 



Soil and situation. A loose, warm soil, moderately rich, 

 and the deeper and stronger for the lofty growers, is most 

 favourable. Stable manure, or unreduced dung, recently turn- 

 ed in, will injure the crop decomposed vegetable matter is 

 the best manure that can be applied. The soil for the early 

 crops should be very dry, and rendered so, where the ground 

 is too moist, by mixing sand with the earth of the drills. 



Sowing. After the ground has been well prepared or pul- 

 verized by cross ploughings and the liberal use of the harrow, 

 the drill may be laid out two and a half to four feet distance to 

 each other, and two inches deep: as peas grown without sticks 

 require the least room, the seed may be distributed in the drill 

 according to their size and season, and as near each other as 

 the judgment of the cultivator may direct. From a bushel and 

 half to two bushels are allowed per acre. The distances 



* The small June peas, the marrowfat, and the black-eyes, are cultivated to 

 a considerable extent, and command, generally, fair prices. 



t Treatise on Agriculture Section ix. The Plough Boy. 



* Letters from a Father to a Son No. xii. 



