262 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



the young pea plants but sparrows are by far the worst cul- 

 prits, and will sometimes work havoc in spite of the dustings. 

 In this case the best preventative is to cover the rows with fish 

 netting, laid over bent sticks and pegged down at the sides. 

 The plants are generally safe from the time they are a few 

 inches high until peas begin to form in the pods, when the 

 birds again become troublesome, and sparrows again generally 

 do the most damage. When this happens lines should be 

 stretched along the rows, to which are attached at intervals 

 various bright objects, such as white feathers, pieces of tin, or 

 strips of paper which, being kept in motion by the slightest 

 wind, often prove an effective bird scare. Of course these 

 measures only apply to Pea culture on comparatively small 

 areas ; in field work a boy is employed to scare the birds when 

 necessary. When sparrows are particularly mischievous and 

 numerous serious measures should be taken during the winter 

 to reduce their numbers. 



Sticking. Peas in market gardens are usually grown without 

 sticks, the haulm being allowed to rest upon the ground. For 

 this reason the tall-growing sorts are never employed in field 

 work. At the same time, where the grower does a private 

 trade and depends more upon a moderate quantity in constant 

 succession throughout the season than 'upon a large quantity 

 for a short period, he will find it to his advantage to use sticks 

 (when they can be got cheaply), because then the pods are finer 

 and the Peas bear a better crop. The dwarf varieties do well 

 and crop abundantly without any support, but even these do 

 all the better for having a little feathery stuff placed along the 

 rows to keep them off the ground. The sticks should be placed 

 to the rows soon after they are through the soil. They are 

 usually inserted in the ground about Gin. away from the Peas, 

 about 1ft. apart, inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, each side 

 being inclined in a reverse direction, and each row parallel. 

 Small stuff, cut from the tops of the longest sticks, is inserted 

 in the gaps at the base of the sticks to help the young plants 

 to climb upwards. Before putting in the sticks hoe the ground 

 well and then draw the loose soil, Sin. deep, to the stems of 

 the plants on each side of the row. When the haulm grows 

 long, and no sticks are used, it is laid over on one side of the 



