PEA. 73 



a farm crop of much importance. It is also grown 

 largely for canning purposes. 



In seed-peas the transactions in the trade lead, in bulk 

 and monetary consequence, every other seed in the 

 vegetable line; aggregately, more than 750 carloads of 

 seed-peas of garden varieties are handled annually at 

 present by the American trade. Formerly this pea 

 seed was all imported from Europe, but now nearly all 

 of it is produced within our own border, the exception 

 being what is raised in Canada. Engaged in the indus- 

 try in our country, there are upwards of a score of 

 growers on a large scale, and numberless smaller growers, 

 the great majority of them being located in New York, in 

 Michigan, in Northern Wisconsin, and in Canada along 

 the margin of Lake Ontario. Some of the smaller 

 growers are scattered through Eastern Washington, 

 Utah, Western Oregon, and Northern California. In 

 all these sections the climate and soil are peculiarly 

 favorable for seed-pea growing. In the southern por- 

 tions, or warmer climates of the country, the crop is 

 more subject to the pea weevil than elsewhere, and on 

 that account production of seed-peas in such localities 

 is not undertaken. 



A yield of pea seed depends upon the variety, 

 whether dwarf, tall, small or large-seeded, etc., varying 

 according to season, from eighteen to twenty -five bushels 

 per acre for early and dwarf sorts, from twenty to 

 thirty bushels per acre for taller kinds. Prices for 

 staple varieties range from $1.50 to $2. 50 per bushel, 

 according to variety; newer and choicer varieties, from 

 $2.50 to $3.50 per bushel. 



Pea Weevil. This insect lays its eggs on the out- 

 side of the young pods in the field. After these are 

 hatched, the young larva works through the pod to the 



