Book VI. 



THE PEA. 



835 



leaves upon the surface. The legumes cultivated in British farming are, the pea, bean, 

 tare, and vetch, to which might be added the lentil, kidneybean, and chick pea. 



5190. The nulrUive products of these plants are thus given by Sir H. Davy, Einhoff, 

 and Thaer : 



Sect. I. The Pea. Vhtwi sciCivum L. ; Diadelphia Decdndria L., and Legummbsce 3 . 

 Les Pais, Fr. ; Erb^e, Ger. ; Piscello, Ital. ; and Pesoles, Span. {Jig. 741.) 



741 5191. The pea is the most esteemed legume hi field culti- 



vation, both for its seed and haulm. It is supposed to be a 

 native of the south of Europe, and was cultivated by the 

 Greeks and Romans. In this country it has been grown 

 from time immemorial : but its culture appears to have 

 %. diminished since the more general introduction of herbage, 

 ^^ plants, and roots ; and the pea, except near large towns for 

 gathering green, and in a few places for boiling, has given 

 way to the bean, or to a mixture of peas and beans. 

 There are various inducements, however, to the cultiva- 

 tion of peas in dry warm soils near large towns. When 

 the crop is good and gathered green, few pay better : the 

 payment is always in cash, and comes into the pocket of 

 the farmer in time to meet the exigencies of the hay, and 

 sometimes even of the corn, harvest. The ground, after 

 the peas have been removed, is readily prepared for turnips, 

 which also pay well as a retail crop near towns ; and the 

 haulm is good fodder. 



5192. The varieties of the pea are numerous; but they 

 may be divided into two classes : those grown for the ripened seed, and those grown for 

 gathering in a green state. The culture of the latter is chiefly near large towns, and 

 may be considered as in part belonging to gardening rather than agriculture. There has 

 lately a new sort of pea been brought into notice about Banbury in Oxfordshire. It is. 

 called the " nimble hog pea." It appears to be a grey variety of the early frame, as it 

 has single flowers, and is fit to cut about the end of June, notwithstanding it must not be 

 sown earlier than the middle of April. On the excellent land about Banbury the pro- 

 duce is four quarters to the acre, and turnips sowed on the stubble are up and sometimes 

 hoed out before the regular turnip crop ! 



5193. The grey varieties {Poisgris, Pois-agneatf, Bisaille, Fr.) are, the early grey, the late grey, and the 

 purple grey ; to which some add the Marlborough grey, and horn grey. 



5194. The white varieties {Puis blanc, Fr.) grown in fields are the pearl, early Charlton, golden hotspur, 

 the common white or Suffolk, and other Suffolk varieties. 



5195. New varieties of the pea are readily procured by selection or impregnation, of which a striking 

 example given by Knight has been already referred to. (1632.) 



51 96. In the choice of sorts, where it is desired to grow grey peas for the sake of the 

 seeds or corn, the early variety is to be preferred in late situations, and the late variety in 

 early ones ; but when it is intended to grow them chiefly for covering the ground and for 

 the haulm, then the late varieties claim the preference, and especially the purple grey. 

 Of white peas, to be grown for gathering green, the Charlton is the earliest, and the pearl 

 or common Suffolk the most prolific. When white peas are grown for boilers, that is for 

 splitting, the pearl and Suffolk are also the best sorts. 



5197. To have recourse to early sorts is supposed by some to be of considerable importance in the economy 

 of a farm, when the nature of the soil is suitable, as by such means the crops may in many cases be cut 

 and secured while there is leisure, before the commencement of the wheat harvest ; and that where the 

 nature of the soil is dry and warm, and the pea crop of a sufficiently forward kind, it may be easy to obtain 

 a crop of turnips from the same land in the same year, as has been suggested above. But in this view it is 

 the best practice to put in the crops in the row method, and keep them perfectly clean by means of atten- 

 tive hand and horse hoeing ; as in that way the land will be in such a state of preparation for the turnips, 

 as only to require a slight ploughing, which may be done as fast as the pea crop is removed, and the turnip 

 seed may be drilled in as quickly as possible upon the newly turned up earth. In some particular districts 

 a third crop is even put into the same land, the turnips being sold oft'in the autumn, and coleworts sub- 

 stituted for the purpose of greens in the following spring. This, accordiiig to Middleton, is the practice in 



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