224 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



the same height, 24-inch wire is necessary, but above 

 that width the cost of wire is too great, so I rarely 

 plant the high-growing kinds. The remainder of 

 the fertilizer is applied, between the rows about 

 the time the wire is put up, and cultivation will 

 follow. One or two applications of nitrate of soda 

 are made before the vines reach the top of the wire 

 netting to keep up the growth and to keep the color 

 a dark green. Other plantings are made the same 

 as the first, according to season. The second and 

 later plantings are of the best varieties — as Gradus, 

 Senator, Yorkshire Hero, and Improved Pride of 

 the Market. Later plantings are covered 2 inches 

 or more. 



" Alaska is selected for the earliest planting on 

 account of its extreme hardiness. It does not often 

 rot in the soil, and its quality is good if growth is 

 quick and peas are picked just as soon as they are 

 large enough. For putting on fertilizer a dis- 

 tributer is run by hand, very much like a wheel- 

 barrow. Any quantity can be applied in a width 

 of 8 to 30 inches between or along rows. I do my 

 own marketing and by having peas ready to sell 

 early in June I have practically no competition. 

 Peas come in nicely with strawberries, the two 

 forming an irresistible temptation to the average 

 housekeeper. 



" Some may say that a machine planter could be 

 used to advantage, but I have not seen a machine 

 that will plant the double rows as I want them. A 

 machine that would plant peas i inch apart in 

 double row, with 5 or 6 inches of space between, 

 would be very convenient. As soon as the crop 

 is ofiF, early in July, usually, the vines are removed 

 and fed to stock. The stakes and wire are taken 



