Select Varieties of Peas. 229 



SELECT VARIETIES OF PEAS. 



We find in seedsmen's catalogues for the present season nearly one hun- 

 dred varieties of peas. Of this numerous list, some are described as being 

 the earliest known ; others are recommended for their great productive- 

 ness ; some are said to be of superior quality for the table ; and, again, 

 others are represented as being particularly valuable for the length of time 

 the plants continue in bearing. Now, as four or five sorts are all that will 

 be generally required for a home-garden, which shall we select ? 



In the first place, many of the kinds exist only in name ; and, with many 

 of the others, the marks of variation are trifling and unimportant. Of two 

 hundred and thirty-five reputed sorts, carefully tested a few years since in 

 the gardens of the London Horticultural Society, only twenty-seven proved 

 to be well marked and truly useful ; and this reduction, — great as it seems 

 to be, — it was thought at the time, might safely have been brought down to 

 scarcely more than half a dozen. 



It would be difficult, and perhaps impossible, to prepare from our cata- 

 logue of a hundred kinds a list proportionally small and select ; and we 

 shall not attempt to do so. We only propose to give the names of a few, 

 which, in our experience, have proved distinct and valuable. 



As "first early," or " extra early," the Dan 0''Rourke, and Carter's First 

 Crop, are desirable varieties. The former has been the longer known, and 

 is, we think, the better pea. Dil/istone's Early, originally sent out as being 

 a week earlier than the Dan O ^Rourke, has no merit over other early sorts, 

 and is being dropped from catalogues. 



Tom Thumb is a genuine dwarf If the variety is true, the plants will 

 not average more than ten inches high. By some it is considered as early 

 as the Dan O'Rourke, though our experience proves it a few days later. 

 The pods should be plucked while quite young, as the peas harden quickly, 

 and soon become unfit for the table. Beck's Gem is another of the class 

 termed " dwarfs," and has been grown to some extent as a substitute for 

 the Tom Thumb, not, it should be stated, because of its superiority, but 

 on account of the limited supply, and consequent high price, of the seeds 

 of the latter variety. McLean's Little Gem is one of the most promising 



