172 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



out the row with a line, throw out the top earth on one 

 side; throw out a full spade depth of subsoil upon the 

 other side. Throw back the top dii-t, mixing it freely 

 with well rotted manure. Now put in the soil which was 

 taken from the bottom of the trench ; as this is compara- 

 tively poor — mix it largely with manure. "We make rows 

 four feet apart, and set the plants three feet apart in the 

 row. Very little care is needed in after cultivation. The 

 large leaves will shade the ground and check weeds. A 

 good supply of fresh manure, well dug in once a year, wUl 

 keep the plants in heart and health for a long time. 



PEAS. 



Peas should be planted among the earliest of seeds- 

 They are a hardy vegetable, and will bear severe frosts in 

 the spring without injury. A light, sandy soil is the best. 

 If manured, let only the most thoroughly rotted be used. 

 Two sorts of peas are sufficient for all ordinary purposes — 

 one early kind, and one for the later and main supply. The 

 number of kinds advertised by seedsmen is very great, and 

 every year adds to the new varieties. Many of them are 

 of little value, and many, hitherto esteemed, are supplanted 

 by better ones. The Early Warwick and Cedo Nulli are 

 fine early peas, unsurpassed till the Prince Albert appeared. 

 This is now esteemed the earliest of peas, ripening at Boston 

 in fifty-three days from the time of sowing, and in England 

 in forty-two days. "We hope to be able, soon, to have this 

 variety for distribution. Early peas are seldom of high 

 flavor; none that we ever raised are comparable to the 

 larger and later peas, and it is, therefore, except for market 

 purposes, not desirable to plant very largely of early sorts. 



Of late peas we have, after trying many sorts, fallen back 



