THE PEA CROP. 



THE next member of the order LEGUMINOS^E that 

 we cultivate for its seeds is the PEA, which, however, is 

 met with in our " Farm Crops " to a far more limited 

 extent than the bean. It is generally supposed to be a 

 native of southern climates, and was well known both to 

 the Greeks and Romans, frequent mention being made of 

 it in the works of the old writers on rural subjects. Dr. 

 Lindley considers that the Common Gray Pea, still found 

 growing wild in Greece and other parts of the Levant, is 

 the origin of our Common Pea, and of all the highly 

 domesticated varieties belonging to it. In this country it 

 has been known and cultivated for centuries past. Most 

 of our early writers have some mention of it, either as a 

 garden vegetable, or as being grown as a field crop, in the 

 vicinity of large towns, where a ready market could be 

 obtained for it in its green state. Lydgate, a writer in 

 the time of Henry VI., speaks of peas being hawked about 

 in the streets of London. Indeed, before the introduction 

 of the potato, they appear to have entered more largely 

 into general consumption as an article of food than at the 

 present time. Horticulture was then more advanced in 

 Holland than in our own country, as Fuller tells us that 

 in the time of Elizabeth it was the custom to obtain the 

 best varieties from Holland, "as fit dainties for ladies 

 they came so far and cost so dear." 



The pea is a far more delicate plant than the bean, 



17 



