VAEIETIES CULTIVATED. 247 



gray, or speckled. Of these the following are the favourite 

 varieties: 



Common Gray. This is the variety most commonly 

 grown. In the south it is met with as a distinct field 

 crop; but in the north it is usually grown with beans, 

 for which purpose it is well adapted, as, being a late 

 variety, it comes to maturity at about the same time. It 

 is very prolific : on rich soils it becomes too bulky in the 

 straw ; but on dry soils, even if the climate be moist, it 

 produces a good return. The pod is semi -cylindrical, long, 

 and well filled, and contains from five to eight peas or seeds. 

 Towards the time of ripening but little difference is 

 observable in the straw; but when thrashed out, three 

 distinctly- marked varieties appear one spotted, with a 

 bluish -green ground, one light blue, and one bluish- 

 coloured green, without spots. When grown with beans, 

 which keep the stems off the ground, the return is fre- 

 quently very large. Under ordinary circumstances it is 

 a good cropper, and the haulm or straw makes excellent 

 fodder for all descriptions of stock 



Hastings Gray is a late variety, but earlier than the 

 last. The stem is longer and more slender than the 

 Common Gray. Its pods are long, cylindrical, and well 

 filled, the seeds being compressed at the side. It is suit- 

 able for light soils in districts which are too late for the 

 Common Gray, where its yield is always more satisfactory 



Warwick Gray is the earliest of the gray varieties, or 

 indeed of any of the field peas in cultivation. It is also 

 known by the name of the Banbury or Nimble Hog Pea. 

 In Scotland it was sown on the 29th March, and harvested 

 on the 20th July. In the south it has been sown the 

 first week in April, and cut in the last week in June. It 

 usually comes to maturity three weeks earlier than the 

 Hastings Gray, and from four to five weeks earlier than the 

 Common Gray, and therefore is well adapted for late 



