DISEASES AND INSECT INJURIES. 257 



if not in proper condition, it either heats or gets mildewed, 

 and both the straw and the seed are greatly deteriorated 

 in value. It is always desirable to stack peas on staddles, 

 or on a raised frame of some sort, and also to insert a boss, 

 or secure some other means of ventilation through the mass 

 of the stack, as described at page 59. The sooner peas 

 can be thrashed out the better ; for if they are kept too 

 long in the stack the straw becomes very dry and brittle, 

 breaks up into small pieces when thrashed, and a great 

 proportion rendered unfit for cattle, except in establish- 

 ments where steaming arrangements exist, and it can be 

 mixed and steamed with the other food. Few crops vary 

 more in their yield than peas : 32 to 40 bushels to the acre 

 may be taken as a fair average crop, on a suitable soil. 

 Some seasons the ordinary returns are not half this 

 quantity; while instances are recorded of a produce of 

 84 bushels per acre from the Partridge variety in a wet 

 season, and of 62 bushels per acre from the Common Gray 

 Pea, grown on a strong clay soil in the neighbourhood of 

 Cupar-Fife. 



The pea suffers from the attack of the same parasitic 

 fungus that injures the beans at an earlier period of their 

 growth. In this case, too, the same treatment is recom- 

 mended to cut them down at once, and use them as a 

 forage crop. If they are very badly diseased, it is not 

 advisable to give them to the cattle ; but if not too far 

 advanced in growth, it is better to run the roller over 

 them, and then to plough them in as a green manure, and 

 get another crop sown on the ground as soon as possible. 



The insects that attack the pea crop are fully as numerous 

 as those described as being injurious to beans; while 

 there are one or two others which are peculiar to it, and 

 in certain seasons inflict great injuries on it. No sooner 

 are the peas placed in the ground than they are eagerly 

 sought for by the snake-millepedes, which, in wet seasons 



