276 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



It is a mere question between the vigour of the one or of 

 the other. Not seldom, however, have we seen the ques- 

 tion decided in anything but the most favourable manner 

 for the interests of the farmer, by the vigour of growth 

 being all on the side of the weeds ; in the struggle for 

 existence a la Darwin the pease, poor things ! having 

 decidedly the worst of it. On the whole, we are inclined 

 to believe that the balance of evidence is in favour of the 

 opinion that broadcasting gives a better crop of pease than 

 drilling, if the land is thoroughly clean previous to sow- 

 ing. We have italicised the if, inasmuch as on it turns 

 the whole question ; for if the land is not clean, and weeds 

 infest it, the drilling system is the best, as it undoubtedly 

 affords facilities greater than that of any other system for 

 getting rid of the weeds which will come up. 



74. The pea crop suffers from the attacks of certain dis- 

 eases and insects. The most common disease is blight or 

 mildew. This arises apparently from a variety of causes, 

 none of which as yet are very well understood j nor have 

 they been, as they ought to have been, investigated by 

 authorities. Doubtless the weather has the most remark- 

 able influence upon the creation of blight. Sudden and 

 also frequent transitions from cold to hot, or vice versa, 

 produce a tendency to blight in other crops as well as in 

 the pea. The soil, doubtless, has also a great influence 

 upon the liability of the pea to be attacked by blight. 

 Thus, it has been observed that pease grown upon heavy 

 clays of the yellow or blue lias formation, have not been 

 so subject to blight as when grown upon calcareous, peaty, 

 or sandy soils. The season or period at which they are 

 sown has also its influence, as indeed has the kind of 

 manure used, and the mode of using it. How suggestive 

 do we thus find the consideration of all departments of 

 crop culture to be ! As to this great truth, that we know 

 comparatively little of what we may call the inner life of 

 those crops their field habits, and what influences those 

 habits, whether in the modes of culture and treatment, or 

 in the more occult causes arising from climatic or atmo- 



