PEAS 335 



Planting. As has been suggested, the depth of planting largely 

 predetermines the duration of the plantation and its yield. Because 

 peas require deep planting, and because they are comparatively 

 resistant to cold, they can be planted early in the season. In the 

 latitude of Washington, D.C., seed can frequently be sown in Feb- 

 ruary, although most of the planting is done in March. Farther 

 south the season is correspondingly earlier. 



In market and private gardens it is desirable that peas be avail- 

 able during a long period, and to bring this about it is necessary 

 not only to select varieties which mature in succession but to make 

 a succession of plantings. For the earliest planting some of the 

 early, hard-seeded sorts which mature quickly should be employed, 

 and these followed by the more delicate high-quality wrinkled sorts 

 and edible pods. Plantings should be made at intervals of from six 

 to ten days in order to secure this succession, and the varieties 

 should be selected with reference to the length of time required 

 for their maturity so as to fit into this succession. As the hard- 

 seeded sorts are most robust and offer the quickest-maturing peas, 

 they are naturally employed for the early plantings. 



The method of planting in the market and private garden 

 should be such as to admit of cultivation. A common practice is 

 to make 2 drills about 6 inches apart with a space of 2 or 2\ feet 

 between them, to allow for necessary cultivation. The tall-growing, 

 late-maturing sorts with wrinkled seeds or edible pods when 

 planted in this way will require trellis for support. Such a trellis 

 can be provided by the use of brush, stuck between each two rows, 

 as shown in figure 1 24, or it can be suspended from a wire running 

 parallel with and above the rows, the pea vines attaching themselves 

 to it. Where it is not practicable to use this crude method of 

 supporting the vines, poultry netting can be placed upon stakes be- 

 tween two lines of peas. A modification of the poultry-netting 

 trellis is made by the use of small square stakes about 2 inches 

 in diameter, to which are fastened crosspieces about i foot or 

 15 inches long. Upon these crosspieces, and in a horizontal 

 position, poultry netting 12 or 15 inches in width is stretched. 

 The first wire should be about 10 or 12 inches from the ground, 

 and above this there should be two more, making the trellis about 

 3 or 3J- feet high. The pea vines, as they grow, will pass through 



