VEGETABLE GROWING 411 



to a height of 3 feet, then make a pint of seed sow from 80 feet to 90 feet run, and if quite 

 dwarf, that is, from 18 inches to 20 inches in height, then the sowing may be a little 

 thicker. These instructions should be carefully borne in mind, as it is a common fault 

 to sow a pint of peas in a row from 40 feet to 50 feet in length. When plants are thick, 

 naturally they fail to find root room, or plant room later, and suffer accordingly. Then, 

 when rows of Peas are sown side by side, the drills for tall Peas should be 6 feet apart, 

 3 feet to 4 feet Peas 4 feet apart, and the dwarf ones from 2 feet to 2j feet apart. Tall 

 Peas should be sown only where the soil is deep, holding, and rich, and when it is 

 intended to support them with branching stakes. Peas of medium height pay well for 

 such staking, but if sown to remain on the ground, as field Peas do, the rows need not 

 be more than 3 feet apart. 



Times of Sowing. Little is gained by very early sowing, except on a warm, sunny 

 border, close under a wall. But even then if one be made early in February, it is soon 

 enough. A second may follow at the end of the month also on a --warm border, and 

 from that time two sowings per month may be made in the open ground up to the end 

 of May. That course should give a long succession, especially if the latest sowings be of 

 naturally late varieties such as do best in the autumn. 



Varieties. There are literally hundreds of so-called varieties of Peas in trade, but 

 many of them differ almost only in name. One great feature of present day Peas is that 

 all the best now are of the wrinkled marrow form, and these are much better than are 

 the old round-seeded varieties. All the class known as wrinkled produce seeds when ripe 

 that are much shrivelled in appearance, but when sown soon absorb moisture, then 

 swell up and become double the previous size. These Peas have higher flavour and 

 more sugar in them than the round varieties. Still further they produce much finer and 

 better filled pods, and generally heavier crops. There is little need now to sow any of 

 the old hard-seeded varieties in gardens, indeed they are chiefly sown in the fields for 

 early market gatherings. Of good early varieties the best are Chelsea Gem, Carter's 

 Eight Weeks, Early Morn, Little Marvel, Dwarf Gem, Pilot, Mayflower, Button's First 

 of All, Gradus, Laxtonian, and Thomas Laxton. Second earlies : Webb's Paragon, 

 Defiance, New Model, Carter's Daisy, Buttercup, Sutton's Centenary, Prizewinner, and 

 Dwarf Defiance. Main crop : Peerless, Quite Content, (Eureka, Senator, Ne Plus Ultra, 

 King George, Universal, Gladstone, Glory of Devon, Omega, Autocrat, Telephone, and 

 Carter's Michaelmas. For latest crops choose Ne Plus Ultra, Gladstone, and Carter's 

 Michaelmas. 



Pea Diseases. One material trouble to which Pea plants are subject arises from 

 attacks of those exceedingly minute insects called thrips. These suck the sap from the 

 leaves, and cause them to turn pale and become thin. When that is so the crop suffers. 

 An occasional syringing very gently with some insecticide helps to destroy these pests. 

 Great heat and drought generate them. In the same way mildew is often generated. 

 That is best destroyed by gently syringing or spraying the plants with the Bordeaux 

 mixture, a solution of equal quantities of sulphate of copper and lime with water. A 

 couple of dressings usually kills the mildew , but does the Pea plants no harm. 



The Potato (Solatium tuberosum). Were a teacher about to examine a class as to 

 the knowledge of the members respecting the Potato, no doubt the first question would 

 be, " From what part of the world did it come, and when ? " Taking the last point first 

 it is sufficient to say that the Potato was introduced into Europe rather more than 

 300 years ago, and that Sir Walter Raleigh (the famous navigator of the Elizabethan 

 era) is credited with its introduction into England. But whilst exact data on this matter 

 may be of small moment, it is of importance that we should know accurately as to its 

 native habitat, and the pupil's reply would be that it came from South America, chiefly 

 from Peru, Chili, and Brazil, where it grows as a wild plant, having somewhat coarse 

 stem and leaf growth, and creates in the ground numerous small tubers that were found 

 to be edible. The importance of knowing of its habitat, a very warm part of the world, 

 is that we in cold Europe have to grow it under conditions such as most assimilate to 

 those of South America. Hence we find it still to be a very tender plant, exceedingly 

 susceptible to harm from frosts, or other climatic troubles, the tubers also being too 

 tender to be exposed to frost during the winter. Down to the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century the Potato seems to have made comparatively little progress. But 

 since that time it has been greatly changed under the influence of intercrossing, of 

 selection and of culture, so that now we have the finest varieties in the whole world, and 

 grow the tubers as articles of vegetable food of importance to the human family second 

 only to wheat. 



Propagation. All growers of the Potato find it is easy enough to make stocks to 

 increase by means of the root tubers so abundantly produced by the plants. Commonly 

 the lesser ones are utilised as seed tubers for planting, the larger ones being eaten. But 

 it is of the first importance that the tubers be for these diverse purposes differently 



