188 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



PEA. (Pisum sativuin.) 



The Pea is grown largely for market purposes in nearly 

 every state in the Union, the time at which it is sown and 

 matures being at widely different dates in northern and 

 southern sections. In any district, its highest degree of 

 perfection is attained under a comparatively low tempera- 

 ture, hence it is one of the many vegetables described as 

 best to be sown in " early spring." True, it is sown for a 

 succession crop throughout the summer months, even as 

 late as August, but the first sowings, everywhere, always 

 produce the best results, and it is from the first sowings 

 only that it is ever offered in market. For market pur- 

 poses it is more a crop of the farm than of the garden, 

 and many hundred acres are cultivated in Southern Jersey 

 and Long Island for the New York market. Warm, 

 light soils, moderately enriched by stable manure or bone 

 dust, are best adapted to its culture, but if the ground 

 has been manured the previous year, no manure is needed. 

 The whole crop is marketed by July, and is usually follow- 

 ed by a second crop of Late Cabbages or Turnips. The 

 two crops together, average a profit of from $150 to 

 $300 per acre, according to earliness, condition of soil, etc. 

 There is an important matter connected with growing 

 Peas, that confines their culture to the vicinity of a town 

 or village ; it is the necessity of being able to get a large 

 number of hands to pick, at the time they are marketable. 

 The variation in one day, in the market, is not unusually 

 from $2 to 50 cents per bushel, which shows the vast im- 

 portance of an early crop. From the sofc condition in 

 which it is required to be gathered, it is a vegetable not 

 very manageable to ship, and the packages, which should 



