THE PEA 147 



trench eight inches wide and two inches deep is made with the 

 draw hoe, and over this the seeds are sprinkled thinly at the 

 rate of one pint of Peas to every ten yards of the drill. Peas 

 suffer very much from the depredations of mice and birds, and to 

 protect them from these it is well to moisten the seeds with water 

 and then to dust them with red lead just before sowing. After 

 the soil has been raked over the drills, black thread, to which white 

 feathers have been tied, should be stretched over the drills with 

 the object of scaring the birds. Or, instead, pieces of fine wire 

 netting fourteen inches wide and three feet long may be bent into 

 the form of an arch and laid over the drills. As soon as the young 

 plants are two to three inches high, the rows should be earthed up 

 on either side. Dwarf varieties, such as American Wonder, will 

 not require further treatment, but the tall maincrop kinds, such 

 as Telephone, Telegraph, Marrowfat, Autocrat, and Early Giant, 

 will require to be carefully staked with trimmed branches of 

 larch or fir, four to five feet high. 



