66 Notes on some Varieties of Peas. 



Art. III. Notes on some Va7'ieties of Peas grown in the 

 Garden of the Horticultural Society in 1849. By Robert 

 Thompson, Superintendent of the Orchard and Kitchen 

 Garden Department. From the Journal of the London 

 Horticultural Society. 



A GREAT number of new varieties of peas have been intro- 

 duced to notice within a few years, some of which are 

 really distinct and excellent sorts, while many of them, and 

 perhaps the greater part, are so much like the older kinds, 

 that they are not deserving of a name. Among the mass of 

 kinds it is difficult to tell which are the good, and which the 

 inferior ones, only from actual experience ; and this expe- 

 rience few individuals have the time or the opportunity of 

 acquiring. Luckily the London Horticultural Society have 

 considered this as one of the duties to be accomplished by 

 its experimental garden, thus relieving cultivators from the 

 labor of doing so. The first experiments with the pea were 

 made several years ago, and the results published in the 

 Transactions of the Society, a copy of which will be found 

 in one of our earliest volumes (H. p. 427). All the varieties 

 having any reputation at that time, numbering forty-three, 

 were fully described, the period of their maturity and other 

 particulars given, by Mr. Gordon, the Superintendent of the 

 Kitchen garden department of the Society. 



Six years ago, (Vol. X. p. 91,) we detailed the results of 

 our own experiments with six varieties of peas, among which 

 were the Prince Albert and other new and rare kinds, which 

 had not then been proved in the Society's garden : and 

 as bringing up the experiments to the present time, we 

 now have the pleasure of giving an account of a trial of all 

 the new sorts, made last year under the direction of Mr. 

 Robert Thompson, in which the peculiarities of each are ac- 

 curately described, and their relative merits compared. After 

 reading this, cultivators will be able to make their selections 

 so as to include all the best, and at the same time produce 

 successive crops throughout the season : — 



