76 On the Culture of the Garden Pea. 



is considered by the Americans as a very powerful vermifuge; the green 

 leaves of Ornithopus xcorpioides blister the skin ; the seeds of J'rachis by-, 

 pogae'a contain a large portion of fixed oil ; the seeds of Dipterix odorata, or 

 Tonquin-bean, is used for perfuming snuff; gum, balsam, resin, tannin,, 

 indigo, &c., are also produced from leguminous plants. Many of the seeds, 

 of this large and beautiful order are very farinaceous, and very nutritive, and 

 compose a considerable portion of the food of man and of animals ; such as 

 Phaseolus vulgaris and P. multiflorus, and their varieties ; Z)61ichos Catidng 

 and Scya, Lathyrus tuberosus, Ficia Fkhsi, and varieties ; /^isum arvense and 

 P. sativum, the latter of which, with its numerous varieties, is the most 

 common and useful of our culinary legumes. 



The Pisura sativum is of great antiquit}', its native country being un- 

 known ; but it is supposed to be the South of Europe. The varieties of the 

 garden pea are very hardy, and not particularly adapted for forcing, but may 

 be accelerated by sowing in pots, in boxes, on pieces of turf, drain-tiles, &c. ; 

 and placing them in a peach-house, glazed pit, or frame, and, when from 4 in. 

 to 6 in, high, planting them out on a warm border along the south side of a 

 wall, and protecting them with yew, spruce, or silver-fir branches, or cover- 

 ing with a pea-case, as described in M'Intosh's Practical Gardener. [Copied 

 by our good friend Mr, M'Intosh, from our Encyclopasdia of Gardening, 

 3d edit., p, 824., without the shghtest acjinowledgement, though the case was 

 invented by us, and not previously described in any other work.] 



I have practised the following method for at least twelve years, and find it 

 far preferable to sowing in pots, boxes, turves, or drain-tiles. When I com- 

 mence forcing the early peach-house here, which I do about the beginning of 

 February, the border inside the house is covered on each side of the path- 

 way to the depth of 3 or 4 inches with short dung (commonly cow-dung 

 gathered from the park) ; over this are laid 2 or 3 inches of half-decomposed 

 tree leaves, put through a very wide sieve, raking level, and beating it lightly 

 with the back of the spade ; upon this the peas are sprinkled as thick 

 as they will lie, so as one seed may not lie above another, and covered with 

 leaf mould 2 in, thick. In the course of three weeks or so, the peas are fit 

 for planting out, being from 4 in. to 6 in. long. A border on the .south aspect 

 of a wall is chosen for the first planting ; and, the ground being dunged, and 

 digged deep and fine, the line is stretched in a diagonal across, or in a parallel 

 direction to the wall along, the border, according to circumstances ; a deep 

 perpendicular cut is made along the line. The peas are then raised from the 

 peach-house border with a three-pronged hand-fork, in large turves, and 

 carried in a basket, barrow, or sieve, to the prepared drill. They are then 

 divided with the hand into small patches, drawing each patch longitudinally, 

 then placing it hi the cut, in the manner of planting box-edgings, letting the 

 roots hang as perpendicular as may be. By this operation, very little of the 

 dung and leaf-mould falls from the roots. The earth is then pressed firm 

 to the roots, and another drill planted in the same manner 9 in. from the 

 former, thus forming a double row; the earth is drawn up about them with 

 a draw hoe, and staked pretty closely. 



I have been long in the practice of planting and sowing my peas in double 

 rows, with the rows from 20 ft. to 30 ft. apart, and cropping between with 

 dwarf vegetables ; such as cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots, leeks, onions, tur- 

 nips, scorzonera, salsify, &c. I find by experience that the peas pod far 

 better, and are not so apt to mildew, when the rows are considerably de- 

 tached; and they are excellent shelter for the dwarf vegetables between them; 

 and also, that transplanted peas do not grow so tall, and are more productive 

 than most that are not transplanted. This may be attributed to sowing in 

 the leaf -mould, where a greater ramification of the roots takes place than in 

 common mould ; and in addition to this, in the act of transplanting, each of 

 the main or tap roots becomes a 7-adix jircemorsa, and the consequence is, after 

 being transplanted, a further multiplicity of the rootlets ensues. Peas sown in 

 the peach-house on the 1st of February, and transplanted as described alcove, 



