On the Culture of the Garden Pea. 77 



are fit for gathering about the same time as, or even sooner than, those of the 

 same sort sown on the 11th of November preceding in the same situation. 

 I gathered excellent race-horse peas on the 26th of May last which were sown 

 the first week of February preceding in the peach-house, and transplanted as 

 described above : this may be considered very earl3' for the climate of Scot- 

 land, and this is none of the warmest corners of it. 



By the accelerating and transplanting method there is a great saving of seed, 

 especially if the spring months are wet and frosty ; and it is more secure 

 against the attacks of mice, pea-fowls, pigeons, and pheasants, the latter of 

 which are among the most infernal depredators that ever entered the pre- 

 cincts of a garden. On making a large sowing of peas, and on passing thera 

 a morning or two afterwards, 1 have been mortified on seeing them ploughed 

 up and masticated by these voracious depredators, notwithstanding the seed 

 in the rows being closely covered with whin croppings.. Since I adopted the 

 above plan of germinating and transplanting my peas, my losses in seed have 

 been comparatively trifling, as I make successive sowings of peas, beans, and 

 French beans, till the middle of May, in the peach-houses, for transplanting, 

 when, for two months after, I get the princi[)al late crops of peas and beans 

 sown in the open garden without much molestation, as the pigeons and 

 pheasants commit their greatest ravages in the spring months, before they 

 begin hatching tlieir young. 



To the gardener who has the superintendence of extensive vineries, peach- 

 houses, flued pits, &c., the above method, coupled with that of a correspond- 

 ent in the Gardener's Chronicle for 1842, p. 22., will, I presume, be a little 

 interesting. 



Germinating peas for transplanting, without either pots or boxes, in the 

 manner I have described,, is attended with less labour than one who has not 

 practised it would imagine. The border of one of the peach-houses here will 

 contain a sowing of two pecks : the extent of the borders on each side of the 

 pathway is only 200 square feet. The following are the sorts of peas gene- 

 rally sown here, witii the height of the straw; a sowing of which is made 

 every fortnight from the 1st of February to the middle of July, sowing in the 

 order they stand in- the list, or nearly so. 



Early race-horse 





Height. 



ft. in. 



- 2 



Knight's tall marrow 





Height. 



ft. in. 



- 6 



Early Warwick 



- 



- 3 



Matchless 



. 



- 6 



Early frame 



_ 



- a 6 



Magnum bonum 



. 



- 8 



Charlton 



. 



- 4 



Tall marrow 



. 



- 7 



Groom's dwarf 



_ 



- 1 6 



Green marrow 



_ 



- 5 



Beadmari's dwarf 



. 



- 1 6 



Blue cimeter 



_ 



- 4 



White-podded 



- 



- 5 



Large crooked sugar 



- 



- 5 



Purple-podded 

 Knight's dwarf marrow 

 Woodford's green marrow 

 Auvergne - _ _ 



- 3 



- 4 



- 3 



- 4 



The two last sowings 

 Early frame. 

 Early Warwick. 



are 





Blair-Drnmmond Gardens, Perthshire, near Stirling, Dec. 1842. 



[The following is the article in the Gardener s Chronicle referred to by our 

 correspondent.] 



Peas in Pots. — 1 have found the following method very successful for 

 having early peas ready by the 1st of May, and I think it may be advantageous 

 for gardeners who have extensive vineries under their care. The peas are 

 supposed to be ready for transplanting by the 1st of February ; so that the 

 same sowing does for the first out of doors as well as for thosp I am about to 

 mention. The seedlings are removed from the boxes or pots where they have 

 been thickly sown, when about 4 in. in height, and are planted thinly into 

 large pots (twelves) which have been filled witli good soil, not too rich. 

 They are staked with moderately strong willows, and run round at distances of 



3d Ser. — 1843. II. g 



