PEA 



PEA 



511 



Golden Vine. The last-named variety is very largely 

 grown and is the one usually met with under the 

 name " Canada pea." 



Of the vegetable peas there are many varieties. 

 They differ from the iield sorts principally in con- 

 taining more sugar, which increases palatability, 

 and many of the varieties have wrinkled seeds while 

 the field sorts are smooth. The wrinkled varieties 

 usually produce white flowers, while the smooth 

 sorts have colored (mostly purple) blooms. They 

 vary greatly in habit of growth, being dwarf or 

 large ; early, medium or late ; and in quality, from 

 moderately to very sweet. Many of the dwarf, 

 early varieties are smooth and only moderately 

 sweet, while the late, large varieties are wrinkled 

 and much sweeter. The varieties named below are 

 grown largely for canning or for marketing in the 

 green state. In a careful test made a few years 

 ago by N. B. Keeney & Son, LeRoy, N. Y., it was 

 found that the number of days from planting to 

 fruit picking was : 



Gregory Surprise 49 days 



Alaska 50 days 



Advancer 59 days 



Horsford Market Garden 71 days 



Telephone 71 days 



Abundance 78 days 



Champion of England 78 days 



Everbearing 80 days 



Some varieties commend themselves to the can- 

 ners by maturing the whole crop nearly at one 

 time, while other varieties have a long fruiting 

 period which makes them especially desirable for 

 the home garden. 



Culture. 



Soils. — For whatever special purpose the pea 

 crop may be grown, the general soil and cultural 

 requirements are much the same. The crop suc- 

 ceeds on a variety of soils. Clay loams, especially 

 if well supplied with lime, are best adapted, but 

 excellent crops are grown on stiff clays. Light, 

 sandy and gravelly soils are not so suitable, as 

 they are liable to dry out and become hot. Mucky 

 soils produce a large growth of vine but the yield 

 of grain is likely to be small. While peas require 

 an abundance of moisture for their best develop- 

 ment, over-wet soils are wholly unsuited to the 

 erop. 



Preparation of the land. — Pall-plowing is to be 

 recommended for peas. This favors early sowing 

 the following spring, which is desirable, and ex- 

 poses the stiff soils, on which peas are usually 

 grown, to the ameliorating influences of the win- 

 ter's freezing and thawing. It is desirable that the 

 land be well pulverized, but, since the pea is a 

 hardy and vigorous grower this is not so neces- 

 sary as for the small grain crops. 



Fertilizing. — When grown on poor soils, peas 

 respond well to manure or fertilizers, but on soils 

 of good fertility the manures are usually applied to 

 other crops in the rotation and fertilizers are 

 rarely used. Some growers maintain that if ma- 

 nure is applied it should be plowed under deeply. 



so that the taproots will reach it during the seed- 

 forming period. 



Place in the rotation. — Peas may be assigned any 

 place in the rotation. When properly inoculated 

 they are capable of gathering nitrogen from the 

 atmosphere and consequently are not so dependent 

 as some other crops on nitrogen supplied by decay- 



Oats-and-peas for forage. 



ing grass and clover roots. Still, an inverted sod is 

 found in experience to produce the best of yields, 

 and the pea crop is most excellent to break down 

 the sod and prepare the land for exacting grain 

 crops, such as wheat. The usual practice, however, 

 is to have peas follow a tilled crop, as beans or 

 corn, and then be followed by wheat. A farmer 

 can almost afford to grow a crop of peas for the 

 purpose of fitting the land for wheat. 



Seeding. — Peas are usually sown with a grain- 

 drill or broadcasted by hand. If the land is very 

 foul with weeds they are sometimes planted in 

 drills twenty-eight to thirty inches apart so as to 

 permit of horse cultivation during the early stages 

 of growth. The grain drill is usually preferred to 

 hand - broadcasting, as it covers the seed more 

 evenly than the latter method. On spring-plowed 

 land the peas are sometimes sown by hand imme- 

 diately after the plow. The seed falls into the 

 depressions between the furrows and is usually well 

 covered by the harrowing which follows. Some 

 persons have recommended sowing the seed ahead 

 of the plow and turning it under the furrows, but 

 this usually buries it too deeply, especially if the 

 land is rather heavy. The depth of seeding varies 

 from two to four inches, being deeper on the lighter 

 soils. 



The quantity of seed required per acre will vary 

 with circumstances from two to four bushels. Rich 

 soils which tend to produce a vigorous growth of 

 vine require less seed than poorer soils. Large- 

 seeded varieties or those producing small vines 



