DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



21 



color. Samples of the crop seeds were also taken late 

 in the season, when practically all varieties were fully 

 ripened, and were similarly preserved for laboratory 

 study and comparison. When these comparisons were 

 made it was found that with practically all varieties 

 except those in the Extra Early, Marrowfat and Alaska 

 groups, a noticeable change had occurred during the 

 season, so that crop seeds were markedly larger than the 

 seeds sown, with much more green pigment in both 

 seed-coat and cotyledons, and with a decided increase in 

 wrinkling of the seed coat. So great were these changes, 

 particularly in many varieties of dimpled peas, that 

 varieties wholly cream-seeded as sown became equally 

 cream-seeded and green-seeded at harvest, while those 

 with part green, part cream seeds at sowing became 

 wholly green -seeded in the crop; and with both color 

 combinations, the seed-coats were practically those of 

 wrinkled peas. Similar, tho less marked, differences 

 were found in the wrinkled peas. We ascribe these dif- 

 ferences, either to the soil or to a distinctly moist grow- 

 ing season; but have not been able to decide between 

 these factors. The changes could not have been due 

 to premature harvesting as some have suggested; as all 

 varieties were fully ripe at time of collection of pods, 

 many of them so far along that it was difficult to find 

 pods with unshed peas. 



Peas on our plats ripened quite promptly; but we 

 were unable to secure any such precocity as has marked 

 the advertising of many varieties. Marked shortening 

 of the time to edible maturity could be secured by late 

 sowing, throwing the growth period into days and weeks 

 of high heat units, a diminution of a week to ten days or 

 even a fortnight in the length of time to edibility being 

 readily secured by sowing in late May or early June, 

 rather than in mid-April. In an early test to ascertain 

 the influence of date of sowing on time to maturing, 

 short rows of smooth and wrinkled varieties were sown a 

 week apart from early April to early June, a difference 

 of ten weeks in time of sowing ; yet pods on the rows last 

 sown were ready for picking less than twenty days after 

 those on the rows first sown. A later, more extensive 

 test' in connection with canning crop investigations was 

 made in 1927, to show effect of successive plantings on 

 time of maturity and yield. In this test, Alaska, Sur- 

 prise, Green Admiral and Horsford Market Garden 

 peas were sown in 200-seed lots at approximately weekly 

 intervals from April 9 to May 28, eight weeks. The 

 time required to canning stage was successively reduced: 

 For Alaska, from 63 days from first sowing to 37 days for 

 those last sown; for Surprise, from 63 days to 38 days; 

 for Green Admiral, from 71 days to 46 days; and for 

 Horsford, from 75 days to 47 days. The yields were also 

 successively decreased with the shortened times to 

 maturity: For Alaska, from 30 ounces of shelled peas 

 from the 200 seeds first sown to 10 ounces from those 

 last sown; for Surprise, from 31 ounces to 11 ounces; 

 for Green Admiral, from 40 ounces to nothing (3 ounces 

 for next to last sowing ) ; for Horsford, from 58 ounces to 



4 ounces. In no case was there an exception to the 

 rule, " The later the sowing the shorter is the time to 

 maturity;" and with but one exception, the yields 

 decreased successively with advancing dates of sowing. 

 With Green Admiral those sown April 30 yielded slightly 

 more than those sown April 25. 



The shortest time from sowing to edible peas of 

 which we have any record is one from Florida, 30 days; 

 which again connects days of high heat units with 

 quickened growth; and the longest time in America, 

 from northern Michigan, where 112 days was needed 

 from seeding to edibility of an " early " pea. This 

 influence of early and late seeding and similar changes 

 induced by hot, dry seasons probably account for the 

 great discrepancies in recorded accounts of earliness in 

 varieties; such as the Gardeners Chronicle statements 

 in succeeding years that " Superior First Early was 10 

 to 14 days ahead of Early Frame " and " much later 

 than Early Frame." 



One fact revealed by our tests of peas, and the same 

 applies to other vegetables subsequently grown, is the 

 surprising uniformity in time of reaching edibility of 

 many varieties of similar type. Catalog notices of the 

 different varieties in the Extra Early Group, for example, 

 in which certain ones are commended as " extremely 

 early," " earliest pea known," or " a full week ahead 

 of any other," with data for different growth periods, 

 led us to expect the time of maturing to be a helpful 

 separatory factor; but, to our surprise, scores of varieties 

 on our soils and under our climatic conditions, sown 

 on the same date, were ready to pick at the same time 

 or were separated by such slight intervals that, as one 

 student of peas of wide experience said, " You need a 

 stop watch to tell which is ready first." It is evident 

 that growers must test unknown varieties with known 

 ones, on their own fields, in the same seasons, to get 

 reliable knowledge of relative earliness. 



Our possession of records of early pea tests at this 

 Station, in 1882-1884 and in 1893, enabled us to compare 

 data for many varieties which were also grown, in the 

 same locality, in our recent tests. The later notes showed, 

 almost invariably that pea varieties, unless very carefully 

 watched, rogued, and successively " improved," tend to 

 degenerate with age and produce longer vines, more 

 scanty and narrower-leaved foliage, shorter and more 

 slender pods and smaller peas. For example, Early Kent 

 in 1884 was 2 to 3 feet tall, somewhat branched at base, 

 and with quite large seeds ; while recently it was 3 } •? to 

 3 3 4 feet tall, unbranched, and with smaller seeds. It 

 was very evidently returning to the parent type, Early 

 Frame. 



Such changes in pea varieties as have been indicated 

 above, with the influence of other factors that is shown 

 more clearly in the discussion of individual varieties, 

 must be given due weight in interpreting descriptions of 

 peas, which are possibly more subject than almost any 

 other vegetable to variations induced by age, soil and 

 season. 



1 N. Y. State Sta. Bui. 553:10. 1928. 



