26 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



no longer found in American gardens ; and was not grown 

 at the Station. 



I ..rl> Kent. Refs. 56. 57; your. Horr. 1»:378. 

 1872; Mag. Horr. 16:67. 1850; Hovey Cat. 1859; 

 Rural N. Y. 12:271. 1861; New York Sta. Rpt. 1:86. 

 1883. Syns. 7 tCharlton and Hotspur), 20 (first*. 35. 

 51, 55 second and third . Tho available records do not 

 show Early Kent until a year or two after Prince Albert 

 was offered for sale, the latter was called the seedling of 

 Early Kent when tested in the gardens of the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London, so Early Kent must have been 

 the older. It was grown very extensively at Higham, 

 Kent, a very early locality, the combination of place 

 and earliness giving the pea its name in London mar- 

 kets. It was in America before 1850, but probably never 

 as extensively grown, at least under its own name, as 

 Prince Albert. It was grown and quite fully described 

 by Prof. Goff, Horticulturist of this Station, in 1884; and 

 was again tested here for three seasons beginning in 1922. 

 Goff's description differs very slightly, in points 

 covered, from the one made later. 



The plants were distinctly dwarfer, with some tendency to 

 branching from the base, and seeds decidedly larger. The change to 

 taller, unbranched vines and smaller seeds is quite plain evidence 

 that the variety is returning with age to the original type. Early 

 Frame or its predecessors. As grown at the Station in 1893 Bui. 69) 

 it was one of the most productive first earlies. 



In the recent Station tests the plants were 3 1 ;; to 3 3 ( feet 

 tall; stems slender, but becoming coarse, hollow and square towards 

 tips, unbranched: foliage dense, dark to medium green, without 

 bloom even on stipules and not whitened: leaflets and stipules like 

 those of Early Frame; flowers and pods like those of Landreth 

 Extra Early but latter more uniform in size averaging slightly longer 

 and frequently containing one pea more; seeds smaller and more 

 likely to show some green shading. Not as early by two or three 

 days as Landreth and had a longer season. The yield was very 

 poor. 



Now a wholly undesirable variety. 



Earlj May. Refs. 35, 62-64; Hogg Gard. Yt. 

 Bk. It: 72. 1873. Early May was grown in England 

 previous to 1837; was listed in America 10 years later. 

 Hogg calls it a synonym of Early Kent. No satisfactory 

 description was found except in late French sources. 



In the earliest of these the height was given as 3 ' :j to 3' 2 feet; 

 flowers from 8th or 9th node; pods in 7 or 8 tiers, or circles, paired, 

 straight, square-ended; peas 6-8, small; seeds round, white or sal- 

 mon tinted, 130 or more to the ounce. It was a second early, a 

 free and long bearer, and useful market gardener's pea. A quite 

 recent description makes the plants decidedly shorter-stemmed, 

 with pods borne very low and often in nine tiers. It resembles 

 Caractacus. flowering at the same time but maturing more slowly, 

 and more productive. 



Probably not now grown in America. 



Sutton Karl\ Champion. Refs. 68 70; Mcintosh 

 Bk. Gard. 2:51, 56. 1855. Syns. 36,40,68-70. This 

 Early Champion was advertised by Sutton in 1849, 

 which is probably about the date of origin; and its 

 similarity to other existing varieties was soon noticed. 

 No American references to it under its own name have 

 been found; but it may have been grown under one of 

 its synonyms. The original type was said, a few years 

 after its introduction, to be a variety of Early Frame 

 and to have no merit over the original; and the improved 



type, introduced nearly twenty years later, was con- 

 sidered identical with Daniel O'Rourke. 



As grown at the Station, from University of British Columbia 

 seed, it was decidedly early, rather more dwarf but similar in most 

 respects to the typical Frames; flowering low; with shorter pods, 

 somewhat wrinkled when at best stage for picking, containing 

 only 3-5 peas, considerably larger than those of many other extra 

 earlies. The seeds were also rather large, often slightly pitted, 

 and many were distinctly shaded grayish green over the orange 

 colored cotyledons. 



Sangster No. 1. Refs. 77-85; U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Rpt. 1856; Burr Fid. Gard. Veg. 533. 1836; Hogg Gard. 

 Yt. Bk. 11:72. 1873. Syns. 34, 70 (Daniel O'Rourke, 

 Sutton Improved Early Champion), 73, 77 85. Sang- 

 ster No. 1 has been one of the most famous peas, both in 

 England and America. It was first announced in 1851 

 by Hay, Sangster & Co., and was, within a few years, 

 probably the source of more comments, reports of trials, 

 lists of synonyms, etc., than any other pea. It, with 

 Dickson First and Best, was said to show no frost injury 

 in a trial where several other strains were severely hurt. 



It came to America very promptly, being tested in 

 Mississippi in 1856 and there found the best of nine 

 varieties. Burr gives the name only as a synonym of 

 Daniel O'Rourke; which Hogg reverses; but both 

 strains have been repeatedly cataloged since then by 

 many American seedsmen. 



Fragmentary descriptions of the Sangster differ slightly among 

 themselves but not more so than do plants of it grown at the 

 Station from seed obtained in British Columbia and in England. 

 From the first, seeds sown May 22, pods were ready in 42 days, 

 and from the second lot, sown on the same date in another season, 

 in 49 days. When both were sown on May 1, in the same year, 

 the British Columbia strain was three days earlier than the other, 

 — 54 and 57 days. 



The British Columbia strain was slightly taller, flowered 

 two nodes higher, and was rather smaller in pod, with somewhat 

 fewer seeds to the pod, slightly larger peas and seeds, and the latter 

 are all bright cream in color, while the English seeds were duller 

 cream with a decided admixture of light green. Early descriptions 

 emphasize the whiteness of the flowers of Sangster No. 1 , as separat- 

 ing it from a few other strains; but this does not apply generally; 

 and no marked differences separate the plants grown at the Station 

 from those of varieties previously described. It has the same 

 approximate season, plants 2 to 2 '4 feet high, medium to slender, 

 usually unbranched stems; abundant dark green almost bloomless 

 foliage, with regular leaflets; single or occasionally paired, medium 

 sized, plump, blunt -ended pods, slightly lighter in color than the 

 foliage; and the same light green, almost round peas, which change 

 to cream colored, occasionally light green seeds, all with orange- 

 colored cotyledons, and averaging about 125 to the ounce. 



The rather small pods and comparatively poor 

 yields of Sangster No. 1, and other varieties directly 

 grouped with it, make them now unworthy of con- 

 sideration. 



Dani.l O'Rourke. Refs. 90-98; Mag. Hort. 21: 

 397. 1855; Rural N. Y. 12:271, 1861; Hawley Cat. 

 1868; Gard. Mo. 22: 113. 1880; Vilmorin-Robinson Veg. 

 Gard. 495. 1920; Cent. Exptl. Farm. (Can.) Bui. 34: 

 20. 1902. Daniel O'Rourke ranks with Sangster No. 1 

 as a much discussed pea; and the two in recent years, 

 at least, have been considered synonymous, choice of 

 name depending on preference or prejudice of the user. 

 According to David Landreth, Geo. Charlwood, an Eng- 



