36 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



pod in pods of the same size and shape, making both 

 peas and seeds smaller and somewhat more wrinkled. 

 These two strains correspond, in seed characters, more 

 nearly to the descriptions of Dwarf Marrowfats, but the 

 vines were as tall, if not taller, than those of the other 

 strains. If differences associated with Tall, Large, and 

 Dwarf Strains ever existed, they have either disappeared 

 or no longer follow the names. 



future re f erence, a rather detailed description of what 

 train of White Marrowfat pt.is is here given: Seeds 

 nn, smooth, round to oval, large 80 to the ounce . whitish 

 cream in surface color over orange cotyledons, and with prominent 

 radicle: stem averaging 5 feel in height when first pods ready, 

 adding length later, moderately Stout but requiring support, angular. 

 with short to medium length nm modes, and from few to many 

 basal and medial branches; foliage abundant, dark to medium 



n in color, with little bloom on leaflets but considerable on 

 stipules, leaflets usually four in number, large to medium in size, 

 long to medium in shape; stipules from slightly to considerably 

 larger than the leaflets, of the same color and not usually whitened, 

 moderately clasping, and with teeth about one-third distance from 

 base to rounded tip; tendrils not characteristic, moderately promi- 

 nent; flowers begin about 18th node on unbranched stems, white, 

 borne on long, stocky peduncles, both singly and in pairs. The 

 pods. also, are often in pairs, on thick stalks, with medium sized 

 receptacles and straight, long, rather narrow, flat sepals; are from 



• .1 ' j inches long, broad to medium in width, moderately 

 plump, considerably wrinkled, round to oval in cross-section, very 

 straight or slightly recurved, regular, filled to tip and edge, blunt 

 to square at the end, with a distinct, straight tip; of lighter color 

 than the foliage 'light green to whitish green '; and contain 5 to 7 

 medium to large, round, smooth, whitish green peas, of fair cooking 

 quality, rather better than Extra Earlies. Sown April 27 in a cool, 

 moist season, the strain produced edible peas in 72 days and other 

 pickings for two weeks, giving a " good " crop. Other strains 

 were ready for picking in from 70 to 81 days; but sown three weeks 

 later in a warmer, dryer season, pods were ready in two weeks less 

 time, and the difference between the strains practically disappeared. 



Large White Marrowfat. Refs. 3, 11 13. Since 

 Large White Marrowfat was mentioned by Mawe- 

 Abercrombie with the tall and dwarf types, it is evident 

 that there was some separation between the three at 

 that time, but descriptions would not, now, allow of 

 drawing any line between the large and the tall types, 

 except that the former is usually given as about 5 feet 

 tall instead of 6 to 7 feet for the latter. 



Dwarf Marrowfat. Refs. 3,4, 14 26; Booth Cat. 

 1810; Landreth Cafs. 1824, 1832, 1892; Rogers Agr. 

 Man. 228, 230. 1839; Cot. Card. 2.>:291. 1861; 

 Card. Mo. 36:112. 1884. As with other types, a 

 Dwarf Marrowfat may have been included in Switzer's 

 " Marrowfats "' and is certainly mentioned by Mawe- 

 Abercrombie; while the subsequent references coincide 

 closely with those for Tall Marrowfat, but are much 

 richer in synonyms, which would seem to indicate a 

 wider range of true varieties. Reading the descrip- 

 tions, however, they agree noticeably in everything but 

 height, and the heights differ so widely where a strain 

 under a distinctive name is grown in different localities 

 r in different seasons, that we are able to segregate 

 very few real varieties, or find that these varieties no 

 longer maintain their identities. 



The Royal Dwarf group appears for a time, at least, 

 to have approached true dwarfness. but we have been 



unable to find a strain grown by present day seedsmen 

 that is much below our limits for tall peas, 3'^ to 4'_> 

 feet as grown under Station conditions. Brown Dwarf 

 Marrowfat, as described by Gregory and Landreth, 

 was even more dwarf in its early history, less than 2 

 feet, and occasionally only a foot and a half; but Goff 

 in 1884 gave both Royal Dwarf and Brown New Dwarf 

 Early Marrowfat as synonyms of the variety he grew 

 and described as White Marrowfat, which ran from 

 3 to 5 feet in height. His description for this variety 

 differs in none of the other characters given from our 

 detailed description under Tall Marrowfat. Rogers says 

 as far back as 1839 that Dwarf Marrowfat is wrongly 

 named, as 4 to 5 feet in height, but had been so called 

 for a century; and that it is nearly extinct in true form, 

 those sold for it being taller and having rounder and 

 smoother seeds, those of the original type being much 

 larger, with a rough coating. 



American Dwarf, listed in England in 1841, is 

 evidently one of our native forms, 3 feet tall, and said 

 to be very good, a good bearer, and about a week later 

 than Bishop Long-pod. This tendency to increasing 

 height, decreasing size of seeds and smoothing out of 

 the seed coats is inherent in the Marrowfats, and only 

 most careful selection and roguing will maintain any- 

 thing approaching true dwarfness. The inferiority of 

 the Marrowfats in quality as compared with the newer 

 wrinkled peas has decreased their popularity and so 

 lessened the attention given the breeding of seed stocks. 



Victoria Marrow. Refs. 59-64; Country Gent. 

 18:190. 1861; Burr Fid. Gard. Veg. 550. 1863; 

 Ann. Hort. 125. 1889. Rogers in 1839 says that 

 Royal Victoria, later given as a synonym of Victoria 

 Marrow, was recently introduced, but the latter name 

 does not appear until 1844, and seems to have been 

 first listed in America in 1859. The variety, under 

 various names, soon spread widely in England and 

 crossed to France. It remained in cultivation in 

 America for at least thirty years; and seems to have 

 been one of the best of the Marrowfat group, with very 

 large pods, generally paired, produced abundantly 

 before or in midseason and containing 5 to 8 large peas. 

 It was of the unbranched type and bore its pods well 

 toward the top of the stem, above the 14th or 15th 

 node and occasionally noticeably clustered. The seeds 

 were sometimes distinctly shaded olive or greenish, and 

 often indented as tho inclined to wrinkle, these char- 

 acters accompanying better quality. 



Grimstone Egyptian. Refs. 66, 67; Jour. Hort. 

 Soc. Lond. 1:270. 1849; Gard. Chron. 27:236. 

 1886. About 1845 Grimstone claimed to have come 

 into possession of some peas found in the dust of an 

 hermetically sealed Egyptian vase presented to the 

 British Museum by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, and sup- 

 posed to be 2844 years old. These were advertised by 

 Fames in 1846 as Large New Mummy, and in 1848 some 

 of their original seeds or their progeny were presented 

 by Grimstone to the Horticultural Society of London 

 for testing. The resulting plants did poorly, but seemed 



