40 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



in England tho found in the Chiswick trials of 1860 to 

 be the only Imperial " really worth growing." 



Kentish Invicta. Refe. 34 36; and Bliss Cat. 



Kentish Invicta. possibly the immediate ancestor 



of Alaska, was raised in 1867 by Eastes, a noted Kentish 



grower of peas, and speedily earned the reputation of 



being the earliest blue pea. It came to America about 



and was soon quite widely cataloged and well 



bated, if not extensively grown 



It .... .us at this Station, and descrilx .1 in 



lerable detail in 1884. From this description it could hardly 

 be distinguished from the Alaskas of today but was apparent ly 

 s imewbat taller, with rather lighter colored foliage, less uniform 

 and prolific, and ripening more evenly. 



It is still cataloged in England and on the Continent, 

 but superseded in America. 



Earliest of Ml. Refs. 40. 41; Jour. Hort. 2:132. 

 1881; N. Y. Sta. Rpt. 1:87. 1883. and ."$:255. 1885. 

 Earliest of All was announced in 1881 by Laxton as a 

 Ringleader x Little Gem cross. General distribution of 

 it began the following year ; and seed of the variety was 

 then offered in America It was tested at this Station 

 in the same year and quite fully described in 1884. It 

 was said to be somewhat lacking in vigor and not pro- 

 lific; but in every other respect was identical with two 

 strains bearing the name that were recently tested here 

 for two years. One of these strains carried " Alaska " 

 as a synonym, and the descriptive sheet for this strain 

 bears check marks identical with those for a typical 

 Alaska grown at the same time from seed furnished by 

 one of our leading and most reliable growers of canning 

 peas. It is very evident that Laxton*s Earliest of All 

 furnished the seed, probably from selected, vigorous 

 plants, on which stock later distributed as Alaska was 

 based. The earliness of Laxton's pea is emphasized in 

 English and Continental references of the time and 

 later, with some hints of the lack of productiveness, 

 was noted by Prof. Goff. Unfortunately we have no 

 description of Alaska by Goff since he left the Station 

 before the introduction of that variety. Other author- 

 ities maintain the identity of the two varieties; but it 

 seems almost certain that Cleveland's Alaska was a 

 selection from Earliest of All rather than a renamed 

 portion of the parent stock. As the two varieties are so 

 intimately connected, the detailed description will be 

 given under Alaska. 



Victor, an old pea listed by Tait, was a selection 

 from Laxton's Earliest of All. 



Eclipse. Ref. 42. Eclipse was introduced by 

 Harrison 2 in 1882, and named from a famous race- 

 horse. If it differs from Laxton's Earliest of All, it is 

 only in very unimportant characteristics, such as a 

 peculiarly light green stem and rather scanty foliage. 

 These differences, also, seem to have disappeared by 

 cultivation in other places or other seasons; for later 

 English and French references speak of its extreme 

 likeness to, if not identity with, Earliest of All, Express 

 and Alaska. 



As grown here from Idaho and British Columbia 

 seed, it is a typical Alaska with a somewhat long stem. 



The name is also said by Laxton to be commonly applied 

 to the blue, smooth-seeded strain of his Harbinger. 

 The variety is quite distinct from Burbidge Eclipse, 

 which had green, but dimpled seeds; and from the 

 wrinkled, cream-seeded Eclipse. 



Uaska. Refs. 46 49; N. Y. Sta. Rpt. . r >:248. 

 1887; also letter April 12, 1913, from W. W. Tracy, Supt. 

 Testing Gardens, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. The Alaska pea, in pure stocks, in many 

 selected or degenerating strains, or in other varieties 

 sold under the name, probably is the pea most exten- 

 sively grown in America. Cleveland claimed to have 

 originated the variety about 1880 as a selection from 

 Kentish Invicta, but similarity of Alaska to Laxton's 

 Earliest of All in the hands of other seed growers and 

 testers make it almost certain that the American variety 

 came, probably after considerable selection, directly 

 from Laxton's pea. 



The two varieties were grown under separate 

 names for some time; but the widespread advertising of 

 Alaska by Cleveland and by an agricultural periodical 

 which distributed seed of the variety as a premium, 

 made it so widely known that most growers of Earliest 

 of All sold their stocks, at wholesale at least, as Alaska, 

 though retaining both names either separately or as 

 synonyms, in retail catalogs. The name Alaska was 

 that of a steamship then holding the Transatlantic 

 record. 



The united stocks remained very pure and very 

 uniform for many years, but then, through lack of care- 

 ful selection, the type began to split up and degenerate, 

 so that today there are almost as many strains of Alaska 

 as growers of seed peas; and each strain, unless very 

 carefully selected and rogued, contains many divergent 

 types in greater or less proportion. The situation is 

 further complicated by the practice of making up 

 shortages in America of true Alaska stocks by purchase 

 of seed of similar varieties, usually from England, for 

 which substitution Clipper, Earliest of All, First Crop 

 Blue, Nonpareil, Earliest Blue, Eclipse, Express (from 

 France), and possibly other varieties have been used. 



In tests of canning peas made here in 1924 and 1925, 

 six strains of Alaska were grown side by side, which 

 differed in productivity, in proportions of peas in different 

 grades, and in computed financial returns, almost as 

 much as though they had been distinct varieties. This 

 makes it very difficult to give any description of the 

 variety that would include only the better types of it, 

 and would exclude poor types and similar kinds. 



As grown in the garden in comparison tests, in a 

 rather dry season when vines and pods were not as 

 large as usual, one strain of very uniform type was 

 checked on the descriptive blanks to give the following 

 description: 



The very dry seeds sown averaged about 150 to the ounce, 

 the usual number being 130 to 140. They were uniform in size and 

 shape, smooth but slightly pitted, round or occasionally indented, 

 good light green in color, over green cotyledon color, with radicle 

 showing plainly. Sown on April 27 or May 1, a picking of pods 

 was ready in 55 days, or sown May 22 in 47 days, and other pickings 



