DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



41 



could have been made for eight to twelve days, though practically 

 all might have been secured within five days. The plants were 

 1 , to 2'j feet high, stems slender, angular but smooth-sided or 

 slightly ridged above; internodes short to medium in length, nodes 

 not prominent; branches lacking or occasionally few at base or below 

 medial; foliage abundant, medium green in color, with little or no 

 whitish blotching, and with slight bloom; leaflets 2 to 4 in number, 

 medium in size and shape, stipules only slightly longer, rounded at 

 the tip and with a few teeth at the base; tendrils inconspicuous; 

 flowers cream colored, usually borne singly, beginning at the 7th 

 to 9th node on peduncles of medium length. The light green pods 

 i short by dry seasons were from 2 to 2 :( | inches long, medium in 

 width, quite plump, smooth, round in section, straight, not con- 

 stricted, with blunt to square ends, having a straight tip. They 

 contained from 5 to 7 peas and held their freshness moderately 

 well. The green peas averaged about 1 10 to the ounce, were smooth, 

 round, and light green to whitish green in color. They are of 

 excellent canning quality for a starchy pea and hold color well in 

 the can. 



Under favorable conditions Alaska yields well and 

 gives peas that grade well for canning; but its great 

 merit lies in its hardiness, permitting early sowing, 

 and the earliness and promptness of ripening of the 

 crop. These characteristics allow the grower to pre- 

 pare the land and sow the seed before the other spring 

 work presses, to get a cash return early in the season, 

 and then devote the land to another crop. 



For garden and for market, the small pods and 

 comparatively poor flavor of the peas are handicaps; 

 though great quantities of Alaska type peas are grown 

 for these purposes. 



\\ inner. Ref. Letter from Austin L. Rogers, of 

 Rogers Seed Co., Dec. 30, 1926. This canners' pea, 

 usually referred to as Rogers' Winner, originated from 

 a few plants found in 1902 in a field of Alaska peas at 

 Alpena, Mich. By selection for increased size and 

 vigor of plants, an Alaska-type pea was developed 

 with shorter pods and much smaller peas, which well 

 met the demand, so widespread for a time, for a canners' 

 pea that would grade high in No. Is. 



In our small canning crop tests in two seasons, 

 Winner on 5 plats averaged at the rate of 2,983 lbs. of 

 usable peas per acre, of which much larger percentages 

 were of No. 1 and No. 2 grades than in the 2,648 lbs. 

 of Alaska, the average yield based on 8 plats of that 

 variety. Winner peas are pitted and indented, some- 

 times almost wrinkled, but their quality is no better 

 than that of Alaska, and the small size of the peas when 

 fully developed tempts to a use of them in canning which 

 injures the quality of No. 1 and No. 2 canned peas of 

 this type. 



Rice No. 330. Refs. 64; and letters, Rice, Dec. 4, 

 1924, and June 1, 1926. Rice No. 330 came, originally, 

 from plants found in a field of peas sold as Canada 

 Yellow Field but really a French canning pea for 

 some years grown in eastern Michigan, much earlier 

 than the ordinary Canadas, with seeds more even in 

 size, much smaller, and of better quality. Among 

 these plants, grown in the test plat as Row 330, Mr. 

 Wilber Brotherton found, about 1905, a single plant, 

 with Alaska-like characteristics, from which, after 

 much selection to get rid of cream seeds, etc., the present 

 Rice No. 330 was developed. From the character- 



istics and behavior of the progeny of the plant it was 

 evidently the result of a field cross between the field 

 peas and a blue-seeded variety, possibly Alaska. 



Rice No. 330, tho very similar to Alaska, is con- 

 sidered superior to it in disease resistance, and per- 

 centage of small peas when ready for canning. In our 

 canning pea tests it was decidedly later than Alaska, 

 outyielded it by one-tenth, and gave decidedly better 

 percentages of the two smaller sizes of peas. 



Hustler, improperly listed as " Hustlers " in 

 Bulletin No. 532 of this Station, is distinct from " The 

 Hustlers " (p. 90). It is one of the peas developed, 

 for canning, at the Ashland branch of the Wisconsin 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. According to a letter 

 from Prof. E. J. Delwiche of that Station, Hustler was 

 selected from a cross between Nott Excelsior and Hors- 

 ford Market Garden, the selection being followed up 

 for the pitted, smooth-seeded type and early maturing 

 habit. " The seed closely resembles Alaska in size, 

 color and shape. In season it is just as early as the 

 earliest strains of that variety. Hustler, as canning 

 tests have shown, is higher in quality than other peas 

 of the Alaska group." 



In our canning crop tests, the Wisconsin Hustler 

 did not grade quite as well as the average for Alaska; 

 but gave a slightly larger gross yield. 



Horal. Ref. 70. The Horal pea was developed 

 at the Ashland branch of the Wisconsin Station from 

 crosses between Horsford Market Garden and Alaska 

 made in 1901, single plant selections being made for 

 five years until the Horal type was established. This 

 work was in charge of Prof. E. J. Delwiche. 



Horal differs from Alaska in almost all characters; 

 but is a canners' pea only, and as it corresponds closer 

 to Alaska in canning quality than to the other parent, 

 it is placed here. 



It is two weeks later than Alaska, only three- 

 fourths as tall, stocky stemmed, with very dark green 

 foliage having small leaflets in 6s, with longer, paired 

 pods borne at the top of the plants, beginning at about 

 the 14th of the very short joints. The pods contain 

 more and much smaller peas than those of Alaska, 

 second in size to Rogers Winner, and smaller than 

 those of some strains of that variety. It grades as well 

 or better than Winner and in our tests was decidedly 

 more productive. Were the quality what the green 

 color of the peas and the decidedly wrinkled surface 

 of the seeds would indicate, Horal would be a surpassing 

 variety; but the quality from the can is little, if any, 

 better than that of Alaska. 



Resistance to root -rot to a remarkable degree is 

 said to characterize Horal; and it has been found here 

 to be quite resistant to one of the leaf-spot fungi, and 

 fairly resistant to the other. 



Market Surprise. Ref. 75; Jour. Roy. Hort. 

 Soc. 39:689. 1913. Market Surprise hardly belongs 

 in the Alaska group, since the seeds are mingled cream 

 and green as to the outer coat, with orange and green 

 under color, respectively. The pods are also very 

 slightly curved and pointed at the end, not blunt or 



