DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



45 



The plants are robust in growth, with a thick, succulent stem 3 

 to 3 ] 2 feet high, carrying dark-green foliage and bearing 16 to 18 

 pods to the plant. Contrary to first hopes, the variety was a dis- 

 appointment, as the large, handsome pods fill very slowly and poorly, 

 are deceptive at first and unsatisfactory when ready. The 5 or 

 6 large peas are of fair quality but not as sweet as those of Harrison 

 Glory, and in neither variety are they as good as true wrinkled 

 peas like Advancer, which they resemble in habit. Harrison Per- 

 fection is a second early, more than a week later than the extra 

 earlies of its time. 



(»lor\ Refs. 40, 41 seems to have followed Har- 

 rison Perfection very closely in time; and was adver- 

 tised by Thomas Wild, of Ipswich, as Gilson's Glory. 

 It is not Harrison's Glory, which is green-seeded. 



It is a slenderer, shorter-vined type ( 2 '4 -3 feet 1 than Harrison's 

 Perfection, with pods fully as long, 3'j to 4 inches, narrower and 

 less plump, with rounded to blunt ends and very small tips: peas 

 5 or 6. of medium size and dark green color; seeds oblong, or almost 

 square, slightly dimpled, grayish cream. 



It was, when introduced, later than Harrison Per- 

 fection; but as grown here it was not later than mid- 

 season : and gave a very good crop. 



Prolific Long-pod. Refs. 50 53; Roy. Hort. 

 Soc. Jour. 12:35. 1891. Thomas Laxton, one of 

 England's most famous pea-breeders, secured this pea 

 in 1858 from a Sangster No. 1 x Prizetaker cross, and 

 it was introduced in 1865 by Carter. It reached Amer- 

 ica about 1868, was quite extensively grown for at least 

 twenty years, but is no longer listed. The name was 

 also applied, incorrectly, to a green-seeded pea, an 

 inferior stock of Prizetaker. 



The true variety was tall-vined, 5 to 7 feet, robust, vigorous, 

 with large, pale-green, whitened foliage; pods slightly curved at 

 the tips, large, 3 to 3j^ inches long at this Station in 1884, broad 

 and heavy, 12 to 14 to the vine; with often 9 or more peas to the 

 pod, of good quality but not equal to the true wrinkled types. 



It seems to have been a splendid second-early pea 

 for market gardeners. 



William the First (Refs. 54, 55) originated from 

 a cross between Little Gem and Prizetaker, or between 

 Little Gem and Laxton Prolific, made by Laxton, late 

 in the '60s, and was introduced by Hurst. It received 

 a First Class Certificate from the Royal Horticultural 

 Society in 1872, was listed in America in that year and 

 was grown at the Station in 1884, but probably never 

 widely distributed here. 



The vines are of the Extra Early type, tall, slender, unbranched, 

 light green in color, with 4 leaflets, and large, whitened stipules; 

 but the pods, and particularly the peas, place the variety in the 

 " dimpled " group. The pods are borne from the 9th node up, 

 on long, slender but rigid, sometimes leafy, stalks, are 3j'2 inches 

 long, broad, plump, round-pointed with very small tips, light green 

 in color, quite rough toward maturity, and contain 7 or 8 large, 

 compressed, ovate or almost wedge-shaped pale green peas. 1 



In early descriptions the pods are said to be dark bluish green 

 in color, with heavy bloom and seeds light bluish cream or mixed, 

 and indented; but seeds received here from the University of British 

 Columbia were bright cream in color, large, oval, and typically 

 dimpled. They are evidently variant in seed coat characters as 

 are those of so many of the group. The variety matures very 

 early and gives good crops. 



Several improved strains of William the First have 

 been introduced at various times, one dating about 1887 

 being called William the Conqueror ( Ref. 56 1. 



Sunrise. Refs. 73 75; N. Y. Sta. Rpt. 3:254. 

 1885. The Messrs. Day, of England, originated this 

 pea before 1880, during which year and the following 

 one it was distributed by several English seedsmen, 

 and by at least one in America. It was tried out at 

 this Station in 1884, and again within the past five 

 years from seed sent by the Idaho Station and the 

 University of British Columbia, from the latter under 

 the name Early Sunrise. The two strains differed 

 slightly, not in season, but mainly in greater vigor, 

 more luxuriant foliage, slightly larger pods and dis- 

 tinctly larger peas in the one from British Columbia; 

 tendencies that marked practically all varieties received 

 from that region where peas grow about as well, and as 

 large, as in England. 



This British Columbia strain differed very little from the variety 

 as grown here by Goff. It gave vigorous plants from 2 to 3 feet 

 tall, sometimes branched at the base; with stems stout, internodes 

 short; foliage abundant, deep green, scarcely whitened and with 

 little bloom, flowers about the 11th node; pods usually single 

 (paired in early test), 2% to 3} i inches long, rather broad, straight, 

 with rounded to blunt ends and small tips, poorly filled; peas 4 to 6, 

 medium to large, oblong or oval, light green; seeds oblong, indented, 

 cream -colored, weighing about 75 or 80 to the ounce. Only fair 

 crops were secured, but these were ready somewhat earlier than 

 in the older trials, when the variety was recorded as rather late and 

 maturing its crop rather gradually. It is probable that growth in 

 a warmer, drier season than that of British Columbia accounted for 

 the earlier maturity. 



References to the use of this pea in the South by 

 market gardeners are favorable. 



Pilot. Refs. 106-110, 152; Burpee Cat. 1910. 

 Altho there are some discrepancies in references, Pilot 

 apparently originated with Dickson ( 2 ) previous to 

 1903 when the pea was given an Award of Merit by 

 the Royal Horticultural Society Hurst & Co., and 

 Watkins & Simpson, are also credited with the intro- 

 duction of peas bearing this name, or similar ones, like 

 Primo Pilot, Primo, and Premo, which, however, are 

 probably strains or improvements of the original 

 " Hawlmark " Pilot. In one place Pilot is said to be 

 a selection from Gradus and in another the result of a 

 cross between this pea and Early William. It was 

 brought to America in 1910, and is now quite generally 

 listed. Pilot seed was secured from two firms and that 

 of Primo Pilot, Improved Pilot, and Premo, each from 

 one source, and all grown here for two or more seasons 

 during the past five years. Slight, but not constant 

 nor consistent, differences were shown between the 

 different strains; but these were not greater nor greatly 

 different from the variations in descriptions of Pilot 

 grown at different times or different places in England. 

 Primo Pilot, all things considered, seems a rather superior 

 strain. 



Height varying. 2 to 3 feet; stems slender to moderately 

 stout; internodes rather long, nearly always branched at the base 



1 This description was made at McMillan. Mich., in the test plats of the United States Department of Agriculture, as the descriptions 

 made from the Station plants were incomplete. 



