52 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



curved, and with pointed to rounded ends, plump and containing 



5 or 6 moderately large, rather oblong, light colored peas, which 

 change to small, square or cylindrical, very finely wrinkled smls. 

 without green. The peas are not quite equal in quality to the 

 green wrinkled Gems. 



Chelsea Rival, offered by Hurst & Son. London, 

 since 1919 at least, is an improvement on Chelsea Gem, 

 with light green seeds. Grown here in 1925 in our 

 tests of canning peas, it proved earlier and better than 

 either strain of Canners' Gem tested. 



Delicia Ref. 20) was probably introduced into 

 America in 1905 by Marlow, and the synonym, Delica- 



n. indicates German origin. It had quite a vogue 

 in the middle west and was cataloged as recently as 

 1923, but seems now to have disappeared. 



The name, and synonym, particularly, tend to con- 

 fuse this pea with Delicates from Holland, and Delica- 

 tesse. a Carter name, both of which are probably Petit 

 Pois. or French Canner, peas of the wrinkled type, and 

 quite distinct from Delicia, since the latter is a dwarf 

 early or second early pea, the others medium to tall 

 midseason varieties, with curved pods and seeds dis- 

 tinctly shaded bluish or green. 



As grown here for two seasons, Delicia is about 2 feet tall. 

 with a slender, trailing vine and rather scanty, light green, delicate 

 foliage of 4 small leaflets and only slightly larger stipules. Tho 

 not tall, the slender vines need support as the rather heavy pods 

 soon reach the ground. Pods begin at the 10th node, single, on 

 short, slender stalks. 2 ■ L > to 3 ' * inches long, of medium width, quite 

 plump, distinctly veined or wrinkled before ready for use. straight, 

 well filled to the blunt or square ends which carry distinct tips; 

 slightly darker than the foliage, medium green; peas 5 or 6, moder- 

 ately large, oval or oblong, often indented, light green; seeds small. 

 often flattened and very' much wrinkled indicating good quality if 

 harvested before too far advanced; crop about as early as any, 

 and lasts but a short time, giving a small total yield. 



Marvellous. Rcfs. 21 23; Farquhar Car. 1914. 

 Marvellous was introduced by Hurst about 1913, 

 came to this country very promptly, and is still listed 

 here. 



It was grown in our tests for two seasons, but did 

 not quite fulfill expectations as to prolificacy or earliness. 

 It was not generally double-podded, nor were the pods 

 larger than most of the varieties in this group while 

 decidedly smaller than those of Mighty Atom, Referen- 

 dum, and, particularly. Allotment Holder. The pods 

 are straight, rounded to blunt at the ends, and well 

 filled, but not especially well colored. 



Another Marvellous is announced as new in the 

 1920 Laxton catalog and said to be very dwarf, to have 

 paired pods twice as large as those of Little Marvel and 

 to be a second early. Still further improvement is 

 claimed for this variety in Marvellous Improved, listed 

 by the same firm in 1925. 



Color of the Laxton peas is not known but the 

 varieties are included here because of apparent dupli- 

 cation of names. 



Sutton Pioneer. Refs. 24, 25; Burpee Cat. 

 1911. This Pioneer is in no way like the old Extra 

 Early Pioneer, and differs from Cooper, Eckford, Sharpe, 

 and Webb peas of the same name, none of which has 

 probably been grown commercially in America. 



Sutton Pioneer was introduced in 1906, was listed 

 in America in 1911, became quite well known and is 

 still sold. It is generally cream-seeded, but almost all 

 stocks show a few light green seeds; and under cer- 

 tain conditions, as in our tests of 1922, many seeds are 

 green. This type is noticed on p. 62. 



Height 1 ' ■< to 1 :< i feet; stems -tout, drooping with the heavy 

 pods, with occasional basal branches; foliage dense, dark green, 

 slightly whitened; pods begin at the 8th or 9th node, usually single 

 and carried by short thick stalks which often show a small leaf, 

 are from 3 ' i to 3 • N inches long, broad, moderately plump to plump, 

 slightly curved especially toward the pointed, small-tipped ends, 

 and dark green in color; peas 5 or 6, very large, long oval, and dark 

 green in color. The crops are very good, beginning as late second 

 early or early midseason and holding for two weeks or more. The 

 quality is very good. 



We have found Pioneer one of the best peas of this 

 group. 



Sutton Hundredfold. Refs. 26; Landreth Car. 

 1917. This Hundredfold, announced in 1910 and 

 reaching America in 1917, is entirely distinct from Carter 

 Hundredfold (see p. 43 1. It is probably derived from 

 Pioneer, above, from which it differs in its slightly 

 darker foliage and even darker, larger pods, altho two 

 strains of it grown here differed more from each other 

 in minor details than either did from Pioneer. With us 

 it was fully as early as Pioneer, though reported else- 

 where as a day or so later; and gave as good, if not better 

 crops. 



Early Lexington Ref. 27) appears to have been 

 first listed in 1923 by Breck, is undoubtedly of Massa- 

 chusetts origin and probably of the firm's breeding. 



Described by the introducer as 3)2 feet tall, it grew at the 

 Station to only 1 ' i feet, and is therefore included with other second 

 early, dwarf, wrinkled, cream-seeded peas. Pods start low on the 

 stem. 7th or 8th node, are shorter than those of Pioneer, 2 :, 4 to 3 

 inches long, dark to medium green, straight, very plump and well 

 filled to the pointed ends, the dorsum also sloping so the tip of the 

 pod is near the center; peas 5 or 6, very large, compressed, cylin- 

 drical, deep green, fine quality. 



Although the pods are rather short and borne singly, 

 they are well distributed and continue to mature for 

 nearly three weeks, giving a crop ranking with the best 

 of the group. 



\<« Era 'Ref. 28 1 was introduced by Williams in 

 or before 1918. Tho called a straight-podded type, 

 the illustration given and the pods as grown here show a 

 decided curve toward the point of the pod. Neither pods 

 nor peas were as good green with us as we anticipated 

 from the introducer's description. 



Pods about the same length, but less curved than those of 

 Chelsea Gem, 2 ' , to 3 1 1 inches long, plump, pointed or very long 

 rounded at the end, and usually contain about 7 fairly large, flat- 

 tened, oblong or cylindrical, light green peas. Two lots of seeds 

 were secured, both from the introducer, which were cream without 

 green in one case 'seeds said to have been grown in Idaho) and 

 green with little cream in the other grown in Europe 1. 



Height 1 ' _, to 2 feet tall; stems drooping enough to render 

 support desirable; pods single, from the 11th node, matured as a 

 rather late second early and gave good crops. 



New Era gave fully as good, if not better, crops than 

 Gradus on much dwarfer plants: but in 1927, under 

 rather unfavorable conditions, the crop was no better 



