DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



57 



1924 and 1925 from German raised seed. The two 

 varieties differ only in height and season, the Knight 

 (Dwarf?) Marrow being 3 to 3 1 •_> feet, and ready in mid- 

 season, Jenny Lind being 1 ' ■_> to 2 feet taller, and very 

 late. Pods and peas of both are practically indis- 

 tinguishable from those of Fairbeard Nonpareil. Jenny 

 Lind was too late to produce well, the hot midsummer 

 weather shortening production. It should be said that 

 the Knight Marrow grown here recently was nearly 

 twice as tall as Knight Dwarf Marrow described in 

 the Station Annual Report for 1884, and the present- 

 day pods were more square at the end and better filled 

 with smaller peas than those grown 40 years ago. 

 Neither then nor now were the crops as good as those 

 recently secured from Fairbeard Nonpareil, though the 

 differences may have been purely seasonal, since the 

 Nonpareil was grown only in 1926. 



Queen of the Marrows. Refs. 88; Hogg Gard. 

 Yr. Bk. H:96. 1873. This pea, offered by McMillan 

 in 1868, is unknown in America, unless, as claimed the 

 next year, it is identical with Ne Plus Ultra, which has 

 been grown here. Ne Plus Ultra, however, has many 

 distinctly green seeds, some with green under color; 

 while Queen of the Marrows was said to be a very tall 

 " white, wrinkled marrow." Hogg says Queen of the 

 Marrows is merely a synonym of British Queen. 



Earliest Marrow. Ref. 89. Veitch(l) introduced 

 Earliest Marrow before 1907; but it is evidently not 

 widely spread in England; and is unknown on this side 

 of the Atlantic except as tested at the University of 

 British Columbia and grown here from seed sent us by 

 the University. With us it proved a midseason variety 

 only, and too tall and too unproductive for popularity. 



Height nearly 4 feet; foliage light green, large, considerably 

 whitened and with but little bloom; flowers low for so tall a stem, 

 10th node; pods single only, 3 or 3J^ inches long, straight, quite 

 broad, plump, fairly well filled, pointed, sometimes dorsally pointed 

 also, of good, dark color, and fairly well filled; peas large, com- 

 pressed, oval, well colored; seeds very large and distinctly oblong in 

 shape. 



Lanjiport ( Ref. 90 ) originated with Kelway and was 

 introduced in 1913. It has been known in America 

 since 1920, and was grown here during three recent 



GEM 

 This group might well bear the double name. Gem 

 and Wonder; but for simplicity in reference the name of 

 the older variety only is used. Two slightly different, 

 but generally similar, types of pods characterize Little 

 Gem, the old English variety, and American Wonder, 

 the American one, to one of which most of the varieties 

 of the group are related, directly or indirectly. 



Both of these varieties are described in some detail, 

 with special attention to pod characters, and the other 

 varieties, so far as possible, are related, by difference or 

 resemblance, to either the Gem or the Wonder type. 

 As with most groups of wrinkled peas, the history of the 

 group begins with Little Gem, since this originated from 

 a cross between varieties very different from the type. 

 Little Gem. Refs. 1, 2; U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 1865. 

 Little Gem, first of the really good dwarf, wrinkled peas, 



seasons. Tho cream seeded, it shows dark green color 

 in both foliage and pods, but the former is much 

 whitened. 



Height 4 to 5 feet; stems stout, with a few medial branches; 

 flowers at 14th node; pods single, as long as those of Alderman, 

 rather broader, better colored and containing more peas. I It did 

 better on the same soil than Alderman, the pod comparison being 

 made with Alderman pods grown on richer soil.) The 5 to 8 peas 

 are very large, smooth, round oval or oblong, and dark green. It is 

 fully as early as Alderman, and when acclimated will undoubtedly 

 be a better cropper. 



British Queen. Refs. 91 97; Amer. Gard. Mag. 

 10:96. 1844; N. Y. Sta. Rpt. 3:243. 1885. Two 

 slightly variant accounts trace British Queen to the 

 Jersey Islands. The reference of 1844, above, says it 

 was grown by P. Le Fauvre in the island of Guernsey; 

 the other ( Ref. 95 ) that peas found in some onions from 

 Spain were sown and the progeny given to B. J. Saunders, 

 Jersey, who propagated them and sold part of the crop 

 to Lawson and part to Cormack, both lots under the 

 name St. Peters Marrow, which Lawson changed to 

 St. Heliers Marrow and Cormack to British Queen. 

 Cormack advertised the pea in 1841, and it has been 

 more or less continuously listed in England until 1913, at 

 least, while seeds of it were secured, indirectly, from Hol- 

 land, for testing at this Station in 1922. It was recorded 

 in an American publication in 1844 and sold here in 

 1845, but probably is no longer grown commercially. 



It is a taller pea than any of the group except Jenny Lind, 

 previously described, reaching 5 feet, and is very late. The foliage 

 is beyond medium green in color, but much whitened, comparatively 

 free of glaucousness and large in both leaflets and stipules, the 

 latter being very round in pair outline and blunt tipped, with few 

 teeth; pods begin high on the basally branched stems, 22nd node, 

 and are borne singly on long stalks, about 3 inches in length, of 

 medium width and plumpness, slightly curved, poorly filled to the 

 blunt or square ends which have small but noticeable tips, charac- 

 teristically whitish green in color, with very smooth surfaces; 

 peas 5 or 6, medium sized, round or oval, poorly colored. In our 

 recent trials the seeds were small and much like those of several 

 varieties previously described, but as grown here in 1884, they were 

 much larger, about 75 to the ounce as compared with 120 now, 

 much flattened and shriveled. The crops were also better then, 

 the variety being called extremely prolific, while now it could be 

 ranked only fair to good in productivity. It was said to be little 

 affected by mildew, an essential point for late peas in most seasons. 



GROUP 

 originated with Dr. McLean before 1862, when it was 

 introduced by Turner. Like others of Dr. McLean's 

 seedlings, this probably was a cross between Beck Gem 

 and " one of the best wrinkled marrows." It became 

 popular, not only in England, but in France, Holland, 

 Germany and the United States, which last it reached 

 in 1865 or 1866, and where it still is listed and grown, 

 tho now less than some others of the group. 



Seeds small, about 130 to the ounce, finely wrinkled, oblong 

 oval to almost circular from hilum to tip, flattened or indented, 

 frequently like sections of a compressed cylinder, mostly light 

 green to medium green, with a small percentage, varying with con- 

 ditions, cream or bluish cream, with obscure radicles, and greenish 

 cream to green cotyledons. 



Height, with us, 1 ' 4 to 1 J4 feet, with limits reported by others 

 1 foot and 2}-> feet; stems stout, angular, smooth-surfaced, with 

 short internodes, moderately branched near surface of ground and 



