62 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



scanty to medium, medium to light green, without bloom, consider- 

 ably whitened, composed of small leaflets in 4s and of slightly larger, 

 blunt tipped stipules, cut for about half the outer margin with small 

 teeth, and clasping the stem lightly; tendrils inconspicuous: flow..-. 

 began at the 7th or 8th node, white with a distinct bluish shade; 

 slender stalks, broad, plump, round to oval in 

 o, straight, somewhat wrinkled, light in color, pointed, some- 

 tall) pointed also and without distinct tips, in our tists 

 much shorter than as usually described. 2 1 . to 3 inches long, while 

 English references give lengths as great as 6 inches, and other 



nches. Unless verj long, the plump- 

 ness of the pods gives them a stocky or stubby appearance excep- 

 tional in pointed ixhIs: and the long rounding of the ends makes 

 them appear somewhat curved, peas 5 to 7. large, handsome, 

 round to slightly indented, oval, light green in color, of excellent 

 quality: seeds much larger and more wrinkled than those of Dwarf 

 Telephone and largely cream colored. The crops were almost first 

 early and when the pea was successful, better than good. 



Laxtonian. Refs. 37; Allen. Sterling 6s Lothrop 

 Cat. 1913. Laxtonian was introduced by Laxton Bros, 

 before 1907, and was brought to America six years 

 later. It is becoming well known and very popular. 

 Three strains of it were grown in our recent tests, and 

 found to be satisfactorily uniform, the differences 

 noticed being of little horticultural importance. 



Height 1 ' , to 1 ' j feet : stems stout, short-jointed, unbranched 

 or occasionally branched both at base and above, erect or 

 slightly drooping; foliage medium to abundant, rather dark 

 with leaflets in 4s. noticeably variant in size, and stipules 

 slightly glaucous and whitened, only slightly larger than the 

 leaflets, round-tipped and serrate to about the middle; tendrils not 

 prominent, usually rather slender and much curled; flowers white. 

 of medium size, usually single but occasionally paired, beginning 

 from 6th to 8th node, on long stalks when paired, of medium length 

 when single, and rather slender; pods mostly 3 :i „ inches long, 

 but occasionally only 3 inches, quite broad, moderately plump 

 varying from round to broadly oval in section, straight or slightly 

 curved toward the tips, occasionally somewhat depressed between 

 the peas, with long-rounded or pointed ends, sometimes dorsally 

 slanted to the ends, also, and with a distinct to small, straight or 

 slightly recurved tip, and filled to the edges but not quite to the 

 tips: peas average 5 or more, large, round or somewhat indented. 

 oval to oblong, almost dark green, of splendid quality except for 

 slightly tough skins: seeds not quite as large as those of World 

 Record, about 105 to the ounce, about equally dark cream and light 

 green in color, very well wrinkled. It is a second early variety, 

 about with Little Marvel and Premium Gem and a few days to a 

 week ahead of Gradus Prosperity and Thomas Laxton; and 

 usually a good to very good producer. 



Pioneer Sutton Pioneer). Refs. 24, 25 of Wrinkled, 

 Cream-Seeded group, 39; Gregory Cat. 1916. Of three 

 English " marrowfat " Pioneer peas, Eckford's 5 feet high 

 and introduced in 1906, Webb's, 3'j feet, introduced 

 before 1912, and Sutton's, introduced in 1906, the latter, 

 alone, seems to have been grown in the United States, 

 which it reached in 1916. 



It is an improved type of Laxtonian, 1 ' i to 1 ' j feet 

 tall, and unusually robust, with light green to medium 

 green foliage and somewhat darker colored, long, very 

 slightly curved pods, with long rounded to pointed ends, 

 sometimes also dorsally pointed, and small or no tips. 

 It is said to be similar to Peter Pan, but with rather 

 narrower, less uniform pods; and to produce heavy crops. 



Disc ov er y . Refs. 40: Burpee Cat. 1915. Dis- 

 covery was introduced by Sutton in 1910, and was 

 brought to America in 1915. While in general habit 



somewhat like Laxtonian, it is much longer podded 

 and somewhat later, being more like Sutton Superlative. 



Compared with Laxtonian, as both grew here, it is about 

 iu thud taller, 2 ' ■_• feet; stem more slender, much enlarged above, 

 drooping or almost trailing but succeeding fairly well without 

 support, more often branched; foliage with bluish shade, glaucous 

 but not whitened, consisting of large, broad leaflets in 4s and 6s, 

 and very large, wrinkled, round-tipped, deeply clasping stipules, 

 distinctly tinted bluish; tendrils large and prominent; flowers began 

 higher, about the 12th node, borne singly on short, heavy stalks, 

 pods massive, longer, 3 :1 4 to 4 i inches, broad, almost plump, 

 showing considerable coarse wrinkling, straight, with rounded ends 

 with a short, slightly dorsal slope to a small, but distinct slightly 

 recurved tip. somewhat lighter in color than the foliage, usually 

 well tilled to the tip. but not to the edge; peas 6 to 8, very large, 

 smooth, oblong, dark green, of fine quality; seeds also very large, 

 85 to 90 to the ounce, oblong, flattened, moderately wrinkled, and 

 varying in color from almost pure deep cream as received from Idaho, 

 to medium green with some bluish cream as furnished by an Ameri- 

 can seedsman, or deep green to greenish cream, coming from England. 

 Sown in late May, Discovery required nearly 9 weeks to produce 

 marketable pods, or 10 weeks if sown two weeks earlier. It gave 

 only good crops. 



Peter Pan. Refs. 42; Thorburn Cat. 1912. The 

 first reference found to Peter Pan is in an American 

 catalog in 1912; but it was apparently introduced in 

 1910 by Watkins & Simpson, London, England, and 

 received a Certificate from the Royal Horticultural 

 Society in 1920. It has been much listed in the United 

 States and is still extensively grown in home gardens 

 and, to some extent for market, because of its good 

 yield, fairly early, of beautiful large pods. 



As grown here: Height 1 ' £ to 1 \ feet; stem stout but slightly 

 drooping, branches few, basal; foliage abundant, almost dark green, 

 very much like that of Laxtonian in shape; flowers at 5th to 7th 

 node, single, on rather short stalks; pods of about the same length 

 as those of Laxtonian, 3'| to 4 inches, similarly wide and plump, 

 but distinctly curved toward the point and without distinct tips; 

 not filled quite as well in our tests, but equally well colored; peas 

 very similar, noticeably long oblong, in each variety; seeds not 

 quite as finely, tho fully, wrinkled. Peter Pan and Laxtonian arc 

 the same in season, and the former a rather better producer. 



Blue Bantam iRefs. 44 47) was introduced by 

 Burpee in 1912. 



It is so similar to Laxtonian in every way that 

 descriptions of the two varieties, made independently, 

 would not separate them. One comparison of them, 

 made by a large grower of seed peas, makes Blue Ban- 

 tam taller, a day later, and with pods a quarter of an 

 inch longer than Laxtonian. Under our conditions, 

 Blue Bantam was shorter than one strain of Laxtonian, 

 taller than another, was one or three days earlier, and 

 gave length measurements of 4 inches maximum, and 

 3 1 -» to 3 : ''i inches for the run of a very even lot of pods, 

 while the two lots of Laxtonian gave 3 1 ■> to 3" s inches 

 for general run and 3 inches minimum for pods of one 

 strain and 3 : ' % to 3" s inches, with the same minimum, 

 for the other strain. The foliage of Blue Bantam showed 

 some leaflets in 2s, and often with square tips. Only 

 occasional basal branches were noted; but one strain 

 of Laxtonian showed no branches, the other both basal 

 and medial. 



If Blue Bantam and Laxtonian were originally dis- 

 tinct, they have approached each other with age, or 



