DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



81 



Yellow-podded Sugar was an old variety, listed 

 by Burr, apparently of the Melting Sugar type, but with 

 very yellow pods, and seeds more oblong than those of 

 most other varieties of the group. Color of pods alone 

 recommended it, as it was not hardy or productive. 

 It was said to be similar to White-podded Sugar, except 

 for the color of the pods; but was white -flowered and 

 white-seeded whereas White-podded Sugar was a 

 Pisuni sativum var. arvense descendant, with purple 

 flowers and dark seeds. 



The descriptions of Tall Sugar, Tall Late Sugar, 

 and Giant While of Thorburn may be inferred from 

 the names. They are very old varieties. 



Inferior in thickness of flesh, earliness and productivity to 

 Melting Sugar, and especially to the Butter Sugar peas, to be 

 described later. They had yellowish-green foliage like Large 

 Crooked Sugar, small flowers and single, large, broad, usually rather 

 straight pods 



Tall Edible Podded was grown at this Station in 

 1884. 



Pods short, blunt ended and of good quality; extremely pro- 

 lific, late, but ripening its crops very promptly. 



Tall Moerheim Giant White, an old German pea, 

 is better than its name would indicate. 



Not specially tall, rarely reaching 4}4 feet, and sometimes 

 much shorter. It is really a Melting Sugar type pea, with 4 to 4}^ 

 inch pods, very broad, plump, straight, blunt ended, only slightly 

 constricted, but very light in color. It is late, but very productive; 

 and the pods are of fine quality. 



WHITE-FLOWERED, WRINKLED-SEEDED SECTION 

 White Wrinkled Sugar Peas. Refs. 75-80. 

 Wrinkling means little in Sugar peas, as the pods, to 

 be of good table quality, must be used before any great 

 difference in composition between smooth and wrinkled 

 seeds can show itself. However, several varieties of 

 white, wrinkled-seeded peas have fleshy pods, of which 

 the following are best known: 



Wrinkled Sugar, or Knight Dwarf Marrow 

 Sugar, is perhaps oldest of the type, tracing to Thos. 

 Andrew Knight who worked on peas early in the nine- 

 teenth century. It is still listed in France, but only 

 as a minor variety, and was probably never grown in 

 America. 



It is a semi-dwarf, 2j^ to 3 feet tall, with numerous, small, 

 paired pods, generally straight, long-rounded at the end, with 

 large tip, narrow, rather plump, not constricted. The seeds are 

 white, wrinkled, square, or flattened and small. The lateness, 

 small pods and comparatively poor yield make it not worth growing. 



Another pea similarly named was grown at the 

 Station in 1884 under the synonym Wrinkled Edible 

 Podded. 



Tall (5 feet); stems strong, much branched; foliage abundant, 

 medium green, whitened not glaucous; pods pale, 2 to 4 inches long, 

 rather blunt at the end, peas large, croweded. It was late, ripened 

 slowly, and was very prolific. 



Late Wyker Sugar and Vilmorin Edible-podded 



were very tall, late, wrinkled varieties with rather small 

 pods, curved in the first, straight in the other. Vil- 

 morin's pea had, also, a rather dwarf strain. All were 

 late, heavy bearers with pods of good quality. 



BUTTER SUGAR SECTION 



Butter Sugars. Refs. 82-88. The edible-podded 

 peas of this group are quite distinct from most of the 

 others, the pods being thick-walled, but nearly round in 

 section, or at least very plump, without notable con- 

 striction, and of most excellent quality, being fleshy, 

 crisp, juicy and fine flavord. 



Edible Podded Butler, grown at this Station in 

 1884, altho Beurre is given as a synonym for it, seems 

 more like White Thick-podded Butter of Benary, which 

 was grown here recently, than like Vilmorin's Beurre. 



Both were 2} 2 feet tall, unbranched, with rather short inter- 

 nodes, medium green foliage, and rather small pods, strongly curved, 

 slightly or not at all constricted and with about 5 peas. Both 

 were fairly early and not very productive. 



Tall Butter Sugar of Gregory, Vilmorin's Beurre, 

 the Thick-podded Butter grown here from seeds raised 

 at McMillan, Michigan, and the Giant Butter of Eng- 

 land seem very much alike, also being 4 feet or more in 

 height, with larger, more curved or sickle shaped pods, 

 later, and more productive. 



Pride of the Garden Golden Butter is like the 

 dwarfer forms first described, with golden yellow pods. 

 It was said to be early, very productive, and better 

 in flavor than other sugar peas. 



COLORED-FLOWERED, DARK-SEEDED SECTION 

 Varieties in this section are undoubtedly derived 

 from Pisum sativum var. arvense, the field pea, and 

 have bi-colored flowers with red or purple wings, purplish 

 marking about leaf-axils, and dark colored seeds ranging 

 from light gray, deeply pin-pointed with brown or purple, 

 to deep self maroon. The seeds usually show much more 

 wrinkling than do those of the white-flowered sugar peas, 

 Nearly all of the varieties are more than four feet tall, 

 and exceedingly similar. None of the varieties is as 

 dwarf as a few in the cream-seeded section. 



Dwarf and Semi-Dwarf Gray Sugars. Refs. 

 89-96. Dwarf Gray Sugar was described by Ferry 

 in 1882, and by Denaiffe, Bolgiano and Brown. 



Height less than l\i feet, but in 1892 Ferry makes it 2 feet 

 tall; and Allan, Dreer, Lindholm, Rice, and others, and tests at 

 this Station in 1884 and recently, make it 2 to 2 J^ feet tall. Pods 

 rather small, seldom over 3 inches, curved, sometimes distorted, 

 blunt ended, small seeded, and fairly plump and fleshy. It is 

 moderately early and quite prolific. 



Dwarf Giant Podded, Prolific Giant Podded 

 and Dwarf Gray Edible Podded were rather taller 

 peas. 



Stems stouter, branching, occasionally reaching 3 feet in 

 height; pods 3 to 3)2 inches or slightly longer, broad, much twisted, 

 with more and larger peas. The size of the peas, with the rather 

 thin flesh, made it necessary to harvest the pods early to avoid 

 the disagreeable taste from the colored peas. 



French Dwarf Sugar, listed by Thorburn in 1892, 

 may, or may not, have had colored seeds as do the 

 taller French Sugars which follow. 



Tall Gray Sugars. Refs. 81, 97-125. The Tall 

 Gray Sugar peas fall into several groups based on some 

 rather characteristic part of the name; but such group- 

 ings are purely arbitrary and if at some time based on 



