DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



91 



apparently introduced at the same time, about 1910, by Carter. 

 They were real improvements, in size of pods, on Express and 

 Lightning. Giant Express is taller in vine than Alaska, 4 J o to 5 

 feet, with 3 ' 2-inch, rather broad, slightly curved pods. It was 

 brought to America very shortly after its introduction in England; 

 but has not been widely grown 



MINOR VARIETIES 

 SEEDS CREAM 



Bunksian Marrow. Refs. 21; Thorburn Cat. 1861. In 



1860, in trials of the Royal Horticultural Society, Banksian Marrow 

 was considered as practically identical with Scimitar, but straighter 

 podded; but in 1867. ten years after its introduction, was called an 

 improvement on it, without specifying in what respect. 



It was listed in America in 1861; but apparently little grown 

 either in England or here. 



Etampes Wonder iRefs. 29, 30) was found in a sowing of 

 peas made shortly before 1883 by M. Bonnemain of Etampes, 

 France. It was widely cultivated in France; but not recorded in 

 the United States except for our recent tests of it and one made here 

 in 1884. 



It is much like Auvergne, but with longer, decidedly broader 

 pods, holding width nearer to the point, better filled so that the 

 more numerous peas i 7-9 ) are compressed in the pod. It is a mid- 

 season variety, and one of the best yielders of the Scimitar group. 

 The plants in our recent rest were about a foot taller than those 

 grown in 1884. 



Glory of Cassel iRefs. 31, 32; Hogg Gard. Yr. Bk. U:75. 



1873 , a pea very much like White Scimitar, was sent to this Station 

 for testing in 1886 by Haage & Schmidt; but an English reference 

 calls it " new " in 1871. Hogg says Glory of Cassel was similar to 

 Auvergne, but inferior to it and two days later. 



It was about 2 ] 2 feet tall, branched, with medium green, 

 scarcely whitened foliage, with paired pods, 2j^ to 3 inches long, 

 usually strongly curved, with rounded to blunt points, very plump, 

 sometimes being thicker than wide, light green in color with marked 

 bloom, and containing 6-8 roundish peas. Pods were ready in 

 midseason and crop rather better than good. 



Gold von Blockshur*; (Ref. 341 was sent the Station for 

 testing by the University of British Columbia in 1892; but we found 

 no record of it except its listing by Haage & Schmidt in 1899, and 

 its inclusion in Vilmorin-Robinson's Vegetable Garden in 1920 

 as a German variety rather like White Scimitar 



As grown here it was 33 o feet tall, with medium to dark green 

 foliage, the leaflets being very broad. The pods were very similar 

 to those of Petit Pois, but not quite so long nor so slender, and 

 were less well filled because of many abortive peas. The pods became 

 noticeably yellow before ready for picking, the peas yellowish green, 

 and the seeds deeper in color than other cream seeded peas. It was 

 a midseason variety and fairly productive. 



SEEDS GREEN 



Batt Wonder. Refs. 22; Burr Fid. Gard. Veg. 521. 1863; 

 Hogg Gard. Yr. Bk. 14:88. 1873; Vilmorin-Robinson, 541. 1920. 

 This pea attracted some attention and caused a dispute in England, 



Earliest Perfection iRefs. 74; Shumway Car. 1922) was 

 listed by Shumway previous to 1902. From his description and 

 figure, and from growth here for three seasons, it appears to be very 

 similar to Market Surprise, but not quite so tall, a day or two later, 

 and with almost dimpled, greenish blue seeds. The leaflets are not 

 I quite so uniformly in 4s, and are larger and broader. 



IN SCIMITAR GROUP 



| is described by Burr, and has been grown in France for some time, 

 being still retained in Vilmorin-Robinson. It was claimed and 

 denied that it came from Woodford Green Marrow, but several 

 years later it was held to be an improvement on that variety. 



Burr says it was 3 feet high, robust, with dark green foliage, 

 very well filled, narrow, nearly straight pods and small, round, 

 smooth, bluish green seeds. It stood drought well, and the pods 

 and peas remained long in good condition, even on the vines. It 

 was considered an excellent second-crop pea. Hogg adds that the 

 stem was generally simple, sometimes branched; foliage large, pods 

 paired, curved like those of Scimitar, peas 9 to 11, good-sized. 



Blue Sickle. Ref. 23. The Country Gentleman in 1862 

 calls this a very dwarf, early midseason, productive variety, earlier 

 and much more dwarf than Blue Scimitar. 



Carter Surprise (Ref. 24; Bliss Car. 1866) is probably a 

 late strain of Blue Imperial with pods of Scimitar type, tho straighter. 

 It was listed in America before 1866. 



Evergreen. Ref. 27; Thorburn Car. 1873. Laxton, about 

 1871, crossed Prizetaker and Advancer to get Evergreen, which 

 reached America in 1873. 



It was 5 to 6 feet tall, with rather fine, pale green foliage, and 

 14 to 16 paired, rather small, slightly curved, blunt-pointed pods, 

 very closely filled with 7 or 8, medium sized, bright green peas, 

 shaded darker; it was in season with Scimitar, but an inferior pea. 



Sapphire. Refs. 33; Mich. Sta. Buls. 120:24. 1895, and 

 131:31. 1896. Sapphire was introduced by Northrup, Braslan, 

 Goodwin Co., St. Paul, Minn., in 1892; but is little known, unless 

 in the middle west. The plants, peas and seeds are much like those 

 of Alaska, but of semi-dwarf growth and with curved pods. As 

 tested at the Michigan Station: 



Half-dwarf (introducers say 1 to 1 J 2 feet), vigorous, with large, 

 rich green foliage, long curved pods rather unevenly filled, second 

 early, but maturing most of pods very promptly. The peas were 

 of better quality than early-maturing green sorts like Alaska, and 

 the seeds are smooth and " blue." The variety was reported a 

 " good producer." 



SABRE SECTION 



Blue Spanish Dwarf (Ref. 36) is a very old pea, probably 

 grown in America during the first half of the nineteenth century; 

 but confusion of synonyms of it and Groom Superb make it im- 

 possible to say which of the two was meant in several early refer- 

 ences. Hogg, 1873, makes it only a synonym of Groom Superb, 

 of which the pod was very slightly, or not at all curved. It could 

 never have been anything but a curiosity, at best. 



It was very dwarf, very late, short-podded but fairly prolific 

 as the pods were often paired. The pods were plainly bent forward, 

 or sabre-shaped. 



MINOR VARIETIES IN DIMPLED-SEEDED GROUP 



SEEDS CREAM 

 Atlantie (Ref. 78) originated with Alexander before 1885. 

 It had no superior merit over several other peas of its season. 



It was about 2 feet tall, with strong stems and healthy foliage, 

 bearing in early midseason about 10 medium sized pods in pairs, 

 containing peas of fair quality, changing to partially wrinkled, 

 probably cream-colored seeds. 



^ orkshire 1 Ref. 100 1 is evidently distinct from Yorkshireman, 

 Yorkshire Gem, and Yorkshire Hero. Two years' growth of it here, 

 from Idaho Station seed, proved it a very good and typical member 

 of this group. Vine and foliage characters were very similar to 

 those of Sunrise. As with so many peas of this section, the mixed 

 cream and bluish green seeds sown gave much larger crop seeds, 

 quite uniformly good light green. 



Height 2 to 2 l t feet; stems stout; pods single, from 12th node, 

 3 to 3 ! 4 inches long, quite broad, plump, nearly straight, with 

 rounded to blunt ends; peas very large, long oval or oblong in shape, 

 medium green; seeds same shape with decided indentations and 



coarse wrinkling. It matured late, 66-68 days, and gave a very 

 good crop. 



Lye Favorite. Ref. 101. Jas. Lye, Market Lavington, Eng., 

 originated this pea before 1892, when it won a First Class Cer- 

 tificate from the Royal Horticultural Society. It was tried at 

 this Station in 1926 from seed grown in the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture plats at McMillan, Mich. 



It was a good, second early pea, 2 to 2j^ feet tall; stems 

 rather heavy, unbranched, very light colored, as were the leaf- 

 stalks; foliage light green, with leaflets in 4s, large, slightly glaucous 

 and stipules much larger, round-tipped, glaucous, whitened; flowers 

 very large, creamy or greenish white borne singly from 10th node; 

 pods 3 to 3J4 inches long, broad, straight, pointed or long-rounded 

 at the ends, without tips, and very poorly filled; peas 3 to 5, very 

 large, round, oblong, or almost conical, rather dark green; seed very 

 large, deeply and widely pitted, indented, sometimes almost wrinkled, 

 light cream or almost white in color. Crop good. 



Carter International. Ref. 117. International was intro- 

 duced before 1908 when it was given an Award of Merit by the Royal 



