FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 269 



ed States, it is frequently called ''Canada field pea" or ''Canadian 

 field pea." 



This bulletin treats of the field pea as a forage crop, wheth- 

 er grown for hay or for grain for stock, and does not include 

 the cowpea, which, as above stated, is really a bean. 



History. 



The native home of the pea is supposed to be in that part 

 of western Asia extending from the Mediterranean Sea eastward 

 through Syria and Palestine to the Himalaya Mountains. It ap- 

 pears to be one of the first cultivated crops, as seeds have been 

 found among the relics of the Stone Age in Switzerland. It was 

 perhaps, one of the first crops to be brought over by the colonists 

 to the United States, since there are records of its being grown 

 in Virginia as early as 1636. The cultivation of the field pea did 

 not spread rapidly in that section of the United States, but as the 

 country developed it gained more and more favor in Canada and 

 became a staple crop in the United States only in the New Eng- 

 land States, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and 

 the eastern Dakotas. 



The total area devoted to the field pea in the United States, 

 although considerable, has never been reported in the census; 

 hence, no definite figures are available. The maximum produc- 

 tion in central and eastern Canada, to judge from the Ontario 

 reports, was probably reached in 1897, when 896,000 ,ac)res of 

 field peas were reported in that Province alone. The acreage in 

 Ontario had decreased to 258,000 in 1909, the decrease being due 

 largely to the attacks of the pea weevil. 



The cultivation of the field pea throughout western Canada 

 has increased with the settlement of that territory. In Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana it has also been found 

 well adapted to the climate and soil and is steadily increasing in 

 importance as a farm crop. 



Climatic Adaptations. 



A cool growing season is essential for the field pea. High 

 temperatures are much more injurious than frosts, which are dis- 



