British 



Wonder 



For small 



gardens 



The Best Ten Peas for the Home 



By Adolph Kruhm, Ohio 



FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS AND ENJOY PEAS OF THE 

 HIGHEST QUALITY IN PROPER SUCCESSION AND OVER 

 LONGEST SEASON— AN ACTUAL PROVEN SELECTION FOR 

 THE PLACE WHERE QUALITY RANKS ABOVE ALL ELSE 



[Editors' Note. — This series of articles which Mr. Kruhm began a year ago dealing 

 with the actual values of high quality vegetables for the home garden, will be continued during the 

 coming season; and as nearly as possible each one will have a timely significance, so that the 

 lesson may be applied at once and the benefits had in this year's garden.} 



WHAT do 

 you want? 

 — A sweet 



table pea on a tall 

 vine late in the 

 season, or a pea of 

 only fair quality 

 on a dwarf vine 

 early in the sea- 

 son? You can 

 hav,e pl'enty of 

 peas within fifty 

 days of sowing 

 t'he seeds if you 

 are willing to 

 forfeit quality. 



Originally there 

 were only two 

 types — the smooth -seeded 

 dwarf and the smooth-seeded 

 tall pea. Later on, came 

 very much sweeter, wrinkle- 

 seeded types. The sorts are 

 invariably dwarfs, though 

 some tall midseason varieties mature pods 

 two weeks ahead of some dwarf late sorts. 

 Let us consider, for a moment the 

 adaptabilities of these five types. There 

 is a place for the smooth-seeded dwarf sorts 

 because they furnish the earliest young peas 

 of the season. But the smooth-seeded 

 tall sorts of the Marrowfat type really do 

 not deserve a place in the home garden. 

 Their season of maturity coincides with that 

 of some of our finest late wrinkled peas, and 

 while the Marrowfats are without doubt in 

 a class of their own when it comes to pro- 

 ductiveness and long season, total absence 

 of "quality" makes their use inadvisable. 



The wrinkled type, in turn, is subdivided 

 into early, midseason and late kinds, with 

 vines of various heights and peas or grains 

 of different sizes and qualities. As succes- 

 sive sowings of early sorts for a crop suc- 

 cession are only recommended in the cool 

 northern sections of the country, a thorough 

 study of the season of bearing of the dif- 

 ferent sorts is essential. The small crops 

 secured from early sorts sown for a succes- 

 sion later in the season are bound to be dis- 

 appointing to the planter who harvested 

 handsome pickings on vines of the same sort 

 early in the season. 



Three factors deserve the planter's care- 

 ful consideration when planning for peas: 

 (i) the space that can reasonably be de- 

 voted to them; (2) the soil; (3) the climate. 

 It does not pay to attempt the growing of 

 peas in the latitude of central Ohio during 



July and August. But sowings of early 

 kinds made at the end of July yield peas 

 of excellent quality during the cool fall 

 months, though the yields will not equal 

 those of the same varieties in the spring. 



Soil may make quite a difference in the 

 quality of the variety. On sandy and muck 

 soils, many sorts will develop handsome, 

 well-filled pods from four days to a week 

 sooner than on clayey and loamy soils. 

 But the peas will be tasteless compared 

 with those of the same variety grown on 

 heavy clay soil. The same variety will 

 often undergo such radical changes on 

 different soils that even experienced growers 

 find it difficult to make positive statements 

 as to its identity. 



As a rule, peas thrive to perfection on 

 cool, well enriched clay soil. But while 

 this is the ideal for quality in the peas 

 themselves when cooked, the pods of some 

 sorts will not be so handsome nor as well- 

 filled as when the vines grow on rich muck 

 or sandy loam. 



The space at one's disposal will often 

 be a determining factor in the final choice 

 of varieties. The introduction of many 

 dwarf-growing, prolific, early as well as 

 late sorts should make the growing of peas 

 quite attractive to owners of even the 

 smallest gardens. True, the returns per 

 square foot of garden area from peas cannot 

 be compared with the yield of beans, toma- 

 toes, lettuce, etc., etc. But as a "short 

 season" crop, peas mature in time to afford 

 room for celery, turnips, late corn, spinach 

 and other ' 'fall" vegetables. Moreover, it is 

 excellent practice to utilize space between 

 the rows of peas for growing lettuce, 

 endive and other plants of compact growth. 

 The only way to have rich, sweet, 

 sugary peas that will "melt in your 

 mouth," is to grow them yourself, pick 

 them when just right and cook them shortly 

 after picking. 



Results shown here in word and pictures 

 are within the reach of all. The season of 

 191 2 in which the pods shown in the accom- 

 panying photographs were grown, was one 

 of the most unfavorable recorded in many 

 years. Throughout the season during which 

 pods developed, only two good "soaking" 

 rains, two weeks apart, came to the rescue 

 of the trial. The soil consisted of poor, stiff 

 clay soil, such as is usually "filled in" on 

 suburban lots. Its only favorable point in 

 connection with pea-growing is that it re- 

 tains the moisture well and the limited suc- 

 cess attained in this case has to be credited 



93 



to constant 

 cultivation. 

 A dust mulch 

 was main- 

 tained be- 

 tween the 

 rows which 

 also sheltered 

 head- lettuce. 

 Keeping the 

 lettuce free 

 from weeds 

 gave addi- 

 tional culti- 

 vation to the 

 pea vines 

 which re- 

 sponded by 

 bearing fair 

 quantities of 

 well-filled 

 pods. 



Dependa- 

 ble informa- 

 tion about 

 peas is ex- 

 ceedingly 

 scarce. De- 

 scriptions in catalogues are 

 primarily intended to "sell 

 peas." All state that ev- 

 ery variety is sweet, while 

 logically, some must be 

 sweeter than others. Few catalogues give 

 facts about the season of maturity and 

 length of bearing season of the different 

 varieties. But exact knowledge with refer- 

 ence to this is invaluable to the man whose 

 space is limited and who likes to plan the 

 correct utilization of every square foot of 

 ground throughout the season. 



The all important question: — where 

 does this or that sort "belong" by reason of 

 its character of growth and season of 

 maturity is answered in few seed catalogues 

 and then in only an incomplete fashion. 

 To come to a clear understanding of the 

 situation the advice of this country's fore- 

 most pea-expert, Mr. C. N. Keeney of 

 New York State, was sought. In replying 

 to the inquiry, Mr. Keeney in rather humor- 

 ous fashion replied that he could not make 

 any statements with reference to the Ten 

 Best American Peas, because there could 

 only be one best — Thomas Laxton. But 

 he gladly aided in the choice of the "Best 

 Ten" which are recorded here as the finest 

 representatives of this vegetable to date. 



In studying the table submitted with this 



