86 



PKACTICE GARDENING. 



care they will grow on any soil, if it be well manured when 

 too poor or dry, and well drained when it inclines to be 

 wet, as it is then apt to give more straw than pods. 



From the last week in February or even of January, to 

 the beginning of June, or July, are the times for suc- 

 cessive so\vings. The seed should not be more than one 

 year old ; and one pint of seed will be suflS.cient to sow 

 four rows, each five yards long. 



For the early crop the best sorts are the early frame, 

 and Bishop's early dwarf. For a later crop, the Prussian 

 blue, Egg pea, Spanish Marotto, and Knight's marrowfats, 

 are preferable. The whole pods of sugar peas are eatable, 

 but these are more curious than useful. Charltons 

 and Hotspiu-s are only known in books, and cannot be 

 pro culled. 



To allow due exposure to light and air, the early dwarf 

 sorts should have the drills three feet apart ; such as the 

 Prussian blues, four or five feet ; and the tall marrowfats, 

 and Knight's green, six or seven feet asunder. In a 

 moderate-sized garden, it is a good plan to sow the rows 

 of peas from twelve to twenty feet apart, filling up the 

 intermediate space with cabbages, onions, carrots, parsnips, 

 French beans, or any summer crops. In practising this 

 latter system, however, the rows should run parallel from 

 north to south, not from east to west, as each side of the 

 rows will thus be exposed to the sun, and the crops grown 

 between them will not be shaded by them. It will always 

 be safest to sow pretty thickly, to allow for all kinds of 

 accidents. 



Peas should always be sown in double rows, that is, two 

 rows should be sown nine inches from each other, as, by 

 this method, much ground will be saved, and they will not 

 require more than half as many stakes as they would if 

 sown in single rows. The drills should be made full three 

 inches deep, and as level as possible at the bottom, so as 

 to have the crop of a regular height and size. Sow the 

 seed moderately thick, to allow for the depredations of 

 insects or vermin, and ha\ing trodden it in, cover it with 

 the same depth of soil as that taken from the drills, after 

 which, again tread the surface of the soil. 



Fowls should never be allowed to enter the garden, or 



