230 



PEA, 



ing mildew, and yielding fruit till subdued by frost" — HgtI 

 Trans, vol. ii. 



To save seed. — Like other vegetables, the pea is sus- 

 ceptible of considerable improvement, and by the simple 

 means of marking the finest plants of each variety, and 

 keeping them for seed. Wilson's frame, and the Knight 

 pea, have been formed in this way, ai»J afford sufnclent 

 proof of the wonders produced by a very small degree of 

 observation and care." — Armstrong, 



Field-culture of the pea, — The most common mode of 

 sowing peas is broad-cast ; but the advantages of the row- 

 culture, in a crop so early committed to the ground, must 

 be obvious. Loudon says, " In Kent, where immense 

 quantities of peas are raised, both for gathering green, aud 

 for selling ripe to the seedsmen, they are generally sown ia 

 rows from eighteen inches to three feet asunder, according 

 to the kind, and well cultivated between. Peas, laid a foot 

 below the surface, will vegetate ; but the most approved 

 depth is six inches in light soil, and four inches in clay 

 soil, for which reason they ought to be sown under furrow, 

 when the ploughing is delayed till spring. Of all grain, 

 beans excepted, they are in the least danger of being buried 

 too deep." — Loudon, 



Deane observed, that "For field-peas, land that is newly 

 ploughed out of sward is generally accounted best ; and 

 land which is high and dry, and has not been much dunged. 

 A light, loamy soil is most suitable for them ; and if it 

 abound with slaty stones, it is the better. But they will 

 do in any dry soil. The manures that suit peas best, are 

 marl and lime. Our farmers do not commonly allow a 

 sufficient quantity of seed for peas, in broad-cast sowing. 

 When peas are sowed thin, the plants will lie on the 

 ground, and perhaps rot : when they are thick, the plants 

 will hold each other up with their tendrils, forming a con- 

 tinued web, and will have more benefit of the air. 



Insects and diseases, — The Mass. Agricultural Reposilonj, 

 for June, 1822, contains some remarks of the Hon. T. Pick- 

 ering, relative to a bug or fly, (bruchus pisi^) which preys 

 on the pea, in v/hich he observes, that an effectual remedy 

 for this evil is late sowing ; but the hot sun of June will so 

 pinch the vines of the late sown peas, that the crop will be 

 small, unless the land be moist as well as rich. He then 

 details some experiments, by which he concludes that this 

 insect is limited to a certain period for depositing its eggs j 



