LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.— THE PEA. 



51 



very time they were of most importance. 

 There is no loss of ground by this method, 

 for other crops can be planted to within 

 1| or 2 feet of the rows — which space 

 is necessary for the purpose of gathering 

 them. Any person of the least obser- 

 vation must have seen that the out- 

 side of the first or last row in a contin- 

 uous piece always produces the earliest, 

 finest, and most abundant crop. There 

 is a great economy of space by sowing 

 pease in the following manner, noticed 

 in the " Gardeners' Magazine," vol. iv., 

 p. 225 : — " If only two rows in one place, 

 and two more in another, 15 or 20 feet 

 distant, were sown, there would be four 

 outsides ; whereas, if they were all sown 

 together, there would only be two out- 

 sides. Two rows in one place occupy 

 3 feet 6 inches in width, and two rows in 

 another the same, making together 7 feet ; 

 but if four rows were sown together, they 

 would take up between 1 1 and 1 2 feet of 

 ground. Here there is a saving of nearly 

 one half." Again, let us observe that, 

 without infringing on the rules of rota- 

 tion, the leguminous plants may never- 

 theless be grown on the same quarter or 

 division, by sowing the tallest-growing 

 sorts at great distances apart, placing the 

 dwarf-growing ones between, interlining 

 with kidney beans, which attain the 

 height of 18 inches, and with the new 

 dwarf cluster garden - bean of similar 

 height : thus the object of full exposure 

 would be attained, while the rotation 

 would not be interfered with. 



Sowing for principal crops should be 

 attended to from the middle of March to 

 the end of July, making a sowing every 

 fortnight or three weeks at latest, where 

 a constant supply is required daily. Some 

 sow one crop just as the last appears above 

 the ground. All this, so far as regards a 

 constant and uninterrupted succession, 

 depends far more upon the sorts sown 

 than on the exact period, because some 

 kinds come to perfection much sooner 

 than others. (Vide List of sorts, fyc.) 



For the latest crops of all, sow on the 

 1st, 10th, and 15th of August, and 1st of 

 September, choosing dwarf early sorts, for 

 the greater convenience of protecting 

 them, should need be, during November 

 and December, by spreading thin can- 

 vass over them on frosty nights. 



There are few esculent crops that suffer 



so much from the malpractice of too thick 

 sowing as the pea. The autumn-sown 

 crops, of course, require more seed, as the 

 chances they run of being injured by 

 frost or devoured by mice are very great, 

 and therefore that should be taken into 

 account : if they escape these dangers, 

 they can be thinned out, and the thin- 

 nings transplanted in spring. We would 

 also remind amateurs, particularly those 

 near towns, that the sparrows will take 

 their tithe of them just as they come 

 above ground, and that provision must 

 be made for this in sowing. Fifty peas 

 to the foot of line in such cases, and of 

 such sorts as Warner's early emperor, 

 Sutton's early champion, Fairbaird's cham- 

 pion of England, and Bishop's new 

 long-podded, will be ample. For very 

 small gardens, Bishop's early dwarf is 

 well adapted, growing only 1 foot in 

 height, and hence requiring no stakes. 

 They should all be sown 3| inches in 

 depth. The fourth in the above list may 

 be sown at half the above distance, as 

 it sends out lateral branches, and hence 

 requires space for them to spread. Pease 

 are always, in England, sold by the pint or 

 quart, peck, bushel, &c. ; in Scotland, often 

 by the pound, when in small quantities. 

 One quart is equal to about 2 lb., and 

 contains of the largest sized peas 1298, 

 and of the smaller 2150. One pint 

 of the small-seeded sorts, as the Frames, 

 Charltons, &c, will sow a row 20 yards 

 in length ; and the same quantity of 

 larger-growing sorts will sow a row 33 

 yards long, on account of their being 

 sown so much thinner. The old practice 

 of treading down the pease, when sown in 

 autumn, should be discontinued, and this 

 the more especially if the ground be wet 

 or the soil strong. The old Scotch prac- 

 tice of sowing in double rows is now 

 seldom seen, at least where anything like 

 good culture is exhibited. 



Many cultivators, and ourselves amongst 

 the number, set their pease for general 

 crops singly, as is practised with beans, 

 the larger-growing sorts from 3 to 4 

 inches apart ; and we also, in some cases, 

 plant them in patches of five or six in 

 each, allowing as much space from patch 

 to patch as the pease attain feet in height, 

 each patch assuming, when staked, a 

 pyramidal form : by this means the whole 

 surface is exposed to the sun and air. The 



