58 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



From experiments made in the London Hor* peas, their period of coming to perfection was 

 ticultural Society's garden on the following ascertained as follows : — 



Cormick's Prince Albert, 

 Warwick, . 



Sown January 4, 

 January 4, 



Came into flower April 1. 

 — ~~ April 13. 



Pods gathered from May 14. 



May 28. 



— These are sub-varieties of the early frame, differing only in time of coming to bear. 



Prince Albert, . . Sown March 28, 3 feet in height, Fit for use June 19. 



Bishop's early dwarf, . ~~ 9 inches ~~ — June 26. 



Early race-horse, . — 3 feet — , — June 29. 



Shilling's grotto, . ~~ 3 feet „ — ~~ June 29. 



Dwarf green marrow, . 3 feet — July 10. 



Blue Prussian, . . — 2 feet ~~ ~~ July 10. 



Matchless marrow, . 3£ feet ~~ ~~ July 17. 



Lynn's wrinkled marrow, — 4 feet ~~ , Aug. 1. 



American marrow, . ~ ~ 2 feet , July 17. 



Blue scimitar, . . 3 feet July 25. 



Bedman's blue imperial, 3 feet ~~ July 20. 



Flack's Victoria, . ~~ 2£ feet ~~ July 17. 



Victoria marrow, . ~~ 6 feet — , — July 25. 



Auvergne, . . . — 4 feet — — July 17. 



Groom's superb blue, . ~~ 2 feet — , ~~ July 17. 



One of the earliest of peas. 



Very inferior sort. 



An inferior var. of early frame. 



An excellent pea. 



A good cropper. 



A good bearer. 



An excellent large pea, and productive. 

 Good late sort. 



Good pea, and abundant bearer. 

 A good bearer. 



A good pea, and excellent bearer. 



Large pea, and good bearer. 



Large pods. 



An excellent bearer. 



A fine pea, and abundant bearer. 



-The heights given above are those to which they attained in the Society's garden. 



The following experiment regarding the pre- 

 cocity of the following peas was made in the 

 garden of the Horticultural Society by Mr 

 Thompson. Three varieties of early frame, 

 amongst which was the true early frame from 

 Paris, were sown in continuous rows on March 

 13. They proved to be the same, and were fit 

 to gather June 9. Early Kent, fit June 2. 

 Warner's early emperor, fit June 4. The two 

 last are varieties allied to the early frame, the 

 early Kent differing from it in being a week 

 earlier, and not so strong-growing. " War- 

 ner's early emperor is not quite so early as the 

 early Kent, and its growth is intermediate be- 

 tween the early Kent and the early frame. 

 Fairbeard's early surprise was sown April 23, 

 and was fit to gather June 27 ; but the early 

 frame, sown at the same time, was fit June 19. 

 Fairbeard's is therefore eight days later than 

 the early frame, and consequently, according to 

 the foregoing statement, it would be a fortnight 

 later than the early Kent." This pea, therefore, 

 cannot rank amongst the earliest, but will hold 

 a good place in the second early section along 

 with the old Charlton, to which it seems re- 

 lated. 



The following six varieties of dwarf pease 

 will form a good succession, and will be found 

 suitable for a small garden, or where ground is 

 scarce : — The true early frame, Fairbeard's early 

 surprise, Groom's superb dwarf blue, blue Prus- 

 sian, Milford marrow, and Knight's dwarf 

 marrow — sown in the order in which they 

 stand. 



Insects and diseases. — The greatest enemy to 

 the pea tjribe is the pea weevil. This destruc- 

 tive family of insects, the weevils, are enough of 

 themselves to eat up the whole vegetation of 

 the globe. M. Schonherr, a celebrated Swedish 

 entomologist, spent thirty years in investigating 

 their economy ; the results of his investigations 

 have been published, and occupy no less than 

 7000 pages, octavo, in print. Of this formidable 

 host we have between four and five hundred 

 species existing in Britain. Two of these, Sitona 

 lineata, the striped pea weevil, fig. 7 ; and Sitona 

 crinita, the spotted pea weevil, may often be 

 detected eating the young leaves and stems as 



soon as they appear above the ground, parti- 

 cularly in dry hot weather. 

 Fig. 7. These pests will, in general, 



& <fif be found in full operation 



-\ M u in June. The remedies 

 fliftk (r su gg es ted by the writer of 

 I V-J^t A a ser ies of articles on en- 

 I ^ytfill^ tomology in " The Gar- 

 ^^Si^^ deners' Chronicle" are 

 /MMi'I'tin worthy of notice. "Any 

 J^Smv fliifltA remedies, therefore," he 

 P IhIIIIiJ 1 I* says, " which we can sug- 

 I 'nl'fw gest, must have for their ob- 



| ^UpF W ject either the destruction 

 f x of the perfect beetle, or the 



striped pea weevil, protection of the plants — 

 neither of which is easy. 

 As to the former, we scarcely think that any 

 trap could be employed into which the insects 

 would creep at night (like damp grass, into which 

 the wire-worm creeps ; or bits of potatoes put 

 into the ground, to which, as food, the same insect 

 is enticed) ; possibly, however, dry hay laid along 

 the rows might entice them into it as a retreat. 

 Another means of destruction suggests itself, in 

 connection with the habit of the insect of falling 

 to the ground on being surprised. A bag-net 

 about 2 feet long, and with one side fiat, so as 

 to allow of its being placed on the ground close 

 to the sides of the rows of the pease, would, we 

 think, be serviceable. This might be run along 

 the rows, the plants being slightly swept over 

 by a switch held in the right hand, the handles 

 of the bag-net being held in the left hand ; or, 

 perhaps, by merely running the net along or 

 across the rows, they might be jerked into it. As 

 to the protection of the plants, soot and pounded 

 lime have been suggested to be sprinkled over 

 them, previously wetting them by a watering 

 machine. In this respect the same kind of 

 remedies must be used as have been proposed 

 against the turnip flea-beetle, having for their 

 object the rendering of the plant disagreeable 

 to the insect by a coating of matter offensive to 

 its taste ; or by forcing forward the growth of 

 the plant as quickly as possible. We may also 

 suggest the possibility of advantage resulting 

 from drawing a cloth covered with pitch or tar 



