LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. — THE PEA. 



61 



The jay is a sad plunderer of early pease, and 

 where they abound, will have the first fruits of 

 the crop in spite of fate. They are, however, 

 becoming scarce in the country, and in some 

 localities are rarely seen. The same may be 

 said of the wood-pigeon, the most voracious of 

 all birds. We hesitate not to shoot them. 

 They were designed for food, and in no way are 

 they better prepared than stewed with green 

 pease. 



Another enemy of the pea is 



The mildew Erysiphe communis var. Legum- 

 inosarum, a parasitic fungus. The cause of its 

 appearance was correctly enough determined 

 by T. A. Knight forty years ago. He says — 

 " The secondary and immediate cause of this 

 disease has long appeared to me to be the want 

 of a sufficient supply of moisture from the soil, 

 with excess of humidity in the air, particularly 

 if plants be exposed to a temperature below 

 that to which they have been accustomed. If 

 damp and cloudy weather, in July, succeed that 

 which has been warm and bright, without the 

 intervention of sufficient rain to moisten the 

 ground to some depth, the crop is generally 

 much injured by mildew." — Knight's Horticul- 

 tural Papers, p. 206. While engaged in the 

 production of those excellent peas which bear 

 his name, he proved this theory by warding off 

 mildew by copious waterings of the roots. The 

 fashionable remedy at present is the use of one 

 of the rival sulphurators. This no doubt subdues 

 the disease, but it does not remove the cause. 



General remarks. — Early crops of peas de- 

 rive great benefit from reflected heat when 

 planted at the bottom of a south wall. It is 

 necessary, however, when warm sunshine fol- 

 lows cold frosty nights, to shade the pease from 

 its influence an hour or two in the morning, or 

 to sprinkle them with cold water if they have 

 become at all frozen. Such precautions are also 

 necessary when they are sown on ridges or 

 sloping banks facing the south, which is often 

 done, and with evident benefit in forwarding the 

 crop. Now that glass is so cheap, we see little 

 reason for those matter-of-chance practices, when 

 a better end would be attained by covering the 

 rows of pease with a narrow glass frame, made 

 of a triangular form, and glazed on both sides, 

 or on one only, according as they may be used, 

 on rows running from north to south, or from 

 east to west : in the latter case, such frames 

 may have glass in the south side only. 



The saving of seed is an important matter, 

 and is confided to a class of cultivators known 

 as seed-growers, many of whom will have from 

 10 to 40 or 50 acres under this crop. Some of the 

 London trade have ground of their own, others 

 rent ground ; but by far the greater number 

 contract with seed-growers, supplying them with 

 the genuine varieties, visiting the crop from 

 time to time, sending proper persons to rogue 

 or pull up all spurious plants, and generally to 

 report progress. The expense incurred for 

 labour and rent, taxes, &c, is great; so much 

 so, indeed, that one wonders how a pint of 

 pease could be purchased for such a trifle. 

 Private growers do not economise by saving 

 their own pease for seed, unless they have, by 

 VOL. II. 



keen observation, detected one or more plants 

 possessing more than ordinary merits; then 

 they are right in carefully saving those, for in 

 this way, for the most part, have all our finest 

 peas been produced. Their being ripe will be 

 readily discovered by the straw beginning to 

 dry up, and the pods and peas showing evi- 

 dent symptoms that they are ready for housing. 

 If the quantity be small, put the pods, with the 

 peas in them, into canvass or paper bags, and 

 suspend them to the roof of a dry and airy seed- 

 room. If, however, the quantity be large, leave 

 the pods attached to the haulm, and stack them 

 by till the time of sowing or selling, when they 

 may be thrashed out like other grain. Peas 

 kept in the pod will retain their vegetative 

 action for two or three years, and hence those 

 sent to the colonies should be retained in the 

 pods for greater preservation. When taken out 

 of the pod, even when perfectly ripened, they 

 rarely vegetate after eighteen months, and many 

 not at the expiry of one year. 



Pease in a green state are with difficulty sent 

 to a distance, as, when packed closely together, 

 fermentation speedily takes place. This is one 

 of the causes why imported pease, and many of 

 those brought from a distance to our markets, 

 are discoloured, devoid of flavour, and, worst of 

 all, very unwholesome to eat. Pease sent to a 

 distance should be packed in open baskets, not 

 in boxes, and laid in layers not more than 2 

 inches thick each, and, between such layers, a 

 thin stratum of dry fern or straw should be 

 placed. 



The European names are, Pois, in French ; 

 Piselli, in Italian ; Ervilhas, Portuguese ; Erbse, 

 German ; Pesoles, Spanish ; and Erwt, Dutch. 



The quality of the garden-pea as a nourishing 

 article of human food, compared with bread, 

 butcher's meat, and some other vegetables, has 

 been well ascertained to be in the following 

 proportions : — 



100 lb. of pease contains of nourishing matter, 93 lb. 



,. seed of Haricot kidney-beans, . 92 



,, seed of garden-beans, . . 8.9 



,, wheaten bread, . . . 80 



,, average of butcher's meat, . 35 ,, 



,, potatoes, . . . 25 ,, 



,, carrots, . . . 14 ,, 



,, cabbages and turnips, . . 8 ,, 



The composition of the field-pea is thus given 

 by Mr Stephens, in " Book of the Farm," and as 

 little difference, if any, can exist between these 

 and the garden varieties, it may be taken as a 

 close approximation to the truth — 



Pea-Ash. — Mean of four analyses. 



Potash, 



36.05 



Soda, . 



7.42 



Lime, .... 



5.29 



Magnesia, 



8.46 



Oxide of iron, . 



0.99 



Phosphoric acid, 



33.29 



Sulphuric acid, 



4.36 



Chlorine, 





Silica, .... 



0.51 



Chloride of sodium— common salt, 



3.13 





99.50 



The chemical composition of pease, Mr Ste- 

 phens observes, has not yet been carefully inves- 

 tigated. Let this statement suffice — 



' I 



