t);>() Tin: iMiACTU'AL GAiiDi.Ni.u. [Jan, 



most of the I ••il. The seed bhouhl be sown in, as soon as 

 tlic potatoes are planted ; and if steeped for a few iiours, pre- 

 viously to sowing, in milk-warm water, it will hasten the ger- 

 mination. 



FORCING PEAS 



Few horticulturists have attempted to force this vegetable to 

 any extent, or to produce it at any season much earlier, than 

 that in which it ripens in the open borders, under the happiest 

 ei renins tanccs ; the rambling habit of this plant being pro- 

 bably the chief objection, as requiring more room than is 

 generally found convenient to spare in our forcing compart- 

 ments. They are, however, sometimes grown in the border 

 of a peach-house, to a limited extent, and found to produce 

 their fruit tolerably well ; they are also found to succeed, by 

 being sown in October, in pots or boxes, and transplanted 

 into others at the time they are to be placed in that compart- 

 ment. They may be cultivated in pits, planted in pots, and 

 kept in a progressive temperature, according to their stages of 

 growth, beginning at 40°, and rising gradually to 00°, at 

 which temperature their blossom will set, and afterwards gra- 

 dually risen to 65° or 70^, at which point they will ripen their 

 fruit. 



It is expected that the introduction to our gardens of Mr. 

 D. Bishop's excellent dwarf early pea will give quite a new 

 feature to the forcing of this vegetable, its diminutive habit 

 and great earliness being extremely well calculated for growing 

 in pits, or in pots in hot-houses. One important part in the 

 cultivation of peas, even in the oiK?n borders, is their trans- 

 })lantation ; and in any endeavour to accelerate them by artifi- 

 cial means in any forcing structure, it must be particularly 

 attended to, as the most likely means of making them more 

 prolific, as well as to prevent their running too much to straw. 

 Air is important for their growth in any structure, and will 

 prevent them likewise from being drawn too much to straw, 

 as well as preventing the mildew, which, m a close moist at- 

 mosphere, would be extremely injurious to them. When the 

 plants have attained a size, and are producing blossom, their 



