THE PEA. 



631 



The inner tough fihii whicli lines the pods is wanting in this variety, which 

 renders it very distinct. Peas gathered when partially ripe, and dried, are 

 used in soups and stews ; but it is found that after they have been kept a 

 year they do not break, or fall well in the soup : it is also understood 

 among dealers in peas, that those which have been grown on stiff soil, or on 

 sandy soil, that has been limed or marled, will not fall in boiling, whether 

 new or old. 



1886. The varieties are numerous, but the following are among the best : 

 The early frame^ height three feet, and Charlton^ four feet, for the first 

 crops; and the Auvergne, a very full-podded variety, (three to four feet), 

 to follow ; then Knight's dwarf green marrow^ the blue Prussian (three 

 to four feet), and Groom's superb dwarf blue, a very prolific variety, with 

 peas like those of the blue Prussian, and so dwarf as to require no sticks. 

 These will form a good selection of dwarf varieties. Among the numerous 

 varieties of tall peas, none is equal in point of excellence to Knight's tall 

 marrow (six to ten feet). The Mil ford marrow is, however, a distinct 

 variety with very large green seeds ; it is of medium height. For the pur- 

 pose of the pods being cooked in the manner of kidney-beans, the dwarf 

 crooked sugar pea is to be recommended. 



In general only the small-sized peas, such as the frames and charltons, 

 should be grown for the first crop, and all the other crops should be of large- 

 seeded peas, such as the marrows, blue Prussians, &c. The seed is ordered by 

 the pint; and of the frame and charlton, one pint will sow a row of twenty 

 yards ; and of the larger sorts, a row of thirty-three yards. The seed will 

 come up in a week, ten days, or a fortnight, according to the season. 



1387. Culture. — The pea, being a tendrilled climber, whenever it is to be 

 cultivated to the greatest advantage, ought to be supported by pea sticks, 

 which are branches of trees or shrubs well furnished with spray, and of 

 lengths suited to the height to which the plants grow. These sticks are put 

 in in two rows with the row of peas between them, the sticks or branches in 

 one row being opposite the intervals of those in the other row. They are 

 placed upright, but somewhat wider apart at top than at bottom, to allow 

 room for the branching of the stems as they ascend, and for the larger space 

 required for the top foliage, which is larger than that below, and for the 

 pods. To facilitate the sticking, peas are always sown in rows. They are 

 also always earthed up, principally for the sake of keeping the plants up- 

 right, as they do not produce roots freely above the collar, like the cabbage 

 tribe. When sticking peas is inconvenient, or impracticable, from the extent 

 of the crop, the rows are earthed up on one side only, so as to throw the 

 haulm to the opposite side, by which means the ground between the rows 

 is more readily kept clean, the crop more readily gathered, and the plants 

 not so liable to be blown about by high winds. Rows of peas which are not 

 to be sticked may be closer together than such as are to be sticked ; because 

 the tops of the plants of one row may extend to the lower parts of the plants 

 of the row adjoining, without doing the plants of either row any injury. 

 Hence when peas are not to be sticked, nor to be gathered green, the greatest 

 amount of produce is obtained when they are sown broadcast ; but by this 

 mode the soil cannot be conveniently stirred or weeded. Peas are generally 

 sown in single drills, at the same distance apart as the plants grow high, with 

 intervening rows of spinach, or some such secondary crop (923) whicli is 

 gathered before the peas are matured ; but for all the taller growing kinds it 



