VEGETABLE CULTIVATION DURING QUEEN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 3G5 



as the round-seeded varieties, which an old gardener now living 

 informs me were so hard and dry when cooked that they were 

 known as Buckshot Peas. 



During the next decade a few varieties such as Sangster's 

 No. 1, Champion of England, British Queen, and Hair's Dwarf 

 Mammoth were added to the list, the first three of which are 

 still largely grown by those who have had no opportunity of 

 testing better ones ; but no considerable interest was awakened 

 until the advent of that popular favourite, " Ne Plus Ultra," 

 which was introduced under three or four names in as many 

 successive seasons. Even at the present day, when testing 

 year by year all the so-called novelties as they appear, it is 

 frequently found that still another name has been added to the 

 already long list under which " Ne Plus Ultra " is offered. Of 

 its class, as a tall late marrow Pea ; it is doubtful if any later 

 introduction has ever shown, comparatively, a greater advance 

 on the previously existing varieties. 



In passing it may be of interest to some to know that three 

 of the principal Peas distributed by my house in 1841 were 

 Blue Prussian, Woodford's, and Scimitar, from which we may 

 form a fairly correct idea of the class of Peas then grown by 

 gardeners. 



In the same year (1841) Mr. Nutting informs me that his 

 father catalogued the following varieties : — Scimitar, Matchless, 

 Warwick, Groom's Dwarf, Prussian, Woodford's, Dwarf Marrow, 

 Charlton, Knight's Dwarf Blue, Racehorse, and Knight's Tale. 



It is also interesting to record the fact that in the first 

 catalogue of seeds issued by Messrs. Hurst and McMullen, in 

 1843, only five varieties of Peas were offered — viz. Auvergne, 

 Early Kent, Waterloo, Victoria, and Knight's Marrow. The 

 enterprise for which this house has always been noted soon 

 manifested itself, for we find only three years later that the 

 number of Peas had increased to fifteen. 



Up to 1857 there had been introduced Daniel O'Bourke 

 and Early Champion as representing improved types of early 

 Peas ; and Glory, Climax, Dickson's Favourite, Prizetaker, and 

 Epps's Lord Raglan. 



In 1859 that popular Pea, Veitch's Perfection, was introduced, 

 and in the same year also the first selections of Dr. McLean's 

 Seedlings were put on the market by Mr. Charles Turner, 



