GARDEN PEAS. 



was a cross between Culver well's Prolific and Telegraph. 

 These various Peas have been sent out by Messrs. Charles 

 Sharpe & Co., Messrs. Carter & Co., and Messrs. Hurst & Son. 



Messrs. Sutton & Sons have introduced within the last ten 

 years some wonderful improvements in Peas. I find that in 

 1841 the principal Peas offered by that house were Blue Prussian, 

 Woodfords, and Scimitar. They have been selecting seedling 

 Peas with marked success, both for earliness, size, and shape of 

 pod. The sorts introduced by them have been May Queen, 

 Empress of India, Forcing, and Excelsior, &c. 



I believe the aim of this firm has been to replace the Round- 

 seeded varieties with Peas of dwarf growth, Wrinkled, equally 

 early, and producing extra large pods. Of such they have 

 introduced Royal Jubilee, Perfection, Windsor Castle, Late 

 Queen, Magnum Bonum Marrowfat (Fig. Gl), and Dwarf 

 Defiance (Fig. 60). 



To illustrate the extraordinary advance made in Peas within 

 the last fifty years, I have inserted figures of two of Messrs. 

 Sutton & Sons' latest introductions (Figs. 60 and 61) and one of 

 my own (Fig. 62), in order that they may be compared with the 

 Old World Pease figured previously from photographs I have had 

 taken for this paper from Gerarde's " Herbal " of the year 1597. 



It may interest my readers to be made aware of the great 

 care taken by seed merchants to save stocks of Peas true to 

 character. In taking measures to obtain a pure stock of a 

 variety, what is known to be a good one is sown, and then, when 

 the plants are large enough to show their character, every plant 

 not true to the type which displays itself during growth — techni- 

 cally called a rogue — is most carefully taken out. In this way a 

 quantity of seed of the right character is obtained ; it is sown a 

 second year, the produce is again rogued, and in this thorough 

 manner sufficient seed is procured to sow some acres, and so on, 

 until enough is obtained to offer the variety to the public. The 

 wholesale seed merchants enter into agreements with farmers to 

 sow so many acres of Peas, the seed merchant supplying the stock 

 seed they have selected with so much care ; and they assist the 

 farmer in securing purity of type by sending competent men to 

 go over the fields at certain times and remove any plants which 

 are untrue to character. 



When the Peas are harvested and threshed out they are sent 



C 2 



