GARDEN PEAS. 



257 



to the warehouses of the seed merchants, who employ often 

 hundreds of women and girls to hand-pick the Peas ; for, although 

 the most perfect machines have been invented to take out small 

 seeds or broken Peas, it is impossible to take out worm-eaten or 

 discoloured Peas by any other than hand labour. These women 

 come each autumn to the seed warehouses after the hop-picking 

 ends. 



It would not be possible to arrive at any definite number of 

 acres of Peas grown for seed in this country, still less of the 

 acres cultivated for picking green for market ; in both cases they 

 would amount to many thousands of acres. 



Peas for such London markets as Covent Garden, the 

 Borough, and Spitalfields are chiefly grown in Surrey, Middlesex, 

 Kent, and Essex. The great aim of the market gardeners is to 

 get them put on the market as early as possible, as often 12s. and 

 upwards a bushel is paid for the first Peas, and in a few days 

 they drop to half that price ; so one can see the necessity for 

 getting early and pure stocks for cultivation. 



Enormous quantities of Peas are grown in the Evesham 

 district of Worcester, and also at Selby in Yorkshire, the land in 

 both districts being found particularly suitable for Pea growing, 

 and these are sent to London, Manchester, and Liverpool, or, in 

 fact, to any market where there is a prospect of securing the 

 highest price. 



To show how certain varieties die out and are superseded by 

 others, I find in 1877-8 ninety-seven varieties quoted in cata- 

 logues ; in 1887-8 seventy only of these varieties are still quoted ; 

 and in 1897 only forty-six of them are found remaining ; and yet 

 the names of Peas are ever increasing owing to the constant 

 announcement of new varieties, or shall I say old friends with 

 new names? There are quoted now in English catalogues some 

 625 names. I need hardly say that they may be easily reduced 

 to one fourth that number, as so many are only synonyms well 

 known to those who test them each year ; but it is not my in- 

 tention to apply the pruning -knife, as I should most likely bring 

 about my head a hornet's nest of protests from those who do 

 not agree with me. I may say that we have nearly 700 rows 

 of Peas for comparison this season in our own trial grounds in 

 Essex. 



Within the last fifteen years quite a new industry has sprung 



