174 
PLANTING BY THE SEA-SIDE. 
shade is afforded to any crops between the 
rows, which will, in almost all cases, be found 
beneficial. The different crops must of course 
be kept perfectly clear of weeds, and the 
* ground should be deeply stirred occasionally 
near their roots, especially before watering in 
dry weather. A good soaking with liquid 
manure should also be given now and then. 
Bearing these general remarks in mind, the 
time for putting in the various crops may now 
be mentioned. The first sowing is generally 
made in November, in a warm, sheltered situ- 
ation, as, under a south wall. An excellent 
plan for all the earliest sowings, is to ridge up 
the quarter selected into banks running east 
and west, with a steep slope on the north side, 
whilst the south should have an inclination of 
about 45 degrees. Care must be taken that 
the drainage is perfect. The Peas should be 
sown in a drill near the middle of the south 
face of the bank, and must be protected in 
hard weather with a layer of old tan, sifted 
ashes, or similar material ; and when further 
advanced, by small branches of trees, or fern, 
stuck along both sides of the rows; but as 
Peas grown on this plan, instead of being 
staked, are allowed to spread on the ground, 
the spray should never be used longer than 
just sufficient to protect the plants for the time 
being. These banks are also very useful for 
other tender crops when the Peas are cleared 
away. If the earliest crops are sown under a 
wall, the stakes should lean away from it, so 
as not to interfere with the trees on it. A 
second crop is generally sown in December, 
when the weather is sufficiently open, and 
especially if those sown in November fail. 
With all the care, however, that may be taken 
with these crops, they seldom produce Peas 
fit for use a week before other crops sown in 
the spring, more particularly if the Peas be 
forwarded in heat, and transplanted when 
most of the bad weather is over. Various 
ways of raising the Peas for this purpose are 
resorted to. A good plan is to take strips of 
turf, two or three inches broad, and any con- 
venient length, and cut a groove in the under 
side, in which sow the Peas ; place the turfs 
close together, with the grooves upwards, in a 
pit or frame, and cover the Peas an inch or so 
with leaf or other light mould. The heat 
must be very moderate, and plenty of air must 
be given when the plants come up to harden, 
and keep them dwarf, as if drawn up ever so 
little, they are seldom of any use, being very 
liable to rot at the ground, or shank off, as it 
is termed, and also to be broken over. When 
a place is prepared for them, the turfs can be 
lifted out whole, and placed in drills; the roots 
get thus very little disturbed, and the plants 
progress rapidly. If sown in pots, or boxes, 
similar precautions must be taken, and great 
care is necessary in transplanting, so as to in- 
jure the roots as little as possible. In this 
operation, the drills should be made sufficiently 
large to admit a portion of fine prepared soil 
to be put round the plants for them to root 
into, and the plants will be benefited by rais- 
ing the earth in a ridge higher than them- 
selves on the windy side of the rows. These 
crops may be staked or not, according to the 
situation they occupy ; but where they can be 
staked, it is certainly best to do so, if only on 
the score of neatness. 
The next series of crops, for summer use, 
should be sown about the beginning of Feb- 
ruary, as early in the month as the weather 
will allow. From this time till Midsummer, 
additional sowings should be made about every 
ten days, or, as the old gardeners used to word 
it, " as soon as those last sown appear above 
ground." Of course, attention should be paid 
to the sorts used as the season advances ; * 
the first sowing of the Marrow varieties being 
made from the middle to the end of February, 
while the Sugar Peas must not be sown till the 
beginning or middle of March. The last 
crop for producing Peas, as long as the 
weather will permit, up to November, may be 
put in the ground a little after Midsummer, 
and, as well as all the summer-sown crops, 
must be attentively attended to with water, 
which should be given in thorough soakings, 
and not so as to wet the surface only, and 
make it cake or bind hard round the stems of 
the plants. As the crops advance in growth, 
they should be occasionally moulded by draw- 
ing some fine earth up to each side of the 
rows ; the last moulding being given just be- 
fore they are staked. The stakes must be 
proportioned to the height attained by the 
different varieties, and should be firmly in- 
serted in the ground, and when the crop is 
staked, the tops of the spray should be clipped 
off to a regular height, so as to leave the work 
neat. Some of the Marrow Peas should have 
the tops of the plants pinched out, which will 
cause them to branch ; and in the strong- 
growing sorts this may be done two or three 
times, and as many crops of Peas may be 
gathered from the same plants, if properly 
attended, and watered as before recommended. 
PLANTING BY THE SEA-SIDE. 
EY JAMES GRIGOR, NORWICH. 
To raise trees by the sea-side is one of the 
grandest triumphs of arboricultural skill. To 
plant anywhere successfully, confers peculiar 
satisfaction on the planter ; but to raise a 
sylvan bower, whence the grandeur of the 
ocean can be closely contemplated, is in every 
* For description of all the best varieties of Pea sc^ 
page 123. 
