18i 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Maich 5, 189’► 
the fact that in the year ending with October, 1890, no less 
than 19,770 instruments were tested. These include barometers, 
rain measures, anemometers, aneroids, rain gauges, sextants, 
theodolites, magnets, and compasses, but the principal part of 
the work consists in testing thermometers, for in the year named 
over 18,000 were submitted for verification. Most of them were 
clinical thermometers ; but about 5000 ordinary meteorological 
or horticultural thermometers were included, and the moderate 
rates at which this work is performed (Is. Gd. for each ordinary 
instrument) render it of great service to many. The method 
by which this is performed is a simple one, but requires care 
and close attention, together with very reliable standards for 
comparison. A vessel is filled with water, and heated from below 
by gas or spirit, so that it can be raised to any temperature up to 
boiling point. In a frame or cage of circular form the thermo¬ 
meters to be tested are then &ted together with the official 
standards ; the cage is placed in the water and is made to revolve 
slowly, bringing the scales of the instruments in succession opposite 
to a long glazed aperture in the side of the vessel, when their 
respective registrations can be noted and compared with the 
standard. The temperature of the water is gradually raised, com¬ 
parisons are made at every ten degrees and the inaccuracies recorded 
at each temperature. When found satisfactory the Kew monogram 
is etched on the glass as an indication of accuracy, but this is not 
done in the case of any thermometers of which the errors at 
ordinary temperatures exceed 0-I® Cent, or 0 7° Fahr.” Barometers 
and other instruments require a more elaborate system of testing, 
and cannot be entered upon here. It may, however, be added 
that watches, chronometers, and telescopes are included amongst 
those examined. 
Beyond all this, experimental work of an important character 
is carried out at Kew, and commissions from foreign and colonial 
institutions furnish another portion of the business transacted. 
Yery seldom, indeed, is so much practical and profitable work 
performed in a strictly scientific institution, and the Kew 
Observatory deserves to rank high amongst the most useful 
establishments of this description in Great Britain. I should be 
wanting in courtesy if I omitted to add that my visit was rendered 
both instructive and entertaining in no ordinary degree by the 
kind attention of Mr. Whipple and his able assistants. — 
L. Castle. 
THE CULTIVATION OF PEAS. 
The Pea is said to be a native of the Levant, and whether in a 
green or ripe state, it is highly nutritious. The number of varieties 
now in cultivation, however, do not fall far short of 100; but those 
enumerated below may be considered the best of the different sections :— 
First Earlies. —American Wonder, Bijou and Chelsea Gem, being 
from 12 to 15 inches high, are good varieties for yielding early supplies, 
either planted in shallow pits at from 15 to 18 inches between the rows, 
or grown in pots, and for the same purpose for sowing or transplanting 
out of doors. Lightning, 2\ feet high ; Ringleader, William L, Emerald 
Gem, and Day’s Early Sunrise, all ranging from 2^ feet to feet high. 
Secoiid Earlies. —Sutton’s Perfect Gem, L^xton’s Supreme, height 
5 feet to G feet; Carter’s Stratagem, 2 feet high; Telegraph, height 
G feet; Veitch’s Perfection, height 3 feet; and Pride of the Market, 
haulms 2 feet high. 
Main Crop. —Sutton’s Royal Jubilee is a very profitable Pea, and 
fine for exhibition, height 4 feet; Main Crop and Marrowfat are also 
excellent main crop varieties ; Telegraph, Telephone, and Stratagem 
are quite as good for the main crop as they are for the second crop. 
Late Crop. —Ne Plus Ultra, 5 feet high ; Veitch’s Sturdy, 3 feet 
high ; Latest of All, Green Marrow, and Reading Giant. 
Soil. —A deep, rich, loamy soil, inclining to be heavy rather than 
light, but not stiff, is very suitable to the growth of Peas ; but very 
good crops of Peas are annually secured from light soils, especially 
during wet summers, when plants growing in light rather than heavy 
soils yield the most satisfactory crops. 
Preparing the Ground. —There is no garden crop that pays much 
better for good cultivation and generous treatment than Peas ; there¬ 
fore the ground should be liberally manured and trenched to the depth 
of 18 to 30 inches, according to the natural depth and quality of the 
soil, and this as early in the autumn as possible. If the soil be of a 
stiff adhesive nature it may be ridged roughly to be acted on by the 
winter frosts and exposure to the weather, at the same time adding 
burnt earth, leaf mould, wood ashes, or chalk. The ridges must be 
levelled when the soil is dry, just before sowing time. When the crops 
have not been cleared off the ground until a few days before it is time 
to put the crops in, a trench or trenches about 1 foot deep and the 
same width should be opened, and a good dressing of short manure dug 
into them, returning the soil and then drawing a drill in the centre of 
the trenches for the reception of the seed. 
Whe7i and IIow to Sow the Seed. —The majority of gardeners sow 
three or four times as many seeds as are necessary for a crop, thereby 
not only wasting seed but thwarting the object in view—namely, the 
production of well developed, heavily cropped stems. They have not 
room to make healthy growth. Hence they become a prey to mildew 
and other diseases. In making early sowings of Peas out of doors the. 
seeds should be, say, 1 inch asunder in zig-zag fashion in spring and 
early summer, so as to make allowance for any mishaps that may 
occur during the winter months by the seed perishing, the plants 
damping, or being eaten off by mice or slugs. From 2 inches to 
3 inches asunder in the row is quite close enough to sow such branching 
varieties as Day’s Early Sunrise, Laxton’s Supreme, Carter’s Stratagem, 
Pride of the Market, Telephone, Telegraph, Sutton’s Royal Jubilee. Main 
Crop, Marrowfat, Ne Plus Ultra, and Veitch’s Sturdy. Indeed, sowings 
of the last named eight varieties made any time between the first week 
in March and the end of the first week in June may be allowed 1 or 
2 inches more space between the Peas. 1 have secured splendid 
gatherings of extra long (6 inches) well filled pods of Culverwell’s Giant 
Marrow Pea from seed sown 9 inches to 12 inches apart. But this is a 
strong-growing and free-branching Pea, and the soil in which I grew it 
was extra good, and the treatment special and generous. This distance 
must not, therefore, be taken as a guide in ordinary cases, even with 
the same variety. It is also a mistake to sow or plant rows of Peas 
as near to one another as is generally done, because by so doing 
light and air are prevented reaching the plants in every stage of their 
growth. 
All Peas should be sown or transplanted in drills running north and 
south, and about 3 inches deep. American Wonder and Chelsea Gena 
may be sown or transplanted in rows at from 15 to 18 inches apart, 
giving such varieties as Carter’s Lightning, Stratagem, Pride of the 
Market, and Sutton’s Perfect Gem 3 feet between the rows ; and 
Ringleader, William L, Royal Jubilee, Sturdy, Main Crop, and Mar¬ 
rowfat 5 feet, growing a rank of Cauliflower between the rows of Peas 
allowing from 8 to 10 feet between rows of Telegraph, Telephone, Ne 
Plus Ultra, Carter’s Elephant (new), British Queen, and Sutton’s 
Reading Giant, planting from two to three rows of Cauliflower or 
Cabbages between them. 
The best method of raising early Peas as well as some of the second 
early large-podded varieties is to sow about six Peas each in 3-inch 
pots three parts filled with light rich mould the end of December or 
early in January, covering the Peas with a couple of inches thick of the 
same description of mould, watering, and then placing the pots so 
filled in an early Peach house or vinery, or any place under glass in 
which a minimum temperature of between 40° and 50° is maintained-, 
putting the Peas into a cold house or pit as soon as they have made 
about 2 inches of growth to harden them before transplanting into a 
warm border about the middle or end of the following February. They 
should then have a little soil drawn up to the plants on each side, and 
be supported by short spray or spreading sticks being stuck firmly into 
the ground on each side of and close to the plants, following this with 
a good dusting of a mixture of lime and soot as a means of preventing 
slugs attacking the plants, and mulching with half-decayed manure to- 
the thickness and width of G inches. The latter application will have a 
fourfold effect—it will shield the plants from the effects of cutting 
winds, prevent the soil about the roots of the Peas being frozen, pre¬ 
serve the ground in a more equabhe condition than would otherwise be 
secured ; and, in addition to conserving the moisture at the roots in the- 
spring and summer months, every time that water is applied it will 
wash the substance of the manure down to the roots. Protect the' 
plants by sticking Spruce or other evergreen spreading boughs into the 
ground on each side of the plants. These should be removed on fine 
days, and replaced in the evening two or three times a week, weather 
permitting, until the second week in March, when they should be 
removed altogether and the ranks of Peas be finally staked; always- 
keeping the sticks close to the haulms so as to prevent their swaying. 
Where there is any difficulty in procuring the pots pieces of turf 
about 3 inches square and 2 inches thick may be substituted for the 
pots, the Peas will soon take possession of the soil side of the turf- 
Where there is not glass accommodation at hand make the first sowing- 
early in November on light soil on a warm border sheltered from the 
north and east. The soil should be closed over the Peas with the feet,, 
and, if of a light description, trodden, and afterwards raked, marking 
the position of the rows by putting a stick in the ground at each end of 
the rows. As successions to the first sowings, sowings of the same early 
varieties and Sutton’s Perfect Gem, Laxton’s Supreme, Stratagem,. 
Telegraph, Royal Jubilee, and Duke of Fife, a grand new Pea, from 
5 to G feet high, producing handsome pods nearly 6 inches long, con¬ 
taining nine to ten large light coloured and deliciously flavoured Peas- 
each, should be sown in the open, weather permitting, about the first 
week in January. Another sowing of as many of the second early 
varieties as there is room and necessity for should be made three weeks 
later, repeating this sowing of the same varieties the middle of February,, 
making sowings of the main crop varieties afterwards at intervals of a 
fortnight or three weeks, according to the nature of the weather, up to 
the end of the third week in May, sowing for late crop the end of the 
first or second week in June according as the district is cold or warm 
in a situation close to plenty of day traffic, otherwise the sparrows will 
be very troublesome. Twice or thrice the number of rows can be sown- 
as on the preceding occasion, as three months later the pods will take a 
longer time than previous crops did to fill. If sowings are made later 
in June than the dates indicated, they should be made in warm situa¬ 
tions and consist of early varieties. 
After Treatment .—This consists in drawing a little soil up to the 
haulm on both sides as soon as the Peas have made a couple of inches 
of giowth, supporting them with Hazel or Beech branches correspond- 
