3o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 23 
VIABILITY OF WEEVILED PEAS. 
It was the early part of the year 1879 
that Tiik R. N.-Y. raised these questions : 
“ Will weevil-eatep peas grow ? Will 
they make as strong plants as those from 
peas not weevil-eaten ” ? 
Many replies came. The late Prof. C. 
V. Riley, then United States Entomol¬ 
ogist, replied, “ Such peas will grow al¬ 
most as well as sound ones”. One friend 
wrote us, “ There is one kind of pea that 
will not grow unless it is weevil-eaten.’ 
One of the most prominent seedsmen in 
the country replied as follows : “ There 
is no use for you to try to make it appear 
that weevil-eaten peas will not grow, 
because we know that they will ". 
“ But have you tested them for your¬ 
selves?” we asked. 
“No”, he said, “we have sold them 
too long to make that necessary.” 
We then wrote to 50 different farmers 
asking the question : “ What proportion 
of weevil-eaten peas will grow ? ” Every 
one that replied said, “ All will grow." 
To satisfy ourselves, we selected 70 
weevil-eaten peas and planted them. 
This was during early May of 1879 But 
one of these weevil-eaten peas germin¬ 
ated. .June 23 of the same year we 
selected 100 weevil-eaten peas and planted 
them in a drill nearly three inches deep. 
The peas had been soaked in water for 
several hours. The variety was the old 
Philadelphia. The soil was moist and 
rich. On July 10—17 days—but one pea 
had germinated, and the plant looked as 
though it needed a doctor. On .June 29, 
100 weevil-eaten seeds which had been 
soaked in water for six hours were 
planted three inches deep in sandy loam. 
They were afterwards watered as needed. 
The variety was a rather small early 
smooth pea. Of these only three ger¬ 
minated. On the same date, 25 weevil- 
eaten peas were planted 2% inches deep. 
They were not artificially watered. Not 
one germinated. On the same date, 25 
weevil-eaten peas of the variety Cham¬ 
pion of England, were planted. Only 
those seeds which were the least weevil- 
eaten were selected. They were planted 
two inches deep in a clayey loam. The 
ground was moist when they were 
planted, and it was kept moist after¬ 
wards by artificial watering, as often as 
was needed. Two seeds germinated. In 
a parallel drill near these, 24 peas of the 
same variety were planted which were 
not eaten. Of these, 13 germinated. 
Why so small a proportion of sound peas 
germinated we have no idea. 
Considerably later, we have not the 
date, Prof. E. A. Popenoe, then of the 
Kansas Experiment Station, having no¬ 
ticed Tjie R. N.-Y.’s tests, made some 
very careful experiments, first with 500 
weevil-eaten peas of 10 sorts. The re¬ 
sult was that but one-fourth germinated, 
and the partial destruction of the coty¬ 
ledons rendered the further growth of 
these doubtful. A check lot of the same 
number of sound peas gave a germina¬ 
tion of 97 per cent. An examination 
of 275 injured peas showed but 69 in 
which the germ was not wholly or 
partially destroyed. In a field test made 
later of the growth of sound as com¬ 
pared with weeviled peas, the results 
were more decisive from a practical 
standpoint. In this case, 23 varieties 
were represented each by 100 sound and 
100 weevil-eaten peas, The seeds were 
planted in the garden in parallel rows, 
the sound and weeviled peas of each 
sort, side by side, the rows 18 inches 
apart. Of the sound peas, 68. per cent 
came up and 64 per cent made strong 
plants. In 10 varieties of the weeviled 
peas, no seeds germinated; the remain¬ 
ing 13 varieties were represented in all 
by 58 plants, or 4.4 per cent in germina¬ 
tion, of which but 49 or 3.8 per cent 
grew to average size and strength. 
Up to this time, Dr. Riley would not 
admit tliatthe proof we had offered that 
weevil-eaten peas should not be planted, 
was conclusive; but he did admit that 
l*rof. Popenoe’s experiments settled the 
long mooted question first raised The 
R. N,-Y. 
In The li. N.tY. of December 8, 1883, 
Prof. W. W. Tracy favored us with the 
results of his trial of weevil-eaten peas 
made on the grounds of D. M. Ferry & 
Cq., of Detroit, Michigan. Samples of 
different varieties, including large and 
small wrinkled, soft and green, and 
hard and dry peas, in which from 90 
to 100 per cent of the sound peas ger¬ 
minated, were taken, and from each lot, 
100 weevil-eaten peas were selected and 
planted in the shallow pots used for test¬ 
ing, about four varieties to a pot, with a 
sample of sound peas for comparison. 
They were carefully cared for, being 
placed in the testing bench. The 
first trial was repeated, and again 
repeated, the conditions being varied 
by planting out of doors. The exper¬ 
iment was again tried during mid¬ 
summer, several hundred peas of each 
kind being planted under various con¬ 
ditions. The results were summed up 
as follows: Of the small peas like Tom 
Thumb, Alpha, etc., 10 to 30 per cent 
germinated. Of the large varieties, over 
60 per cent germinated, but the plants 
were comparatively feeble. Generally, 
Prof. Tracy says that buggy peas ger¬ 
minated first. These plants would re¬ 
tain some advantage over the others un¬ 
til the vines were several inches high. 
The plants from the sound peas, how¬ 
ever, would overtake the others before 
they were four inches high. By care¬ 
fully washing away the soil, it was in¬ 
variably found that the sound peas had 
the largest roots, even when the plum¬ 
ules had grown less than half as much 
as those of the injured ones. If the soil 
was kept too wet, the hard, buggy peas 
came to the surface very quickly, but 
were speedily overtaken by the sound 
ones ; while in the case of the soft peas 
in wet soil, the buggy ones would sim¬ 
ply start and perish, often before reach¬ 
ing the surface. 
Buds, whether they be those of a plant 
or a tuber, cannot form roots unless they 
have something to live upon in the mean¬ 
while. If we cut out a bud (“ eye ”) of 
a potato, with more or less flesh, the bud 
will continue to grow just so long as the 
flesh supplies the nutriment, and unless 
placed in the soil, must then perish. The 
cotyledons of the pea supply the same 
nourishment to the plumule which the 
potato flesh supplies to the “ eye.” If, 
therefore, these cotyledons are injured, 
it must follow that the bud (plumule) is 
proportionately weakened. If the cotyle¬ 
dons are entirely destroyed, leaving only 
the plumule and the shell of the pea, the 
plumule has no food with which to com¬ 
mence growth. 
At The R. N.-Y.’s request, several of 
the leading seedsmen of the country have 
favored us with their opinions regarding 
the value of weevil-eaten seed as com¬ 
pared with sound peas. It will be seen 
that their estimates of the viability of 
the unsound peas are much higher than 
the results of our experiments would 
justify us in making : 
From Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia. 
Weevil-eaten peas germinate and grow 
from 40 to 60 per cent ; those that grow 
produce a good crop. Our seed stock is 
grown in Canada, and the product is 
grown in northwestern New Y T ork, near 
the Lakes. The object is to secure a 
slower growth and thorough develop¬ 
ment. free from insects depositing weevil 
germs. It also produces earlier crops 
(Continued on next page.) 
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