March 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Though in some few particulars now alluded to pos- 
! sible improvements in this prize-list have occurred to us, 
| we most gladly recognise its general excellence, and the 
1 obligations of the poultry-keeping community to those 
gentlemen who have carried the Birmingham Society 
through the many difficulties of its earlier years to its 
i present unexampled prosperity and influence. 
Next in our list of Peas comes 
Fairbeard’s Surprise. 
Synonymes.— Surprise, Early Surprise. 
This variety, and the Champion of England, were 
raised from two peas found in the same pod; the former 
being round, and the latter wrinkled. 
They were selected by Mr. William 
Fairbeard, of Green-street, near Sit- 
tingbourne, from a crop of Dwarf 
White Knight’s Marrows, a plant of 
which having exhibited a more than 
usual early character. 
The Surprise is a very excellent 
early Marrow Pea, somewhat earlier 
than Champion of England, but not 
more so than a day or two, at most. 
The plant is of a free but not robust 
habit of growth, and always with a 
simple stem, which is about five feet 
high. The pods are produced at 
every joint, beginning at about three 
feet from the ground, and number 
from eight to ten on each plant. 
They are generally single, but some¬ 
times in pairs from three-and-a- 
quarter to three-and-a-half inches 
long, and three-quarters-of-an-inch 
broad, slightly curved, but not quite 
so much so as Champion of England, 
and Champion of Paris. They con¬ 
tain from seven to eight peas in each, 
which are of a good size, but not 
so sweet as those of Champion of 
England. The ripe seed is some¬ 
what oval, and of a pale olive-green colour. The seed 
was sown on the 5th of April, and the plants bloomed 
on the 15tli of June. On the 21st the blooms dropped, 
and the slats appeared, and on the 9th of July the pods 
were quite filled. At first the pods are so flat as to give 
the idea that the peas are not sufficiently grown, but 
notwithstanding this appearance they are quite fit to be 
gathered. 
Though an excellent Pea the Surprise is one which 
may easily bo dispensed with. If there was no Cham¬ 
pion of England, then we might retain the Surprise; 
but I give the preference to the former. 
Fairbeard’s Champion of England. 
When I first saw the Champion of England Pea, the 
whole stock consisted of a few rows in the nursery 
ground of Mr. Fairbeard. It was 
on the second day of June, about 
eleven years ago, and I well re¬ 
member the interest with which I 
viewed a wrinkled Marrow Pea ready 
to gatherjso early in the season. As 
I have stated already, this and the 
Surprise both came from the same 
pod, the produce of a plant found in 
a crop of the Diuarf White Knight’s 
Marrows. The best indication of 
the superiority of this variety is the 
rapid progress of its popularity, and 
the universality of its cultivation. 
It belongs to the class called 
“ Knight’s or Wrinlcled Marrows, 
and is, without doubt, one of the 
most valuable acquisitions which 
have been obtained for many years. 
Tho plant is of a strong and 
luxuriant habit of growth, with a 
stem from; six to seven feet high, 
which is often simple, but also very 
frequently branching; the laterals 
are produced within about eighteen 
inches of the ground, and sometimes 
assume as vigorous a growth, and 
attain as great a height as the main 
stem. They produce pods at the 
first joint above the lateral, and are 
continued at every succeeding joint to'the greatest ex¬ 
tremity of the plant, amounting in all to from twelve to 
nineteen pods. The pods are generally single, but very 
frequently in pairs, from three-inches-and-a-quarter to 
three-inch es-and-three-quarters long, three-quarters-of- 
an-inch broad, slightly curved, and terminated abruptly 
at the point. When they begin to fill they are rather 
flat, but soon become more narrow : andl round; the 
surface is quite smooth, and the; colour light green, till 
they begin to ripen off, and then they|hecome paler and 
shrivelled. They contain from seven to nine very large 
peas, which are very closely packed and compressed, 
over half-an-inch long, nine-twentieths broad, and seven- 
twentieths thick. The ripe seed is wrinkled, and of a 
pale olive-green colour. The seed was sown on the 5th 
of April, and the plants were in bloom on the 14th of 
June. On the 20th the blooms began to fall, and on 
the 10th of July the crop was fit to be gathered. It is 
very prolific. R. FI. 
(To be continued.) 
SEASONABLE NOTES. 
Let me again remind our readers of the importance 
of retarding the blossoms of Fruit-trees. I am quite 
aware that it is too late to talk of this as to some kinds, 
but not as to all. The fact is, such a host of important 
matters press at this season on the mind of those who 
undertake to teach the unknowing in gardening matters, 
that they aro puzzled to know what to select. Our 
