June X. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
151 
iu tho rotation in which they arrive at maturity. 
Pursuing the same course as hitherto, we come now to 
speak of that very old and patriarchal variety, the 
Charlton, which is the parent of all the early white 
Peas. 
The Chareton Pea. 
Tt is a hard matter to say what the Charlton Pea is 
now-a days. The old variety, which was so long known 
under that and a dozen other names, having dis¬ 
appeared, the Charlton Pea, as a variety, exists only in 
name. For very many years it was the most extensively - 
cultivated, and tho most highly-esteemed of all the 
varieties then known. It was the earliest and the best, 
and the care bestowed on the growth and selection of 
the stock was as great as is now exercised on that of 
Emperors or Number Ones. The same propensity for I 
the multiplication of the names of a good thing seems | 
to have been as great in former ages as in this; and 
hence wo find Charltons and Hotspurs with designations 
almost as numerous as the names of the persons who 
grew them. 
The original name of the Charlton Pea was Hotspur, 
still used by some, and, by contraction, Hots; or, j 
rather, it may be that Hots is the original, for I some- 1 
where saw, in an old author, lately, the word “ hot ” i 
made use of in the same sense as we do “ early.” I 
do not know at what period this variety first became j 
known ; but I can trace it as far back as the year 1070, 
and from that period, till about 1770, or as near as pos¬ 
sible for one century-, it continued to stand first iu the 
lists as the earliest Pea, until it was supplanted by the 
Early Frame, about 1770. The various names by which 
it was known during the last century were Beading 
Hotspur, Master's or Flanders Hotspur, Golden Hotspur, 
Brompton Hotspur, Essex Hotspur, Omerod’s Hotspur, 
Early Nichols's Hotspur, Charlton Hotspur, and, finally, 
Early Charlton. The last name became general about 
1750. There can be no doubt that these names were ap¬ 
plied much in the same way as w r e have described under 
Early Frame, and that the varieties were distinguishable 
according to the care with which the growers selected 
them. Master's Hotspur, which is still retained in some 
catalogues of the present day, was so called from a 
person of that name, who, it is said, selected it, and who 
was a nurseryman at Strand-on-the-Green, near Brent¬ 
ford, 130 years ago. It has also been called, Hastings, 
Marquis of Hastings, and Essex Bendings. 
It is not in our power to furnish a description and a 
figure of this variety, as we have done with the others; 
for, as we have already said, there is in reality no such 
thing as the Charlton Pea in existence. That which is 
sold for Charltons, is any degenerated stock of Early 
Frames, or any stock of Frames which cannot be 
warranted or depended upon, but which are, neverthe¬ 
less, of such a character as to admit of their being 
grown as garden varieties. Lot writers on gardening, 
therefore, be careful, in future, when called on for a list 
of Peas, not to give, as is often done, the Charlton as 
“ the best second early.” There is no distinct variety 
grown for Charltons by the seed growers. 
Auvergne. 
Synonyms, White Sabre, White Cimetar. If the 
Charlton had not already been defunct, this variety 
would certainly very soon have rendered it so. The 
Auvergne Pea was introduced 
from France, some years ago, by 
the London Horticultural Society, 
but, although it very far surpassed 
every other variety of White Pea 
then in cultivation, except the 
Frames, it never became widely 
known or generally cultivated. 
It is a most characteristic variety, 
and always easily distinguishable 
by its long and curved pod. 
The plant is of a moderately- 
strong habit of growth, producing 
a single stem from four to five 
feet high, according to the soil in 
which it is grown, and bears from 
twelve to fifteen pods on each. 
The pods are generally small, 
but sometimes in pairs; t when 
fully grown, four inches-and-a- 
half long, and over half-an-inch 
broad; tapering towards the 
point, and very much curved; 
they contain from nine to twelve 
Peas, which are very closely 
compressed, and are the size of 
the Early Frames. Even the 
small pods contain as many as 
from seven to nine Peas in each. 
The ripe seed is white. 
The seed was sown on the 5th of April, the plants 
bloomed on the 15th of June, slatted on the 22nd, and 
the pods were ready to gather on the 12th of July. 
R. H. 
(To be continued.) 
About a year-and-a-half since, a gentleman very favour¬ 
ably known as a writer and cultivator of fruits thus 
expressed himself in our columns :— 
“There is, perhaps, no country in the world where the 
study and, consequently, the cultivation of fruits is more 
neglected than our own. In America, they have in 
various states Pomological “Societies” and “Institutes,” 
which meet as regularly as our Royal and Linnsean 
Societies, and discuss pomological subjects. Several 
excellent works on the subject have issued from the 
press of that country, and are justly popular; and it is 
to America that we are indebted for some of tho finest 
varieties of fruits. Of these, we have the Seelcel, and 
many other Pears; the Jefferson, Washington, Law¬ 
rence, and numerous first-rate Plums; many very excel¬ 
lent Cherries; and numerous other subjects which are 
not known in this country, simply because there is no 
taste for, and no encouragement given to, the science. 
In Germany, too, it is a very popular study, as the 
