189 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 29, 1858. 
dumpling or a peas-pudding. It would be vastly more 
romantic and poetic to imagine them inhaling am¬ 
brosia and absorbing nectar, somewhat elevated, like 
the refined moth, above the common rules of eating 
and drinking. A visit to a lady’s lunch-table, or to a 
pastrycook’s, at times, would be apt to bring us to 
our senses. Ladies must consume food as well as 
gentlemen, though, to their honour, they do not often 
make such a fuss about it. They may be fond of, 
and deeply interested in, flowers ; but if they are true 
friends to the gardener, they will remind him that he 
must by no means neglect the Peas and the Beans, 
as Mr.-will have his table well supplied. The 
lady’s influence tided the gardener over his difficulty, 
and the grumbling referred to was not repeated ; but 
he told me, that every time the gentleman appeared 
in the garden, and looked along the rows of Peas— 
from which none could be gathered, though others 
round him had been doing so for a week—he did not 
only feel annoyed with himself, but resolved that 
henceforth good and early vegetables should occupy 
the first place in his attentions. To hear many young 
gardeners talk now-a-days, you would come to the 
conclusion that no such thing as vegetables were 
needed. 
Por the present, I will confine this gossiping to Peas. 
For some years after I lived here, the place being 
elevated and cold, unless I gently forced some dwarf 
variety, I found myself behind most people in the 
neighbourhood. The sandy gardeners near Biggles¬ 
wade, and even cottagers and market-gardeners nearer 
at hand, in warm places, would be able to send them 
to market, at Luton and Hitchin, before I could gather 
in any quantity. I knew that early green Peas were 
extra desirable, and I felt proportionately mortified to 
be thus behind my neighbours. Some gentlemen soon 
found out the sore point, and used to quiz and banter 
me accordingly. I recollect once gathering my first 
dish: so young were they, that I would have been 
glad for the cook to take extra care that the boiling 
water did not take them clean away, when a gentleman 
visitor told me his Peas were getting so old that they 
would only be fit for soups. I seized on the idea, and 
there and then begged for a basketful of his oldest. It 
was no use assuring him he was quite mistaken in sup¬ 
posing I should be offended; quite the reverse; the 
Peas never came. In fact it came out that the worthy, 
kind gentleman, who was only quizzing me, had managed 
to have half a tea-spoonful the day before, in order 
that he might tell his friends he had had green Peas. 
I could tell many a similar tale about garden Broad 
Beans. It would do no harm to many a young gar¬ 
dener, who looks on a nice trained pot plant as the 
neplus ultra of perfection, to see old generals, who had 
I looked upon many a serried rank of bayonets, daily 
examining the ranks of Beans and calculating how soon 
they would form proper adjuncts to the bacon. Do 
with flowers what you can; but, as an axiom to young 
gardeners, let me say,—that so long as a man must eat 
' to live, neglect not the vegetables. 
In the last number, it was very pleasing to find some 
loose ideas on gardening economics so far confirmed by 
our coadjutor, Mr. Robson. There is a vast deal of 
I truth in what he says, as to the difficulty of growing 
certain things in certain places ; but, then, if the gar¬ 
dener manages to surmount that difficulty, the greater 
will be his own satisfaction; and that is a great thing, 
and the more ought his services to be praised. I tried 
many methods for getting early Peas, out of doors, and 
with various success. No care and attention enabled 
me to gain much time, by any mode of sowing in the 
autumn. 
For many years, therefore, I have entirely given up 
I autumn sowing. I would merely recommend this to a 
person similarly circumstanced, and where early Peas 
were extra desirable. I tried sowing in spring, under 
glass, and in a little heat, in strips of turf, three or four 
inches wide, and from two inches to two inches and a 
half deep, cutting a groove along the centre, sowing 
the Peas there, and sprinkling them with sandy leaf 
mould. When these were turned out in lines, in the 
open garden, they did not quite please me. The turf 
seemed too stiff for the roots of the young plants ; and 
there was apt to be too little growth at first, and too 
much growth afterwards, when flowering and setting 
were wanted. 
For a good many years, without any boasting, I have 
been among the first, instead of the last, to gather Peas 
in this neighbourhood. This season I could have 
gathered some days earlier, but I got a good dish on 
the first of June, and could have gathered every day 
since. This may serve as a kind of contrast to the 
surrounding neighbourhood, but not to the south of the 
island, or sheltered places. I have been informed, 
however, that even on the first of June, though there 
were plenty of continental Peas, none of British growth 
had appeared in Covent Garden. One thing is certain, 
that instead of being last, I manage to have Peas 
among the first, distancing by a week some that used 
to distance me as much ; and that I attribute entirely 
to the treatment, and that again to the checks given 
by replanting and thin planting combined. 
Supposing that the ground intended for the first 
Peas is ridged, or rough dug, in the beginning of 
winter, turned over once or twice if it happens to be 
frosty, it will generally be very sweet and friable by 
the end of March. About the beginning of that 
month, Peas are sown on turf, in semi-circular drain- 
tiles, or in long narrow boxes, such as are used for 
Mignonette. If anything, I prefer the two last, but it 
is of little consequence, if thin planting is attended to. 
If these Peas can be sprung where there is a little heat, 
all the better; but, by the time they are six inches in 
height, they should be removed to a place where they 
can be protected merely with glass, or straw mats, or 
hurdles wattled with branches, exposing them, however, 
as much as possible. Here note that there is a check to 
growth, and that the plant receives its first predisposing 
disposition to fruitfulness. In about a week, if the 
weather is suitable, and the ground dry and friable, 
they are planted rather thinly in the rows. This gives 
check second to mere growth; but a little warm water 
being used at the roots, and dry soil placed at the sur¬ 
face again, the plants soon strike root in the fresh, 
well-aerated soil, and, before they get a great height, 
the blossoms begin to appear. 
In planting turves whole, sown as mentioned above, 
I have ultimately had good crops; in turning out 
lengths of drain-tiles, or even dividing what was sown 
in boxes into largish lumps of roots and tops, I have 
had fine massive rows, and ultimately producing plen¬ 
tifully. But generally, in all such cases, I would 
have to wait, even if the seeds were sown the same 
day, for a week, or longer, as to the time of first 
gathering, when contrasted and compared with those 
planted thinly, and thus receiving more check to 
growth by pulling the plants separate. Luxuriance 
and fruitfulness are ever opposed to each other. If 
I have succeeded in gathering Peas much earlier than 
I could do at one time, either from autumn or spring 
sowing, I attribute it chiefly to the checks given by 
replanting, &c., to luxuriance. 
I have tried most of the early kinds. The very 
earliest with me, perhaps by a dozen hours, has been 
Daniel O'Rourke; though Early Conqueror and 
Sangsters No. 1 were close on his heels. The best 
moderately early Pea I still find to be the Early 
Frame. Dicksons favourite is a first-class large 
