72 
THE FLORIST AND FOMOLOGIST. 
[May, 
merged into London on the Surrey side, and 
as for the early Peas, new names of sorts with 
new properties, dwarf habits, &c., have come 
to the front, to meet the wants of the grower, 
as weli as those of the user. The acres of Peas 
grown to find London in pulse are not staked 
like those grown in gentlemen’s gardens, but 
are allowed to stand or fall down as wind and 
weather may permit, and one gathering often 
suffices, after which the ground is cleared of 
this early crop, to admit of a late crop of some¬ 
thing else, for unless two crops are got for one 
rent, rates, and taxes, the business would not 
pay. 
All the tins of preserved Peas that I have 
seen consisted of small hard Peas, not unlike the 
old Charlton, and no doubt they had been 
grown in fields without any stakes or props. 
Peas grown in this way are apt to have the pods 
soiled with earth or sand, and require careful 
shelling to keep the seeds clean. The women 
who usually shell the Peas in Covent Garden 
Market pass the sample through a sieve, so 
that the larger and older seeds are thereby 
excluded. When people prefer buying their 
Peas to growing them, they get their money’s 
worth, and as they know no better, their bliss¬ 
ful state need not be tampered with, for washing- 
soda will do wonders with white Peas, and it 
is cheaper than bicarbonate as a dye-stuff. 
Soon after I had charge of a garden on my 
own account, I found very great difficulty in 
keeping up a regular supply of Green Peas for 
the family. Repeated sowings of different 
varieties would either all come in together, 
and make a glut, or a month of warm weather 
would send all my stock of Peas past eating, as 
if I were ripening them for next year’s seed, 
not to name mildew for want of rain, and also 
allowing to pass into oblivion what the mice 
devoured before the plants got much above 
ground, or what the sparrows carried off or the 
mole upheaved in hunting worms. The first 
season settled my views. After consulting all 
the advice available in books, I thought I must 
strike out a course for myself, and make accurate 
experiments that should guide me as to when 
each kind should be sown, with a view to 
its coming in as green Peas for the table ; and 
that I must likewise lay in under each row of 
Peas such a reserve of wet manure, and at such 
a depth, that mildew might be avoided, for 
watering this kind of crop in hot and dry 
weather is not likely to reach the feeders of 
the plants, and only deceives the gardener who 
trusts to it. I got samples of all the best 
varieties of Peas, and sowed them all on one day 
early in March, and registered the time that 
each sample took to come to maturity, that 
is, to green peas fit for table. The reader 
will see from these experiments good reason 
for my want of success, when I sowed succes¬ 
sion crops of Peas of various sorts without 
any fixed rule to guide me, for only one variety 
came in fit for use in 90 days, though some 
other earlies were only a few days later. The 
dwarf varieties had the advantage of the 
taller kinds, as they could be sheltered more 
easily. A noted grower once remarked to me 
that he did not reckon a Pea worth growing 
whose haulm did not reach 6 ft. In a general 
way, I agree with him, but there is one notable 
exception to this rule, and that is in the variety 
known as Veitch’s Perfection, which seldom 
runs more than four feet, and is literally Per¬ 
fection , carrying the largest seeds and the 
largest pods known at the time this variety 
came into cultivation. I grew Morgan’s Won¬ 
derful, and it crowned the list of tall-growing 
Peas, being quite six feet high and well stocked 
with pods ; indeed, I never saw more Green 
Peas got from the same ground, and therefore 
I took pains with this kind, and provided proper 
sticks to support the plants up to their full 
height. 
I must here note that although the early 
kinds generally took only 90 days to come into 
use, the tall-growing kinds, such as the Wrinkled 
Marrow, took 130 days to be fit for use. The 
details are of little importance now, as the 
subject has been well ventilated, and we see 
splendid samples exhibited which show that 
the growers thoroughly understand the subject; 
but the time that each kind takes to come to 
maturity, as compared with others, does not 
appear to enter into their calculations. I 
gave details of my experiments in the garden¬ 
ing periodicals of the day, and need not repeat 
them here, for “ what so tedious as a twice-told 
tale ?” 
The tall-growing kinds of Peas have splendid 
tendrils suitable to their exalted state, and 
these tendrils, blind though they be, have 
something very like intelligence, for we see 
them laying about for something to take hold 
of, and when they have found it, they will draw 
