204 ae [ASSEMBLY 
EXPERIMENTS. 
In order to ascertain how much may be gained in the earliness of 
peas by selecting the earliest pods for seed, we gathered last season the 
earliest and the latest ripening pods from a row of the Tom Thumb 
peas One hundred seeds of each of these selections were planted 
April 21, under the conditions noted for the test of varieties, and a a 
duplicate planting was made Mav 12. The results were as follows : 




ne i ae 
o a oy oa “ 
2 5 ag | vag 
> 3 ne, | + as 
2 oS ¢ 
PEAS FROM a Ss | 33 1 8 
Lo} ¢ 2 
g So | be | es | os 
=| a ao a Je 
3 to 45 6: aS = 
a o 8 o— | og o5 <s 
Qu ov tH A A 
Marliest:  POds. siscutech oe ote ah eee eae wea plas April” 21 99 68 680 420 
MATOREIDOGUS. icc cate casa ister mu ae cuein aches comity choker April 21 83 74 TTT 455 
ariest OS . 4.500. Mad colt eee ee Lk ance eae sin one May = _12 70 56 | 2,083 463 
Patest, POAS isch Se wees Oy Shea te sl bn 22 Te VL he OO, on 1,386 311 


It thus appears that the earlier ripening peas vegetated better in 
both cases, the difference amounting in the average to 144 per cent. 
They were also fit for the table earlier by an average of five days. The 
other figures are somewhat confusing. ‘laking the average of the two 
plantings, however, we find a difference in favor of the early pods of 
2.25 pods per plant, and of .615 peas per pod. ‘This difference was 
more noticeable while the plants were growing than after they had 
ripened their crop. ‘Thus, on July 14, we noted that in the planting © - 
of April 21 ten plants from the earliest ripened seed had produced 
sixty-eight pods, of which thirty-eight were well filled, while an equal 
number of plants from the latest ripened seeds had produced only 
forty-nine pods, of which but thirteen could be called well filled. 
The Tom Thumb variety was selected for this trial because the pods” ~ 
are formed during a longer period than in most other varieties. It is 
probable that in varieties of which the pods nearly all ripen at the 
same time, the difference from the results obtainable from the firstand —_ 
last ripened pods would be less marked. 
In order to ascertain how far well-filled pods are superior for seed 
to those poorly filled, we gathered last season the very best filled pods. 
of two varieties of pea, and also a few pods that contained only one or 
two seeds each. ‘The varieties were Laxton’s Marvel and Culverwell’s , 
Telegraph. ‘The peas from the best filled pods, from the poorest 
filled pods and from well-filled pods were planted April 21 in adjoin- 
ing rows, with the following results : 


. : ae | 98 
uo} xs 
; : Sal roe) os 
CULVERWELL’S TELEGRAPH. ai Ae Pu é 
ou Ser Palio) af 
® og og ; 
5a os 63 - 
a Zn Aa | 
Pods containing one or two peas ........... na We ate Pe BN a 15.22 1,586 537 
Pods containing eight peasivi-s-nse- ne ceeekc nese sel esas ee ace 8 1,100 503 
Pods containing ten Deas). sa. ee ecw ecinecin dene acen tees. 9.26 2,150 549 4 
LAXTON’S MARVEL. 1 
Pods containing one or twWO peaS....... sseee ee aee ait teat NERS: 41.46 1, 449 
Pods containing nine peas................. AS art in aR ree 23. 1,762 
Rods containing eleyen peas /...5 0%. vac cpaketrawl leet ee sstogs 54.55 1;9 

