The field pea (Pisum arvense) is better adapted than the bean to light soils, and is best cultivated in rows of such a width as to admit of horse-hoeing. The early stage at which the plants fall over, and forbid further culture, renders it even more needful than in the case of beans to sow them only on land already clean. If annual weeds can be kept in check until the peas once get a close cover, they then occupy the ground so completely that nothing else can live under them; and the ground, after their removal, is found in the choicest condition. A thin crop of peas should never be allowed to stand, as the land is sure to become wholly overrun with weeds; these will completely choke the growth of the peas. The difficulty of getting this crop well harvested renders it peculiarly advisable to sow only the early varieties.
The pea prefers a friable calcareous loam, deeply worked, and well enriched with good hotbed or farm-yard manure. The early crops require a warm sheltered situation, but the later are better grown 6 or 8 ft. apart, or more, in the open quarters, dwarf crops being introduced between the rows. The dwarf or early sorts may be sown 3 or 4 ft. apart. The deep working of the soil is of impor tance, lest the plants should suffer in hot dry weather from mildew or arrest of growth. The first sowing may be made about the be ginning or middle of November, in front of a south wall, the plants being defended by spruce fir branches or other spray throughout the winter. In February sowings are sometimes made in private gardens, in flowerpots or boxes, and the young plants afterwards planted out. The main crop should be sown towards the end of February, and moderate sowings should be made twice a month afterwards, up to the beginning of July for the north, and about the third week in July for warmer districts. During dry hot weather late peas derive great benefit from mulching and watering. The latest sowings, at the middle or end of August, should consist of the best early sorts, as they are not so long in producing pods as the larger and finer sorts, and by this means the supply may be prolonged till October or November. As they
grow the earth is drawn up to the stems, which are also supported by stakes, a practice which in a well-kept garden is always advis able, although it is said that the early varieties arrive sooner at maturity when recumbent.
Peas grown late in autumn are subject to mildew, to obviate which it has been proposed to dig over the ground in the usual way, and to soak the spaces to be occupied by the rows of peas thoroughly with water—the earth on each side to be then col lected so as to form ridges 7 or 8 in. high, these ridges being well watered, and the seed sown on them in single rows. If dry weather at any time set in, water should be supplied profusely once a week.
To produce very early crops the French market-gardeners used to sow early in November, in frames, on a border having a good aspect, the seeds being covered very slightly. The young plants are transplanted into other frames in December, the ground inside being dug out so as to be 18 or 20 in. below the sashes, and the earth thus removed placed against the outside of the frames. The young plants, when 3 or 4 in. high, are planted in patches of three or four, 8 in. asunder, in four longitudinal rows. The sashes are covered at night with straw mats, and opened whenever the weather is sufficiently mild. When 8 or so in. high the stems are inclined towards the back of the frame, a little earth being drawn to their base, and when the plants come into blossom the tops are pinched out above the third or fourth flower to force them into bearing. As soon as they begin to pod, the soil may have a gentle watering, whenever sufficiently warmed by the sun, but a too vigor ous growth at an earlier period would be detrimental. Thus treated the plants bear pods fit for gathering in the first fortnight in April.
(V. H. B.)