PAZ' SOLDAN, piis $361-dille, MARIANO FE LIrE (1821-86). A Peruvian historian and geog rapher. He was born in Arequipa, studied law there and at Lima. and practiced in both cities. He held high judicial offices in Lima, and was sent to the United States in 1853 to report on penal systems. This mission resulted in the foundation of a detective bureau in Peru and of great improvements in the prisons of the coun try. Paz SoIdan held for many years the post of director of public works. He wrote; Atlas geogra tiro del fermi (1861) ; Bistoria del Peril independiente (1866) ; Diecionario geografieo estadistieo del Perim (1877) ; and Ilistoria de la Guerra del Pacifico (1884).
PEA (modern singular of pease, AS. pise, piose, pea, from Lat. pisunt, Gk. altos. pisos, 7r1CF0P, pison, pea), P iS11117. A genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosm. The common pea or garden pea (Pisani sativum) and the field pea (Pisani arrensc) are natives of the south of Europe and of Asia. They are both climbing annuals, with pinnate leaves, ovate leaf lets, and branching tendrils in place of a ter minal leaflet. Peas have been cultivated in the East from time immemorial, and were apparently introduced into Europe very early in the Middle Ages. Their cultivation extends from warm cli mates, as India, to the cooler regions of the North. The seeds of the garden pea are used for culinary purposes both in a green and in a ripe state. There are two main types of garden peas, those having smooth round seeds, and those with wrinkled seed. The former are the earlier and hardier. The wrinkled varieties are better in quality. Some varieties have edible pods. The green succulent pods of these are eaten in much the same manner as green beans. These are
grown to a considerable extent in Europe and offered by seedsmen in America. but are not popular. There are innumerable varieties both of the field pea and of the garden pea. Some of the latter have long stems, and require for their support. stakes of six or eight feet in height; others are of humbler and certain dwarf kinds, preferred as most convenient in many gar dens, succeed very well without stakes. The largest kinds are sown in rows about four feet apart. A calcareous soil is desirable, but good crops are secured on almost any good wheat or maize soil. Peas are cultivated to a considerable extent as a field crop in the Northern United States and Canada, and both the grain and straw are used in feeding stock. The plant with stands light frosts, and may therefore be grown as early in spring as the ground can be worked. Semi-dwarf varieties are preferred for field cul ture, since they lodge less and the crop is more easily harvested.
A plant found on some parts of the shores of Great Britain, as well as of Continental Europe and North America, known as the sea pea, has been commonly referred to the genus Pisum, and called Pistil?r maritimum, although botanists now generally refer it to Lathyrus. It much resembles the common pea; has large red dish or purple flowers on many-flowered stalks; and its seeds have a disagreeable bitter taste. The other species of Pisum are few. But the name pea is often given to species of other papil ionaeeous genera. The sweet pea (q.v.) and everlasting pea are species of Lathyrus. The chick pea (q.v.) is a species of Cieer.