Split pea

“ But some men raise peas for market, and cannot afford to raise a pea merely because fine-flavored, unless also it is prolific. Then, once more, market peas must be raised, usually as a field-pea, and sown broadcast. Some peas stand up stronger than others, and these are of course preferred. Now, as we cannot find any vegetable that combines all the qualities of earliness, size, flavor, and adaptation to variety of soil and diversity of cultivation, we come as near to it as possible, by gaining varieties, in which some one or more of these qualities are better developed than in any others. ”

“ The cane of last year’s plant is left in stubble, and renews its growth this spring under the title of ratoons. When the maize is in tassel, cow-peas are dropped between the rows, and when the lordly stalk, of which I measured many twelve and even fifteen feet in height—bearing three and sometimes four ears—is topped to admit the ripening sun, the pea vine twines itself around the trunk, with a profusion of leaf and tendril that supplies the planter with the most desirable fodder for his mules in “rolling time,” which is their season of trial. ”

“ You can sow any garden peas as late as December 25, if the ground is in good condition and the temperature not too low. They are grown as a winter crop except when the ground freezes. You would not get as much good for the grove by growing these peas for the market as you would by plowing the whole growth under green, but you certainly will get advantage from the decomposition of the pea straw and of the root growth of the plant. ”

“ This new variety of large podded, handsome Table Pea, introduced by us, jumped at a bound into instantaneous favor all over the United States.
The plants stand from three and a half feet to four feed high, and bear large, long pods, mostly in pairs, which are packed remarkably close with flattened, greenish-white, wrinkled peas, and these, when cooked, are of the finest flavor and color. The weight of the Pea compared to the pod is much greater than usual, producing more shelled peas than any other variety. ”

“ It will require one and one-half to two bushels of peas to seed an acre, and no crop finds a more ready sale than fresh peas in the summer and autumn markets. Farmers who are near centres of population, or who enjoy good shipping facilities, will find peas a quick money crop.
Any good soil will produce a crop of this excellent vegetable, but it must not be assumed because the pea is a legume, with nitrogen-collecting roots, that it will not well repay the application of manure to the soil. ”

“ About 200 varieties of garden-peas are annually offered by American seedsmen. Wrinkle-seeded peas are generally considered superior in flavor to smooth-seeded peas. Peas thrive best in fairly rich, well-drained, loamy soils. The plants are hardy, withstanding light frosts without injury, though not succeeding well in dry, hot weather. Their wealth of nitrogenous elements makes them valuable fertilizers of soils. Canada and our northern states are the chief sources of the dried peas, and furnish practically all pea-seed. Peas are highly prized as food. ”

“ First among the worthy annuals come sweet peas, mignonette, nasturtiums, and asters, each one of the four having two out of the three necessary qualifications, and the sweet pea all of them,—fragrance and decorative value for both garden and house. To be sure, the sweet pea, though an annual, must be planted before May if a satisfactory, well-grown hedge with flowers [Pg 82] held on long stems well above the foliage is to be expected, and in certain warm, well-drained soils it is practicable to sow seed the autumn before. ”

“ The sugar peas are those in which the inner lining of the pod is very thin instead of being somewhat horny, so that the whole pod can be eaten Unlike most papilionaceous plants, pea flowers are perfectly fertile without the aid of insects, and thus do not inter cross so freely as most similar plants do. On the other hand, a case is known wherein the pollen from a purple podded pea applied to the stigma of one of the green-podded sugar peas produced a purple pod, showing that not only the ovule but even the ovary was affected by the cross. ”

“ In this country, it has been longer cultivated than any other sort; and, in some of the forms of its very numerous sub-varieties, is now to be found in almost every garden. It is hardy, abundant, long-continued in its yield, and of excellent quality. In England, the variety is cultivated in single rows three feet apart. In this country, where the growth of the pea is much less luxuriant, it may be grown in double rows three feet and a half apart, and twelve inches between the single rows. ”

“ Offsets or suckers being rapidly produced during the rains, will be best removed towards their close, at which period, also, seed should be sown to benefit by the moisture remaining in the soil. The depth at which seeds are buried in the earth varies with their magnitude, all the pea or vetch kind will bear being put at a depth of from half an inch to one inch; but with the smallest seeds it will be sufficient to scatter them, on the sifted soil, beating them down with, the palm of the hand. ”

“ The bottoms of this stream are often wide and fertile, on which the wild pea vine grows in abundance. The pea itself is somewhat smaller than that grown in the settlements, and can be used; as vegetable, its flavor being agreeable. ”

“ We observe a still more serious vice: the number of eggs is out of all proportion to the number of peas in the pod. Let us note at the outset that each grub requires one pea; it is the necessary ration, and is largely sufficient for one larva, but is not enough for several, nor even for two. One pea to each grub, neither more nor less, is the unchangeable rule. ”

“ Sow in light porous soil, and either three-inch pots, pans or boxes may be used. Place in a cold frame and keep the lights down until the seeds have germinated, but afterwards the frame should never be closed except during severe weather. There must be no misunderstanding on the question of air-giving. The Sweet Pea is almost hardy, and robust healthy seedlings, grown as nearly as possible under natural conditions, are wanted. Therefore to subject the plant to artificial heat will only defeat the object in view. ”

“ They are without tendrils of any kind. This shows us, I think, that the sweet-pea was at one time a small plant, like its relative the clover. It grew in open places and did not have to struggle for light and air. But, by and by, when strong growing plants took up the soil, it became forced to produce climbing organs or become choked out. And, having turned its leaves into climbing or gripping organs, it made up for the loss of leaves by producing large stipules and green out-growths to stem and leaf. ”

“ This species is grown in Italy for the same purposes as the White, but more extensively. It is also grown in some parts of the south of France, on poor, dry grounds, for cutting in a green state, and ploughing under as a fertilizer. [Pg 516]
THE PEA. Pisum sativum.
The native country of the Pea, like that of many of our garden vegetables, is unknown. It is a hardy, annual plant; and its cultivation and use as an esculent are almost universal.
To give in detail the various methods of preparing the soil, sowing, culture, gathering, and use, would occupy a volume. ”

“ The pea is found in the markets of the United States throughout the whole year, being grown under cover in the winter time. It becomes an abundant crop [288] from early in the spring until very late in the autumn. Immense quantities of peas are preserved by canning, and in this condition they retain their edible properties almost without impairment throughout the entire winter. The pea is valued as a food in many forms.
Composition.—
The above data show that the pea is a markedly nitrogenous food, especially the dry pea. Even in the green pea nearly four percent of its weight is protein. ”

“ So that the crafty husbandman, who possesses a shot gun, frequently gathereth both pea and pigeon. A chalky soil is especially favourable to pea cultivation; and deal sawdust sprinkled well over the rows immediately after the setting of the seed will frustrate the knavish tricks of the field mouse, who also likes peas. ”

“ It is usual to commence the preparation of the ground in autumn. Trenching is of paramount importance, for the roots of the Sweet Pea require a considerable depth of good soil in which to ramify for the support of robust healthy plants capable of producing handsome flowers over a long season. Where the surface soil is shallow, care must be exercised to avoid bringing uncultivated subsoil to the top, and it is well worth incurring a little extra trouble to provide a sufficient depth of fertile material for full root development. ”

“ When the plants are three inches high, thin out to three inches apart, and keep the soil clean and mellow about them. Just before hard freezing weather, scatter about three inches of straw, old pea-vines, or some light litter over the whole bed. As soon as the days begin to grow warm in spring, and hard frost ceases, rake this off. The hardy vegetable begins to grow at once, and should be cut for use so as to leave the plants finally six inches apart, for as fast as space is given, the plants fill it up. ”

“ In that case, you could use the Dutchman's pipe, [105] which is a fast growing climber having peculiar yellow-brown flowers the shape of a pipe. Though these seeds are only ten cents per packet, the young plants are sold by the nurserymen for fifty cents apiece: so if you grow them yourself you can figure out what a valuable little house you will have!
The everlasting pea is a sprawling, quick grower, having many flowers in a cluster, and blooming in August. It thrives in even the most common soil, and gets better every year. ”

“ Soil and Cultivation.—The Pea-nut succeeds best in a warm, light, loamy soil. This should be deeply ploughed and well pulverized, and afterwards laid out in slightly raised ridges two feet apart. As the plants require the whole season for their perfection, the seed should be planted as early in spring as the weather becomes suitable. Drop nine inches apart in the drills, and cover an inch and a half or two inches deep. Weeding must be performed early in the season; as, after the blossoming of the plants, they are greatly injured if disturbed by the hoe, or if weeds are removed about the roots. ”

“ Knowing that the pod always exhibits a number of eggs greatly in excess of the enclosed peas, and that each pea is the exclusive property of one grub, we naturally ask what becomes of the superfluous grubs. Do they perish outside when the more precocious have one by one taken their places in their vegetable larder? ”

“ Another spring excitement in the garden is the pea planting, both the sweet peas and what our country folk sometimes call “eatin' peas.” No rivalry is so keen as that between pea-growers. My neighbors and I struggle for supremacy in sweet peas at the flower show in July, and great glory goes to him who gets the first mess of green peas on his table. We have tried sweet-pea sowing in the fall, and it does not work. So now I prepare a trench in October, partially fill it with manure, and cover it with leaves, which I remove at the first hint of warm weather in March. ”

“ The grass pea (L. nissolia, Fig. 32) is also a small species. It lives in meadows and the grassy borders of fields, and has lost altogether, not only the leaves, but also the tendrils. Instead, however, of enlarged stipules, the functions of the leaves are assumed by the leafstalks, which are elongated, flattened, linear, ending in a fine point, and, in fact, so like the leaves of the grasses among which the plant lives that it is almost impossible to distinguish it except when in flower. For a weak plant growing among close grass, a long linear leaf is, perhaps, physically an advantage ”

“ Fig. 14.—Stamens of the Sweet-pea. The ovary is oblong, terminating in a filiform style, with a pointed stigma, as shown at g in fig. 13; and it is one-celled and many-seeded; the seeds being what we call the peas. When the petals fall, the pod still retains the calyx (b) , and the style (g) ; and these remain on till the seeds are ripe, when the pod divides naturally into two parts, or valves as they are called, which curl back so as to discharge the seeds. ”

“ Plummer’s directions, and the larvæ of the pea-bug will die for want of air. Seeds are ripened best in their own pods or receptacles; and where they ripen nearly at the same time, and do not easily shake out, we hang the whole plant in an airy shed, barn, etc., until winter ”

“ One of them will have a straight black post of a root 21⁄2 inches thick without a break of any sort till it forks a foot underground, while the other will be a sort of loose rope of separate roots from half to three-quarters of an inch thick, that if carefully followed down and cleverly dissected where they join, will make strong plants at once. But the usual way to get young plants of Everlasting Pea is to look out in earliest spring for the many young growths that will be shooting, for these if taken off with a good bit of the white underground stem will root under a hand-light. ”

“ If peas are sown in freshly-manured, very moist, or clayey soil, they will run to haulm, that is, they will produce more leaves and stalks than peas: and, if grown in calcareous soil, they will boil hard and tough, even when young, and when old will never become floury.
The early peas are small, and few in each pod, and with so little flavour, that we never have them sown in our little garden, but have the green Prussians sown early for a first crop, and again, a little later, for a second. The early dwarf peas are, indeed, of little use, except for forcing. ”