The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1878-04-11
Early Peas.

In my estimation green peas are a
luxury, especially when grown earl y-a
luxury that the owner of every garden
may enjoy, and yet there are bnt few to
do so. To grow peas very early the soil
must be light and sandy mot poor and
the location warm and sunny. In such
soil and location | usually have green
peas for the table about the 1st of June
In growing early peas nothing is gained
by planting too early. The lst of April
lis early enough in this latitude for
planting. | do this in the following
manner: After manuring and spading
up the ground, it is raked fine and
smooth, elevating il a little for the rows
and making a depression between them
Ito draw off the water. | then plant two
drills to the row, five inches apart, leav-
ing IA space between the rows of two and
a half feet. The peas are covered with
two inches of fine mould. Should a
change in the weather for colder take
place, | cover over the drills with three
our four inches of fresh horse manure
and litter, and when change to warmer
occurs in the weather, / scratch off the
manure from the drills, being careful not
to break the young shoots of the peas,
which are probably coming through the
ground. Tho manure and litter keep the
peas and ground warm, and the peas soon
come up. Cultivate frequently with the
hoe, and draw up little mould to the
sides of the drills. When the peas are
about six inches tall, | give good hoe
ing and stick with brush pushed into the
ground along the outside of the drills
In about two weeks after the first plant
ing, | plant again, and continue the
paintings at like intervals until done.
| sometimes grow two crops of peas in
one year on the same ground. Of late
years l grow celery after the peas, plant
ing it as soon as the peas are done grow
ing. 1t is not good plan to save the
scattering pods that may be left on the
vines after picking, for seed. Better buy
new seed every year or leave portion of
a row until fully ripe for that purpose.
The rows for early or late peas should in
variably run north and south, so as to
let the sun shine on both sides of the
row. The space between the tall grow
ing kinds should be three feet. After
the first and second planting | put three
drills to the row, and cultivate and stick
the same as when there are but two
drills. When | want to grow peas extra
| plant as first indicated, and set long
narrow boards, about FIVE inches wide,
close on the outside of the drills, putting
little pegs in the ground on the inside of
the boards to keep them from falling in
ward, and bank up little on the outside
of them with the stable manure, and
cover the box or trough thus formed by
s by 10 glass. The boards must be level
on the top; so as to allow the glass to lie
down closely. This trough is covered at
night, and in stormy, cold weather, with
strips of old carpet, which are removed
when the sun shines. When the peas
have grown to the top of the trough, the
glass and boards are removed, and the
peas cultivated and stuck like the 9th ers
Heavy clay land may be greatly improved
for growing peas by copious applications
of leached ashes. deem it unnecessary
to give the names of the early and late
peas l will say, however, that while
the wrinkled varieties are in general the
softest and sweetest peas when cooked,
the hard, smooth-skinned pea is prefera-
BILE for early planting, being less liable to
rot in the ground.-Country Gentleman.
Nitrate of Soda and SuperphOsphate.
B. +. johnson, of CHAMPAIGN, H., a
veteran correspondent of the Country
Gentleman, writes to that paper as fol-
lows:
Lately made my third annual pur-
chase of these two fertilizers. both OF
which / have found, after two years
trial, to produce valuable and profitable,
if not extra results. Of the superphos.
phate, / have COS lbs, costing, delivered
S2.15 per 100 lbs, and of the nitrate OF
soda, 412 lbs, costing $3.50; total cost
$5I.5i. Reserving about 200 lbs. of the
superphosphate for some corn crop ex-
periments in a small way, l shall SOW
some time in March, equal quantities OF
both, on two small pastures, and expect
to be able to increase the grass growth,
to the extent that the pastures will yield
grass enough to feed nine mich cows
from May to November. One of them
did better than that last year, having
been twice fortified in two successive