The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-05-01
Tuesday, May I, 1917.
HOW TO GROW PEAS

now is the time to start the garden
though only the hardy vegetables can
be safely planted yet The early and
hardy garden crops are peas, onions,
radsh, lettuce, spinach, cress, cab
bage, cauliflower, beets, chard and
tuinips. These plants are not injured
by frost and thrive best in cool
weather.
Do not plant beans, corn, cucum-
bers, squashes, or set out tomatoes or
peppers before May 18th to 25th in
this latitude, the exact time depend
ing on the season. Early potatoes
may be planted as soon as the ground
can be worked freely and the soil does
not stick to a hoe, but for the main
lpotato crop two to three weeks later
will be better. 81
The best crop to put in right now is
lpeas They are hardy and immune
from frost, grow well in our soil and
are one of the best food crops when
green or dried for winter For early
peas far and away the best variety
| is the Alaska. 1t is the best cropper
of all the early peas and the easiest
to grow.
The Alaska grows two to three feet
in height and requires bushing or
stringing a section of chicken fence,
but it pays to do this because the
crop from the peas that require bush
| ing is from two to six times that
from the dwarf varieties and it is so
much easier to pick the peas. That
alone win make up for an the labor
( If bushing
For second crop good varieties are
the Gradus, Thomas Laxton and Hos
ford's Market Garden. but there are
several others nearly as good. It is
best to avoid the Heroine, Fillabasket
and other large blue peas and also
the Marrowfats. They yield well,
but the quality not SO good, LIZ
Foa late peas there are, two varie.
ties ahead OF all others. These are
Champion of England and Telephone.
If raising for market the Telephone
sells best beeauseoit has larger pods,
but for the home garden Champion OF
England is the best pea in the world. |
It is late and must have brush or
chicken fence at least FIVE feet high, |
but it is a great cropper, bears long |
and is the most delicious pea known |
either for summer or winter,
If one has not the conveniences !
for growing peas that have TO be
pushed the dwarf varieties ought not |
to be neglected. They are fine in |
quality and for the home garden the !
crop will generally be sufficient. OF |
the dwarf varieties plant American |
Wonder or Little Gem for early, for
second crop Motifs Excelsior is deslr-
able and for late the Chelsea is a
standard sort. ia
For peas rich, deep soil is best, but
not much green manure Land
MANFRED last year is desirable. Stir
the soil well and make it mellow for
peas root deeply. In our stiff clay
loans it pays to take spading fork
and stir the subsoil where the peas
are to be planted in a garden or
course this cannot be done where the
planting is on a large scale.
For the small and early varieties
make the rows three feet apart, but
for the big late varieties three and
one half feet is not too much. Plant
rather thickly, at least twelve seeds
to the foot and cover two inches deep
for the early kinds and three inches
for the late. Set the brush or wire
fence after the first hoeing when the
peas are not over an inch cut of the
ground.
When the peas first come up look
out for the doves and English spar
rows as they have a habit of walking
along the row and shipping off the
Young shoou They generally do this
between 4 and o'clock in the morn
ing, but of course every good gard
sner is on the job at that time.
If you cannot get the varieties
FAMED do not hesitate to take what
rou can get. They are all good, mere
Y some are better than others. Be
ure to plant as early as possible.
PEAS thrive under the cool, damp
weather. conditions of May and early
une They will not do well in the
lot and often dry weather of mid