Laurel outlook., 1945-06-06
Peas From Tut's
Tomb Live Again
33 Century Old Legumes
Amaze Experts by Their
Vitality and Beauty.
By CAPT. HARRY E. HAMMER
Released by Western Newspaper Union.

ORLANDO, FLA. - Outside
colonel's office window at the al
forces tactical center, within sight @
a hangar and celestial navigation
towers, garden peas n growing. A
is the case with most thing
at AFTAC, these peas are .extraor
binary.
The tall, healthy vines are loaded
with purple pods, and their stems
are thick and branching. Atop the
vines, pretty purple flowers wave il
the Florida sunlight. The oTigina
seeds from which these vines spran&
were placed by Egyptian priests ir
the tomb of King Tutankhamen $500
years ago.
At least, this is the only theory
that fits what facts are known about
the peas origin.
Col. Harlan w. Holden, comman-
dant of the school of applied tactics
at AFTAC and present custodian of
the King Tut peas, is the man who
has done most to stimulate scientific
interest in the little vegetables. He
has mailed hundreds of seeds from
his two crops to experimental and
research agencies desiring to expert
ment with the new variety" AS to
the peas return from the tomb,
Colonel Holden makes no claims.
He merely points out the window to
where the peas are growing and re-
minds skeptics that so far no n
has been able to offer n fact to
disprove the story as given to him.
Found by Carter.
This is the history of the King Tut
peas as compiled by Colonel Hol-
den:
The original peas came from How
ard Carter, who was a member of
the Lord Carnervon expedition to
King Tut's tomb in 1922 and 1928.
Carter found them in an urn in the
tomb. They went to Lady Gilbert of
"Grimm's Dyke" Harrow Weald.
Her head gardener gave some of the
peas to Mr.. A. A. Aldrige, who
after obtaining a parcel of the peas
gave two pods to his friend, Mr..
Arthur Easton of Newport, R. I.
After raising crop, Mr.. Easton
presented two of the pods to Maj.
Walter D. Dyer, who planted them
In his garden at Portsmouth, r. I.
They proceeded to grow as if they
had just come from the grocer's.
The seeds from this crop, when
the next year, bore profuse-
ly, and Major Dyer harvested about
a pound and a half of fresh peas.
Some of these he brought with him
to the tactical center in Florida,
where among a wide variety of mill
tary courses there is n On jungle
survival.
Immediately intrigued by the
peas background, the commandant
AFTAC's school of applied tao
tics, Col. Harlan w. Holden, took up
agriculture. The season was far
being the prescribed one for
pea planting, but Colonel Holden
acted on the premise that sand is
sand, whether in Egypt or Florida.
He also had a bunch that peas which
had pulled through three millennia
n a tomb could stand ~off-season
On April 10, 1914, after
the regular Florida pea crop was
finished, he planted about 60 seeds
from the Rhode Island termination
in the sand-based soil just outside
lis office. =,
Any gardener in this part of the /:
country will tell you that you can't
raise peas in this area in the spring. :
As a matter of fact, they told
Colonel Holden that; and while he
patiently listened to them over the
he looked out the window at
he healthy vines.
Bug and Disease Proof.
Hardly were the first sprouts out
# the ground when they started try
ng to set an altitude record. In the
irst eight weeks they grew 5h feet
While the natives scratched puzzled
Ieads. BY the 4th of July Colonel
Holden, who stand 6 feet, 2 inches
imself, was looking up to count the
'udding pods at the tops of the vines.
Corp. Merle Tibbets, jungle sur
ival o com, was fertilizing and
yatering the vines one day when he
oticed another remarkable thing
bout these plants. Whereas the
sual worms, green lice, and beetles
ontinued to chew up surrounding
egetation, they spurned completely
Egyptian intruders. AS one SER
cant observed, perhaps the garden
ests feared some kind Of "King Tut
urse," but leaving that theory aside
lie matter still was not entirely x
Meanwhile Colonel Holden no
ced some more vines growing with
in his garden. Then he remem-
cred that a few worm-eaten, per-
rated peas from the same Rhode