The Field and Garden Vegetables of America Part 96

This is a very excellent pea, an abundant cropper, and considerably earlier than the Auvergne and s.h.i.+llings Grotto; to both of which it is also greatly superior.

CLIMAX. _Trans._

Napoleon.

Plant three feet and a half high, of robust habit; pods single or in pairs, three inches long, containing five or six peas; when ripe, these are of medium size, pale-blue or olive, sometimes yellowish, shaded with blue, and, like the Eugenie, much wrinkled and indented.

If sown the beginning of May, the variety will blossom about the 15th of June, pods may be plucked for use the 10th of July, and the crop will ripen the 25th of the same month.

English catalogues represent the Napoleon as being "the earliest blue pea in cultivation, podding from the bottom of the haum to the top, with fine large pods." In a trial growth, it proved early and productive; not only forming a great number of pods, but well filling the pods after being formed. In quality it is tender, very sweet and well flavored, resembling the Champion of England. Its season is nearly the same with that of the Eugenie, and the variety is well deserving of cultivation.

Mr. Harrison, the originator of the Eugenie and Napoleon, states that both of the peas were originally taken from one pod.

DANTZIC. _Law._

Plant six to seven feet high, branching; pods in pairs, two and a half inches long, half an inch broad, compact, and slightly bent. When ripe, the seed is the smallest of all the light peas, quite round or spherical, of a bright-yellow color, beautifully transparent, with whitish eyes.

If sown the 1st of May, the plants will blossom the 8th of July, afford pease for the table about the 25th of the same month, and ripen from the 10th to the middle of August.

It is not a productive variety, and is seldom cultivated in England or in this country; but is grown extensively on the sh.o.r.es of the Baltic, and exported for splitting, or boiling whole.

d.i.c.kSON'S FAVORITE. _Trans._

d.i.c.kson's Early Favorite.

Plant five feet high, stocky, vigorous, and very prolific; pods ten to twelve on a stalk, long, round when fully grown, curved, hooked at the extremity, but not so much so as in the Auvergne,--to which, in many respects, it bears a strong resemblance. The pods are remarkably well filled, containing from eight to ten peas of medium size, round, and very white.

Planted the 1st of May, the variety blossomed June 25, and pods were gathered for use the 12th of July.

This pea is highly deserving of cultivation as a second early variety.

DILLISTONE'S EARLY. _Cot. Gard._

The plant is of slender habit of growth, produces a single stem two feet high, and bears, on an average, from seven to nine pods: these are smaller than those of the Dan O'Rourke, generally single, but occasionally in pairs, almost straight, and contain seven peas each. The seed, when ripe, is white.

Sown at the time of the Dan O'Rourke, the plants were a ma.s.s of bloom three days before the last named had commenced blossoming, and the crop was ready for gathering seven days before the Dan O'Rourke.

This is undoubtedly the earliest pea known, and is quite seven or eight days earlier than the Dan O'Rourke, which has. .h.i.therto been regarded as the earliest variety. A striking feature of Dillistone's Early is, that its changes take place at once. It blooms in a ma.s.s, its pods all appear together, and the whole crop is ready to be gathered at the same time.

In the Chiswick Garden, England, where a hundred and sixteen varieties were experimentally cultivated, during the season of 1860, under the supervision of Robert Hogg, LL.D., this variety was beginning to die off, when the Dan O'Rourke was yet green and growing.

DWARF MARROW.

Dwarf White Marrow. Dwarf Marrowfat. Early Dwarf Marrowfat.

Plant from three to four feet in height, generally with a single stem, but sometimes branching; pods somewhat flattened, generally single, but sometimes produced in pairs, three inches to three inches and a half long, three-fourths of an inch broad at the middle, tapering with a slight but regular curve to both ends, and containing about six closely-set peas: these are cream-colored and white; the white prevailing about the eye, and at the union of the two sections of the pea; not perfectly round, but more or less compressed, slightly wrinkled, and measuring nearly three-eighths of an inch in diameter.

Planted the 1st of May, the variety blossomed the last of June, and afforded pease for the table the 15th of July.

The Dwarf Marrow is hardy and productive. Though not so sweet or well flavored as some of the more recent sorts, its yield is abundant and long continued; and, for these qualities, it is extensively cultivated.

The variety, however, is rarely found in an unmixed state; much of the seed sown under this name producing plants of stronger habit of growth than those of the true Dwarf Marrow, and more resembling the Tall White variety.

EARLY DAN O'ROURKE.

Dunnett's First Early. Waite's Dan O'Rourke. Carter's Earliest.

Sangster's Number One. _Cot. Gard._

Plant from three and a half to four feet high,--in general habit not unlike the Early Frame, of which it is probably an improved variety; pods usually single, two inches and three-fourths long, containing five or six peas.

When fully ripe, the pea is round, cream-colored, white at the eye and at the junction of the cotyledons, and nearly a fourth of an inch in diameter.

Plants from seeds sown May 1 were in bloom June 7, and pods were gathered for use from the 25th of the month.

The Dan O'Rourke is remarkable for its precocity; and, with the exception of Dillistone's Early and one or two American varieties, is the earliest of all the sorts now in cultivation. It is hardy, prolific, seldom fails to produce a good crop, appears to be well adapted to our soil and climate, is excellent for small private gardens, and one of the best for extensive culture for market.

Its character as an early pea can be sustained only by careful culture, and judicious selection of seeds for propagation. If grown in cold soil, from late-ripened seeds, the variety will rapidly degenerate; and, if from the past any thing can be judged of the future, the Dan O'Rourke, under the ordinary forms of propagation and culture, will shortly follow its numerous and once equally popular predecessors to quiet retirement as a synonyme of the Early Frame or Charlton.

EARLY FRAME. _Thomp._

Early Dwarf Frame. Early Double-blossomed Frame. _Law._ Ess.e.x Champion.

Single-blossomed Frame.

Plant three to four feet in height; pods in pairs, slightly bent backwards, well filled, terminating rather abruptly at both ends, and about two and a half inches long by from three-eighths to half an inch in breadth. The pease, when fully ripe, are round and plump, cream-colored, white towards the eye and at the union of the cotyledons, and measure nearly a fourth of an inch in diameter.

Sown the 1st of May, the variety blossomed June 20, and the pods were ready for plucking the 6th of July.

This well-known pea, for a long period, was the most popular of all the early varieties. At present, it is less extensively cultivated; having been superseded by much earlier and equally hardy and prolific sorts.

"The flowers sometimes come single, and sometimes double; the stalk from the same axil dividing into two branches, each terminating in a flower: hence the names of 'Single-blossomed' and 'Double-blossomed'

have both been occasionally applied to this variety."

EARLY HOTSPUR.

Early Golden Hotspur. Golden Hotspur. Superfine Early. Reading Hotspur.

Similar to the Early Frame. Mr. Thompson represents it as identical. The Messrs. Lawson describe it as follows: "Pods generally in pairs, three inches long, half an inch broad, nearly straight, and well filled; pea similar to the Double-blossomed Early Frame, but rather larger."

EARLY WARWICK.

Race-horse.