This is one of those vegetables which all men most like. Its culture is universal, where people have the means of growing it. The sorts of peas are very numerous; and I will mention a few of them presently. The soil should be good, and fresh dung is good manure for them. Ashes, and compost, very good; but peas, like Indian Corn, will bear to be actually sown upon dung.



Never were finer peas grown than there are grown in the United States; and, as we shall presently see, they may be had, in the open ground, in Long Island, from first of June till the sharp frosts set in. The sorts are numerous, one class is of a small size and the other large. The latter grow taller, and are longer in coming to perfection, than the former.

The earliest of all is the little white pea, called, in Long Island, the May Pea, and, in England, the early frame pea. Then come the early Charleton, the Hotspur, the Blue Pea, the Dwarf and Tall Marroufats; and several others, especially the Knight Pea, the seed of which is rough, uneven shaped and shriveled, and the plant of which grows very tall.

All the sorts may be grown in America, without sticks, and even better than with. I have this year (1819) the finest peas I ever saw, and the crop the most abundant. And this is the manner, in which I have sown and cultivated them.

I ploughed the ground into ridges, the tops of which (for the dwarf sorts) were four feet apart. I then put a good parcel of yard dung into the rows; and ploughed the earth back upon the dung. I then leveled the top of the ridge a little, and drew two drills along upon it at six inches distant from each other.

In these I sowed the peas. When the peas were about three inches high, I hoed the ground deep and well between the rows and on each outside of them. I then ploughed the ground from them, and to them again, in the same way as in the case of Swedish Turnips.

In a week or two afterwards they had another ploughing; and soon after this they fell, and lay down the sides of the ridges. This was the way in which I managed all the sorts, only in the case of the Knight Pea I put the ridges at six feet asunder.

This was, of every sort, the very finest crop of peas I ever saw in my life When not sticked, and sown upon level ground, peas fail about irregularly, and, in case of much wet, the under pods rot; but, from the ridges they fall regularly, and the wet does not lodge about them.

You walk up the furrows to gather the peas; and nothing can be more beautiful, or more convenient. The culture in the garden may be the same, except that the work which is done with the plough in the field, must, in the garden, be done with the spade. As to seasons, the early pea may be sown in the fall.

But, in this case, care must be taken to guard against mice. Sow about four inches deep, and tread the ground well down. When the frost sets in, all is safe till winter breaks up. These peas will be earlier by ten or fifteen days than any that you can sow in the spring. If you sow in the spring, do it as soon as the ground is dry enough to go upon.

Sow the May Pea, some Charletons, some Blue Peas, some Marrowfats, and some Knight Pea, all at the same time, and they will come one after another, so as to give you green peas till nearly August. In June (about the middle) sow

some early pea again and also some Marrowfats and Knight Pea; and these will give you peas till September.

Sow some of each sort middle of August, and they will give you green peas till the hardish frosts come. But, these two last sowings (June and August) ought to be under the South fence, so as to get as much coolness as possible.