THE GARDEN ADD ORCHARD

North Otago Times, 27 October 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE GARDEN ADD ORCHARD

NOTES ON PEAS.

There is 110 doubt, says an English journal, that the b«!fc all-round pea | for lato or autumn cropping is Auto- j crat, which bears a ooiieideratle rescnir: bianco to the good old No Plus TJltra, I but is considerably dwsivfer —about two-thirds the height-and possesses aj J a very vigorous and sturdy constitu- \ tion and habit. For very late gqthcr- j lings Late Queen or Latest of All may ;be grown, but for general cropping ! Autocrat is generally admitted to bs tho most useful variety we have. It is to a great) miildbw-pj'oof, J and if grown in well-manured trenches ! and freely supplied with water it very seldom fails to yield an abundant crop of fine peas. Another excellent though older variety, and a great favourite with tho writer, is Fillbasket (Laxton'e); this is a second-early or early main-crop variety, growing about 13ft, high, but its strong points are its great productiveness and the fact of the pods being crammed with large peas from end to end. Sharpe's Queen is another splendid second-early pea, a little taller than the last, but a wonderful cropper, and bearing a profusion of good-sized and well-filled 'pocH Duke of Albany is still the main-crop . variety! of the market grower in par- ' ticular, but though excellent in every '•other respect if it filled its pods a | little more fully it would' be a better i variety. < Of the early varieties Gradus is good, though very tall, and tho pods aro not t too well filled; on the whole the dwarf ' kinds are to bo preferred, as they I occupy less room, and yield an abun- ' dance of well-filled pods'. English Wonder is in my opinion the best of_ these, though Chelsea Gem and Excelsior are : both excellent, tho first-named afford- ■ ing a profusion of pods as ful' ss ! those of Fillbasket. An old variety ' known as "Tho Duchess 1 ' bore a heavy • crop of long (Straight pods filled with . large peas of good flavour, which bei came fit for use almost at once, but thiii seems to have dropped out of ; cultivation now. Another useful kind ; Ditko of Edinburgh, which kept on : growing, flowering and podding for ' several weeks in sucoossion, and pro- , duced well-filled pods right up to the ; top of plants 7ft. or Bft. high. But i these appear to have been Superseded : by other and newer varieties, thougu | whether many of these are really improvements is open to question. Ono •' new variety that will' probably be heard a good deal of in the future is | called "Quite Cbntent," which is cer- •: tainly a very fine type of 'pea; it has 1 been shown twice before the com- ■ mitted of the Royal Horticultural Soc- , icty, by Mr E, B. Beckett, of Aldenijianv House Gardens, and while obtainl of' ing an award of merit the first time, 1 is .wns awarded a first-clatb certificate the mer • Eecond.

On the whole the jjaut season lias ißeii a very trying one for tins subject, nd many arc the failures. that have time under the notice of the writer ilone, in some casee tho iianlm being lompletely blackened or "blasted" at lie top, from same cause, while in ithers tho haulm, though bealtby and 'igorous below, became black and died iff to 'nothing at the top; ill othel' Detains the iipiwr part of tho liaujm, wis ami all, were 6warming with tiny r;!ggots, which ruined the whole. There can bo no doubt that in suoli i. ftinean a? this peas, of the latch' latches in particular, succeed best rlien sown thinly in shallow trenches, nth plenty of manure below the ilants, which after being eanhed up ightly two or three times will stand a civ inchcli below tho general lord, tea trenches should be flooded with later or liquid manure twice or.thrice , week in hot weather, and if the rows .re mulched along each nido with long iiamii'e as well there is not nnveh fear ■f their going wrong. Nitrato of soda and other nitro;<?uotis fertilisers are generally supKwod to exercise no beneficial effect ipon peas, which obtain most of their litrogeu from tho atmosphere, but hough not. increasing the yield to any ■stent, a moderate dressing has bceli ound .to improvo tho colour and fla■oiir of the. crop considerably.