Complete Text (Part 15)

are hardy annual vege- tables, of short season and somewhat tender to heat, in which they are likely to fail and mildew from lack of moisture. In America they are almost exclusively plan- ted outdoors where they are to grow, but in England and Europe they are frequently either grown entirely under glass, or started so and transplanted to the field. If this is done in early spring, coldframes are probably the best, as Peas are sensitive to heat. It appears from Vilmorin-Andrieux and Nicholson that in France and England Peas may be sown outdoors in the autumn for an early spring crop, but that is never done in America, as in our long winters the seed would spoil. Management of Peas is largely with us a question of type, Peas classifying into smooth- and wrinkled-seeded, N 194 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES and again into dwarf, half-dwarf, and tall, which are practically early, medium, and late. The smooth-seeded are the earliest and hardiest, but the wrinkled -seeded are of better quality; the dwarfs of both are their earliest. Among vegetable gardeners the smooth -seeded Peas are not in favor except for the earliest crop ; after that it is possible to get the wrinkled -seeded on vines of 1 heights, the taller the more prolific. Dwarf Peas do not need to be supported ; the half-dwarf and tall should be supplied with brush or chicken-wire to climb on, set at the time of planting. For economy of space Peas are usually planted in two rows close together, the support between; dwarf Peas thus planted will support each other. Late planted Peas should be put in deep, for the sake of moisture ; it is well to plant in a trench and fill in as the plants grow. The soil for Peas should not be very rich ; for early Peas it should be light, for PEA 195 later heavier. Coarse manure is best not used on pea land, unless trenched in in the foreign fashion; but a little nitrate of soda or liquid manure maybe scattered on the land to give a quick start. Varieties are very numerous, within the types above given ; for uniform results, buy only the best seed. Dis- eases and pests are sometimes troublesome. Soil. — Besides the remarks above it may be said that advance preparation of the soil is advisable for Peas, and that they are best grown on land which in a previous year has been well enriched. The ni- trogen applied to the soil before sowing is not necessary if the soil Fig. M. Whole plant is known to have the nitrogen -gathering bacteria: once the plants have got well started they will gather their nitrogen from the air. In fact, too much or too fresh manure, or an over-supply of nitrogen, will make the plants run to vine, in which case they will have to be persistently pinched back. 196 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES Soil-inoculation of nitrogen -gathering bacteria (see Bulletin No. 71, Bureau of Plant Industry) is possible and under the right circumstances effective by means of cultures which can be obtained of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C. Or buy of private firms, whose product, however, is not always good. Distances are according to variety. Planting in double rows, six to eight inches apart, is recommended for all kinds of Peas. Spaces between the double rows should be eighteen inches to four feet, according to to variety. Depth is somewhat according to season, but also to the nature of the land. Early Peas in heavy land may go one inch deep; in light land about two inches. Later in the season plant two to three inches and in June sow in trenches five to six inches deep, and fill in as the plants grow. In porous soil plant deeper, in heavy land more shallow. Seed should be sowed thickly for the early crop, for the later about one-half to one inch apart, the dwarfs the closest together. Soak the seed after the ground is warm. Sow smooth Peas as soon as the ground can be worked in spring. Peas and onions are the earliest to be sowed. Sow wrinkled Peas when the heavy frosts arc past, about the middle of April. From that time on,, sow every ten days for succession until early June. Sow again in August, early varieties for a fall crop. PEA 197 Thin to three to four inches apart in the row. Cultivation should be shallow, to preserve the mois- ture of the ground and not to injure the roots. Pinch off the ends of the vines if they grow too rank ; if the ground is much too rich this must be done repeatedly. Pick the pods as they fill out, whether needed or not, to lengthen the yield. Support. — Devices are numerous, brush, string, and chicken-wire being the most common. Protection from birds is frequently necessary with Peas. Use mosquito netting for absolute protection, or hang strips of cloth or tin above the rows. Forcing. — For forcing, the dwarf varieties are best. Diseases. — Mildew is likely to come in summer. Spray with fungicides, mixed with soap to make them adhere ; or use powders, such as fostite (Lodeman) when the vines are wet. Against blight-fungus, use healthy seed, keep vines from ground, spray with Bor- deaux. Pests. — The pea-weevil lays its eggs in the young pods, and the larvae live in the Peas. Sow with the seed sand or coal-ashes saturated with carbolic acid. Treat affected seed as soon as picked, with bisulphide of carbon in a tight receptacle, or heat to 140° Fahr. for an hour. Destroy all waste seed, and buy only the best. Plant late; or hold seed oyer for a year in a tight bag or box. Pea-louse t — Brush from the vines, and cultivate, 198 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES Spray with whale-oil soap, one pound in six gallons of water. Moth. — Pick the pods while young, and let none ripen ; rotation. Destroy vines ; plow in fall. For blister-beetles and other pests which injure beans, see under Bean. For plant-lice, plant-bugs, and leaf-hoppers, underspray with kerosene emulsion. For caterpillars, hand picking, arsenites (wash before shelling). For cutworms, bait as under cabbage. PEA, EDIBLE-PODDED or SUGAR, is a type of j>ea with tender pods, which are eaten exactly like string beans, and are much esteemed in Europe. They should be better known in America. Their culture is like other peas, according to the sizes of the vines, dwarf, half-dwarf, and tall. The peas should be picked before they ripen. PEA 9 WINGED, is a prostrate annual plant of the pea family of little apparent value, the pods eaten like Sugar Peas, or the seed, when ripe and roasted, ground as a substitute for coffee. Sow when the ground is fit, in rows eighteen inches apart. Depth. — Two to four inches, according to soil and season. Thin to four inches apart in the rows. Soil as for other peas. PEANUT 199 PEANUT (Arachis hypogcea), often called Ground- nut, Earth-nut or Goober, and sometimes Ground-pea, Manila-nut, Jur-nut, and Pindar, is an annual legumi- nous plant grown for its "nuts, 11 which are really peas. The peculiarity of the plant is that after flowering the stalks thrust themselves into the ground and ripen there, dying within a few hours if they are unable to pene- trate the ground. The Peanut plant is very tender to frost, and is not grown with success north of New Jersey, except as a curiosity giving a small yield. Commercially the plant is of great importance in the South, and still more so in other semi-tropical parts of the world, chiefly for the sake of its oil and meal. It makes an excellent forage-crop. Varieties are the Virginia (Running and Bunch, or White and Red), Tennessee (White and Red) and (smaller varieties), the Georgia (Red), North Carolina (or African) and Spanish. The Virginia and the Tennessee are the most grown; the Spanish has small kernels of good quality, and brings the highest prices. Soil. — All varieties except the Spanish require a calcareous soil; if lime is not present the plants pro- duce a large proportion of "pops, 11 or shells without seeds. The Peanut will give heaviest yields on stiff land, but commercially the crop thus produced is of little value, as the pods are stained, making them unmarketable. Light soils give light-colored pods, which are in demand. In the North light soils should 200 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES be used on account of earliness. The Spanish will "make profitable returns wherever the cowpea will succeed." (Arkansas Bulletin No. 84.) The soil should be finely pulverized before planting. Light dressings of barnyard manure may be previously ploughed in, and lime (of any kind if well burned), phosphoric acid (best as fine ground phosphatic slag, or superphosphate on heavy land) and potash (best as kainit) may be previously applied it) the furrow or broadcast after PEANUT 201 planting and cultivated in. Use lime at the rate of 80 bushels per acre, or marl at 100 to 150 bushels per acre, if there is plenty of humus in the soil; otherwise apply in smaller quantities, adding also humus from year to year. By proper rotation, Peanuts will assist to continually improve the land, since they gather nitrogen from the air, and store it in the ground. But in most of the Peanut sections the soil has been im- poverished by a too steady drain upon it. Distances are chiefly according to variety, though the fertility of the land should be considered. Rows from two to three and one-half feet apart ; hills in the row, six inches to two feet. The Virginia are usually grown eighteen by thirty-six inches ; the Spanish, six by twenty-four inches. Depth. — About four inches. Sow when frosts are past, in the North about June 1, two seeds to the hill. Or start under glass in pots in April, and set out when frosts are past. Seed is best shelled, taking care not to break the skin of the kernel. The Spanish, however, is frequently planted in the shell, which is merely broken in two. Culture should be level; it is a mistake to hill. The chief object is to keep down weeds and preserve the surface-mulch until the vines cover the ground. Dig before frost, which will injure the nuts. Dry the nuts carefully, and store in bags away from frost and moisture. 203 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES PENNYROYAL {Mentha pvjegium) is of the Mint family, and is cultivated exactly like Mint, which see. PEPPER or CAPSICUM (Capsicum annuum) is a hot-season plant which will endure some frost, but for best results in the North should be started under glass. Fig. W. Seedling* of Pepper. Natural she. The plants are grown for their fruit: that of the small varieties is used for pickling; that of the larger is used for "mangoes" and "stuffed peppers. " The larger varieties bear large fleshy fruits of a mild or even sweet flavor; the small peppers, especially the so-called Chili Peppers, are hot and peppeiy, although quite distinct, botanicallv, from the Pepper of commerce. Varieties differ in shape, size, and pungency. "Green Peppers" are the unripe fruits. PEPPER OR CAPSICUM Soil should be light, warm, and rich, but not dry. Distances should be somewhat according to the size of the variety, from one foot by two up to thirty inches by eighteen. Peppers, the large type. Depth. — One-half to one inch. Sow under glass in March, and prick out, preferably into pots. Sow outdoors when frosts are past, about 204 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES the end of May, in hills or drills. Three or four seeds to the hill. Or sow in sheltered seed-bed and transplant. Th'm seed-bed rows at the fourth leaf, to three inches. Thin hills to one plant. Set mtt house-grown plants when frosts are past, after hardening. Transplant with plenty of earth, at five or six inches. Culture. — Give clean cultivation. Large fruits may be grown by pinching off all blos- soms after the first few fruits have set, and by cutting back the ends. Support. — It is well to tie the plants to setting om-oi-aoor*. stakes in the case of a heavy crop. Earthing the stems is not so good. Pick at about twenty weeks from seed, until frost. Cut the fruit with an inch of stem, and do not tear it from the plant. If the hands are burnt while handling Peppers, soothe with milk. Diseases. — Anthracnose {pink and black) may be partly controlled by Bordeaux. n «.»>!. You PEPPERGRASS. See Cress, PEPPERG R ASS — PE-TSAI 205 PEPPERGR ASS, CALIFORNIA {Bratuka Japonka), is grown as a pot-herb for its leaves. It often runs wild, and deserves to be better known. Cultivate like spinach or collards. PEPPERMIHT. See Mint. PE-TSAI, or Chinese Cabbage (Brasska Pe-tmi), is a plant of the cabbage family, grown for its head of leaves, which much resembles a head of Cos lettuce, but is usually boiled as a pot-herb. As it bolts in heat, it is best sown in late July or August, for a fall vege- ¥\g. W. Pe-Tsal, or CUinese Cabbage. table. It will stand frost. Varieties are few ; pests are those vS the cabliage family. Soil. — Any good garden soil, preferably cool and moist. Distances. — Eighteen by twelve inches.. 206 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES Depth. — One-half to one inch. Sow thinly in late July or August, and thin in the rows, or sow in seed-bed and transplant. Thinnings may be transplanted. Pick before the plant goes to seed, which it does quickly in hot weather. PICRIDIDM VULGARE is the name given by Thompson to French Scorzonera, which see, under S. PIE-PLANT. See Rhubarb. PIGWLED, or Lamb's Quarter (Chenopodium album), is sometimes grown in gardens as a pot-herb. Treat like spinach. (The name Pigweed is also applied to the green amaranth, Amarantus retrqflexus, a common barn- yard weed.) PIMPINELLA, or Pimpernel, or Burnet Saxifrage (Pimpinella Saxifraga), is a plant grown for its leaves, used in salads, having a cucumber flavor. It is little used. Culture is like that of Anise, to which it is allied. PINDAR. See Peanut. PLANTAIN. See Bucks-Horn Plantain POPPY, OPIUM. See Opium Poppy. POTATO 207 POTATO (Solantum tuberosum)^ often called White, Common, or Irish Potato, is grown for its root-enlarge- ments, or tubers. Although unknown to civilization until the sixteenth century, the potato is now one of the most important crops in the world. A perennial plant in its native valleys of Mexico and South America, it is grown as an annual, being tender to frost ; the tubers are injured by freezing. Success with the potato requires several proper conditions, the chief being the soil and its preparation, the seed, the culture, and the means taken to check disease and kill pests. The soil should be neither dry nor wet; it should not be infes- ted with scab, for which reason also it should not have been recently dressed with fresh manure ; it should be rich. The seed should be good, preferably northern- grown, from the most vigorous-growing plants and free from scab. Culture should begin early and not cease until the plants shade the ground. Early and repeated spraying is necessary to ward off blight and insects. Careless, ignorant, or haphazard methods, so usual with our farmers, are fortunate if they bring success, and the amateur, well read in experiment-station literature, can often beat the farmer at his own game. At the same time experience is necessary for steady success with potatoes, and knowledge of the fertilizing requirements of each individual plot is needed to produce good results economically. While the following advice is for garden rather than farm conditions, its lessons are 208 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES drawn from federal and state experiments on a large scale. Varieties of Potatoes are, historically, almost innu- merable; for practical use they are early, medium, and late. New varieties are rarely maintained, and the ama- teur or beginner will be wise to buy a variety locally well known and successful, rather than buy at high prices a novelty which may not have been sufficiently tested. Experiments are now under way at many stations, to produce or find disease-resistant varieties. Potato crops are usually early and late, though for the garden a third crop is easily obtained, by starting under glass. Earliness is partly a matter of variety, but may be helped by sprouting the seed-piece, using "quick* 1 fertilizers, and by planting on early land pre- pared in the previous fall. The worst insect enemy of the potato is the beetle or potato-bug. The worst diseases are scab and the early and late blights. Soil. — Soil should first of all be free of scab; good potatoes cannot be grown on infested land. If potatoes or beets known to have scab have been grown on a given plot, it must be given to other ccops for several years before Potatoes can safely be grown on it. Potatoes require a deep and moderately light or sandy loam, well supplied with humus, and with an open subsoil. If the soil is heavy, the tubers cannot so easily enlarge ; if clayey, the ground will be too wet ; POTATO 209 if light and with little humus, the ground will he too dry ; if the subsoil is hard, there will be poor drainage, and the roots, which sometimes penetrate to a depth of four feet, cannot go so deeply as they should. Soil surface. The old-piece is at A. which with good surface-cultivation will keep its mois- ture through a dry spell and which in a wet season will not hold standing moisture is best for Potatoes. If there is a choice of soils, sow early Potatoes on the lighter, the