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more valuable in point of fodder, but is very uncertain in re-gard to its grain, often in wet seasons continuing to grow andbloom till late in autumn, which greatly injures the grain pro-duce, and sometimes occasions in that respect an absolutebiauk.
A third variety of field or gray pea was cultivated in Ber-wickshire, on a limited scale, a few years ago, under the nameof the mottled pea . The seed came from England, and wasbelieved to be what is called the partridge-pea in the countyof Norfolk. It was a very early ripener; and, in the expe-rience of the reporter, was usually ready for the sickle beforeany other grain on the farm, although sown as late as themiddle of May. But, though its grain produce was suffi-ciently satisfactory, its straw was short and scanty, and itsquality as fodder was quite worthless, being tender, dry,and without substance, and much disrelished by horses. Itscultivation, therefore, was soon abandoned ; the value of peas-straw, as winter provender for the work-horses of the farm,being one of the strongest inducements to the cultivation ofpeas.
§ 3. Seed process .—When peas are cultivated in drills alongwith beans, the seed process, and all the other steps of theirtreatment, are the same as those already detailed in regard tobeans. Broadcast sowing is so diametrically adverse to cleanhusbandry, that it can in no case be recommended 5 althoughthere is no question that on lands previously clean and in goodorder, and in favourable seasons, when the crop comes awayearly and soon covers and overshadows the ground, rich andvaluable crops of peas may be sometimes grown in this slo-venly manner. But from what has been so often seen in thismode of cultivation, where the fields devoted to crops of broad-cast peas, were entirely filled by a host of weeds of every pos-sible description, there can be no doubt of the vast superiori-ty of the drill husbandry for the cultivation of this leguminouscrop, where circumstances render it advisable.