Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/122

 the peas; while it takes more than twice as long to clear the ground for the succeeding crop, and the rows must be planted at a greater distance apart, to admit of cultivation.

The quality of the dwarf kinds is fully as good as of the tall growing ones, and in many kinds the crop borne is fully as prolific; the only strong point that I know of in favor of the brushed peas, is that the pickers do not growl half so much at picking them as they do over the lower growing ones, and that some of the varieties can be had later in the summer, as their height serves to shade the ground between the rows and thus keeps it cool. As for the growls of the picker, the short vines admit of no loafing place, and no true gardener or lover of his craft ever seems to be aware that he has such a thing as a spine (except on his cucumbers) till he tries to straighten up at the end of the day’s work.

For sowing the seed, plow a drill as deeply as possible with the hand plow; sow the seed thickly, say a quart to 200 feet of drill, and cover by plowing the dirt back again; when the hand-plow is not among the assortment of tools, scrape a drill three inches deep and as broad as the blade of the hoe, scatter the seed the whole breadth of the drill, using about one-third more seed than above directed, and then press them into the bottom of the drill with the sole of the boot, covering the fine dirt in afterward with a steel rake; this takes longer to do, but is a much better way to plant them when the time can be spared; the row being broader it gives the plants more room, and the seed being planted more deeply