Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/213

 PEA PEABODY 203 being harvested, threshed, and fed together. Peas are very nutritious for animals, and are especially used for sheep and swine ; the haulm, or vine, is an excellent sheep fodder. The field variety generally planted in this country is the black-eyed. Peas contain a large amount of flesh-forming principles; analysis shows 22'4 parts of albuminoids and 53'3 of carbohydrates in 100. In the ripe state they form a very nourishing food for man, as well as for domes- tic animals; in Scotland pea meal is made into thick cakes called pea bannocks, and in the form of split peas, deprived of their skins by machinery, they are largely used to form the nutritious pea soup and pease pudding. In the late war with France the German troops were supplied with rations in the form of a sausage, of which pea meal formed a large part, mixed with fat, meat, and condiments. The enemies of the pea are mildew and the pea weevil. The mildew, a fungous growth, is best avoided by early and deep sowing; hot weather favors its development. The weevil is a small beetle, bruchus pisi, which lays its eggs upon the very young pod; the grub as soon as hatched eats its way through the pod to the young pea ; the wounds heal up after it, though a scar may be formed, and the grub, only one in each seed, grows at the ex- pense of the substance of the pea; completing its growth by the time the pea is ripe, it cuts a hole for its future escape, as far as the skin of the seed, and then enters the pupa state; some may come out as perfect insects in the autumn, but the majority remain dormant till spring. The embryo being avoided by the in- sect, infested peas will germinate ; but as the young plants are thus deprived of their proper amount of nourishment, the grub having ap- propriated it, such vines are feeble and unpro- ductive. The pea bug is not known in some localities, and dealers have their seed raised in these places. It is said that the vapor of tur- pentine will kill the insect, and chloroform has been used for the same purpose, as has scalding. The cow pea of the southern states is large- ly cultivated as a forage plant, and it is of the greatest importance in southern agriculture; this, in the appearance of its seeds, is more like a bean than a pea; it is a species of dolichos (vigna of some authors), so modified by long cultivation that its species is difficult to determine; the writer has a collection ,of 23 varieties, differing as much in size, color, and markings as those of the garden bean. The chick pea is deer arietinum, a native of India and southern Europe ; it is an erect, branching, hairy annual, with pinnate leaves of six to nine pairs of leaflets, mostly solitary pea-like flowers on long peduncles, and a hairy bladdery pod containing two or three large wrinkled seeds; the surface of these is so ir- regular as to present somewhat the shape of a ram's head, whence the specific name arieti- num. The glandular hairs of the plant exude oxalic acidj which sometimes in dry weather appears in minute crystals. This pea, exten- sively cultivated in the East and in Mexico and South America, is but little known in our gardens; in the countries named it is much eaten, ground into meal and made into cakes, or in soup ; the French use it as the basis of a favorite soup, puree anx croutons ; it is more indigestible than the common pea. In India this pea is known as gram, in Spanish coun- tries as garfianzo, and in this country to some extent as coffee pea, as several years ago the seeds were sold at an exorbitant price as a per- fect substitute for coffee. The everlasting or perennial pea is lathyrus latifolius, a desirable trailing garden plant, producing a profusion of clusters of pink, purplish, or white flowers. The Japan pea, at present widely advertised as a most valuable plant for its seeds and fod- der for the southern states, is a species of soya, very near the soy pea, S. hispida, if not a form of it. Beach pea, lathyrus maritimus, found on the seacoast from New Jersey northward, and on the shores of the great lakes, is also a native of Europe ; it has large purple flowers, and is a noticeable wild plant. The sweet pea, a favorite garden annual, is latJiyrus odoratus, the charming fragrance of which is recognized in its botanical as well as its garden name ; it is a native of Sicily, and is in general cultiva- tion. The vine resembles that of the common- pea, but is hairy, and produces its flowers two or three together on a long peduncle ; the seeds are small and nearly black ; the flowers in the original state have a rose-colored upper petal or standard, and the rest white. By cultivation numerous varieties have been pro- duced, and the named sorts give pure white, blush, blue, scarlet, and various purples, one of which is so dark that it is called black. The vines, which in good soil grow 5 ft. high, must have a support of some kind to which to cling. In the cultivation of this flower two points are essential to the best results, to sow very early, and to not allow the vines to be exhausted by the production of seeds. PEABODY, a town of Essex co., Massachusetts, adjoining Salem, and 12 m. N. N". E. of Bos- ton, with which and with the adjoining towns it is connected by rail ; pop. in 1870, 7,343. It contains about 60 leather and morocco man- ufactories, three glue manufactories, a bleach- ery, print works, two national banks with a joint capital of $400,000, a high school, 6 gram- mar and 14 primary schools, and 8 churches. A weekly newspaper is published. It was formerly called South Danvers, being separa- ted from the town of Danvers in 1855, and received its present name in 1868 in honor of George Peabody, who was born in this part of Danvers. The Peabody institute, endowed by him with $200,000, is situated here. The building contains a hall for free lectures and a free library of 20,000 volumes. In it are de- posited the portrait of Queen Victoria and other tokens of public esteem which had been received by Mr. Peabody.