YIELDS AND PRICES

From 1,500 to 2,500 pounds of shelled peas per acre are often obtained from canning peas. As much as two tons have been obtained under very favorable conditions. The market garden averages about 75 to 150 bushels per acre of unshelled peas according to the method of planting and the variety. In the home garden a row about 100 feet long would give three to five bushels of pods. Of course, this will vary with the variety and other conditions.

Canneries pay from two to two and one-half cents a pound for shelled peas. Lately there has been a system of paying introduced into some canneries where peas containing no hard or extremely large sorts bring as high as three cents a pound. The peas grade from this down to as low as one and one-half cents a pound, this price being paid for peas containing hard seeds and varying sizes. In the market garden three dollars or a little more per bushel is sometimes received, and the price soon drops to as low as fifty cents a bushel or less. The earlier and larger the pods, the higher the price.

COST OF PRODUCTION

As a general rule, the cost of producing an acre of canning peas varies from thirty to forty-five dollars. That includes all the work connected with the crop. In the market garden, the cost of this crop varies from forty to seventy-five dollars, according to the methods of planting and the yield. The profits from a canning crop are generally very limited. In many localities in New York State there is a dead loss instead of profit. If a man is able to obtain a profit of fifteen to twenty-five dollars per acre, he should be satisfied. In the market garden, from seventy-five to one hundred dollars profit is received at times. A man receiving fifty to seventy-five dollars for the crop and following on the same land with another vegetable in the same season should be satisfied.

INSECTS

Pea weevil. The pea weevil is one of the most common insects. This is a beetle of brownish gray color having two black dots near the anal part of the body. Its head is bent under the

body and ends in a sharp snout. The insect is quite common when the peas are in bloom. It deposits an egg on the young pod. The grub enters and eats its way into the interior of the pod, entering the pea. The insect remains within the seed throughout this larval stage and also through the pupal stage or rest stage, coming out in the early spring after the seed has been planted, as a beetle, to lay more eggs. The remedy in controlling this insect is to use bisulphide of carbon to fumigate the seeds. The way to do this is to place 100 pounds of seeds in a tight barrel or bin. Use one ounce of bisulphide of carbon, pouring the same over the seeds, and close the receptacle tightly. Allow this to remain for some time. The beetle will then be destroyed.

Pea Louse. The annual loss from this insect runs into many millions of dollars. It is a small greenish-brown insect with long legs, found on the underside of the leaves. It is very tender and, therefore, should easily be controlled. On a small scale nicotine solution such as Black Leaf 40 should be sprayed on the plants, or a solution of kerosene, soap and water. Twenty-five per cent. kerosene should be used. Many birds and insects are its natural enemies. Another method is to cultivate the peas, sending a boy ahead to knock the pest from the vines, then bury these insects with the cultivator.

Blight or Leaf Spot. This is a discolored area generally found upon the stem near the ground. It is somewhat similar to anthracnose on the bean. The disease works through the pod and to the seed, infecting it. The remedy is self-evident; select seed that is not infected. The vines may be sprayed with bordeaux, beginning when four to six inches in height and continuing about every four to six days. After the crop has been harvested, the vines should be burned, in order to check the spread of the disease Mildew. Mildew is a whitish or grayish coating generally found on the pea leaves late in the season and after the weather has become somewhat warm. The remedy for this particular disease is dusting the affected plants with sulphur. Peas grown on cool sites are less likely to be troubled.

VARIETIES

For canning the Alaska is one of the common varieties. This may be a good source for the canner, but is a very poor eating

pea. The Telephone is a very good variety, the Advancer, Admiral, Duke of Albany, Horsford's, Thomas Laxton, and others. It is a good plan for a cannery to try out different sorts each year, adopting the variety to meet the particular conditions. For the market gardener, the Alaska, American Wonder, British Wonder, Excelsior, Early Surprise, Gradus, Market Garden, Thomas Laxton, Dwarf Telephone, and Duke of Albany are good sorts.

For a succession I recommend the Early Surprise for early, followed by the Excelsior (do not use the Notts), Thomas Laxton, Dwarf Telephone and Duke of Albany. For the home garden the varieties recommended under market gardening are very good. There are many other sorts which may be valuable, and it is recommended that they be tested out by the individuals.

BEANS

H. E. Cox, GENESEO, N. Y.

I have stated on previous occasions, when this subject has been given me to discuss, that, although I was raised and have always lived in the bean belt and have all my life raised more or less beans, still I can truthfully say that, "I do not know beans." And I think this is true, also, of bean growers generally.

In all our farming operations there is an element of chance, because of conditions over which we have no control. Bean growing is a gamble, but if we have land suitable for growing beans it is "good business" to take the gamble.

In beans we have one of the most nutritious and highly concentrated food products offered by the vegetable kingdom. Their value when cooked as a means of supplying protein in cattle rations is justly recognized, but their value as human food is too great to allow of economical stock feeding excepting where, from weather damage at harvest time or other cause, they have become unfit for food simply by their appearance. Even these beans, when boiled in an arch kettle for the cows and pigs, appear appetizing enough so that a real hungry man would not be injured either mentally or physically by making a meal from that same stew. They were used last winter on our Orchard Ridge Farm, cooked and fed with the ensilage, with excellent results.

A SECTIONAL CROP

Wheat, potatoes, hay, corn and alfalfa are grown quite generally over the whole country. It is interesting to notice how readily conditions can be changed to suit the requirements of alfalfa. On the other hand, cotton, tobacco, sweet potatoes, beans, etc., are sectional crops; that is, they flourish to greatest perfection under certain soil and climatic conditions supplied only by particular sections of the country.