PEASE; a genus of the decandria order, belonging to the diadelphia class of plants. The species are, 1. The sativum, or greater garden pea, whose lower stipule are roundish, indented, with taper footstalks, and many flowers on a foot-stalk. 2. The humile, or dwarf pea, with an erect branching stalk, and leaves having two pair of round lobes. 3. The umbellatum, rose, or crown pea, with four pointed acute stipuli, and foot-stalks bearing many flowers, which terminate the stalks. 4. The maritimum, or sea-pea, with foot-stalks which are plain on their upper side, an angular stalk, arrow-pointed stipulae, and foot-stalks bearing many flowers. 5. The Americanum, commonly called Cape-Horn pea, with an angular trailing stalk, whose lower leaves are spear-shaped, sharply indented, and those at the top arrow-pointed. 6. The ochrus, with membranaceous running foot-stalks, having two leaves and one flower upon a foot-stalk.

There is a great variety of garden-pease now cultivated in Britain, which are distinguished by the gardeners and seedsmen, and have their different titles; but as great part of these have been seminal variations, so if they are not very carefully managed, by taking away all those plants which have a tendency to alter before the seeds are formed, they will degenerate into their original state: therefore all those persons who are curious in the choice of their seeds, look carefully over those which they design for seeds at the time when they begin to flower, and draw out all the plants which they dislike from the other. This is what they call roguing their pease; meaning hereby the taking out all the bad plants from the good, that the farina of the former may not impregnate the latter; to prevent which, they always do it before the flowers open. By thus diligently drawing out the bad, reserving those which come earliest to flower, they have greatly improved their pease of late years, and are constantly endeavouring to get forwarder varieties; so that it would be to little purpose in this place to attempt giving a particular account of all the varieties now cultivated: therefore we shall only mention the names by which they are commonly known, placing them according to their time of coming to the table, or gathering for use. The golden hotspur. Nonpareil. The Charlton. Sugar dwarf. The Reading hotspur. Sickle pea. Matter's hotspur. Marrowfat. Effex hotspur. Rofe or crown pea. The dwarf pea. Runcival pea. The sugar pea. Gray pea. Spanish Morotto. Pig pea; with some others.

The English sea-pea is found wild upon the shore in Sussex and several other counties in England, and is undoubtedly a different species from the common pea.

The fifth species hath a biennial root, which continues two years. This was brought from Cape Horn by Lord Anson's cook, when he passed that Cape, where these peas were a great relief to the sailors. It is kept here as a curiosity, but the peas are not so good for eating as the worst sort now cultivated in Britain. It is a low trailing plant; the leaves have two lobes on each foot-stalk; those below are spear-shaped, and sharply indented on their edges; but the upper leaves are small, and arrow-pointed. The flowers are blue, each foot-stalk sustaining four or five flowers; the pods are taper, near three inches long; and the seeds are round, about the size of tares.

The sixth sort is annual. This grows naturally among the corn in Sicily and some parts of Italy, but is here preferred in botanic gardens for the sake of variety. It hath an angular stalk, rising near three feet high; the leaves stand upon winged foot-stalks, each sustaining two oblong lobes. The flowers are of a pale yellow colour, shaped like those of the other sort of pea, but are small, each foot-stalk sustaining one flower; these are succeeded by pods about two inches long, containing five or six roundish seeds, which are a little compressed on their sides. These are by some persons eaten green; but unless they are gathered very young, they are coarse, and at best not so good as the common pea. It may be sown and managed in the same way as the garden pea.

We shall now proceed to set down the method of cultivating the several sorts of garden peas, so as to continue them throughout the season.

It is a common practice with the gardeners near London to raise peas upon hot-beds, to have them very early in the spring; in order to which, they sow their peas upon warm borders, under walls or hedges, about the middle of October; and when the plants come up, they draw the earth up gently to their stems with a hoe, the better to protect them from frost. In these places they let them remain until the latter end of January, or the beginning of February, observing to earth them up from time to time as the plants advance in height (for the reasons before given); as also to cover them in very hard frosts with peat-haulm, straw, or some other light covering, to preserve them from being destroyed; they then make a hot-bed (in proportion to the quantity of peas intended), which must be made of good hot dung, well prepared and properly mixed together, that the heat may not be too great. The dung should be laid for two or three feet thick, according as the beds are made earlier or later in the season; when the dung is equally levelled, then the earth (which should be light and fresh, but not over rich) must be laid thereon about six or eight inches thick, laying it equally all over the bed. This being done, the frames (which should be two feet high on the back side, and about 14 inches in front) must be put on, and covered with glases; after which it should remain three or four days, to let the steam of the bed pass off before you put the plants therein, observing every day to raise the glases to give vent for the rising steam to pass off; then, when you find the bed of a moderate temperature for heat, you should, with a trowel, or some other instrument, take up the plants as carefully as possible to preserve the earth to their roots, and plant them into the hot-bed in rows about two feet asunder, and the plants about an inch distant from each other in the rows, observing to water and shade them until they have taken root; after which you must be careful to give them air at all times when the season is favourable, otherwise they will draw up very weak, and be subject to grow mouldy and decay. You should also draw the earth up to the shanks of the plants as they advance in height, and keep them always clear from weeds. The water they should have must be given them sparingly; for if they are too much watered, it will cause them to grow too rank, and sometimes rot off the plants at their shanks just above ground. When the weather is very hot, you should cover the glases with mats in the heat of the day, to screen them from the violence of the heat of the sun, which is then too great for them; but when the plants begin to fruit, they should be watered oftener, and in greater plenty than before; for by that time the plants will have nearly done growing, and the often refreshing them will occasion their producing a greater plenty of fruit.

The sort of pea which is generally used for this purpose is the dwarf; for all the other sorts ramble too much to be kept in frames: the reason for sowing them in the common ground, and afterwards transplanting them on a hot-bed, is to check their growth, and cause them to bear in less compass; for if the seeds were sown upon a hot-bed, and the plants continued thereon, they would produce such luxuriant plants as could not be contained in the frames, and would bear but little fruit.

The next sort of pea which is sown to succeed those on the hot-bed is the hotspur; of which there are reckoned several varieties, as the golden hotspur, the Charlton hotspur, the Matter's hotspur, the Reading hotspur, and some others; which are very little differing from each other, except in their early bearing, for which the golden and Charlton hotspurs are chiefly preferred; though if either of these sorts are cultivated in the same place for three or four years, they are apt to degenerate, and be later in fruiting; for which reason, most curious persons procure their seeds annually from some distant place; and in the choice of these seeds, if they could be obtained from a colder situation and a poorer soil than that in which they are to be sown, it will be much better than on the contrary, and they will come earlier in the spring.

These must also be sown on warm borders, towards the latter end of October; and when the plants are come up, you should draw the earth up to their shanks, and treat them in every other respect as above directed.

In the spring you must carefully clear them from weeds, and draw some fresh earth up to their stems; but do not raise it too high up to the plants, lest by burying... burying their leaves you should rot their stems, as is sometimes the case, especially in wet seasons. You should also observe to keep them free from vermin, which, if permitted to remain amongst the plants, will increase so plentifully as to devour the greatest part of them. The chief of the vermin which infest peas are slugs, which lie all the day in the small hollows of the earth, near the stems of the plants, and in the nighttime come out and make terrible destruction of the peas; and these chiefly abound in wet soils, or where a garden is neglected and over-run with weeds: therefore you should make the ground clear every way round the peas to destroy their harbours; and afterwards in a fine mild morning very early, when these vermin are got abroad from their holes, you should flake a quantity of lime, which should be thrown over the ground pretty thick, which will destroy the vermin wherever it happens to fall upon them, but will do very little injury to the peas, provided it be not scattered too thick upon them.

If this crop of peas succeeds, it will immediately follow those on the hot-bed; but for fear this should miscarry, it will be proper to sow two more crops at about a fortnight or three weeks distance from each other, so that there may be the more chances to succeed. This will be sufficient till the spring of the year, when you may sow several more crops of these peas at a fortnight distance from each other. The late sowings will be sufficient to continue the early sort of peas through the season; but it will be proper to have some of the large sort to succeed them for the use of the family: in order to which, you should sow some of the Spanish Morotto, which is a great bearer and a hardy sort of pea, about the middle of February, upon a clear open spot of ground. These must be sown in rows about four feet asunder, and the peas should be dropped in the drills about an inch distance, covering them about two inches deep with earth, being very careful that none of them lie uncovered, which will draw the mice, pigeons, or rooks, to attack the whole spot; and it often happens, by this neglect, that a whole plantation is devoured by these creatures; whereas, when there are none of the peas left in sight, they do not easily find them out.

About a fortnight after this you should sow another spot, either of this sort or any other large sort of pea, to succeed these; and then continue to repeat sowing once a fortnight, till the middle or latter end of May; only obliterating to allow the marrowfats, and other very large sorts of peas, at least four feet and a half between row and row; and the rose-pea should be allowed at least eight or ten inches distance plant from plant in the rows; for these grow very large, and if they have not room allowed them, they will spoil each other by drawing them up very tall, and will produce no fruit.

When the plants come up, the earth should be drawn up to their shanks (as was before directed), and the ground kept entirely clear from weeds; and when the plants are grown eight or ten inches high, you should stick some brushwood into the ground close to the peas for them to ramp upon, which will support them from trailing upon the ground, which is very apt to rot the growing sorts of peas, especially in wet seasons; besides, by thus supporting them, the air can freely pass between them, which will preserve the blossoms from falling off before their time, and occasion them to bear much better than if permitted to lie upon the ground, and there will be room to pass between the rows to gather the peas when they are ripe.

The dwarf sorts of peas may be sown much closer together than those before-mentioned; for these seldom rise above a foot high, and rarely spread above half a foot in width, so that these need not have more room than two feet row from row, and not above an inch asunder in the rows. These will produce a good quantity of peas, provided the season be not over dry; but they seldom continue long in bearing, so that they are not so proper to sow for the main crop when a quantity of peas is expected for the table, their chief excellency being for hot-beds, where they will produce a greater quantity of peas (provided they are well-managed) than if exposed to the open air, where the heat of the sun soon dries them up.

The large growing sorts may be cultivated for the common use of the family, because these will produce in greater quantities than the other, and will endure the drought better; but the early kind are by far the sweeter-tasted peas.

The best of all the large kinds is the marrowfat, which, if gathered young, is a well-tasted pea; and this will continue good through the month of August, if planted on a strong soil.

The gray and other large winter-peas are seldom cultivated in gardens, because they require a great deal of room, but are usually sown in fields. For the proper method of managing them, see Agriculture, no 150.

In the Museum Rusticum, Vol. I. p. 109, we find the following method of preparing peas for hog meat, which we shall give in the words of the ingenious farmer who communicated it.

"A few years ago (says he), I had a plentiful crop of peas on a ten acre piece, which lies near my house: when they were full podded and nearly ripe, I had them hooked in the usual manner; but before I could get them in, there came a heavy shower of rain which wetted them through and through; and the dull heavy weather, with frequent showers which followed, prevented their drying for a considerable time.

"I caused the wads to be from time to time turned, to prevent the haulm from rotting; and at length a few days sunshine dried them enough to be inned; for as they lay hollow, the wind was greatly assistant to the operation.

"Before I got them in, on examining some of the pods, I found that the peas were all sprouted to a considerable length: this was what I had expected, as I gave my crop over for lost, till after a little recollection, as the weather still continued fine, I determined to thresh them in the field.

"This was accordingly done; and the corn, after it was cast and riddled to separate it from the rubbish, was dried on my malt-kiln.

"When this operation was over, I began to reflect in what manner I should dispose of my peas, being sensible that they could not be proper for seed, and standing no chance of disposing of them to any advantage in the market.

"At length, as it was then a time of war, and of course there was a great demand for pork for the use of the navy, I determined to buy a considerable number..." PITCOAL, or STONE-COAL. See COAL and LITHANTHRAZ.

Mr Bertrand, in his Orvotologic Dictionary, reduces all kinds of coals to six general classes, viz. 1. Lithanthrax ligneus; 2. Petroflus; 3. Terrestris; 4. Piceus; 5. Fissilis; 6. Mineralifatus. He says, that the Scots coals are heavier, and burn not so well as those of New-castle; that those of Liege burn quicker; and those from Brassac in Auvergne, and from La Fosse, burn with a more agreeable flame, &c. But Mr Morand, in his Nomenclature Raisonnée, distributes all sorts of pitcoals into four classes: In the first he places nine varieties, beginning with the gagas or ficinum nigrum, to the variegated lithanthrax; in the second he reckons seven varieties, beginning with the lithanthrax elegantia structura, to that facie granulata: and he forms the fourth class with the earthy and poorer kinds of fossil coals. He seems, however, to have been puzzled with the flaty coals, as he ranges them in a separate class, perhaps to shelter himself from the critical objections of those numerous superficial naturalists, who only look for the apparent configuration, without almost any regard to the component parts of fossils.

The coal-trade is of infinite importance to Great Britain, which never could have arrived at its present commercial eminence without it; and this eminence it will be impossible to retain if coal should ever become scarce. This we trust is not likely to be the case, though Mr Williams expresses great fears for it, and informs us that at Newcastle and in many parts of Scotland the mines near the sea are already wasted, the first consequence of which must be an enormous rise in the price. See his observations on this subject in his Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom, p. 156, &c. This author says, that coal was not discovered till between the middle of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries: it is therefore, according to him, 400 years since it was first discovered in Britain, but they have not been in common use for more than 200 years. The same author gives us many pertinent observations on the appearances and indications of coal, instructions about searching for it, remarks on false and doubtful symptoms of coal; for all which, together with his observations on the different kinds of Scots coal, we shall refer our readers to the work itself; the first part of which, occupying the largest proportion of the first volume, is upon the strata of coal, and on the concomitant strata. See also our article Coalery.