[AT] OFF TOPIC Pea Crops

[Charlie V]

Peas are a cash crop here just like canola and flax. They are a good mix in
the rotation for continuous croppers and require no additional nitrogen
fertilizer. I've never grown them but the neighbours seem to do well with
them. Yes I've heard of 50 bushel crops too. Its standard practice to roll
the fields after seeding or emergence to push the stones down and make a
smooth surface because you have to run the combine header very close to the
ground to harvest peas. They usually desicate, then straight cut with 30
foot (or bigger) headers.

Ralph in Sask.

During the 1940's and 1950's, peas were commonly grown in our area of
Western NY.  A pea vinery was located up the road four miles in the hamlet
of Garbutt, NY and later moved to North Rd. in  Wheatland, about two miles
from our home.  I believe the vinery was operated by one of the major
canning factories of the day.  Combines were not employed for the harvest.
The pea crops were cut or pulled vines and all from the fields (not sure
which) and loaded onto the type truck that we would commonly call grain
trucks to be hauled to the vinery. The vinery machinery was housed in an
open front shed type building  probably 100 feet across the front. I think
it could accommodate about six in feed lines.  The trucks dumped their loads
of vines in a pile in front of one of the inbound conveyors and workers
would hand fork them into the machinery.  I guess the operation could be
viewed as stationary pea thrashers.  The vines and pods went out one way
onto a mammoth pile while the shelled peas went another into large
containers to be trucked to a canning factory.

The pea trucks would often be overloaded enough to allow some bunches of pea
vines to drop off along the roads on the way to the vinery.  As kids, we
would spend considerable time picking the dropped vines and filling the
front baskets of our bikes.  What a great treat it was to sit in the shade ,
pick the pods from the vines and eat the fresh peas as we shelled them.  If
we could get a large enough collection, we took them home and shelled them
for Mom to cook for dinner.  In my opinion at the time, cooking spoiled the
peas, so most were eaten under the shade tree.

Charlie V. in WNY