Plant from three and a half to four feet high,—in general habit not unlike the Early Frame, of which it is probably an improved variety; pods usually single, two inches and three-fourths long, containing five or six peas.
When fully ripe, the pea is round, cream-colored, white at the eye and at the junction of the cotyledons, and nearly a fourth of an inch in diameter.
Plants from seeds sown May 1 were in bloom June 7, and pods were gathered for use from the 25th of the month.
The Dan O'Rourke is remarkable for its precocity; and, with the exception of Dillistone's Early and one or two American varieties, is the earliest of all the sorts now in cultivation. It is hardy, prolific, seldom fails to produce a good crop, appears to be well adapted to our soil and climate, is excellent for small private gardens, and one of the best for extensive culture for market.
Its character as an early pea can be sustained only by careful culture, and judicious selection of seeds for propagation. If grown in cold soil, from late-ripened seeds, the variety will rapidly degenerate; and, if from the past any thing can be judged of the future, the Dan O'Rourke, under the ordinary forms of propagation and culture, will shortly follow its numerous and once equally popular predecessors to quiet retirement as a synonyme of the Early Frame or Charlton.
Early Frame. Thomp.
Early Dwarf Frame. Early Double-blossomed Frame. Law. Essex Champion. Single-blossomed Frame.
Plant three to four feet in height; pods in pairs, slightly bent backwards, well filled, terminating rather abruptly at both ends, and about two and a half inches long by from three-eighths to half an inch in breadth. The pease, when fully ripe, are round and plump, cream-colored, white towards the eye and at the union of the cotyledons, and measure nearly a fourth of an inch in diameter.
Sown the 1st of May, the variety blossomed June 20, and the pods were ready for plucking the 6th of July.
This well-known pea, for a long period, was the most popular of all the early varieties. At present, it is less extensively cultivated; having been superseded by much earlier and equally hardy and prolific sorts. "The flowers sometimes come single, and sometimes double; the stalk from the same axil dividing into two branches, each terminating in a flower: hence the names of 'Single-blossomed' and 'Double-blossomed' have both been occasionally applied to this variety."