Vol. XIII. No. .3L'ii. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



.3.39 



The cliief luaiket for ground iiut.s i.s Marseilles. The Je- 

 jiian<l is increa-siug, as is shown by the fact that in ten years the 

 imports there hail more than doubled. In the year 1902 there 

 were imported into Marseilles 171,78.S metric tons of ground 

 nuts, while in 1912 the imports had grown to 3.59,296 tons. Nor 

 ba.s the value shown any tendency to decrease, the quotations 

 in May 1913 being from £11 to £12 lOs. per short ton for 

 unshelled nuts, and from £H to £1.5 per ton for shelled nuts. 

 It may be noted that a saving is etfeeted in bags as well as 

 in freight charges by exporting the nuts shelled. 



As the ground nut belongs to the order Leguminosae it 

 has in common with other leguminous plants the power of 

 absorbing free nitrogen from the air and of storing it in the 

 roots. E.xjjerience in Ithodesia has proved that the ground 

 nut carries a greater number of bacterial root nodules 

 than any other leguminous crop grown in that country, and 

 therefore, as a rotation crop, its value is very great. 

 Mr. Mundy say.s that it even tends to enrich the land on 

 which it is grown, and that on the liglit loam and sandy srtils, 

 for which it is especially suited, if grown in rotatiim with 

 other crops to which manure has lieen applied every third 

 year, a crr)p of ground nuts will maintain if not increase 

 the fertility. 



There are two well marked types of varieties of the 

 ground nut, the one with vines more or less erect, termed 

 bunch or bush \'arieties: the other with more or less prostrate 

 stems, termed 'rumier'. In the bunch varieties the nuts are 

 produced in dense clusters ar<.iund the main stem, whereas the 

 running varieties may bear clusters all over the length of the 

 vines. It will be seen, therefore, that the harvesting of the 

 formei- is less tronblcsinne that that of the latter. The bunch 

 varieties seem also to yield a larger amount of forage 

 than do the 'runners", on account of the .superior height 

 which the [)lants attain. 



.\s to the cultivation of the ground nut, the soil most 

 suited to it is a light loam or sand; the presence of lime 

 does not seem to be essential. Heavy water-logged or clayey 

 soils are to be avoided, because it is nece.s.sary that the tlower- 

 stalk should be able to push the immature ovary, wliich 

 develops into the nut, beneath the surface of the soil, and 

 this it often cannot do on soils of this kind. 



Sandy soils are easy to work, and beyond ploughing — 

 7 to 9 inches deep being ample —and workijig it to a good 

 tilth, no .special preparation is required. It must be 

 emphasized — (1) that the ground must be thoroughly cleaned 

 and free from weeds; and (2) that the surface soil must 

 be well worked and kept loose, in order to allow the tlower 

 stalks to enter the soil. 



Seed selection in this crop, as in all other.s, is important. 

 'Large, well-tilled pods should be ch(isen for the purpose of 

 sowing, and these should be thoroughly dry and free from 

 mould. 



In the West Indies, as far as experiments in St. Kitts 

 ■ and Montserrat have shown, the best time of planting is 

 al)out May, the crop lieing then mature in about September 

 or Octolier. In Rhodesia, Mr. ifuiidy says that the best 

 results have been obtained by planting in November or 

 December, the crop not lieing ready for reaping then until 

 si.x or seven months. He recommends that shelled seed be 

 used fijr planting, not unbroken pods, because any lack of 

 moisture in the soil at the time of planting leads to irregular 

 growth on account of the shells not softening and decompos- 

 ing easily. The distance of planting depends upon the 

 "variety grown. For running kinds the rows may be 3 feet 

 apart, the plants being from 1 5 to 20 inches distant in the 

 ■rows; while for the bunch varieties, rows 30 inches apart, 

 and plants from 12 to 1 ■>< inches seems sufficient. Two 



.seeds are usually placed in each hole, about l.V to 2 inches 

 deep. This would require from 35 ft), to 50 7b. of unshelled 

 nuts to the acre, according to the spacing of the ground. 

 The question of planting in ridges or on the fiat seems to be 

 a very debatable one. 



With regard to sub.sequent cultivation the objects are: 

 first, to keep down weeds especially in the earlier stages of 

 the crop; secondly, to maintain the surface soil in a loose 

 and open condition. (!ultivation must cease as soon as it 

 is .seen that the flowers are being knocked off or the young 

 pods uprooted. 



The harvesting of the crop is usually done by hand, 

 which is a troublesome and possibly expensive process. In 

 any large area under cultivation, one of the mechanical har- 

 vesters used in the Southern States of America may be 

 recommended. An illustrated account of one of these is 

 given in the article under consideration. In countries where 

 dry weather can confidently be expected after reaping, no 

 great [)recautions need be taken to keep the heaps of nuts, 

 when extracted from the soil, dry. It is advi.sable, however, 

 to plant upright poles at intervals through the Held, and at 

 the liasc of these to place a layer of brushwood. After a few 

 days the Ijunches of nuts are collected and piled on the 

 brushwood platform around these poles, where they can 

 remain, and be threshed at leisure, if there is no danger from 

 ants or rats. 



Threshing usually consists in hand-picking the nuts from 

 the vines, but it has been reported in Rhodesia that good 

 results have been obtained, and much time saved, by bunch- 

 i)ig the haulms in the hand and striking them across a hori- 

 zontal pole. After threshing, the nuts can either be bagged 

 at once, or shelled first. If quite dry when bagged, they will 

 keep soutid for months. Care must be taken to avoid bagg- 

 ing nm'ipe nuts, or any not perfectly dry, if hen ting, which 

 deteriorates the value, is to be prevented. 



According to the Rhodesian report, the returns of the 

 most ]jrolific variety grown there in 1913, at the Botanic 

 Station, Salisljury, gave an average for three years of 1,511 It), 

 per acre. .Vccording to the report of the Botanic Station, 

 in Montserrat, the average yield of the most prolific variety 

 grown there for four years was 1,570 B). per acre. Planters 

 would, of course, have to consider whether such returns are 

 remunerative at current prices. 



Besides the demand for ground nuts in the Marseille.s 

 market for the purpose of oil extraction, there is a demand 

 for them in Great Britain, with reference to which the follow- 

 ing remarks from a market report of about three years ago 

 are given in the article under review: — 



'There is no difficulty in selling ground nuts in this 

 country provided they are shipped in quantities of not less 

 than 50 tons. There is no market tVir unshelled nuts, and 

 it is of the utmost importance that the nuts reach this 

 country in a thoroughly sound condition. The current 

 market price is about £13 10.«. per English ton (approxi- 

 mately 12s. per 100 It).). As a rule ground nuts are packed 

 in bags of about one and a quarter hundredweights. It is 

 important to notice that uiLshelled nuts are absolutely useless 

 here.' 



According to a communication received from the Board 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries, it appears that the Agricultural 

 Consultative Committee desire to impress upon farmers the 

 great importance, in the national interest, that the acreage 

 under wheat during the coming year should be largely 

 increased. In reply to questions asked in the House of 

 Commons, the Government declined to hold out any financial 

 inducement to farmers to increase their acreage of cereals. 



