Introduction. 



The peanut industry is growing rapidly in Alabama. 

 This rapid growth is coming as a result of the crop 

 diversification campaigns, the change from the one 

 xjrop system of cotton due to the invasion of the Mexi- 

 can cotton boll weevil, and the growing demand for 

 peanut oil and cake for stock feed and fertilizer. 



In soil and climate Alabama is well adapted to pea- 

 nuts. Its cottonseed oil mills are being converted into 

 peanut mills to manufacture oil and cake. The farmer 

 lias most of the implements on hand needed for the 

 planting and culture of this crop. The additional 

 equipment most needed is a custom picker for each 

 community that grows any considerable amount of pea- 

 nuts. 



Variety Tests of Peanuts. 



Table I shows that the yields of a variety differ wide- 

 ly in different years and in different localities. This 

 variation may be due to seasonal differences, time of 

 planting, character of soil, fertilizer or cultivation. 



Some of the experiments were made on the Experi- 

 ment Farm at Auburn. Most of them were made on 

 farms scattered throughout the State. These latter 

 tests constituted part of the work conducted under the 

 provisions of the Local Experiment Law. Each experi- 

 ment made away from Auburn was planned and su- 

 pervised by a Station representative. The soil, fertilizer 

 and cultural treatment for each variety in any particu- 

 lar experiment was the same. The same strains of seed 

 peanuts were supplied to every experimenter making 

 variety experiments in a given year. The experimenter 

 or a representative of the Station harvested plots of 

 uniform size and reported the weight of the nuts after 

 they had been thoroughly dried. 



The time of the planting of the different experiments 

 ranged from April 26 to June 27. It may be of interest 

 to note that the largest yields came from plantings 

 made between May 1 and June 15. 



In all cases, the experiments were located on some 

 type of sandy soil, ranging from sandy loam, with clay 

 subsoil, to fine sand. A complete commercial fertilizer 

 -was used under nearly all the experiments. 



