GRAZING PEANUTS WITH HOGS 



VERSUS 



MARKETING A CROP OF PEANUTS- 



By 



Geo. S. Templeton* 



INTRODUCTION 



With the rapid increase in the acreage of peanuts in 

 Alabama during the past two years, the question of the 

 best way to market the crop has been a problem for a 

 large number of farmers. The shortage of labor this 

 season and last has made the harvesting of a large 

 acreage, in some sections of the state, very difficult. 

 Occasionally rainy weather during the harvest season 

 damages a large percent of the crop, or the nuts sprout 

 and are unlit for the market. Growing the same crop 

 year after year on the same field is a bad practice from 

 the standpoint of soil fertility and plant disease. The 

 author of this bulletin has several letters from the 

 peanut growing sections of Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina stating that in those sections large acreages of 

 land have reached the stage where a profitable crop of 

 peanuts cannot be produced, due to the one crop sys- 

 tem that removes all of the peanuts and the hay from 

 the soil year after year. 



As the peanut crop has grown to be such an impor- 

 tant one in Alabama, the Animal Husbandry Depart- 

 ment of the Experiment Station planned an experi- 

 ment to throw as much light as possible on tiie question 

 as to which is the more profitable, — to sell a crop of 

 peanuts, or graze the crop with hogs? 



Object of the Experiment. 



1. The object of this experiment was to determine 

 which is the more profitable, — to market a crop of pea- 

 nuts or to graze the crop with hogs? 



2. To determine the carrying capacity of one acre 

 of peanut pasture. 



3. To determine the cumulative effect of both sys- 



* Credit is due Mr. V. W. Crawford for the accurate records 

 and the careful supervision of the test for 1917, and to 

 Mr. G. L. Burleson for the similar work for the 1918 test. 



