The Bulletin. 23 



LECTURES DELIVERED AT FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



On the following pages are several of the lectures delivered at the 

 institutes during 1906. They are necessarily more or less con- 

 densed, and iu being reduced to paper have lost much of the interest 

 ■\vhicli they possessed when spoken. 



PEANUT CULTURE. 



By T. E. BROWNE, Hertford County. 



I shall endeavor to speak to you a while on the culture of peanuts, and what 

 I shall say is based on what experience I have had and on the experience of the 

 most successful peanut farmers of Hertford County. I live in the county 

 (Hertford) which raises more peanuts than any other county in the State, and 

 I believe 1 may say in the community which raises more than any other part of 

 the county. The condition of the farmers in the peanut sections is 100 per cent 

 better than before they began to raise this crop for market. I have in mind a 

 man of my county who started out several years ago working for wages on a 

 farm. In a short while he bought a fami on time and began raising cotton to 

 pay for it, but with little success. A few years ago he began the culture of 

 peanuts, and to-day he has that farm paid for and owns another nice farm. 

 He will tell you if he had not stopped raising cotton exclusively and gone into 

 the peanut business he never would have paid for his farm. This is only one 

 incident, but it goes to prove that in those sections where peanuts can be groAvn 

 they prove the most profitable crop; therefore we should make a study of this 

 crop and learn all there is to be learned in regard to its cultivation and harvesting. 



We first want to discuss seed-peas. In the physical as well as in the moral 

 world, the kind of fruit depends on the kind of seed sown. In nothing is this 

 more true than in peanut culture. There are several varieties of peanuts 

 raised, the Jumbo, Virginia Bunch, the North Carolina Bunch — a variety some- 

 thing between the bunch and running — several varieties of rtmning peas, and 

 the Spanish pea. The variety we shall discuss mainly is the North Carolina 

 Bunch. This nut is very little larger than the running or flat pea, but more 

 uniform in size, and therefore a better seller. One strong point in favor of this 

 variety is, it is much more easily cultivated, and larger quantities can be pro- 

 duced to the acre. The Jumbo produces a great biilk, but they are light; can't 

 get much weight to the bag. The running; pea will grow more successfully on 

 really poor sandy soil and with less lime and plaster. Tlie Spani.-'h pea is raised 

 quite extensively in some sections especially for hogs, and the vines mowed for 

 hay. Tliey will grow with very little fertilizer and lime. 



What I consider the most important point to be considered in raising peanuts 

 is the selection of the seed. So many do not pay any attention to this. They go 

 to a pile of peanuts that sometimes have stayed in the field till January, take 

 out what they think they will need for seed, and sell the remainder. Sometimes 

 these will germinate and grow off" thriftily, and sometimes not. This is running 

 a risk, and we cannot afford to run this risk at such a critical stage of our crop. 

 The success of the crop depends more than anything else on getting a stand of 

 healthy plants from the first planting. It is seldom that replanted peanuts pay, 

 and then Ave lose the time and seed. When I began farming for myself (and I 

 hope you will excuse personal nllusions), I observed closely the methods of the 

 various farmers in selecting seed-peas, and tj-ied the plan used by those who were 

 most successful in getting, a stand. I found out there -were various ideas as to 

 seed selection. Some said dig them and leave them Iving in the field until they 

 were dry, then put them in the house; some said select the largest plump peas 



