The Bulletin. 9 



There are two methods of cultivation prevalent among peanut grow- 

 ers, known as the "flat" and "ridge" culture. The flat or level culture 

 is better for high, sandy loam soils, and the ridge for low or heavy 

 lands. With the level culture the crop can be cultivated almost entirely 

 with weeders and cultivators, to the exclusion of hoe labor — the most 

 expensive item on the farm. The weeder should be started before the 

 peas are up, as soon as a crust is formed, and kept going till the plants 

 begin to branch and the blooms to appear. "With this method it is the 

 most easily cultivated of the clean-cultured crops. On stiff, heavy land 

 the ridge method has to be resorted to, and weeders and cultivators do 

 not work so well. If weeds and grass are kept down during the early 

 growth of the plant they do not do much harm later. Kapid and shallow 

 cultivation during the early growth of the plants is what is needed. In 

 fact, after the "pegs" begin to form and enter the soil, cultivation does 

 a great deal more harm to the crop than would the weeds and grass, be- 

 cause if the spikes or "pegs" are injured the yield is greatly reduced. 



Harvesting. — There is no period during the growth of the peanut crop 

 when more careful attention is required than at digging time. A large 

 per cent of the peanuts of North Carolina are injured every year by 

 being dug too early. Farmers with a large acreage get in too great a 

 hurry to begin, and dig a large part of the crop before the nuts are ma- 

 ture, consequently they have inferior stock. The time to dig is when 

 the largest per cent of mature peas can be saved, and that is usually 

 when they begin to shed around the tap root. It is far better to allow 

 a few of the peas around the tap root to shed and be saved by the porkers, 

 than to dig earlier and lose the peas near the ends of the branches, which 

 are not mature. The shedding of the nuts and not of the leaves should 

 determine the time of digging. 



The common method of digging is to run under the peas with a point 

 prepared for the purpose and loosen them in the soil. They are shaken 

 out with pitchforks or the hands and allowed to dry for a few hours 

 before they are stacked. They are then stacked around small poles seven 

 or eight feet high, set at convenient distances along the field. These 

 poles should be well set in the ground to a depth of twelve or eighteen 

 inches and should have a short piece of wood nailed on them six or eight 

 inches from the ground to prevent the peas from coming in contact with 

 the damp earth. The stacks should be put as high as practicable and 

 as small around as possible, and in the case of the bunch peas care 

 should be taken to turn the nuts to the pole, in order that the vines may 

 protect them from the rain. It is becoming the custom, on light sandy 

 soil, to stack the peas as they are shaken out, that is, every man takes 

 the peas from the loose soil into his hands and immediately carries them 



