10 The Bulletin. 



and places them around the pole. This method saves time, but there is 

 more danger of the nuts being damaged by damp weather when they are 

 not allowed to dry awhile before stacking. 



Picking Off. — Until a few years ago the nuts were gathered from the 

 vines by hand, negro women and children doing a greater part of this 

 work. There are now several kinds of threshers and peanut pickers on 

 the market, and only a small per cent of the crop is picked by hand. 

 They should never be picked off till they are dry enough to shake in the 

 hull. If picked earlier there is danger of their taking a heat and being 

 ruined. 



Where large quantities of peanuts are raised, the farmers are entirely 

 too careless in saving them for market. The poles are often not well 

 set in the ground and blow down with the first wind, or the peas ai*e 

 carelessly thrown around the poles by indifferent hands and a great 

 many damaged. These damaged peas injure the sale of the entire crop. 

 It would be far better if the farmers would plant fewer acres, try to 

 improve their stock, and take care of what they make. 



Rotation. — The growing of peanuts for domestic purposes should be 

 encouraged. Being a leguminous and deep-rooted plant, it is one of the 

 best soil improvers known. Of course, as is often the case, if they are 

 grown on land successively for several years and the vines removed, the 

 soil will be impoverished, as will be the case with any crop if the whole 

 plant is removed. Several years ago peanut farmers claimed that it did 

 not pay to fertilize peanuts, and planted them successively on land for 

 several years with only an application of lime, with the result that the 

 land soon produced only about half a crop. This was a natural se- 

 quence, as they did not add any plant food in the form of fertilizer, and 

 by the use of lime made available each year some of the plant food in 

 the soil and by taking off nuts, roots and vines, returned nothing to the 

 soil. On the other hand, if fertilizers are used and the vines returned 

 to the land, the soil will improve in fertility. However, peanuts should 

 come in a three-year rotation with some other crops, one of which should 

 add humus to the soil. The most common three-year rotation is : Pea- 

 nuts first year, followed by corn, with cowpeas sown between rows at 

 last cultivation, and the corn followed by cotton with crimson clover or 

 rye sown in September or first of October, between the rows. 



It is rather difficult to follow peanuts with a clover crop, on account 

 of the hogs rooting the land for the peanuts. However, by putting the 

 hogs on the field early, rye can be sown the latter part of November 

 or first of December. In the corn, clover may be sown in the place of 

 the cowpeas. When following cotton and crimson clover with peanuts, 

 an extra application of potash, phosphoric acid and lime should be used 



