66 The Bulletin. 



of tlie fields, and the fields should be arranged so that the rota-tion of the crops 

 miglit follow easily and natvirally, and, in the arrangement of the farm into 

 convenient fields, due regard sliould be liad for tlie pasturing of live stock, for 

 the farmer wlio neglects this invites failure, to a certain extent, because there is 

 no system of farming that can be permanently successful without live stock. 



Now, friends, let us, one and all, do all in our power to hasten the coming of 

 this new day in our farming conditions. Let us raise our own "supplies," and 

 keep at home the millions of dollars we are sending to other States, and thus 

 become a rich and prosperous people. 



PEANUTS. 



HARTWELL SCARBOROUGH. 



Tlie writer can not undertake to give specific and ironclad rules for the culti- 

 vation and marketing of peanuts, for, like all other farm crops, local conditions 

 influencing this crop dilVer. But we can studj' and learn some principles which, 

 when studied and applied intelligently, will lead us to success in handling profit- 

 ably this valuable Southern crop. The peanut industry is yet in its infancy, so 

 to speak, for only since the Civil War have peanuts been grown and handled on 

 any large commercial scale. And even now the bulk of the crop is used as human 

 food, largely sold by the vendors in the form of parched nuts and in candies. 

 Several years ago (the latest figures are not at hand) 95 per cent of the peanuts 

 consumed east of the Rockies were produced in eleven counties of Southeastern 

 Virginia and Eastern North Carolina. 



The value of both the nuts and the vines as stock feed has just begun to be 

 recognized, and in the near future there must necessarily be an increased demand 

 and an added line of profit to this crop used as a feed for stock. The great fatten- 

 ing qualities of this crop ai'e known by all pork fatteners in the peanut belt. 

 The hay from the vines of the peanut ranks with the clovers. The peanut belongs 

 to tiie legume family, and when hogs are allowed to harvest the crop, thus 

 leaving the vines and roots upon the soil, they improve the land and rank right 

 along with the cowpea and the clovers and other membeis of the same family. 

 Of course if all vines are removed and peanuts planted successively on the same 

 field the land will become impoverished. 



The varieties of the peanut are several. Some of the leading varieties are 

 the Spanish, Wilmington, Virginia Runner, Virginia Bunch, North Carolina 

 Bunch and Tennessee Red. The Tennessee Red is not grown to any great extent 

 in this State, and is not considered a desirable peanut by "the trade." 



The remaining varieties divide themselves into two classes, the "Bunch," grow- 

 ing somewhat in an upright position, with the fruit clustered on the "limbs" 

 around the tap-root, and the "Running" varieties, which trail along the surface 

 of the soil and have the fruit at the joints along tliese "limbs" or "runners." 

 The Spanish, Virginia Bunch and Nortli Carolina Bunch belong to the "Bunch" 

 or upright growing class. The Virginia Runner and Wilmington belong to the 

 flat growing or trailing varieties. 



The Spanish is used largely for "shelling stock" to go into the manufacture 

 of candy. The others are used largely for what is known as "the trade," and 

 are sold largely in the form of parched peanuts for human food. These are also 

 used to feed the monkey and the elephant at the circus. Seed selection of peanuts 

 has not received the attention which some of our field crops have received, and 

 there is room for great improvement along this line by selecting from the field 

 the best individual plants, llie soil adaptation of this State for peanuts is 

 much wider than the popular belief would indicate. The peanut, like cotton, 

 is a hot weather or heat-loving plant, and can be grown on almost anv soil upon 

 which cotton can be grown. Of course the whitest, most attractive hull is grown 

 on the lighter sandy soils, but some of the largest yields are made on soils under- 

 laid with clay. 



