197 
dry, is ploughed and then flooded; the pods, ia guseeecs dry, 
float, and can easily be swept with a broom to one corner of the 
field. In such a course the pods are allowed ss dry for fifteen 
The pods in shelling are cracked by being beaten with a stick ; 
the shelled pou is then winnowed and the shells used as fuel or 
as manure oF, ire wasted. “Kernels” are generally sold by 
weight, and t rease their weight the ryots add water to the 
pods befire shellin ot them at the “bigg of about 16 Madras measures 
for 1,400 Madras measures of p 
The etails of commercial ph 2s in China are unknown. 
North China, London, 1870, ii., p, 488); a light and sandy soil is 
chosen for their grow vth (Hosie, Three Years in Western China, 
London, 1890, p. 83). The earth in which they have grown ma 
in the harvest, ‘afeet a preliminary ploughing, be passed through a 
bamboo sieve lest any nuts should be lost (B. C. Henry, Lingnam, 
London, 1886, p. 239), and after the extraction of the oil the 
refuse is used for manure (Williams, Widdle Kingdom, London, 
1857, ii., p. 105). 
YIELD. 
In Virginia the yield formerly stood at 50-75 bushels of pods 
per acre : this is equivalent t o 1200-1800 Ibs. It has since fallen 
immens a e read S. Dept. Agriculture, Farmers’ 
Bulletin, No. 25, p. 4) “ within the last few years op has 
oppo as protipn's as heretofo e od of culture 
1 c 
nnual planting of nuts on the same land, the complete 
eal of all the vegetation from the land, and the fail to 
ge no 
cultivation has been but iekte re 
Undoubtedly Arachis hypogewa ae a most exhausting — 
Cultivators in America knew long ago that their second crop w 
less vigorous than the first and ier the rows closer Pe ap ; 
but the exhaustion of the soil has been allowed to reach the 
extreme above depicted. Under these conditicns the trade is 
maintained as it is, chiefly by the tax on import rted nuts. 
The yields obtained in the United States are far exceeded under 
irrigation in the tropics. Subba Rao gives the upper limit for 
adra same wri 
common yields ranged between 180 and 720 Ibs. ¢e., 7° 
bushels. 
om Semler’ é Tropische ce seas oe ed., ii., p. ia the yield 
he Argentine is given as about 1,250 lbs. to to the 
reine spinel at Port Darwin in North Australia 3, 024 Ibs. - 
the acre (Mueller, Select Extra-trop. Pl., ed. 9, p. 50). Paillien 
and Bois (Potager @un Curieux, Paris, 1898, p. 5) give the yield 
