FILBERTS AND PEANUTS 431 



THE FILBERT 



The best English cob-nuts have been quite widely tried in Cali- 

 fornia without successful results. Improved Spanish and French 

 varieties of the filbert were early introduced by Felix Gillet, of Nevada 

 City, and have been favorably reported by him as to growth and bear- 

 ing. A few other growers in foothill situations have reported success, 

 but as a rule disappointment has attended ventures with the filbert. 

 The most favorable regions for farther experiment are apparently the 

 north slopes of the Coast Range, from Santa Cruz northward, and 

 other cooler and moister situations, as well as at an elevation on the 

 Sierra foothills where Mr. Gillet found them satisfactory. 



THE PEANUT 



During the last few years the peanut product of California has 

 notably increased, and the crop is a popular one in some parts of the 

 San Joaquin Valley and southern California. The nuts are consider- 

 ably grown between the rows in young orchards and vineyards, as 

 well as upon ground wholly given to them. The following explicit 

 directions are given by R. M. Hargrave, a grower in Orange county. 

 Some slight modifications in practice may be needed, according to 

 locality, as, for example, in time of planting, which is usually a little 

 earlier than the date given : 



Planting. The best time to plant peanuts is about the middle of May, say, 

 10th to 15th, in rows about three to four feet apart and sixteen to twenty inches 

 the other way, and not cover too deep three to four inches. Peanuts planted 

 the middle of May ripen evenly and are of uniform size. Very early peanuts 

 ripen unevenly, and the first nuts that set on get so ripe they turn to a pink color, 

 and if the land is a little sandy the stems get soft, lose their strength, and will 

 not lift the nuts from the ground. 



It takes about thirty pounds of the California or White Virginia, and fifty 

 pounds of the Tennessee Reds to plant an acre. Tennessee peanuts can be planted 

 much closer in the rows. The California peanut is the best to plant, as it yields 

 three or four times as much as the Tennessee Reds do, and has more ready sale. 



The Quality of Land. Peanuts require a rich sandy soil loam that is known 

 as upland. Damp land gives the nuts a straw color, and they are not as good 

 probably as those raised on higher land. They require no irrigation, except on 

 very sandy land, where some have found it profitable ; but, as a usual thing, when 

 irrigated the ground is liable to get hard, making the nuts crooked, ill-shaped, 

 and many times coloring them. 



Cultivation. Peanuts should be cutivated about the same as corn, not allow- 

 ing any weeds to grow in them, keeping the ground loose and mellow, and when 

 the spikes begin to form, they should not be disturbed. If they are, it causes the 

 nuts to blight or not fill out. The blooms do not require to be covered. 



Harvesting. Peanuts should be harvested when ripe, and not allowed 'to 

 stand too long, in hopes that the last ones set out will fill out and ripen, as you 

 lose more than you gain. The little ones spoil the sale of the crop, and many are 

 left in the ground that get over-ripe. Peanuts should be cut or plowed out and 

 thrown into windrows, nuts down, and let lie a week or ten days, and then sacked, 

 as the best nuts are cured in that way, and they do not mold so badly, and cure 

 a better color. They must not be allowed to get wet. The tops are good feed if 

 stored away in a shed for winter use. All kinds of stock like them, and small 

 nuts can be left on the vines. They make the best chicken feed. An average 

 yield is about twenty-five to thirty sacks to the acre, forty pounds to a sack, but 

 many have raised fifty sacks, with extra care and good land well adapted to 



