Vegetables with Edible Seeds 241 



to dry out. In about two or three weeks from the time 

 of stacking, the crop will be ready to be picked. This is 

 usually done by women or children, and is paid for by 

 the bushel. The picking is an expensive operation, and 

 it may be, delayed ; but if the hay is wanted, it is best not 

 to leave this out any longer than necessary. It is also well 

 to have the nuts where they cannot be destroyed by 

 insects and other animals, and when one has room in the 

 barn it will be found cheaper to dry the crop and then 

 house it at once. The smaller kinds of peanuts fill the 

 shell more completely, and so can be more readily picked 

 by machine. There has been some objection raised by 

 the retail dealers to buying the nuts that have been picked 

 by machine, but this will soon disappear when more perfect 

 separators are used, and when the nuts become so cheap 

 that they cannot be picked by hand. 



After the nuts have been picked they should be cleaned. 

 This is done in cleaning and grading factories. The 

 process throws out all "pops and snaps," and also removes 

 the dirt and sand. It would pay to have one of these clean- 

 ing and grading factories in every neighborhood where 

 many of the large-podded peanuts are grown, so as to be 

 able to put the product on the market in the best shape 

 possible. As soon as the crop is cleaned, it should be 

 sacked in bags holding about 100 pounds or four bushels. 

 It can be stored in this way, and put on the market at any 

 time. 



The usual yield is from thirty to fifty bushels an acre, 

 but many crops are greater than this, some as high as a 

 hundred bushels. Besides the nuts, from one to two tons 

 of excellent hay may usually be obtained. 



