THE BEST LEGUMINOUS PLANTS 181 



trated foods like soy beans, cotton seed, etc. The tables show that the vines 

 have a higher feeding value than timothy hay, while the hulls are far better 

 feed than cotton seed hulls, which are so largely used for feed in the South. 

 Peanut meal, or the ground product after the oil is extracted, is one of the 

 most concentrated foods, ranking with cotton seed meal, linseed meal, etc., 

 and commonly ahead of any of them. The kernels have a manurial value 

 equal to that of cotton seed, and the vines are nearly as valuable for manure 

 as those of the cow pea. And yet, like all legumes, the peanut draws 

 heavily on the mineral constituents of the soil ; and while getting the nitrogen 

 in abundance from the air this is mainly lost to the soil through the mode of 

 handling the crop. Then, too, the crop is saved at a late period of the year, 

 and the clean, cultivated ground is left bare during the rainy winters of the 

 South, and the nitrates that have formed are rapidly leached away. 



VARIETIES OF THE PEANUT. 



The most widely known and popular variety is the running variety 

 known as the Virginia. This is the peanut generally sold for eating by the 

 roasters. There is a bunch variety of the same grown in Virghiia, the pods 

 of which are very similar to the running sort. A white nut, similar to the 

 Virginia, is grown in Tennessee, and also an early bunch red variety. The 

 African variety grown about Wilmington, N. C., is smaller but heavier, and 

 makes more oil than the White Virginia nut. The Spanish variety is also 

 largely grown in North Carolina and elsewhere in the South. It grows 

 upright and makes its nuts close to the root, and from being planted close 

 can make a heavier crop per acre. This variety, growing its nuts all in a 

 cluster near the base of the plant, is more easily harvested than any other. 

 On a warm, light soil it is probable that the peanut will thrive where Indian 

 corn can be grown, though the climatic conditions in the South Atlantic States 

 are more favorable than northward and westward. It is essential that the 

 soil be light and mellow, and of a light color to prevent the darkening of the 

 hulls. Lime is an essential to the success of the peanut, and a regular rota- 

 tion in which the application of lime is comparatively frequent is best for 

 the crop. Land near the coast that has had heavy applications of shell marl 

 is particularly well adapted to the peanut. Besides the application of lime 

 on soils where there is not naturally a supply, the chief needs of the peanut 

 crop are phosphoric acid and potash. The common practice, in some sections, 

 has been to give heavy applications of lime, but it is evident that with a good 

 three year rotation of peanuts, corn and winter oats, a moderate liming once 

 in three years will be all sufficient. The growth of some winter growing 



