DIVERSE SPECIES OF NUTS 201 



bark is best flavored, though the Shell-bark is a close second. The 

 Pignut is decidedly the poorest. As all these species are slow growing 

 they demand fertile soil, such as river bottom land and well-drained 

 loams. They are all large growing so must not be planted too close 

 together 40 feet or more apart. 



They are all difficult to propagate, so prices for trees of named 

 varieties will seem to be high. They should always have been trans- 

 planted at least once in the nursery before being sold. This will tend 

 to produce fibrous roots and thus make transplanting easier. Cleft 

 grafting (page 72) on seedlings two to four inches below the surface of 

 the ground, using scions four to six inches long and cut from the tips 

 of twigs, is the most satisfactory amateur method of getting new 

 varieties to grow. Seedlings may be started where the full-grown 

 trees are to stand and scions secured from trees of the desired varieties. 



After the grafts have been made earth must be mounded so as 

 to bury both stock and scion. The shoots that develop must be tied 

 to stakes to prevent injury. 



The leading Pignut variety is Brackett; the three principal Shell- 

 barks are Rieke, Weiker, and Lefevre. More than a dozen Shag-barks 

 are becoming prominent; Woodbourne, Swain, Vest, Curtis, Rice, 

 Jackson, Dover, Milford, Eliot, Kentucky, Hales (or Hales' Paper- 

 shell), Meriden, Kirtland and Learning. 



PEANUT 



The Peanut is a staple crop in the South, but it may be grown 

 as far north as Delaware and adjacent New Jersey. I have grown it 

 as a curiosity in Southern Michigan and Ontario, but the nuts are not 

 as numerous nor as large or fine as the Southern ones. On Long 

 Island I have been told it has done somewhat better. It does best 

 in rich, light-colored loams. The soil must be loose and very friable 

 so the nuts may burrow easily, otherwise they will not develop. Spanish 

 Peanuts are quicker td mature than the larger kinds. They need 

 about 120 days. 



As soon as the soil is warm it is prepared as for Potatoes or garden 

 truck and the seeds sown like Beans, bunch varieties in rows 10 or 12 

 inches apart, running kinds 12 to 15 inches, the greater distance being 

 used in rich soils. Cultivation is the same as for Beans until the plants 

 cover the ground. At the last cultivation, at about blossoming time, 

 soil must be worked up toward the vines which from then until harvest 

 must not be disturbed. 



Harvesting may be done with a Potato fork just before frost or 

 the nuts may be injured. After lying on the surface td dry for a 

 few hours the vines are stacked or racked loosely to dry. When 



