SECTION XXVIII. PEANUTS AND 

 WATERMELONS 



Peanuts. The soil should be loose, sandy, and well 

 prepared. It need not be very rich, because the peanut is 

 a legume and therefore gets its nitrogen from the air. It 

 must, however, get phosphoric acid and potash from the 

 soil or from fertilizers. If fertilizers are not obtainable, 

 wood ashes may be used. The newly burnt ashes from 

 oak and hickory are richer than those from pine wood. 

 Lime often increases the yield of peanuts and its use is 

 believed to reduce the number of "pops," or empty hulls. 



Shell the peanuts without splitting the two halves of the 

 kernel and plant after cotton comes up in a place where 

 the chickens and pigs cannot get them. The plant forms 

 its nuts by sticking its sharp, needle-like pistils into the 

 ground. The seeds are borne underground. 



The peanut is an important sale crop in Virginia, North 

 Carolina, and Tennessee. It is grown for home use and 

 for hog food throughout the cotton belt. A good yield 

 is 40 to 60 bushels per acre. Peanuts for planting should 

 be hand-picked, so that only sound seed may be planted. 



Peanuts should be dug as soon as mature, and cured in 

 rather tall slender shocks (Fig. 109). The peanut makes 

 the land rich if the vines are allowed to decay in the 

 ground. 



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