DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT 



439 



Where Peanuts Are Grown. At present peanuts are culti^ 

 vated as a commercial crop a few hundred miles north of the cotton 

 belt (Fig. 187). Eastern Virginia and North Carolina have always 

 led in the cultivation of the crop, and these two States produce more 

 than half the total crop in the United States. The following table 



FIG. 187. Map of the United States, showing the area adapted to the production of pea- 

 nuts. (From Farmers' Bulletin 356.) 



gives the production in bushels of the leading States and the per cent 

 of increase during the ten years from 1899-1909 : 



Production of Peanuts in the United States 



Description of the Plant. The peanut plant is a vine, which 

 may be long and prostrate in some varieties, or short and upright in 



