ANNUAL LEGUMES 299 



prolific, but yields ranging from two and one-half to twenty-one bushels 

 per acre have been reported by different experiment stations, the average 

 yield being seven and one-half bushels. 



The method of harvesting for seed is similar to that of cowpeas. It 

 is threshed with the ordinary threshing machine. 



Crimson Clover. — The chief demand for seed of crimson clover is for 

 seeding purposes. The seed is larger than that of red clover, one pound 

 containing 125,000 to 150,000. The weight is sixty pounds to the bushel. 

 It yields better than red clover, averaging about six bushels to the acre. 

 Most of the seed is produced in Delaware and nearby states. 



Crimson clover should be harvested for seed as soon as perfectly ripe. 

 The seeds shatter badly. For this reason it should be cut promptly, 

 preferably in the morning or evening when the plants are damp. The 

 mowing machine with a clover buncher or the self -rake reaper are best 

 adapted for harvesting the crop. If the clover becomes wet the seeds 

 sprout, causing serious loss. For this reason threshing should promptly 

 follow the harvest. 



Fresh seed is shiny and of a pinkish color. Seed two years old loses 

 its bright color, becoming dark brown. It is then worthless for seeding 

 purposes. 



The cultural methods for crimson clover are given in the preceding 

 chapter. 



PEANUTS 



During the last decade there has been a great increase in the production 

 and use of peanuts in the United States. Their annual commercial value 

 in the United States, according to the last census, was $18,272,000. The 

 states leading in production are North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and 

 Florida, three-fourths of the marketable nuts being produced in these 

 states. They are valued for forage as well as for a money crop, having a 

 feeding value equal to that of clover hay. Peanut products, such as peanut 

 butter, oil and meal, also have a market value. The peanut kernel has a 

 high percentage of fat. After the oil has been extracted the meal is noted 

 for its high percentage of protein. Being nitrogen gathering like other 

 legumes, they are valued as a soil improvement crop. 



In parts of the South where corn is not a successful crop, its place is 

 being taken by the peanut, the entire plant being fed. It also enters use- 

 fully into the cropping system, on the cotton and tobacco lands of the 

 Southern states. In parts of the South where the cotton-boll weevil is 

 troublesome, peanuts are more advantageously cultivated than cotton. 



Soil and Climatic Conditions. — A light, loamy, sandy soil is best suited 

 to peanuts. A dark soil will produce the forage crop satisfactorily, but is 

 apt to discolor the nuts for market purposes. Heavier soils may be used 

 for forage purposes, but if grown for nuts, a loose soil is necessary, owing 

 to the fact that the nuts must burrow into the soil in order to develop. 



