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BULLETIN 648, U. S. DEPARTMENT. OF AGRICULTURE. 



CORN AND PEANUTS. 



Since corn and peanuts are commonly grown on the same land, 

 the costs of these two crops will be considered together. Slightly 

 more than two-thirds of the acreage of corn on these farms is planted 

 in alternate rows with peanuts. Corn grown by itself, or ''solid," is 

 planted in rows usually 4.5 feet' apart, but when the two crops are 

 planted together the distance between the rows of corn is increased 

 to 6 feet or more. There is some difference of opinion among the 

 growers as to whether this widening of the rows results in the lower- 

 ing of the yield of corn. The tabulated results, however, show that 

 it does lower the yield to the extent of 15 per cent. But growing the 



Fig. 20. — With the increased production of peanuts for the market many power " pickers " 

 have been introduced. The straw is baled and used for feed. 



two crops together results in distinct economies of labor and use of 

 land, which much more than offsets the somewhat lower corn yield. 

 Corn grown alone costs 83 cents per bushel to produce by the wage 

 system, and 84 cents by the cropper system, whereas corn grown with 

 peanuts cost 67 and 66 cents per bushel, respectively. An acre of 

 peanuts in- corn, it was found, costs approximately one-half as much 

 as an acre of peanuts planted alone. These cost's indicate that the 

 local practice of growing the two crops together is an excellent ore. 

 The costs of growing the two crops when planted together can not 

 be divided on the basis of the respective values of each, since peanuts 

 are nearly all pastured off, and as pasture they do not have a defi- 

 nitely measurable commercial value. Therefore, all costs that clearly 

 could be charged to either of the crops separately were so entered. 

 But the few mutual costs, such as the breaking of the land, and land 



