Peanut and Pecan. 4II 
THE PEANUT. 
During the last few years the peanut product of California 
has notably increased and the crop is a popular one in some 
parts of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California. The 
nuts are considerably grown between the rows in young or- 
chards and vineyards, as well as upon ground wholly given to 
them. The following explicit directions are given by R. M. 
Hargrave, a grower in Orange County. Some slight modifica- 
tions in practise may be needed, according to locality, as, for 
example, in time of planting. which is usually a little earlier than 
the date given:— 
Planting —The best time to plant peanuts is about the middle of May, 
say 10th to 15th, in rows about three to four feet apart and sixteen to 
twenty inches the other way, and not cover too deep—three or four inches. 
Peanuts planted the middle of May ripen evenly and are of uniform size. 
Very early peanuts ripen unevenly, and the first nuts that set on get so 
ripe they turn to a pink color, and if the land is a little sandy the stems 
get soft, lose their strength, and will not lift the nuts from the ground. 
It takes about thirty pounds of the California or White Virginia, 
and fifty pourds of the Tennessee Reds, to plant an acre. Tennessee 
peanuts can be planted much closer in the rows. The California pea- 
nut is the best to plant, as it yields three or four times as much as the 
Tennessee Reds do, and has more ready sale. 
The Quality of Land.—-Peanuts require a rich, sandy soil loam, that 
is known as upland. Damp land gives the nuts a straw color, and they 
are not as good a quality as those raised on higher land. They require 
no irrigation, except on very sandy land, where some have found it 
profitable; but, as a usual thing, when irrigated the ground is liable to 
get hard, making the nuts crooked, ill-shaped, and many times coloring 
them. 
Cultivation.—Peanuts should be cultivated about the same as corn, 
not allowing any weeds to grow in them, keeping the ground loose and 
mellow, and when the spikes begin to form, they should not be dis- 
turbed. If they are, it causes the nuts to blight or not fill out. The 
blooms do not require to be covered. 
Harvesting —Peanuts should he harvested when ripe, and not al- 
lowed to stand too long, in hopes that the last ones set out will fill 
out and ripen. as you lose more than you gain. The little ones spoil 
the sale of the crop, and many are Jeft in the ground that get overripe. 
Peanuts should be cut or plowed out and thrown into windrows, nuts 
down, and let lie a week or ten days, and then sacked, as the best nuts 
are cured in that way, and they do not mold so badly, and cure a better 
color. They must not be allowed to get wet. The tops are good feed 
if stored away in a shed for winter use. All kinds of stock like them, 
and small nuts can be left on the vines. They make the best chicken 
feed. An average yield is about twenty-five to thirty sacks to the acre, 
forty pounds to a sack, but many have raised filty sacks, with extra 
care and good land well adapted to peanuts. 
’ 
THE PECAN. 
The pecan, by rapid growth, early fruiting, and general 
thrift, seems to be the member of the hickory family best fitted 
