SOIL FERTILITY 125 



The peanuts produced in other States in the South and Southwest 

 (41, 67, 103) are grown on soils similar in physical and chemical charac- 

 teristics to those used in the major peanut-producing areas in the South- 

 east. 



(2) Other parts of the World : Workers in Jamaica (-24, 25), Hawaii 

 (66), Mexico (70), Cuba (109), Columbia (22), the Philippines (51), 

 Australia (63, 64, 90, 111), Senegal (26), South Africa (79, 92, 98), 

 Indonesia (23) and Rhodesia (108) have reported that the soils best 

 suited for peanut production in their respective countries were, in general, 

 those having the characteristics of the "ideal" peanut soil described 

 earlier in this chapter. Hence it is evident that there is universal agree- 

 ment on what constitutes the most desirable soil for growing peanuts. 



THE FERTILIZATION OF PEANUTS 



Peanut-fertilization practices have changed little in the United States 

 in the past several decades ; significantly, perhaps, neither have the yields. 

 This is in sharp contrast to most of the other crops grown in the same 

 areas. 



A review of the peanut fertility research conducted by the southeast- 

 ern experiment stations reveals a multitude of inconsistent and apparently 

 conflicting data. The anomalous behavior of the peanut is pointed out as 

 follows in a report of a recent study by the Southern Research Institute 

 (21): 



"Not only does the peanut fail to respond markedly to direct ap- 

 plications of commercial fertilizers, but such responses as are observed 

 are not constant, varying widely from field to field even on the same 

 soil type. This behavior is in marked contrast to that of other crops 

 such as corn or cotton for which the yield increase to be obtained for a 

 given application of fertilizer can be predicted with almost mathe- 

 matical certainty." 



Despite this unusual behavior, peanuts are not unlike other crops in 

 their basic nutritional requirements. In fact, with the normal systems 

 of management in which both hay and nuts are harvested, peanuts re- 

 move relatively large amounts of nutrients from a soil (table 1). Cer- 

 tainly there is little reason to suspect that the chemical and physical laws 

 which govern the absorption and utilization of nutrients by peanuts are 

 not the same as for other plants. What accounts, therefore, for the erratic 

 behavior of the peanut in response to fertilizer amendments ? 



Until recently little attention has been given to the fact that peanut 

 varieties exhibit marked differences in nutrient requirements. Yet, while 



