CULTURAL PRACTICES 



175 



time. It is believed, however, that the best practice is to plant peanuts on 

 land that has been adequately limed by previous broadcast applications. 



Time of Planting 



Throughout the greater part of the commercial peanut area, planting 

 of the main crop is done between April 10 and May 10. Peanuts are 

 planted from early March in parts of Texas and Florida to as late as 

 June 15 in Virginia and North Carolina. The young peanut plant is 

 capable of withstanding considerable cold. Therefore, peanuts may be 

 planted earlier than cotton. The recommendations made by most agrono- 

 mists are for planting at a reasonably early date. The best planting date is 



» All plots received 400 pounds per acre of 0-8-4 with basic slag as a source of phosphorus; peanuta 

 planted in 30-inch rows, 6 to 8 inches apart in the drill. 



probably about 2 weeks after the average date of the last killing frost. 

 Results of time-of-planting experiments show that farmers could very 

 probably increase their yields by planting earlier than customary. In the 

 Gulf Coast region, a fair yield may be expected from Spanish peanuts 

 planted as late as July 1. Runner-peanut yields decline very rapidly as the 

 date of planting is delayed. 



Results from experiments on dates of planting in Mississippi (18) are 

 given in table 1. These results show that yields from peanuts planted 

 early are definitely higher than from peanuts planted at later dates. 



Peanuts planted in April, May and June 1940-1943 at Rocky Mount, 

 North CaroHna (6) produced average yields of 1,215 pounds, 1,151 

 pounds and 710 pounds of nuts per acre, respectively. An exception to 

 the above trend was noted in 1944 when slightly higher yields were 

 obtained from the May than from the April planting. 



Results of 10-year experiments at Tifton, Georgia (8), as shown in 

 table 2, also indicate an advantage of early planting of both Spanish and 

 runner peanuts. 



