176 



THE PEANUT— THE UNPREDICTABLE LEGUME 



• No fertilizer used. Tests followed a general rotation of field crops. 



*> 8-year average, no data for 1934 and 1935. 



*> 9-year average, no data on March 15 planting in 1934 or on April IS planting in 1943. 



Yields from experiments conducted with Spanish peanuts at various 

 Alabama locations are given in table 3. Except at Fairhope, where early 

 plantings were damaged by rodents, these results also show a very defi- 

 nite advantage for early seeding. Planting at or about the last killing- 

 frost date resulted in a good yield of peanuts. Slightly higher yields were 

 obtained by delaying the planting 2 weeks after the last killing frost. 

 Delaying the planting an additional 2 weeks, however, resulted in marked 

 reduction in the yield. 



In a date-of-planting experiment with runner peanuts at Auburn, 



Table 3. — Average Yields of Spanish Peanuts Planted at Different Dates 

 AT Various Locations in Alabama, 1943-1946 



■ Yields are average of four plots; planting rate per acre 90 pounds of hand -shelled, and 60, 90 and 

 135 pounds of unshelled seed, respectively. 



b Plantings made at approximately 15-day intervals, first planting at about the average date of last 

 killing frost at each location and varied from March 9 at Fairhope to April 17 at Crossville. 



