CULTURAL PRACTICES 



189 



Method and Time of Shelling 



One of the first studies on time of shelling peanuts was by Beattie 

 and others (3). Hand-shelled seed of seven varieties of peanuts — 

 Jumbo, Virginia Bunch, Virginia Runner, African, Valencia, Spanish and 

 Improved Spanish were planted at the Pee Dee Station, Florence, South 

 Carolina, 1922-1924. Shelling was done about February 10, March 10, 

 April 10 and May 10. All seed were planted soon after the last shelling. 

 All peanuts were spaced 6 inches apart in rows 32 inches apart. The 

 data in table 22 show that there was no consistent decrease in the germin- 



Table 22. — Average Germination of Seven Varieties of Peanuts from Seed 

 Shelled in Different Months, 1922-1924 



Variety 



Rate of germination'' 



February 

 shelling 



March 

 shelling 



April 



May 

 shelling 



Percent 



Percent 



Percent 



I Percent 



Jumbo 



Virginia Bunch 



Virginia Runner 



Alabama Runner (African) 



Valencia 



Spanish 



Improved Spanish 



78 

 87 

 86 

 86 

 89 

 92 

 92 



82 

 72 

 75 

 78 

 76 

 87 

 79 



77 

 87 

 85 

 79 

 75 

 87 

 81 



78 

 79 

 86 

 83 

 87 

 93 

 85 



* Fractional percentages omitted. 



ation of peanuts from seed shelled 3 months before planting time and 

 that shelled shortly before planting. Seed shelled in December and Janu- 

 ary of 1923 and 1924 also germinated as well as seed shelled immediately 

 before planting. 



Wilson ( 19) at the Alabama Station found that hand^shelled runner 

 peanuts gave the same percentage germination whether shelled 6 weeks, 

 3 weeks or 1 day before planting, and gave practically the same per- 

 centage when shelled 9 weeks before planting. Similar results were ob- 

 tained by the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station (9). Seed 

 shelled in January and planted in April produced stands equally as good 

 as those shelled and planted in April. 



Prior to World War II nearly all peanuts for planting were shelled 

 by hand. Some are still hand-shelled, but this method of preparing seed 

 for planting is rapidly decreasing. Labor shortage, labor cost, and the 

 fact that hand shelling is a tedious, monotonous operation account for the 

 decline of handshelling. 



