198 THE PEANUT— THE UNPREDICTABLE LEGUME 



The practice of covering the young pegs with soil to insure their 

 pegging down is unnecessary and often is harmful, since it destroys some 

 of the foliage. 



Runner peanuts are usually so cultivated as to leave the land flat. 

 Spanish or bunch peanuts are cultivated in such a way as to leave the 

 plants on a bed at the time of laying-by. 



Hoeing is necessary in most cases. In favorable years, rapid and 

 frequent cultivation will destroy all weeds and make hoeing unnecessary. 

 If peanuts become weedy or grassy, the weeds or grass should be re- 

 moved immediately. Removal of weeds or grass after the pods begin to 

 form is difficult and frequently injures the peanuts. The hoeing operation 

 consists of hoeing the plants when small to remove weeds and grass. 

 Another hoeing, which consists of "bunching" or removing the bunches 

 of grass that have been missed during the season, is done at or just before 

 laying-by. The first hoeing operation is quite expensive, usually because 

 less than an acre per day can be hoed by one man. The bunching opera- 

 tion is much less expensive, since one man can cover several acres a day. 



Dusting 



(Detail of life history and of experiments dealing with control of insects 

 and diseases are discussed in later chapters'.) 



Two major groups of peanut pests are insects and diseases. Two 

 major insects attacking peanuts are leaf -hopper's and velvet bean cater- 

 pillars. The two important diseases that attack peanuts are Cercospora 

 leafspot and Sclerotium, or southern blight. 



The use of dusting sulfur, copper sulfur, and combinations of these 

 with coijipatible insecticides, such as DDT and Toxaphene, are dis- 

 cussed in chapters on insect and disease control. 



Spray treatments have been used and various spray schedules have 

 been developed. Use of sprays has been considered impractical for the 

 following reasons: 



( 1 ) More time is required to mix and apply the spray than is required 

 to dust. 



(2) Costs of spray machinery and materials are higher than the 

 costs of dusters and materials. 



(3) There is a greater possibility of burning the foliage by improper 

 use of spray than by dusting. 



(4) Frequently, there is not an adequate supply of water available. 



Dusted peanuts are usually dug from 1 to 2 weeks later than undusted 



