Peanuts Grown in Kansas 
je HAS been stated that peanuts will 
grow in any latitude where Indian corn 
will thrive and in this part of the country 
they usually do well without any irrigation. 
The common Virginia variety of peanut 
with its running vines yields well and the 
nuts are of good quality. The nuts of 
the bush variety are of the same quality 
but the crop is smaller and no earlier. We 
grow both sorts; also another bush va- 
riety which is earlier and was obtained 
either in seed purchased on the market, 
or was the result of a mixture between the 
Spanish and the common Virginia sorts. 
The quality of this nut is unsurpassed, the 
kernels are covered with dark red skins and 
many of the pods contain three, instead of 
only two kernels. 
The Mammoth Bush peanut has proved 
with us to be a mammoth running variety 
instead of a bush variety. One kernel 
produced a plant that measured more 
than four feet across, on which were 153 
nuts. These when picked weighed three 
pounds, but were so green that curing 
reduced the weight to less than one-half. 
This variety is very productive, the nuts are 
truly mammoth, and it is the best drought 
resister of the four varieties we grow, but 
it was the latest to mature and the nuts 
were of the poorest quality. 
As an experiment we planted a small 
patch with the Virginia running variety 
(after the first breaking of buffalo sod) and 
neither hoed nor cultivated the soil. The 
vines did not make much of a growth, but 
we found at digging time that they had 
produced the ripest and best quality nuts. 
Ground that has been plowed and finely 
Harvest the crops at the time of the first killing 
frost 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
pulverized by harrowing is in good condi- 
tion for planting. In this locality this is 
usually done about the first week in May, 
because the nuts must have at least five 
months’ growth before a killing frost. We 
plant by hand, using a hoe, and follow a 
line that has been stretched across the patch, 
in order that the rows, which are three and 
a half or four feet apart, will be straight. 
Shell the nuts carefully so that the halves 
of the kernels will not be broken apart, and 
plant an inch and a half or two inches deep. 
Two kernels to a hill will be sufficient, the 
hills being placed two to three feet apart 
in the row. Bush varieties may be planted 
closer than running varieties. 
As soon as the plants are up, our patch 
is carefully cultivated with a two-horse culti- 
vator and the spaces between the hills and 
around the tiny plants are hoed. During 
the summer, the patch also receives five 
After the blossom fades the stalk carrying the fruit 
lengthens, pushing the peanut into the ground 
A mammoth “bush’’ peanut that became a mam- 
moth vine; four feet in diameter 
additional cultivations and one _hoeing. 
After the plants have commenced to bloom 
care must be taken in this work that no 
vines are torn loose from the ground or any 
darts cut. The first flowers appear near 
the centre of the plant and extend along 
the vines or branches. From the flowers 
darts penetrate the soil, a nut growing at 
the end of each. 
Peanuts do not require very much mois- 
ture, and while a long, dry spell during 
July and August may lessen the yield, a 
small crop of peanuts of good quality is 
often produced even after a dry summer. 
The vine varieties must be cultivated in such 
a way that the ground will remain level, 
May, 1908 
The whole plant inverted and hung up to cure. 
(Georgia Red Bush) 
but it is necessary to keep ridging up the 
rows of the bush varieties so that the soil 
will be within reach of the darts on the up- 
right growing branches. 
Harvest the crop just before or imme- 
diately after the first killing frost. Our 
method is to dig them with a potato fork, 
shake out the loose dirt, turn the plants 
over, and leave them for four or five days 
so that the nuts will cure. To avoid hand 
picking, the nuts may then be flailed off with 
a light stick and the trash separated by 
means of a fanning mill. However, if 
the nuts are picked from the plants as soon 
as dug they must be cured either out of 
doors or in a building having plenty of 
ventilation, the nuts being spread about 
an inch deep on the floor of the building. 
We had 171 feet of row and the patch 
was in a large field where plowing and 
harrowing could be cheaply done by modern 
four-horse machinery. We estimated that 
it cost us exactly 75 cents to raise this crop 
of nuts, which included 5 cents for team 
work in preparing and cultivating the 
ground, ro cents for planting, 10 cents for 
hoeing and 50 cents for harvesting. We sold 
one and one-half bushels of nuts for $2.25, 
giving us a profit of $1.50. We took no 
account of the seed because we had raised 
it the year before. 
Kansas. VioLrA McCoim. 
Protecting Hotbeds with Mats 
lants in a hotbed have to be sheltered 
very often from early frosts and later in 
the season from the heat of the sun in midday. 
Mats are therefore made for this purpose 
out of straw or marsh grass. “Make a frame 
the size of the hotbed and tie on to it rope 
or stout cord. On these strands is woven 
whatever material is to be used, but be 
sure that it is fresh and strong enough to 
last for some time so that these mats will 
not have to be made every year. If you 
want to make your own mats read THE 
GARDEN MacazinE for February, 1906, 
PENSE 2.5)0 : 
