254 
YANKEE FARMING.-NO. 7. 
CULTIVATION OF THE PEANUT IN EAST 
JERSEY. 
In the May number of the Agriculturist, you state 
that it would be interesting to know how far north 
the peanut will grow, or mature its seeds, in the 
open air. Although the cultivation of this plant 
has been limited to the south, it may not generally 
be known that it yields abundantly in East Jersey, 
near the sea coast, where the soil is light and 
sandy, provided the season is not too short. 
The time of planting, in this place, is about the 
first of May; and if the vines are kept from the 
frost until the middle of September there will be 
a full crop. The nuts are planted in drills, three 
feet apart and six inches from each other. It is 
not necessary to start them in hot beds nor by arti¬ 
ficial heat, as the growth is sufficiently rapid to 
render this unnecessary. They vegetate in four or 
five days after planting, and quickly rise out of the 
ground, soon after which, a plow, or cultivator, is 
run between the rows, and then followed with the 
hoe, carefully drawing the earth around the young 
vines. 
Early in the season, there appears on the vines, 
near the roots, numerous small, yellowish blos¬ 
soms, which are soon succeeded by the formation 
of nuts. At this period, the vines are bent down 
and covered with earth, barely leaving their tips in 
sight, which fact has given rise to the idea that the 
peanut blossoms under ground. This process of 
burying the vines causes a new set of runners to 
shoot out, and consequently the formation of ano¬ 
ther set of flowers and nuts. Hence, as long as 
the operation of covering is repeated, the yield will 
be increased; but if the season be short and subject 
to early autumnal frosts, the crops will be propor- 
tionably less. 
The nuts are usually harvested soon after the 
frost kills the vines. If pulled, while the plant is 
yet a little green, the nuts nearly all adhere to the 
vines, and may easily be gathered. As soon as 
they are picked, they are rinsed in water, the ear¬ 
liest and best, selected and carefully dried, for seed, 
while those intended to eat, or for the market, are 
kill-dried, or baked with moderate heat 
The yield of nuts, in this place, as far I am able 
to judge, is about 125 bushels per acre. 
J. M. B. 
Cedar Creek , Monmouth Co ., June, 1848. 
Facts in Regard to Cutting Unripe Corn. 
—It is stated in the American Farmer, that Indian 
corn, if cut many days before it is fairly glazed, 
will ripen, and that, too, in most instances, without 
any apparent diminution either in quantity or 
quality of the grain. In several instances, which 
have fallen under the observation of the editor of 
that paper, it has, when cut at the roots before the 
kernels had become fairly “ specked,” filled even 
more rapidly than while standing. That the stalks 
afford nutriment, even for some days after cutting, 
he says has been fully demonstrated by the fact, 
that an ear, plucked at the time of cutting, will 
shrivel and be very imperfect; whereas those that 
remain, will “ fill out” and become sound corn. 
Soils which are chemically and physically alike 
are agriculturally equal. — Prof. Johnston. 
YANKEE FARMING—No. 7. 
Good people all of every /Sort, 
Give ear unto my song ; 
And if you find it wondrous short, 
It cannot hold you long. 
After the hay and grain harvest is finished, it 
is customary in our part of the country, for the far¬ 
mers to take a few days’ recreation, as a sort of re¬ 
compense to the hard toil demanded of them dur¬ 
ing this very busy season. Among other things 
that myself and wife, in conjunction with the Doo¬ 
little’s, had devised to accomplish during these 
holidays, was a visit to Sisters Sally and Lizzy; 
for the women folks wanted to have a good set 
talk, and I was desirous of looking over the farm 
with their nephew, and also of examining thefr 
vegetable garden, which is considered the best cul¬ 
tivated and the most famous in the whole township 
of A-gok-ne-quaw, save that of Squire Jones.’ 
In accordance with this arrangement, immedi¬ 
ately after dinner, I harnessed my fast-trotting Can¬ 
adian to a light carry-all, took in my wife and 
baby, and proceeded to Mr. Doolittle’s. We found 
Aunt Nabby and Molly nicely dressed and waiting 
our arrival; but as for Uncle Sim, he had been 
over-persuaded by the boys to give up the old ladies’ 
society, and had gone off, on a fishing excursion 
with them down the clear Abaters of Silver Brook. 
I was a little disappointed at losing the company 
of Mr. Doolittle in this unceremonious way; but 
as there was no help for it, I resolved to indemnify 
myself in the society of the ladies. My carry-all 
having two seats in it, I could easily accommodate 
Aunt Nabby and her daughter, and so I told them, 
they had best direct the old mare to be unharnessed^ 
from Uncle Sim’s heavy chaise, and ride with me. 
Mrs. Doolittle concluded that this would look more 
“ social like,” and as she declared she “ hadn’t had 
a sight ’o Miss Teltrue for morn’n as good a& a 
whole livin’ week, she was half dyin’ to get some¬ 
body besides her own folks to talk to, now and. 
then,” very readily accepted my offer. 
It was a circuitous and retired road that led to 
the Misses Thompson’s, (the family name of Sisters 
Sally and Lizzy), and though the farms that lay 
upon it were tolerably well cultivated, little or no 
attention was paid to the gardens, beyond a small 
patch of early corn and potatoes, a few rows of 
beans and peas, here and there a straggling squash 
and cucumber vine, with an occasional stray melon, 
a narrow bed or two of stunted onions, beets, and 
parsnips, and a square rod of cabbages. As for 
flowers, it was rare to see a few morning glories 
trained up the sides of the house, and still rarer to 
find the variegated four-o’clock, or sweet-scented 
marigold. The gaudy poppy was more common ; 
and nearly every garden had its ample bed of saf¬ 
fron, while the sunflower reared its tall, thick stalk, 
crowned with a great broad disk, in considerable 
profusion. But I doubt whether even these last 
flowers would be cultivated among my neighbors 
as they are, were it not that the first is a grand 
family medicine, as they term it, and that the 
abundant seeds of the latter are useful to make oil 
and fatten chickens. Not a lilac tree, not a snow¬ 
ball, nor even a rose bush (unless it were a wild 
one left to flourish, from mere carelessness to cut it 
down), was to be seen. As Molly sat by my side 
