290 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
Saying Strawberries in a Drouth. 
One season, just as our berries began to 
ripen, a strong, hot, dry wind sprang up, rap¬ 
idly wilting the plants and drying the fruit 
before it could ripen. Our garden soil was 
light and sandy, and unless something could 
be immediately done, we knew we should 
get no berries. We had a small stack of coarse 
marsh hay, which was cut for the purpose of 
stable bedding. This was sweet and clean, 
and a light covering of one to three inches 
thick, according to circumstances, was spread 
over the strawberries and the ground between 
the rows. This absorbed the too powerful 
heat of the sun, and retained the moisture 
beneath in the soil. The berries now began 
to fill out to an unusual size, and when ripe 
had as sweet and fine a flavor as in the most 
favorable seasons. 
When we picked the fruit, which was done 
every evening, we raked the hay from off the 
rows on to the ground between them, and 
soon returned it upon the vines. It took 
only a short time to do this, and the labor 
was so light a small boy could easily perform 
it. We also laid hay under the vines to keep 
the fruit from being soiled. 
Peppers or Capsicums. 
The plant which we cultivate in our gar¬ 
dens as pepper, is not at all related to that 
which produces the true, or black pepper of 
the shops. Our garden pepper is a native of 
South America, and when first taken to Eu¬ 
rope it was called Guinea Pepper, Cayenne 
Pepper, Chili Pepper, or Chillies, and by 
other names having reference to the place 
from which it came. In this country we 
have as a general thing dropped the prefixes, 
and call the plant pepper, or sometimes Cap¬ 
sicum, the botanical name of the plant. Our 
garden forms of peppers are all varieties of 
Capsicum annuum, but there are found wild 
in the South, from Florida to Texas, several 
Fig. 1.—THE BIRD PEPPER. 
other species. Cultivation has produced 
many varieties, differing greatly in the size 
and shape of the fruit. Probably tbe variety 
known as Bird Pepper is the original state of 
the plant, or very near it. This forms a 
much branched plant (fig. 1), 15 to 18 inches 
high, the fruits of which are erect, long, and 
narrow, as shown in fig. 2, of one-third the 
real size. The fruit of this, picked when 
green, is used for making Chili Vinegar, or 
Pepper-sauce. When ripe and dry, it is im¬ 
ported under the name of Chillies, or Bird 
Pepper, for grinding to make Cayenne Pep¬ 
per. It is probable that the pods imported 
from Africa are of other and related species. 
When ground, the pods form the Cayenne 
Pepper of the shops, which has a most in¬ 
tense pungency, but it is rarely sold in the 
pure state, colored Indian meal being fre¬ 
quently mixed with it. The peppers usually 
cultivated in our gardens are varieties with 
much larger fruit. There are several forms 
in which the pungency diminishes as the 
size of the fruit increases. The variety 
known as Squash Pepper is tomato-shaped, 
with thick, pungent flesh. The Sweet Moun¬ 
tain, Sweet Spanish, and other varieties, pro¬ 
duce inflated fruit as large as one’s fist, and 
with comparatively little pungency. These 
large varieties are often used to make stuffed 
pickles, and are sometimes incorrectly called 
Mangoes. A recently introduced variety 
called the “Monstrous Pepper” has a very 
large and roughly wrinkled fruit, and very 
unlike in its appearance to the original form 
in fig. 1. 
The Chufa or Earth Almond, 
The Chufa or Earth Almond (Cyperus escu- 
lentus) was introduced into this country over 
thirty years ago, and found its home mostly 
in the extreme Southern States, where it has 
been grown generally (not largely) as a fat¬ 
tening food for hogs for winter months. It 
has since met with periods of neglect, but 
coming to the front again with considerable 
eclat as often as a revival of the food question 
has necessitated the production of cheap feed 
for swine. It is said to be grown extensively 
in some parts of Southern Europe, and in the 
Island of Cyprus, where the natives express 
from the nuts the milky juice, and ferment a 
delightful drink very palatable and slightly 
exhilarating. Containing sugar and starch, it 
is capable of making alcohol, and for this it 
has been extensively cultivated. It is easy of 
cultivation, and on new fresh soils produces 
large crops. On thin soils the nuts are poor, 
innutritious, and few in number. A sandy 
or porous soil is best. Two seeds (tubers) 
are dropped every twelve inches in fur¬ 
rows three feet apart. The soil is culti¬ 
vated with a liorse-lioe, and the intervals 
between the plants weeded until the mass of 
foliage with its roots occupies the entire bed. 
The crop matures here by October, but is 
suffered to remain ungathered until late. 
It is not injured by slight freezing. The 
ground keeps the nuts better than if ex¬ 
posed by digging and housing. They 
keep badly if dug and bulked, as they heat 
easily and sprout. If kept long exposed, 
the nuts become much shriveled and re¬ 
duced in size. The crop is often left in the 
ground until spring, giving the hogs the ben¬ 
efit of it after other food is exhausted. The 
swine are turned upon the Chufas, and they 
will grow fat upon them. As a food product 
for swine the Chufa is probably inferior to 
the Ground Pea. When the two are given to¬ 
gether, the latter is eaten first. As a food for 
poultry (chickens and turkeys) Chufa is most 
valuable. Wild as well as domesticated birds 
flock to the Chufa field to glean during 
harvest. 
There is nothing that gives a whiter and 
more delicate flesh to domesticated poultry 
than Chufas. Cultivated for this purpose, one 
needs little else to fit his poultry for the ta¬ 
ble, with tempting white flesh and with a 
flavor no other food will develop. It is no 
pest, and can be readily turned under in 
spring when volunteer plants appear, and 
this is the end of the crop there. In this it 
is very different from its brother “Coco 
Grass,” or “Nut Grass,” which is a trouble¬ 
some weed in cultivated fields in the South¬ 
ern States. W, B. J., Herndon, Ga. 
Varieties of the Peanut 
BY B. W. JONES, SURRT CO., VA. 
In Mississippi and Georgia the peanut is 
called “Pindar;” in North Carolina, “ Goo¬ 
ber;” in Florida, “Ground Nut” and “Ground 
Pea.” Botanists describe but one species 
(Arachis hypogcea ), of which there are at 
least three, if not four, well marked varie¬ 
ties : The Red, or Tennessee peanut; the 
Bunch peanut, and the common Virginia 
peanut, the type of the species. The “ Goo¬ 
ber,” or North Carolina peanut, raised in the 
counties to the north and east of Wilming¬ 
ton, has very small pods, with nuts that 
weigh more to the bushel than the common 
variety. This kind retains its characteristic 
well after years of cultivation, and appears 
to be a distinct variety. 
All of these kinds, except the Bunch pea¬ 
nut, have a running vine, growing flat upon 
the ground, and measuring at maturity from 
two to five feet across. The peanut leaves 
grow in pairs, and at night, or during a 
shower, close together, and remain so until 
the sun shines upon them again. When the 
leaves are thus closed, a field has quite a dif¬ 
ferent appearance than when under a glow¬ 
ing sun. The peanut branches out in all di¬ 
rections, and sends down a strong tap root 
from the center of the plant. This root, by 
growing deeply into the soil, enables the plant 
to withstand diy weather well, and hence the 
crop is seldom seriously affected by drouth. 
The plant begins to flower in July, and 
soon a little stem, or “ finger,” appears, and 
turns downward, as if by instinct, to seek the 
soil. The peanut is formed on the end of 
this stem after it penetrates the ground. If 
the stem does not reach the ground, no pea¬ 
nut appears. The color of the little flower is 
a bright yellow, and it has the true papilio¬ 
naceous form which marks the plant as a 
member of the pea family. 
The Bunch peanut is like the other kinds in 
every respect save its erect or upright growth. 
It has no vine branching off like the others, i 
and at a little distance the plant would be 
readily mistaken for the common field or 
stock pea. The nuts of this kind grow around 
and close to the tap root of the peanut, and, , 
being more in a bunch, are easier to gather 
thar the flat sort. The plant does not occupy 
so much room, and may be planted nearer 
together than the other kind. The yield per 
acre is about the same. On account of its 
erect habit of growth, this variety is easier 
to grow and dig. but has not come into gen¬ 
eral cultivation. It matures a little earlier 
than the flat kind. 
