St. Landry democrat., 1890-10-11

The 80 called peanut belt" of the coun-
Try includes part of the States of Viz
gina. North Carolina and Tennessee.
Within these limits the peanut is the prin-
clpal money crop, and in fact there are
lew farm crops grown in any part of tho
United States that excel it iu value per acre
The first requisite for crop is good
seed. All the nuts retained for that pur-
pose must be kept perfectly dry through
the winter, as dampness and fermentatirn Il
would destroy their terminating power.
During wet days, and evenings in the early
spring, the farmer and his family are en-
gagged IN preparing the seed for planting.
Every shell must be opened and the seed
extracted. This Is termed popping" and
popping bees, to which the neighbors are
invited, are frequent There fun and
froic are rife, as in the corn huskings and
apple-pariDgs of the more Northern
States. The cracking of the nuts and of
harmless jokes echo from the walls of
many an humble cabin. The seed peanuts
are all carefully hand-picked, and all
light -colored, shrunken or defective ones
are rejected, only the plump, perfect peas,
with unbroken skins. being kept for seed
The rejected ones ara sold for roasting
The planting was formerly done by
hand in Il very tedious and laborious man
ner, but it is now performed by means of
a machine, with which one man can plant
six to eight acres per day in q very supe-
rior manner. Though the shelled peanut
is nearly the same in size and form as
bean, the same implement cannot be used
IN planting both. The slightest crack of
the thin pink skin would spoil the peanut
for purposes of seed The peanut planter
the peas, deposit them at regular intervals
in the row, and press the soil down upon
them without abradng the tender I'm in
which they are enveloped. Five pecks or
twenty pounds of shelled seed are required
from the middle of May to the middle of
June. The most critical time for the crop
comes Immediately after planting. If the
weather is too wet the seed rots in the
| ground if TOO dry it withers and perishes
Then the newly planted seed is subject to
| the oepredations of nearly every kind of
bird and small animal which inhabits the
region. Moles often make great havoc.
| In nearly all cases more or less of replant-
| ing is necessary.
a field of peanuts just sprouting out of
the ground is very pretty sight. The
!
tains height of eie ht or ten inches then
the pea-shaped blossoms appear, and the
plant falls over and makes its subsequent
growth in procumbent position. A sin
gular process now ensues. AS the petals
of the flowers fade and fall, the legumes
or pods are forced into the soil, there to
comp plete their growth and ripen the in
closed seeds
ba SSc in fra +lr
between the rows with small plow of
peculiar shape. If grass or weeds appear
in the rows (all weed growth is called
hoes. But after the plants have fallen
over, they cover the earth so thickly as to
smother out the weeds. single tap
root, which penetrates the earth deeply,
| like that of the allied red clover, is the
main root growth of the peanut plant, of
which the scientific name is Arachis Hypo-
sea.
1t is the aim of the peanut grower 10
have the crop mature about the time Of
the first frost of autumn. The pods must
be lifted from their earthly beds to keep
them free from stain. A plow Is run un-'
der each row, cutting eff the main roo's
and throwing out the pods which adhere
|
the ground until partially dried, the whole
sre stacked in the field. Stout stakes are
cut in the forest, the arge end sharpened,
short strips are nailed across them near
the sharpened end, and they are then
driven into the ground in rows at conve-
nient intervals through the fields. The
gathered plants are stacked around these
stakes, the caoss-strips being designed to
a. oof y4yifh 20 orr
Esch stack is or fest high and TO
feet in diameter.
The stacks are sometimes hauled to the
barn for the purpose of picking the pods
but it is generally done in the field during
the autumn and winter. The pickers build
small fires, around which they gather,
picking off the snuts and sorting the well
filled ones from the pops as the partial
" empty pods are called. Efforts Lave
been msds to devise machinery for pick
ng the nuts from the vine but without
success az vet. The vines, after being
stripped of the nuts, make forage nearly
equal to clover hay, save for the adhesrlng
csnd and dirt. and stock of all kinds eat
it gredily. .u
After the hauling and nuts are all
cleared away a second crop remains below
the surface. This is harvested by swine
which are turned for the purpose. They
turn the soil UP side down in search OF
the toothsome nuts, and however lean the
pig may be when it goes in, it soon be-
comes very tae
The pork Of these hogs. though it has
a sweet nutty flavor, is rather soft, unless
thew are finished off with corn before
slaughter.
The market of peanuts was formers
controlled wholly by the middleman. VINO
generally held liens on the crop before II
va. harvested for advances made to the
farmer. They are never slow to enforce
their liens. but come early and take them'
50 that any future enhancement IN price
accrues to their benefit and not the
, farmers.
But the Farmers Alliance has changed
all that. 1t stands ready to take the pro-
duct of the farmers toll, s. ore it for him
and advance money for immediate neces-
sites. By the aid of ths alliance the pro-
ducers can fix a price which will at least
n,ova fairly remunerative, and sell directly
to dealers at the principal distributing
, points aoa,
They were formerly reluctant to oeSi
diractly with producers, but last year shey
sent their agents into producing territory
to buy freel y of the alliance, whose man n
ayers fixed the price. A bushel OF peanuts
in the shells weighs twenty two POUNDS
and they are put up in bags holding one one
hundred pounds each At SIX cents pe'
pound, the price at which the bulk OF lss
years crop was sold, load represent
quite q nice sum of money. g.,
On farm adjoining that OF the writer
crop OF one hundred and fifteen pusns'
ner acre was harvested last year.
But this is very far above the aVersg'
which may be placed at twenty hive ousl
els per acre A larger acreage mas Des
, nlsntd this year than ever before, sou