Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-22
PEANUTS IN CLAY.

Articles on peanut culture for Texas. ap-
pearing in the Fort Worth GAZETTE last
| spring, led our colony to make small test
of the crop. We closely followed your di-
rections relative TO planting and digging
| but not so in the culture, for we plowed and
| hoed only once. AS a consequence, blue
| stem grass grew in the patch as high as a
mans head. OF course we could not expect
many peanuts under the circumstances.
But we harvested the crop, and are now
| about half through with picking the nuts
| from the vines. Are you surprised that
there should have been any nuts at all to
| pick? In our test we planted 25 cents worth
| of seed nuts, or about two pounds. We
| now have four measured bushels of as fine
| nuts as l ever saw, and since we are but
| half through picking we can safely state
| that we will have eight measured bushels
from those two pounds of seed. With
| proper cultivation the yield would certainly
have been very much larger.
Undoubtedly the peanut could be made a
| very profitable crop on our Red river sandy
| soils, if we had the necessary cheap labor
| to pick off the nuts. Is there not machinery
| for digging, picking and polishing the nuts2
| If so, can the machines be found in the
regular implement trade!
WALTER D. BENTLEY.
Thornberry, Clay county, Tex.
With the lights before him, as estab-
| lished by not a few letters and statements,
of recent date, mentioning bad culture and
amazingly good results in association, one
| finds it hard to avoid jumping to the conclu-
sion that the only way of preventing the
peanut from succeeding in Texas, once it
gets into the ground, would be to roast the
nuts before planting.
In his employment of the plural sswe,"
Mr.. Bentley refers to the noted "Illinois
colony" an intelligent, persevering
and progressive settlement of North
ern farmers established in Clay
county, Tex, of which he is himself
member. The only thing surprising us in
this connection is that they should have
neglected their peanut experiment, for they
seldom neglect anything. 1t must have
sprung from lack of faith in the expert
ment. But they are evidently all right
now, in this particular, hence we may con-
tidently expect something better from them
next year. Would that Texas had within
her boundaries thousands of such settle
ments as the Illinois colony on Red river in
Clay county. We have room for them, and
undoubtedly they would do Texas good,
while, at the same time, Texas would be
sure to give them satisfactory returns for
their efforts.
Replying to Mr.. Bentley's letter we would
state that SO far as we know, there are as
yet no such machines or instruments as
asked after, but it would seem that there
must be a need for something of the kind
Such being the case, why not some invent
i've person in the Illinois colony set his wits
to work and get them up? We are fully
satisfied that there are people in that colony
entirely capable of doing it.
The polishing implement referred to by
Mr.. Bentley would not be needed by the
producer, for all required of him is to get
the peanuts out of the ground, dry them
well and sack them for market. We are,
ourself, q peanut raiser of much expe-
rience, but in all our experience we never
heard anything relative to a polisher. It
is not our opinion that peanuts are ever
polished, but if they are that polishing is
certainly not the work Of the producer.
Tho cheap-labor problem Is usually solved
in the fact that there Is no need Of being in
any hurry, so far IS relates to picking OF