Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-19
THE PEANUT IN TENNESSEE.

| THE PEANUT IN TENNESSEE
! You are certainly in fair way to make
| Texas the great peanut state of the Union.
| The facts you have given through THE GA
ZETTE are so clear that L cannot see how
any person could for one moment doubt the
| success of the crop. II is a profitable crop
| as you have shown, and then il is the very
| crop of all others that we need in an uncer-
| tain climate. for its long tap root, as made
| plain IN your articles. enables II TO with
stand drouth better than any other crop we
| could grow. l am taking the bulletins of
| the Tennessee experiment station, ana this
| day send you one with an article on pea
| nut culture marked, thinking it might con-
| tain something that would aid you in the
| good work you have inaugurdted.
Waco, Tex. TEXAN.
The marked article to which our cor
| respondent refers says 1ennessee's crop of
peanuts for 1889 was worth, at the lowest
estimate, $4,000 The total crop OF the
United States for that year was worth only
about 81, 100000 In 1890 the crop was con-
siderably larger Il costs about forty cents
a bushel to grow and put peanuts on the
market, not taking into consideration the
value of the vines Us stock feed. The av-
erage yield in Tennessee is from forty to
sixty bushels to the acre. our showing of
last week would seem to put the average
yield much higher for Texas.
In Tennessee. says the article. peanut
growing is mainly confined TO six or seven
counties in the center OF the state. The
soil used is sandy or gravelly clay, with a
clay subsoil, and is derived from siliceous
imestones and sandstones.
'T,yO Kinds of YaarOtc ara Crr.OIy-n in,
nessee, viz. white and red The white va
riety is produced in much the larger quar-
tity, as they bring about p cents per
bushel more than the red. The red nut is
SO called from the color of the skin of the
kernel. The white nut has 4 skin nearly
or quite white, but which darkens with
age. The white nut has 4 more spreading
habit of growth than the red, is said to DE
more prolific, and is later in coming 20 ma
turity The red natures better because
earlier, and yields fewer imperfect pods,
called ''puffs" or ''pops."
The very best results in peanut growing
are to be obtained only by careful attention
TO details, such as selection AMI preserva-
tion of seed, careful preparation of the
ground, care IN selecting SEED. anu good
culture Of the peas. Only in this way can
the planter always be sure of getting just
returns for his labor, no matter what the
prices are.
The peanut, says the Bulletin, is one of
the richest vegetable foods known. Peanut
meal is far superior to cotton seed meal as
feeding stuff. 1t is, however, hardly
known in this country for this use.
The practice of feeding the hay is one
long established, and for this purpose it
seems to be about equal to clover hay, espe-
cially for cattle; but horses do well on it.
Experience in Virginia and North Caro-
lima seems to Indicate that ii moderate use
of commercial and homemade fertilizers
would pay growers of peanuts in Tennessee.
From the analysis and from what we know
of the needs of similar plants it is suggested
that experiments be made with home
mixed fertilizers, giving fifteen pounds of
nitrogen, ten pounds of available phosp hOric
acid, and twenty pounds of potash per acre.
OF course it will be understood that the
above has no reference to Texas. Here, at
Fort Worth, man has raised 100 bushels
of peanuts 20 tine acre on what we consider
our poorest soil, without any fertilizers
whatever.