The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-11-28

had been planted IN peas the year Dc
fore. The whippoorwn peas show the
same effect, those planted on peanut
ground having fully twice as heavy q
crop as those on az 'ining land, the
difference is very marked.
CULTURE
/ break my land with q turning
pillow to a moderate depth and let it
stand to warm up, air and catch the
rain; before planting time I harrow
and pulverize it finely with an Acme
harrow cultivator. This will kill out a
crop Of grass and weeds, and put the
soil in fine filth for any crop. Iplant
about the same time I do corn, with q
narrow shovel I lay off the rows about
81 feet apart, and plant the peanuts
about Is to 90 inches in the row, an
cover them lightly with a double shovel
or planter and after a few days harrow
il of; this will destroy another crop OF
weeds and grass, and keep the ground
in fine condition for them to come up
Peanuts push the peas up through
the ground like beans, hence they
must be planted very shallow, notover
2 or 8 inches deep. Some recommend
Smelling the peas, thia would be best
but is q very slow, tedious process. 1
soak the pods "a hours in water, then
break them in two before planting,
plant one in a hill, for I find one plant
in q hill will make as many peas as two
In q hill. They are slow to come up,
and grow off slowly at the start.
The first cultivation Is by far the
most important, as we'll as difficult and
tedious, as young grass and weeds come
up with the plants. The plants at first
lie close to the ground and cannot be
dirte d with the ploW. IploW them out
with q double shovel, putting q small
shove next to the plants, then hoe
them out clean. The second blowing
is much easier, as the plants are larger,
and stand upright and can be dirted
with the pillow. I give them this pillow
ing with q fourteen inch heel sweep,
blowing out the middles with q third
furrow; a sixteen inch sweep does this
work best; q little later on I lay them
by with q clean hoeing and plow them
out with three sweep furrow. The
vines will soon cover the ground and
keep do wn all future growth Of grass
and weeds.
Harvesting is simple, late in the fall,
about the middle of September on my
farm, I run around them with a mar.
row shovel to loosen the soil about
them, pull up the vines by hand, shake
the dirt eff OF them, and lay themdoWn
In the sun to wilt, not try. The next
day I throw them into large shocks to
dry out and cure. The air can pene-
trate these nicely and all except the
outer surfsc9 are shaded; in a few days
they will cure sweet and nice. You
can then haul them up and put them
In open pens or barns / prefer pens
to close barns, or they a be stacked
around q pole, in either case they must
be rooted over, for they will not shed
rain, nor will any vine hay. This GOV
ering may be made with hay, cane tops,
corr stalks, or plank, but they must be
kept dry. Thus put up they will keep
indefinitely, and make the best stock
feed I have ever seen. They are a com
plete ration, and ans wer the same as,
but far better, both corn and fodder,
equal to the best grain and clover hay.
All stock are fond Of them, and your
hogs will eat them up clean, vines and
roots, fed to horses, COWS, or hogs with
corn, they will eat up all the peanuts
and vines before they will touch the
corn; all stock will thrive and fatten
on them, but as the fat of hogs is soft
like "mast fed meat" (Which by the
way is the best meat on earth) If you
wish firm fat, and hard lard, 1t will be
well to feed your hogs for a few weeks
on corn before slaughtering them.
To prepare for market. All, tbs re is
the rub, anyone who will try them will
think them cheap at almost any price.
The large peanuts easily loosen from
the vine and have to be picked up off
the ground, a large per cent. may be
lost in the ground unless you have a
lot of pigs to gather them out for you;
pigs will gather every one of them,
and will laugh and grow fat" |,
The Spanish peanuts adhere firmly
to the vines, and very few of them will
be lost in gathering. These have to be
hand picked which may be done at any
time during the winter. 1t takes a
good hand to pick off of the vines one
bushel a day four of us picked last
winter and never succeeded in picking
four bushels q dRv They ara unru