St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-02-27
STATE BOARD TELLS
How TO RAISE The
GOOBER.

The Louisiana State Board Of Ag-
riculture and immigration, has just
issued q special bulletin, which con-
tains an article on the growing Of
peanuts by Prof. w. R. Dodson. We
I print the article for those Of our
readers who expect to raise sgoobers1
this year. and they are many.
Under The head Of varieties, Prof.
Dodson recommends the Virginia or
Tennessee red, in preference to the
white nuts, the soil and climate con-
ditions Of this state being better
adapted to these two varieties.
SOIL.
Almost any well drained soil in the
state will produce d fair crop of pea
nuts, but sandy soil with a fair
amount Of humus is preferred. Stiff
soils frequently produce good crops,
but it is difficult to harvest the crop
satisfactorily and free it from dirt.
Red soils containing a large amount
of iron, color the pods and iniure the
market qualities.
PLANTING.
Peanuts should be planted after all
danger Of frost is passed. They may
be planted as late as June and very
good crop made. They should be
prepared as for ordinary staple crops
AS clean culture is desirable, land
that is comparatively free from weed
and grass seed should be preferred. [
Id planting, very light ridges
should be prepared in ordinary soils. /
In the more sandy soils the fiat row
should be used. The rows should be- (
from two and one half to three feet
apart. The closer rows have been
found to give larger yields. The hills I
in row should be from six inches to /
q foot and half apart. Usually the I
short distance is used with small /
varieties and ID poor land and The +
greater distance with the large va
rieties and the richer land. Genar- I
ally two peas are planted TO q hill.
In early planting, cover the seed
from one to two inches deep il. later
planting, cover somewhat deeper.
It is q general practice to shell the
peas before planting. II requires
from one to two bushels of peas in
the pod 10 plant an acre.
Frequent and shallow cultivation
up 10 the time that the vines begin
TO bloom gives the most satisfactory
results. After the blooms appear
the vines should be disturbed as little
as possible, though the middle may
still be lightly cultivated with any
implement most convenient.
HARVESTING.
Harvesting should commence as
soon as q large percentage Of the peas /
have matured. The common method of I
harvesting is to off bar the row With
d turn ploW; then lift out each sep +
arateIy with ground fork, shaking
The bunch to release the adhering |
dirt. Two OF three rows are punched
together and curing is very much /
after the order Of wind rowing hay.
When d considerable crop is harvested, /
they are shocked in small shocks
around q stick driven III The ground, /
making the shocks from three to
four feet II diameter and five or six
feet high. Gaping the shock with |
grass. The shock IS allowed 70 stand
until the peas and vines are thor-
oughly cured.
YIELD.
4 good crop ID any portion Of
Louisiana should yield from 65 to 100
bushels t. the acre. The Arkansas
station reports from 75 TO 1872 hush-
els 70 the acre and reports from
small farmers IN North Louisiana re-
port from SO to 100 bushels to the
acre.
n preparing for market, The peas