PEA-NUT. goober, Pinder, Ground Pea, Ground Nut. A•achis hypogcea. In Tennessee and down the Mississippi, it is known by the name of Goober, and ou the Atlantic coast as Ground-pea; commercially, however, the word pea-nut is the usual term. It is a native of India, but is now extensively raised in Virginia and North Carolina, and in Kentucky and Tennessee and Southern Illinois. Those raised in the sandy soils of the Atlantic coast are the best. A pecu liarity of the pea-nut is that when the plant flow ers, the young seed pod enters the soil where the seed ripens, as is shown in the cut. The seed is sometimes planted all over the surface at a dis tance of a foot apart each way, and if not earthed up, the vines will yield a ton of dry fodder per acre, considered fully as good as clover. The usual way of cultivation is to plant in drills three feet apart, one nut in a place, at a distance of twelve inches apart. The earth is kept free of weeds and at the time of blossoming the drills are bedded up so as to make a mellow surface for the young nuts to strike in. When ripe, the vines are pulled and dried, without getting wet, the peas whipped off, cleaned up in a common fanning mill and sacked for market. The produce varies from sixty to ninety bushels and even more per acre. The seed produces a most excellent oil, superior to olive oil for salads. As an illnmi natirig oil it is excellent, burning with a clear flame and pleasant fragrance. The seed produces from forty to fifty per cent. of oil, and the nuts are largely used in the adulteration of chocolate, and especially in chocolate preparations of con fectionery. The following is from a practical cul tivator in Virginia: Any soil that can be put in a friable condition, and kept in that state, will produce peanuts; but that which is best adapted to their growth is a light, gray soil, without being very sandy. The color of the pods always partakes of the color of the soil; and as the brightest pods always bring the most money, so the gray land is to be preferred. When har vested theX are perfectly clean, scarcely a par ticle of soil adhering to them. Not so with red or chocolate-colored lands. They leave a stain on the pods, of which they can not be divested even by washing—a practice frequently resorted to for the purpose of getting a fancy article. When taken to market the bright nuts will com mand from ten to fifteen cents more per bushel than the brown, though equal in all other respects. The gray soil is therefore to be selected when there is freedom of choice, but the brown soil, when of the right texture, is equally n ductive. In choosing a site for planting, refcr ence should be had to the crop of the previous year. Peanuts require a clean soil; they will follow any hoed crop to advantage, with the exception perhaps of sweet potatoes. Corn land is generally preferred. In tide-water Virginia much of the land was heavily marled in former years, and whenever this is the case an impor tant and perhaps the chief requisite to success has been already provided. The peanut will not fruit except on a calcareous soil. The vines may grow with the greatest luxuriance, cover ing the whole ground, but in the absence of lime or marl the pods do not fill; they turn out to be nothing more than what is popularly called pops. If, then, the land has not been previously marled or limed, it will be necessary to apply say a hundred and fifty bushels of marl or fifty bushels of lime, to the acre. The kind of lime chiefly used of late years is burned oyster shells, which may be had in abundance in all the large towns. It is applied in either of several ways, according to the convenience of the planter, and with about equally good effect. If there is any choice, spreading broadcast is perhaps the best, to be done before the land is plowed; in which case the quantity should be about fifty bushels to the acre. A favorite mode, where a large surface is to be planted, is to strew the lime in the furrow over which the bed is to be raised for planting. In this case a less quantity will answer, by reason of its being more concentra ted—say bushels. Other planters, again, who are hurried in their work, spread the lime over the beds after the crop is planted, at the rate of about thirty bushels to the acre. Either mode is attended with good success; but wher ever it is practicable to have a choice of land that has been sufficiently marled or limed in former years, and preserved by judicious cul ture, the best results are found to follow. In such cases the yield not unfrequently reaches a hundred bushels to the acre. The product ranges from the quantity stated down to twenty five or thirty bushels to the acre, according to the skill, or want of skill, of the planter—a fair average of the whole being estimated at fifty bushels. Few persons make peanuts part of a regular system of rotation, but the pre-eminent success of a gentleman who has followed the plan is worthy of special reference. The lot intended for peanuts, say next year, has been seeded in stock peas this year, the vines to be plowed in sometime in September. The vines afford a great quantity ofvegetable matter, which becomes thoroughly decomposed by the time for planting the crop. When the season for plant ing is at band, the ground is renlowed and laid off, and ten bushels of lime and a hundred and fifty to a hundred and seventy-five pounds of superphosphate strewn in the furrows to be ridged over. The year following peanuts the land is planted in sweet potatoes, with a liberal dressing of stable manure. The third year it is laid down in stock peas again, to be followed by peanuts as before, always repeating the lime and superphosphate. Having selected the ground, it is to be plowed with a one-horse plow in March or April to a depth not exceeding four or five inches. The advantages of shallow culture will be apparent from the fact that the peduncles con tinue to penetrate the earth until a firm bed is reached on which to deposit the nut; and the still further fact of the increased facility afforded in harvesting as will appear when we come to treat of that branch of the subject. About the 10th to the 20th of May is the time for planting. If the land is thin and needs manur ing, open furrows three feet apart, and strew in a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five pounds of Peruvian guano, or from a hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds of superphosphate of lime. The former is generally used, because of the greater certainty of getting a pure article, but nothing can be better than the latter when well prepared. The furrow is then to be ridged over
and the whole surface thrown into three-feet beds, which should be reduced to within two or three inches of the general level of the field. Then mark off the rows, and at distances of eighteen inches plant two seeds, covering them an inch to an inch and a half deep—not more. In ten days or two weeks according to the weather, the young plants begin to come up. As it is very important to get a good start, the missing hills should be replanted at the earliest moment. It is the custom of some planters to put an extra quantity of seed in every fourth or fifth row, to furnish plants for transplanting, if needed; if not needed, they can be thinned out. As soon as the grass makes its appearance give a light plowing, throwing the earth from the vines, and following with the hoe, thoroughly removing all the grass from the row. Plow again as soon as the grass reappears, this time using a double shovel or cultivator, and the hoe as before directed. If the season should prove to be very wet, a third working may be neces sary, making use of the cultivator and hoe again. Next comes the time for laying by, the vines having extended nearly half way across the space between the rows. This is done by running a mold-board once in the middle between the rows, and drawing the earth up to the rows with a hoe, care being taken not to cover the vines and to disturb their position as little as possible, as the fruit will now be form ing. It will be necessary also to guard against making the bed too high. When there is grass in the row it must be pulled up by hand. Soon after this the vines will cover the whole ground, and repress every other growth, unless it may be a chance weed that escaped notice at the former working. The time for harvesting the crop is from the 15th to the 30th of October, immedi ately after the first frost. When the crop is for ward, or when it is an object to get a portion of it early in market, the operation may be com menced iu the latter part of September; but the longer the vines continue to grow, the greater will be the number of sound pods. Select a time when the weather is settled and favorable, and with three pronged hoes loosen the vines along the rows. Hands follow the digger, pull up the vines, shake the dirt from them, and leave them in the same place. In dry weather they will be sufficiently cured in two days to be shocked. Showery weather, though it may somewhat delay the curing, does no injury. One of the advantages of shallow culture becomes apparent In harvesting. When the fruit is deposited only .a few inches below the surface, the vine is detached from its position with little or no loss; when the depth is greater, the stems or pedicels are liable to be broken off. In shocking, pro vide stakes seven feet long, made sharp at both ends; then lay two fence rails on the ground as a foundation, but with supports underneath to afford free access to the air. The stakes are stuck in the ground at convenient intervals between the rails, the stacks built up around them, and finished off by a cap of straw to shed the rain. The diameter of the stack is made to conform to the spread of a single vine. After remaining about two weeks in the stack the should be begun, taking off none but the matured pods. These are to be carried to the barn, and prepared for market by finish ing the drying process, and then fanning and cleaning.• The most tedious part of the work is the picking, An expert discriminates at a glance between the mature and immature pods, but can not pick more than two and a half or three bushels per day. A machine to perform the operation would be a most valuable invention. Unless the management in the barn is carefully conducted, there is great danger, where there is much of a bulk, that the peas will become heated and moldy. The condition in which the early deliveries are often received at market renders this caution quite necessary. In fact, there is as much slovenliness in the handling of this crop as there is in regard to any other; per haps more, for the reason that so many inexpe rienced persons engage in the culture every year. Until the pods are thoroughly seasoned, the bulk should be frequently stirred and turned over. A certain classification, in respect to quality, obtains in peanuts as in every other article of agricultural produce. The descriptive terms in general use are inferior, ordinary, prime, and fancy; but these are not so definite as to admit of no intermediate grades. Assum ing prime to be the standard, and that the prime are $2.75 per bushel, then inferior will be worth, say $1.00 to $1.50; ordinary, $2.00 to $2.50; and fancy, $3.00. Seed peanuts always command an extra price; ranging from $3.25 to $3.50. There are two very distinct varieties of peanuts, known respectively by the names of the Virginia, and the Carolina or African. The diversity between them, however, does not amount to a specific difference, the chief characteristic being that the one has a large pod and bean, and the other a small one. The Virginia is cultivated almost exclusively for eating, while the Carolina is principally used for the manufacture of oil, which can not be distinguished from olive oil, and is, accordingly, sold as such. The standard weight of the Virginia peanut is twenty-two pounds to the bushel; that of the Carolina taw enty eight pounds. In the markets they are always sold by weight. A matter of primary impor tance is to provide seeds of good quality for planting; and in order to be assured of their excellence, the planter should either raise them himself, or buy them of a person on whose fidelity he can rely. If, after the vines are dug and they are lying in the field, they should be exposed to frosty weather, the germinating principle would be destroyed or impaired. As a merchantable article, however, their value is not affected. Neither should the nuts become the least heated or moldy ; nor should they he picked off the vines while wet, or before they are thoroughly cured. It is obvious, therefore, that the most careful attention is requisite in this matter. Previous to planting, the pods should be carefully shelled and every faulty bean thrown out not even the mernhrane inclosing the seed should be ruptured. It takes about two bushels of peanuts in the pod to plant an acre.