PREFACE.

This little work has been prepared mainly for those who have no practical acquaintance with the cultivation of the Peanut. Its directions, therefore, are intended for the beginner, and are such as will enable any intelligent person who has followed farming, to raise good crops of Peanuts, although he may have never before seen the growing plant.

The writer has confined himself to a recital of the more important details, leaving the minor points to be discovered by the farmer himself. If the reader should think these pages devoid of vivacity, let him remember that we have treated of an every-day subject in an every-day style. The interest in the theme will increase when the beginner has pocketed the returns from his first year's crop. Until then, we leave him to plod his way through the details, trusting that the great Giver of the harvest will bless his labors, and amply reward his toils in this new field.

B. W. J.

Warren Place, Surry County, Va., 1885.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.
[CHAPTER I.—Description.]
Origin.—Natural History.—Varieties.—Possible Range.—Analysis.5
[CHAPTER II.—Planting.]
Soil, and Mode of Preparation.—Seed.—Time and Mode of Planting.—Fertilizers.—Replanting.—Moles, and Other Depredators.—Critical Period.14
[CHAPTER III.—Cultivation.]
First Plowing and Weeding.—Subsequent Workings.—Implements.—
When Cultivation should Cease.—Insect Enemies.—Effects of Cold.
—Effects of Drouth.—Appearance at this Period.		27
[CHAPTER IV.—Harvesting.]
When to begin Harvesting.—Mode of Harvesting.—Why cured in the Field.—Depredators.—Detached Peanuts.—Saving Seed Peanuts.37
[CHAPTER V.—Marketing.]
Picking the Peanuts.—Price paid Pickers.—Cleaning and Bagging.—Peanut "Factories."—The best Markets.—Picking Machines.46
[CHAPTER VI.—Uses.]
Peanut Oil.—Roasted Peanuts.—Peanut Candy.—Peanut Coffee.—Peanut Chocolate.—Peanut Bread.—Peanut Soap.—Peanuts as a Food for Stock.—Peanut Hay.55
APPENDIX.
[A. Statistics.]65
[B. Costs.]67
[C. The Peanut Garden of America.]67