The Peanut Plant: Its Cultivation And Uses

by B. W. Jones

But the planter must not rest satisfied with one trial. As soon as the out-of-door temperature will admit of it, he should try quite a number of the seeds in the open ground. Selecting a warm, sunny spot, he should plant from fifty to one hundred kernels, and shelter the place as much as possible from the cold winds. If these germinate well, the seed may be relied upon as good, and no further trial need be made. It is in this way that the Virginia planter tests his seed every season. About the first of April there is a great testing of the seed peanuts, and, although nearly every planter endeavors to save his own seed, the quantity of doubtful seed is generally great enough to cause a brisk demand for good seed at advanced prices. The method of saving seed peanuts will be given in a subsequent chapter.

Some weeks before planting time, the Virginia farmer, who plants from fifty to a hundred bushels of peanuts, starts about having them shelled and assorted, preparatory to planting. This must be done with care, and females are mostly employed to perform this work. The pods are popped open with the fingers and thumb, care being taken not to split or bruise the kernel; all shrivelled and dark colored kernels are rejected. After they are shelled, the seed must be put into bags or baskets, a small quantity in each parcel, and set where there is a free circulation of air, until wanted for planting. If a large quantity is bulked together after being shelled, or if put in a close box or barrel, even in small quantities, they are liable to heat, and be prevented from germinating. This fact is the result of some costly experience on the part of many planters. Thus it becomes necessary to handle the seed with great care and circumspection throughout. From a bushel to a bushel and a half of peanuts in the hull, or pod, is estimated to be enough to plant one acre of ground, the quantity depending on the quality of the seed and the distance apart they are to be planted.

Time of Planting.—In Virginia, the first twenty days in May is regarded as, in the main, the most suitable time for planting. Some plant as early as the last week in April, and the seasons frequently favor this early start, and the crop does well. More, however, plant in June than in April, and sometimes planting is delayed until the middle or last of June. On warm and dry land, there is no great risk in planting the first week in May, but on colder land, the planter should wait until the ground has been warmed by the sun, say the latter part of the same month. If the farmer has reason to hope for a week or ten days of mild, fair weather, he may risk a planting quite early, as in that time the seed ought to germinate, and come up sufficiently to make it sure that it will grow. Once up, the plant will hold its own, and though cold rains or winds may retard its growth, and cause it to turn yellow, it will start anew with the first spell of sunny weather, and rapidly change color to its normal green. The above dates apply to the latitude of Virginia. In the far south, peanut planting begins early in April, while north of Virginia, the first half of June would, in most seasons, be quite early enough to commit the seed to the earth. It should not be done anywhere until all danger from frost is passed for the season. A very slight frost will destroy the Peanut.

How to Plant.—I come now to consider the mode of planting. Here no very inflexible rules can be given. Practice varies greatly, almost every planter differing more or less from his brother planters. The chief points are, to get the seed into the ground at suitable distances apart both ways, to have the seed, after it is planted, raised slightly above the general level, and to have the soil so free from clods that there will be nothing to hinder the young plant from pushing through after it has started. Any mode of planting that will secure these ends will effect the purpose.

If the ground has been once plowed in the early spring, let it be plowed again only a few days before planting time, and if at all rough, or cloddy, have it harrowed until in fine tilth. When ready to plant, draw furrows the same as for corn, two and a half or three feet apart. If the land is fresh and strong, and never before in peanuts, make the rows at least three feet apart. After a year or two on the same ground, peanut vines will not grow so large as at first, and need not be so far apart, either from row to row, or from hill to hill. When the land is thin, some plant as near as twenty-seven inches from row to row, and twelve inches from hill to hill.

If any fertilizer is to be used, let it be put in the furrow before the ridge is formed; a man or boy following the plow and spreading the fertilizer by hand. A small ridge is then formed by lapping two furrows over the drill with the turn plow, after which the knocker and dotter follow, one leveling the ridge, and the other dotting the row by making little depressions in the soil the proper distance apart for the seeds.

Fig. 2.—THE KNOCKER AND DOTTER COMBINED.

The Knocker and Dotter.—Sometimes the knocker and dotter are combined in one, and it is withal a unique implement. Always home-made, it partakes of all the native roughness and varied ingenuity of the Southern planter. The engraving, figure 2, will illustrate the mode of constructing this implement. Two pieces of timber are sawed from a log to serve as wheels, such wood being selected as does not split easily. The diameter of the wheel is made the same as the desired distance between the hills, and three wooden pins are inserted equi-distant in the circumference, so that the wheels will make three dots, or signs, for planting, at each revolution. These wheels are connected by an axle, and set the same distance apart the rows are to be asunder. Two shafts are pinned to the axle, and braced in front of the wheels to keep them steady. A piece of heavy scantling, or a log of wood, six inches in diameter, is secured to the under side of the shafts just in front of the wheels. This is the knocker, and serves to level the ridge before the wheels. Properly adjusted, it does beautiful work, and leaves a flat, smooth ridge, in fine condition for the seed. The wheels pass along on the leveled ridge, making the dots, as shown in figure 2. Handles are fixed to the implement to enable the plowman to keep it in proper place, and for convenience in turning. One horse is fastened to this implement, and two rows are prepared for planting at the same time. This utensil would be troublesome to use in an orchard, or on stumpy ground. Peanuts, however, should always be planted on open ground clear of all impediments. Instead of the knocker and dotter combined, many planters omit the wheels, and make a separate implement with one wheel and a handle, to work by hand, as represented in figure 3. This can be run among trees and stumps. It resembles a wheelbarrow without the body.