Yellow-Podded Sugar. Vil.
Stem three to four feet high; leaves large, yellowish-green; flowers white, tinted with yellow; pods four inches long, tapering slightly at the ends, greenish-yellow, thick and fleshy, containing six or seven peas, widely separated. The ripe seeds are oblong, rather regular in form, and of a creamy-white color.
It is one of the earliest of the Eatable-podded sorts; coming to the table, if planted May 1, about the middle of July. It is of good quality, but not hardy or productive; and seems to have little to recommend it, aside from the singular color of its pods.
PEA-NUT.
Ground Bean. Earth Nut. Vil. Pindar Nut. Ground Nut. Arachys hypogea.
A native of Africa, and also of Central and Tropical America. It is an annual plant; and the stem, when full grown, is about fifteen inches in height. The leaves are pinnate, with four leaflets, and a leafy, emarginate appendage at the base of the petioles; the flowers are yellow, and are produced singly, in the axils of the leaves; the fruit, or pod, is of an oblong form, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, rather more than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, often contracted at the middle, but sometimes bottle-formed, reticulated, and of a yellowish color; the kernels, of which the pods contain from one to three, are oblong, quite white, and enclosed in a thin, brown skin, or pellicle.
A remarkable peculiarity of this plant is, that the lower blossoms (which alone produce fruit), after the decay of the petals, insinuate their ovaries into the earth; beneath which, at the depth of several inches, the fruit is afterwards perfected.
The seed, or kernel, retains its germinative property but a single season; and, when designed for planting, should be preserved unbroken in the pod, or shell.
Soil and Cultivation.—The Pea-nut succeeds best in a warm, light, loamy soil. This should be deeply ploughed and well pulverized, and afterwards laid out in slightly raised ridges two feet apart. As the plants require the whole season for their perfection, the seed should be planted as early in spring as the weather becomes suitable. Drop nine inches apart in the drills, and cover an inch and a half or two inches deep. Weeding must be performed early in the season; as, after the blossoming of the plants, they are greatly injured if disturbed by the hoe, or if weeds are removed about the roots.