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{{Inc|
Peanut (Arachis hypoyaea). Popularly the peanut, as the name
indicates, is called a nut, but it more properly falls into the class
of grain or forage crops. The fruit or "nut" is really a pod,
comparable with a bean-pod or pea-pod. The plant is related to beans
and peas. The seeds (comparable with bean seeds) furnish excellent
food for man as well as for his beasts and fowls, and the cured tops
make an excellent hay or forage. The peanut is usually not classed
with horticultural crops; for a fuller account, see Vol. II,
"Cyclopedia of American Agriculture."
Commercially, the peanut is not grown north of the latitude of
Washington, D. C., but on the sandy and loamy soils to the south and
west of the above-named city, on lands that have recently been limed,
it may be used as a rotation or as a special money crop. North of
this territory the plant can be used with profit as a forage for
hogs, although only a portion of the pods set will come to maturity.
As a garden plant, the peanut can be grown as far north as central
New York, but only a few pods will actually mature seeds, except in
long warm growing seasons.
There are two general types of peanuts: those known as bunch nuts,
and as vine or trailing nuts. The bunch nuts are most desirable
because the tops can be more easily harvested for forage, the rows
may be closer together and the distance between the plants in the row
may be less than with the vining types. The cultivation as well as
the harvesting (digging) is easier. The bunch type of nuts, such as
the Spanish and Valencia, may be planted in rows 30 to 36 inches
apart, with the seeds scattered 6 to 10 inches apart along the row.
The large-seeded thick-shelled nuts require to be shelled before
planting in order to insure satisfactory germination, but the smaller
thin-shelled sorts may be planted whole and a good stand secured. The
planting season, as well as the field care of peanuts, is practically
the same as for corn. They are tender to frost and grow best during
warm weather. The vines will be killed by the first frosts, but when
desired for forage should be harvested in advance of that date. As
the pods or nuts are borne beneath the surface of the soil, the crop
is harvested by lifting or plowing out the whole plant, separating it
from the earth and curing the plant and pods together by stacking
them in tall narrow stacks built up around a slender stake about 6
feet high, at the bottom of which cleats 3 feet long have been nailed
in such a way as to keep the plants off the ground. The stacks are so
built as to cause the vines to protect the nuts. The roots with the
nuts attached are placed next to the stake, with the tops out. This
method permits the nuts to be cured slowly and without discoloration
or staining that would result were the nuts exposed to the weather.
The plant is a most interesting one, both horticulturally and
botanically, and is at the same time an important economic crop as
well as a garden novelty.
L. C. Corbett.
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{{for|other uses|Peanut (disambiguation)}}
{{for|other uses|Peanut (disambiguation)}}
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