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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.
+}}
+
{{for|other uses|Peanut (disambiguation)}}
{{for|other uses|Peanut (disambiguation)}}
{{Taxobox
{{Taxobox
