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Show H THE GROWING OF PEANUTS H By M. W. Lillywhitc, B. Y. U. H' The peanut is a food found in H stores and peanut shops in moftt H parts of the civilized world. Many of H the clerks and shop' men, who handle H peanuts every day, know "but very Hi H tic of how they arc grown, H The peanut thoroughly matures B only in warm climates, where the M growing -season lasts -from eight to m ten months in the year. H The class of soil most conducive M to their growth is a coarse sandy B loam. H The selection of tlio seed is much H the same as that of other. -vegetables; M to reap the best harvest, the choic.st seed must be planted. H The ground is to be layed off h- H shallow furrows about two feet apait fl Into these furrows, the peanuts af- H ter having been broken so as to have HH one nut only in a piece of a shell, arc BQ dropped from eighteen inches to two M feet apart. When the ground has all been planted it is leveled smoothly smooth-ly again; covering the seed with from two to four inches of soil. After about two weeks, from1 th.' time of planting, two little leaves, somewhat the shape and much like a luccrn leaf, appear above the ground. These two leaves after several sev-eral months, will have developed into .many small branches which spread out on the ground for a foot or more in a'l directions. From these branches, branch-es, small tender shoots grow down into the ground. On the end of these shoots, grow the .peanut; not on th'- main roots, as might be supposed. The peanut needs but very little cultivation. It wi'l mature with less water than almost any other vegetable. vege-table. A'l one has to do, is to keep the weeds from among the vines, and kill all rats and gophers that appear ap-pear on the land. Harvesting is perhaps the most laborious la-borious part about the raising of peanuts. pea-nuts. The vines must be pulled up by hand. If the ground is in proper condition, most of the peanuts will hang to the vine, when pu'led up. The nuts arc then picked from the vines and laid in the sun. When thorouughly dry, they arc sacked and sent to be roasted ready for eating. The crop is always sure, and brings good returns because of the great demand in all markets of the world. |
