The Peanut Plant Part 1

The Peanut Plant.

by B. W. Jones.

PREFACE.

This little work has been prepared mainly for those who have no practical acquaintance with the cultivation of the Peanut. Its directions, therefore, are intended for the beginner, and are such as will enable any intelligent person who has followed farming, to raise good crops of Peanuts, although he may have never before seen the growing plant.

The writer has confined himself to a recital of the more important details, leaving the minor points to be discovered by the farmer himself. If the reader should think these pages devoid of vivacity, let him remember that we have treated of an every-day subject in an every-day style. The interest in the theme will increase when the beginner has pocketed the returns from his first year's crop. Until then, we leave him to plod his way through the details, trusting that the great Giver of the harvest will bless his labors, and amply reward his toils in this new field.

B. W. J.

WARREN PLACE, SURRY COUNTY, VA., 1885.

THE PEANUT PLANT;

ITS CULTIVATION AND USES.

CHAPTER I.

DESCRIPTION.

=Origin.=--The native country of the Peanut (_Arachis hypogaea_) is not definitely ascertained. Like many other extensively cultivated plants, it has not been found in a truly wild state. Some botanists regard the plant as a native of Africa, and brought to the New World soon after its discovery. Sloane, in his history of Jamaica, states that peanuts formed a part of the provisions taken by the slave s.h.i.+ps for the support of the negroes on the voyage, and leaves it to be inferred that the plant was introduced in this manner. De Candolle, in _Geographie Botanique Raisonnee_, and his latter work on _L'Origine des Plantes Cultivees_, strongly inclines to the American origin of the Peanut. The absence of any mention of the plant by early Egyptian and Arabic writers, and the fact that there is no name for it in Sanscrit and Bengalese, are regarded as telling against its Oriental origin. Moreover, there are six other species of _Arachis_, natives of Brazil, and Bentham and Hooker, in their _Genera Plantarum_, ask if the plant so generally grown in warm countries may not be a cultivated form of a Brazilian species.

If, as seems probable, the Peanut is really a native of America, then this Continent has contributed to the agricultural world five plants that have exerted, and will continue to exert, an immense influence on the industries and commerce of the world. These are: the Potato, Cotton, Tobacco, Indian Corn, and the Peanut. Of these five, the Peanut, the last to come into general and prominent notice, is destined to rival some of the others in importance.

Whatever may have been its origin, the Peanut plant has gradually made its way over an extended area of the warmer parts of both the Old and New World, and in North America has gained a permanent foot-hold in the soil of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Nor has it yet reached its ultimate limits, for cultivation and acclimation will inure it to a sterner climate, until it becomes an important crop in lat.i.tudes considerably further north than Virginia. This is indicated by its rapid spread within the past few years. Remaining long in comparative obscurity, it was not until a recent period that the Peanut gained prominence as an agricultural and commercial staple, but since it fairly started, its progress has been rapid and sure.

=Natural History.=--There are some peculiarities about the Peanut plant that make it interesting to the naturalist. Its habit of clinging close to the soil, the closing together of the leaves at sunset, or on the approach of a storm, the beautiful appearance of a field of it when full grown, and the remarkable wart-like excrescences found upon the roots, are some of its more notable characteristics. Its striking preference for a calcareous soil is another of its peculiarities, the Peanut producing more and better crops on this kind of soil than on any other.

The Peanut belongs to the Natural Order _Leguminosae_, or pod-bearing plants, and this particular member of it is as unlike all the rest with which we are acquainted, as can well be conceived. No other grows so rec.u.mbent upon the soil, and none but this produces seed under ground.

The botanical name of the Peanut is _Arachis hypogaea_. The origin of the generic name _arachis_ is somewhat obscure; it is said to come from _a_, privative, and _rachis_, a branch, meaning having no branches, which is not true of this plant. The specific appellation, _hypogaea_, or "under-ground," describes the manner in which the pods grow. The following is a partially technical description of the plant:

Root annual, branched, but not fibrous, yellowish, bitter, and warty; Stem proc.u.mbent, spreading, much-branched, somewhat hairy towards the extremities; Leaves compound, leaflets obovate, mucronate, margin entire, ciliate when young, smooth and almost leathery with age, leaves closing at night and in rainy weather; Flowers papilionaceous, yellow, borne upon the end of an axillary peduncle. After flowering, the forming-pod is, by the elongation of its stalk, pushed into the soil, beneath which it grows and ripens; Legume, or pod indehiscent, woody and veiny, one to four-seeded; Seed, with a reddish coat, the embryo with two large, fleshy cotyledons, and a very short, nearly straight, radicle. Figure 1 represents a portion of the Peanut plant.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.--PORTION OF THE PEANUT PLANT, showing how the minute pods from above-ground flowers are forced into the soil to grow and ripen.]

=Varieties.=--While no botanical varieties of _Arachis hypogaea_ have been described, its long cultivation in different countries in unlike soils and climates, has produced several cultural varieties. Taking the Virginia Peanut as the typical form, there may be named as differing from it, the North Carolina Peanut, having very small but solid and heavy pods, that weigh twenty-eight pounds to the bushel. The Tennessee Peanut is about the size of the Virginia variety, but has a seed of a much redder color and less agreeable flavor. There is a Bunch variety, that does not spread out like a mat over the soil, but grows upright like the common field pea. This last kind has been raised to some extent in Virginia, but has never become popular with planters, and is fast pa.s.sing out of cultivation. It is possible that the Bunch Peanut is a representative of the plant in its wild state. It produces fewer seeds and less vine than any other kind. The flat or spreading Peanut shows a tendency to sport in this direction, and in any large field of peanuts, quite a number of plants will be found that have the bunch form, and such are always barren or seedless hills.

The small-podded, or North Carolina Peanut, is not at all popular with pickers, because it takes a great many more to make a basketful, and, unless they are paid an extra price for picking this sort, they cannot make as good wages. Nor do our planters seem to like it very well, finding it more trouble to handle than the larger variety. Hence it is but little cultivated in Virginia.

The Peanut in its travels has also acquired a variety of names, such as ground-pea, earth-nut, goober[1] or guber, and pindar. Also "currency,"

"cash," "credit," and other expressive t.i.tles. Of all these names, "Peanut" is the most generally used, but Ground-pea would be the more descriptive name.

=Possible Range.=--From a somewhat careful study of the climatic requirements of the Peanut plant, and of the isotherms of summer temperature, we are satisfied that it would thrive as far north as the northern limit of the zone of the vine. This for the United States, as delineated in Mitch.e.l.l's Physical Geography, starts on the Pacific Coast in the lat.i.tude of British Columbia, turns suddenly south along the Cordilleras to Colorado, then trends as suddenly northward to the northern limits of Iowa, strikes eastwardly along a line to the south of the great lakes, and enters the Atlantic in the vicinity of Cape Cod. If our view is correct, the Peanut will thrive on any suitable soil within the limits of the United States lying to the south of this line. This would make the cultivation of the Peanut possible in by far the greater part of the entire country. In fact, there is no doubt but that it may be grown successfully wherever Indian corn will thrive luxuriantly. Any section having a growing season of five months exempt from frost, may raise the Peanut. This gives the crop a much wider range than has been thought possible. It does not require a long period of extreme heat to mature it. The seeds are mostly formed in the cooler weather of the latter part of summer and the first of autumn. Planted in June, cultivated until August or a little later, and harvested the last of September, it can be perfected in four months, though the Virginia planter takes five months for it. Any good calcareous soil, west of New Jersey and southward, that is not too elevated, will grow the Peanut.

=a.n.a.lysis.=--This, perhaps, is not a matter of much practical importance to the planter. The best peanut soil and the proper fertilizer had been found out before an a.n.a.lysis of the plant had been made. Still there are some advantages in knowing what are the prominent elements that enter into the composition of this, or any other, cultivated plant, and an a.n.a.lysis is accordingly given.

An a.n.a.lysis made by Doctor Thomas Antisell, chemist to the Department of Agriculture at Was.h.i.+ngton, and published in the Report of that Department about the year 1869, gives the following as the composition of the Peanut plant:

In one hundred parts of the husk and nut taken together

Water 2.60 Alb.u.minous, fibrous matter and starch 79.26 Oil 16.00 Ash 2.00 Loss .14 ------ 100.00

In one hundred parts of the husk and seed separated:

_Seed._ _Husk._ Moisture 2.51 2.61 Alb.u.minous matter and farina 79.71 traces.

Cellulose 85.48 Ash 1.77 11.90 Oil 16.00 ----- ----- 99.99 99.99

"The ash of the seed," it was stated by the same authority, "consists of salts wholly soluble in water, composed of the phosphates of alkalies, with traces of alkaline, chlorides, and sulphates. The ash of the husk differs, in consisting chiefly of common salt, phosphate of lime and magnesia."

The a.n.a.lysis of the ash of the Peanut, furnished to the _American Agriculturist_, by H. B. Cornwall, Professor of a.n.a.lytical Chemistry in the John C. Green School of Science, College of New Jersey, Princeton, and published in that Journal for July, 1880, gives the following as the mineral elements of this plant:

PER ONE HUNDRED PARTS OF ASH.

Silica 1.06 Potash 44.73 Soda 14.60 Lime 1.71 Magnesia 12.65 Phosphoric acid 17.64 Sulphuric acid 2.53 Chlorine 0.15 ----- 95.07

In this a.n.a.lysis neither the carbonic acid nor carbon were determined.

It was further stated that the kernels yielded 2.08 per cent. of ash.

These a.n.a.lyses, the one of the ash, and the other of the seed and husk in their natural state, are sufficiently full for the purpose in view, and serve admirably to show the princ.i.p.al elements required in the growth of the Peanut plant. We see that alb.u.minous matter and starch form a very large per cent., over three-fourths, of the seed. Of course an article so rich in fat-forming ingredients, must be well suited for the food of man or beast. This explains why hogs fed on peanuts take on fat so readily. Nothing will change the appearance of a poor hog sooner than a diet of peanuts. The amount of oil in the seed--sixteen per cent., makes the Peanut one of the best oil-producing plants in the world.

Of the mineral const.i.tuents, potash forms by far the largest part--44.73 per cent. Soda, magnesia, and phosphoric acid also enter quite largely into the composition of this plant. It will be noticed that common salt plays some part in the make-up of the Peanut.

Some may wonder at the small amount of lime reported to be present in the ash. This may be explained by stating that lime is not _per se_ a manure, but a powerful chemical agent when applied to the soil, reducing inert matter into plant food. Lime appears to be the driving-wheel in the laboratory of the soil. Its presence is essential, but it does not do all the work itself. Of marl, the best fertilizer yet discovered for the Peanut, the princ.i.p.al ingredient of value, is carbonate of lime.

Some of the Virginia marls range as high as seventy and eighty per cent.

in carbonate of lime. This form of lime is very valuable for all agricultural purposes. Like its more caustic relative, it plays the part of a solvent and liberator, refines and vitalizes the soil, and causes other ingredients to perform their part in building up the framework of plants.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] While "goober" may be one of the names of the Peanut in some localities, the plant so-called in Georgia is _Amphicarpaea monoica_, a native leguminous plant with two kinds of flowers, one set always subterranean, and the other above ground. The under-ground flowers bear woody, rounded, one-seeded pods, with a seed closely resembling a bean.--ED.

CHAPTER II.

PLANTING.

=Soil, and Mode of Preparation.=--A warm soil is required by the Peanut.

A light, porous soil in which sand predominates, but not too sandy, warm and dry, and yet not too dry, but containing some moisture, and open to capillary circulation, suits the Peanut best. In all cases the soil most suitable for the Peanut must contain a certain amount of calcareous const.i.tuents. The color of the soil should be gray, with few or no traces of iron to stain the pods. As a rule, the brightest pods bring the most money, and as the color of the pods is always influenced by that of the soil in which they grow, it becomes a matter of importance to select that which is of the right description. Land of the above nature and color may be regarded as first-cla.s.s for this crop. But let it be distinctly borne in mind, that unless it contains a goodly per-centage of lime in some form, in an available state, no land will produce paying crops of pods, although it may yield large and luxuriant vines. Of all the forms of lime, that supplied by the marls of the seaboard section appears to be the best.