Agriculture for Beginners Part 20

SECTION x.x.xIX. PEANUTS

This plant is rich in names, being known locally as "ground pea,"

"goober," "earthnut," and "pindar," as well as generally by the name of "peanut." The peanut is a true legume, and, like other legumes, bears nitrogen-gathering tubercles upon its roots. The fruit is not a real nut but rather a kind of pea or bean, and develops from the blossom. After the fall of the blossom the "spike," or flower-stalk, pushes its way into the ground, where the nut develops. If unable to penetrate the soil the nut dies.

In the United States, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee have the most favorable climates for peanut culture. Suitable climate and soil, however, may be found from New Jersey to the Mississippi valley. A high, porous, sandy loam is the most suitable. Stiffer soils, which may in some cases yield larger crops than the loams, are yet not so profitable, for stiff soils injure the color of the nut. Lime is a necessity and must be supplied if the soil is deficient. Phosphoric acid and potash are needed.

Greater care than is usually bestowed should be given to the selection of the peanut seed. In addition to following the principles given in Section XVIII, all musty, defective seeds must be avoided and all frosted kernels must be rejected. Before it dries, the peanut seed is easily injured by frost. The slightest frost on the vines, either before or after the plants are dug, does much harm to the tender seed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 202. A PEANUT PLANT]

In growing peanuts, thorough preparation of the soil is much better than later cultivation. Destroy the crop of young weeds, but do not disturb the peanut crop by late cultivation. Harvest before frost, and shock high to keep the vines from the ground.

The average yield of peanuts in the United States is twenty-two bushels an acre. In Tennessee the yield is twenty-nine bushels an acre, and in North Carolina and Virginia it reaches thirty bushels an acre.

SECTION XL. SWEET POTATOES

The roots of sweet potatoes are put on the market in various forms.

Aside from the form in which they are ordinarily sold, some potatoes are dried and then ground into flour, some are canned, some are used to make starch, some furnish a kind of sugar called glucose, and some are even used to make alcohol.

The fact that there are over eighty varieties of potatoes shows the popularity of the plant. Now it is evident that all of these varieties cannot be equally desirable. Hence the wise grower will select his varieties with prudent forethought. He should study his market, his soil, and his seed (see Section XVIII).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 203. SWEET POTATOES]

Four months of mild weather, months free from frost and cold winds, are necessary for the growing of sweet potatoes. In a mild climate almost any loose, well-drained soil will produce them. A light, sandy loam, however, gives a cleaner potato and one, therefore, that sells better.

The sweet potato draws potash, nitrogen, and phosphoric acid from the soil, but in applying these as fertilizers the grower must study and know his own soil. If he does not he may waste both money and plant food by the addition of elements already present in sufficient quant.i.ty in the soil. The only way to come to reliable conclusions as to the needs of the soil is to try two or three different kinds of fertilizers on plats of the same soil, during the same season, and notice the resulting crop of potatoes.

Sweet potatoes will do well after almost any of the usual field crops.

This caution, however, should be borne in mind. Potatoes should not follow a sod. This is because sods are often thick with cutworms, one of the serious enemies of the potato.

It is needless to say that the ground must be kept clean by thorough cultivation until the vines take full possession of the field.

In harvesting, extreme care should be used to avoid cutting and bruising the potato, since bruises are as dangerous to a sweet potato as to an apple, and render decay almost a certainty. Lay aside all bruised potatoes for immediate use.

For shipment the potatoes should be graded and packed with care. An extra outlay of fifty cents a barrel often brings a return of a dollar a barrel in the market. One fact often neglected by Southern growers who raise potatoes for a Northern market is that the Northern markets demand a potato that will cook dry and mealy, and that they will not accept the juicy, sugary potato so popular in the South.

The storage of sweet potatoes presents difficulties owing to their great tendency to decay under the influence of the ever-present fungi and bacteria. This tendency can be met by preventing bruises and by keeping the bin free from rotting potatoes. The potatoes should be cleaned, and after the moisture has been dried off they should be stored in a dry, warm place.

The sweet-potato vine makes a fair quality of hay and with proper precaution may be used for ensilage. Small, defective, unsalable potatoes are rich in sugar and starch and are therefore good stock food.

Since they contain so much water they must be used only as an aid to other diet.

SECTION XLI. WHITE, OR IRISH, POTATOES

Maize, or Indian corn, and potatoes are the two greatest gifts in the way of food that America has bestowed on the other nations. Since their adoption in the sixteenth century as a new food from recently discovered America, white potatoes have become one of the world's most important crops.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 204. CULTIVATING AND RIDGING POTATOES]

No grower will harvest large crops of potatoes unless he chooses soil that suits the plant, selects his seed carefully, cultivates thoroughly, feeds his land sufficiently, and sprays regularly.

The soil should be free from potato scab. This disease remains in land for several years. Hence if land is known to have any form of scab in it, do not plant potatoes in such land. Select for this crop a deep and moderately light, sandy loam which has an open subsoil and which is rich in humus. The soil must be light enough for the potatoes, or tubers, to enlarge easily and dry enough to prevent rot or blight or other diseases. Potato soil should be so close-grained that it will hold moisture during a dry spell and yet so well-drained that the tubers will not be hurt by too much moisture in wet weather.

If the land selected for potatoes is lacking in humus, fine compost or well-rotted manure will greatly increase the yield. However, it should be remembered that green manure makes a good home for the growth of scab germs. Hence it is safest to apply this sort of manure in the fall, or, better still, use a heavy dressing of manure on the crop which the potatoes are to follow. Leguminous crops supply both humus and nitrogen and, at the same time, improve the subsoil. Therefore such crops are excellent to go immediately before potatoes. If land is well supplied with humus, commercial fertilizers are perhaps safer than manure, for when these fertilizers are used the amount of plant food is more easily regulated. Select a fertilizer that is rich in potash. For gardens unleached wood ashes make a valuable fertilizer because they supply potash. Early potatoes need more fertilization than do late ones. While potatoes do best on rich land, they should not be overfed, for a too heavy growth of foliage is likely to cause blight.

Be careful to select seed from sound potatoes which are entirely free from scab. Get the kinds that thrive best in the section in which they are to be planted and which suit best the markets in which they are to be sold. Seed potatoes should be kept in a cool place so that they will not sprout before planting-time. As a rule consumers prefer a smooth, regularly shaped, shallow-eyed white or flesh-colored potato which is mealy when cooked. Therefore, select seed tubers with these qualities.

It seems proved that when whole potatoes are used for seed the yield is larger than when sliced potatoes are planted. It is of course too costly to plant whole potatoes, but it is a good practice to cause the plants to thrive by planting large seed pieces.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 205. GATHERING POTATOES]

Like other crops, potatoes need a thoroughly prepared seed-bed and intelligent cultivation. Break the land deep. Then go over it with an ordinary harrow until all clods are broken and the soil is fine and well closed. The rows should be at least three feet from one another and the seeds placed from twelve to eighteen inches apart in the row, and covered to a depth of three or four inches. A late crop should be planted deeper than an early one. Before the plants come up it is well to go over the field once or twice with a harrow so as to kill all weeds. Do not fail to save moisture by frequent cultivation. After the plants start to grow, all cultivation should be shallow, for the roots feed near the surface and should not be broken. Cultivate as often as needed to keep down weeds and gra.s.s and to keep the ground fine.

Allow potatoes to dry thoroughly before they are stored, but never allow them to remain long in the sunshine. Never dig them in damp weather, for the moisture clinging to them will cause them to rot. After the tubers are dry, store them in barrels or bins in a dry, cool, and dark place.

Never allow them to freeze.

Among the common diseases and insect pests that attack the leaves and stems of potato vines are early blight, late blight, brown rot, the flea-beetle, and the potato beetle, or potato bug. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture to which a small portion of Paris green has been added will control both the diseases and the pests. The spraying should begin when the plants are five or six inches high and should not cease until the foliage begins to die.

Scab is a disease of the tubers. It may be prevented (1) by using seed potatoes that are free from scab; (2) by planting land in which there is no scab; and (3) by soaking the seed in formalin (see page 135).

SECTION XLII. OATS

The oat plant belongs to the gra.s.s family. It is a hardy plant and, under good conditions, a vigorous grower. It stands cold and wet better than any other cereal except possibly rye. Oats like a cool, moist climate. In warm climates, oats do best when they are sowed in the fall.

In cooler sections, spring seeding is more generally practiced.

There are a great many varieties of oats. No one variety is best adapted to all sections, but many varieties make fine crops in many sections.

Any variety is desirable which has these qualities: power to resist disease and insect enemies, heavy grains, thin hulls, good color, and suitability to local surroundings.

As oats and rye make a better yield on poor land than any other cereals, some farmers usually plant these crops on their poorest lands. However, no land is too good to be used for so valuable a crop as oats. Oats require a great deal of moisture; hence light, sandy soils are not so well adapted to this crop as are the sandy loams and fine clay loams with their closer and heavier texture.

If oats are to be planted in the spring, the ground should be broken in the fall, winter, or early spring so that no delay may occur at seeding-time. But to have a thoroughly settled, compact seed-bed the breaking of the land should be done at least a month before the seeding, and it will help greatly to run over the land with a disk harrow immediately after the breaking.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 206. OATS Common oats at left; side oats at right]

Oats may be planted by scattering them broadcast or by means of a drill.

The drill is better, because the grains are more uniformly distributed and the depth of planting is better regulated. The seeds should be covered from one and a half to two inches deep. In a very dry season three inches may not be too deep. The amount of seed needed to the acre varies considerably, but generally the seeding is from two to three bushels an acre. On poor lands two bushels will be a fair average seeding; on good lands as much as three bushels should be used.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 207. HARVESTING OATS]

This crop fits in well, over wide areas, with various rotations. As the purpose of all rotation is to keep the soil productive, oats should alternate every few years with one of the nitrogen-gathering crops. In the South, cowpeas, soy beans, clovers, and vetches may be used in this rotation. In the North and West the clovers mixed with timothy hay make a useful combination for this purpose.

Spring-sowed oats, since they have a short growing season, need their nitrogenous plant food in a form which can be quickly used. To supply this nitrogen a top-dressing of nitrate of soda or sulphate of lime is helpful. The plant can gather its food quickly from either of these two. As fall-sowed oats have of course a longer growing season, the nitrogen can be supplied by well-rotted manure, blood, tankage, or fish-sc.r.a.p. Use barnyard manure carefully. Do not apply too much just before seeding, and use only thoroughly rotted manure. It is always desirable to have a bountiful supply of humus in land on which oats are to be planted.

The time of harvesting will vary with the use which is to be made of the oats. If the crop is to be threshed, the harvesting should be done when the kernels have pa.s.sed out of the milk into the hard dough state. The lower leaves of the stalks will at this time have turned yellow, and the kernels will be plump and full. Do not, however, wait too long, for if you do the grain will shatter and the straw lose in feeding value.

On the other hand, if the oats are to be cut for hay it is best to cut them while the grains are still in the milk stage. At this stage the leaves are still green and the plants are rich in protein.

Oats should be cured quickly. It is very important that threshed oats should be dry before they are stored. Should they on being stored still contain moisture, they will be likely to heat and to discolor. Any discoloring will reduce their value. Nor should oats ever be allowed to remain long in the fields, no matter how well they may seem to be shocked. The dew and the rain will injure their value by discoloring them more or less.