tic seaboard, from New Jersey to Florida. Doubtless there
is much of it in the Mississippi Valley, even as far north as the lake
region, and on the Pacific coast from Oregon southward. There is no more
reason for confining the cultivation of the Peanut to the narrow belts
at present occupied, than there is for limiting tobacco to the States
of North Carolina and Virginia.

The quantity of lime or marl to use at one application depends very much
on the nature of the soil and the amount of vegetable matter it
contains. Generally, fifty bushels of lime, or one hundred and fifty
bushels of marl is a safe application, but if the soil is quite thin,
and contains but little vegetable mould, more than this at one time
would be attended with risk. The safer plan is, to make several small
annual applications of both marl, and vegetable matter, continuing this
until a hundred and fifty bushels of lime, or two hundred and fifty, or
three hundred bushels of marl have been applied. After this, no more
calcareous matter will be needed in fifteen or twenty years. Land will
bear large quantities of marl with perfect safety, if kept well stocked
with some vegetable matter to subdue its caustic effects. But as most of
the best peanut soil is deficient in this respect, the planter should
begin cautiously, using small quantities until he has deepened his soil
and supplied it with vegetable mould by trashing the land or turning in
green crops.

In choosing land for a peanut crop, some attention should be paid to the
previous crop. The Peanut requires a clean soil, one clear of roots,
brush, stones, or rubbish of any kind, and hence it should follow some
hoed crop, such as corn, cotton, or tobacco. In Virginia, corn land is
generally preferred, and, as in the tide-water section, much of this
land has been heavily marled, it commonly produces well.

The preparation of the soil for the Peanut is the same as for corn, or
any similar crop, except that more pains should be, and generally are
taken, to get it in fine and mellow tilth. If it breaks up rough and
turfy, as much land previously in corn is apt to do, it should be
harrowed or dragged until it is fine. Generally, Virginia planters do
not plow quite so deep for peanuts as they do for corn. This practice
the writer believes to be unsound. Land should be plowed deep at the
outset for all crops, whatever their nature or manner of growth. Deep
plowing is a corrective of dry weather, and as d