serve to destroy or permanently injure it.
Several days of cold weather at this period will make the struggling
plants look pale and sickly, and if warm suns are too long delayed, many
plants will fail altogether.

Backward springs are a great drawback in the cultivation of this crop,
and cause many farmers to delay planting until it is certain warm
weather cannot be many days off. If the planter could always be sure of
his seed, this would be the better plan, but if these late plantings
fail to come up well, the season is too far advanced for replanted seed
to make a crop. Further north than Virginia, however, it would, we
think, be decidedly better to put off planting until both soil and air
are warm enough to insure quick germination, and then, instead of
replanting the missing hills with Peanuts, plant beans or field peas
instead. If the planter can get through the first month successfully, he
lays aside his fears, and enters upon his work with renewed hope and
energy. To a recital of this work--the work of cultivation, we now
invite the reader's attention.

CHAPTER III.

CULTIVATION.

=First Plowing and Weeding.=--Usually, the cultivation of the Peanut
begins by first siding the rows with a turn-plow, small mould-board
attached, by which the soil is thrown from the plants, and lapped into a
small ridge in the middle of the balk. Care is taken to run the plow
quite near to the plants, so as to leave as little as possible for the
hoe to do. The hoes follow the plow, removing the grass between the
hills, if any, and loosening the soil about the plants. Sometimes,
however, in case the plants begin to get quite grassy very early in the
season, the sides of the ridges are first scraped off with the hoe, the
operator moving backward, and clearing off one side at a time. This
removes the grass pretty well, but does not loosen the soil about the
plants. If this method is pursued, the plow should be put on in a week
from that time, to break the hard crust that will have been formed, and
to let in the air and heat to the roots of the plants.

If the first plan is followed, the missing hills may be replanted, if
the former replanting has had time to come up, but otherwise the ground
about the missing hills should not be disturbed. This, however, should
depend upon the time at which the weeding begins. If very late, it is
useless to replant.

The time for the first weeding must depend somewhat on the nature of th