nes are perfectly dry, this is as good a
plan as any. But if the weather should be warm, and the vines are wet
with dew or rain when put up, they will be sure to heat, and the pods
will turn dark. In cold weather the vines may be shocked both green and
wet without risk.

The method of shocking the Peanuts will be understood from figure 5,
which represents a shock as it stands in the field. A shock as it is
taken down for picking is shown in figure 6. The vines are first laid
together in piles, about as much as one can handily carry on the fork at
one time, three rows being put in one. The stakes, which have been
previously prepared, are then set in the ground proper distances apart,
and two billets of wood, four or five inches in diameter and two feet
long, are placed beside each stake to keep the vines off the ground. A
handful of vines is then laid, pods up, on one side of the stake for a
bed, and the same on the other side. After this the vines are put on,
pods down. The first are inverted to keep the pods off the ground,
though this is a matter of trifling importance, if the billets of wood
are large enough. The successive handfuls of vines are laid up with
care, keeping the shock level, lapping the vines, and placing them on
every side to make the work even. As the work progresses the vines may
be pressed down with the hands, and the shocks are finished off round at
top, the better to shed the water. No cap or covering for the shocks is
used, though much would frequently be saved, could a cheap one be had. A
board nailed on the top of the stakes would protect the top layer very
much, and yet the planter who should adopt it would doubtless be laughed
at.

A fast hand can put up fifty or sixty shocks a day, with a boy to bring
up the vines and assist in planting the stakes. Some shockers use the
fork to lay up the vines, especially toward the top. The shocks are put
up one in a place wherever needed, so as to make the work convenient for
the carrier. Some, however, put three or more shocks together, as suits
their fancy, in which case fence rails are usually employed to build
the shocks upon.

The above method is generally practised, but there are many variations
in almost every detail. We have endeavored to give a clear idea of a
safe method.

=Why Cured in the Field.=--Perhaps some reader unacquainted with the
cultivation of the Peanut, may ask: Why all this trouble to shock and
cure the crop in the field? Why