Some weeks before planting time, the Virginia farmer, who plants from fifty to a hundred bushels of peanuts, starts about having them shelled and assorted, preparatory to planting. This must be done with care, and females are mostly employed to perform this work. The pods are popped open with the fingers and thumb, care being taken not to split or bruise the kernel; all shrivelled and dark colored kernels are rejected. After they are shelled, the seed must be put into bags or baskets, a small quantity in each parcel, and set where there is a free circulation of air, until wanted for planting. If a large quantity is bulked together after being shelled, or if put in a close box or barrel, even in small quantities, they are liable to heat, and be prevented from germinating. This fact is the result of some costly experience on the part of many planters. Thus it becomes necessary to handle the seed with great care and circumspection throughout. From a bushel to a bushel and a half of peanuts in the hull, or pod, is estimated to be enough to plant one acre of ground, the quantity depending on the quality of the seed and the distance apart they are to be planted. =Time of Planting.=--In Virginia, the first twenty days in May is regarded as, in the main, the most suitable time for planting. Some plant as early as the last week in April, and the seasons frequently favor this early start, and the crop does well. More, however, plant in June than in April, and sometimes planting is delayed until the middle or last of June. On warm and dry land, there is no great risk in planting the first week in May, but on colder land, the planter should wait until the ground has been warmed by the sun, say the latter part of the same month. If the farmer has reason to hope for a week or ten days of mild, fair weather, he may risk a planting quite early, as in that time the seed ought to germinate, and come up sufficiently to make it sure that it will grow. Once up, the plant will hold its own, and though cold rains or winds may retard its growth, and cause it to turn yellow, it will start anew with the first spell of sunny weather, and rapidly change color to its normal green. The above dates apply to the latitude of Virginia. In the far south, peanut planting begins early in April, while north of Virginia, the first half of June would, in most seasons, be quite early enough to commit the seed to the earth. It should not be done anywhere until all danger from frost is passed for the season. A very slight frost will destroy the Peanut.