Such is a brief but connected view of the Peanut crop from the time of planting the seed, to its sale and manufacture. The views and practice here advanced are all from original sources. We have not drawn upon any other writer for any part of this treatise. Indeed, save a few short articles scattered through the agricultural press of the past ten or fifteen years, we know of no source from whence material could be derived. So far as we are aware, this is the pioneer work in America on the Peanut plant. This being the case, it must, of course, be quite defective. We might easily have made it a larger book, and perhaps some few years hence, when the field and subject shall have enlarged, it will be found desirable to revise and enlarge this treatise. For the present, we must be satisfied with smaller things, and remain content with a few practical directions rather than an elaborate work. Until that time, if it comes at all, we lay aside the pen, and turn our hands (as it has been our wont to do during the past few weeks) to actual labors in connection with the Peanut plant. APPENDIX A. STATISTICS. It was our design, at first, to present a somewhat full array of statistics in relation to the Peanut. This, however, was soon found to be impracticable. The more we studied the few data at hand, the more were we convinced of their utter unreliability. The fact is, so far as the writer is aware, there are no credible data of this crop existing. No authoritative and systematic attempt to gather and compile the statistics of the Peanut has ever been made, and until this is done we shall never know its full extent and value. The "estimates"--mere guesses--of certain mercantile houses and newspapers, to express the bulk of the crop are, beyond a doubt, far wide of the mark. The following from a Georgia paper, is of this class: "The goober[2] plays a more important part in commerce than might be supposed. We are all aware of its value as a social factor--of its influence upon oratory, music, and the drama--but how few of us know that one million nine hundred and seventy thousand bushels of this savory nut were consumed in this country during the twelve months ending on the thirtieth of September, 1883. These figures do not include the local consumption--say, for instance, in the rural districts of Georgia, where every substantial farmer has a patch of his own.