LEAFLET NO. 18
The Effect of "Digging" and "Hogging"
Peanuts 
on Cotton 
Yields
M ANY ACRES of land in Alabama are being depleted of their
fertility by harvesting peanuts too often from the same area.
This situation can be remedied to a great extent by the proper
rotation and fertilization of crops.
In 1932, an experiment was started at the Wiregrass Experi-
ment Station to study various cropping systems involving cotton,
peanuts, and corn. The kind of cropping system used and the re-
sults obtained are shown better by the following photographs and
legends than they can be described in words. Notice the effect of
harvested peanuts and "hogged" peanuts on the cotton crop which
followed. The photographs were made September 16, 1939. All of
these pictures are of cotton on the same kind of land but in
different cropping and fertilizer programs. Each of the pictures
and the results under each should be carefully studied and com-
pared with the others if the reader is to get the valuable lesson
that these pictures teach.
1 The experiments were conducted at the Wiregrass Substation by J. P. Wilson.
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
OF THE
ALABAMA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
M. J. FUNCHESS, Director
AUBURN
OCTOBER 1939
Fit; U R E: I.Cotton aif t cr seven \ ears of hanx e.ted 1)einuts. The peanuts
,kvere unfertilized; the cotton received GOPO poud:S Pul' aIcre Of
a 6-8-8 fertilizer in 1939.
The yield record., tor this plot are as follows:
Yca r(
1932
1933
1934
19:35
1936
1937
19308
1939
Crsops
Peanuts
Peanuts
P eant,,;
Peanuts
P eaniiuts5
Peanuts
Peanuts
Seed
Yieldi
(Lbs.% per acre)
hat-vested
harvested
harvested
harv ested
harvested
harv ested
harv ested
cotton
1,852
1,212
1,938
1,395
2,173
1,518
1,066
345
Seven crops of peanuts removed from the land injured it to
such an extent that cotton considered to be well fertilized pro-
duced only 345 pounds per acre. Note the declining peanut
yields in 1937.
F'IGURE 2-ContinuoU.' Cotton fet-tilized wx ith GO 3UU jwi e acile of a i3 8 4.
Under, this condlition, four, per* cent p)otash in the fertilizer
seenis to be sufficient.
The cotton yields for this plot are as follows:
Yca F
1932
19030
1934
1933
1936
19317
19138
1939
1,406
945
1, 4 36
1,36 6
2,0 63
1,154
1,269
Compare with Figures 1 and 3.
Sccd cottoll
(LI)8. pci- acre)
F I 18 L R E ' ttnm mn a two-l I ( I o Iaa Ix "it h "ho",ed- peaIIIs. [ Ia IraCttoln
i-eceivedl 600 pouidsl jei- acre of 6-8 4 ootil 19.19'; peanuts re-
ceived no fertilizer. 111 I939, the cottoti received 600 pounlds per-
ae of 0-8-4.
Unider- these coniditionis, four per- ent potash i the fertilizer-
i1ppe~iir to be sufficieiit.
The yields for this p~lot are as follows:
I(1cmr
1932
1933
19314
1 93 5
1936
1937
1938
19 39
Crops Ii( lt
(Lbs. per acre)
Fe anuts
Cotton
Peanuts
Cotton
P eants
Cotton
Peanuts
Cotton
1,531
1,503
2, 113
1,492
2,404
1,933
2,419
1,174
Note the high yields of cotton and peanuts. In 1939, cotton
without commercial nitrogen produced almost as much as that
shown in Figure 2, which received 600 pounds per acre of
6-8-4. The peanut yields are high as compared with those shown
in Figure 1.
FiGUI~RE 4.-Cottoi i a two -'cat i otat ioni wxith co int. ('ttonl fui-tilized xx ith
600 pounids per iiny- of 6i-8-4. Corn unfetil ize.o
The yields for this plot are as follo~x 5:
flops
Corn
C ottonl
Corn
Cotton
Corn
Cotton
Corn
Cotton
Yl (1
(Bius, or LIbs. p( I acr)
29.8
1,764
:31.7
1,656
18.1
1,991
27.5
1,201,
By comparing these results with those shown in Figure 3, 
it
will be seen that "hogged" peanuts produced approximately
the same yield of cotton in 1939 as was produced by 36 pounds
of nitrogen. These results should also be compared with those
shown in Figure 5.
Yc or
1931)2
193
19,34
1938)5
1938)6
193 7
1938
1939
FIG URIC 3.Cotton in a ti u- \ III tal ii l of c'I 11 cot11 and liiii\ te d
peanuts. The corn and peanuts xx ore unfertilized; the cotton
was, fertilized w ith 6-8-4 at the rate of 600 piounds per acr-e.
This treatment was idlentical wvith that shown in Fi-ure 6 until
191') Nhen this continued to (-,et 4 per cent potash wxhile the
cotton sho-wn in Fip ure 6 receiv ed 12 per cent potash.
The yields from this plot are as follows:
Ya V)
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
Cr ops
Corn
Cotton
Peanuts
Corn
Cotton
Peanuts
Corn
Cotton
Yield
(Bis. or Lbs. p), acre)
26.6
1,699
1,943
40.2'
1,368
2,197
32.1
652
(harvested)
(harvested)
1 5.881 pounds per acre of vetch pre-ceding the 1935 corn.
Two craps of harvested peanuts during the seven-year peri-
od injured the land to such an extent that 600 pounds 
of 6-8-4
produced only 652 pounds of seed cotton per acre, which is 
a lit-
tle more than half as much as was produced by 
the treatment
shown on the preceding page. Compare with Figure 
6.
IF IGI. H . (, It i I I aI I I~ ca'HI I tot Liol oI c(I 1I, cottl. aij ht \
p)eanut.. The cot-i atnd miiants werve untfertilized; the cottonl
rci,ed 6-8- 4 iin 193'-36 an(1 6-t8-1 2 ini 1939U at the rates of
600 )1 pun a (I )e iacrev.
The yields from this plot are as follows:
Crops
Corn
Cotton
Peanuts
Corn
Cotton
Peanuts
Corn
Cotton
Yi1d
Bits. or Lbs.,. pcr acre)
27.7
1,622
1,960
1.3
1,298
2,514
29.2
1,075
(harvested)
(harvested)
The injurious effect of
ing the seven-year period
the use of 600 pounds per
with Figure 5).
two harvested crops of peanuts dur-
was overcome to a great extent by
acre of a 6-8-12 fertilizer (compare
In 1939, the cotton received 12 instead of 4 per cent potash
in the fertilizer and produced 423 pounds per acre of seed cot-
ton more than was produced by the 4 per cent potash (compare
with Figure 5).
Year(1
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
19,37
1938
1939
The photographs and yield records in this leaflet show that-
1. Harvesting peanuts for several successive years from a field
ruined the land for cotton production to such an extent that a good
cotton fertilizer (6-8-4 or 6-8-8) used at the rate of 600 pounds per
acre did not produce a satisfactory cotton crop.
2. Peanuts "hogged off" increased the yield of the following
cotton crop almost as much as 36 pounds of commercial nitrogen.
3. A satisfactory cotton yield was not obtained by an applica-
tion of 600 pounds per acre of a 6-8-4 when the cotton was grown
in a three-year rotation of corn, cotton, and harvested peanuts.
Only two crops of peanuts were harvested from the area during
the seven-year period.
4. A satisfactory cotton yield was obtained by an application
of 600 pounds per acre of a 6-8-12 when the cotton was grown
in a three-year rotation of corn, cotton, and harvested peanuts.
5. As far as the fertility of the land is concerned, peanuts
should be harvested from a field as seldom as possible and "hogged
off" as often as possible.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY AND SOILS