It is not usual to bleach peanuts.  They should be grown in such light soil that they will not be stained, and the common method of curing is to dig or plow up, throw the vines, with nuts attached, into windrows and allow them to lie a week or ten days for drying.  Then the nuts are picked into sacks and cleaned before shipment in revolving drums, followed by a grain fan which throws out the light nuts and other rubbish.  Bleaching would not destroy the keeping quality probably, but it would destroy the flavor and the germinating power.  The latter would not matter, except with such nuts as you wish to keep for seed, because the roasting destroys the germinating power also, but sulphuring, which would reduce the flavor, would give the product a bad name.  Possibly some growers do bleaching, but, if so, they have to be pretty careful about it.  The cost of the operation would also be a bar to profit, for peanuts are grown on a narrow margin owing to competition with importations grown with cheap labor.

Adobe and Peanuts.

Is adobe land good for the peanut?  Is it harder to start than in other soils or not?

It is not good at all.  Peanuts require the finest, mellowest loam with sand enough to prevent crust, and moisture even and continuous.  The surface must be kept loose so that the plant can bury its own bloom stem and the under soil light and clean so that it will readily shake from the nuts and not stain them.  Adobe is the worst soil you could find for peanuts.

Cutting Potatoes.

What would be the most profitable potato to plant in the Salinas valley, and how small can a potato be cut up for planting?  How many eyes should each piece contain in order to make a good growth and be profitable?

Probably the best potato for your district would be the Burbank, which is largely grown near Salinas and brings the highest price.  It is customary to cut a medium-sized potato in two pieces and a large one in four pieces.  One can be very economical of seed by smaller cutting, but it would require the most favorable conditions to bring a vigorous growth.  Probably pieces weighing not less than two ounces would be best under ordinary conditions.  Potatoes which are rather small may be used for seed if well matured and have good eyes.  It is dangerous, however, to use the small stuff — too small for sale.  Unless the soil and moisture conditions are extra favorable, the growth will be weak and unsatisfactory.

Potato Planting.

How many sacks of potatoes are to be planted to an acre, and how many eyes are to be left in a seed?  If, for instance, we plant seed with three eyes, how many potatoes should we get from that vine?

Potatoes are planted all the way from five to fifteen sacks to the acre, probably about ten sacks being the average.  There is no particular number of eyes specified in preparing the seed, according to common practice.  Good medium-sized potatoes are generally cut in two pieces crosswise, and large potatoes in four pieces, cutting both ways.  There is no definite relation between the number of eyes planted and the number of potatoes coming from them.  This has been the subject of innumerable experiments, and the conclusion is that the crop is more dependent upon good soil and favorable growing conditions than upon any way of preparing the seed.