The record-union., 1895-04-15
PEANUT EATERS.

Vast Quantities of the Nuts Eaten
Annually by Americans.
An interesting bulletin entitled pea
nuts; Culture and UseS,n has been issued
by the United States Department of Ag-
rIculture. Attention has recently been
drawn to this crop because of attempts
made to introduce peanut meal as an
article of human food. 1t has also been
urged that the manufacture of peanut oil
IN this country might be greatly ex-
tended. The bulletin says that the pres
ent conditions do not seem to warrant
any considerable increase in the acreage
of the crop. With this, as with other
crops, the effort should rather be made to
increase the average yield per acre by
more careful cultivation and a proper ro-
tation of crops.
The peanut is a native of Brazil but
early after the discovery of that country
1t was introduced into Africa and other
parts of the Old World, where it became
staple article of food. 1t was only in
the second half of this century that it
became an important crop in this coun-
try. The Virginia varieties are the ones
commonly planted. The climate of the
Atlantic seaboard and Mississippi VAL
ley is very congeniai TO this plant.
Fully three-fourths of the American
raised crop Is SOLD by street yenders. The
other fourth is used to make burnt
grades Of chocolate. The extext of the
use OF the peanut by the American peo-
pie will be more fully appreciated when
1t IS remembered that they use 4, ZOO, 900
bushels of peanuts yearly, at cost to the
consumers OF Sl0,000,000, which do not
form part of the regular articles of food,
but are eaten at odd times. Peanut oil is
used for lubricating and soap-making,
and is good substitute for olive oil for
salads and other culinary purposes, and
as substitute for lard aud cottolene and
butter in cooking. The residue from oil
making, known as peanut cake, is a
highly valued cattle food in the countries
of Europe, and is also ground into fine
flour and used as human food. Il max es
good soup, griddle-ca cakes, mullins, ETC..
and is one OF the most nutritIve of foods.
1t has, however, not been sufficiently
tested to make it certain that it will be
useful as regular article of diet. The
vines when dried become q very nutritive o
hay, readily eaten by stock.
w neither oil extraction from peanuts
Will ever become an established industry
in this country depends upon whether
sufficient quantities can be secured to
keep the mills at work, and whether pea
nuts can be raised at a price low enough
to compete with the other oil seeds which
already have control of this market. To
the average peanut planter, who for the
ket is oyerstocked and the supply greater
than the demand, an intimation that the
supply is not large enough for the extrac-
ton OF Oil would meet with small Gre
| dence. a moments reflection and calcu-
lation Of the amount OF nuts necessary to
supply the demands OF frst-class oil
mill would at once show how compara-
/ lively small is the average crop. At 80
/ tons per day, 300 tons a week, or 1900
tons year, as requisite amount to sup
ply one mill, nearly the whole American
crop would be consumed by two mills.
| Under present conditions the mills could
not pay the price demanded for primes,
or extra fine stock; therefore, the part of
the present crop which could be utilized
in oil making would be limited to the
amount of the third and fourth class
stock produced, which would not supply
one mill six months. The question OF
prices Is one which can be answered only
by future improvement in the methods of
culture, and increased production per
acre, and the invention of more econom-
ical means of harvesting and handling
the crops.