Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-03-31
The Home of the Peanut.
the Editor of the Dispatch:

| To the Editor Of the Dispatch:
1 enclose clipping from Lippincotts
| Magazine on peanuts. Please let me
know IL this is correct, as it is news 10
| me.
an yours, etc, j. r. NJ.
THE Peanut.-There Is much doubt
as to the original home of the peanut.
Some say that IL is indigenous TO Africa;
others, that 1t was q native of South
America, and was carried by the earlier
explorers Of tfvt country TO Spain and
thence 10 Africa. The earliest authentic
tradition tells OF its appearance in East
ern North Carolina, probably brought
there by some of the slave-ships landing
cargoes along the coast. The native Afri-
cans recognized and used them.
Peanuts grow upon trailing vine, with
leaves much resembling small
four-leafed clover. The small yellow
flower 1t bears n shaped like the blossom
Of all the pea family. Indeed. the
Agricultural Bureau in Washington does
not recognize the peanut as d nut at AL
but classes 1t among beans. The soil in
which it is cultivated must be light and
sandy. After the flower falls away the
fower-staik elongates and becomes rigid,
curving in such a way as TO push the
forming pod well below the surface OF
the earth. II by accident this is not done
the nut never natures.
We answer by quoting the following:
L. 5. DEPTM'T OF AGRICULTURE,
OFFICE OF THE ASST. SEC,
WASHINGTON. ID. c.. March %. 1895.
To the Editor of the Dispatch:
Yours OF the 18th enclosing enquiry
from J. Il. NJ. in regard to the original
home of the peanut has been received.
The peanut has tseen so widely cultivated
that the place of its origin has been OBJ
scured by b0tanists, who have located 1t
In nearly all tropical countries but the
weight Of authority seems TO be in favor
OF accepting II as native of Brazil.
Strictly speaking. It Is not nut at all,
and should be more properly called the
ground-pea. Its leaves are evenly pin
nate-i G., two pairs of leaflets on the
common rachis. The four-leaved clover
is a palmate leaf, all the leaflets having
their origin at a common centre: nor
are the leaflets OF most of the clovers
shaped like those OF the peanut. though
they both present much the same appear
ance in the field when seen at distance.
The small. yellow blossom of the peanut
plant. shaped like the blossom of all the
pea-famly, is at the end OF a long pc
dicel-like calyX tube, the ovary being
at the base After the fall OF tn.
flower the peduncle elongates and bends
downward. pushing into the ground
where the ovary al its extremity begins
to enlarge and develops into n pale, yell
lowish. wrinkled pod, often contracted In
the middle Should the peduncle not be
enabled TO thrust its point In the ground
shortly after the fall Of the flower Il
withers and dies.
The peanut plant is trailing, strag-
Cling annual, growing from one to two
feet high, and has thick, angular, pale
green, hairy stems, and spreading
branches, and its habit of maturing frui,
underground IL peculiar
AS to the tradition or the peanut ap
bearing In Eastern North Carolina, the
department was unable to authenticate
| II satisfactorily, and, therefore. it was
| not inserted In our Farmers Bulletin or
Peanuts Culture. and Uses" a copy OF
| which is sent you herewith.
l return papers herewith. as requested
| Respectfully,
| 4 CHARLES w DABNEY. JR..
| Assistant Secretary.