The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-01-21
THE POTENT PEANUT.
ONE WOULD HARDLY THINK THE
HUMBLE GoOBER so IMPORTANT.

This Country livery Yesr-The Most Nu-
tritious srd hy Far the Cheapest OF
Foods-Substitute For Olive Oil.
But little Is known of the peanut ont
side Of localities in which it is grown,
and even where it is most largely grown
its possibilities are for the most part not
at all realized, and it is not by any
means made 10 yield the highest results
it is capable Of Taking into account all
its sources OF value, the peanut ought to
be one Of the most profitable of the gen
eral farm crops in the south. The fol
lowing facts about it are in the main
condensed from a bulletin of the United
States department of agriculture pre-
pared by r. B. Handy Of the Office Of
experiment stations.
The yearly production Of peanuts in
this country is about 1000, 900 bushels
of % pounds, the bulk of the crop being
produced in Virginia. Georgia, TenneS-
see and North Carolina. These i, ,OOO,-
600 bushels, while fully supplying the
present demand of the United States,
constitute but a small part of the pea
nut crop of the world, as the expOrta-
tion from Africa and India in 1892
amounted 10 onearly 400, 900, 600 pounds,
of which 222 OOO, 600 pounds went to
MarseillCs for conversion into oil.
The largest part of the American crop
is sold by street venders, but small
amounts are used by confectiOners, choc-
olate manufacturers and for the manu-
facture Of oil Peanut oil is used for
lubricating and soapmaking and is a
good substitute for olive oil for salads
and other culinary purposes and as
substitute for lard and cottolene and
butter in cooking. The residue from oil
making, known as peanut cake, " is
highly valued cattle food in the coun-
tries Of Europe and is also ground into
1 fine ficur and used as human food. Ii
makes good soup, griddle cakes, muf-
/ fins, etc, and is one of the most nutri-
/ tive Of foods. The vines, when dried,
become very nutritive hay, readily
/ eaten by stock, though requiring care in
I the feeding lest it produce collie.
/ The present uses of the peanut and its
/ products are likely to be greatly extend
/ ed and new channels of utility found
for it, as has heen the case with cotton
+ seed. With better methods of tillage and
/ a larger yield per acre the cost OF pro
duction could be greatly lessened. Ac-
+ cording to the eleventh census, the aver
/ age yield Of peanuts in the United
1 States in 1889 was l7.6 bushels per
acre, the average in Virginia being
/ about 20 and in Tennessee 32 bushels
/ per acre. This appears to be a very low
! average, especially as official and semi
! official figures give 90 OF 60 bushels as
an average crop, and 100 bushels are not
an uncommon yield
While the peanut has been cultivated
1 in the United States TO u limited extent
I for q number Of years, it Is only since
1866 that the crop has become Of pri-
mary Importance in the eastern section
! of this country, which seems peculiarly
adapted to its production. Between 1865
and 1870 the rapid spread of the culture
/ of peanuts was phenomenal Each year
doubled and at times increased three
/ fold its crop over that Of the preceding
! year, so that this country, from being a
large importer of west African nuts,
was soon able 10 supply the domestic
demand with the home raised article
Virginia, North Carolina and Teunes-
see produce large part of the peanut
crop of the United States. Within the
last few years this crop has ceased TO be
as profitable as heretofore. The method
of culture-the annual planting of nuts
on the same land, the lack of proper rO-
tatiOn of crops, the complete removal of
all vegetation from the land and the fail
ure to replenish the soil by means Of
fertilizers-has been a great factor in
reducing the profits of the crop by re-
ducing the ability of the land to pro-
duce such crops rs were previously Sc
cured in that section, so that now in
stead of an average of 80 bushels per
acre, with frequent yields of over 100
bushels, the average in the peanut sec
tions is not over 20 bushels, while the
cost of cultivation has been but slightly
reduced.
As regards food value, peanut kernels,
with an average of 20 per cent of pro-
tein, 40 per cent of fat and II per cent
of carbohydrates i'll the dry material,
take high rank and should be classed
with such concentrated foods as sofa
beans, cotton seed, etc. The vines are
shown by analysis to be superior 10
timothy hay as a feeding stuff and but
slightly inferior TO clover hay.
The ground hulls are used to con-
siderable extent as a coarse fodder in
European countries. Peanut meal, the
ground residue from oil extraction, is "a
valuable feeding stuff highly appreciat-
ed and extensively used in foreign coun-
tries. 1t contains, as the averages of
over 1000 analyses show, about % per
cent Of protein, s per cent of fat and 27
per cent Of carbohydrates and is one of
the most concentrated feeding stuffs
with which we are familiar, ranking
! with cnttnnseed meal lins.ed rnenl nIc