The Somerset reporter., 1896-01-16
THE POTENT PEANUT.
DNE WOULD HARDLY THINK THE
HUMBLE Goo6ER SO IMPORTANT.

About -Four Million Bushels Raised In
This Country Every Year-The Most Nu-
tritious and by Far the Cheapest of
Foods-substitute For Olive Oil.
But little Is known of The peanut out
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 to 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 4 900
600 bushels, while fully supplying the
present demand OF the United States
constitute but a small part of the pea
nut crop Df the world, as the exporta-
ton from Africa and India i'll 1892
amounted to nearlv 400, 600, 600 pounds
of which 222. 600, 600 pounds went to
Marseilles for conversion into oil.
The largest part of the American crop
is sold by street vendors but small
amounts are used by confectioners, ehoc-
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 Il
substitute for lard and cottolene and
butter in cooking. The residue from oil
making known as peanut cake, = is a
highly valued cattle food i'll the coun-
tries of Europe and Is also ground into
fine flour and used rs human food. 1t
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
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 been 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 i'll the United
States i'll 1889 was 17.6 bushels per
acre, the average in Virginia being
about 90 and i'll Tennessee 30 bushels
per acre. This appears to be "a very low
average, especially as official and semi
official figures give 80 or 60 bushels as
an average crop, and 100 bushels are not
an uncommon yield.
While the peanut has been cultivated
in the United States to limited extent
for number of years, it is only since
1866 that the crop has become of pri-
mary Importance i'll the eastern section
of this country, which seems peculiarly
adapted to its production. Between 1865
and $50 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 IL
large importer of west African nuts,
was soon able to supply the domestic
demand with the home raised article.
Virginia, North Carolina and Tenncs-
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 rs 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 great factor in
reducing the profits of the crop by re-
ducing the ability of the land to pro
duce such crops as We're previously Sc
cured i'll that section, so that now III
stead of an average of 30 bushels per
acre, with frequent yields of over 100
bushels, the average IN the peanut sec
tons 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
TEN, 40 per cent of fat and ii per cent
of carbohydrates in the dry material
take IA 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 TO
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 i'll
European countries. Peanut meal, the
ground residue from oil extraction. is u
valuable feeding stuff highly appreciat-
ed and extensively used i'll foreign couu
tries Ii contains, as the averages of
over 1000 analyses show, about 80 per
cent Of protein, s per cent of fat aud 81
per cent of carbohydrates and is one of
the most concentrated feeding stuffs
with which we are familiar, ranking
with cottonseed meal, linseed meal, etc
and in some cases ahead of them.
In describing the USES Of peanuts it Is
scarcely necessary to more than refer L.
the use To which fully three.f ourths OF
the American raised crop is devoted.
The nut is sorted in the factory into
four grades, the first, second and third