The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-10-01
MONEY IN PEANUTS.
Ten Million Dollars Spent Annually l
 America for This Fruit"

"SNCJ VIN VGNtNS Ss
  Ten Million Dollars Spent Annually in
 America for This Fruit"
 man incidentally asked street vendcr if his peanuts were flrst-class and the response to the inquiry was surprising, says the Chicago Tribune.
 No" said the vender. You do not get first-class peanuts in this country in this way. The best peanuts are used for other purposes. They are made into meal and grits by scientific men, and in Germany they are prepared for sick people in the hospitals. The pea nuts you get in candy are the very poorest grade And some of the burnt almonds which you get are nothing more than fourth-rate peanuts"
 s'Where did the peanut come from'"
 From Central and South America. They grow there in long pods, and the pods contain from four to five kernels. They were carried to the old world in the carly days, and in the seventeenth century they constituted the chief staple of Africa. You will find if you look it up that the slave dealers of Africa in those days used to load their ships with peanuts to be used as food for their human cargoes. The negroes who were imported from Africa to this country brought over the peanut and they were scattered and first grew in Virginia. And now this country is rais- ing the crop, and, owing to American shrewdness, the nut is ground and used for various purposes and shipped all over the world.
 Il reckon you know the vender con tinued. that peanuts in certain condl- tion are more nutritious than beef. When specially prepared they rank with beans and peas. The peanut is said to contain go per cent. of protein and 70 per cent. of fat What is known as peanut meal contains 52 per cent of protein and per cent. of fat. It is the cheapest of all food materials"
 In 1861 and 1865 peanut oil was man. ufactured largely in four southern states, and was employed as substi' ute for olive oil. In fact, one drug. gist admitted, some of the 'olive oil'' sold now in this country is nothing more than peanut oil. Nearly all of the olive oil sold in the United States is mixed with part of the peanut. Pea nuts furnish from 30 to 50 per cent. of the weight of their kernels in oil Sometimes peanut oa is used for light ing, and again it is utilized to advan. tage in the making of soap and as a lubricant in machine shops.
 The American peanut is larger and better favored than any other, but it does not contain so much oil as the Af- rican nut. The 'cake" which is left after extracting the oil makes excellent feed for cattle, and is used very largely for that purpose in Germany, where it sells for $50 to s33 ton. This country owes to Germany the suggestion it has received in relation to the edible quail ties of peanuts, and the department of agriculture is now investigating the method of Germany in the way in which that country has handled the nut, and the result is to be published by the department for the benefit of the farmers.
 The United States now produces 100000 bushels of peanuts annually, or ss,OO0, 900 pounds. The total worlds supply amounts to about COG, ,000, ,000 pounds. The exportation from Africa and InGia to Europe during the last year amounted to nearly 4OO, ,OOO, ,O0O pounds of this quantity 2a2, COG, 900 poundswcre delivered at the port of Marscilles, France, the bulk of it being pressed for oil.
 It is estimated that slO,O0O, ,0OO worth of peanuts are eaten every year in the United States, and most of the quanti- ", it is said, is consumed between meals and at odd times.