Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-08-11
PEANUT TRADE VAST
INDUSTRY THAT NOW REACHES
SUM OF $56, ZOO, 900.
Largest Part of the Crop Is Consumed
From the Street Stand-Most
Nutritious of All Nut
Foods.

The person who buys nicke's
worth OF peanuts to MUNICH at the ball
game, to feed to the squirrels in the
park, or to gladden. the hearts of the
kiddies at home, scarcely realizes that
he has contributed to an industry that
last year farmed s1,000,0 900 crop. and
which placed on the market in va
rious forms reached the enormous sum
of sSo, 1000 900. But it is a fact!
This little seductive nut-a resolu-
ton to eat just one" Is soon forgot
ten-whose birthplace is America,
was, until comparatively recently, I'M
appreciated either as to the money
in them," or as really nutritious
product. Today the peanut plays an
important part in pleasure, from the
swell dinner party to the ever-present
democracy of the circus, ball game. or
picnic. After all, what is a ball game,
picnic, or a circus without the pea
nut accompaniment?
By far the largest part of the crop
is consumed from the peanut stand,
the little whistle-sign of the rooster
being the signal for the average
youngster to suggest to dad or ma
that some Of them would be very &C
ceptable, and the paternal or maternal
parents willingness-nin times out
OF ten-to invest. Yet there are mil
liens of bushels that go to the fatten-
Ing of hogs throughout the south, the
feeding of poultry, while the vines
often P1Irnd how thousands of
head Of cattle, and even old Mother
Earth Is nourished by the roots of the
plant, which furnishes nitrogen to it
from the air.
The result of all this is that scien-
lists claim that the peanut, which in
the past was not very highly regarded,
Is the only food staple that will at once
nourish man. beast, bird and fields. 1t
is the most nutritious Of the entire nut
family, rich in tissue building proper
ties, containing glucose and carbo-
hydrates-and is the cheapest. Be-
yond the shadow of doubt it is first
from both a dietary and economic
standpoint
The fact of the matter is the peanut
- NbOUI CfOAy way Is III d CLASS ny
itself as regards price, average num-
Der in pound, edible part, waste, and
fat. They average about $50 to a
pound at cost of 10 cents, the edible
portion Is 1876, waste 26.4, and the
amount Of fat is placed at 80 per cent.
These are remarkable figures when
one stops to consider them, and
brought out more clearly when COM
pared with the small Texas pecan, its
nearest competitor, which sells for
over a third more, averages but ZIG
to pound, has waste of els per
cent, edible part but 38.2, and con-
tains 6S per cent of fat.
The farming Of peanuts during the
past five years-not longer than this
has become an established industry of
this country. At present about five
s1xths of the crop comes from Virginia
and most of the balance from Tennes
see, Georgia, West Virginia and the
Carolinas, although most of the south
ern states contribute some. AS the
peanut industry has increased so has
the use of all nuts grown nightly as
an article of food during the last
decade, and the entire family now
forms a most important part of the
diet OF the physical culturist and yege.
tartan.