The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-06-01
Peanuts q Profitable Crop.

the humble goober as of little I'M
portance. It may be necessary to re-
wise our ideas. The Blocker-Millel
company, of Honey Grove, Tex, call
attention to what the peanut is 40
ing in their part of the Lone Star
State in this circular:
February %, 1916. ,
Recently we sent out a circular
letter regarding the peanut industry
We have received numerous replies
some asking for information, others
rather disposed to ridicule the idea
of farmers planting peanuts, other
than in a small way for limited de-
mand We are enclosing clipping
from today's Dallas News, which ex-
plains in a way what is being done
in country not so we'll adapted Tor
cotton as this section, but better suit
ed for peanuts.
;. In this section the acreage Will be
more than doubled from last year.
and this at the expense of cotton.
There is no doubt but the cotton
acreage will be decreased in this sec
ton this season, land formerly plant
ed in cotton going into corn, oats ana
peanuts.
The yield in peanuts here the past
season. ran as low as Is bushels per
acre and as high as 100 bushels. A
number of farmers not knowing how
to cultivate them, made the small
Yields. Peanut hay is worth double
that of prairie hay. Besides, grow
fnp peanuts benefits the land which
: has been worn out in cotton. Watch
ont for big acreage of peanuts. 1t
is sure to come.
.s1 BLOCKER-MILLER co.
The article in the Dallas News is
made up largely Of an interview with
r.. E. Coleman, manager of the Co.
manche Cotton Oil company, OF Co
manche, Tex. Until last year the
Comanche mill, with others OF It's
type in Texas, had been cotton
seed plant exclusively. Few, If any,
mill men had given thought to sub
stituting peanuts for cotton seed.
But after the boil weevil blasted
the sandy land belt Of middle west
Texas the supply of raw material be-
gan to decrease. The farmers were
/. planting less cotton and more pea
nuts: and the cotton that was plant
ed in 1914 in this belt yielded most
meagerly, whereas peanuts were COM
ing into every town out here. wagon
B load after wagon load.
Here was a mill constructed to ex-
tract oil from certain raw product
cotton seed; that particular raw
product was not available, but the
s farmers had abundant quantities OF
another raw material from which oil
and cake and meal may also be made.
AS Mr.. Coleman says, it was plain
I case OF, necessity.
..Get busy, boys" he ordered.
ssWe'll make the necessary changes In
machinery to turn out peanut OIL
And so, after a few preliminary
experiments, the Comanche mill be-
gan crushing peanuts in June OF last
year. During the 1915 season the
mill crushed between 900 and 1000
tons of peanuts, handling something
more than $4,000 bushels. Over co.
I 600 gallons of peanut oil was pro-
duced and shipped out in tank cars
and about 500 tons of peanut cake
and peanut meal was made.
''The oil yield per ton from pea
nuts was 10 to IL per cent. more
than from cotton seed," said Mr..
( Coleman. '"This is crude oil, of
course. Therei is not more than 4
!. to per cent. refining loss. This oil
is of a very fine quality. 1t keeps
company with the very best grades OF
!, oil produced anywhere, and outclass-
es cotton seed oil. I don't believe
the two interests, cotton seed oil and
4 peanut oil, will conflict at all.
81 do not believe there is the
: slightest chance of overproduction OF
peanuts; certainly not within the I'M
mediate future. The United States
has been importing large quantities
of peanut oil. We have just scratch
ed the surface of the peanut possi'
bilities in Texas. Our future is tc
produce here at home the peanut OF
that we have been importing. From
this time on, in my Judgment, we are
z going to be a dominating factor il
the peanut oil production of the
world
Peanuts were selling in Comancht
at 55c bushel when the local mil
began to crush. Mr.. Coleman says