Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-15

Copyright, 1917. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
HOUSTON. Tex.
~ 7HO would ever think of pea
Nh&U nut or soy bean in connec-
WV tion with our munitions
" plantso They seem as far
apart as Cape Horn and Alaska. Never
theless the war has brought them to-
gether and just now they are thicker
than thieves. Either the bean or the
nut, in the shape of nitroglycerin, may
sleep in the submarine torpedo which
is to destroy great battleship. or 1t
may be part of an explosive that Will
send a half-ton projectile flying forth
from the mouth of gun to land on
the enemy's trenches twelve miles
away.
The oil from the peanut also forms
an important part Of our food supply,
and 1t has already doubled in value on
account of the war 1t is eaten largely
in France, where 1t completes with olive
oil and takes the place of butter and
lard. olives and sardines may be pack
ed in it. and it forms the foundation of
oleomargarine and artificial buffers of
various kinds. We now find that the
meal mixed with white flour makes q
palatable and highly nutritious bread.
and that it may be used for crackers
and cakes. Peanut butter can take the
which is a by-product of the oil, makes
the best of stock food and adds thereby
to our dairy and meat supplies.
-
Both the peanut and soy bean are
crops peculiar to the south. They arc
comparatively new and both promise
to have q place close to cotton and corn
in the Developments Of the near future.
1 shall speak of the peanut crop first.
Within the past few years it has been
growing faster than Jonah's gourd.
last census 1t was 100000 bushels.
and five years later 1t had jumped to
about 100000 bushels. There has
been an enormous increase since then.
100000. and with the high prices Of
today no one can tell what the crop
OF this year will sell for.
Before the war we were importing
about 4 100000 pounds Of nuts and
1900. 100000 gallons Of peanut oil from
Hamburg, Delft and Marseile The
nuts brought almost 100000 and the
oil was valued at about 100000. The
oil was used mostly for the making OF
butterine and other lard substitutes.
The war shut off these imports. and in
1915 the manufacture of peanut oil was
taken up on large scale. The pro
duction in 1916 was 100000 or 4.0O0,-
900 gallons. We now have the addi-
tional demand for munitions. and it will
probably be doubled this year. The
peanut is being grown commercially in
ali Of the states of the south with the
exception of Kentucky. The most i'm
portant states are Virginia. North Caro-
lima, Georgia, Florida. Alabama and
Texas.
Down here in Texas the area planted
to peanuts Is rapidly increasing. Two
years ago it was only $4,000 acres:
this wear the farmers say that the crop
will be 100000 acres more. The same
is true Of other parts of the south. In
1903 the production Of the whole coun-
try was about 2o.o00ooo bushels ana
it was almost double that in 1915. This
year we shall raise more than 5O.O0O,-
600 bushels of peanuts. and the pros
pect is that this is only the beginning
hundreds of millions of bushels per
annuln and will have money value
that will compare favorably WIN tne
greatest crops of the Union. me ieAas
farmers tell me that peanuts and cot
ton, acre for acre, as far as the value
of the crops is concerned. are now run
ming neck and neck with the chances
in favor of the peanut. d dn are l as
farms and are producing petter results
every season.
The Texas industrial congress is Of
fering rewards for the best yields of
peanuts raised after its directions. The
chief prize last year. was won by a girl
of fourteen She raised 230 bushels Of
on one acre nf ground. She received
a prize Of $500 in cash and in addition
several hundred dollars from the sale
of her nuts and the hay. have the
record Of a man who grew 1900 bush
els on 125 acres and made a profit
therefrom of over $4,000. He sold his
nuts at s1.25 a bushel. He had in adj
dition so tons OF hay. for which he got
SIS a ton, and the hogs which he fat
tened on the vines and the roots
brought him $3.50.
I am told that the crop is a cheap