The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-19

! IN PEANUT CROP DUE:T0 THE WAR
 The peanut occupied such a hum-
 ble position in the vegetable society of
 the nation a few years ago that it
 hardly could be mentioned seriously.
 But from it's former debased plane it
 has leaped to place of honor among
 the country's crops, as is shown by
 figures cited by F. S. Tisdale in an ar ticle contributed to The Nations Bus
 mess.
 In 1908 the peanut yield was esti-
 mated to be worth $12,000,000. A
 conservative valuation of the 1916
 peanuts is $56,O00,O 900. The reason for the enormous increase in peanut
 acreage is that peanuts are, being planted more and more on land for mer1y used to raise cotton, but where the cotton crop has been ruined by the boil weevil. This season the State of Texas alone planted 100000 such acres. ;, What has happened in Texas has been repeated on a smaller scale in the other Southern States.
 Representatives of the Bureau of Plant Industry recently completed a tour of the. peanut growing districts, because the Government realizes that the crop has suddenly become one of great importance and almost bound less possibilities The figures indi- cate that the years crop will be 5O,- 250,0 bushels, and will, it is said, sell for about $1.l0 a bushel. This is quite contrast to the situation in 1914, when the United States import ed 44,549,789 pounds of nuts and l. 332,108 gallons of peanut oil from Marseil1es, Delft, Hamburg, and other ports.
 It was found that by slight readjust- ments of machinery cottonseed plants could be turned into peanut oil fac-~ tories The superiority of peanut oil over the old product was emphasized by the willingness of the trade to pay 67 cents for a gallon of it, as against 65 cents for the cottonseed variety. Mill men experimented cautiously, with results so successful that the acreage in Texas increased more than 1000 per cent. from 915 to 1916. Full of Commanche were taken from cot ton and given over-to the goober.
 How much danger is there from ly three quarters of the vast County over -production?
 An experts opinion on this subject is that there is little danger, of sur feiting the world with peanut oil and cake, because the food value is such as to make a universal market for the product. Experiments Are being made by the Government too discover the best uses for the peanut and to make it more popular with American kitch- ems. Dr. A. J. Le C1erc of the Chem istry Bureau of the Department of Agriculture recently began research es that are expected to produce a bread from peanut meal which in its value for food and in its tastineas will be the equal of any wheat bread. And the peanut bread Is cheaper.
 Ten cents worth of peanuts are said to have in them as much nutri- nent as 20 cents worth of porterhouse steak, 36 cents worth of milk. or 13 cents worth of potatoes. So rich are these nuts-which are really not nuts at an-that a dimes worth of them contains 1z0 grams of protein, more than is considered adequate for a days consumption. Peanuts have a greater food value than wheat. Their 33 to 7.per cent. of protein puts them into the distinguished class of ths'l ever ascending egg. In few localities the farmers are getting only 60 cents bushel this year. but in sections of Texas they are reveling in price of $1.25. At 60 cents planter, it is said, can make l more from an average crop of pea nuts than from a yield of 12-cent cot 1 ton. In 1912 the price of peanuts l was around 30 cents bushel It is l also pointed out that while many of l the products of the cotton States such as potatoes, cabbages, onions, | and f.uits-are of a perishable chara,c- ter, the cake and oil from. peanuts | scorn all climatic idiosyncrasies and | bear with eauanimity export trips toI the most distant markets.
 At the present prices there is said to be about $10 more per acre in pea nuts than in cotton. On the basis of. one-third of cotton bale to the acre, the lint and seed will yield about s22, it it said.
 So down in the cotton country they are saying that we are soon to see the rise of peanut barons