The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1917-08-09
Consider the Peanut

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While cotton is still king in the
South, the peanut promises to dis
pute or to share its dominion in
some sections as part of well-bal-
anced farming practice. The State
of Texas. for example. has planted
100000 acres to peanuts. more
than doubling the acreage of last
year, according to figures issued
by the United States Department
of Agriculture. The prospective
crop, on the same authority. is
more than 100000 bushels for
the whole South. Texas already
had the largest acreage in 1916,
though in 1909 it stood sixth, with
most of the Atlantic and Gulf
Coast States ahead. Georgia jump
ed from 100000 acres last year to
100000. The increase jim Texas
has been an index of the increase
throughout the lower South.
though the proportionate increase
elsewhere has not been so great.
For the South as whole, how
ever, it is remarkable that the
acreage has increased from less
than a million and aNuarter acres
to more than two million acres.
The peanut may have been held
in light esteem in the popular
mind because of its association
with circus and clown, or because
the expression "peanut politics"
has designated low form of part
isanship. Yet this crop has long
been important in North Carolina.
Virginia, and Georgia, with Suf-
folk, Va, as the headquarters of
the industry. Here the price of
peanuts is to large extent estab-
lished for the whole country. and
at prevailing prices peanuts are in
competition with cotton.
The boil weevil drove many
Texas farmer to peanuts. From
what seemed to be a HOPELESS situa-
ton the peanut has rescued him,
and at the same time rescued the
oil-mill men who were on the verge
of a shutdown with their supply
of cotton seed diminished. The
department had long been advocat-
ing a change from the single-crop
standard set by cotton. AS long
as cotton was the only money crop
the arguments fell on deaf ears,
but, backed up by the boil weevil,
the campaign began to bear fruit.
The farmers began to give part of
the cotton acreage to peanuts. This
presented a new problem and the
oil-mill men began to ask questions.
They found that many of the
growers were "hogging down" the
peanuts; that is, they were turn
ing the hogs into the fields to har-
vest the nuts. and were marketing
the crop con the hoof." The de-
partment had proved that 40
bushel crop of Spanish peanuts
would produce more than 400 lbs.
of pork to the acre. and supplied
a good ration that needed only
little topping off with corn to hard
en- the meat. Furthermore, if the
peanut hay is harvested before the
hogs are turned in. the hay alone
almost pays for the growing of the
crop, because it furnishes a palat-
able food to which all kinds of
stock will turn eagerly from any
other kind of hay. And if that
were not enough. the peanuts, in
common with other legumes, bear
nodules ON their roots which gather
nitrogen from the air and put it
into the soil.
Practically no peanut oil was
made in this country prior to 1915.
So far the oil-mill men had not
been benefited. but it was brought
to their attention that the United
Safes, in 1914, was importing L.
1872, 10S gallons of peanut oil. and
44.549.789 pounds of nuts. More
than half of the oil went to Chi.
cago and presumably went into
oleomargarine and the lower grades
into soap. The oil brought more
than cotton seed oil. A few changes