The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-07-22

Washington, D. c.. July 2i.-while
ACotton is still king In the South. the
F&71nnQpA promises to dispute or TO share
a%sninion IN some sections as part
VIZ llk@ffI balanced farming practice. The
mate of Texas. for example, has
planted soc, 900 acres to peanuts. moro
Il than doubling the acreage Of last
n year, according 10 figures Just Issued
by the United States departm ent or
4 AErscplture The prospective crop. on
the shuae authority, IL more than TO-
4 o0o. oho bushels for the whole South.
4 Texas already had the largest acre
nge ins,iele. though In 1909 Il stood
q aixsh, with most Of the Atlantic and
- &uf coast states ahead. Georgia
] jumped from 10000 acres last year
.Ao-<ca. 900 The increase IN Texas has
been an index to the increase through
out the lower South through the pro
ssDfftonate increase elsewhere has not
u been so great Fer the South as
whole, however. Il is remarkable that
4 the acreage has increased from less
pekhAn "a million and quarter acres 70
1 more than two million acres.
5.. The peanut may have been held IN
Hight esteem in the popular mind be-
tr1CauAe OF It's association with circus
i and clown. or because the expression
'speanut politics" has designated a low
4 has lcnr been important ia North Ca
roltna. virginia AMI Georgia With
1ufrrk. Va rs tho headquarters of
the industry Here me prize of pea
nuts is to a large extent establish
81 for the whole country. aud ~ pre-
@vAhfnx prices peanuts are In com
petition with cotton.
Beating the Boil Weevit
~1fH4oll weevil drove raanv TeXas
Z - -, - lp4
~ to he a hopeless situation the pet
s~nut has rescued him. and Mt the
seAame- sifne rcscured the oil-miN me1
4 who were on the verge of "a shutdown
d witha their supply Of cdtton9eed dt-
& minished The department Of pgrtcul.
ture hal long been advocating q
chaHEA from the single crop standard
ct by cotton AS Tong 80 cotton 0aa
1.-The only money crop the arguments
fell on deaf ears. hut backed Wy Wy
@1Ee<s hell weev!i the camparn began
Is Bear fruit The farmers began 70
IFsN1Se part of tho cotton acreage -
~ s1A rri,ts This presented new prob
lem and the 81 mill men began 10
1xixs questions
The found that many or the grow
ers were 'hegginc down" tho peanuts.
n the fields 10 harvest tbo nuts ard
3 hppt.- sNEhe department of sgricul-
-s&Af& had nroved that q forty bush 81
crop Of Spanish peanuts would pro-
: duce moro than 4on pounds ~ nork
10 the acre. and supplied a good ra-
pt4fon that needed only a little tuHulue
d nffs with corn to harden t4'e MEET fH-
II thu peanut hav is har-
west ed before the hogs are turned IN.
the hay alone pays FOR the growing
piushe crop. because II furnishes a
rafata bio food TO which an Kinds 81
r t<yssf' will turn eagerly from any other
kind Of hay. And II thet were not
es~rs-rf the peanuts. in comm m with
nthcr legumes. hear rodules on their
roots which gather nitrogen from the
49, Helping the OH Men.
Practically no peanut oil vas made
u ttis country prior - t9l1. and
! 35sYar the oil-mfIi men had not been
benefited; hut Il was brought 70 their
GfFntien that tho United states. in
IA. WIS importing 1.332toS gallons
9 ~ peanut oil and 44s4e.7sa pounds
\ nf~-nuts More than half OF the oil
vert To Chicago and presumably went
t,tss oleomargarine. and the lower
EkRshes into soap The OIL brought mara
''1n-t The oil mills. having 10 Do large
~ with the cleaning ~ the peanuts.
and they were ready for the extrac-
Z ton. and tho peanuts began TO corne
to them. Recently. there has been
4 tuch demand for the nuts them
4 Eeives. for manufacture into prod
hcts elsewhere, that the mills have
s-HDf Been doing much extraction be-
cause they could make more hand
Hne the nuts Themselves than thov
6&116 ~ selling the extracted prod
q 6cf. A single nanufa cturer NJ rea-
nut butter for exa no0le uses more
d than 300 carloads of sheNed nuts =
( year and expects soon to 20 10 500
carloads.