PEANUT CULTURE. 



BY 



B. W. KILGORE, State Chemist, 



AND 



T. E. BROWNE. 



History. — The peanut (Arachis-Hypogcea) is a native of Brazil, al- 

 though authorities have endeavored to trace its origin to the Eastern 

 Hemisphere. It was known to planters of the old country at an early- 

 date, having been used as a staple food on board the slave ships in the 

 trade with America. It was introduced into North America soon after 

 colonization, but it was not until about the close of the War Between 

 the States that it began to spread throughout the South, and become of 

 importance as a commercial crop. It was carried to various parts of 

 the country by the soldiers traveling throughout the peanut sections of 

 North Carolina and Virginia. They found how good it was to eat and 

 took some home in their pockets and planted on their own farms. From 

 this the cultivation of peanuts began to spread, until to-day it is grown 

 in nearly all of the Southern States and several of the Western States. 



Statistics. — According to the Census of 1900, the total area devoted 

 to the cultivation of peanuts in the United States in 1899 was 516,658 

 acres, and the total number of bushels produced was 11,964,957, or an 

 average of 23.2 bushels per acre. The total value of the crop was esti- 

 mated at $7,271,230, an average of 61 cents per bushel, or $14.07 per 

 acre. The total area under this crop in 1889 was 203,946 acres, and 

 the total yield 3,588,143, an average of 17.6 bushels per acre. A com- 

 parison of these figures shows an increase in ten years of 312,712 acres 

 or 153 per cent in area, and of 8,376,814 bushels or 233.5 per cent in 

 production. North Carolina and Virginia are the two largest peanut- 

 growing States, these two States in 1899 producing 7,173,786 bushels 

 or 60 per cent of the entire peanut crop of that year. In North Caro- 

 lina in 1889 there were planted 17,776 acres in peanuts, the production 

 in bushels being 421,138, and in 1899 there were planted 95,856 acres, 

 with a production of 3,460,439 bushels — an average of 36.1 bushels per 

 acre as against 23.2 bushels for the entire United States, the value of 

 the North Carolina crop being estimated at $1,852,110. 



In the decade referred to above the largest gain in area and produc- 

 tion of any State in the Union was in North Carolina, where the area 

 cultivated increased 439.5 per cent and the production increased 721.7 

 per cent. The acreage for North Carolina in 1899 was 18.6 per cent 

 of the total acreage and its production 28.9 per cent of the entire United 

 States. There has been a marked increase in acreage and production 

 since the figures referred to above were collected. 



