PEA-NCTS. 161 



the oil, is one of the most valuable and nitrogenous of concen- 

 trates. The oil is ased for a variety of purposes, e.g., manu- 

 facture of high explosives, linoleum, salad oil, margarine, 

 india-rubber substitutes, soap, and a great many other 

 commodities. 



Improvement. — The chief direction of investigation should 

 be focussed on obtaining varieties of early maturity which 

 retain their leaves and do not shatter the seed. 



Diseases and Pests. — The soy bean is, comparatively 

 speaking, little troubled with these. The seeds are rarely 

 attacked by weevils. A fly, Agromyzia sp., is known to cause 

 damage to the growing plant, but is seldom serious. Eoot- 

 knot, caused by a nematode (Heterodera radicicola), may cause 

 considerable damage, and a wilt disease due to a Fusarium i& 

 at times also troublesome. 



REFERENCES: 



Purdue University Bulletin, 172. 



"The Soy Eean : History, Varieties and Field Studies." — U.S.A. 

 Department of Agriculture, Bureaoi Plant Industry. — Piper and 



Morse. 



THE PEANUT, GKOUNDNUT, OR MONKEY-NUT. 



The peanut {Arachis hypogcBa) is an annual legume which 

 is being increasingly grown in all parts of the world suitable for 

 its cultivation. Its chief value lies in the high nutritive value 

 of the whole plant, and in the quantity of excellent oil con- 

 tained in the seed. 



De Candolle' believed it to be a native of Brazil and that 

 it was carried from there by slave ships to Guinea, whence it 

 is supposed to have spread over Africa to Asia, Europe and 

 America. It has been an important crop in the Southern States 

 for a great many years. In South Africa it had not been cul- 

 tivated by Europeans to any extent until recent years, although 

 it has been grown by the natives for a considerable period. 



The United States of America plant nearly two million 

 acres per annum of this crop, while India and West Africa each 

 export nearly £5 ,000,000 worth of nuts annually. In the Union 

 in 1911 1,384 acres were planted to peanuts, and in 1917 6,557 



