464 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



sumed on the farm, this is only a fraction of the world's 

 supply of peanuts. A single city in France, Marseilles, 

 imports annually a larger amount of peanuts than was 

 produced a few years ago in the entire United States. In 

 Marseilles tlje principal use of these imported African and 

 Indian peanuts is for the manufacture of oil, a use for 

 which the peanut has not been extensively employed in 

 the United States. 



443. Description. — The peanut plant belongs to the 

 pea family {Papilionacece) , which also includes the clovers, 

 vetches, and beans. Like the others just mentioned, the 

 peanut is a soil-improving plant. Its roots bear numerous 

 enlargements, or tubercles, through which the plant is able 

 to draw its nitrogen from the air (Fig. 201). 



This plant is peculiar in bearing its seed or fruit under- 

 ground. The flowers are borne on small stems springing 

 from the axil of the leaf. The flower stem turns down- 

 ward, and after the flower is fertilized, the tip of the 

 pistil, which is sharp, grows into the ground. Soon after 

 the long slender portion, called the " peg " has pierced 

 the ground, its lower tip enlarges and becomes the pod or 

 shell. The inclosed seeds, which are commonly called nuts, 

 are more properly peas. 



The peanut plant is annual, making its growth in the 

 warm season, and easily killed by frost. Each leaf con- 

 sists of four leaflets, and these have the interesting habit 

 of folding together at night or while rain is falhng. 



Each plant bears a number of branches, which in some 

 varieties lie flat upon the ground, while in other varieties 

 the branches are erect. The pod contains from one to 

 three or sometimes even four seeds. 



