518 



PEANUT 



PEANUT 



food value of the hay is lessened and the yield 

 materially reduced. 



The following statement of the analysis of pea- 

 nut hay in comparison with other standard hay 

 crops shows the great merit of this plant as a 

 forage crop : 



more than call attention to the importance of the 

 variations in nuts for special purposes. There is a 

 range from 26.49 to 35.37 in the protein content 

 of different samples and a range of 41.17 to 55.37 

 in the percentage of fat. In special-purpose nuts 

 these differences are of great importance. 



Feeding Value op Peanut Hay as Compared with Hay op Other Crops. 



Peanut hay 

 Peanut vine 

 Clover hay . 

 Timothy hay 

 Cowpea hay 

 Alfalfa . . 



Moisture 



Per cent 



7.83 



6.25 



14.30 



13.50 



10.29 



6.95 



Dry matter 



Protein 



Per cent 

 11.75 

 13.48 

 12.84 

 7.17 

 19.72 

 16.48 



Fats 



Per cent 

 1.84 

 15.06 

 2.11 

 1.97 

 4.04 

 2.02 



Carbo- 

 hydrates 



Per cent 

 46.95 

 36.28 

 48.31 

 52.94 

 45.15 

 42.62 



Crude fiber 



Per cent 

 22.11 

 29.16 

 29.27 

 33.41 

 21.99 

 31.38 



Crude ash 



Per cent 

 17.04 

 6.02 

 7.47 

 4.51 

 9.10 

 7.49 



As roughage, peanut hay compares very favor- 

 ably with clover hay. The whole plant, vine and 

 nuts, noted as "peanut vine," is superior to alfalfa 

 in fat and almost its equal in protein content. The 

 value of the peanut as a stock- and hog-food is well 

 recognized, and with the increasing interest in 

 swine and cattle through the South a great increase 

 in the acreage of peanuts grown is sure to come. 

 For hogs, peanuts are planted and cultivated and 

 the hogs allowed to harvest the crop. This let-alone 

 method of harvesting has been justified in the 

 commercial results as reported by the Arkansas 

 Experiment Station. As compared with corn, the 

 standard hog-food, one-fourth of an acre of peanuts 

 produced 313 pounds of pork, while a like area in 

 corn produced 109 pounds of pork, a remarkable 

 showing in favor of Spanish peanuts. Cattle, horses 

 and poultry as well as swine, are fond of peanuts 

 and thrive on them. Horses doing normal work 

 have been maintained on whole nuts with as good 

 apparent results as on a ration of corn and hay. 



The accompanying summary of the average anal- 

 yses of various parts of the peanut plant are of 



These tables show the peanut kernel, with an 

 average of 29 per cent of protein, 49 per cent of 

 fat, and 14 per cent of carbohydrates in the dry 

 material, to be worthy of a high rank, and it should 

 be classed with such concentrates as soybeans and 

 cotton seed. The vines are superior to timothy hay 

 and but slightly inferior to clover hay. The food 

 value of the hay is of course higher the greater 

 the percentage of nuts left on the vines in har- 

 vesting. The hulls also appear to possess consider- 

 able value as a feeding stuff, being richer in food 

 constituents (protein, fat and carbohydrates) than 

 cotton hulls, which are extensively used in the 

 South as a coarse fodder, and about equal to the 

 poorer grades of hay. The ground hulls are used 

 to a considerable extent as a coarse fodder in 

 European countries. Peanut meal (the ground resi- 

 due from oil extraction) is a valuable feeding stuff, 

 extensively used in foreign countries. It contains 

 about 52 per cent of protein, 8 per cent of fat, and 

 27 per cent of carbohydrates, and is therefore one 

 of the most concentrated feeding stuflfs, ranking 

 with cottonseed meal and linseed meal. 



Average Composition op the Food Constituents in Different Parts of the Peanut Plant. 



Peanut 



Kernels 



Vines cut before blooming 

 Vines cut when fully ripe . 



Hay 



Vines without leaves . . . 



Leaves 



Eoots 



Hulls 



Skins (inner coat of kernel) 

 Meal 



Water 



Per cent 



7.85 



31.20 



31.91 



7.83 



28.74 

 12.94 

 10.80 

 10.74 



In water-free substance 



Ash 



Per cent 



2.77 



10.64 



12.08 



17.04 



8.80 



10.90 



9.58 



3.39 



5.72 



5.48 



Per cent 



29.47 



12.63 



10.81 



11.75 



6.25 



10.00 



7.63 



7.22 



25.11 



52.49 



Fiber 



Per cent 



4.29 

 22.32 

 32.28 

 22.11 

 32.95 

 21.51 

 48.59 

 67.29 

 20.96 



5.93 



Nitrogen- 

 free extract 



Per cent 



14.27 

 48.34 

 39.81 

 46.95 

 49.49 

 54.09 

 31.00 

 19.42 

 26.89 

 27.26 



Fat 



Per cent 

 49.20 

 6.07 

 5.02 

 1.84 

 2.50 

 3.50 

 3.20 

 2.68 

 21.52 

 8.84 



Nitrogen 



Per cent 

 4.67 

 2.02 

 1.73 

 1.88 

 1.00 

 1.60 

 1.22 

 1.77 

 4.00 

 8.40 



interest as they indicate the value of the several 

 parts of the plant for food purposes. While there is 

 considerable variation in the composition of nuts 

 grown in various parts of the world, we cannot do 



As a soil renovator. — As a soil renovator, the 

 peanut, like other leguminous plants, is rich in 

 nitrogen and contains considerable amounts of 

 phosphoric acid and potash. The kernels are as 



