ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF PEANUTS 9 



Apparently pre-Columbian Indians of America ( 14) and the African 

 natives (11) made and used both peanut oil and a peanut paste com- 

 parable with our peanut butter long before the white man used either 

 product. Apparently, peanut butter was first made commercially about 

 1890 by a physician (25) in St. Louis, Missouri, who prescribed it for 

 some of his patients as a nutritious, easily digested, high-protein food, low 

 in carbohydrates. The idea spread rapidly. Winton (29), in 1899, 

 published analyses of two brands; and in 1914, Utt (26) analyzed and 

 examined for adulterants 23 brands bought on the markets of Kansas 

 City. At present, more than half the peanuts shelled for the edible trade 

 go into the production of peanut butter. 



The increased need for oil for various uses in time of war has caused 

 great expansion of peanut production during each such, period since 

 1860, and other uses have usually absorbed the increase in each sub- 

 sequent period. Several writers agree that rapid expansion occurred 

 between 1860 and 1870. Again referring to the article by Colton (12), 

 published in 1872, we read : "Instead of 1,000 there are fully 550,000 

 bushels sold annually in the city of New York alone. Previous to 1860, 

 the total production of the United States did not amount to more than 

 150,000 bushels, and of this total fully five-sixths were from North Caro- 

 lina. Now, North Carolina produces 125,000 bushels ; Virginia, 300,000 

 bushels ; Tennessee, 50,000 bushels ; Georgia and South Carolina, each, 

 25,000 bushels ; while from Africa come about 100,000 bushels a year." 

 We may feel inclined to doubt Colton's data, but his estimates as to the 

 size and the distribution of the industry cover a period for which we 

 have no authentic records. It seems probable that the estimates were 

 based on only that portion of the crop which entered interstate commerce, 

 since statistics on crop acreage in Georgia, furnished by the Comptroller 

 General to the Georgia Agricultural Society (6), gave for the peanut crop 

 16,619 acres in 1873 and 21,162 acres in 1874, several times the acreage 

 necessary to produce 25,000 bushels. 



, Acreage and production of peanuts are recorded in the Eleventh 

 Census Report for the year 1889, and are included in all subsequent 

 enumerations. The U. S. Department of Agriculture, through its system 

 of crop estimates, has kept fairly accurate annual records of total acreage 

 planted, acreage harvested, and the production by States. During the 

 period of acreage limitation, from 1934 to 1942, more exact data were 

 obtained as to the harvested acreage and production. 



In order to facilitate marketing the crop, three producing areas have 

 been designated : The Virginia-Carolina area, including Virginia, North 



