10 Southwest jD/useum Leaflets 



The trees have been extensively planted in other lands, 

 notably in West Afric.a, where the crop is much greater than 

 in the homeland, tropical America; but nowhere are the trees 

 more treasured than in Mexico, where the Aztecs used the 

 seeds as the basis of a complete monetary system. 



While "a cup of chocolate" has held its unique place through 

 the centuries, the greatest increase in the use of the product 

 has been as food and a confection. 



Peanuts — The peanut plant has a very odd way of matur- 

 ing its fruit; the flower stalk bends downward and plunges the 

 pods into the earth to ripen, which explains why often it is 

 called the groundnut. 



Peanuts are famous at circus time, especially when used to 

 feed the animals; this is the reason why in England peanuts 

 are called "monkey nuts". 



Another name is goobers, a term derived from the wide- 

 spread Bantu language of Africa, and brought to this hemi- 

 sphere by -negroes. The term is generally used for peanuts in 

 the Southern states. During the Civil War the name "goobers" 

 was given to conscripts of the wooded districts of North 

 Carolina and adjoining states. During the campaigns in Vir- 

 ginia and the Carolinas a great many soldiers first became 

 acquainted with the growing of peanuts, and when they "beat 

 their swords into plowshares", they extended the cultivation 

 of the crop into other states. Now the annual value of the 

 crop in the United States runs into millions of dollars. 



Probably originally developed by the prehistoric Indians of 

 Brazil, the peanut is at present cultivated in all tropical and 

 sub-tropical countries of the world. 



Strawberries — In Europe and Asia there were wild straw- 

 berries before the time of Columbus; but the present culti- 

 vated strawberries of America were originally developed from 

 the two varieties of the wild berries that are native to this 

 hemisphere, both of which were cultivated by the Indians. 

 These are the Chilean, which grows along the Pacific coast 

 of South and North America, and the Virginian, common 

 over the eastern and central parts of North America. 



Probably it was not until the 17th century that the English 

 brought under cultivation the wild species of Europe, and 

 it was still later that, by introducing the American species, 

 they improved their own varieties of strawberries, which are 

 small and not very sweet. 



