PEANUTS— CONCLUSION 



1587 



means of providing suitable forage for 

 range stock during the short winter pe- 

 riod. 



The demand for peanuts to be used in 

 the preparation of human foods is con- 

 stantly increasing. 



The United States is a heavy buyer of 

 peanut oil that is produced abroad, while 

 there are thousands of acres of waste 

 lands in the Southern states that would 

 produce enough peanuts to keep the cot- 

 ton-seed oil mills running and furnish 

 more than enough oil for home con- 

 sumption. 



The peanut is a soil builder and reno- 

 vator. If included in the crop rotation 

 and properly handled, peanuts are not 

 exhaustive of soil fertility. 



While the average yield of peanuts is 

 only about 34 bushels an acre, with prop- 

 er methods a yield of 60 bushels of peas 

 and 1 to IYq tons of forage may reason- 

 ably be expected. There are authentic 



records of yields of 160 bushels of Span- 

 ish peas, together with 2 tons of forage, 

 per acre. 



The peanut vines, after the removal of 

 the first-class peas, have a feeding value 

 practically equal to the cost of the field 

 culture of the crop. An acre of first- 

 class peanuts, calculating the yield at a 

 ton of vines worth from $8 to $10, and 

 60 bushels of peas worth ?40 to $60, will 

 give an income of from $48 to $70. The 

 cost of growing an acre of peanuts is 

 variously estimated at from $12 to $25, 

 including seed and fertilizers. These fig- 

 ures show a net return of from $36 to 

 $45, which is above the average for the 

 crop as now grown in the United States, 

 but decidedly lower than may be ex- 

 pected under favorable conditions and 

 proper cultural methods. 



W. R. Beattie, 



Assistant Horticulturist, Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



Condensed from Farmer's Bulletin 356. 



Production of Peamits in the United States 



*This table shows that the production of peanuts is practically confined to the 

 Southern states. 



Feannts — Acreage, Production, and Yalne 



STATE 



United States, 



Alabama , 



Arkansas , 



California , 



Florida , 



Georgia , 



Kansas 



Louisiana , 



Mississippi 



Missouri 



New Mexico 



North Carolina... 



Oklahoma , 



South Carolina 



Tennessee 



Texas 



Virginia 



All other states... 



Acreage 



1909 



1899 



869,887 



616,654 



100.609 



78,878 



10,192 



6,233 



99 



433 



126,150 



69,452 



160,317 



100,589 



48 



225 



25,020 



3,107 



13,997 



5,853 



130 



271 



126 



1 



195,134 



95,856 



1,564 



12,205 



7,596 



7,162 



18,952 



19,534 



64,327 



10,734 



145,213 



116,914 



413 



207 



Production (bushels) 



1909 



1899 



19,415,816 



11,964,109 



1,573,796 



1,021,708 



168,608 



78,237 



2,991 



15,461 



2,315,089 



967,927 



2.569,787 



1,435,775 



2,047 



4,516 



412,037 



45,713 



284,791 



95,738 



3,220 



6,679 



1,375 



10 



5,980,919 



3,460,439 



31,880 



1 50,428 



154,822 



131,710 



547,240 



747,668 



1,074,998 



184.860 



4,284,340 



3,713,347 



7,876 



3,893 



Value 



1909 



$18,271,929 



1,490,654 



183,364 



2,889 



2,146,862 



2,440,926 



2,669 



422,232 



317,236 



4,040 



2,177 



5,368,826 



34,984 



144,211 



386,765 



1,075,110 



4,239,832 



9,152 



1899 



$7,270,515 



583,223 



69,632 



12,650 



699,713 



935,749 



4,306 



44,785 



89,350 



6.407 



12 



1,852,110 



130,190 



106,018 



392,648 



178,542 



2,261,148 



4,032 



* 1910 Census Abstract. 



The acreage of peanuts in 1909 was 

 869,887, representing 0.2' per cent of 

 the total improved farm acreage in the 

 country as a whole. In the South the 

 proportion of the improved farm acreage 

 that was devoted to peanuts was 0.6 per 

 cent. The total acreage of peanuts in 



ilncludes Indian Territory. 



the United States in 1909 was 68.4 per 

 cent greater than in 1899, and the produc- 

 tion in 1909, 19,416,000 bushels, was 62.3 

 per cent greater than 10 years before. The 

 value of the crop in 1909, $18,272,000, 

 which formed 0.3 per cent of the total 

 value of all crops, was more than two and 



