102 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



is another of the eight states which grow peanuts 

 seriously as a big money crop. 



The botanist has gone farther than we have in 

 tracing the peanut to its original home. How 

 did it come into Virginia, and when? The records 

 say it was the chief food supplied on "slavers" to 

 the natives of Africa on their way to America, 

 and the auction block where they were offered for 

 sale. So the peanut and the negro came together 

 from Africa in early colonial days. We have 

 already mentioned India, Africa, and Spain as 

 countries that export the nuts. Brazil is con- 

 sidered the original home of the peanut, because a 

 half dozen species of the genus grow wild in that 

 great region. Taking the botanist's word for it, 

 we recognize in the humble "ground-nut," a cos- 

 mopolite, whose travels have satisfied it that 

 North America is a good country to settle in. 



The most interesting thing about the peanut 

 plant is the way the blossoms look and act. The 

 foliage is thick, but the leaves do not conceal the 

 showy, yellow flowers that fade, one after another, 

 and do not bear a single seed! The flowers that 

 "mean business" are almost too small to see at all. 

 They do not open, and have no showy color. 

 As soon as they are fully grown they tuck their 

 pointed tips into the ground, and work out of 



