14 



[July. 1908. 



OILS AND FATS. 



NOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OP 

 GROUND NUTS, EARTH NUTS, 

 MONKEY NUTS (ARACH1S 

 HYPOQJE.) 



By Viscount Mountmorres. 



In answer to many enquiries from 

 West African merchants and their 

 agents, the following note on the culti- 

 vation of the ground nut has been re- 

 cently circulated by the Institute : — 



Soil. 



A very light, preferably sandy, soil is 

 necessary for the cultivation of ground 

 nuts in order that the fruits may be 

 easily able to bury themselves on matur- 

 ity. The plant will not succeed in 

 clays or even in heavy damp loam. A 

 certain amount of lime appears to be 

 necessary for, or at any rate favourable 

 to, their successful cultivation. 



Preparation op the Ground. 

 The ground ought to be well worked 

 up to a depth of 10 or 12 inches, and 

 then thoroughly harrowed after having 

 been exposed for a few days to the action 

 of the atmosphere. The ground is next 

 ridged up into flat ridges about 4 feet 6 

 inches wide, with narrow furrows 

 between. 



Sowing. 



The seeds should be set at such a time 

 that the plant comes to maturity at the 

 commencement of the dry season. For 

 West Africa this would mean sowing 

 about June. The seeds are set two or 

 three together in pockets about 8i to 4 

 inches deep, at distances of 12 inches 

 along the centre of the ridges. It is 

 advisable to manure the bottom of the 

 pockets before setting the seeds with 

 any rich available manure. About 100 

 lbs. of seed will be required per acre. 



Cultivation. 



The ground must be hoed over round 

 the pockets at intervals as soon as the 

 plant has made its appearance, and just 

 when the plant is coming to maturity 

 the ground immediately round it should 

 be worked up and loosened in order to 

 facilitate the fruit burying itself. 

 During the growth of the plant it re- 

 quires a considerable amount of mois- 

 ture, and will want watering if there is 

 any sign of drought. But immediately 

 any fructification commences it is abso- 

 lutely essential that the plant and 

 ground around it be allowed to dry as 

 much as possible. No watering must be 

 done. After the fruits have appeared, 



they bury themselves in the ground, and 

 complete maturity is indicated by the 

 stalks and leaves withering and turning 

 yellow. 



Cropping. 



The fruit-bearing stems may then be 

 pulled up, thoroughly shaken to detach 

 the earth, and dried in the sun. The 

 nuts should be detached from the stalk 

 by hand, and exposed to the sun as long 

 as possible to dry them thoroughly. 

 They can be shipped either in the husks 

 or shelled. Both plans are common, 



Yield. 



The yield of ground nuts is very vari- 

 able. Thus, in Senegal, in Cayor, in 

 ground prepared simply by the hoe, the 

 yield is about half a ton to a ton of the 

 fresh gathered nuts per acre, whilst in 

 the same districts on lands cultivated by 

 the plough and properly prepared, the 

 yield is as high as four or five tons per 

 acre. The average yield on properly 

 prepared ground may be taken, how- 

 ever, at about a ton per acre. It addi- 

 tion to the ground nut, the vegetation 

 of the plant is one of the most valuable 

 forms of fodder, and yields from a ton to 

 a ton and a half per acre, green, and 

 about half this weight dry — Liverpool 

 University Institute of Commercial Re- 

 search in the Tropics, Vol, III., No. 6, 

 January. 1908. 



SUNFLOWER OIL. 



A Possible Sunflower Industry. 



A considerable amount of attention 

 has attracted in India in recent years to 

 the cultivation of the sunflower for 

 economic purposes. Hitherto the in- 

 dustry has been almost entirely confined 

 to Russia, where it has attained a posi- 

 tion of no little importance. In that 

 country the seeds, which are the most 

 valuable part of the plant on account of 

 the edible kernels, are used largely for 

 local consumption. The farmer, it is 

 stated, sells them at an equivalent to 

 from 4s, to 6s. per pound — but we fancy 

 this must be a misprint for the Russian 

 weight pood — the purchaser retailing 

 them, after being salted, at about double 

 that figure, and they are sold at the 

 street corners in provincial towns, like 

 chesnuts in France or peanuts in America 

 or India. On feast days and holy days 

 they are sold in large quantities, roasted, 

 under the name of " Semolchky." Birds 

 of all kinds thrive on the seeds — as the 

 cultivator knows to his cost — which are 

 specially used for feeding caged biids 



