510 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. [Feb. 1, 1904. 
Taking the medium spacing msntioneJ, eighteen 
inches, aboat 19,000 seeds would be required to 
the acre. 
Care after Planting. — Beyond weeding, little attention 
is necessary. Fowls should be excluded when the 
seeds are germinating as they greedily eat the young 
shoots. 
Time to Mature- — The ordinary variety cultivated in 
the West Indies takes from four to six months to ripen 
its fruits. Taking the averaf^e time of sowing to be 
June, the crop is usually n ady between November and 
January, Some of tha American varieties ripen in 
three months. 
Harvesting the Crop. — The plants are dug up and the 
nuts picked off by hand. This method is laborious 
because the nuts occur along the trailing branches. 
The substitution of a variety bearing, as some do, their 
nuts chiefly at the base of the main stem would 
probably be advantageous. 
Yield per Acre. — In Barbados 2,000 lb. of nuts per 
acre is looked upon as a fair average crop, whilst 
yields of 4,000 lb. per acre are not unknown. It ia 
difficult to obtain reliable data under this head, as 
small areas only are cultivated in the majority of 
cases, and the ground nuts are grown amongst other 
crops. 
The average yield in the United States appears 
to be from 1,000 lb. to 2,000 lb. per acre.* I>i Senegal, 
land cultivated by the natives gave from 600 to 
1,800 lb. to the acre, whilst land worked by the plough 
gave 2,700 to 6,l(i0 to the acre.f 
Cost of Cultivation. — The following data were kindly 
furnished to Mr. Luot of St, Kitt's by Mr. W. D. 
Gordon of Con Phipps estate in that island, who 
experimented with a few acres : — 
s. d. 
Close ploughing .., .. per acre 5 0 
Hoe-harrowing (in two directions) ,, 2 0 
Planting, by hand .. .. ,, 4 0 
Weeding and Moulding (once) ... ,, 3 6 
Reaping (at Is, 6ci per barrel) for 
ten barrels ... ,.. ,, 15 0 
ToT/L £1 9 6 
The yield was ten barrels per acre (weight not 
stated). The selling price per barrel ranges in St. 
Kitt's from 7s to 15s. Taking lis. as the average, the 
returns in this experiment were £5 10s. per acre, 
which, after deducting rent of land, cost of manage- 
ment, eto.i would leave a considerable profit, and in 
addition there is the value of the vines as fodder. 
THE USES OF GROUND NUTS. 
Local Uses. — As already stated the ripe seeds are 
parched and eaten. The parched seeds are sometimes 
' used for the preparation of a ' cocoa.' The oil does 
not appear to be ever extracted. 
Before proceeding to discuss how ground nuts might 
■be utilized in the West Indies, it is advisable to 
review briefly the uses made of them in other parts 
of the world. 
In Confectionery. — In the United States of America 
some 40,000 tons are raised annually ; fully three- 
quarters of the total crop is used in confectionery • 
tbe better grades are roasted and eaten, and the 
inferior kinds made into burnt almonds, etc, J 
An a Source of Oil.— The ground nut is very rich in 
oil— from 30 to 50 per cent, of the weight of the shelled 
nut, according to published analyses. This oil is 
agreeable to the taste and smell, and very similar in 
character to olive oil and cotton seed oil. The best 
grades of the oil, " cold drawn," are employed for 
culiniry purposep. So good is this oil that it is a 
* Pea Nuts, Culture and Uses— U. S. A. Department 
ot!Agricnlture, Farmers' Bulletin, No. 2.5, p. 16. 
*+ Trade of Senegal and its Dependencies— Diplo- 
matic and Consular Beports, No. 2,372, p. 10. 
I Pea Nuts, Culture and Uses, p. 17. 
common substitute for, and very difficult to distin- 
guish from, olive oil. The lower grades of oil are used 
to an enormous extent in soap manufacture and for 
lubricating purposes, Marseilles imported in 1900 
104,542 tons of ground nuts, principally for the 
manufacture of soap and of the pure oil. The bulk of 
these came from the British and French possessions 
on the West Coast of Africa, and a small proportion 
from India. 
As an illuminant ground nut oil is of fair value, and 
burns a long time but does not give a very clear light. 
As a Source of Oil caJce and Oil-meal. — The refuse 
left after the expression of the oil forms an oil-cake. 
Chemical analyses prove it to be extremely rich in 
carbohydrates and nitrogenous matters with, in addi- 
tion, a considerable quantity of fat. " It contains, 
as the averages of over 2,000 analyses show, about 52 
per cent, of protein, 8 per cent, of fat, and 27 per cent, 
of carbohydrates, and is therefore one of the most 
concentrated feeding stuffs with which we are familiar, 
ranking with cotton seed meal, linseed meal, etc., 
and in some cases ahead of them "*. 
Experiments were made in 1891-2 at the Woburn 
Experiment Farm, England, to test the value of 
ground nut cake as a feeding material for cattle. The 
results proved "ground nut cake to be a useful feeding 
material for cattle and to have a feeding value just 
about equal to that of beans"t. 
Dr. W. E. Eobertson records its trial in India as a 
food for horses, cattle, pigs, ect.,I The oil was roughly 
extracted from the nuts in a primitive mill of the 
mortar and pestle type. " The cake broken in small 
pieces and steeped for 24 hours in cold water, just suffi- 
cient of which was used to make a stiffish paste. This 
paste is white and has a rather agreeable nut-like 
smell and taste ; it is readily eaten by horses 
I have used the cake extensively iu feeding working 
cattle : an allowance of 4 lb. per day, with foroge, kept 
the animals in perfect health and condition 
For fattening cattle I do not know of any better food 
in regard alike to its feeding value and the superior 
quality of beef produced. As a food for cowa it ia 
admirable both in increasing the yield of milk and in 
improving its quality A daily allowance of 
4 to 6 lb. of the cake given in the form of paste, and 
mixed with 2 or 3 lb. of wheat bran constitutes a per- 
fect food for milch cows. I have had cows, so fed, for 
several years yielding well and breeding regular- 
ly For sheep there is no better food than 
earth nut cake, but for these animals I found it best to 
give the cake dry and broken into small pieces 
ilany experiments have proved the value of tbe cake 
as a food for pigs ; for these animals it was generally 
made into a thin gruel and given mixed with bran 
The same preparation, but in not quite bo thin a con- 
dition constitutes a superior food for fattening poultry, 
though it is not so useful for laying fowls. 
As a Fodder. — The vines are largely used in some 
parts of the world for fodder, and under the name of 
' pea nut hay ' are highly esteemed in the United States 
Their value is well recognized in Barbadof, and 
after the reaping season stacks of ground nut 
vines are to be seen scattered over the St. Philip's 
nut growing district. These stacks usually have a 
protective covering of guinea corn stalks, etc, 
"The food value of the bay is of coarse higher) 
the greater the percentage of nuts left on the 
vines iu harvesting. The halls also appear to 
possess considerable value as a feeding stuS, being 
mach richer in valuable food constituents (proteiUj 
fat and carbohydrates) than cotton hulls, which 
are extensively used in some localities iu the 
south [of the United States] as a coarse fodder 
* Pea Nuts, Culture and Uses, p. 6. 
t Dr. J. A. Voelcker, Journal Boyal Agricultnral 
Society of England, Series III, Vol. Ill, pp. 7270 3' 
tDr. W. R. Eobertson, Journal Royal Agricultural 
Society of England, Series lit, Vol, IV, pp. 648-67, 
