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Show PEANUT TRADE VAST INDUSTRY THAT NOW REACHES SUM OF $36,000,000. Largest Part of the Crop Is Consumed From the Street Stand Most Nutrltous of All Nut Foods, The person who buys a nickel's worth of peanuts to munch at the ball game, to feed to the squirrels In the park, or to gladden the hearts of the kiddies at home, scarcely realizes that he has contributed to an industry that last year farmed a $1,000,000 crop, and which placed on the market In various va-rious forms reached the enormous sum of $36,000,000. But it Is a fact! This little seductive nut a resolution resolu-tion to "eat just one" is soon forgotten forgot-ten whose birthplace is America, was, until comparatively recently, unappreciated un-appreciated either as to the "money In them," or as a really nutritious product. Today the .peanut plays an Important part in pleasure, from the swell dinner party V the ever-present democracy of the circus, ball game, or picnic. After all, what is a ball game, a picnic, or a circus without the peanut pea-nut accompaniment? By far the largest part of the crop Is consumed from the peanut stand, the little whistle-sign of the roaster being the signal for the average youngster to suggest to dad or ma that some of them would be very acceptable, ac-ceptable, and the paternal or maternal parent's willingness nine times out of ten to invest. Yet there are millions mil-lions of bushels, that go to the fattening fatten-ing of hogs throughout the south, the feeding of poultry, while the vines often cured as hay, feed thousands of head of cattle, and even old Mother Earth is nourished by the roots of the plant, which furnishes nitrogen to It from the air. The result of all this Is that scientists scien-tists claim that the peanut, which In the past was not very highly regarded, is the only food staple that will at once nourish man, beast, bird and fields. It is the most nutritious of the entire nut family, rich in tissue building properties, proper-ties, containing glucose and carbohydrates carbo-hydrates and Is the cheapest. Beyond Be-yond the shadow of a doubt it Is first from both a dietary and economic standpoint. The fact of the matter is the peanut In about every way is in a class by Itself as regards price, average number num-ber In pound, edible part, waste, and fat. They average about 350 to a pound at a cost of 10 cents, the edible portion Is 73.6, waste 26.4, and the amount of fat is placed at SO per cent. These are remarkable figures when one stops to consider them, and brought out more clearly when compared com-pared with the small Texas pecan, Its nearest competitor, which sells for over a third more, averages but 216 to a pound, has a waste of 61.8 per cent., edible part but 3S.2, and contains con-tains 6S per cent, of fat. The farming of peanuts during the past five years not longer than this has become an established industry of this country. At present about five-sixths five-sixths of the crop comes from Vlrgina and most of the balance from Tennessee, Tennes-see, Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas, although most of the southern south-ern states contribute some. As the peanut industry has increased so has the use of all nuts grown mightily as an article of food during the last decade, and the entire family now forms a most important part of the diet of the physical culturist and vegetarian. |