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About Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1909)
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' That is the history of the peanut in the past fifty years. t' $ The possibilities of the peanut as a wealth producer seem not to have been realized until recently. And even now , not- withstanding an immense increase in the acreage devoted to the crop , they are being' incompletely utilized , so that the Department of Agriculture is about to issue a special bulletin calling attention to the chances for making money by raising the "goober. ' ' A very striking feature of the document in question is the showing it makes of the many new uses to which peanuts are being put nowadays. They form an important ingredient in the vegetarian "meats" which are much ? more widely consumed than most people imagine. Some of these ' : meats , " by the way , are made to imitate breaded lamb chops , with sticks of macaroni for bones. Peanuts are employed largely in the confectionery - - trade , and enter into' the composition of many fancy cakes , such as maca- roons , as a substitute for almonds. Peanut butter ( likewise much affected by , the vegetarians ) is manufactured by the ton , and , put up in neat pack- ages , is greatly esteemed for automomile lunches. . Now that the pestiferous boll weevil is ruining the cotton over such wide areas in the South , many planters are turning their attention to pea- nuts as a money crop. Althotgh $12,000,000 worth of "goobers" were raised in this country last year , the supply is still not nearly'equal to the demand - a condition sufficiently proved by the fact that we are importing great quantities of peanut oil from Europe. Thus , too , although there are tens of thousands of acres of waste lands in the Southern States which are only waiting to be tickled with a hoe in a proper manner in order to yield ' enough peanuts to furnish all the oil we , want , plus a liberal supply for . export. ' Before the civil war there were practically no peanuts eaten in Amer- ica , except by the negroes and the whites of the same social grade. Now more than 300,000,000 pounds of the nuts are consumed here annually. Fifty years ago nobody thought of raising peanuts for profit , and the few , that were grown were either in the "gyarden : patches" of the slaves or as , curiosities in the experimental gardens of scientists. Now there are nearly 500,000 acres in the United States that are planted to peanuts , and 200,000 persons make their living as "hands" in the peanut fields , to say nothing of the other people employed in the "factories" where the nuts are cleaned . i. ! and prepared for market. No food product known , say statisticians , has had such a remarkable and such a rapid rise as the peanut. Nothing has sprung into popularity so quickly and so completely , and in the face of such an accumulation of pre conceived prejudice , and there are few crops grown at the present time in any : part of the world that yield better returns for the money and labor in- vested than the peanut crop of the United States. The reason for it all is that during the civil war , when food was scarce , some hungry Confederate soldiers raided the "gyarden patch" of an old - negro down in Virginia , and , for lack of anything better , confiscated all his I peanuts. They found the peanuts were good to the taste and satisfying. They also discovered that the peanut made excellent food for horses. They wondered why they had never discovered these facts before , and , in thinking f the matter over , they remembered how fond the negroes had always been of the little "ground peas , " as they are often called even yet in Virginia , I and how fat the little pickaninnies always were when the peanuts were b bing picked. When the war was over and these soldiers went home to their j battle-wasted plantations and began looking round for a way to bring a . living out of the barrenness which they found , some of them thought of the peanuts. They borrowed some seed nuts from the negroes and planted . their fields to peanuts , and without any knowledge of how to raise the crop , and little available ] labor for cultivating it , they succeeded in making : a good crop the first year. That was the begin 'ling. Peanuts have been valuable as a marketable commodity in America from that time. At first only the common people used the nuts , but there happened to be enough of that class of society to make peanut raising profitable from the start , and since then common sense I ; S d - - PgRS a y , t . Z0QOGII' P T .l wwww Do animals reason ? ( . It is a question that has absorbed scientists with increasing interest ever r since the days when Prof. Garner en- sconced himself in a cage in the jun gles of Darkest Africa and attempted to converse with "the resident monkeys. . \ to the ' ' According professor's reports , the apes who e acquaintance : lie made during his visit not only reasoned , but > ; had a well-defined language of their own , and the learned man went to far as to suggest a monkey grammar : had } he only patience enough to jungle his time. encaged in that far-off laud. Prof. Garner's opinions , however , have been regarded by conservative scientists as more the result of enthu- ' siasm and vivid imagination than abso- lute fact. But while zoologists have taken his statements with a grain of - salt. his investigations into the reason- ; ing power of animals aroused an in- * rest never felt before. Curators and - , . = r-- - I i' 1 s L' . r. q 1 . r s- r \ " , : , L ' " aa' keepers ] of all the great gardens I throughout the world have since that time devoted themselves to the solution of the problem-do animals reason ? There are no wiser men in America than those who have charge of the Na tional Garden in Washington and among them there is none whose knowl edge is more extended than that of Mr. Blackburn , head keeper of the Zoo , who for thirty years : has devoted his time to the care and study of every kind ] of creature , from the lizard to the lion. "Yes , I have read all the nature faker stories. " he said. "But I have yet to learn , after all my experience , just what is meant by 'instinct' as dis- tinguished from reasons. Scientists de- fine instinct as 'inherited habit or , ns another learned professor ; of psychol ogy puts ] it , 'the blind pursuing of a means to an end. : All this is too tech- nical for me. I cannot see the differ- ence between a man going under the shade of a tree to get out of the hot sun , and a deer who grazes in the meadow during day , going into the mountain crags to sleep , where it knows it will be safe from the lowland wolves. The man certainly reasons that under the shade of the tree he will be protected from the heat of the sun ; why can it be said that the deer reasons less when it seeks a sleeping place secure from its enemies ? Why should one be called instinct and the other reason ? "The animals of the cat tribe stay hidden by day. They can not only see . - - , rhZP.pllfC _ .3s"IJF.4 . " J : , PFi 1YUTFgLD - . and experimentation upon the nuts as an article of food have gradually broken down the prejudice against them. Now everybody eats peanuts , trie small boy at the circus and the epicure in his home , and man and beast alike are benefited by the many uses to which the humble , and for so long despised , little nut has been put. Many people are surprised when they learn how many things are made from the peanut , and how many ways the little nuts themselves are eaten. : Everybody is familiar with the "fresh-roasted" of ; he corner stand , and the automatic whistle , and with peanut candy of all kinds , and some kinds that are not supposed to be peanuts , such as nougat and "burnt almonds. " The recent popular confection known as salted peanuts is another way in which 300,000,000 pounds of peanuts which this country alone produces every year are consumed. Then there are all the so-called health foods-peanut but- ter , peanut flour , from which bread and pastry of all kinds are made , peanut "coffee' and "cocoa , " peanut meal , which forms the foundation for patties and croquettes , and , vegetarian "meat" rolls , and , lastly , peanut oil. If nothing else could be made from the peanut , it would still be a very profit- able crop , for shelled peanuts yield from 38 to 42 per cent of oil , and pea- nut oil has so many uses that the manufacture of it is fast becoming a more important industry than the making of olive oil. The peanut vine or straw frqm which the nuts have been removed is of considerable value for the feeding of live stock. The ash from the shells used in the factory as fuel is valuable as a fertilizer , containing as much as 3 per cent of phosphoric acid , 9 per cent of potash and 6 per cent of lime. The thin brown envelopes of the peas have a feeding value almost equal td that of wheat bran. The cultivation of peanuts was until recently confined almost wholly to areas in Virginia , Tennessee , the Carolinas and Georgia , but during the last ten years it has spread throughout the South Atlantic States , and even as far west as California. The peanut plant , like the bean and the garden pea , has the7 power of collecting nitrogen from the atmosphere and storing it in little nodules upon its roots. For this reason it is one of the most desirable of soil-renovating and soil-improving plants. It is necessary , however , with a view to this end , that the main portion of the roots shall be left in the ground. If this be done , the nitrogen accumulated in a season by the means described will have a fertilizing value of § 3 or $4 an acre. Peanuts give an average yield of thirty-four bushels to the acre , but it is believed by government experts that the output can be increased to fifty or even sixty bushels by selecting superior seed from season to season. better at night , and therefore take their prey with greater ease , but they can lie safer from their natural ene- mies. Among carnivorous animals , there has never been a case known where a hungry creature attacked one that overmatched it in strength. "Generally speaking , " said Mr. Black burn "I think there is hardly an , ani mal here that does not reason , when occasion : requires. For instance. we have whips hanging up throughout the different animal houses. with which to chastise refractory or stubborn beasts. It is but a short time before a new animal comes to know the meaning : of the whip , and generally all that is nec- essary for a keeper to do is to reach toward the hook on which the whip is hanging : the animal knows what that means. and does what he has before refused to do. It seems to me that is rea soiling. " Lions and tigers , according to11' . Blackburn , exhibit little reasoning power , except in the matter of getting something to eat. Snakes exhibit the smallest degree of intelligence , and in the smaller species seem hardly to have sense enough to get their food. Clyde ] Powers , with twenty years : of circus experience in the training of every kind of animal , except Teddy bears , expresses wonder that any one should doubt the power of animals to reason. "There are different grades of mental power in animals just as there are among the human race " he said. , "From niy experience. I've decided that the four-footed highbrow is the ele- phant. Most animals do their tricks merely ! ] to get food , but the elephant goes through his stunts as a matter of duty ; you cannot bribe him or force him by withholding his rations. Ele ] phants are also endowed with a sense of " humor. P.ut Dr. Edmund B. Southwick , the eminent New York bug scientist , goes far beyond all otheas in i his conclu- sions , and asserts reasoning powers even in insects-a fact that will be ad- mitted however , by any one who has ever had a duel with an indignant bum- blebee. Dr. Southwick cites a case of some brainy caterpillars that were taken out of a tree on a New York street , and in seeking to get back to their feeding ground of leaves climbed ] the walls of adjacent houses. Finding nothing to eat up there , they concluded there was no use staying outdoors any longer , and they might as well go into winter quarters , although it was long before the time they should have ceased feeding and spin their cocoons. Accordingly they wrapped themselves up in their webs. spent the winter there , and emerged in the spring as moths. This , thinks the scientist , was conclu- sive evidence that the caterpillars had thought it all out for themselves. Asosan , in Southern Japan , has the largest volcanic crater in the' world. It measures fourteen miles across one way and more than ten miles the other. Italy has seventeen tobacco facto ries. Ninety per cent of the opera- tives are women , who are paid on a piece system and earn from 48 to 58 cents a day. , . - I MANY MILLIONS LOST BY PESTS : ON fARMS Injurious Mammals and Insects Cost . $789,000,000 Every Year. . NATION IS SEEKING REMEDY. i Magnitude of the Work of Agricul- . . ture Department in Extermina- . : tion of Destroyer. : . In the message of President Roose velt , transmitting a report of the Na tional Conservation Commission , which was sent to Congress last January : ; , ap pears the astounding statement that "the losses to farm products due to in- jurious mammals is estimated at $130.- 000,000 annually , and the loss through insects is reckoned at 59,000,000 an- nually. " These statements are confirmed by the Secretary of Agriculture and the scientists of that department who have : charge of such matters. It is assert- ed that the prairie dogs in . the State of Texas alone eat as much grass every year as would feed a million and a half of cattle. There are estimated to be 400,000,000 prairie dogs in Texas. an average of twenty-five to the acre , and 2CO dogs will eat as much grass as a steer. Besides this , the value of the land Is very much injured by the dogs , because they dig up the roots of the grass and destroy it. Then , when they have cleaned out all the vegeta tion in their neighborhood , they migrate to another section and continue their work of destruction. The result is that entire townships of land have been made barren by their ravages. Texas , Kansas. Colorado and other Western states have been working for years to destroy the dogs by means of poisoned wheat. West of Mississippi river ground squirrels are exceedingly destructive , and cause the loss of many millions of- dollars annually. In California alone every year they eat up about $2,000,000 worth of wheat and they carry the germs of diseases which can be commu- nicated to human beings through the agency of fleas. The State of Wash ington is troubled in a similar manner , and spends $25,000 a year in fighting the pests. In Nevada the agricultural sections are being overrun with field mice. In Humboldt Valley last year the mice de - stroyed 15,000 acres out of a total of 20,000 acres of alfalfa so that the fields had to replowed and replanted. "The rat continues to cause enormous losses throughout the entire United States , " Secretary Wilson says , "and during the past year an attempt was made to ascertain the approximate damage done to property by this ro . dent in the cities of Washington and Baltimore. Many business men were interviewed , including dealers in var ious kinds of merchandise , feeders of horses , managers of hotels and restaur- ants and manufacturers. The inquiries included all sections of the two cities and both small and large dealers. It is estimated that the loss from rats in Washington is about $400,000 a year. and in Baltimore upward of $700,000 a year. Assuming , as is probable that similar conditions obtain in all our cities of over 100,000 inhabitants , the damage by rats in these centers of pop- , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MORE THAN HALF MILLION TRAMPS NOW ROAMING ABOUT THE U. S. t r T IS conservatively : estimated that there is an army of at least 500,000 tramps in the United States. This figure is cal- t I culated by taking as a basis the number , of tramps killed . on . the railroads every year and multiplying it by the proportion of train men killed in the year compared to , the total number : j of train men killed in the year compared , to the total num- ber of train men employed. But it is entirely probable that the number at present reaches nearer 1,000,000 than 500,000 , says the Re ' view of Reviews. The recent industrial depression added large accessions. Reports from railway agents throughout the country show that never in the history of the railroads was so large a number of tramps met with. A large proportion are youths ranging from 16 to 21 years of age. Be- ginning with' a yearning for adventure , about one-half quit the nomadic life and return home , or settle down , while the remaining half become in- veterate tramps and gradually tend from vagrancy into a career of crime- and semi-crime. A very large percentage of tramps , however , are adults , . .and comprise every species from men who will not work or who have be- come chronically unfitted for work , to those who are innocent victims of" downright adversity that knocks and keeps them down. Both the charitable societies and the railroad corporations have long- desired some practicable method of dealing effectively with all aspects or I the tramp problem. If it could be done the charitable societies would ba- relieved of a burdensome drain upon their time and resources , and rail . roads would benefit by the stoppage of the great losses and annoyances to- which they have been subjected , while from a humanitarian standpoint the- tramp would be given an opportunity to regain his standing in society . Hitherto all experiments have failed. The charitable societies and the railroads believe that they have at last come upon a plan which is quite certain to prove efficacious. This plan is- a transplanting , with certain modifications suitable to American conditions , . . . of the tramp colony idea already in force in Holland , Belgium and Switzer- land. Since the instituting of these colonies vagrancy has been unknown : in those countries , and although they have certain features which cannot well be adopted in this country , the general plan of these European ex- periments will be followed. NOTES FSOM * WORLD OF SCIENCE If a nail be dipped into oil before being. driven into hard wood it will enter without splitting. Oiling a file used on soft metals will make it cut more smoothly and pre- vent it from clogging I . , illation entails a direct loss of $20.000- 000 annually. ] ) This enormous sum gives all idea of the still greater total losw I inflicted by this rodent throughout the length and breadth of the land. The oflicprs of the biological ! ; ; survey- say that the gopher ; also does a grunt ; deal of damage to the crops , because it feeds upon the roots of plants anO- destroys great quantities of grain and1 garden stuff. It also throws up- mounds of earth which bury the grass- and other crops. Gophers have recent- ly I proved a serious annoyance to the irrigation service : ly ; burrowing under the dams : and embankments the reservoirs and canals , causing expen- sive ! leaks and breaks. No animal . however , is more easily controlled by traps and poisons , and at the request of tho reclamation ! service the biologi cal survey recently sent out men to de- . vise ! ; ways and methods of trapping gophers ; , so that now the animals are- practically exterminated upon the gov- crnniHit irrigation system , although they are likely ] to come back again It they arc not looked ] : after. It is impos sible tc estimate the amount of dam- age that they have done. K.'ibbits are also doing a good deal of damage particularly ] in the fruit countries. Australia a few years ago they became so numerous that the entire population used to join in rabbit drives and slaughter ] ; millions of them at a single meeting. Rabbits breed so r.ipidly that it is difficult to keep them- down but it has been discovered that an inexpensive ] whitewash made of lime and sulphur will protect orchard trees against : rabbits for at least a year when it must be renewed. Wolves : J.11(1.coJ.otcs are being grad- ually exterminated on the Western plains. Secretary Wilson says that more than 1,800 wolves and about 24- 000 coyotes were killed last year by lo cating their breeding dens and poison- ing the young. lIe tiroes that this work be continued throughout the West so long as wild ' land exists in vast tracts where.they can L'nd safe harborage anfl : breeding ' ronnds . Hitherto the loss es to stockmen have averaged $200,000- 000 a year : ' from these animals , but he- says that by persistent effort and at a comparatively small cost they can be kept down so as to limit the damage done by them to a minimum. In their relation to argriculture mam- mals differ considerably from birds. . Few birds are so harmful that their wholesale destruction is called for , since , by devouring destructive insects , , most of them render a full equivalent for any mischief they may commit Such is by no means true of mammals - A few are very beneficial , and the use- fulness of such servants of man as bats , skunks , weasels , badgers , foxes an3 * moles should be known and appreciat- ed that their lives may be spared anO they he allowed to coutkiue their gootJ ' work. Every year witnesses an Increase in- the number of sportsmen who pursue our game hir s. every species of which plays a more or less important part in destroying ! ; insect life and preserving the balance of nature ; and this , too , while the reclamation , vast tracts of ' ' wild land for agriculture and other purposes encroaches on the breeding grounds of game birds , which are thus gradually becoming fewer in numbers , while the demand for them becomes greater and greater. Many of our in- sectivorous birds are also killed for food , despite the fact that state : laws almost everywhere prohibit suei- slaughter. With these and other forces acting against the welfare of our birds , it becomes doubly ] important to use every means in our power not only to prevent the reduction of useful species , . but to increase their numbers whenever and wherever possible. A novelty Is a glove containing 3 purse in the palm , fastening with tn * usual clasp , to prevent loss of the con tents. Into the trade school at Liege , Bel : gium , there has been introduced * , course in cigarmaking , . fostered b-- - government subsidy. , r
