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ROM humbleness to greatness : , from insignificance to one of
FROM most prominent places among the food products of the
L world , from vulgarity as the dietetic extravagance of the
masses to the position of a table delicacy for the classes.
' 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
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. Z0QOGII' P T
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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
-
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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
.
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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
