See New Uses For Peanuts After War
Climbing from Humble Surroundings to Big Place In A New Economy
By ELLIS HALLER
From The Wall Street Journal.
Chicago Bureau
Chicago?The lowly peanut, the
five-cents-a-bag merchandise of
the Arc us vendor, is going to win
a higher rank in the fight to lick
the fats and oils shortage.
The little goober?best known
to Americans in candy, peanut,
butter, and "in the bag"?is also
a prime source of vegetable oil.
The war economy means that it
must give that oil this year?and
abundantly.
In pre-Pearl Harbor days, co
conut oil from the Philippines,
palm oil from the Dutch East In
dies and Malaya, and tung oil,
(it's been cut off longer) from
China account for about 50 per
cent of this country's vegetable
fats-oils imports That's all out
the window now
The peanut growers' answer is
this?a 1942 production 133 per
cent above the 1941 figure.
With reasonably satisfactory
growing conditions and an aver
age yield of 700 pounds to the
acre, peanut production this year
should reach 3 1-2 billion pounds,
compared with the 1,588 billion
pounds harvested from 1.9 million
acres in 1941.
Such a phenomenal crop will
assure the street-corner peanut
* vendor his usual stick-in-trade
this fall. But it will also bolster
Uncle Sam's dwindling supply of
oils for foods, soaps, munitions
and a hundred other uses.
The government's 1942 peanut
production goal calls for not on
ly a 1.9 million acres crop ? the
equal of last year's?for "normal"
domestic consumption, but also
counts on the harvest of an addi
tional 3.5 million acres to be
crushed for oil purposes.
How industry Has f ared
Since 1900
For old-timers in the peanut in
dustry here?brokers, wa rehouse
mm, refmers?the war-b$rn re
vival of interest in the peanut as
a source of edible oil and as a
high-energy food product sum
mons ups and downs since the
turn of the century.
During the first World War, the
South had a peanut boom. Short
gae of vegetable oil boosted pro
duction .and up to the time of the
Armistice, many farmers thought
the peanut had solved their cash
crop problem for all time. But
after 1918, importation of oriental
peanuts and peanut oils increased
and domestic acreage declined.
The crop just about held its own
until the late twenties, when acre
age again started to increase. In
recent years, plantings have aver
aged well over 1 million acres
annually.
Will the end of the present war
see another decline in peanut pro
duction and a collapse in normal
markets? Some branches of the
trade are hopeful that it will not.
They cite several new develop
ments in the field which promise
sustained production and con
sumption.
Development of Cloth Fabric
According to W. B. Jester, ex
ecutive secretary of the National
Peanut Council, Inc., research has
developed a satisfactory cloth
fabric made from the protein of
peanuts.
"This cloth has the appearance
of a good quality Scotch woolen,"
Mr Jester explains. 'To the eye
and touch it has the appearance
of all-wool material. The wearing
quality has been found to be
practically the same as cloth made
from wool."
Peanut cloth was invented by
p Scotchman and was first pat
terned in England. Recently pat
ents were taken out in the United
States by Imperial Chemical In
dustries. Ltd. Up to the present
time, the cloth has not been plac
ed on tfie market in commercial
quantities.
One of the newest developments
from the nuts is peanut flour. This
product has a high food value and
high vitamin content, and is ob
tained from the protein left after
Oil is removed from the nut. Pro
duction has not yet reached the
large-scale stage, as only One mill
ih the country is making the
flour, and virtually all of that
production is going into a concen
trated soup mix.
Other Experiments
Experiments, meanwhile, have
utilized peanut hulls for insula
tion board, for fertilizer material,
r~
PEANUTS AND WAR
Holding a prominent place
in the production of peanuts
(or many years, Martin Coun
ty farmers, as a whole, this
year heard their country's call
and increased their acreage by
about one-third or more than
6,000 acres directly (or the
war effort. They knew that
the price for oil peanuts
would not compare with that
for those going into the edible
trade, but it is just another
case where Martin farmers
and peanuts are going all out
for the war effort.
and even tor a synthetic cork.
For a relative newcomer, the
penaut plant has entrenched it
self quite solidly in the agricul
tural economy. The crop has been
cultivated in the United States
for less than 75 years. Sixty years
ago, annual production was less
than 40 million potinds.
The origin of the peanut plant
is still pretty much of a mystery.
Department of Agriculture ex
perts have concluded that it orig
inated in Brazil or Peru where it
grew wild as a shrub, and was
carried by early slave ships to
Africa. The nuts were first
brought to North America by
slave traders in Colonial days,
and apparently were used as food
for slaves on shipboard because
of their cheapness and high food
value.
For many years, the few pea
nut plants cultivated in this coun
try were confined to the Carolinas
and Virginia. Peanuts were not
used much as a food until after
the Civil War. Union soldiers were
said to have carried roasted nuts
back north with them, and in this
form they soon became popular as
a confection.
Food for Fattening Hogs
As the destrictuve boll weevil
began to move eastward from
Texas, menacing the entire south
ern crop, more and more farmers
turned to peanut growing. Many
of them grew the crop chiefly as
a food for fattening hogs, using
the plant's vines as cattle fodder.
Others sold the nuts for the oil
content, although peanut oil pro
cessing did not develop in any ex
tensive fashion until the early
years of the present century.
In the little town of Enterprise,
Ala., peanuts brought such a high
degree of prosperity in compari
son with the traditional cotton
crop that the citizens once voted
$3,000 for the erection of a monu
ment to the boll weevil?as "The
Herald of Prosperity."
Like all tropical plants, pea
nuts need moderate rainfall,
plenty of sunshine and hot wea
ther. Hence their cultivation is
centered in Virginia, the Caro
linas, Tennessee, Georgia, Ala
bama, Oklahoma and Texas. There
are three principal varieties grown |
in this country?Spanish, South
eastern Runners, and Virginia >
Jumbo, Bunch and Runner. The
crop is planted generally in April
and May and under favorable
weather conditions matures in
about 160 days. At harvesting
time the plants are ploughed up
and piled into stacks around poles
to permit the nuts to dry. Picking
machines to separate the pods
from the vines, and the peanuts
are discharged into bags. Later
they are taken to mills for clean-!
ing, grading and shelling.
Less than II per cent for Roasting
During the early days of the
ndustry, most peanuts were sold
for roasting in the shell. Nowa
days, less than 10 per cent of the
?ommercial crop reaches the pub
ic in that form. Of the total an
nual domestic production, about
15 per cent goes into candy and
confectionery, about 35 per cent
nto peanut butter, 10 per cent
or roasting and miscellaneous
ises.
Within the past few months
arge numbers of carloads of raw
helled peanuts have been sold to
Ireat Britain under the lend
-ase arrangement. The govem
nent here has also bought sub
tantia] quantities of peanut but-1
r for use as a food for the mili
ary services.
Chicago is the candy center of
he peanut candy business, and
nnual shipments to the market
; ccount for a large share of the
rop Other important peanut mar
kets are Baltimore, Boston, Cleve
land, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and
New York. According to the Na
tional Confectioners Association,
the country's candy makers use
about 200 million pounds of pea
nuts each year?the production of
some 437,000 acres.
Because of its position as a cen
tral storage and shipping point,
Chicago also receives quantities
of nuts for shipment to other
manufacturing or refining points.
Some of these supplies come by
boat via the Mississippi, others
come from the South by rail.
Peanut Batter Making
Manufacture of peanut butter,
now one of the most important
uses for the nut is a fairly recent
development. It was about 40
years ago that food researchers
discovered a palatable paste could
be made from ground peanuts, but
it took some years to gain popu
larity.
Most of the refining of peanut
oil is done in the south, although
some manufacturers of salad oils
and shortenings refine the prod
uct at their northern plants.
Among the larger refiners are
Proctor and Gamble, Swift St Co.,
Southern Cotton Oil Co., and the
Durkee Famous Foods division of
the Glidden Co.
Peanut oil can be transformed
into a variety of useful products.
It has been used chiefly in vege
table shortenings, oleomargarine,
cooking fats and salad oils. It al
so goes into soaps, shaving creams,
cosmetics, glycerine, printers inks
and pharmaceuticals.
In the past, peanut oil has had
cheaper cottonseed oil and im
ported oils; but wartime shipping
difficulties have indirectly put
peanut oil on a better competitive
plan.
Difficulties Anticipated
Planters are expecting their
share of difficulties in getting this
fall's crop harvested. TTiere is a
shortage of farm machinery for
cultivating the crop and for pick
ing the nuts. Labor is becoming
an increasingly important prob
lem, particularly in areas near war
industry plants. Scarcity of bur
lap bags has forced substitution of
cotton bags, but there are not en
ough of these to go around.
IT COSTS LESS TO VARIETY
SHOP " ANN'S J STORE
We Are Ready to Outfit Your Family
Shoes for e\erv iiiembrr of the family, dresses.
' t . j
rout- and hats for the ladies, shirts, ties and
work clothes for the men and complete out
fits for the children. It will pay you to see
our new styles in ready-to-wear before buying
your fall needs. ?
: i
Quality
HIGHER
Prices
LOWER
For VALUE, STYLE and PRICE ... It pays
to shop at ANN'S. Our storks, in the main,
were purchased before prices advanced and
if you will do your shopping here we'll guar
antee to save you money on many items of
wearing apparel.
Anil's Variety Sftore
WILLIAMSTON