nd by the improper use of
names, which tended to mislead and confuse. Its common appellative,
the earth-nut, has led to the conclusion that it was a species of nut,
such as is known in England under the name of "pig nut," "hawk nut,"
and "ground nut." This, as well as the "earth chesnut," belongs to a
totally different genera. On the Continent and in the East Indies a
similar confusion had long existed by the appellation of "ground
pistachio," which caused the fruit to be confounded with the nut of
the tree _Pistacia vera_. Some resemblance, on the other hand,
existing between these--as well as from their being eaten by different
nations, and used as an article of food, and also for producing
oil--rendered the true description still more difficult. Botanists
are, however, no longer at a loss, having well established the nature
and character of all these plants. The Arachis "nut" partakes of the
nature of the pea or bean of our own country, and is a low annual
plant of the order _Diadelphia decandria_ of Linn.; originally from
Africa, but now extensively cultivated in every quarter of the globe.
It has been naturalised in Europe, and with the climate of the South
of France it may be turned to good account.

It has been said to be indigenous in Florida, Peru, Brazil, and
Surinam; but the plant may be grown on a light sandy soil, under a
moderate heat, equal to that of Italy or the South of France. The
class to which it belongs approaches to the pea tribe; but its
remarkable difference to this, as to the pulse we know as a bean, is
the circumstance of its introducing its fruit or pod--if we may so
call it--into the earth, for the purpose of ripening its seed. The
Arachis, or earth nut, has obtained its name from this operation. The
flowers, leaves, and stems are produced in the ordinary manner we see
in the pea tribe. When the yellow flower has withered and the seed
fertilised, there is nothing left but the bare stem which had
supported it. This stem, in which is the germ of the future fruit and
pod, now grows rapidly in a curved manner, with a tendency to arrive
shortly on the surface of the ground, into which it penetrates this
now naked stem, and sinks into the earth several inches. It is in this
obscure position that the fruit takes its ripened form, and is either
gathered from its hiding place or left to the future season, when its
time of rising into new existence calls it from what was thought its
unnatural positio