n.

When mature, it is of a pale yellow color, wrinkled, and forms an
oblong pod, sometimes contracted in the middle; it contains generally
two seeds. The nuts or peas are a valuable article of food in the
tropical parts of Africa, America, and Asia. They are sweetish and
almond-like, and yield an oil, when pressed, not inferior in use and
quality to that obtained from the olive. The leaf resembles that of
clover, and, like it, affords excellent food for cattle. The cake,
after the oil is expressed, forms an excellent manure.

The Arachis is usually sown in dry, warm weather, from May to June,
and are placed at the distance of eighteen inches from each other.
Insects are fond of them; and if the season is cold and unfavorable to
them, or the growth retarded, they become musty and bad, or are eaten
by insects.

The mode of obtaining the oil is nearly the same as for other pulse or
seeds; and under favorable circumstances the Arachis will produce half
its weight of oil. When heated and pressed the quantity is very
considerably increased. This oil is good for every purpose for which
olive or almond oil is used. For domestic purposes it is esteemed, and
it does not become rancid so quickly as other oils. Experiments have
been made on its inflammable properties, and it is proved that the
brilliancy of light was superior to that of olive oil, and its
durability was likewise proved to be seven minutes per hour beyond the
combustion of the best olive oil, with the additional advantage of
scarcely any smoke. In Cochin-China and India it is used for lamps. It
is known as Bhoe Moong or Moong Phullee in Bengal, and as Japan or
Chinese pulse in Java.

From China this plant was probably introduced into the continent of
India, Ceylon, and the Malayan Archipelago, where it is generally
cultivated.

In South Carolina the seed is roasted and used as chocolate. The
leaves are used medicinally.

It is grown in Jamaica, and there called Pindar nut.

That the culture of the Arachis in warm climates, or even in a
temperate one, under favorable circumstances, should be encouraged,
there can be but one opinion. And when it is considered that its
qualities are able to supersede that of the olive and the almond,
which are but precarious in their crops--to which may be added, that
as a plant it is greedily devoured in the green state by cattle--how
much may it not serve to assist the new settler in regions of the
world which have a clima