racted for
60,000 bushels in the years 1844 and 1845. This nut oil is so very
useful to machinery that the naval steam cruisers on the coast have
adopted it. A ground-nut oil factory exists in the colony of Sierra
Leone; but from the want of steam power and proper machinery, and from
bad management, together with the inferior attainments of the African
artisan, when compared with the European mechanic, and their
facilities in quantity or quality, there is abundant scope for
improvement. The price in the colony is 4s. 6d. per gallon. It is
capable of being refined so as to answer the purpose of a salad oil;
the nut is prolific, and eaten by the natives and Europeans, boiled,
roasted, or in its raw state; and frequently introduced at the table
as we do the Spanish Barcelona nut at dessert. It grows in the rainy
season, and is collected in the dry, and sold in the colony for one
shilling to eighteen-pence per bushel, in goods and cash. Form of the
nut, long, light shell, contains two kernels covered with a brown
rind, when shelled white in appearance.

It is a low creeping plant, with yellow flowers; after they drop off,
and the pods begin to form, they bury themselves in the earth, where
they come to maturity. The pod is woody and dry, containing from one
to three peas, or nuts, as they are called, hence the common names,
ground-nut or pea-nut. They require to be parched in an oven before
they are eaten, and form a chief article of food in many parts of
Africa.

From a narrow strip of land, extending about 40 miles northerly from
Wilmington (North Carolina), comes nearly the entire quantity of earth
nuts (known as pea-nuts) grown in the United States for market. From
that tract and immediate vicinity, 80,000 bushels have been carried to
Wilmington market in one year.

The plant has somewhat the appearance of the dwarf garden-pea, though
more bushy. It is cultivated in hills. The pea grows on tendrils,
which put out from the plant and take root in the earth, where the nut
is produced and ripened. The fruit is picked from the root by hand,
and the vines are a favorite food for horses, mules, and cattle. From
30 to 80 bushels are produced on an acre. There are some planters who
raise from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels a year.--("Hunt's Merchant's
Magazine," vol. xv., p. 426.)

The ground-nut is exceedingly prolific, and requires but little care
and attention to its culture, while the oil extracted from it is quite
equal to th