The substance found within the fruit is used for food, and it is sometimes infused and used as a drink, which is very cooling and useful in fevers. The seeds, one of which is found in each fruit, are semi-transparent and very hard. Beads and other ornaments are made from them.
Amid the tropical growth of the west of Africa the oil palm flourishes. Its products furnish the incentive to an immense commerce, attracting European ships to coasts once given completely over to the slave trade.
Along the tropical coasts the cocoa palm grows, while along the Gambia River vast quantities of a species of plant called the groundnut are extensively cultivated. Nine million bushels of groundnuts have been exported during one year from the valley of the Gambia.
This plant has a peculiar habit of thrusting its pods into the ground for the nuts to ripen; hence the name groundnut. Vast quantities of oil, resembling olive oil and used for the same purposes, are obtained by crushing the nuts. A bushel of nuts will usually yield a gallon of oil.
The plant grows like a trailing vine, with small yellow flowers. After the flower falls, the stalk on which it grew grows longer, and, bending downward, the pod on the end forces its way into the ground to ripen.
The vines are dug up by means of a pronged fork or hoe. They are then spread out to dry, and finally stacked up to become thoroughly cured.
The pods are first picked by hand from the vines, and then cleaned in a fanning mill to clear them of dust and chaff. Sometimes they are bleached with sulphur before they are packed for market.
The groundnut forms one of the chief articles of food in some sections. It is sometimes eaten raw, but is usually roasted. Recently an interesting account of the process of making a meal from groundnuts appeared in one of the daily journals. The experiment had been tried, in the German armies, of using this meal in place of others obtained from the various cereals. It was found on trial to be very nutritious,—far more so than oat or rye meal.
By actual experiment, not only did the soldiers thrive upon porridge and bread made of this meal, so rich in vegetable oils, but they became very fond of it as a daily food and ate it with good appetite, even in their soups.
As the cost of the meal is very slight, it will be a matter of economy to make groundnut meal one of the ingredients of the daily food of the German soldier. Arrangements have already been made to import large quantities each year from Africa for use in making meal for army consumption in Germany.