AR′ABLE (ăbl). Syn. Arab′ilis, L.; Arabile, Labourable, Fr.; Pflügbar, Ger. In agriculture, fit for or under tillage or aëration; ploughed.
Arable Land. In agriculture, land which is chiefly or wholly cultivated by the plough, as distinguished from grass-land, wood-land, common pasture, and waste. See Land, Soils, &c.
ARACHIS HYPOGÆA. Syn. Ground Nut Plant. Hab. Cultivated throughout the tropics of the Old and New World. Officinal part. The oil of the seeds (Oleum Arachis, Ground Nut Oil). Obtained by expression. Limpid, clear, light yellow, almost inodorous, or with a faint smell and bland taste. Sp. gr. 0·916.—Prop. and Uses. This oil affords a cheap and excellent substitute for olive oil for pharmaceutical and other purposes.
The following notice, by the Editor of this
work, appeared in ‘The Veterinarian’ for October, 1876:—
“Having in the course of my analytical practice had occasion to examine some samples of Marseilles earth-nut cake, I take the opportunity of communicating the results obtained, in the hope of furnishing interesting information respecting a material which is chiefly employed in the sophistication of the more expensive feeding cakes, but which I think might in some instances be with advantage substituted for them.
“Arachis seeds constitute one of the varieties of food termed pulse, and the oil which exists in them to the extent of from 40 to 50 per cent., is rapidly being introduced in the making of soap in this and other countries. It is an article also of the Indian Pharmacopœia.
“By pressure the seeds yield all but about 7 per cent. of their oil, and the material which remains after the expression of the greater part of the oil is sent into commerce as earth-nut or ground-nut cake.
“Sometimes the husks of the seeds are first removed and only the kernels subjected to pressure for the sake of the oil; the cake so produced is called ‘decorticated earth-nut cake,’ at other times the entire seeds are subjected to this treatment, and then the resulting cake is known as ‘undecorticated earth-nut cake.’
“The following table shows the composition in 100 parts of both descriptions of cake, as well as that of linseed cake of first-rate quality; the last analysis being added for the sake of comparison:—