Peanut
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Peanut. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a plant of the pea family having the remarkable habit of bearing its pods on underground stems. Also called groundnut and goober. There are several species. Botanically the peanut is a peapod and not a root at all. Peanuts are planted in rows and cultivated like beans which they resemble in many ways, except that the fruit stems run underground. Peanut plants are grown best in light, sandy soils and are lifted when harvest comes by a specially constructed implement known as a peanut plow, which tears the plants out and shakes them free of soil. The peanuts are then pulled off by hand, dried, cleaned from dirt, bleached, and sent to market in large sacks. They go twenty-two pounds to the bushel. Peanuts form an important article of food among certain African tribes. Naturalists are of the opinion that our peanut is a native of Brazil. Its cultivation in the United States prior to the Civil War was restricted to the southeastern part of Virginia. The great number of Northern soldiers encamped in that region acquired a taste for the peanut, and on their return made it known all over the United States. Virginia still leads in the production of peanuts, with an annual yield of over 3,700,000 bushels. North Carolina comes next with nearly as many. Then come Georgia and Alabama. Tennessee raises nearly 1,000,000 bushels. The peanut belt now reaches from Virginia southward and westward through the Gulf States into Texas. The total annual production as given by the last United States census was nearly 12,000,000 bushels, an average of 23.2 bushels per acre. The farm value was sixty-one cents a bushel or a total value of $7,271,230. An estimate for 1905 adds one-half to these totals. In 1908 we shipped 250,000 bushels abroad. Peanuts are used for home consumption, and in the making of confectionery. Peanut oil and peanut butter are also in the market. Peanut vines cut green and properly cured make excellent forage for horses and cattle. Peanut pasture is very acceptable also to hogs. The French use peanut oil as an adulterant for olive oil, in soapmaking, and as a lubricant. Children who are fond of peanuts will understand this riddle: Little yellow twins were they, Both neatly dressed in red. I broke into their yellow house And took them from their bed.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the pod of the Arachis hypogæa. The plant is an annual of diffuse habit, with hairy stem, with two paired, abruptly pinnate leaflets. The flowers above ground are sterile, and the pods or legumes are stalked, oblong, cylindrical, and about one inch in length. After the flower withers, the stalk of the ovary has the peculiarity of elongating and bending down, forcing the young pod under ground, and thus the seeds become matured at some distance below the surface. As to the native country of the peanut the opinions of botanists are divided between Africa and America. It is extensively cultivated in all tropical and subtropical countries, especially in America, Africa, India, the Malayan Gen. Earl Van Dorn, and a series of Archipelago, and China. The plant affects a light sandy soil, and is very prolific. The pods when ripe are dug up and dried. When roasted they are sweet and palatable. Vast quantities are used in confectionery and the manufacture of peanut butter. The nuts yield an excellent substitute for olive oil. Before the World War the world production of peanuts was over 600,000,000 pounds, of which the United States contributed 5 per cent. PEANUT OIL. Arachis Oil. A pale yellow oil with the characteristic odor and flavor of peanuts. Specific gravity 0.919. Soluble in all common oil solvents. Obtained by pressing peanuts, either with or without the application of heat. Pressing usually takes place in first in the cold, when the three stages, first choicest oil is ob obtained, then at a temperature of about 30° C., when a lower is , and finally, at a grade oil produced temperature of 55° C., the product being used in soap manua dark colored oil facture. The better grades of oil are deodorized by treatment with live steam, and bleached with fuller's earth or bon. Refined peanut oil is largely used as a salad oil and for culinary purposes.