The peanut plant, or groundnut as it is also called, has a hairy stem and the leaves usually grow in sets of two pairs each, on the extreme end of each little branch-stem. The pod or nut is situated at the end of a separate stalk, which is longer than the leaf-stems, this stalk having the peculiarity, after flowering, of bending down and pushing the fruit into the earth. After the peanuts have reached their full growth, they are dug up very much in the same way as potatoes, a machine potato digger now being extensively used for this purpose.
[Illustration: MACHINE POTATO DIGGER DIGGING PEANUTS]
Alabama is named after the Indian word which means “Here we rest;” Alaska comes from the Eskimo word “Alakshak” or “Alayeska” and means “The main land;” Arizona is the result of the Indian word “Arizonac,” meaning “small springs” or “few springs;” and Arkansas is sort of a mixture of the Indian “Kansas,” which means “smoky water,” and the French prefix “arc,” meaning “bow” or “bend.”
California comes from the Spanish words “Caliente Fornalla,” or “hot furnace;” Colorado, also from the Spanish “colored,” from the red color of the Colorado River; and Connecticut, in Indian, means “long river.”
Delaware was named after Lord De la Warr; Florida originated from the Spanish “Pascua de Flores,” which means “Feast of Flowers,” because it was discovered on Easter Day; Georgia was called after King George II of England; and Hawaii is a native name peculiar to the natives there, although Captain Cook called it part of the “Sandwich Islands” after Lord Sandwich.
Idaho is Indian, meaning “Gem of the Mountains;” Illinois is another mixture of Indian and French, the Indian word “illini” and the French suffix “ois” meaning “tribe of men;” and Indiana and Iowa are both plain Indian, the former standing for “Indians’ land,” and the latter, “beautiful land.”
Kansas and Kentucky are Indian, too, Kansas meaning “smoky water” and Kentucky “at the head of the river,” or “the dark and bloody ground;” and Louisiana is named after Louis XIV of France.
Maine and Maryland each come from abroad, Maine being called after the Province of the same name in France, and Maryland after Queen Henrietta Maria of England, consort of Charles I; while Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Missouri are all from the native Indian language, meaning, in the order in which they are given, “place of great hills,” “fish weir,” “sky-tinted water,” “great father of waters” and “muddy;” and Montana traces back to the Latin word “montanus,” meaning “mountainous.”