Carver offered to help. He discovered that planting peanuts every other year would make the soil rich again. Southern farmers began planting peanuts, and the problem was solved.
But soon, there was a new problem. The farmers fed the peanuts to their cows, but there were still many peanuts left over. Carver got to work. He invented 325 different ways to use peanuts. Soon, people were using peanuts to make everything from cooking oil to ink-and, of course, peanut butter!