Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-08-12
THE Peanut Crnn.

New York Commercial Bulletin.l
The importance of the peanut crop.
from a commercial point Of view, is
more and more appreciated each year,
and there is now a larger amount of
capital invested ia the business than
ever before. There are a number of
prominent firms in this city who make
the handling Of peanuts a speciality.
and the transactions recorded by them
amount in the aggregate to figures
that are somewhat surprising. A
leading authority in the trade saws
that the prospects this year for the
peanut crop were never better, and be
estimates that there will be an i'm
prOvement over last year of thirty per
cent at the very least. There is a
greater acreage planted than ever be
fore, aud farmers have learned by
scientific methods how to raise alarger
percentage than formerly. At one
period forty bushels of peanuts to the
acre was considered a good yield, but
now, with the aid Of modern science.
sixty bushels is very common, and it
frequently reaches as high as eighty
bushels to the acre. The principal.
or In fact the only source Of supply for
New York is Virginia, not only on ac-
count of superior tr~ansporta.
ton facilities, but also because
ct the superior quality Of the article.
The other peanut producing states are
Tennessee and North Carolina, their
crops going principally to Baltimore,
Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago and
other large cities in the west. Of the
Virginia crop, fully seven.sixteenths
of the entire production comes to New
York, and the kind most in favor is
that known as hand-pieked, The Sc.
lect portions of the crop are put into
a hollow cylinder about twenty feet in
length, which revolyes by machinery
and brightens the nuts. They are
then emptied on to a canvass apron.
which moves slowly over a cylinder,
and, as they pass along, women and
children stand by and PICK out such
imperfect pods as have heretofore
escaped detection. Those that pass
inspection are then put in bags, and
are then ready tor the market. They
are called hand. picked" and com
mand the highest price. This system
Is getting nor and more into favor
every year, and it is predicted that
before long there will be none other
received here, as New York will take
none but the best quality.
The receipts of Virginia peanuts at
this port up TO the end of July aggre-
gate about 10000 bags. equal to
about 42S,0W bushels. The season
begins md ends about the middle Of
October, aud il is estimated that by
that time The receipts here Will
amount TO about 4SO,000 bushels.
against $4,000 bushels last year.
This is exclusive of tue peaa0tS which.
arrive hers already she I'D ami are
used for confectionery purposes. The
total value o. the New York supply is
estimated at 1j28,000, making the en-
tire value of the Virginia crop to be
in the neighborhood of 81, 900.
The price of hand picked Virginia pea
nuts in this market at present ranges
from 81 to 81 cents per pound and for
the ordinary kind about Al cents a
pound. Tennessee peanuts are worth
about 81 to 81 cents a pound at Gin
cinnati, and if brought here they
could not be sold for more han that.
Ii is said that peanuts are IN such
growing demand all over the United
States that the production has in
creased more than three-iourths since