Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-10-28
PEANUTS.
s3,OOO,OOO Worth Annually
Eaten by Americans.
Nov York Star.

o EAcnange until within q week Oh
So" said a dealer who is supposed to
handle tWo-thirds Of the 400, 900 bush
els brought yearly 20 this market.
There is not much speculation in
them just at present because the crop
is uncertain; but in a few weeks big
deals will be made in them. There's
more money in peanuts than in corr
or cotton, and wheat is nowhere. No
one seems to know anything about
peanuts here in the North, and yet
the crop is something enormous. Vir-
ginia alone viii produce this year not
less than 100000 bushels, Tennessee
100000, and North Carolina 1850
bushels, perhaps.
II suppose a considerable portion Of
the crops is devoted to the production
of peanut oil?" quired the reporter.
"OiR There's not one pound of pea.
nuts made into oil in this country.
That is a popular delusiOn. AT one
time it was manufactured in large
quantities as a substitute for olive oil,
and for ~lubricating and lighting pur-
poses, and during the wal the entire
crop Of the South was devoted to pro-
dueing it, when other oil was scarce.
Now cotton seed oil has driven it out
of the market both in this country and
in France, where the production Of
peanut oil was once very large. Nine
tenths of the oil that comes to this
country labeled pure olive is bogus.
and is made either from peanuts or
cotton seed-principally the latter,
The peanut oil manufactured in France
is made from the African peanut,
which is grown by the negroes in
Guinea, and can be bought in Mar
settles for a cent and a half a pound.
1t has more oil than our nut and is
is about one-third as costly.
"Our peanut was brought originally
from Africa and introduced in the
South forty years ago by the negroes
1t was first grown in North Carolina,
and afterwards in Virginia and Ten
nessee. The Virginia soil. which is
loose and sandy, is best suited to the
crop, and the finest peanuts come from
the district included by tho James
river and the Appomattox.
"The North Carolina nuts used to
be considered the best twenty years
ago, when they were first raised for
the market, but the Virginia nut has
driven them out. In Virginia they
call them peanuts, as we do, but in
North Carolina they are called
ground peas, in Tennessee growers
and in Alabama and Mississippi pin
ders.'
Nov here are some African pea
nuts. You will observe that they are
very small-about a quarter the size Of
ours-but compact and full of meat.
In this paper are some Spanish nuts,
the same size as African but finer; the
kernel about as big as a large pea;
10000 bushels of them have been
imported this year. Plant one Of these
little fellows ia Virginia soil and you
will have as the result the ordinary
Virginia peanut, four times the size.
1t is the soil that makes the differ
.ence."
80 the peanut is used entirely for
eating purposes in this country"
Yea, and nearly the entire $3,00O,-
900 worth consumed yearly-28,0 00,-
000-passes through the hands of the
vendors on the street corners. For.
merly all the peanuts were prepared
by the farmers, but now they are
bought up in lots and rendered mar
ketable in factories. The peanut, as
you may know, is a vine which bears
blossoms and sends out shoots, which
in turn put forth from each joint what
are called pegs These pegs enter
the ground, and at a distance Of about
half an inch from the surface the
peanut forms and is developed. The
shelled nut used as seed is planted in
May, and about the LIST Of October the
negroes turn up the vines with a pillow
or with pitchforks, and they are heaped
up in shocks to dry in the sun. They
are then picked off by hand and are
bought up in lots by the large
dealers, who prepare them for the
market by cleaning and asserting
them according to grade. The bags
containing the peanuts are first
cut open and their quality judged,
as No. l, No. 2, etc. They are
then thrown into a hopper and pass
through a revolving cylinder of stats,
which cleans them, and thence
through a chute into a tanning mill
and on to lo1g tables Of endless can
vas betting, where the bad ones are
picked out. This operation performed,
theg are done up 10 sacks ready for
market, labeled and branded. Among
the best brands are the Maud S .
Oscar Wilde p. D. g. Diamond
G., aud plain g. with a p outside.
THE nut cake as it is called,
which remains after the oil is ex-
pressed from the peanut, is valuable as
fodder, and is sometimes ground as q
substitute for coffee. 1t is not known
in this part Of the country to how
many uses the peanut can be put.
They will produce half their weight
in an oil which is valuable for lubri-
eating purposes, aud which serves ad.
mirably for lighting as well as pro.
viding a good substitute for olive oil.
Various dishes can be made Of them,
such as soup, salad, croquettes and an
excellent imitation Of baked beans.
In Virginia forty bushels to an acre
make a good crop, but in Tennessee
sixty or seventy bushels are nothing
very extraordinary. As l said, how.
ever, the Tennessee peanuts are not
considered so fine.
THE half million bushels which
come to this city yearly pass through
the hands Of half a dozen commission
merchants who deal chiefly in the ar
ticle, and from whom they are bought
by the peanut vendors. Tha. Is all, !
think, that | can tell you about pea.
nuts, except that the demand is con.
stantly increasing, and this call OIL
peanuts in the exchange is going To
make speculation in them very brisk. y
"Peanuts-six per cents offered, FIVE
bid" said the clerk behind the tall
desk, and the reporter made his way
to the street, his pocket bulgeds Out
with various samples from Africa
I Cr.sw NIL n..-E-. II Wit