Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-11-15
The JUicy Peanut.

The Juicy Peanut.
Although millions of dollars are
now spent annually in peanuts, says
the New York Sun, yet peanut-farm
| ing moves along in the same old
groves that it followed twenty-five
years ago The farms are about the
same size as they were then, namely,
from twenty-five to fifty acres. A
very few have 100 acres. From ten to
twelve negroes are employed on a
farm. While growing, the vines re
semble dwarf beans, and a glance
across a field remind you of stSnted
hHckleberry patch. The nuts are
drilled in hills a foot apart and in
rows two and one half feet apart
After the crop stands in shocks it is
left for two or three weeks, until it is
thoroughly dried or cured. When the
peanuts rattlein the shells the shocks
can be taken down. Negroes gather
around them, pull the nuts from the
vines, and pitch them into wagon.
When dried ON the barn floor the nuts
are put into plain bags and carted be-
hind a mule or horse team to the
machine man. as the capitalist in the
city is called by the farm employees.
The machine man now handles al
most all of the farmers crop before
they reach market. These middlemen
sprang up six or seven years ago, and
are adding to their numbers every day.
In Norfolk, Va, are the largest con
Germs. These nuts are taken to the
top floor of the building and
secured by keeping them revolving in
contact with one another in a
long cylinder. Then they are sent to
the lower floor through spouts and
put through a tanning mill Attach.
ed to the tanning mill IS an endless
apron of Stats revolving across a table
after the fashion of a horses tread
mill in a threshing machine. Around
this endless wooden apron, twelve or
fifteen feet long and two feet wide,
sit women and girls, about dozen
on each side who with nimble fin
gers, sort the nuts as they travel on
ward. At the end of the table are
spouts and the task of the employees is
to place the nuts on the apron in long
lines, so that the nuts of the best
grade shall tumble into one spout,
and of a second grade into another
spout, and of third grade into a
third spout. These spouts empty
their contents into bins upon the
floor below, where men are ready to
put them into sacks.
Queer trademarks are used In the
middle of bag is figure in vermil-
lion, of a race-horse, a rising sun, a
shield. or irrational flag, or still more
singular emblems, while the design is
surrounded by lettering in intense
blue. The nuts are sold IN New York
under the names 'Virginias" evil
mingtons, - "Tennesees, and "Span-
ish," Spanish nuts were first known
here three or four years ago. They
are the best nuts for the finest pea
nut candy. The meat is small, rich,
bright and heavy. Formerly they
were grown in Spain; now they are
raised in Virginia. The grades are
known as fancy hand-picked, Eek
ira hand-picked, and choice "
They have been sold by the pound in
wholesale stores for three years or
less. Shelled peanuts are scarcer
now than they have been before in
ten years. They are shelled by ma
chinery in Virginia. The poorest
nuts are the screenings. Men who
peddle nuts at country fairs or at
watering places, like Coney Island
buy screenings and mix them with a
better grade. Their profit can't be far
from 1000 per cent. In different
states the nut is known by different
names. In Virginia they are called
peanuts" in Tennessee, "goubers; :"
in North Carolina, ground nuts
or ground peas" and in Alabama
and Mississippi ''pinders. "