Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1885-01-30
Profits i'm Peanuts.

how they are handled. They are,
strictly speaking. a plebeian article of
diet. No one ever saw peanuts on
fashionable dinner-table or among the
delicacies at banquet, yet the amount
Of these nuts consumed annually is
simply enormous. Foreign countries
have never been educated to recognize
the good qualities of the peanut, and
consequently none are exported.
Within the last two years the raising
and handling of the "guber," as the
peanut is called in the south, has be-
come an important industry. Yet the
producing sections are confined to
eastern Virginia and western Tenncs-
see along the Cumberland river. The
largest markets for peanuts in the
world are Norfolk and Cincinnati, and
in these cities several firms do nothing
but buy and sell the poor man fruit.
About two months ago the most exten-
sive peanut commission house in Gin
cinnati removed to St. Louis, and will
trv TO make this city an outlet for the
Tennessee stock. Strange to say, ST.
Louis. although 250 miles nearer the
Cumberland river than Cincinnati, has
done only an insignificant trade in
peanuts. From the usually large
quantity of "gubers" seen at con-
fectiony stores and corner fruit-stands,
the uninitiated would naturally sup
pose that peanuts grew spontaneously.
but such is not the case. They must
be tended with great care, and the
crop is very valuable. Last year the
total yield was comparatively light,
being about 100000 bushels, while
this season the crop is over $500, 600
bushels. last year they sold at y
cents pound, while this year they can
be had at 81 cents. The peanut grows
very much like a sweet potato, and the
vine resembles the red clover. Wher-
ever new leaf starts out a tendril is
formed, which extends into the
ground. The average yield is from
thirty to seventy bushels to the acre,
and there are about one hundred pea
nuts on each vine. The article is "A
good one Tor speculation, and money
can be made by judicious investments,
because peanuts do not detoriate with
age and keep their tast for years. The
expense OF raising them is twice that
of corn. The reason of this is that the
fruit must be picked by hand, which
is slow and laborious. The average
annual consumption is over two mil
lion bushels. OF course, the con-
sumption depends upon the price to
great extent The experiment of cul-
tivating peanuts in California was re-
Gently attempted with signal success,
and the Golden state will probably be-
come a rival of Virginia as a peanut
producing locality. A few are raised
in North Carolina, Missouri and Ar
kansas, but the two states referred to
grow nine-tenths Of all the peanuts
used in the world. A good deal of
skill is required in handling gubers.
They are shipped in the rough, and
the process of cleaning and grading
is done by the wholesale purchaser.
The peanuts are emptied from sacks
into a large bin and are run through a
fan which separates the chaff. Pass
ing down through another fan, the
light nuts are thrown aside and the
meaty ones run along a groove, when
the black and inferior stock is picked
up by girls, and when the mats reach
the packing-room there are two grades.
During the various processes through
which they are sent the nuts be come
clean and polished. OF course they
must be roasted before people will eat
them. AS soon as the river will per-
nit boat will be sent to the Tennes-
see river to buy up as much as posi-
bic of the pranut crop there, and if
possible secure portion. if not all. of
the Cincinnati trade. Peanuts are al
ways staple article, and il st. Louis
succeeds in turning the market here
it will be worth thousands of dollars in
a business way-St Louis Globe DEM
Orrnf