Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-06-05
Peanuts.

Great quantities of peanuts are raised in
South America. and in eur own country in
and south of Virginia. A few have been
raised as an experiment in Colorado. Where
the culture is made specially, good corn
land is considered the best, provided it is not
of reddish color. The reason for this OBJ
lection is that the red soil stains the shell Of
the nut and dminishes the price. Burrows
are marked off about three feet apart, and in
these two peanuts, with the shells removed,
are dropped at distance of foot and half.
They are covered with not more than two
inches of earth, and are cultivated until the
pods begin to form. In the process of form
ing the pods, the plant, of course, grows
above ground. and is fourishing twining
vine, with many trailing branches. The leaf
is composed of four small leaflets, and the
blossom is small, sometimes yellow, some
times dark purple. The pod, which is
formed after the flower falls off, is attached
to strong curved stalk that bends down.
ward, and as it grows gradually pushes the
pod below the earth. Here. if the stalk is
kept intact, the fruit enlarges and develops
a thick shelled nut an inch or more in length.
slightly contracted between the two seeds
which it CONTAINS; three are sometimes
formed but two is the usual number, and if
in any way the stalk is disturbed the fruit
will stop growing.
The nuts are not harvested until after the
first frost; then the vines are dug up with
forks or pronged hoes and left two or three
days to dry. after this they require couple
of weeks in which to be cured, and during
this process are either laid by in stacks or
put kunder sheds for shelter. Then the
goubers. or peanuts, are picked from the
vines and cleaned ready for market. Like
NV hi p al 90 in fhis world and tb1, hol
mixed with the good, the foolish with the
wise, the worthless with the most useful !;
here there are always good many empty
pods-they are called "pops," and all must
be looked over, that these may be rejected.
Picking BY hand is considered very slow
work, as the best hands cannot pick more
than three bushels per day. To facilitate
this work picking machine has been invent
ed and used successfully; so we see the COM
monplace gouber has to do with inventions
and machinery, and no doubt has its place in
the patent office. The value of the nuts de-
ponds, among some dealers upon the clean.
bright appearance of the shell. TIE accom-
plish this they are placed in a revolving
cylinder and become polished by being
rubbed together. The whitest pods are
bleached in the fumes of burning sui
phur. One hundred bushels to the acre is
considered an excellent crop, and in some
States lie more profitable than cotton or to-
bacco. There are two varieties raised in this
country, one much larger than the other,
known as the virginia-the smaller, the Car.
| DINA. Virginia supplies many of the North
ern and Western States. Last year the Weld
in the United States was over 1900, 900
| Bushels, of which Virginia furnished l,l5O,-
| 600 bushels, Tennessee 600, 900, and North
| Carolina 100, 900 bushels. They are shipped
| in sacks to wholesale dealers, containing
from $50 to 160 pounds, and bring seven and
| eight cents per pound. Street vendors make
| a profit also, even taking into consideration
| their license and the patent oven used for
baking. Next comes the confectioner. who
is well pstronized by many who, affecting a
distaste for the vulgar gouber, find it delecta-
BILE when disguised in sugar, and fiavoring
extracts.
While large quantities Of peanuts are eaten,
their principal use is in making oil. The
seed contains from 40 to so per cent of a
| nearly colorless, bland fixed oil. not unlike
| olive oil, and is used for similar purposes 1t
is non-drying oil. which changes but little
by exposure to the air and remains fluid even
at several degrees colder than 80 degrees
Farenheit. The best quality of oil is OBJ
tanned by cold expression, the inferior, of
which more is procured, is extracted from the
seeds by heating them before they are
pressed.
The oil is used chiefly in making soap.
Some of the finest toilet soaps imported from
France are made from the oil obtained from
| peanuts. Twenty years ago the importation
of nuts from Africa to Marseilles alone
Amounted to 6,000,0 900 bushels, their value
being over %. 900, 900 francs.
| The seeds OF the peanut are used in making
chocolate, that delicious beverage more 10
demand among the fastidious French than
the much-indulged in cafe aulait, more nour-
ishing than ''the cup that cheers but does not
inebriate," more soothing than the best old
rye or the finest of cognac, and for this we
are indebted to the despised commonplace