The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-09-12

that way myself. But such isn't the
case, for they grow in the ground like
potatoes.
Down here peanuts are called ground
nuts, and ground-peas, while those who
want to show their familiarity with the
''classics" call them ''goubers." "Gou-
bers" has sort of Latinish sound. Or
is it more of a Cherokee sotfnd9 For my
part give it up. One thing is fact,
they are cultivated with no more trouble
than is required for the tomato.
While Twas looking up the subject the
other day. found that some better fell
low had travelled over the road before
me, and had done the work so much
better than could do it that ]. know it
will be Welcomed here. -.
WHAT THE. OTHER FELLOW SAYS:
although millions of dollars are now
spent annually in peanuts, yet peanut
farming moves along in the same old
grooves that 1t followed twenty-five years
ago. The farms are of about the same
size as they were then, namely, fiom,
twenty-five to fifty acres. A very few
have one hundred acres. From ten to
twelve negroes are employed on farm.
While growing the vines resemble dwarf
beans, and glance across field re-
minds you of stunted huckleberry
patch. The nuts are drilled in hills a
foot apart and in rows two and half
feet apart. During the summer the hoe
is kept busy clearing out the weeds and
piling a little mound over every peanut
plant When the crop is to be gathered
horse drags plow like potato plow
through the long rows, and the vines
are turned up to the air. Then groups
of negroes are sent into the fields armed
with long-tined potato forks. With these
the vines are tossed up into the air and
freed from dirt. Other negroes follow
and pile the vines in shocks as high as a
tall man can reach. The shocks are
built around a rail driven perpendicular
ly into the ground. The pile is prevent
ed from tipping over by taking up each
vine In both hands and placing it on
either side of the pole, thus binding it.
The lower end of the plant on which the
nuts grow is placed next to the pole.
This method is employed in order that
the shell of the nuts while drying may
not mildew by exposure to wind, rain,
and sun. After the crop stands in shocks
it is then left for two or three weeks,
until it is thoroughly dried out or cured.
When the peanuts rattle in 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 almost
all of the farmers crops before they
reach the market. These middlemen
sprung up six or seven years ago, and
are adding to their numbers every day.
In Norfolk, Va. ARE the largest concerns.
The nuts are taken to the top floor of
the building and secured by keeping re-
volving in contact with one another in a
long iron cylinder. Then they are sent
to the lower floor through spouts and
put through tanning mill. Attached
to the tanning mill is an endless apron
of Stats revolving across table, after
the fashion of horse's treadmill in a
threshing machine. Around this end
less wooden apron, twelve or fifteen
feet long and two feet wide, sit women
and girls, about dozen on each side,
who, with nimble fingers, sort the nuts
as they travel onward. 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 nuts of the
best grade shall tumble into one spout,
of the second grade into another spout,
and of the third grade into third spout.
These spouts empty their contents into
bins upon the floor below, where men
are ready to put the nuts into sacks. 1t
requires a peculiar soil and long season
to produce peanuts in perfection, and
they are cultivated for commercial pur-
| noSoe onl,, in n fam couptiae in Tannas-
see, Virginia and North Carolina; one
or two counties in southwestern Ken
lucky occasionally have some to sell, ,and
in some other parts of the South they
are produced in quantities sufficient for
local consumption. Virginia is the
largest producer, and furnishes fully
one half of the commercial supply.
Tennessee comes next, and North Caro-
lima is third in importance. OF late
years California has produced some pea
nuts, but they are all consumed on the
Pacific coast, and do not enter into the
question of supplies in our market"
A WORD FOR OUR SIDE.
Now I'd like to attach a psnultimate,
as it were, to this subject, but the other
fellow seems to have gobbled not only
the kernel, but the whole peanut, shell
and all. But if you think you would
like to try your hand at peanut farming
can't give you better advice than to
come to North Carolina, for here YOU
will find the peculiar soil required, the
length of season, cheap land, and one Of
the finest, and most healthful climates
in the world. f. p. WOODWARD.
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Naked Lamps in a Mine.
PoTTsvILLE, Sept. 9.-An explosion