Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-01-29
CULTURE OF THE PEANUT.
Particulars About an EatabIe Boys
and Girls are Fond or.

native OF Africa, where Il Is the princI-
pal food OF soms OF the Congo tribes;
but four or five species OF the nut are
found growing wild in Brazil. Its crI-
ttvatlon has been successfully intro
duced into SPAIN
In this country it is raised principally
IN the States OF Virginia, North Caro-
Ina and Tennessee, and has been moie
recently cultivated in California.
The culture of the peanut Is not diff
cult. Land suited TO the raising of
coco or melons Is generally selected.
and care Is taken that there is nothing
IN the ground that would stain the
shells Planting time begins when the
danger to plants from frost has passed
The ground Is plowed i've or six inches
deep and then narrowed. The nut. are
ttkenfrom the pods with n breaking the
skins, are planted two VI suree together
IN rows about three feet apart aud
twenty inches from hill to hill, and are
covered with two inches of earth.
When IN a short time the vine IL eight
or ten inches long and begins to bios
som II is covered with an Inch of SOL,
care being taken to leave the tip end
uncovered The vines blossom pro
fuSely with small yellow flowers, and
as the flower fades away sharp pointed
stem grows out from It's base, turns
downward and buries Itself in the
ground; on the end OF the stem a thick
shel.ed pod forms and enlarges rapidly.
All the care that IL necessary after the
stem returns to the ground is to keep
the land free from weeds In October.
when the nuts are ripe, the ftrmer
loOsens the earth and pulls up the
vines, TO which the nuts adhere, and
turns them over to dry. He performs
this work only in pleasan: weather, and
when the ground is dry. After the
vines have lain in the sun for day,
which il generally sufficient time for
drying them. the over stacks them
around stake about five feet high
HANDLING THE CROP.
The vines remain IN stack from three
! to tive weeks, after which the nuts are
picked OF, placed in sacks and sh pped
10 market. y vine under favorable
oEdItiOus often bears more than a
hundred nuts, an the Yield per acre
averages forty bushels Most of the
Virginia and North Carolina crop.
which is about two-thirds of the whole
crop OF the country, is marketed in
Norfolk and Petersburg, Va; the rest,
"sNA NAAC "AAtAG NANH Va ANHAOoolc -
carried TO st. Louis or Cincinnati. In
each of these cities are factories where
the nuts as Trey are delivered by the
| farmer are bought. The nuts as they
appear at this stage, with earth and
their stems still clinging to them, are
hardly to he recognized as the bright
nut We afterwasd DIS see on the corner
stand. To polish them, and to remove
I the earth aud stems, the nuts are
secured in large iron cylinders from
which they pass through blast fans, In
| which a strong current Of air separates
| the fully developed nuts having sound
| kernels from those imperfectly filled,
| and from empty pods. The sound nuts
| fall through the fan upon picking Ia
| bles, where th-se which are diScolOIed
are taken out, and the bright ones are
pissed Gil into SACKS which will each
| hold abolt one hundrei pounds OF nrtS-
| Each sack is marked with the brand
which indicates the grade of its con-
| tents. The dark and the partially filled
! uutS are shelled, and the kernels are
| used by confeclioneTs IN making peanut
canIy. The work of picking over and
; parating the nuts Is performed by IT,
tie girls, about twenty of whom are
emVlOye1 at every table.
| nECc vi RGduuSo bAOH a.
| in this country, the white, the red and
the Spanish. The white, which is the
most important variety, has nut with
| two kernels with pink skins; its vine
| spreads a'ong the ground, IN this re-
spect unlike that OF the red variety
which grows more upright and in =
bunch. The pod Of the red nut holds
three and sometimes four kernels, and
las q deep rel skin. The Spanish Is :
murh smaller nut, with lighter Skin
and milder flavor than either OF The
others possesses. The ent re crop L
shclled, and used special y i'll that rict
c injection known rs nOugat. The his
tory of the competition between the
home product and the imported peanut
is interesting aud gives Ole some ldei
of the impo t.ince of the peanut trade
INCREASING DEMAND.
| In 1872, AMI for several years pre-
| yious, there were aInu.I'.y import
mt New York half million bu hel.
# peanuts. the greater part OF which
came from Africa aud the rest iron
Span. Tue American farmers gradu
ally awakened TO a perception OF th'
| profits TO be made by raising the nut
Melon atches were tunnel into peanu
fields, and ID 1873 the seed of tie Sran
| sh nut was planted in Virginia Ih'
proluct WA fond 10 equal that OF th'
foreign nut, and As it cost two or three
cents 4 pouud less to make the crop, i
WAS no. long before the imported nu
was driven from the market. AT pres
eut Virginia, Nor Il Carolina and Ten
Lessee count ''gouber IA sing as one
their chief Industries
| l.. - ha fln of peanut
in he Unite States was .eSs than 1--WE
m;li,on bushels. In l 81 the amour
had IrcG easel to fcUr and a third mil
lion bushels, all OF which was eiten II
tne United 81 ties and Canada In
feman for peanuts has tTeoled IN Ia
u ,st few Years, and tie crop has neVe
, been sufficient to supply the demand
Tus price of peanuts vIries according
10 the sup,ly. The average Price las
y, ar VAS live cents 4 pound America
. AVERAGE crop which is estimated a
: rbr.a million bushels, represents
: valu,, of tllrea million three hundre'
| tbpusanI Il liars at wlo!essile price
= | .Ttts ue.II,ut IS n more us-ful produc
, tI,an peopls in general think It TO be
we all know how eagerly II Is souGh
after in the roas ed state help D
; .nioy a baseball match or clfcus- ou
a rs use in the roasted form oy no lns d Il
4 ,n,,sures the extent of its value, or .
+, y,,rIsty of uses to which ii is put IL
,,uts contain from AZ to 90 per cent Q
i a nearly colorless. bland, liked oil
a ,vbicb resembles Give oil, ami Is use
D for similar pu poses. The oil IS prime.
, pa pa Is employed in the manufacture &c 2
$ the diner grades of soap. In 1888 WI
I'm, began to manufacture peano
i!our. which Smakes a srecniisriy psia' ~