Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-03-06
DOOMED THE PEANUT
A MERCHANT SAYS THAT is ONE os
THE THINGS DONE BY THE WAR.

CrSp Due TO the Oiu Soiulers-A steady
Demand, No Longer Limited to Fourth
Of July and Circus Days.
II don't suppose there are many people
who know that the ever popular peanut
came originally to this country with the
first cargo Of slaves that landed ON our
Shores, said dealer in nuts and fruits,
s'but such is the interesting fact. The
peanut is native of Africa, and in its
wild state is as full of oil almost as a fat
postum. Cultivation and change of soil
have greatly reduced its oleaginous quail
ity, although the nuts raised in North Car
olina secrete enough oil yet to make them
in demand in France, where they combine
with their African progenitor and cotton
seed to make great deal of the olive oil
we find in our restaurants and groceries.
And l don't believe there are many
people outside of those who have it who
ever heard of the peanut habit. You don't
like raw peanuts, do you? / thought not,
No one does until he acquires the habit,
and then he wants his raw peanuts just as
regular as he wants his tobacco, provided
he chews or smokes, and if he has the
peanut habit the chances are he is not
tobacco chewer. The funny part of the
peanut habit is that it prevails only among
veterans of the late war who served either
in Virginia or Tennessee or North Caro-
lima. These are the states where the bulk
of the peanut crop is grown.
Perhaps you can remember how things
were before the war. If you can't, will
tell you that the peanut then was chiefly u
holiday luxury to the great mass of people
In this country. The day when the circus
was in town, or when the county fair was
showing its pumpkins and four minute
horse trots, or when the great and glori
Gus Fourth of July had como around
again, were about the only occasions when
the popular yearning for the peanut was
in any measure satisfied. On these mem
orable occasions the nut was shucked and
masticated until it couldn't rest. 1t was
only in the towns and large villages that
the favored few could have peanuts with
them always. Before the war there wasn't
a peanut rooster in the whole country out
side of the big towns and cities, and the
rural dealers bought their stock already
roasted and delivered to them in big,
coarse bags Today every crossroads from
Maine to California has it's peanut stand
and its wheezing steam rooster, and the
great American nut has no better stand
ing on circus day or Fourth of July than
it has Oh any ordinary day Of the year, ex-
cept that there is greater concentration Of
energy as to its shocking and chewing Oh
these red letter days.
Now, then, q large proportion of the
soldiers who went to Virginia, Tennessee
and North Carolina were from the rural
districts of the north. So when they got
among the peanut patches they were,
metaphorically speaking, right in clover.
At first they roasted at their campflres the
peanuts they pulled from the patches but
it wasn't long before they not only ac
quired taste for them raw, but actually
preferred them that way. The result was
that the boys discovered after awhile that
thoy hankcred after their peanuts pretty
nearly as much as they did for their to-
bacco, and after they got home they
brought the longing with them. What
has been the consequence? The demand
for peanuts increased SO much immediate
ly after the war that the crop didn't begin
to supply it. Wide awake farmers saw the
point, and garden patches where peanuts
had been grown for nobody knew how
long were abandoned for broad fields,
which were planted with the popular nut,
and today Virginia, Tennessee and North
Carolina are growing something like
5000, 900 bushels of peanuts year. q re-
suit duo almost entirely to the civil war
and the contracting Of the peanut habit
by tho soldiers of both armies.
Naturally the returned soldiers loud
call for peanuts soon placed the nut within
their reach, and that of the rural popula-
ton to the further limit of Way Back, and
the nut ceased forever to be simply holi
day luxury. The floor of the backwoods
grocery is how Uttered nightly with tho
shucks of peanuts hot from a revolving
rooster as thickly as it ever was on the
Fourth of July in the olden time, and the
old soldier can get his supply of raw pea
nuts at Way Back Corners just as fresh
and regular almost as if he were still on
the old camp ground, yanking the nuts
from their native soil.
''While the Virginia peanuts are the
best, their popularity was threatened IA
couple of years ago Consumers began to
complain of their having peculiarly dis
agreeable taste and smell, and they did
too. What caused this was mystery to
the trade for q long time Finally it was
learned that sometimes the shells of a
growing cropare discolored by prolonged
spell of wet weather, and, as one thing |
that recommends the Virginia peanut al
favoritc in the market is its clean, white, |
glistening shell, process of cleaning tho |
damaged crop was invented. In it certain |
chemicals were used that impregneted tha
meat of the nut while cleaning the she'll |
When this was discovered, the artificial! |
cleansing of peanut shells was discon- |
tinued until the difficulty in the process
could be remedied, which has been done.
Norfolk is the greatest peanut cen
ter in the world, about 1000, 600 hush |
els being handled there during the year. |
1t is a pretty sight to see peanut planta-
ton when the vines are in blossom. Tho |
blossoms are bright yellow and the vines |
a vivid green. No, the nut does not grow |
from the blossom. As soon as the blossom /
appears, though, fine branch forms on |
the vine and shoots down into the ground. |
The peas, as the nuts are called on the |
plantations, form on the shoot beneath the |
ground, like potatoes. When the crop is
gathered in October, the vines are plowed |
up, and the nuts hang {, their roots. |
Vines and all are piled in cocks in tho
field, and in 90 days the nuts are ready 10
be pulled off, placed in bags and taken to
the factories. There they are cleansed OF
dirt, assorted into different grades and
Il