Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-02-20
PEANUT INDUSTRY.
Peanut Oil Sold for Genuine
Olive Oil.
PROCESS OF ITS MANUFACTURE.
The Best Grades for the Production of Oil
Come From the Valley of the
Senegal, Africa.

The American peanut industry -four
ishes mostly on account OF the craving
of the small boy. Wholesale commits
sion merchants and grocers ship the
raw nuts from the south in great, rough
sacks, and they are sold out in small
quantities to the street corner fruit
yenders. But the charms of the pudgy
paper bag with its two little ears hold
their own with difficulty against the
wedge of sticky candy with its con-
glomeration Of nuts. Besides the sale
in these forms confectioners within the
last few years have been making good
many salted peanuts, and some persons
prefer them to almonds
But outside of the consumption Of
peanuts in one of these forms-and the
yoracity of the small boy makes the
quantity enormous-the peanut has no
other known use in this country. The
known" is used advisedly, for many
person with epicurean tastes who
orders salad at downtown restaur-
ant and pours over it what he believes
to be rich oil Of the olive is only
using product of the humble peanut
Indeed, so fine is the peanut oil made
in foreign countries that it is difficult
for even the most expert dealers to tell
it from the genuine olive oil. Being
great IDEAL cheaper, it is therefor much
used as substitute.
The manufacture of peanut oil in
Marseilles, France, and in Germany
has grown to be, within the last ten
years, great industry, and it has no
competitors in this country to hamper
its growth. The peanuts used come
largely from the east and west coasts
of Africa, Mozambique, India, the
United States and very few from the
Argentine Republic. The best grades
for the production of oil come from the
valley of the Senegal in Africa, yielding
about 81 per cent of oil in weight.
The American peanut is smaller in size,
but much finer in grain and of far
better flavor. The oil, however, is not
of as good quality and the nuts yield
only about AZ per cent. of oil.
The process of expressing the oil is
similar in good many respects. to that
used in the cotton-oil mills of the
south. Most of the nuts are imported
shelled, owing to the greater ease with
which they are shipped. AS soon as
they reach the factory they are placed
i'll machine which Lresembles the
American tanning mill for wheat, and
the dust and pieces of she'll are blown
out. They are then elected into a
cylinder, through which they are pro-
PEELED by an Archimedean screw to a
pair of heavy iron rollers, through
which they pass and are crushed.
These rollers are so constructed with
springs that if a hard body, like peb-
BILE or piece of iron, gets between
them they will spread apart enough to
let it through.
Passing the first crushing machine
the partly broken nuts are carried for
ward to the second, where the pressure
is greater. and they are again crushed.
From here they are bolted through a
sieve, the finner peanut flour" as it
is called, shaking through and the
coarser remaining to be ground over
again. The -four is conveyed along by
means of another Archimedean screw
to pair of mill-stones similar to
those used in an old-style -four mill.
As it sifts out of the spout it is carried
to large vat, where it is slightly
heated and then pressed into 'scourtins",
or woven bags of horse hair. The
soourtins are conveyed to the hydraulic
machine, where they are subjected to
the tremendous pressure of 1850
pounds to the square inch and left for
an hour. At the end of that time all
the oil that can be obtained in the first
yield, about 40 per cent. has been ex-
tracted. This is the most valuable pro-
duct of the nuts. 1t readily brings
from 81 to So per 100 pounds and is a
fine, clear oil of about the color of olive
oil.
After the first pressure the meal is
removed from the scourtins and raised
to temperature Of about 158 degrees,
after which it is again pressed and
this time yields about 13 per cent. of
oil. This second pressing is worth
only about half as much as the first.
Besides the use of the oil for salads
il. is extensively devoted to the manu-
facture of fine white soaps, for which
France is noted. The greater proper
tion Of it is consumed in this way.
The finer parts Of the first pressing are
also used extensively in the manufac-
ture of oleomargarine and other COM
pounds placed on the market as substi-
tutes for butter.
The shells and husks of the peanuts
are sometimes ground up and fed to
cattle, but for the most part they are
regarded as valueless.
But the refuse left in the scourtins
after all the oil has been extracted is
becoming yearly more valuable. In
deed, it is now regarded in Germany
as the main product of the oil factories.