The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-22
PEANUTS AND THE CIVIL WAR.
An Enormous Increase In the Peanut
Crop Due to Old Soldiers.
New York Sun.

New York SUM-
Il don't suppose there are many people
who know that the ever-popular peanut
first cargo of slaves that landed on our
shores said dealer in nuts and fruits,
but such is the Interesting fact. The pea
nut is native of Africa and in it's wild
state is as full of oil almost a fat pos
sum. Cultivation and change of soil have
though the nuts raised in North Carolina
secrete enough oil yet to make them in
demand IN France, where they combine with
make a great deal of the olive oil we find
in our restaurants and groceries.
And 1 don't believe there are many peo-
pie outside of those who have it who ever
heard of the peanut habit. You don't like
raw peanuts. do you! l thought not. Nc
then he wants his raw peanuts just as regu-
lar he wants his tobacco. provided he
chewS smol1es-and if he has the peanut
habit the chances are he is not a tobacco
chewer. The funny part of the peanut habit
the late war who served either in Virginia
or Tennessee or North Carolina. 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, l will
tell you that the peanut then was chiefly
a holiday luxury to the great mass of peo-
pie in this country. The day when the cir
in town, or when the county fair
showing it's pumpkins and four-minute
horse trots, or when the great and glorious
Fourth of July had come around again,
were about the only occasions When the
popular yearning for the peanut was in any
measure satisfied On these memorable oc-
casions the nut was shocked and masti-
Gated until it couldn't rest 1t was only in
the towns and large villages that the ia
vored few could have peanuts with them
always Before the war there wasn't pea
nut rooster in the whole country outside of
the big towns and cities, and the rural
dealers bought their stock already roasted
and delivered to them in big coarse bags
To-day, every cross roads from Maine to
|. California has its peanut stand and it's
Wheezing steam NJ rooster, and the great
circus day or Fourth of July than it has
on any ordinary day of the year, except
that there is a greater concentrate of
these red-letter days.
Now, then, large proportion of the
soldiers who went to Virginia. Tennessee
and North Carolina were from the rural dis
tricts of the North. So, when they got
among the peanut patches, they were, meta
phorically speaking. right in clover. At
first they roasted at their camp fires the
peanuts they pulled from the patches, but
taste for them raw, but actually preferred
them that way: The result was that the
boys discovered after a while that they
hankered after their peanuts pretty nearly
as much as they did for their tobacco, AMI
when they got home they brought the long
ing with them. What has been the conse-
quence? The demand for peanuts increased
SO much Immediately after the war that the
farmers saw the point, and garden patches
where peanuts had been grown for nobody
|
fields, which were planted with the popular
nut, and to-day Virginia, Tennessee and
North Carolina are growing something like
5000 900 bushels of peanuts a year-a result
due almost entirely to the civil war and the
contracting of the peanut habit by the SOL
dierS of both armies.
''Naturally the returned soldiers loud call
for peanuts soon placed the nut within their
reach and that of the rural population to the
furthest limit of 'wayback, and the nut
ceased forever to be simply holiday lux
ury. The floor of the backwoods grocery is
rl, Tho. 81
peanuts hot from a revolving rooster as
thickly as 1t ever was on the Fourth of
July in the olden time, and the old soldier
can get his supply of raw peanuts at Way
Back Corners just as fresh and regular, al
most as if he were still on the old camp
ground. yanking the nuts from their native
when the war broke out most of the
peanuts consumed in this country were
raised in North Carolina. great many
were imported from Africa. They were of
inferior quality. The best of the ante-bel-
lum peanuts, as matter of fact, were
poor compared with the nuts grown to-day.
In fact, even the later demand for pea
feet Of improving the quality or increasing
the yield of the North Carolina product
very much Virginia and Tennessee, though,
woke right up under the increased demand,
and improved cultivation has produced
nut especially in Virginia, that is as near
perfection as can be. For all that, many
old soldiers prefer the little. thin-shelled,
strong-aavored North Carolina nut to the
best Virginia nut. 1t seems to git there
better and quicker, veteran said to me
once.
.sWhile the Virginia peanuts are the best,
their popularity was threatened couple of
years ago Consumers began to complain
of their having a peculiarly disagreeable
taste and SMELL and they did. too. What
caused this was mystery to the trade for
a long time. Finally it was learned that
the shells of a growing crop discolored
by prolonged spell of wet weather, and
as one thing that recommends theyirginia
peanut as a favorite in the market Is Its
clean, white. glistening SHE'LL process of
In 1t certain chemicals were used that inn
pregnated the meat of the nut while clean
ing the shell. When this was discovered the
artificial cleansing Of peanut shells was