The representative., 1900-11-29

cultivated in the same way. Weeds wfll
soon choke their Growth and the pickani1-
nles on the farm are kept busy during the
summer In wedding out the patches with
their fingers Nowadays the harvesting u
done by what IL called plough, made e.
pecially for ths purpose. It 10 drawn 81 one
mule ana cuts the plants on close to the
roots. AS soon ~ enough has accumulated
on the plough to form a stack it is thrown
on and massed around short pole stuck in
the ground. The stack is formed with the
leaves outside. and the vines are wound
around 1t as tightly ~ possible. to protect
the nuts from the weather. The plan IL
somewhat similar to that Of binding wheat
About three weeks exposure seasons" the
nuts and dries the vine so that the pods are
ready to be picked.
The picking is the most expensive opera
tion OF all and takes the most time. Whether
In the barn or on the field, all the work has
to be done by hand. The nuts are thrown
into large baskets and the vines made into
large stacks or stored away in the loft for
they make a hay which is really more nour-
ishing for the average mule than timothy
The vine Is little too rough for a horses
throat, but it is a luxury to the average
Southern mule, who will grow fat on peanut
hay and nothing else. In all fields some
OF the vines will be blackened and the nuts
OF poor quality These are left the
ground and later the pigs are turned into
the field. They eat everything that Is left
except the roots The nuts are not very
fattening, but they give the porker q very
sweet flavor. The famous hams cured in
some parts of Virginia owe most of their
quality to the fact that the pigs have lived
partly on nuts before being turned into
smoked meat and have not been fed the sour
milk and garbage from the farmers kitchen
In half dozen towns most OF the peanut
factories are located. The factory is
merely place where the nut Is shelled or
the shell polished for the market. 1t is
curious fact that peanuts with clean, glis-
tening pods will sell for Is to 20 per cent
more at retail than those with large, dirty
looking pods, although the kernels may be
just as good, so the nuts intended for the
bag trade at the circus and on street COR
ners are secured in large iron cylinders.
Then they are carried to FANS which blow
the heavier nuts into one part of the factory
and the little ones into another part, and
at the same time remove the dirt which
was not taken off the shells in the cylin
ders. The dark. partly filled nuts are
shelled by machinery and sold to confec-
TONERS, while the other ones are carried
by a sort of endless chain apparatus into
bags each of which will hold about 100
pounds. AS fast as a bag is filled it is
sewed with English twine, marked with
the weight and proper address and sent to
the wholesale peanut dealer, who makes
anywhere from 25 to so per cent profit in
dealing with the Italians, who are his prin-
of the bag peanuts has gone to manufac
turers of cheap coffee, to be roasted and
mixed in with the coffee berry and then
ground, to be sold in packages as choice
Mocha and Maracaibo.
While most of the American nuts are
grown in Eastern Virginia and North Caro-
lima and Tennessee the peanut fields are
beginning to be cultivated in parts of Lou
isiana and Nebraska. Many Of the fields
in North Carolina contain apparently moth
ing but wet sand, and the dark green OF
the leaves in contrast to the whiteness of
the sand on sunny day is very striking.
Digging down six or eight feet, however.
the farmer generally comes to loan which
retains the rain and other surface water.
This nOurishe5 the plant, which requires a
very light AMI porous soil. 1t also needs as
hot weather as corn to properly mature.
After raising several crops the average pea
nut field needs to be heavily fertiiZed with
lime or marl as the plant eXhausts the soil.
During a fair year the American peanut
crop will average nearly 100000 bushels.
estimating % pounds to the bushel. This
is but a small proportion of the worlds
crop. however, which aggregates fully 55O.-
000,0 900 pounds 1t is calculated that we
eat about 10000 900 worth OF peanuts year.
ly, or 100000 bushels of the nuts either
in candy or the original kernels. The
shucks or shells form also good food for
pigs, while, as already stated, peanut vines
are first-cass fodder for mules.
Very few peanuts are eaten out of the pod
in Europe, although fully O0,000,O00 pounds
are sent to Great Britain and the continent
every year from Africa and Asia. They are
converted into oil and a sort of flour at
factories at Marseiles and several English
cities. A bushel of the genuine peanuts
sheled can be pressed into about gallon
Of oil. which is substituted for olive and
other table oils very frequently 1t sells
at from 60 cents to 81 gallon, and the
meal or flour left after pressure is used
for feeding horses and baked into kind
of bread which has large sale in Germany
and France.