The Portland daily press., 1900-12-29
THE PEANUT FARMER.
How ne Grows and RsrvesJs the
Toethsome Crop.

This is the nut with which the Italians
load their wagons and sell in paper bags
on the street corners. The real peanut
which answers to the Rhode Island clam
Is smaller than the goobcr. The kernel Is
about the size OF large pea, and its fla-
vor Is sweeter than the other variety. II
is grown principally in North Carolina
and Tennessee. Occasionally a few get
into bag OF goobers but very seldom as
they are shelled and sold for from 10
cents to Is cents peck more than the
others. They go into candy paste and to
the oil factories of Europe.
The peanut farmer begins planting as
soon as the frost is out of the ground in
the spring. The shelled nuts form the
seed, and about two bushels are required
for an acre. In few weeks the plant
gets above the earth and begins to leaf
out. A field of peanuts looks much like
a field of clover, and during the war
many OF the northern soldiers mistook
clover fields for peanut patches while
hunting for something TO vary their ra-
tions. The plants grow in rows, very
much like potato vines, and are cultivat-
cd in the same way. Weeds will soon
choke their growth. and the pickaninnies
On TUT htDl uury NHt
summer in wedding out the patches with
their fingers. Nowadays the harvesting
is done by what is called piow, made es-
pecially for the purpose. II is drawn by
one mule and cuts the plants off close to
the roots. AS soon as enough has accu-
mulated on the pillow to form a stack IT Is
thrown off and massed around a short
pole stuck In the ground. The stack is
al H.. Ia A.
vines are wound around it as tightly as
possible to protect the nuts from the
weather. The plan is somewhat similar
to that of binding wheat About three
weeks exposure seasons" the nuts and
dri8s the vine. so that the pods are ready
to be picked.
The picking is the most expensive oper-
alton of all and takes the most time.
Whether in the barn or on the field, all
the work hns to be done by hand. The
nuts are thrown into large baskets aud
the vines made into large stacks or stored
away in the loft, for they make a hay
which is really more nourishing for the
average mule than timothy. The vine is
a little too rough for IA horses throat, but
1t is q luxury to the average southern
mule, who win grow fat in peanut hay
and nothing else. In all fields some of
the vines will be blackened and nuts of
poor quality. These are left on 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 a
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 upon nuts before being
turned into smoked meat.
In half dozen towns most OF the pea
nut factories" are located. The factory
is merely place where the nut is shelled
or the shell polished for the market. 1t is
a curious fact that peanuts with clean.
glistening pods will sell for Is to 90 per
cent more at retail than those with large,
dirty looking pods, although the kernels
may be- just as good, so the nuts intend
ed for the bag trade at the circus and on
street corners are secured in large iron
cylinders. Then they are carried to fans,
which bow 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 of
the shells in the cylinders. The dark,
partly filed nuts are shelled by machin-
cry and sold to confectioners, while the
other ones are carried by sort of end
less chain apparatus iEto bags, each of
which will hold about 100 pounds. As
fast as a bag is flied II is sewed 18th
English twine, marked with the weight
and proper address and sent TO the whole
sale peanut dealer. OF late years a guam
tity of the bag peanuts has gone to
manufacturers OF cheap coffee, to be
roasted and mixed In with the coffee ber-
ry and then ground, to be sold in pack
ages as choice Mocha and Maracaibo.
While most OF the American nuts are
grown in eastern Virginia and North
Carolina and Tennessee. peanut fields
are cultivated in parts of Louisiana and
Nebraska. Many of the fields in North
Carolina contain apparently nothing but
wet sand. Digging down six or eight
feet, however, the farmer generally
comes to a loan which retains the rain
and other surface water. This nourishes
the plant. which requires very light and
porous soil. 1t also needs as hot wealth
er as corn to properly mature. After
raising several crops the average peanut
field needs to be heavily fertilized with
lime or marl as the plant exhausts the
soil.
During a fair year the American pea
nut crop VIII average nearly O.OUU,UUU
bushels, estimating % pounds to the
bushel. This is but small proportion
of the worlds crop. however, which ag-
-gregatos fully 550.000,000 pounds. 1t is
calculated that VIC eat about $i0.000,000
worth of peanuts yearly, 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
a first class fodder for mules.
Very few peanuts are eaten out OF the
PSI in Europe, although fully 100000
900 pounds are sent TO Great Britain and
the continent every year from Africa and
Asia. They are converted into oil and a
sort OF -four at factories at Marseiles
and several English cities. A bushel of
the genuine peanuts. shelled can be press
ed into about a gallon OF oil, which Is
substituted for olive and other table oils
very frequently. 1t sells at from GO
cents to 81 a gallon, and the meal, or
-four. left after pressure is used for feed
ing horses aud baked into kind of bread
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