The age-herald., 1900-04-01
PEANUT INDUSTRY
 IN TENNESSEE

Nashville Correspondonce of the New York
 Evening Post
 TAe peanut crop of 1S9) is nearly 100000 bushels heavier than the crep of 1898, and prices are correspondingly lower. Last year prices reached as high as six cents. They are now selling at five cents. Tennessee experts think the total yield in sight this seasdn will reach nearly 4,5oo000 bushels of tyenty-two pounds each. The bulk of the crop is produced in Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina. The American yield con- stitutes but a small proportion of the pea nut crop of the world, as the exportation from Africa and India to Europe is nearly 4O000O000 >pounds annually, half of which goes to Marseilles to be made into oil
 The running variety is the typical Amer ican peanut. Its vines are large, with spreading branches, growing flat on the
 ground, and bearing pods over their entire length. The pods large and white
 There are many o:tler varieties grown,
 some of them being upright bushes instead
 of vines. On the markets are what are known as Spanish nuts used principally by confectoners. They first came from Spain
 but were transplanted into Tennessee and
 Virginia, where they have thriven and now are grown in large quantities, and
 are very fine. The total crop in this coun-
 try of this variety averages 10000 bags of no pounds per bag
 It is only within the last twenty years that peanuts have been shelled by machn- cry. With the increase in their production machines had to take the place of the old slowvgoing methods and experience has taught that the consumption has always kept pace with the increased supplies made available by improved machinery A great impetus was given to the business de- cade ago when many farmers of the cotton belt determined to stop growing cotton and raise vegetables. Peanuts found early fa- vor with these growers and now vast quantities are annually harvested in the middle southern states. A calcareous soil, with not too much lime, is necessary, and l under such conditions the yield runs from 1 thirty to forty bushels per acre.
 l There about twenty peanut factories l in America. They are located principally in l the peanut growing sections. The capital l required for starting mill is comparative | iy small which is one of the reasons that | make 1t difficult to form trust. There Is | factory al Waverly which handles five tons | of peanuts daily. The daily receipts from | this min are 235 gallons of refined oil. which l sells for $1 per gallon; 175 gallons of crude | oil at 30 cents; '9,6Se pounds of four and
 meal at 2 cents and 3,S00 pounds of stock
 feed at 60 cents per hundred pounds. mak-
 ing the total gross receipts $4l5 90 per day.
 which averages an annual profit of s19,725.
 An extensive grower does not take the
 trouble to separate His peanuts from vines
 and dirt when he has dug his crop, but | sends everything to the factory. There they | are put in mill, vines, dirt and all. They | are placed in hopper and fed into re- l yolving cylinder, which cleans them by | friction, sending the dirt leaves, and vines | out by a suction p, pc. The nuts remain in l a cylinder. and they are fed out upon a | revolving "slat-table," the slats resting | upon canvas, from which negro women l pick out those of the first grade known as l "fancy." These selected nuts are fed from
 the table into chutes and thence into bags
 and labelled fancy hand-picked." The re-
 mainder are run over a second revolving
 slat table, fed into chutes, and packed in
 bags branded "eXtras." ~-. j.
 Four grades are sorted, the first three
 being sold to vendors, and the fourth ito
 confectioners for making burr:e el,aonds and cheap candies. The Al0,000000 worth
 of peanuts America uses are not counted in
 the staple food, tout are eaten at all inter-
 vals as a luxury. The country fast year
 imported a small quantity of peanuts from
 South Africa. But, on the other hand, | America does a heavy exporting business
 to Europe. Foreigners do mot eat them as | Americans do, but grind t'he11i .Ta.r neal. l They also make oil of them, which is re- | sold to Americans as "ollve oil" The nuts l are very rich in o 40 per cent of the
 shelled nut being oil. Peanut oif Is used | as a lighting oil, but gives a dull flame. l After the oil is extracted, rs1e cake which | remains is sold for $3o ton and fed to \ cattle and sheep.
 | Peanut butter is the latest of the many | uses to which the little nut Is put, and Is l becoming an important commercial product l Peanut butter is made by grinding the nuts | very fine and reducing the mass to pastry | substance, portion at least. of the larpe amount of oil contained being removed l Some salt is added for favorng, and the | result is cheap and nourishing spread.