Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1903-11-27
PLENTY OF PEANUTS.
and the supply Seldom
Runs Short.

aAS SAOEts
While there is an acknowledged
scarcity of almost everything else in
plentiful. They are taking up more
loom than anything else just now, in
many of the commission houses
around Washington market The crop
from Virginia is just coming inland
Virginia peanuts are the best in the
world. They reach New York by boat
IN 100-pound bags, and are sold to
pushcart vendors at five and six cents
4 pound. Imported peanuts are sold
FOR two or three cents a pound less,
even after paying 20 per cent duty,
says the New York Times.
If the retailer or pushcart man has
no rooster, the wholesaler will roast
his peanuts for him. This is not done
nearly so much as it used to be. The
peanut trade of the metropolis, so far
as it affects the man in the street, is
almost entirely in the hands OF
padrones. They send men out with
the carts and pay them on salary or
commission.
The peanut plant grows all over the
world, wherever the weather is warm
and moist Therefore, persons who
love to hear the tunefu1 squeak Of the
peanut vendors whistle, these chill
autumn evenings. need never fear
scant supply. If the Virginia and
Carolina crops fail there are others.
But the product of the peanut plant is
not called peanuts. except in the United
States. Peanuts are not roasted and
d. 49, iV1
the dominion of Uncle Sam. In Eng
land they are called monkey nuts, and
are sold unroasted to children who
like to feed animals in the menageries.
In South American countries they are
called ground nuts, and in some parts
Of Australia and potato kidney bean"
The peanut plant thrives best in
sandy soil, where the climate is moist,
but where heavy rains are not fire.
quent- The seeds terminate very
readily, and throw out long, trailing
vines, sometimes reaching a length of
eight feet. A peanut field in cultiva-
ton looks very much like a potato
patch, except that the flowers are yell
low and the standards are veined with
red. After poisoning the stalks be-
come elongated and hang toward the
ground, not merely dropping, but
bending isturdily and persistently I'M
til they actually burrow their way into
the earth. In a very little while they
penetrate to a depth of three or four
inches, and when they are ready to
pick must be dug out again, like SO
many potatoes. The sandy soil is
stripped from their roots and they are
taken away in baskets TO dry.
A good crop will often yield one
bushel of peanuts to each plant. The
vine is very tenacious of life, and is at
tached to ground in which it was
planted. After peanut fed has been
cleared to make room for other crops
the vines will spring up again and
defy interlopers in the form of corn,
watermelons and pumpkins. Year
after year the plant reappears and
chokes off all invaders. This tenacious
quality has not been noticed in other
countries, but it is well known to
growers in the southern states. In
New York peanut vendors do not go
in for fancy roasters SO much as they
do in some cities of the west and
south. In Chicago one firm has a large
force of workmen doing nothing else
Dut Hdh.nS peanut TOdSt0FS. some OIL
them, mounted on wheels, cost from
800 to $3.50. The common tin rooster
seen on the carts of New York vendors
cost ten dollars.
In some parts 81 Africa peanuts
(eaten raw form the principal article
of food. In other countries they are
ground fine, pressed and yield about 90
per cent. of an excellent non-drying
oil. The finer grades are considered
the equal of olive oil. Large quantities
of inferior grades of peanuts are
shipped to Belgium from Africa, where
they are manufactured into lubricating
oil, and are exported to this country in
that form. A substance is made from
them that is used in the manufacture
of chocolate and of soap. It has late
ly been discovered that peanut shells
are useful in the manufacture of paper.
Needed Dispatch.
A Paris newspaper on one occasion
made blunder which excited no small
amount of merriment at the expense
Of man of yooI foIanf Tho foIJOxp;po