The sun., 1905-10-22
HARVESTING THE PEANUT CROP.
Busy Days at sunolk-How the Yield Ii
Handled.

SUFFOLK, Va, Oct 20.-Peanuts are har-
vested this month and this is the largest
market in the world for home grown nuts
When it is remembered that Americans
consume annually more than six million
bushels of peanuts grown in this and other
Southern States, at a cost OF more than
$14 900 600, it is not to be wondered that a
short crop has caused the producers to
demand high price.
In suitable soil the peanut will grow in
any latitude where Indian corn will thrive,
but good crop depends entirely on the cli-
mate-conditions which are found on the
Atlantic seaboard from New Jersey south
ward, in the Mississippi Valley as far north
as Wisconsin and on the Pacific coast
south to the Columbia River In the
Virginia peanut section-and it ia very
extensive one-it has been found that
where the land is properly prepared there
is little to be done in the way of cultivation
after the seeds are placed in the ground.
1t is always nip and tuck race with Jack
Frost to get the crop harvested before he
shows his work, for biting frost injuries
the nut and lessons the value OF the vines
for forage purposes. Ploughs are made for
harvesting the crop. The plough Is long
and keen and goes deep into the soil, thus
preventing the bruising Of the nuts. AS the
ploughman loosens the vines from their beds
laborers with pitchforks follow him and
remove the vines from the earth. shake
of the loose soil and pile the vines with
their roots laden with nuts in great piles.
These workers are followed by others, who
take the nut laden vines and shock them
around seven foot poles. When the shock
is finished it is capped: to keep out the rain.
and the shock is left und isturbed unit
ready for the pickers, who are generally
women and children and are paid so much
per bushel. The picking Of the nuts is
slow and tedious work and one of the
largest items Of expense to the grower.
Some ,planters have invested in threshing
machines, but nuts picked this way are not
as marketable as the hand picked, the
machine cracking and breaking the hulls.
In former years most planters had the
nuts cleaned before sending to market,
but since the establishing of peanut fac
tories the, nuts are brought in just as they
are picked from the vines. The factories
buy the output Of the planters as farmers
stock, and after a treatment OF cleaning,
polishing and sorting by both hand and
machinery the nut is ready for the con-
The factories are four story buildings,
but the machinery is neither costly nor
complicated, consisting Of fans, brushes,
polishers, sifters and separators. As the
great loads Of nuts are brought to the fac
torv they are sacked and carried to the top
floor by elevators, where the nuts are
dumped into large hoppers., Then they
pass into large cylinders on the next floor,
where they are cleaned by attrition. fans
taking out the dust as they pass around
the cylinders. From this floor tho nuts
through fans which blow out and separate
the lightweights and the others pass on to
tables on endless movable belts. At
these tables the hundreds Of negro women
and children pick out the discolored and
faulty nuts and allow the better ones to pass
on into grader which grades the nuts as to
size. Through all this machinery the nuts
have been polished until they come out
looking as clean and polished as a pearl.
In this condition they are placed in chutes
sacked in burlap bags which have been
stencilled with the names Of the several
brands, and are ready to be shipped to the
cities throughout the country.
Every year the crop Is becoming more
valuable, and. while almost all Americans
are peanut eaters, great inroads are being
made on the crop by its utilization for other
purposes. Millions OF bushels are now
being used in the Old World for the pro-
duction Of oil, which is regarded as fully
equal to olive oil. The meal or cake after
the oil has been pressed out is an excellent
food for cattle.
At least three million dollars may be
added to the value OF the peanut crop as a
direct benefit to the farmer, who turns his
hogs into the fields as soon as the crop is
furnish sufficient food for almost the entire
winter The razorbacks get down to
business when they are hungry, and with
their long snouts turn up the ground, find-
ing the nuts where they had been pulled
fsS% the roots Of the the vines The vines
oellent forage for all kinds Of live stock.