The weekly true Democrat., 1908-01-03
l PEANUT SECTION
g Takes n Portions Of Virginia
an6 North Carolina.
yoRMoys CROPS IT Grows.

MiastSsn Counties IN tss TIVE statss
p ---eauee aR Average of Twelve Mll-
&sR 8ushbla Vsar-Tks Way ths
FpSthsOH,s eosber Crews.
eaGolk. Va. b the greatest peanut
nlDping point In the world. Moro Of
tla delicious goObeFs are raised in
Neosemon6 county. OF which sufrOIk
= the capital. thsa In any other cOun.
~ on earth.
81 one takes the, map and draws q
psncii mark &ound nineteen counties
IA eputkeastern Virginia and northeast
oEn North Carolina be win put u fence,
so 50 speak, around the greatest pea
nut section Of the world. Those cOun.
tfe1 are: In Virginia, NansemOnd. Nor
fe1k, Isle Of Wight. Southampton. Sus-
sax. Greenville and Prince George; in
North Carolina. PasGuOtank. PerGui-
mans. Gates. HEREFORD. Chowan, North
annpfon, Halifax. EdeecOmbe. Martin,
Pitt Bertie and Washington.
This territory, which is within a ra.
diyla OF $50 miles, from Norfolk, pro
dnces 100000 bags Of peanuts every
year Every bag contains four BUSH
eIs. 80 that 100000 bushels is the
average annual production. The ship
ping centers Of this belt are Suffolk,
N0sfoik. Petersburg and Smithfeld. all
IN Virginia. Some peanuts are raised
IN tennessee and iCaIifornia, but the
crOp OF those states is a bagatelle as
compared with the production Of the
virgInia-N North Carolina territory.
TIE shelled peanuts are planted
shout the middle Of May by means of
q drill, similar to a corn drill, which
drops one or two kernels In a place,
about twelve inches apart. The soil
that raises the best peanuts Is light.
sapdy loan. It need not be rich. In
fact. a great deal Of Virginia land that
was considered in the antebellum days
too poor to raise anything on is now
eSS1ueiRS great quantities OF peanuts.
Very little cultivation is required.
Peanut lands are usually plowed only
once or twice when the plants are
small to choke out the grass.
The digging time Is October, when
the peanut leaves turn yellow. A plow
II run under the peanut vines. and
throws up the COOLERS after the fash
ion Of digging potatoes In the north.
Poles seven or eight feet tall are stuck
into the ground. and the vines are
shacked around them. with the peanuts
next to the pole. so that the leavtS md
vines form protection from the
weather. II the weather be bright and
cloudless While the peanuts are curing.
90 much the better. II rain sets in. the
hulls become blackened and mildewed.
which lessons the value Of the crop.
Formerly all peanuts raised were
picked from the vines by hand. Now
machines Similar to thrashers separate !
fully 70 per cent Of the peanuts from |
the vines. No machine has been In
vented, however, that Will do this |
work perfectly. The tendency Of ma
chimes Is to crack the hulls, and ped
nuts with cracked hulls are likely to |
spoil.
When the peanuts are separated from
the vines the farmer sacks them and
haulS them to a factory. and his work /
cnub Iner8 OeuVefeu Rt Inebe 80
called Factories" bis nuts bring TO
cents a pound leach bushel Containing
twenty-five poundsJ for the best grades
and IA cents to cents a pound FOR
I0wer grades. The nuts still have on a
generous coat OF dirt.
Az the factory" they are dumped
first into a drum where the dirt is re.
moved and a powder is mixed with
hem to brighten aud polish them. AT
the same time two fans separate the
light and shriv0led nuts from the per
Tsct ones The nuts are then dumped
" slowly revolving tables. where ne
no women and girls continue the
process Of separating the good from
.he bad
when the nuts are cleaned and sspa.
'afsd they are carefully sacked ana
yradcd according to quality and are
hen cold at 4Ia to 61s cents a pound TO
otbers all over the country. From the
obbeEs they 1nd their way to street
readers, candy manufacturers and fac
Oefes that MAKE peanut butter and
= Il