The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-01-22

More than seven million bushels
of homegrown peanuts are annually
consumed by Americans, at a cost
Of more than $14,300,O00; but one
can not wonder at these startling hg-
nres after an investigation here IN
the very heart of the peanut indus
trv-the largest market in the worIu
for the most valuable nut which
grows in the earth, says Suffolk
Va, dispatch.
Suffolk has the largest peanut
factory in the state, while Smith
field has one which turns out year
" an average of 100000 bags, val
ned at $1.5O0,OOO, and other points
Norfolk, Wakefield, Franklin, Wa
verify and Petersburg-all have large
factories.
The extent of the use of the pea
nut by American people can better
be appreciated when it is understood
that this heavy annual consumption
does not form a part of the regular
articles of food, but is eaten at odd
times by young and old, rich and
Door, white and black. 1t is an in
teresting fact that the peanut-unl-
versally known in the south as the
sgoober" or 'pindar '-did not come
prominently before the American
people until after the trying days of
the civil war, during which period
the boys who wore the blue and the
boys who wore the gray found that
the peanut sections of the southern
states furnished a most satisfactory
camping place for those who were
short of rations, a condition the SOL
diers of both sides often found them
selves in. 1t was then that they made
meals off the peanuts and felt thank
full that such nger-satisfying nuts
could be obtained by a little fOrag-
ing. From these tToublOuS times un-
til the present the rapid spread Of
the culture of peanuts has been con-
tinuous, and once where only a
small patch" was planted there are
in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennes-
see and other southern states being
not uncommon.
Peanuts in Different States.
Possibly the finest peanut grown
is the bunch" variety but the Vir-
ginia running is the most widely
known and most popular with the
trade, and may be taken as the typi-
cal American peanut. The pods are
large and white and will weigh
about twenty-five pounds to the
bushel. In point of flavor, size and
hardness of hull these are the finest
peanuts raised, and the "selects"
from these are known as the jun
bo."
Tennessee produces the white and
red, and both are excellent nuts, but
not so large as the Virginia raised.
North Carolina has what is known as
the African variety, small and full
of oil, but pleasant to the taste The
African peanut is claimed by bota-
nists to be the original but excel
lent authority gives the peanut as a
native of Brazil. Louisiana finds the
Spanish, a small but prolific nut, best
suited to the climate, and immense
quantities are grown. Greenville
county, Virginia, grows annually
over one-fourth million bushels of
this variety. The 'goober grabblers ="
of Georgia and South Carolina like
the small white and red nut, the
same as grown in Tennessee, and
each succeeding year shows an in
crease in production. Other south
ern states grow different varieties,
and the "goober" crop can always
be depended upon as a safe one.
1t has been successfully demon
strated that on suitable soil the pea
nut will grow in any latitude where
Indian corn will thrive, but a good
crop depends entirely on the climate
conditions which are found on the
Atlantic seaboard from New Jersey