Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1908-01-01
THE PEANUT SECTION
Ii Takes In Portions of Virginia
and North Carolina.
ENORMOUS CROPS 1T GROWS.
Nineteen Counties In tho Two States
Produce an Average of Twelve Mil
lion Bushels Year-The Way the
Toothsome Goober Grows.


Produce an Average of Twelve Mil
lion Bushels Year-The Way the
Toothsome Goober Grows.
Suffolk. Va. is the greatest peanut
shipping point in the world More OF
the delicious COOLERS are raised in
Nansemond county, or which Suffolk
is the capital. than in any other coun-
~ on earth
II one takes the map and draws a
pencil mark around nineteen counties
In southeastern Virginia and northeast
ern North Carolina he will put fence
so to speak. around the greatest pea
nut section OF the world. Those coun-
ties are: In Virginia, Nansemond. Nor
folk, Isle OF Wight, Southampton. Sus-
sex, Greenville and Prince George: in
North Carolina. Pasquotank. Perqui-
mans. Gates. Hartford. Chowan, North
ampton. Halifax, Edgecombe. Martin,
Pitt. BERTHE and Washington.
This territory. which is within a ra-
dius OF $50 miles from Norfolk, pro-
duces 100000 bags of peanuts every
gear. Every bag contains four bush
els. so that 100000 bushels Is the
average annual production. The ship
ping centers OF this belt are Suffolk,
Norfolk, Petersburg and Smithfeld. all
in Virginia. Some peanuts are raised
In Tennessee and California. but the
crop OF those states is n bagatelle as
compared with the production of the
Virginia-North Carolina territory.
The shelled peanuts are planted
about the middle Of May by means Of
drill, similar to corn drill, which
drops one or two kernels I'm n place,
about twelve inches apart The soil
that raises the best peanuts is light,
sandy loan. 1t need not be rich. In
fact n great deal Of Virginia land that
was considered In the antebellum days
too poor to raise anything on is now
producing 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. 4 pillow
IS run under the peanut vines and
throws up the COOLERS after the fash
lon 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 leaves and
vines form protection from the
weather. If the weather be bright and
cloudless while the peanuts are curing.
so much the better. If rain sets In. the
hulls become blackened and widowed.
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 20 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 10 crack the hulls, and pea
nuts with cracked bulls 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
ends there. Delivered at these so
called factories" his nuts bring 3 to 8
cents n pound leach bushel containing
twenty-five pounds) for the best grades
and IA cents to cents n pound for
lower grades. The nuts still have on a
generous coat OF dirt.
AT the factory" they are dumped
first into a drum where the dirt is re-
moved and a powder is mixed with
them to brighten and polish them. At
the same time two fans separate the
light and shriveed nuts from the per-
feet ones. The nuts are then dumped
on slowly revolving tables, where ne
gro women and girls continue the
process of separating the good from
the bad.
When the nuts are cleaned and sepa-
rated they are carefully sacked and
graded according TO quality and are
then sold at AZ to 6l5 cents q pound to
Jobbers all over the country. From the
Jobbers they find their way to street
vendors. candy manufacturers and fac
tories that make peanut butter and
salted peanuts.-Exchange