The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-03

Juice. When the strip begins 70 boil
add two pounds OF unroasted shelled
peanuts. and cook slowly until the
peas are tender and the strip sunicisnly
hard to break when colo The cook
ing process should continue for about
an hour. when tho mixture may DO
poured out on butterej patters to cool
The cultivation Of peanuts was until
recently confined almost wholly to
areas In Virginia. Tennessee. the Caro-
Ilnas. and Georgia. but during the last
ten years II has spread throughout the
South Atlantic States, and even a. far
West Is California Properly speaking.
The plant. however. has the peculiarly
Of ripening its fruit. or nut be-
meath the surface of the soil. When
the small yellow blossom fades and
falls. the stem that supported It slon-
gates and thrusts the sharp-pointed
ovary downward into the ground
where the pod develops.
& Potato digging machines are usually
employed nowadays for loosening the
peanut vines from the soil when the
pods are ripe. Then the vines are
placed in small stacks. heaped up about
q central stake to cure. Al. o rule. the
picking OF the pods IL done by women
bushel for the work. An expert
picker can handle from eight TO twelve
bushels day. Machines. however, are
now coming into use for the purpose.
From the fields the peanuts 90. 70
the factory" whore they are cleaned
and separated into grades. In addition
the best ones are treated to . polish
ing process. which renders their ap.
pearance more attractive. modern
peanut factory II q building Of four or
five stories. supplied with power.
lighted with electricity, and provided
with elevators and bins for handling
and storing the uncieaned nuts.
When the peanuts are received 81
the factory. they are first weighed and
then elevated to the top floor of the
building. During the cleaning and
grading process they descend by grav-
itation through fans and graders Ito
classify them according to sixe,) are
agitated In the polishing drums togeth-
er with q small quantity Of marble dust
to whiten and polish them. and finally
are passed on slowly moving belts
between lines OF women, who pick out
and remove all refuse and empty pods
The peanut vine or straw from which
the nuts have been removed 10 Of
considerable value for the feeding Of
tive stock. The ash from the. shells
used In the factory a. fuel 10 valuable
rs fertilizer. containing as much -
. per cent of phosphorus acid. pcr
cent OF potdShs anu por SOht "a A'n''s
The thin brown envelopes OF the peas
have a feeding value almost equal to
that of wheat bran. It Ia an interest
ing fact by the way. that the famous
Smithfeld hams and bacon come from
hogs that are partially fed on peanuts
the practice being to turn the animals
into the peanut fields after the CROP
has been gathered. allowing them 10
CLEAN the pods that were lost In the
harvesting
peanuts give an average yield Of
thirty -four bushels to the acre hnt II
is believed by governpt snt EXPERTS that
the output can be increased TO fifty or
even sixty bushels by selecting supe-
rior seed from season to season There
are records OF yields OF 100 bushels
Of small podded peanuts to the acre
with two tons Of forage which latter
alone will nav the cost OF production.