Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-12-02

~ "SS oiS pISSSeQ GOWN over III,
top OF the stake, or grass or weeds ar,
used to form a secure top over IN,
stack. The peanuts being near IN,
center Of the stack have a circulato,
OF air and are protected from the in
clement weather. Although effort.
have been made at various times r.
improve this method of stacking. mos
OF them have been unsuccessful ane
this plan has stood the experience O,
many years.
The peanuts are cured for three
or four weeks in the stack before the,
are picked or threshed. Peanut pick.
ing time used to be quite an event in
the South, and this arduous duty usual.
ly fell to the colored hands about the
plantation. But today picking ma
chimes are used for this work. doing
away with the hand labor. Often COM
mon grain threshers fitted with q
special cylinder are used for removing
the peanuts from the vines. In the
case OF a typical peanut picking ma
chine, the work is done by pulling the
vines over a frame covered with wire
mesh. On the lower side OF the screen
is an endless belt Of rubber brushes.
AS the nuts drop through the screen
ing they are scraped of by these brush
es. A good picking machine will
handle from two hundred to four hun.
dred bushels every day. The nuts are
then ready for market and either are
placed in warehouses to await a high
er price later in the season, or are sold
direct to the numerous factories in the
South.
Today peanuts and hogs are synony-
nous in many localities, and the hogs
simply do the harvesting. Some times
the peanuts are planted between rows
OF corn. The cattle can then be turn
ed in after the corn is harvested to
eat the fodder and peanut tops and the
hogs are finally turned in to eat the
peanuts. Often successive paintings
OF peanuts are made at intervals of
fifteen to thirty days so that there is
a constant supply for the hogs until late
in the fall. The hogs are confined to
sections Of the field by small portable
fences. The average yield Of peanuts
to the acre under fair conditions is
about thirty-four bushels in the shell,
while good yield is sixty bushels with
ton or ton and a-half Of hay an acre.
Yields as high as one hundred and
fifty bushels, with two tons of hay,
have been recorded. The peanut hay
for one year had an estimated valua-
ton Of approximately S2O,OOO,OOO.
There are two principal varieties, the
Virginia peanut and the Spanish pea
nut. The Spanish type averages about
70 per cent kernel while the Virginia
type averages only IS per cent. The
Spanish peanuts are usually smaller
and are especially we'll adapted to The
manufacture OF oil, while the Virginia
type are the ones usually used for
roasted peanuts. The two are general
ly combined in the manufacture OF pea
nut butter, since the Spanish nut gives
a smoothness, and the Virginia nut
flavor to the product.
The peanut butter industry is one
that has come to the front in recent
years. In fact, contrary to the general
impression, probably less than fourth
of the total crop is sold as roasted pea
nuts. The peanut butter manufacturer
usually secures shelled nuts. The
nuts are roasted in machines some
thing like coffee roasters. 1t generally
takes about a half hour to roast batch
of nuts. Then the peanuts are blanch-
ed, this being done by machines which
have a set of brushes running against
a corrugated plate, thus removing the
little red skins. The peanuts are then
carried over screens through which
there is strong draft of air which
removes any small pieces of the skin.
Women also pick out any bad or decay
cd nuts as they are carried along on a
long canvas belt. Then the nuts are
fed into the grinder. Usually the
Virginia and Spanish nuts are used in
equal parts, or two or three parts Of
Spanish to one part Of Virginia, bet
ter produce being secured when the two
varieties are blended. Salt is added as
the nuts are ground.
The peanut oil industry is becoming
one of the great peanut side lines of
the country. For instance, The produc-
ton of refined peanut oil for the three
months ending June 30, 1920, was
more than 2O,OOO,OOO pounds. Former
ly Marseilles, France, was the great
center of the oil industry. But today