The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-12-14
WORTH CONSIDERING.

e. Alleudale is located in that section
of the state first visited by the boil
weevil. Not much Of cotton-growing
remains in that section, though cot
ton has not been abandoned. The
people down that way no longer look
to cotton alone as a money crop.
etShey have learned to look elsewhere.
g And it is not to the peanut poll
tic;an" that they look, though Allen
dale has perhaps as many of these
as most other places. The people
there look rather to the peanut-grow-
er. Allendale must have a live coun-
ty demonstration agent; not one who
knows how to draw down the salary,
but man of ideas and of experience.
At any rate the people around that
place. last year planted 1900 acres
ssof land in peanuts. Peanuts were an
uhtried crop in that county just as
they are in Abbeville County today,
and we can imagine that it was no
small job to persuade the farmers to
plant 1900 acres in new and un-
tried crop. But the county agent and
the boil weevil together so persuad-
] ed them. Z,
4
The result was that the farmers
there made fairly good crop Of
not so many peanuts as
y may be made when they have learn
ed how to fertilize and grow pea
j nuts, but good crop nevertheless.
It is stated that for every acre plant
ed 900 pounds of peanuts in. the
she'll were gathered and there was
"a ton of peanut vine hay for every
acre. The peanuts sold for an aver
age price of sixty dollars per ton
and the hay for about twenty dol
lars per ton, making a return per
acre in the gros of about fifty dol
lars.
How and where were the peanuts
marketed? Well, that brings up an
& other story. The Southern Cotton
y Oil Company had a large cotton oil
s plant at Allendale and when the cot
ton farmers could no longer grow
cotton in that section, the oil mill
found it's machinery idle; so that like
the farmers the manager of the oil
mill, and the officers and owners of
the plant, had to look around for.
something else to work on. Machines
had been found to pick the peanuts
from the vines, and these were COM
paratively cheap, but not so with a
!. machine that would hull and sort the
peanuts. But there was a way to do
this job, and the Southern Cotton Oil
Company built hulling plant at AL
lendale at cost of something like
100000 dollars. This plant hulls and
sorts about thirty tons of peanuts
each day. The hulls furnish most of
! the fuel for the boilers which create
the steam power, and the shelled pea
nuts are sorted into Nc: /, No. 2,
and nubbibn grades: The No. l anu
No. 2 grades are sold to confectioners
and the nubbins are sent to the
presses and the oil is pressed out Of
them and sold just as is cotton seed
!. oil and olive oil. It is said to have
higher per cent. digestibility than
either olive oil or butter fat, and
measured in calories a higher food
value than either sugar, porterhouse
steak or smoked ham.
There is market for all the pea
nuts yet raised and the market is
growing and the demand for the
peanut products, 1t IS predlcted, Will
. grow es fast as the size Of the pea
nut crops.
These facts having become fairly
well established, why should the far
mers in Abbeville County, especially
in those sections where no cotton at
all was made the present year, not
try out the peanut? We believe that
we might persuade the Southern Cot
ton Oil Company here to join hands
with the farmers in giving the pea
nut fair trial, and in helping US to
/ market what we make. AS cotton has
not been entirely abandoned about