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Just here let us explain that "pops" are pods that have attained full size and firmness, but which are minus the seed. Dry weather, and the lack of calcareous manures in the soil, will cause many pops. "Saps" are immature pods, the last to form on the vine, and which might become good peanuts if they could have a longer period of growing weather. The presence of pops in the marketable peanuts is very detrimental to their sale, and hence should be carefully rejected in picking. Saps also are detrimental, but to a less extent than pops.

But as the reader in other parts of the country, may desire to know something of the mode of cleaning peanuts at home, we give a description of the Virginia machine for this purpose. There is no patent on this machine, and any one may make it for himself. A cylinder , as large as a flour barrel; is formed by nailing narrow slats of plank, to two circular pieces of timber. The slats are put a little way apart, but not far enough for the pods to slip through when the cylinder is turned. A piece of timber runs lengthwise, through the centre of the cylinder, the ends of this project about a foot, and serve as an axle on which to turn it. A crank is attached to one end or both ends of the axle. Two pieces of scantling are fastened together in the shape of an X, one for each end, and these are held upright by having pieces nailed on horizontally, from one to the other. Several slats on the cylinder are fastened together to make a door, and this is attached to the cylinder by hinges, and fastened with a button.

The peanuts are poured into the cylinder, two or three bushels at a time, and it is made to revolve slowly, until all the earth and litter has fallen out. The door is then opened, the peanuts turned out and bagged.

In bagging the peanuts, care should be taken to have the sacks well filled. They are estimated to hold four bushels each, and if properly filled, good solid peanuts will over-run a little, especially in the first part of the season, before they are thoroughly cured. As the sacks are being sewed up, the corners must be packed with peanuts as long as any more can be got in. For sewing up the sacks, the planter needs a large peanut-sack needle and twine made purposely for this business. Sacks cost the farmer, at the present, ten cents each, and generally the peanuts are sold by gross weight and nothing paid for the sacks. In some markets the sacks are paid for, and a pound deducted from the gross weight, for each sack. If the planter sells to a merchant near home, he seldom sews up the sacks, but ties them, and they are emptied and returned to him at the store.

Thus it has happened, that the business of cleaning peanuts has been taken out of the hands of the farmer, reduced to a system, and made a new industry. In fact, a division of labor; and now the merchant buys the peanuts of the planter just as they are picked, and the "factories," so-called, clean and assort them for the large buyers. Still, the merchant will pay more for Peanuts in nice order, and perhaps it would even now pay the farmer to properly clean and assort his crop before selling it.

Under this state of affairs, the home market, or home buyer, becomes the best for the farmer. And with the constantly increasing demand, and close competition between buyers, the cleaning factories are also coming nearer the farmer, and already exist, or will soon exist, in each of the counties and sections where the Peanut is much grown. Thus the planters generally, will soon be enabled to sell directly to the cleaners, and the latter to the wholesale buyers. So the planter will get market prices, without the trouble of going to market. Perhaps the competition will eventually grow sharper still, until, not only will the peanuts be cleaned and bought at home, but will also be manufactured into oil, flour, and the other commercial forms, in the sections where they are grown. In everything, the tendency now is, to carry the factories to the raw material, and not the latter to the factories. It is not to be presumed that this crop will prove an exception.

Thus it is, that the farmer's work is being narrowed down, by the inevitable and beneficial law of the division of labor. The planter may now turn his attention wholly to the cultivation of the crop. How to order it, so as to realize the largest possible yield from the smallest possible areas, is now the problem before him. He finds given to his hands, a great and growing staple with great, and still unknown, possibilities, and he sees the demand becoming larger and more earnest, until now, the buyer comes to his very door, and puts down the ready cash for all of this crop that he has to sell.

Of course the planter must, and will bestir himself, to meet the ever-increasing demand. To do this with profit to himself, he must study this crop from beginning to end, he must learn the nature of the Peanut plant fully and correctly, and discovering how to increase the yield per acre to its maximum, unravel the secret of how to grow it at the least cost per bushel.

Having now traced the Peanut plant through the whole process of its planting, cultivation, harvesting, and marketing, the practical part of our task is ended. If the directions are such as will enable the beginner in this branch of rural industry, to successfully cultivate and manage this crop, the end will have been attained, and this little book will not have been written in vain. It has been prepared for those having no practical acquaintance with the cultivation of the peanut crop, not for the old and experienced planter. And yet, without egotism, it is believed that even the latter may find something in it that will be of use to him. Practices vary in different sections, even among men of the same calling, and inasmuch as methods herein detailed, will be found to vary from those practiced in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, or the far South, so will the planter in those States who may chance to read this treatise, be enabled to compare our methods with his, to see wherein they differ, and perchance may find here some point or plan a little better than his own.

It only remains now to give, in another chapter, some of the many uses of the Peanut.

USES.

Some of the more important uses of the Peanut and its plant are here given. In the course of time, as new discoveries are made, it is not improbable that the Peanut may subserve other valuable ends. But if no more uses than are now known, are ever found for any part of this plant, it will continue to occupy an important position among the agricultural productions of the country. Its importance will increase year by year, its value being too well understood and appreciated for it ever to lose its place among our leading crops.

It is stated that a bushel of peanuts subjected to the hydraulic press, will yield one gallon of oil. The yield by cold pressure, is from forty to fifty per cent. of the shelled kernels, though if heat be used, a larger quantity of oil, but of inferior quality, is obtained. The best Peanut oil is nearly colorless, with a faint, agreeable odor, and a bland taste, resembling that of olive oil. It is more limpid than olive oil, and becomes thick when exposed to a temperature a few degrees below the freezing point of water. Peanut oil is not one of the drying oils. During the late war it was extensively employed in the Southern machine shops, and regarded as superior in its lubricating qualities to whale oil. For burning it is highly esteemed. The chief consumption of the oil is in making soap. For the production of oil for soap making, there were imported into Marseilles, France, from the West Coast of Africa, in one year, peanuts to the value of over five millions of dollars.

The residuum, or oil cake, may be sold for cattle feed.

It is safe then to say, that everybody likes them, and finds them palatable, healthful, and fattening. From a pig to a school boy, no diet will fatten sooner than roasted peanuts. A person can live on them alone for an indefinite period, if eaten regularly and with moderation. The analysis of the Peanut shows it to be rich in the albuminoids, or flesh-forming elements. Roasted peanuts, therefore, form a very useful article of diet, and fill a place between the luxuries and the necessaries of common life. Wherever they have been once introduced, they cannot well be dispensed with; and as their use in this respect is constantly extending, this purpose alone would serve to keep the product before the public as a salable article. Once let the Peanut find its way to the great cities of Europe, and roasted peanuts be sold upon the streets there, as well as here, and the demand for them will far exceed the present limits, and the cultivation be necessarily extended over a much wider area than now. There is every reason to believe that the demand for the crop will continue to increase.

For making the beverage, the Peanut is parched and ground the same as coffee, the mode of decoction the same, and it is taken with cream and sugar, like the pure article.

But we would not leave this subject without a grain of caution. While all stock fattens rapidly on the Peanut, it must be confessed that the fat is not always of the best quality. It is less firm and more oily than the fat derived from Indian corn, nor will the lard from hogs fattened upon peanuts show that pearly white and flaky appearance, which is the marked characteristic of pure lard made from corn. For this reason, most planters in the peanut belt, feed their peanut-fed hogs on corn only for two or three weeks before killing them. This is done to make the lard firm and white, and in this manner, good pork and lard are produced at only a trifling cost. The hogs get nearly fat from the detached peanuts left in the field, and which otherwise would be lost. In this way the peanut-planter derives a very important benefit from this crop, apart from its value as a source of ready money. Were there no other use for the peanut, it would still pay well to raise it for making pork. In this case, the planting and cultivation would be the sole cost, as the animals would do all the harvesting. A very small field would fatten quite a number of hogs. Poultry intended for market, might well be fed on Peanuts, instead of corn or oats. The fowls would fatten faster and at less cost. In fact, we believe it would be economical to buy peanuts at ruling prices for fattening stock, especially old stock.

Most planters, accordingly, make it an object to try to save the vines for hay, and aim to dig the crop before they are injured by frost. After a killing frost touches them, the vines are next to worthless as a feed. In fact, frost-bitten peanut vines are harmful, rather than beneficial, to stock, often causing colics, and endangering the life of a valuable horse or mule. Peanut vines, even the best of them, unharmed by frost, should not be fed very largely to horses. There is always a good deal of grit and dust upon them, and much of this taken into the stomach, cannot but be more or less harmful to the animals.

And yet, despite these few drawbacks, peanut hay has proved to be a valuable forage, and one that the peanut-planter could not well dispense with, inasmuch as so many do not make enough of other forage to serve them, and must, therefore, depend on the peanut crop to help them out. Thus the planter is benefited in several ways through this crop. He gets a valuable staple to sell, and one that always commands the ready cash, he fattens his hogs on the pods left in the ground, and he secures a large amount of very good hay in the vines. Thus he is doubly benefited, and no matter how low the price of peanuts may be, the farmer does not, and cannot, ordinarily, lose much on the cultivation of this great crop. If he does not risk too much on commercial fertilizers, which no planter of this crop ever should do, he runs little risk of suffering any crushing loss thereon.

Such is a brief but connected view of the Peanut crop from the time of planting the seed, to its sale and manufacture. The views and practice here advanced are all from original sources. We have not drawn upon any other writer for any part of this treatise. Indeed, save a few short articles scattered through the agricultural press of the past ten or fifteen years, we know of no source from whence material could be derived. So far as we are aware, this is the pioneer work in America on the Peanut plant. This being the case, it must, of course, be quite defective. We might easily have made it a larger book, and perhaps some few years hence, when the field and subject shall have enlarged, it will be found desirable to revise and enlarge this treatise. For the present, we must be satisfied with smaller things, and remain content with a few practical directions rather than an elaborate work. Until that time, if it comes at all, we lay aside the pen, and turn our hands to actual labors in connection with the Peanut plant.

STATISTICS.

It was our design, at first, to present a somewhat full array of statistics in relation to the Peanut. This, however, was soon found to be impracticable. The more we studied the few data at hand, the more were we convinced of their utter unreliability. The fact is, so far as the writer is aware, there are no credible data of this crop existing. No authoritative and systematic attempt to gather and compile the statistics of the Peanut has ever been made, and until this is done we shall never know its full extent and value. The "estimates"--mere guesses--of certain mercantile houses and newspapers, to express the bulk of the crop are, beyond a doubt, far wide of the mark. The following from a Georgia paper, is of this class:

"The goober plays a more important part in commerce than might be supposed. We are all aware of its value as a social factor--of its influence upon oratory, music, and the drama--but how few of us know that one million nine hundred and seventy thousand bushels of this savory nut were consumed in this country during the twelve months ending on the thirtieth of September, 1883. These figures do not include the local consumption--say, for instance, in the rural districts of Georgia, where every substantial farmer has a patch of his own.

"The figures relating to the goober crop make a column in the various prices current, but Georgia is not credited with any part of the crop. It seems that the goobers of commerce, so far as this country is concerned, are raised in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In 1882, Virginia raised one million two hundred and fifty thousand bushels, Tennessee four hundred and sixty thousand, and North Carolina one hundred and forty thousand, making a total of one million eight hundred and fifty thousand. The aggregate value of the crop amounted to two million dollars. It is estimated that the peanut crop of 1883 will be at least two million bushels.

"We regret that Georgia has no place in these estimates. Goobers can be raised in this State as readily as in Virginia, and there is no reason why our farmers should not take advantage of the demand for them. The little patches for home use, could easily be increased to patches calculated to yield a comfortable supply of pocket money. As Georgians are known as goober-grabblers, there is no reason why they should not be known as goober-growers."

Still, these estimates serve a certain important end, and give an approximate idea of the magnitude of the crop. It is safe to say that it amounts to nearly three million bushels annually, and were all the information gathered that could be, it would doubtless be greater still. It is high time that the corps of statistical reporters to the National Department of Agriculture, were required to give the data for this crop, as well as for others, and some of them of less magnitude and value.

FOOTNOTE:

See remarks on the term goober, in note on page 9.

COSTS.

Perhaps the attentive reader has expressed surprise that so little has been said about the cost of planting, cultivating, and harvesting the peanut crop. This was because no estimate of costs that would suit one place, would apply in another and a distant locality. There is no uniformity in this matter, hence it was deemed best to leave each reader to count the costs for himself, based on his knowledge of his own local surroundings.

THE PEANUT GARDEN OF AMERICA.

The following article from the Suffolk, Va., "Herald," gives a concise view of the growth and development of this staple in Virginia, and illustrates how a portion of the Southside has become, perhaps, the leading peanut-producing section of our country:

"When James H. Platt introduced his bill in Congress imposing a duty upon peanuts imported from Africa, a large majority of the members of that august body hardly knew what a peanut was. A few of them had eaten 'Goobers' which had been carefully cultivated in the garden by their grandmothers, but as to why they needed protection, or how many of them there were to protect, but little was known even by the best informed. The culture of this important agricultural product was then in its infancy, and it was hardly recognized as an article of commerce.

"Only a few short years have rolled by, and what a change has been effected. The peanut crop has assumed gigantic proportions, and the aggregate amounts to millions of dollars, while the nut is in demand from one end of the Union to the other at satisfactory prices.

"The section of country contiguous to and lying south of James River, and between Norfolk and Petersburg, may be correctly termed the peanut garden of the world.

"In this section peanut farming has been brought to the highest state of perfection, and the average production per acre greatly increased from what was considered a good yield a few years ago.

"The one great difficulty in handling the crop seems to be, in the fact that no machine has yet been invented which will pick off the nuts from the vines in a satisfactory manner. This work must be done by hand, and as the entire crop matures at one and the same time, there is such a demand for labor during the picking off season that the supply is utterly inadequate to the demand. It is probable that within the next few years some plan will be devised for the successful storage of peas and vines until they can be conveniently picked off; and when this desirable end is accomplished, much of the rush and confusion incident to the gathering and marketing of the peanut crop will be avoided. This is already done by every thrifty planter who is able to hold his crop until such time as he sees fit to sell it. He stores his peanuts away, and picks them off, mostly with his own force, at convenient intervals through the winter and spring.

"While so much has been done in the way of improvements in the production of the Peanut, those who have done the handling after reaching market have not been idle. In former years, only the bright shell and those well-filled, could be sold in the market. A dark color or half-filled pods was sufficient cause for rejection, and frequently they were on this account not even offered in market. Here, however, machinery was more successful. Various mechanical contrivances have been put in operation for cleaning and assorting the nuts, and to-day every grade of peanuts--from the large, plump, well-filled shell, to the smallest, blackest, and most insignificant half-filled pod--has a regular standard market value, according to the weight per bushel."

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