Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1885 — Peanuts. [ARTICLE]

Peanuts.

“Nearly all the peanuts that are brought to this market come from Virginia,” said. a dealer, “A good many are grown m Tennessee, too; but the central point of the, peanut-raising business, which is one of the greatest industries of the State, though of very recent growth, is at Norfolk, Va. In old times —fifteen years ago—all the peanuts were imported from Africa. The African peanut was small and round, the shell containing but a single kernel. The American peanut is simply the African nut modified by the conditions of the soil in this country. The best peanuts are hand-picked; others are threshed out like grain. In -Norfolk there are several factories where peanuts are prepared for the market. They are first thoroughly cleaned and then sorted. The bad ones are picked out by young girls who stand on either side of a wide revolving belt on which the nuts are thrown. Afterward they are packed in bags and shipped to the marked. Peanuts have become a recognized article of commerce, and are quoted every day on ’Change, like corn or wheat. They sell, wholesale, at from three and a half to five cents a pound. Best handpicked fetch about five cents, usually. Spanish peanuts, an imported article, jell for a Jhigher price, frequently as much as twenty cents a pound. Peanuts are largely used to make alleged olive oil. Not more than a fourth part of the olive oil sold in this country is real; generally it is made either of peanuts or cotton seed. The only way to distinguish peanut from olive ' oil is to pour nitric acid into it. The peanut dr cotton seed oil will char, but the real olive oil will pot. Most of the peanuts grown in Africa nowadays are sent to Marseilles and expressed for oil. The latter is sold as a low grade of olive.— Boston Herald.