Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1876 — Peanuts [ARTICLE]

Peanuts

Peanuts, or, as they are popularly known in the South, ground nuts or goubers, grow in the ground on the roots of the plant exactly like potatoes. The stalk and leaves of the plant somewhat resemble clover, and to get the nuts when ripe the plants are' pulled out of the ground, the nuts adhering firmly to the roots. The greatest trouble with the ground nuts is in picking them, which has to be done by baud, no machine. having as yet been invented to do the work, though it wobld seem as if such a machine, in the shape of a coarse comb, might he easily invented. But labor is cheap in the places where they are grown, which are in the light sandy saijs of Tennessee, Virginia ana - Nofth Carolina, in this country. Peanuts are also largtfly grown in Africa, Induq«Br»il, and pther places. The best are raisea in the Valley of the River Gambia, in Africa, and yielq large quantities of oil. This product, when properly produced, is esteemed equal to olive oil; but it is also used in woolen manufactures, in soap making, in lamps, and for lubricating machinery. Last year the crop in the United States was as follows: Tennessee, 235,000 bushels; Virgibia, 450,000; North Carolina, 100,000. The imports from Africa last year were 846,000 bushels, of which Boston imported 88,000 and New York 23,000. The average of the ‘new crop this year is somewhat larger than that of last year, and the yield promises well, the nut being generally better filled and matured than for the past two years, and of finer quality. The past year was marked by fewer changes than any former one; by a moderate but steady consumptive demand; by an absence, of speculation; and by the small proportion of choice white nuts. Tennessee peanuts are put up in burlap bags of four of five bushels capacity, and are sold by the pound, the grades being, respectively, inferior, prime, choice and fancy. The crop year begins Oct. 1, and ends Sept. 80 of the ensuing year. The new crop will come forward under very favorable auspicies. The previous crop having been well sold up, stocks are light in the hands of commission merchants and dealers. —Boston Herald.