The Peanut Plant Part 4

APPENDIX B.

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.

APPENDIX C.

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 ill.u.s.trates 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 a.s.sumed 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 sh.e.l.l 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 a.s.sorting the nuts, and to-day every grade of peanuts--from the large, plump, well-filled sh.e.l.l, 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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