The Peanut Plant: Its Cultivation And UsesJones, B. W.
Science
The Peanut Plant: Its Cultivation And Uses
Jones, B. W.
Peanuts
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.
=Price paid Pickers.=--The price paid pickers varies somewhat from one
season to another, according to the quality of the peanuts, and the
market price received for them. Hands commonly board themselves, and
receive so much per bushel for picking. Of late years, the price has
stood pretty uniformly, at twelve to fifteen cents per bushel. The
peanuts are either measured or weighed. If weighed, twenty-four pounds
are counted as a bushel in the first part of the season, the extra two
pounds being taken to make up for the subsequent loss in weight. If a
hand is boarded by the owner of the crop, he gets but ten cents a bushel
for picking. A fast hand will pick from four to six bushels a day, the
children are just as likely to do this as grown people. Hence, at this
season of the year, women and children earn what is considered pretty
fair wages. Under the most favorable circumstances, the best hands will
pick seven bushels a day. Very much depends, however, on the quality of
the peanuts, and something also on the weather. In very dry weather, the
stems come off with the pod, and pickers cannot do as well.
=Cleaning and Bagging.=--After the peanuts are picked off, they should
be cleaned, before being sacked. The object of this, of course, is to
rid them of the earth that may still be adhering to them. It makes the
hull look cleaner, and brighter also, and thus enhances the sale.
Formerly, the planter made his own cleaning machine, but recently, since
the starting of what are called "Peanut factories," the planter very
seldom runs his peanuts through any machine at all, but sells them just
as they are picked. Being thus rid of much trouble and labor, it is
doubtful whether it would now pay the planter to clean his peanuts, as
he once did. The price paid for them now, is almost as much as he would
realize, were he to take ever so much pains in cleaning them.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--VIRGINIA PEANUT CLEANING MACHINE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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