The Peanut Plant: Its Cultivation And UsesJones, B. W.
Science
The Peanut Plant: Its Cultivation And Uses
Jones, B. W.
Peanuts
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 (figure 7), 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.
=Peanut "Factories."=--It does not fall within our present plan to
describe these establishments, any further than to give the reader,
outside of the peanut belts, an idea of them. Formerly, many peanuts
were sent into market without being properly assorted and cleaned, and
it was found that, by assorting and re-cleaning them, a little margin of
profit was left after paying expenses. One step led to another, and
various appliances and machines were brought into requisition, until
now, large buildings are devoted solely to the purpose of cleaning,
assorting, and storing the peanuts. Some of these establishments employ
many hands, both male and female, to clean, separate, and re-bag the
peanuts ready for the trade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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