The Peanut Industry
Mr. Stephenson cites some interesting facts
concerning tlic» start anil development off
the industry in this and other states. It's
really a big business today.
By GILBERT T. STEPHENSON
ll probably is belter than a 100-to-l
shoi that nobody ever goes inio a gro¬
cery. a confectioner's, a five-and-dime
palace, or any other merchandise mart,
and asks for a sack of salted "Arachis
Hypogeas.”
But that is the botanical name for
what used to be the lowly peanut, or
goober, which has become a substan¬
tial money crop for farmers in north¬
eastern North Carolina and sections of
Virginia, South Carolina, and several
other states.
Two of the more vivid recollections
of my boyhood relate to the Virginia-
Carolina peanut industry. In the early
I890’s I remember going with my
grandfather from our home in North¬
ampton County. North Carolina, over
into Southampton County, Virginia, for
a cart-load of seed-peanuts. That was
the beginning of his and my father's,
and now of our, growing peanuts on
a commercial scale.
Later, in 1898 or 1899. I recall my
father buying and operating the first
mechanical peanut-picker in our sec¬
tion and, as a result, sacrificing a con¬
siderable part of that year's crop
experimenting with the newfangled ma¬
chine.
Compared with the modern picker,
that was a crude apparatus. It was
powered by what was called level-
tread horse-power. That is, two horses
or mules were penned in a
treadmill and their weight as
they walked, always uphill
on the revolving treads
furnished power for opera¬
tion of the picker.
Picker Pushes Production
The introduction and de¬
velopment of the mechanical
picker was the beginning of
the large-scale Virginia-
Carolina peanut industry.
Now. more than a half-cen¬
tury later, it is intriguing to
delve, even though super¬
ficially, into its history and develop¬
ment.
The origin of the peanut is said to
be Southern Brazil and Paraguay.
South America, where as far as one
can go back, it was a cultivated, not
a wild plant.
From South America the peanut
was carried by early slave ships to
Africa and from there, also, by slave
ships, to America. It has been sug¬
gested that different varieties of pea¬
nuts. except Spanish, were brought
from various parts of Africa. The Span¬
ish peanut was brought to Virginia
from Malaga. Spain, in 1 87 1, hence
its name.
Three Principal Areas
During the half-century just passed
there has been developed in the United
States three rather clearly marked
peanut-growing areas. The Virginia-
Carolina area consists of North Caro¬
lina and Virginia and parts of South
Carolina and Tennessee. The South¬
eastern area is composed of Georgia.
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, parts of
South Carolina and some sections of
Louisiana. The Southwestern area is
made up of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkan¬
sas. New Mexico, Arizona, California,
and parts of Louisiana.
During this period there also has
developed at least eleven varieties of
peanuts. The three principal grades
arc the Virginia, the Running, and the
Spanish. Although there is a great deal
of overlapping of the different types
in the three areas, it is true that the
Virginia type, as one would expect, is
grown mainly in Virginia and North
Carolina; the Runner in the South¬
western area, and the Spanish, in the
southeastern and southwestern areas.
Processing a Big Factor
Naturally, in the production of pea¬
nuts there is created a demand for the
processing of the product. So. the Vir-
ginia-Carolina area has become not
only a great peanut-producing but also
a great peanut-processing center.
It is interesting, however, to note
that the first peanut-cleaning factory
was located, not in the peanut-pro¬
ducing area, but in New York City.
That was in 1876. It soon was rea¬
lized that the processing could be done
most economically, and therefore, most
profitably, in the peanut-producing
area itself. In 1878 the first peanut-
cleaning factory was established in Nor¬
folk. Virginia, with a capacity of
1.800 bushels a day. The same year
another factory was opened in Nor¬
folk. In 1880 a much larger one was
established in Smithficld, Virginia.
In time, the peanut-processing in¬
dustry developed more nearly in the
center of the Virginia-Carolina pcanut-
pr«>ducing area than was
either Norfolk or Smithficld.
SufTolk became the center of
the industry, with the de¬
velopment of Planters Nut
and Chocolate Company
and several other processing
plants. Today, Planters, with
factories in Wilkes Barrc.
Pennsylvania, San Fran¬
cisco. and Toronto. Canada,
as well as Suffolk, is an
outstanding and nationally
known enterprise.
One gets some idea of the
bigness of the peanut indus-
THE STATE. JUNE 23. 1951