State

Volume X Number 34 Kat«r*4 .. THE STATE Jonuor* 23 A Weekly Survey of North Carolina liter. Jan. I. 1933. >1 lb. Pttioflea at lUUifV North Carotins. asdor the Aft of Uarrh S. 187*. The Lowly Goober However, that designation doesn't fit pea¬ nuts any more. The war lias brought about a new importance for the crop that is grow n in the eastern part of the state. NO longer is the lowly goober, for which wo seldom over paid more than five cents for a poke full, relegated to fill the stomachs of people who gather at shows and amusement centers. No longer is its chief purpose to he crunched at the circus and fed to ponderous pachy¬ derms ns in days gone by. Peanuts have gone to war. And there will be Ices of the goobers for sheer chomping purposes in 1043 than ever before. While more than two hundred products are now being made from peanuts, there are many more having a wartime strategic value. So no longer expect to get ’em in bags piping hot at the wagon of the peanut vendor. Because peanuts are a major cash crop of the Virginia-Carolina area, the National Peanut Exposition, held at Suffolk, Virginia, has had a pe¬ culiar appeal fo tho peoplo of this region. Around 100,000 people have attended tho two-day celebration, which featured parades, parties, dnnees, tours of the peanut industries, and the colorful coronation of the Queen. Suffolk is the world’s largest peanut market. Doubled Production The Virginia - Carolina region doubled its peanut production last year. Down in North Carolina alone, according to facts and figures, 41$,- 500,000 pounds wore produced in 1942, as compared with 2в.'».в40.ПОО pound» the year before. By HARRY Z. TUCKER A good portion of this bumper peanut crop will go into oil, ns will a part of the soybean crop, increased last year bv 80 per cent. North Caro¬ lina is among tho top producers of soybeans, often called the "miracle crop.” The people down at Eden ton, North Carolina, had no occasion to feel offended at the late Mrs. I’utnain, dis¬ tinguished author and flyer, when she remarked that she could smell peanuts when passing through the histori¬ cal old town on the Albemarle Sound. The remark detracted in no way from Edenton’s history and beauty. Recent research has found that feu crops have the utility offered by the peanut. Peanut oil offers the nearest perfect substitute for olive oil, now a commodity quite scarce. Peanut, oil is also indispensable for certain lubri¬ cating purposes. Peanuts nre changed into valuable plastics, made into butter, converted into soap, glorified into hors d’oeuvres, and used for «took food. Nothing is Wasted The vines arc piled into neat stack- where the nuts are cured by sun and air for six weeks. There the »tnek* stand, awaiting the coming of the threshers. Then nuts, hay and all are fed into the gin, where' the peanuts ride out to bags and the hay goes into a baler. Peanut, hay exceeds even fir«t class clover or alfalfa ns nutritive stock feed. After tho threshing, droves of pigs are turned into tho fields to recover the nuts shaken onto the ground. The growers toll you that the pork¬ ers get the cream of the crop, for the largest nuts are more likely to !»• pulled off the roots and remain in the ground than are the smaller ones. There is no necessity for grief, how- ever, because the peanuts devoured by the hogs make the best meat from which is cured the famous “Smith- field,” Virginia, and “Onslow." North Carolina, hams. (Continued on page t went p-f dur) I