ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF PEANUTS 7 



groundnuts recorded (8) for the year November 1786 to November 

 1787. Williams (28), in discussing the agriculture of the Territory of 

 Florida (1830) says: "The peanut produces a large crop and is a useful 

 article in the dessert." Burke (9), in describing life on a slave-operated 

 plantation near Savannah, Georgia, during the first half of the nineteenth 

 century, says: "Great quantities of peanuts are raised there, not only as 

 an article of export, but to fatten swine upon. They are planted in the 

 same manner as potatoes and when they have come to maturity the 

 swine are turned in upon them to dig their own food. It is not usual for 

 planters to feed their swine in any other way. . . ." 



Several others writing from Georgia (4, 23), Alabama (13), Missis- 

 sippi (22), Louisiana (17) and California (5) at about this date spoke 

 of peanuts as a valuable crop, especially for hog feed. In 1851, W. B. 

 Easby (15) of Vernon, Tennessee, wrote: "The goober pea is extensively 

 raised here, and so far has proved the most profitable crop that can be 

 raised. The first ever raised for market was sold in Nashville in the fall of 

 1845. Since that time there has been upwards of 20,000 to 25,000 bushels 

 raised within 10 to 15 miles of this place each year, and sell for 65 cents 

 to one dollar per 22 pounds. The vine is equal to clover hay for stock, if 

 well saved." 



During and after the Civil War commercial production increased 

 rapidly. Exact statistical records for the period are not available, but 

 in the Annual Report of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1868 4., 

 is found a 4-page discussion of the crop. It is stated that the Virginia 

 crop for that year was estimated at 300,000 bushels, selling at $2.75 a 

 bushel (22 pounds). Two varieties are mentioned: Virginia and the 

 Carolina or African! 



At this time most of the commercial crop was roasted in the shell 

 and sold freshly roasted by street vendors. The work of harvesting, pick- 

 ing and preparing for market was all done by hand or with crude home- 

 made equipment. Lack of commercial shellers undoubtedly retarded 

 utilization of peanuts. Lack of uniformity and poor quality discouraged 

 trade in peanuts even for roasting. Some farmers built crude equipment 

 for scrubbing and shaking dirt from the peanuts and blowing out trash 

 and "pops," and hand-picked the discolored nuts ; but this practice for 

 improving the uniformity and quality of the product was not general. 

 In 1870, P. D. Gwaltney (7) began buying peanuts from growers about 

 Smithfield, Virginia, cleaning them as best he could with such crude 

 equipment as available, and reselling. Ten years later, he, in partnership 

 with A. Bunkley, built what is said to have been the first factory for 



