Nansemond-Sussex County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History.....Peanut, 1932 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 10, No. 109, Wed., July 27, 1932, p. 5 History of the Peanut BY WILBUR E. MacCLENNY Editor's Note: This article, which will appear dally until completed, was written by Wilbur E. MacClenny, local historian, after long and careful research which led through libraries, newspaper files and other sources of information, and is probably one of the most comprehensive and accurate histories of the peanut ever prepared. The known accuracy of Mr. MacClenny and meticulous care in arraying his information is a guarantee of its essential correctness. Because the peanut is a basic industry in this section, The News-Herald feels its readers will and much in these articles to interest them. Now read the opening chapter. HISTORY OF THE PEANUT "Looking back through the pages of history we find peanuts have been grown on American soil from approximately 950 B.C. Inca chronology is far from trustworthy previous to the time of Chief Tupac Yupanqui, but from that time on a reasonable approximation of dates is possible. Historians agree that the average reign of each ruler lasted twenty-five (25) or twenty-seven (27) years and with this as a guide and one hundred (100) names on the list of Blas Valera predating 1400 A.D. brings us to a period of 950 B.C. The Incas were a race of ruled and well-governed people particularly well versed in agriculture. A list of important plants cultivated in Peru before the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 shows the peanut as an important cultivated plant. "On display in the Smithsonian Institute at Washington are two gourd vases containing peanuts which were from the mummy graves at Ancon, Peru, and C.W. Meade in his "Old Civilizations of Incan Land" says, "In the graves of women are generally found their work baskets. These were used to hold weaving, netting, and sewing implements: needles of thorn or copper, cones of cotton, spindles, balls of thread, and also various nicknacks. ... Some objects found in there baskets give us some insight into the character and tastes of their owners. For example, they often contain a child's doll in process of making. ... Again, the basket shown in the illustration contains a handful of peanuts, which brings to our mind the picture of a woman sitting at her loom eating these nuts." "From this statement one is convinced that peanuts were not only used as a food but as a confection by these ancients. "Our earliest explorers, from Marco Polo to Columbus, in their many visits to the Eastern continents and Africa brought back to their mother countries product of agricultural importance. At present, lack of authentic data will not permit me to say that these explorers trafficked the peanut, although the food lists of these expeditions will reveal this fact." Another authority states that the peanut and the potato were known to the ancient civilization of Egypt, as there are carvings on some of the old pyramids resembling the peanut and potato. How did they get to ancient America from Egypt? There is only one explanation and that is the account of the Greeks, which had been related to their ancient men by the Egyptian priest of Sais, that in the days before written history, there was a great island west of the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibralta) that was larger than Lyba and Asia put together, and that island the passage to other islands and to another continent of which the Mediterranean Sea was only the harbor. Putting these two things together, the peanut being a hot-weather plant could have easily been carried from one to the other in the days before the island of Atlantis was destroyed according to tradition by the great earthquake, and could have become cultivated in South America as well as Africa. Col. E.M. Morrison in his History of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, states that in 1907 there was evidence extant that peanuts were used by the early slave traders to feed the slaves while they were being transported to Virginia, and in this way the peanut found its way to Tidewater Virginia. As early as 1783 Thomas Jefferson in his NOTES ON VIRGINIA mentions the fact that peanuts were then being raised in Virginia. (Note: They were then grown for home use only, so far as known, like garden herbs.) In 1880 Rev. J.A. Riddick, who was born near Suffolk, Va., about 1800, uses these words, "Within the recollection of some of the older members of the present generation, ground-peas, (peanuts) were cultivated chiefly in gardens or in very small patches like pop-corn, and distributed at Christmas time by the mothers and grand-mothers among the children. The scientific name of the peanut is arachis hypogea, yet not one in a thousand knows it by that name. In popular parlance it is known as peanut, ground pea, goober, pinder and earth nut, though technically speaking it is not a nut, but a pea maturing under ground." All writers on the subject appear to agree that peanuts were very sparsely cultivated in the South before the war of 1861-65. As early as 1815 there was received a small cargo of peanuts at Norfolk from Charleston, S.C. (Thos. Rowland's note book.) (Note: These may have been imported peanuts landed at Charleston and reshipped to Norfolk,) and they had been going to Norfolk in small lots according to his recollection since 1838, perhaps these, too, were imported (Ibid.), but they were of a negligible quantity. In Hanover County, Virginia, before 1860 the peanut was despised and ignominously dubbed "a free nigger crop." (Ibid.) In Tennessee, the first man to grow peanuts was Jesse George of Hickman county (date not given). A mover from North Carolina left a few peanuts with him, perhaps for some favor rendered, and he planted them on his farm and soon took some to market. The largest crop in that state before 1860 was estimated at 60,000 bushels, and they were all purchased by O.F. Noell & Co. After the war the crop soon increased to 250,000 bushels in 1876. (Continued Tomorrow) ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 10, No. 110, Thurs., July 28, 1932, p. 5 History of the Peanut BY WILBUR E. MacCLENNY CHAPTER II But to come to Virginia. The first man so far as we are aware to cultivate peanuts on a commercial scale was Dr. Matthew Harris, a native of Milner's Town in Nansemond county, (Given by the late Charles C. Richardson who knew him personally) who moved to Sussex county, Virginia, on a, what is now route 52 and in 1844 began to cultivate peanuts as a commercial crop. Tradition says that his seed was of an imported variety and had a better flavor than others, and soon gained great popularity. We will let a newspaper clipping tell the story. "Dr. Matthew Harris of Sussex county raised peanuts, and made more money than any of his neighbors on the quantity of land cultivated and force employed. (Note: Dr. Matthew Harris grew the first commercial crop of peanuts in 1844 on his farm on Coppahonk Swamp, three miles from Waverly. He cleaned a farm-cart load of peanuts in 1844 and on a Court day at Jerusalem, as Courtland was then known, drove to the Courthouse green and sold his peanuts to hungry horse traders, court attendants and the citizenry of Southampton County who were wont to meet on the monthly court day. Suffolk News, June 11th, 1932.) And yet few could see the advantages of the crop. Gradually his neighbors took hold of the crop and thus it has spread until it is now (1869) the leading crop in Sussex and all the adjacent counties. But the people have been twenty-five years in finding out what they ought to have discovered in one or two years." The Christian Sun, Suffolk, Virginia, 1869.) The first market quotations on peanut prices in Virginia were found recorded in 1857 and may be found in the SOUTHERN ARGUS, or PUBLIC LEDGER on file at the Norfolk Public Library. Prices for 1857 to 1858 ranged from 60 to 90 cents per bushel, and in 1859 and 1860 the price was somewhat higher, ranging from $1.05 to $1.30 per bushel. No further record of quotations until December, 1867. (Peanuts: Prices, Production, and Foreign Trade Since the Civil War, by Arthur O. Peterson.) It so happened in the course of events that at the outbreak of the war of 1861-1863, that the section in which the peanut was then cultivated in Virginia was soon to lie between the contending armies most of the time, and the Federal soldiers learned the taste of the Virginia peanut, which far surpassed the African peanut with which they had previously been acquainted, and sent some home, and a demand sprang up for the Eastern Virginia peanuts. After Appomattox many Northern farmers came to Virginia and settled and there they learned the taste of peanuts, and were surprised when they learned that they grew on vines and underground, and not on bushes or trees. Eastern Virginia after 1865 was in very hard financial straights, and money was very scarce, and the people instinctively turned to the most profitable crop that could be found, and that was the peanut. Eastern North Carolina also began to plant heavily and the crop of 1867 was estimated by New York dealers as follows: Around Wilmington, N.C., 125,000 bushels. Virginia, 75,000 bushels. African crop, 6,000,000 bushels. Norfolk, Virginia, was the largest peanut market in the South in those days, and from October 15th to November 20th, 1868, there were received 52,926 bags of 3 bushels each, of an estimated value of $370,482.00 or $7.00 per bag of three bushels each. From May 2nd to 7th, 1868, there arrived at New York 3400 bags of peanuts from Barbadoes and a lot of 960 bags from Bermuda, and 404 bags arrived from Malaga, Spain. (T. Rowland's note book page 53.) In 1871 Spanish peanuts were introduced in Virginia direct from Malaga, Spain, and soon began to be extensively cultivated in some sections. (Norfolk Journal of Commerce, Nov. 5th, 1898.) As far back as 1868 peanuts were being raised in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Texas and even as far west as California, and they were being imported from South America, the West Indies and Africa. (Norfolk Journal of Commerce, Dec. 23rd, 1868.) At that date Virginia peanuts were selling for $2.12 to $2.30 per bushel, while African peanuts were neglected at $1.50 for 32-lb. bushel. (Ibid.) Then follows an account of how peanuts were cultivated at that time, by the editor, Dr. William B. Wellons, for the benefit of the farmers of Sussex, Surry, Southampton, Isle of Wight and Nansemond counties, where that paper had a good circulation. It was evidently regarded as good, for it was reprinted by THE DISPATCH, the INDEX of Petersburg and other papers. We give it here as follows: The Peanut Culture, Norfolk, Va., March 18, 1869 To the Editors of the Dispatch: We hand you an article on the culture of the Virginia peanut clipped from the Suffolk (Va.) Christian Sun. It is a subject of so much interest to our Virginia and North Carolina planters that we thought you would take pleasure in placing it before your numerous readers. This crop is cultivated in the counties of Sussex, Isle of Wight, Surry, Southampton and Prince George, which although very poor, are paying a better revenue to farmers than any other counties in the State. The probable number of bushels raised last year was some 350,000, yielding an income of nearly $1,000,000. The Virginia peanut is bought in northern markets in preference to any other, and the demand continues much greater than the supply. The planting season commences about the 1st of May. ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 10, No. 111, Fri., July 29, 1932, p. 8 History of the Peanut BY WILBUR E. MacCLENNY CHAPTER III PEANUT CULTURE In the counties between Norfolk and Petersburg the peanut has already become the great crop - the money crop - and this year a larger crop will be seeded than ever before. The present high prices are stimulating our farmers to increase the crop. We give some facts gathered from the experience of others in reference to their culture: Soil A light, sandy soil, with clay subsoil, moderately rich, with lime or marl composted with fresh soil from the fence corners, applied in the drill or broadcast, produces the largest yield of bright, marketable peas. A rich, dark, loamy soil will produce a heavy growth of vines and much hay, but not a half-crop of peas. Preparation of Soil Flush, harrow, and bed the land, throw up light ridges over furrows, three feet apart, after putting in first Peruvian guano, ten pounds to the hundred yards, or shell lime, about ten bushels to the acre. The running pea should be planted eighteen inches apart in the row, and buried only about one inch deep. Every fifth row, drop two or three peas three or four inches apart, for re-setting. Cultivation. The flat system of cultivation is considered best. The plowing is generally done with a turn plow. They require about three plowings and slight hoe work. Harvesting The harvesting season is from the first to the 20th of October. Just before or after the first frost the crop is dug. They are generally dug and shocked the same day. After being properly shocked they require no further attention until picked off the vines. The unmatured peas or "pops" are left on the vines. The vines, when dug before being hurt by heavy frosts, are worth more than corn fodder for horses, mules or cattle, The best matured and brightest peas are now worth in the Norfolk market from $3 to $3.15 per bushel of twenty-two pounds. The usual yield is about forty bushels to the acre, but many of our farmers gather as high as sixty, and some seventy-five bushels to the acre. Good land, with a fair season, will bring the farmer from $100 to $150 per acre. But one crop can be raised on the same land the same year when planted in peanuts." From 1865 to 1870 the domestic production of peanuts increased from 200 to 300 per cent annually. (A.G. Peterson, U.S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics.) In 1889, peanut production was reported in 37 states, although 18 of these reported 8 acres or less and only 5 had over 20,000 acres. Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, the five leading states. account for about 80 per cent of the United States production. Virginia was the pioneer and the principal producer for a long time, but was later surpassed by her sister state North Carolina. (Ibid.) A few words might be said about the early cultivation of peanuts. The shells or hulls were carefully removed from the kernels by hand, and then sometimes strychine or coal tar was applied to the kernels to keep the crops, mice and moles from eating them. After this was done the seed or kernels were planted with the utmost care, sometimes a separate hill or mound being made for each seed, which had to be placed in a certain special position to insure its coming up. At first all of the planting and covering was done with the hands. As soon as the plants were up special care was given to them with the hand and the hoe to keep the grass down, and when the vines began to bloom each day's blooms were carefully covered with earth to insure the needles going into the ground so that the pods could form. The crop was cultivated with the greatest care until maturity when the vines were dug up with a hoe fork or pronged hoe, and then the dirt shaken from the roots and nuts by hand. The crop was then cured by stacking the vines and nuts around a pole and allowing them to remain for about three weeks to dry out, and then the nuts were picked from the vines by hand. They were then carried to the barn yard and placed in a circular tumbler or hand cleaner, with the outside made of strips near enough together to keep the nuts from falling out, they were turned in this for some time by hand to get all of the dirt off the hulls. Then the nuts were sometimes washed in oxalic acid and then placed in the sunshine to dry. This made them white. After the dull nuts had been picked from the prime nuts, the crop was ready for market, and was sometimes hauled to market loose in a tight-bodied cart. Step by step the above methods gave way to more advanced methods of cultivation. First came a simpler way of planting when the peanut dotter (a round log about 18 inches long with pegs in it that made holes in the soft ground about two inches deep and 8, 10, 12 or more inches apart) in which the seeds were dropped and then covered with dirt by the human foot came into use. This was followed by the scraper plow, and the cultivator for the care of the growing crop, while the peanut plow point was used to dig the crop instead of the hoe, and forks were used to shake the dirt from the vines instead of the human hands. About the same time many people began to use a special plow for opening the ridges for the planting and then a heavy roller was used to smooth the land after the seed had been planted by hand. April 17th, 1868, N.N. Nixon, Wilmington, N.C., was perhaps the largest cultivator of peanuts in the United States. (Thos. Rowland's Note Book page 53.) Several attempts were made to invent a machine to pick the nuts from the vines. June 23rd, 1868, P.L. Colville, Wilmington, N.C., had made a machine to clean, fan and brush peanuts from the vines, which used either horse or steam power. It was estimated to pick and clean from 160 to 400 bushels per day, and was introduced in Norfolk by Messrs. Dibble, Worth & Co. (T. Rowland's note book p. 68.) The second that we have found was the Crocker picker, of which the following notice appeared. "At the State Fair now in progress in Richmond, the present picker invented by Rev. W.A. Crocker, of Norfolk, is pronounced by North Carolinians and Southside Virginians to be one of the most useful implements on exhibition. It will do the work of one hundred hands in getting out the goobers. (Norfolk Virginian, Nov. 6th, 1869.) On January 20th, 1870, it was being exhibited in the warehouse of H.M. Smith & Co. in Richmond, Va. (Ibid, Jan. 20, 1870.) This machine would also clean wheat. Another was known as the "Underwood Picker" and many farmers devised crude machines, usually run by hand, to pick the nuts, but these were so faulty, that most of them were abandoned and human hands again were used for many years. The next step forward was the perfecting of the peanut planter by J.R. Ayers, which eliminated a great deal of work in planting, then came the peanut weeder, which saved a great deal of labor in cultivating the crop. Then as early as 1904 the Benthall Machine was improved and put on the market for picking the nuts from the vines, eliminating the tedious hand work in harvesting the crop. In the meantime a peanut sheller had been made by a Nansemond county mechanic for shelling the peanuts for planting, which saved a great deal of labor in preparing the seed. Thus from time to time new methods and discoveries have been made and used so that it only takes about one-fourth or less manual labor to plant, cultivate and harvest a crop of peanuts today that it did in the early days. November 8th, 1870, Virginia was readmitted into the Union, and Hon. James H. Platt was the first representative from the Norfolk District, and he procured the passage of the first tariff on peanuts, and for this he was nicknamed "Peanut Platt." In Norfolk, Va., the quotations on peanuts were per bushel until November, 1879, after which all quotations were on a pound basis. At Petersburg, Virginia, peanuts were quoted on a bushel basis until August 1884. These prices were converted to cents per pound on the basis of 22 pounds to the bushel. (Ibid.) ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 10, No. 112, Sat., July 30, 1932, p. 6 History of the Peanut BY WILBUR E. MacCLENNY PEANUT CLEANING MACHINERY In a few years it was found that the methods used for preparing peanuts for market by the individual farmers differed so much, men began to attempt some sort of machinery that would standardize the merchantable goods. From a notice in THE NORFOLK VIRGINIAN Jan. 20, (?) 1870, it is found that J.M. Keating of that city had invented a peanut cleaner for which he had made application for a patent. It was simple in construction and had a capacity of 300 bushels per day when worked by two laborers. He was expecting to establish a factory to manufacture the machines in Norfolk. (See Virginian- Pilot under 50 years ago, Jan. 20, (?) 1920.) At first a cleaner run by horse power was used, and then the nuts were fanned to get the trash and light peanuts out. A northern farmer named John W. Paddon of Sussex Co., Virginia, began to use an endless belt upon which the nuts were picked by hand. Then Mr. B.H. Vellines of Virginia began to put his thoughts together to devise complete machinery to clean the nuts as they were brought from the farm. He was successful and installed a factory or cleaner in New York City as early as 1876. (See N.Y. SUN March 1876.) It was soon found out that eastern Virginia was the most logical place for the factories or cleaners to be located, and by March 29th, 1879, Norfolk, Virginia, had two factories or cleaners using his patented machinery and run by steam power. The larger, which had a capacity of 1800 bushels per day, was run by Mr. K.B. Elliott and Mr. B.H. Vellines, who had been working on his peanut machinery for eleven years, was with him. The other, which had a capacity of 500 bushels per day, was run by Messrs. J.B. Weller & Co. (See NORFOLK VIRGINIAN March 29th, 1879) The same year Virginia's peanut crop was estimated at 825,000 bushels to 900,000 bushels, Tennessee's crop, 400,000; North Carolina's crop 90,000 bushels. From that time to the present there have been many improvements made in peanut-cleaning machinery and today some of the finest machinery in the country is used by the cleaners. The industry has spread from eastern Virginia to practically every Southern state, and they are dotted here and there with cleaning establishments, while Suffolk, Virginia, still holds first place in the peanut market in America. How Virginia Peanuts Got to China The National Geographic Magazine gives the following true story of the way Virginia peanuts found their way into China, and how a little incident of 38 years ago has necessitated the peanut tariff to protect the Southern peanut farmers against cheaply raised oriental exports. "Archdeacon Thompson, of the Amercan Church Mission Society, landed at Shanghai 35 years ago (that was in 1929) with the four quarts of peanuts in his luggage. He graciously divided them with Dr. Charles R. Mills of the American Presbyterian Mission, North, who was leaving for the Tengchowfu in Shantung province. His two quarts Doctor Mills divided between two Chinese converts on the promise that each would replant the peanuts produced for three years. Each quart produced flourishing vines, but one Chinese having tasted a peanut, weakened and ate his entire crop. "The other Chinese fulfilled his promise and prospered even more bounteously than his biblical predecessor who made 100 per cent profit on an investment of five talents. The single quart of peanuts multiplied and spread throughout Shangtung province, which has become one of the chief peanut producing regions of the world. "Peanuts now grow in every province of China. They help to banish the everpresent spectre of starvation. The estimated annual crop of 900,000 tons is three times as large as the United States production. Nor is China a nation that "hath plenty of good peanuts and giveth its neighbor none," for its exports to America increased from 500,000 pounds in 1922 to nearly 70,000,000 pounds in 1928. "China's peanut generosity received scant thanks from the American growers who found themselves in competition with oriental farmers. This situation prompted President Coolidge to use powers granted under the provisions of the flexible tariff laws to raise the rate on peanuts. The tariff on shelled peanuts has been increased from 4 to 6 cents per pound and on unshelled from 3 cents to 4½ cents per pound. "The success of the Chinese with peanuts goes beyond mere pounds production. 'The farmers of 40 centuries' growing this new vine greatly outdistanced Virginia and Alabama growers in 'goobers per acre'. In the United States 720 pounds per acre is a heavy crop. A Chinese farmer solicits aid from the family gods if his peanut harvest falls short of 1600 pounds per acre." Query: What would Virginia peanuts be worth had one Chinese not eaten up his first crop? Again, how many people contributed of their profits in peanuts to carry the first seed peanuts to China, and then have seen their good intentions, almost destroy their home industry? We have tried to trace the peanut industry from its small beginnings to the present time. In 1867 the Virginia and North Carolina crop was estimated at 200,000 bushels. In 1882-83 the total supply of American peanuts was estimated at 1,980,000 bushels with a consumption of 1,970,000 bushels, while the 1931 crop was estimated by the United States government at 1,085,110,000 pounds or 49,232,272 bushels or 12,308,067 bags of 4 bushels each. At this time (1921- About 73% of the world's peanuts are produced in Asia, 18% in Africa, 7% in North America, and 2% in South America. (Peanuts: Prices, Production, and Foreign Trade Since Civil War, page 66) Peanut Prices In addition to the illustrations already given the following illustrates the flunctuations in the price of peanuts. 1867, the average price was 9.5 cents per pound; 1868, 10.4 cents, then there was a gradual decline until 1872 of 8.9 cents; then there was a little rise until 1875 when the same price prevailed; 1876, the average price was 4.3 cents, 1878, 3.8 cents, 1880, 3.5 cents, 1881, 6 cents, 1882, 5.3 cents, 1883, 6.7 cents, 1884, 3.2 cents, 1887, 2.9 cents, 1891, 2.8 cents, 1893 2.3 cents, 1894 1.9 cents, 1896 2.1 cents, 1905 2.8 cents, from then for a few years there was a gradual increase in price until 1917 when 9.4 cents was the average, and in 1919 the average price was 9.7 cents, and from that date to the present (1932) there has been a gradual decline until we have the present prices for farmers' stock, Jumbo 1 1-2 to 1 3-4; bunch, 1 1-4 to 1 1-2; runners, 1 1-4 to 1 1-2; shelling 1 to 1 1-2; the lowest that appears to be known in history. (THE END) Additional information: The author generally spelled his surname MacCLENNY, although his parents, David [Jr.] & Ann Maria (HOLLAND) McCLENNY, did not. A Spanish-American War veteran, he was the author of "The life of Rev. James O'Kelly and the early history of the Christian church in the South" (1910: Raleigh, NC, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co.) LVA: Closed Stacks BX6793.O4 M3 He & his parents are buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suffolk - Block H, Lot 56. Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_m.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/history/peanut.txt