Confectioners use great quant.i.ties of chestnuts. In Lyons there are establishments where as many as two hundred persons are employed in preparing them.
The nuts are first peeled, and then boiled in clear water, which removes the thin coating next the kernel. They are then placed in a sirup flavored with Mexican vanilla, in which they remain for about three days. After draining, they are coated with vanilla or chocolate and packed in attractive boxes. In this form they are worth forty-five or fifty cents a pound.
A BAG OF PEANUTS
Last summer Harry"s parents took him with them on a visit to Virginia.
Harry has always lived in New York City, and the country life of the South was very interesting to him.
They visited friends who live on a beautiful _plantation_, as the farms in the South are called. A driveway lined with grand old trees leads through the flower-studded lawn up to the retired manor house, whose wide verandas completely circle it round.
Beyond the house are the stables where work horses, driving horses, and saddle horses are kept; and beyond these is the pretty little boathouse, standing on the bank of a small river that winds its way through the plantation.
The morning after Harry arrived, his friend Bert asked him if he would like to go across the river to see the men harvest peanuts.
Now whenever Harry had wanted peanuts, he had always gone to a stand and bought a sack. He had never thought about where they came from. He had heard of shaking nuts from trees, so he supposed that they were going to the woods.
He was therefore much surprised when Bert took him to a field across the river where men were plowing vines from the ground.
"Do peanuts grow in the ground?" he asked.
"Why, of course they do," answered Bert.
"I thought that nuts grew on trees," said Harry.
"Father says that the peanut is not a _real_ nut," replied his friend.
"He says they should be called _ground nuts_ or _ground peas_." He pulled up one of the vines, and the boys threw themselves down under a tree to examine it.
When the small clods of soil clinging to the roots of the plant had been removed, Harry saw a number of pods which he recognized as peanuts.
Opening one of the pods, Bert took out the kernels.
"These," said he, "are the _seeds_, and they are planted much as other seeds are.
"Before they are planted the sh.e.l.l must be removed, but we have to be careful not to break the thin skin that covers the kernel. If that be broken, the seed will not grow.
"The kernels are planted about one foot apart, in rows that are, as you see, about three feet apart. Sometimes they are planted by hand and sometimes by machinery."
"I wonder if peanuts are raised in the country around New York," said Harry.
"No, I think not," replied Bert, "for they are very easily killed by frost. Great quant.i.ties are raised in North Carolina and in Tennessee.
Father says that the negroes of western Africa raised them long, long before they were known in the United States. He says that they are a very important article of food there, and that whole villages take part in the planting and harvesting.
"After the vines blossom," continued Bert, "a very strange thing happens."
"What is it?" asked Harry.
"The flower stalks bend downward and push themselves right into the soil, and on these the pods develop. If the stalks do not enter the earth within a few hours after the flowers fall, they die."
Harry now watched the plowing. The plows were drawn up and down the rows and ran directly under the vines, lifting them out of the soil. After they had been plowed out about two hours, men took them upon pitchforks and piled them up. Harry noticed that some of the piles were covered with corn fodder, and asked why this was. Bert told him that it was to keep out the rain.
"What happens to the nuts after the vines have been piled up?" said Harry.
"They remain in the piles fifteen or twenty days, and are then spread out on the ground or hauled to the barn, where the nuts are picked off,"
answered Bert. "Sometimes they are picked by hand and sometimes by machinery. Let us go to the lower field; we have an earlier variety there, and the nuts are being picked now."
They found men, women, and children picking the pods one by one and dropping them into baskets. These were emptied into sacks. Harry tried to lift one of these, and was surprised to find it so heavy. Bert told him that it weighed about one hundred pounds.
"Do you burn the vines after the nuts are picked?" asked Harry.
"No," said Bert, "they are fed to the cattle. We call the vines _peanut hay_."
Bert explained that his father sold the sacks of nuts to the factory, where they were cleaned and sorted.
The next day the boys went to town and visited the peanut factory.
The nuts were first put through a machine which removed the dirt. They were then polished and sorted into four grades. The poorest grade is used in making peanut candy. The nuts were then sacked, and were ready to be shipped to the North.
Harry learned that an oil is made from the nuts which is used as olive oil is used, and also that peanut b.u.t.ter is produced from them. He found that many men were employed on plantations all through Virginia and other states of the South, in raising the peanuts that are sold on the streets of every city and town in our country.
a.s.sORTED NUTS
After the Thanksgiving dinner had been eaten, the nuts were pa.s.sed, and the children asked Uncle John to tell them something about a few of them.
"All right," said he. "You pick out the ones that you want to know about."
Frank handed him an almond.
"This nut," said Uncle John, "came from sunny Spain. It grew not far from the blue Mediterranean. Almonds are raised in most parts of southern Europe and in the northern part of Africa. Ages ago they grew in the Holy Land, and are mentioned in the Bible."
"Do almonds grow in any part of our country?" asked Helen.
"I think they grow in California," said Frank.
"You are right," said Uncle John. "There are many almond orchards in the southern part of the state.
"An almond tree in full bloom is a beautiful sight. The blossoms are white, tinted with pink, and as they appear before the leaves do, there is nothing to hide them."
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 63.--Almond Trees in Full Bloom.]
"Does the nut have a covering?" inquired Mary.