hels annually, and were all the
information gathered that could be, it would doubtless be greater still.
It is high time that the corps of statistical reporters to the National
Department of Agriculture, were required to give the data for this crop,
as well as for others, and some of them of less magnitude and value.

FOOTNOTE:

[2] See remarks on the term goober, in note on page 9.

APPENDIX B.

COSTS.

Perhaps the attentive reader has expressed surprise that so little has
been said about the cost of planting, cultivating, and harvesting the
peanut crop. This was because no estimate of costs that would suit one
place, would apply in another and a distant locality. There is no
uniformity in this matter, hence it was deemed best to leave each reader
to count the costs for himself, based on his knowledge of his own local
surroundings.

APPENDIX C.

THE PEANUT GARDEN OF AMERICA.

The following article from the Suffolk, Va., "Herald," gives a concise
view of the growth and development of this staple in Virginia, and
illustrates how a portion of the Southside has become, perhaps, the
leading peanut-producing section of our country:

"When James H. Platt introduced his bill in Congress imposing a duty
upon peanuts imported from Africa, a large majority of the members of
that august body hardly knew what a peanut was. A few of them had eaten
'Goobers' which had been carefully cultivated in the garden by their
grandmothers, but as to why they needed protection, or how many of them
there were to protect, but little was known even by the best informed.
The culture of this important agricultural product was then in its
infancy, and it was hardly recognized as an article of commerce.

"Only a few short years have rolled by, and what a change has been
effected. The peanut crop has assumed gigantic proportions, and the
aggregate amounts to millions of dollars, while the nut is in demand
from one end of the Union to the other at satisfactory prices.

"The section of country contiguous to and lying south of James River,
and between Norfolk and Petersburg, may be correctly termed the peanut
garden of the world.

"In this section peanut farming has been brought to the highest state of
perfection, and the average production per acre greatly increased from
what was considered a good yield a few years ago.

"The one great difficulty in handling the crop seems to be, in the fact
that no machine has yet been i