Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Accordingly, Virginia-type peanuts are bought on the basis of the percentage of jumbo and fancy peanuts that can be picked from samples of nuts taken at random from the lot.

If the peanut grower brings his crop directly to the factory, the wagonload is weighed and the lot sampled by the buyer for the plant. If the stock is mature and does not contain more than an average amount of foreign matter, it is priced according to current market quotations. Well-picked and poorly-picked lots are seen in Figure 4. An unusual amount of dirt and trash sometimes causes a reduction in price. The general run of peanuts varies in size from season to season; to maintain to some extent a suitable ratio between the relative amounts of cleaned jumbos and fancys put out by the cleaning plants, the sizes of the grades were formerly adjusted arbitrarily each year at the mill, by changing the spacing between the rods in the grading machine. Thus in a season in which peanuts generally did not grow large the producer would receive proportionately higher prices

[graphic][subsumed]

FIG. 4.-Farmers' stock Virginia-type peanuts, well picked (left) and poorly picked (right). (Re

duced one-half)

for small stock than in a year which was favorable to the growth of large-sized peanuts. On December 13, 1921, revised specifications for jumbos and fancys (as well as for extras and shelled goods) were established by the National Peanut Cleaners and Shellers Association, a trade association of many of the leading shellers and cleaners in the Virginia-North Carolina section (see p. 31), which should insure the minimum sizes of these grades remaining unchanged among association members. However, many members of the trade feel that in view of the competition from well-graded oriental peanuts, further tightening of the grades for domestic Virginia-type peanuts is

necessary.

Peanuts are largely bought by type and variety. Spanish stock is handled by itself and need not bear any definite relation to the

price paid for Virginias. Among Virginias, the price is usually determined by the variety. Bunch peanuts bring slightly more than Runners, and Jumbos command a premium over the smaller varieties. The term "Jumbos" is sometimes applied to any lot, whether of the Jumbo variety or not, that will pick out over a certain percentage of cleaned jumbos and fancys.

According to some authorities, if samples taken from the farmer's load show 55 to 60 per cent fancys and jumbos, the lot is called No. 1 or jumbo grade. To be classed as No. 2 grade it must pick out 40 to 55 per cent fancys and jumbos; and No. 3 grade is assigned to any lot containing less than 40 per cent fancys and jumbos. Lots picking less than 40 per cent fancys and jumbos are usually sold as shelling stock. In years when the crop is running poor in quality some buyers designate any lot running over 50 per cent jumbos and fancys as No. 1, with the other grades correspondingly lower.

Farmers' stock peanuts are often bought on appearance only, without actually sampling the lot. The buyer merely estimates the percentage of jumbos and fancys the lot contains, and makes his offer accordingly.

The percentages of the different grades in the crop vary greatly from season to season. In one recent year, for example, which was noted for its low percentage of large sizes, farmers' stock ranged approximately 10 to 15 per cent jumbos, 50 to 55 per cent No. 2, and the remainder was shelling stock. The following season shelling stock composed practically half of the out-turn and the percentage of jumbos was noticeably greater than during the preceding year. No. 2 stock was much less than during the year before.

As hauled from the farms many lots of peanuts contain entirely too great a proportion of dirt, stones, trash, and other foreign material, which lowers the grade. Growers contend that no premium is received for better graded, carefully picked peanuts, and that thus they have no incentive to grade properly.

Buyers for mills and brokers, who work on a commission basis, receiving the same fee for each bag or ton of farmers' stock purchased, at times encourage this feeling on the part of the grower, as the chief interest of these buyers lies in purchasing a specified quantity and in securing their commission. On the other hand, buyers profess to be helpless in the face of competition. They claim that if they refused to purchase nuts not properly cleaned, such stock would be accepted by competitors, and their own business would suffer.

Probably the average 4-bushel bag of farmers' stock Virginias contains 4 to 10 per cent of foreign material, mostly around 5 per cent, although in some seasons many bags contain a much higher percentage of trash and dirt. Cleaners say that 25 to 40 per cent, and even higher, of trash and dirt was found in many bags of farmers' Virginias coming from certain districts of the Virginia-North Carolina section during the 1922-23 season.

The presence of this worthless matter adds to the already high charges for hauling and freight. The grower loses heavily in his picking charges when the picking machine is so carelessly adjusted or operated that excessive quantities of trash are allowed to drop into the bag with the peanuts. As the picker charges a certain amount for each bushel turned out by the machine, he is often paid the regular picking fee for many bushels of foreign material during the

course of a day. Moreover, the grower must assume the cost of extra bags necessary in sacking trash, dirt, sticks, etc. The cleaner loses both in the added expense of separating the pods from dirt and trash, and in paying peanut prices for this material, and somebody pays transportation charges on the foreign material. The cleaner's only recourse is to reduce his buying price, and bags containing more than the average of foreign matter are docked heavily if detected. The grower is paid for the gross weight of the bags and their contents.

GRADES IN SOUTHEASTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Spanish and Runner types of peanuts are all shelled before they are shipped from the peanut belt. Therefore, the principal factor in determining the value of farmers' stock of these types is the

[graphic]

FIG. 5.-Farmers' stock Spanish peanuts, well picked (left) and poorly picked (right). (Reduced

one-half)

quantity of good kernels that can be shelled from a given lot. And since they do not move into consumption in the shell, the size of the pod is immaterial in determining the grade or the price to be paid, as is the case with peanuts of the Virginia type. Well-picked and poorly picked lots of farmers' stock Spanish peanuts are seen in Figure 5.

In response to many requests from southeastern shellers, and to provide definite grades for use in connection with the United States warehouse act, careful investigations were made, and in September, 1923, the United States Department of Agriculture offered tentative grades for farmers' stock Spanish. These grades, revised to September 1, 1925, follow:

U. S. No. 1 shall consist of unshelled White Spanish peanuts which are mature, dry, free from damage from any cause and which will not pass through a screen of the type customarily in use, having by 34 inch perforations.

These and other Federal grades in this bulletin are subject to revision. Latest copies can be secured from the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C,

75379°-26-2

In order to allow for variations incident to proper handling, not more than 2 per cent, by weight, of the lot may consist of shelled peanuts; and not more than 1 per cent of other varieties of peanuts. When shelled, not less than 70 per cent of the total unshelled weight shall consist of sound and mature kernels. In addition, not more than 2 per cent of the total unshelled weight may be damaged; provided that for each fractional per cent of sound and mature kernels above 70 per cent there may be an equal percentage of damaged kernels above 2 per cent, but in no case shall the damaged kernels exceed 3 per cent in U. S. No. 1.

U. S. No. 2 shall consist of unshelled White Spanish peanuts which are mature, dry, free from damage from any cause and which will not pass through a screen of the type customarily in use having 14 by 34 inch perforations.

In order to allow for variations incident to proper handling, not more than 2 per cent, by weight, of the lot may consist of shelled peanuts; and not more than 1 per cent of other varieties of peanuts. When shelled, not less than 65 per cent of the total unshelled weight shall consist of sound and mature kernels. In addition, not more than 2 per cent of the total unshelled weight may be damaged; provided that for each fractional per cent of sound and mature kernels above 65 per cent there may be an equal percentage of damaged kernels above 2 per cent but in no case shall the damaged kernels exceed 5 per cent in U. S. No. 2.

U. S. No. 3 shall consist of unshelled White Spanish peanuts which are mature, dry, free from damage from any cause, and which will not pass through a screen of the type customarily in use having by 34 inch perforations.

In order to allow for variations incident to proper handling, not more than 2 per cent, by weight, of the lot may consist of shelled peanuts; and not more than 1 per cent of other varieties of peanuts. When shelled, not less than 60 per cent of the total unshelled weight shall consist of sound and mature kernels. In addition, not more than 2 per cent of the total unshelled weight may be damaged; provided that for each fractional per cent of sound and mature kernels above 60 per cent there may be an equal percentage of damaged kernels above 2 per cent, but in no case shall the damaged kernels exceed 6 per cent in U. S. No. 3. U. S. Sample Grade shall consist of any lots not meeting the requirements of the foregoing grades.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

As used in these grades, "free from damage' means shelled peanuts which are not dirty, moldy, rancid, decayed, sprouted, wormy, or discolored.

These grades were adopted by the Southeastern Peanut Association, a trade association of many of the leading shellers and crushers in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina, and have come into rather widespread use in the Southeastern States for purchases of Spanish peanuts.

The idea advanced in the tentative grades of the Department of Agriculture that of buying and selling on a basis of the shelled-goods content of a lot has been generally adopted in the Southeastern States. In grading a farmer's peanuts, a representative sample is taken from each lot, or from different parts of one lot if it is large.

The entire sample is weighed, the foreign matter is removed, the pods are hand shelled, and the weight of the sound mature kernels is determined. The damaged kernels are weighed, and if more than a reasonable amount are found the buyer makes a rather heavy deduction from the prevailing price for good stock to cover the cost of picking out the damaged goods by hand in the shelling plant.

Now that the dividing lines between the various grades are wellestablished, closer scrutiny is given to the quality of farmers' stock when it is bought. The grower whose peanuts are carefully picked before delivery receives a higher price for his stock, while the careless grower is penalized.

The new policy is also better for the buyer, who now seldom resorts to the old "hit-or-miss" plan of purchasing. Formerly, scant attention was paid to the shelled-goods value of the farmers' stock. With no well-defined grades as a basis of trading, confusion often resulted. Growers were frequently dissatisfied, because they felt that they had not received a price commensurate with the quality of the goods delivered. On the other hand, after shelling various lots the buyers have sometimes felt that they paid too much for the stock. Thus the availability of a definite, well-understood basis for determining values has been generally greeted with approval.

Unless the peanuts are to be shelled at once, cracked or broken pods are extremely undesirable in a lot of farmers' goods of any variety, as the kernels in the damaged pods are susceptible to mold and weevil attack, and it is difficult to pick out moldy or weevily kernels as they pass over the screens and belt-conveyors in the shelling plant. Further, as nuts in broken pods often arrive at the shelling machine already shelled, the kernels are frequently broken in the cylinder and are useful only for crushing or stock feed.

Those who pay attention to careful harvesting, picking, and grading receive good dividends in the higher percentage of No. 1 nuts obtained. A 30-pound bushel of farmers' stock Spanish peanuts should shell out about 21 or 22 pounds of kernels. In the Virginia-North Carolina section approximately 16 or 17 pounds of these will be No. 1 grade, 3 to 31⁄2 pounds will be splits or No. 2, and the remainder will consist of No. 3 grade. In Georgia and Alabama the yield of No. 1 stock usually reaches 16 to 17 and sometimes 18 pounds per bushel, No. 2 will average 3 to 31⁄2 pounds, and No. 3's and pick-outs will total about 1 pound. In Texas the quantity of No. 1 nuts may reach 16 pounds, but will frequently total less than 15 pounds, and sometimes as low as 12 pounds to the 30-pound bushel. The Texas outturn, moreover, owing to the almost universal use of threshers, usually shows a higher percentage of No. 2 and No. 3 peanuts than does the output of the other Spanish-growing areas.

IMPORTANCE OF LARGE SIZE

It is often said that the percentage of large sizes in the production of Virginia-type peanuts has apparently been decreasing in recent years. On the other hand, the demand for large shelled peanuts, owing to the growth of the salting industry, has been increasing rapidly. In fact, leading salters claim that they have been obliged at times to use large-size orientals heavily, to fill their orders, because the supply of extra large Virginias has not been sufficient for their needs.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »