by a little dry grass or other material as a protection from rain. A well-made peanut stack is shown in Figure 1. Curing normally requires from four to six weeks. If the nuts are picked from the vines before being thoroughly cured the kernels may shrivel. As peanuts are generally sold by weight, shriveled peanuts result in loss in weight as well as in quality. Moreover, if picked when partly cured the kernels may mold in the pods.?

Peanut growers in Texas rarely use the stake method in curing. In that State, after the peanut vines are dug they are raked into windrows or forked into small piles about 2 feet high, and are cured

FIG. 1.-A well-made peanut stack, before settling has taken place. Practically no pods are exposed to the weather

in the open without protection from the weather. To some extent this method is used in the Southeastern States for curing Runners. Peanuts so cured may be expected to have a high percentage of weather-damaged kernels. Further, as they are often not picked as soon as they are cured, and since many of the pods lie on the ground, a higher percentage of sprouted nuts may be looked for than with shock-cured vines, thus lowering the quality and grade of the crop.

PICKING OR THRESHING

Picking the pods from the vines was once done entirely by hand. with negro labor. Now the use of machines to remove the pods is

For details of harvesting see Farmers' Bulletin 1127, Peanut growing for profit, by W. R. Beattie, pp. 15, illus. 1920.

general. Grain-threshing machines with a special cylinder adapted to handling peanuts, are still in general use in the Southwest, and to a slight and decreasing extent in the southeastern tier of States. A carefully regulated cylinder-type threshing machine gives fair results in removing Spanish-type peanuts from the vines and leaves little trash with the pods. Usually, however, sufficient care is not shown in so adjusting the speed of the cylinder as to reduce trash and dirt to a minimum. A greater breakage of pods and kernels also occurs with a threshing machine than with a specially designed picker thus increasing the percentage of splits or No. 2 peanuts. Kernels in cracked pods often become moldy and rancid. Further, although it is practically impossible for weevils to penetrate a sound, unbroken shell, broken pods offer an opportunity for weevil injury in storage. In consequence, many southeastern shellers decline to buy peanuts that have been threshed unless they can arrange to shell the stock

FIG. 2.-A commercial peanut picker in operation. The pile at the left of the picture consists of vines and foreign material remaining after the pods were picked; the lumber at the extreme right is a portion of the stakes around which the vines were stacked and which are not usually removed until the stacks are brought to the picker

before weevil injury is likely to occur. Breakage of the pods in the thresher is reduced to a minimum by proper feeding into the hopper and by properly regulating the speed of the cylinder.

The large-podded varieties of peanuts tend to break badly in threshing machines, and in Virginia and North Carolina the thresher type of machine has been rather generally replaced by patented picking machines. (See fig. 2.) In these machines the vines are dragged over a horizontal frame, on which is a wire netting. Springs separate the vines, allowing the nuts to catch in the netting with little breakage, while the vines are carried away on a belt conveyor. Many machines have recleaning attachments, designed to remove much of the dirt and trash adhering to the pods, and a fan which blows out sappy peanuts and trash.

Hardly one-fifth of the farmers growing peanuts in Virginia and North Carolina own picking machines, and the work is usually done

by a traveling or custom picker who operates his machine for a given charge per bushel or per sack of peanuts picked. During the past two or three years this charge has ranged from 30 to 40 cents per 4-bushel sack of farmers' goods, based on the number of sacks picked. In the Southeast in 1924, when the picking was done for cash the usual charge was around $8 to $10 per ton. Often picking was done on the basis of payment in peanuts of one-tenth to one-eighth of the quantity picked, depending on the size of the crop and the acreage in the immediate vicinity. In Texas most threshers charged 12 to 15 cents per 30-pound bushel for threshing large lots in 1924. Some large lots were threshed for 10 cents per bushel, but higher charges were made for small quantities.

Since the income of the commercial picker is dependent on the volume of peanuts picked, the frequent tendency is to feed peanuts into the machine as fast as it will take them, and the special attachments are often removed as a means of increasing the speed of the machine. The result is that much trash and dirt and portions of vines come through the picker with the pods, adding weight to the farmer's lot of peanuts, but materially lowering the grade.

After picking, peanuts in Virginia and North Carolina are sacked, usually directly from the picking machine, in 4-bushel bags holding on an average about 88 pounds of Virginia type or 120 pounds of the Spanish stock. In Texas some bags of this size may be found, but often miscellaneous secondhand sacks of varying capacities are used. After the tops of the bags are sewed they may then be hauled to a storage building on the farm or at a town near by, to a local factory, a country merchant or other buyer, or to the railroad station for shipment.

The unit of sale in Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina for the Spanish variety is the 30-pound bushel, although according to Texas law a bushel of Spanish peanuts weighs 24 pounds. The largepodded nuts in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, weighing about 22 pounds to the bushel, are sold by the pound. In the southeastern area peanuts customarily move to market in bulk, and are sold on the basis of the 2,000-pound ton. To a lesser extent, bulk shipments of farmers' grade peanuts are made in the Southwest.

HOW PRODUCTION IS FINANCED 8

Most producers find it necessary to borrow some money, or to use credit, in growing their peanuts. This financial assistance may be used to buy seed, fertilizer, or supplies. The method of financing production is important because it often determines the method of sale of the harvested product and when it shall appear on the market.

VIRGINIA-NORTH CAROLINA SECTION

In the Virginia-North Carolina peanut belt approximately 60 per cent of the crop is produced on small farms operated by the owners. A few farms are operated by cash renters; the remainder are farmed on a share-crop arrangement. Under the half-share arrangement, which is most common, the landlord furnishes land, stock, and half the fertilizer and seed. A one-third share arrangement is sometimes

Acknowledgment is made to G. E. Cadisch and O. D. Miller, who investigated crop financing in 1923 and who supplied much of the material for this portion of the bulletin.

made whereby the tenant furnishes stock, labor, and two-thirds of the fertilizer and seed, and the landlord receives one-third of the crop.

Credit for financing production is extended chiefly by local supply merchants and banks, although in some towns commission dealers advance considerable credit.

The local supply merchant usually tells the grower in the spring to what extent he may expect credit on either an open account or by a note arrangement. If on a note, this note usually matures in November or December and frequently bears no interest until after maturity. A crop lien is frequently taken by the local merchant to secure advances made on the poorer credit risks. Supplies covering most of the grower's needs are sold to him each month until the credit allowance is exhausted. The merchant in many cases attempts to regulate each month's advances in accordance with the total credit granted. In the fall the merchant usually buys the peanuts at the prevailing market price, and the accounts are settled.

Loans by the banks are made chiefly to growers having a good credit rating, or to the supply merchants. Bank loans are usually for six months at 6 per cent interest collected in advance, on notes secured by one or two indorsements. The personal notes of tenants are often indorsed by their landlords.

When a commission dealer finances production, he usually takes a crop lien and a note maturing about December 15. As a rule no interest is charged where supplies alone are furnished. When cash advances are made, as sometimes happens, 8 per cent interest is charged on the money. The dealer's funds are obtained from his own capital or from bank loans, which may be secured by indorsements or by growers' notes deposited as collateral for the dealer's note. In consideration for the advances, the grower normally agrees to sell his harvested peanuts through the commission dealer. It is not usual for the cleaners and shellers to do any direct financing for production purposes.

GEORGIA AND ALABAMA

In marked contrast to the small-farm system in Virginia and North Carolina, peanut production in Georgia and Alabama is carried on principally on large farms operated under the plantation system and in conjunction with cotton growing. Less than 25 per cent of the crop is grown by small farmers on their own land. Individual landlords operate farms ranging in size from 100 to 3,000 acres and there are a few farming concerns which operate as much as 6,000 to 8,000

acres.

The plantations are divided into "plow" units of about 30 acres, an area which can be conveniently farmed by one man with a mule and plow. Under the usual arrangement tenants known as croppers farm on a share basis, by which the landlord furnishes the stock, tools, dwelling, and half the fertilizer and seed used, and also makes advances in the form of money, provisions, and clothing to a limit of $6 to $10 per month from January to July, inclusive, receiving half the crop as his share. The farms are operated under the supervision of a farm manager and practically all of the croppers are negroes.

From his half the tenant must repay the landlord for his advances. Usually the landlord takes payment in the form of crops at the

market price, but if the cropper does not wish to sell his share at harvest time he is sometimes allowed to store it on the farm or in a warehouse, paying the landlord interest on his advances dating from August 1.

In the more important centers supply stores play a very important part in financing peanut production in this territory. They carry practically every article needed by farmers, from fertilizer to provisions and clothing. Some of these stores are operated by farming companies and sell only to their croppers. Others do a large credit business with landlords, small owners, and even renters. When a customer arranges for credit the merchant takes a promissory note and often also a crop lien or chattel mortgage, and usually arranges that the credit shall be traded out at a fixed rate per month. Notes are made to mature in September or October. Customers' bills, particularly in the case of small owners and renters, usually are paid in peanuts and cotton; and although it is not so specified in the lien, it is understood that the supply company is to have the privilege of buying not only enough goods to satisfy the account but the customer's whole crop. Stores carrying a general line of merchandise allow liberal credit to their farmer customers, in many cases even carrying croppers for the landlord's account.

It is estimated that about half of the financing requirements of peanut growing is supplied through loans from local banks. Many landlords are obliged to borrow heavily to finance their operations and most small owners and renters must borrow a little. Loans may range from $35 to $100 per plow. Usually they are made in March for a period of six months. The notes are secured by crop liens or, in some cases, by chattel or real-estate mortgages.

The average grower in this territory does not fertilize for growing peanuts, but attempts to raise a commercial crop successfully without fertilizer. Those who do use fertilizer may buy it on credit from the supply stores or manufacturers' representatives, but recently credit buying has been discouraged by increasing the discount for cash.

With few exceptions the shelling and crushing plants in Georgia and Alabama do little directly in the way of financing peanut production. Several concerns have for a number of years sold considerable seed on credit to small growers in the vicinity of their plants, taking a promissory note and a lien on the crop as security for the obligations. This was done in order to induce the farmers to grow peanuts and thus furnish more work for the plants.

TEXAS

Peanut production in Texas is financed largely by the landlords, and the loans are repaid, usually in peanuts, at harvest time. Occasionally the crop is sold and payment made in cash. Money borrowed from the bank is usually repaid from the proceeds of the sale of the crop.

MARKETING METHODS

As the peanut finds its way into consumption to-day it is essentially a manufactured or milled product. The Virginia-type peanuts which are sold in the shell by the vending trade have been cleaned, polished, powdered, and assorted into sizes before leaving the mill. Finally, they are roasted before being sold to the consumer. Shelled peanuts