well displayed are half sold" should be heeded. The success of the 5 and 10 cent stores in selling large quantities of salted peanuts is due to two factors: (1) Low prices and (2) placing the nuts where the public can not help seeing them.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PEANUTS

Although peanuts are distributed widely over the country, a very large proportion of the domestic production is consumed east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio Rivers. West of the Mississippi and especially west of the Rocky Mountains, oriental peanuts are a heavy competitor of the American product. Large shipments have gone to Canadian cities, and Cuba and other foreign countries have taken small quantities. Figures 21 to 24 show the distribution by States of shelled and cleaned peanuts, by sections and total, for the crop year 1923-24. The heaviest user of peanuts is Chicago,

FIG. 21.-Southern and western purchasers usually buy Virginias in the shell; northeastern buyers

take more shelled goods

the chief manufacturing center for both salted peanuts and peanut butter. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland follow in rank. Tabulations of the distribution of the 1920 to 1923 crops of peanuts by States of destination, are found on pages 94 and 95.

CHARACTER OF RECEIPTS IN PRINCIPAL MARKETS

A wide variation is found in the relative proportion of shelled and cleaned peanuts absorbed by different large cities. Inquiries of leading members of the trade in several large receiving centers a few years ago resulted in the following data, which have been revised in the light of recent tabulations and which can be considered as approximately accurate only over a series of years.

The proportion of goods in the shell to the total peanut receipts of a city varies from 10 per cent at Chicago to 65 per cent at Baltimore. About one-fifth of the peanuts coming into Boston are in the shell, and one-third of the receipts at New York are in that class. Peanuts in the shell predominate in the arrivals at Minneapolis and

St. Paul, which are heavy distributing points to towns in the Northwest. Shelled peanuts constitute four-fifths of the arrivals at Cincinnati and Kansas City and fully 85 per cent of the receipts at Cleveland.

The greater part of the heavy shelled receipts at Chicago are salted, although a large volume goes into the manufacture of peanut butter and peanut candy. At New York and Cincinnati, peanutbutter concerns take more shelled goods than any other class of trade. At Boston candy manufacturers are the chief receivers.

Receipts of southern Runners are probably heavier in Chicago and Cincinnati than in any other consuming center and are often substituted there for No. 1 and No. 2 shelled Virginias.

Most cities prefer jumbos or large-size peanuts in the shell to the fancy or second size but Cincinnati definitely demands the fancy size and Baltimore has a distinct preference for the extra grade.

FIG. 22.-Southeastern shelled peanuts go principally to States in the North and East

Chicago is the heaviest receiver of oriental shelled peanuts. New York St. Louis, Cleveland and other large cities also receive large quantities of oriental shelled, and west of the Plains area they can be found in all large markets.

FEDERAL MARKET NEWS REPORTS

The market news reports on peanuts issued weekly by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture, are well known in all sections of the country where peanuts are grown in any quantity, and in many of the consuming markets. This service to peanut growers and shippers was established in the fall of 1919 at the earnest solicitation of prominent factors in the peanut industry in Virginia, and has since been expanded and improved. These reports contain news from both producing sections and the leading consuming centers.

PRICE QUOTATIONS

The record of current prices and conditions prevailing in the peanut belt is based on telegrams received from leading cleaners, shellers, crushers, and brokers in the Virginia-North Carolina section, the Southeast, and the Southwest, giving the prices paid growers for farmers' grade peanuts, and quotations and selling prices f. o. b. shipping points for the shelled or cleaned product. City brokers in the North cooperate in the furnishing of southern quotations. F. o. b. prices of crude peanut oil, and of peanut meal and cake, are frequently obtained and published. In the larger city markets, salaried representatives of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, without any financial interest in the goods involved, visit each week the leading brokers and handlers of peanuts and obtain a record of current prices and market conditions. Composite telegrams covering the situation in each market are forwarded promptly to Washington

FIG. 23.-Illinois takes more southwestern peanuts than any other one State

to be edited and included in the news sheet. Prices of Chinese and other peanuts in British markets are taken from commercial sources and appear almost weekly in the report. Occasionally prices of peanuts and peanut oil f. o. b. Chinese ports are obtained and published.

REPORTS OF MOVEMENT

Arrangements are in effect whereby the local agents of the different railroads and boat lines at points in the peanut belt at which cleaning, shelling, or crushing plants are located, report each week the number of pounds of shelled and unshelled peanuts and peanut oil moving out of their stations. These shipment statistics, which are tabulated and published each week, form the basis for the tabulated destinations by States beginning on page 94. A graphic summary of the average monthly movement of cleaned and shelled peanuts is seen in Figure 25.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

Telegrams are received from bureau representatives in Seattle and San Francisco, recording market prices and conditions of Asiatic goods f. o. b. the Pacific coast, and the importations of oriental peanuts and peanut oil at those points when any take place. Imports at New York, Boston, and Norfolk are also obtained and published. Detailed import and export figures for peanuts, peanut oil, and cottonseed oil, covering all ports, are obtained from the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and published each month. Complete summaries of import and export statistics are issued at the close of each calendar and fiscal year. Occasionally articles dealing with the peanut industry in other countries, as reported by American consular agents, are included. These weekly market reports are mailed without expense to anyone showing need for them, upon application to the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Washington, D. C.

CROP PRODUCTION STATISTICS

Through a system of voluntary crop reporters, supervised by State or district statisticians, a record of the estimated production of peanuts is obtained from the entire peanut belt. These figures, revised monthly during the later growing and harvesting seasons, are of interest to everyone in the industry as the best available estimate of the quantity of peanuts produced in the United States.

ROASTED PEANUTS IN THE SHELL

Peanuts in the shell are sold to the public in roasted form. If the peanuts are to have a uniformly brown color they must be turned occasionally during the roasting process, and this is usually done in perforated revolving cylinders over heat of some kind. Gas is usually employed for the roasting, two or three lines of flame running the length of the cylinder underneath. Coal is sometimes used, and occasionally electricity is used with small roasters. The number of revolutions of the cylinder varies from 6 or 7 to the minute in a small cylinder holding 10 pounds of pods to 40 or 50 a minute in larger outfits holding from 60 to 200 pounds.

The length of time required for roasting peanuts varies with the degree of heat, moisture content of the pods, size of the cylinder and quantity roasted. With small roasters and only moderate heat, an hour is often necessary, but with large cylinders and a higher temperature the roasting may be accomplished in 15 to 20 minutes. Scorching is likely to result if the roasting is hurried too much.

In commercial practice a thermometer is never used. The exact time required for roasting is left to the judgment of the operator of the machine. When the kernels have reached a golden-brown color, the pods are poured out for cooling onto a truck with a perforated bottom, and then are rebagged. The shrinkage in weight of peanuts in the shell during roasting may run from 7 to 10 per cent.

The machinery for roasting peanuts on a large scale is similar to that used for roasting coffee. In fact, coffee roasters are using their equipment increasingly for roasting peanuts as a sideline. Some coffee roasters make a practice of keeping 1, 2, and 5 pound bags of roasted peanuts constantly on their counters, as well as smaller sacks, to attract the attention of people coming in to buy coffee.