THE PICKING AND HANDLING OF PEANUTS. 5 



STORAGE OF PEANUTS ON THE FARM. 



The farmer's safeguard in the matter of the prices obtained for his 

 peanuts lies largely in his ability to hold at least a portion of his 

 crop through the winter or even until the new crop is partly grown. 

 Farmers should be prepared to hold their crop for a time, rather than 

 place it all upon the market during the autumn months when prices 

 are o-enerallv at their lowest. In order to do this suitable storage 

 facilities are necessary. 



Frequently the bags of peanuts are simply piled in an open shed 

 or in the barn, where they are not properly protected. Occasionally 

 the bags are simply stacked upon the ground in the field without 

 even the protection of a canvas cover. A building for the storage 

 of peanuts need not be expensive, but may be constructed of rough 

 boards with an iron roof and the whole raised a little above the 

 ground for dryness. All openings for ventilation should be screened 

 to keep out mice and rats; insect injury will not prove serious pro- 

 vided the peanuts have not become broken in picking or handling. 



In many cases it has been found most convenient to store peanuts 

 in bags. In no case should the bags be piled too high— that is, 

 more than seven courses— and alleyways should be left every third 

 or fourth row. Some growers follow the practice of storing in cribs 

 or bins, where the peanuts are piled loosely until they are wanted 

 for the market, at which time they are bagged. The method of stor- 

 age on the farm matters very little provided the surrounding condi- 

 tions are suitable. The less the peas are handled the better on 

 account of the breakage. 



STORAGE OF PEANUTS IN LARGE WAREHOUSES. 



It has been the custom for a few cleaners and warehousemen to 

 buy up peanuts during the autumn and to store them in warehouses 

 holding from 20,000 to 100,000 bags each. Many of these ware- 

 houses are cheap frame structures. Eecently some very fine storage 

 houses have been built for this purpose. The type of building which 

 seems to be best adapted to the storage of peanuts is four or five 

 stories in height, with heavy brick walls and either concrete or mill 

 construction floors. For best results the distance between floors 

 should be but 10 or 11 feet. It has been found most economical not 

 to pile the bags so high that two men can not handle them without 

 climl)ing upon the bags that are already placed. Walking over the 

 bags is sure to break a large number of the pods, and even the piling 

 of the bags to a great height will crush the shells in the lower bags. 

 It is recommended that occasional alleyways be left between the 

 rows of bags instead of the solid method of piling now practiced. 

 It is customary to have an elevator near the entrance to the ware- 

 tar. 88] 



