6 THE PICKING AND HANDLING OF PEANUTS. 



house, and the openings between floors should be provided with iron 

 doors to prevent the spread of fire. 



Provision should be made for the fumigation of these peanut 

 warehouses at least twice during the sunmier. With this end in view 

 the windows should be so arranged that they may be opened from the 

 outside; ventilators in the roof should be provided with means of 

 closing them during fumigation, and then for opening them to air 

 out the house afterwards. 



TEANSPOE-TATION OF PEANUTS. 



There can be no doubt that many peanuts are broken and injured 

 by careless handling. Catching hold of the corners of the bags for 

 handling may break the pods. Jamming the bags with trucks or 

 carts also causes considerable breakage. 



A practice which no doubt will be discouraged in the future is the 

 mixing of old goods with new in shipping. Many farmers hold over 

 a few bags from one year to another and frequent I3' these are sold for 

 the current season's crop by simply placing a bag here and there in a 

 car of new peanuts. These old goods are often damaged and should 

 at least be kept separate from the new stock. The branding of 

 every bag with the name of the grower and the j'^ear that the peanuts 

 were grown would solve this difficulty, especially if required by law. 

 The mixing of old and new goods is not always traceable to the farm, 

 but more often to the merchant's storehouse where peanuts from a 

 large number of farms have been brought together. 



THE CLEANING OF PEANUTS IN FACTORIES. 



As the cars arrive at the factory the bags of peanuts are weighed 

 and placed in storage until wanted for cleaning. As a rule no pre- 

 cautions are taken to guard against broken or "weevil-cut" goods. 

 It would be feasible to provide a tight room near the entrance to the 

 warehouse into which the peanuts could be run as they come from 

 the car and given a fumigation before being placed in storage or 

 cleaned. This would apply especially to peanuts shipped during the 

 summer months, after "weevil" damage has begun. It would not 

 be practicable to separate the broken peanuts from the perfect ones 

 as they come from the cars except in cases where the breakage is very 

 great. All badly broken stock should be manufactured early in the 

 season before there is any danger of injury. 



It is highly important that warehouses and cleaning establishments 

 be kept clean and free from everything that will harbor " weevils." 

 Screenings and other refuse, commonly sold for hog feed, should be 

 removed to a building located some distance from the warehouses 

 and factory. Old bags should not be piled in the factory but should 

 be k6pt in a separate building. 



[Cir. 88] 



