BJILLETl'N 1096, U. S. DEPAETINIEXT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



SHELLIXG PLANTS. 



Many mills ran shelling plants in which the best nuts are separated 

 to be marketed as shelled peanuts. The seconds are either pressed 

 out separately or run in with the regular stock when the mill is 

 running on stock peanuts in the usual way. The principle of the sheller 

 is the same as that of the disk huUer (p. 2), but in addition it has 

 attached to it screens, shakers, and fans, so that the meats come out 

 ahnost entirely separated from the hulls. The machine is run to make 

 as many of the meats as possible come out whole. 



PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM CRUSHING PEANUTS. 



Some mills make feeds by grinding the peanut cake with peanut 

 hulls, hay, cottonseed meal, cottonseed hulls, etc., with the idea of 

 utilizing the hulls, which have a very low feeding value. It may be 

 possible to use the hulls in this way if the product is not to be shipped 

 very far, but their shipment for any great distance is not economical. 



Meals containing from 45 to 50 per cent of protein are produced 

 but seldom placed on the market. Meals containing all the hulls, with 

 a protein content of from 34 to 38 per cent, and meals containing 

 an excess of hulls obtained from shelling plants or some other source 

 are also found. Between these extremes are several grades. 



Some mills run almost entirely on seconds, which they buy from 

 shelling plants, and on the germ (known to the trade as the heart) 

 and skins, which they obtain from peanut-butter mills and peanut- 

 confection estabhshments. A low-grade oil and a low-grade meal are 

 thus obtained. Although peanut skins do not contain much oil 

 originally, those from peanut-butter mills are high in oil, which is 

 tried out from the meats and absorbed by the skins during the roast- 

 ing. Such skins contain from 20 to 30 per cent of oil. Products 

 obtained by crushing skins, germs, low-grade meats, etc., should not 

 be designated as peanut meal; they should be labeled to show their 

 true character. 



Fertihzers are among the valuable products obtained from the 

 crushing of peanuts. Peanut cake, however, is too valuable as a 

 feed to be used directly as a fertilizer. The ideal thing would be to 

 feed all the peanut meal produced to animals, using the resulting 

 manure for fertilizer. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to 

 do this. For business reasons a great deal of peanut meal is sold to 

 the planters, who use it directly for fertilizing purposes. Often it 

 seems advisable for the oil millers to buy the peanuts from the 

 planters, giving them the peanut meal as part payment. The planter 

 brings in a load of peanuts and takes away a load of meal. In this 

 way the working capital of the mill is reduced materially, while the 



