12 



THE PEANUT— THE UNPREDICTABLE LEGUME 



forces and those of our allies was such that government controls became 

 inoperative between 1943 and 1947. This demand at high prices caused 

 enormous expansion in most producing areas. Lack of machinery, espe- 

 cially pickers, for handling the crop and lack of marketing facilities pre- 

 vented expansion outside the old producing areas. With these limitations 

 removed, production within the United States could easily be doubled 

 again. 



At present prices, No. 1 grade peanuts cannot profitably be crushed 

 for oil; and comparatively few peanuts of this grade are used for 

 such purpose. Those crushed are, for the most part, "off -grade" lots and 

 screenings, shrivels, splits and pick-outs from shelled No. 1 grade. As 

 an example, the proportional distribution (29) of the 1947 crop to vari- 

 ous usages is shown in figure 3. 



Figure 3. — Proportional distribution of 1947 peanut crop to various usages. 



Of the one and one-half billion pounds listed as cleaned and shelled, 

 80 million pounds were merely cleaned for roasting in the shell. These 

 were mostly Virginia-type, but included a few of other types. The distri- 

 bution by varieties in the shelled edible trade follows : 



