MARKETING PEANUTS 9 
market price, but if the cropper does not wish to sell his share at 
harvest time he is sometimes allowed to store it on the farm or in a 
warehouse, paying the landlord interest on his advances dating from 
August 1. 
fn the more important centers supply stores play a very important 
part in financing peanut production in this territory. They carry 
practically every article needed by farmers, from fertilizer to provi- 
sions and clothing. Some of these stores are operated by farming 
companies and sell only to their croppers. Others do a large credit 
business with landlords, small owners, and even renters. When a 
customer arranges for credit the merchant takes a promissory note 
and often also a crop lien or chattel mortgage, and usually arranges 
that the credit shall be traded out at a fixed rate per month. Notes 
are made to mature in September or October. Customers' bills, par- 
ticularly in the case of small owners and renters, usually are paid in 
peanuts and cotton; and although it is not so specified in the lien, 
it is understood that the supply company is to have the privilege of 
buying not only enough goods to satisfy the account but the cus- 
tomer's whole crop. Stores carrying a general line of merchandise 
allow liberal credit to their farmer customers, in many cases even 
carrying croppers for the landlord's account. 
It is estimated that about half of the financing requirements of 
peanut growing is supplied through loans from local banks. Many 
landlords are obliged to borrow heavily to finance their operations 
and most small owners and renters must borrow a little. Loans may 
range from $35 to $100 per plow. Usually -they are made in March 
for a period of six months. The notes are secured by crop Hens or, 
in some cases, by chattel or real-estate mortgages. 
The average grower in this territory does not fertilize for growing 
peanuts, but attempts to raise a commercial crop successfully without 
fertilizer. Those who do use fertilizer may buy it on credit from the 
supply stores or manufacturers' representatives, but recently credit 
buying has been discouraged by increasing the discount for cash. 
With few exceptions the shelling and crushing plants in Georgia 
and Alabama do little directly in the way of financing peanut produc- 
tion. Several concerns have for a number of years sold considerable 
seed on credit to small growers in the vicinity of their plants, taking a 
promissory note and a lien on the crop as security for the obligations. 
This was done in order to induce the farmers to grow peanuts and 
thus furnish more work for the plants. 
TEXAS 
Peanut production in Texas is financed largely by the landlords, 
and the loans are repaid, usually in peanuts, at harvest time. Occa- 
sionally the crop is sold and payment made in cash. Money borrowed 
from the bank is usually repaid from the proceeds of the sale of the 
crop. 
MARKETING METHODS 
As the peanut finds its way into consumption to-day it is essentially 
a manufactured or milled product. The Virginia-type peanuts which 
are sold in the shell by the vending trade have been cleaned, polished, 
powdered, and assorted into sizes before leaving the mill. Finally, 
they are roasted before being sold to the consumer. Shelled peanuts 
