10 BULLETIN 1401, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
require even more handling before they reach the form in which they 
are offered for sale. Thus two main steps of distribution enter into 
the marketing of peanuts : (1) Movement from the farm to the clean- 
ing, shelling, or crushing plant, and the milling operations necessary 
to place the product in condition to ship. (2) Movement from the 
mill to the ultimate consumer. 
METHODS OF MARKETING FARMERS' STOCK PEANUTS 
The bulk of the peanut crop is sold by the growers witnm a few 
months after the stock has been harvested and picked or threshed — 
sometimes within a few weeks. In the Southeast and the Southwest 
only a comparatively small portion of the crop is to be found in the 
hands of the growers by the middle of December. The crop of 
Runners in the Southeast, however, often remains unsold later 
than the Spanish crop, as it is harvested later. By the first of the 
year the bulk of the peanuts has usually left the farms in Virginia 
and North Carolina and has found its way either to commercial 
storages or to cleaning plants. 
Farmers who are under obligation to country merchants for credit 
advances during the growing season, usually sell to the merchants a 
large portion of their crop, or all of it, soon after it has been threshed 
or picked, in order to pay the indebtedness. The usual result is that 
more peanuts are offered than the market can readily absorb, and 
the price declines. When the decline takes place there are usually 
a number of speculators, often country merchants or cleaners, ready 
to buy peanuts at the lo^er prices and hold them in storage. Later, 
when prices have again advanced, profit-taking occurs, and peanuts 
bought for speculation reappear on the market, exerting a depressing 
influence on the prevailing market price. Thus a peanut grower 
who has held a portion of his crop for several months may find that 
his later offerings are in direct competition with his own peanuts 
bought months earlier by speculators. The fluctuation in market 
prices is a natural consequence of rushing the crop to market so 
early in the season, and may be expected to continue until the 
growers as a whole are able to market their crop in a steady, even 
flow throughout the year. 
Special features of marketing in the three leading peanut sections 
are discussed separately. 
VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA 
On sales made through the supply merchant, a commission of 
23^ per cent is usually charged. The dealer can obtain the peanuts 
as soon as they are harvested, but an option is sometimes given the 
grower to store the nuts at a charge of around 5 cents per bag for 
the first month and 4 cents per month thereafter, and sell them later 
in the season. If the peanuts are stored the dealer will lend the 
grower 60 to 75 per cent of their market value, charging the current 
rate of interest on the advance. Most local merchants store or hold 
their goods for later marketing, whether full title to the peanuts has 
passed to them or not. Where the merchant's storage space is 
limited, the peanuts are sent to a central commercial warehouse. 
Farmers who are not obligated to sell to the country merchant 
often dispose of their peanuts for cash to representatives of the 
cleaners, who may be traveling buyers or local merchants, and who 
