12 BULLETIN 1401, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGKICULTTJRE 
Peanuts in Texas and adjoining States normally leave the farms 
more rapidly than in the other two leading sections. Most of the 
crop which is not hauled direct to a mill is bought from the farmers 
by a local merchant who may definitely represent a sheller or may be 
an independent dealer, selling wherever he can make the most profit. 
The farmer is paid cash for his peanuts^ 
Peanuts are practically never stored in commercial warehouses in 
Texas, nor are they stored to any extent in the farmers' own buildings. 
The farmer begins to haul as soon as a few peanuts are picked, and 
the local merchant ships as rapidly as he can get carlots together. 
The shellers store in their own plants so far as possible, but during 
the heavy buying season considerable quantities of peanuts are 
held in temporary storage at shipping points until space becomes 
available for them at the buyers' plants. 
Unlike those in other sections, peanut buyers in Texas do not 
usually work on a commission basis. Buyers for shelling plants 
ordinarily work for salaries; others buy as cheaply as possible, and 
sell for what they can get. Less speculation is noticeable than in the 
Eastern States as the merchant usually sells to a mill as soon as he 
has a carload bought or in sight. Crops of peanuts are not usually 
contracted for in advance. 
WAREHOUSING 
When the harvested peanuts are hauled from the field, they may 
be stored temporarily in any available space so long as it is dry and 
well-ventilated. Sheds and lofts of barns are commonly used, and 
the large independent growers may have frame warehouses. If the 
peanuts are to be kept on the farm for any length of time, however, 
protection from rats and mice should be afforded. Some growers 
attempt to keep out the rats by building the floors of the storage 
houses above the ground. Others find that the only way the sheds 
can be made rat-proof is by lining them with quarter-inch mesh 
galvanized wire. 
Many growers prefer to store their peanuts in commercial ware- 
houses (fig. 3) so that they can obtain loans on them from the ware- 
houseman or from a banker. Numerous storage warehouses have 
accordingly been erected in the peanut belt of Virginia and North 
Carolina, notably at Suffolk, Petersburg, Norfolk, and Franklin, Va. ; 
and atEdenton, Scotland Neck, and Plymouth, N. C, for the conven- 
ience of growers, merchants, and cleaners. The southeastern and 
southwestern sections are not yet so well equipped with commercial 
storages as is the Virginia area, although their number is increasing 
in Georgia. These warehouses exert a steadying influence upon the 
farmers' market, and tend to promote a more intelligent and rational 
distribution of the crop from the grower to the factory. 
At present most of the peanuts stored in commercial warehouses 
are shipped from country points by the local merchants or growers 
in solid carlots, but some goods are hauled from near-by points in 
smaller quantities. In Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas, most 
peanuts are stored in sacks; in the Southeast, usually in bulk. In 
either case, a shrinkage loss of 3 to 5 per cent in weight during the 
average storage period is considered normal. 
