MARKETING PEANUTS 69 
The year following, production had fallen slightly to 87,606,844 
pounds 26 but net imports for the fiscal year 1919-20 had increased to 
165,390,713 pounds. This was the peak of the movement. During 
the 1921-22 season, shipment reports from freight agents at crushing 
points indicate that only 25,500,000 pounds of domestic crude peanut 
oil were shipped, and the total for the two following seasons was less 
than 5,000,000 pounds. In the fiscal year 1922-23, net imports of 
peanut oil had jumped to 7,500,000 pounds from 2,650,000 the year 
before; and net imports for the fiscal year 1923-24 totaled over 
10,000,000 pounds, adding materially to the domestic supply. 
OIL MILLS 
Many peanut mills in the Southeastern and Southwestern States 
are equipped with both shelling and crushing machinery, and handle 
their purchases of farmers' goods in accordance with the variety and 
grade of the nuts and the trend of the market. During the fall of 
1921, for example, the relationship between the prices of farmers' 
goods, shelled peanuts, and peanut oil, was such that the bulk of the 
Kunner crop and a large amount of Spanish peanuts were crushed for 
oil. The two years following, however, both farmers' goods and 
shelled stock were selling higher in proportion to the price of oil, and 
it was profitable to crush, in addition to table pickings and screenings, 
only such farmers' goods as were not suitable for shelling. As little 
additional machinery is needed to enable a cotton-oil mill to operate 
on peanuts, many mills in the Cotton Belt crush peanuts when they 
are not busy with cottonseed and peanuts are available. 
Plants which do not sell shelled goods, but crush exclusively, have 
no need for elaborate cleaning machinery. Running the peanuts 
through a sand reel, shaker, and stoner before they pass into the 
huller, is considered enough. But often the peanuts pass over 
a magnet just before going into the machine that crushes them to 
draw out pieces of iron. 
PRESSES 
Both hydraulic (fig. 36) and expeller types of presses are employed 
in crushing peanuts. For details of the processes of operation of 
these presses see United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin 
1096. 27 
Few mills in the South now crush unshelled peanuts. Not only 
is the oil produced of a lower grade than when shelled peanuts are 
used, but the shells absorb oil, which adds nothing to the fertilizing- 
value of the meal. The cost of cleaning and shelling is more than 
taken care of by the increased value of the oil obtained from the 
shelled peanuts. 
HANDLING CRUDE PEANUT OIL 
As it comes from the press, the dark yellow crude peanut oil 
contains some fine meal, which is either filtered out or allowed 
to settle out before the oil can be called prime crude. Crushing 
mills are usually located beside railroad tracks, so that the oil can 
be pumped directly into tank cars. Large buyers usually furnish 
tank cars for transporting the oil they purchase. Eight thousand 
26 United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Animal and vegetable fats and oils. 
Production, consumption, imports, exports and stocks . . . 1919 to 1923. p. 4. 1924. 
27 Reed, J. B. By-products from crushing peanuts. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 1096, 12 pp., illus. 1922. 
