35 



2:org;e.s thai Ind evidently been fnrminji: for centuries. All of the 

 soil there, that is not too uneven to be cultivated, is terraced; and 

 ah)n<i' the sides of the terraces walinit trees are planted. We usually 

 found tunnels .ilonji' the sides of the terraces. These were dug around 

 the bank so that tlie water would run through the tunnels instead of 

 over the terrace. 



We saw no indications of bliii-ht. ^^'e thouy-ht we saw it in one case, 

 but when we examined the nuts, it proved to be nothing but insects 

 working on the hulls. 



Wherever we went, we were told by the Chinese that they harvest 

 their walnuts at about the thre of the year which in America would 

 be about the first week in Septemiber. We found, however, that the 

 nuts were off of the trees and assembled on the ground for sorting 

 and drying, long before that. They were put in windrows covered 

 with millet straw and left for ten days, after which time the hulls 

 were chipped off with knives and' the nuts immediately washed and 

 put on the market. I was ])irticul'!rly struck with the mechanical 

 motion with which the Chinese men worked; it was just as regular as 

 a machine. This was the first time that characteristic came to my 

 attention, and afterwards I was struck with the same thing every- 

 where. 



Each farmer takes his products, whatever they may be, to a com- 

 mon town called "market town," and there thev are bought by the 

 local merchants, or the "compradors." The exporters are missionaries 

 and foreigners who make no effort to buy from the farmers, for the 

 tradesman, or comprador, can get the nuts at a better figure than can 

 the foreigners. The tradesman gets his commission in addition. The 

 baskets of nuts are carried, on poles placed over the shoulders of the 

 Chinese. 



On of the principal walnut centers of Chantung Province is 25 

 miles from the railroad, and we made quite an effort to reach it. An 

 agricultural missionary, a Mr. Gordan. made the trip there with me. 

 and we found it a badly infested section. We arrived about three 

 o'clock in the afternoon and took about one hour going' around to 

 see the nuts. There were places within the wall where nuts had 

 been assembled, and we made estimates as to tiie mnnber of pounds. 

 T think there were from 100 to 150 sacks of nuts in a pile. 



Many of the women and children grow walnuts and these crops 

 are inspected and sorted before bein^ shipped to Peking. In the 

 early summer, we saw quantities of apricot kernels being transported 



