October, ipip 



BETTER FRUIT 



^".?'' 5 



Harvesting and Marketing Walnuts the California Way 



WHEN the walnut hulls have 

 opened so they will clean from 

 the nuts readily it is best to take 

 advantage of all dry weather by shak- 

 ing the trees lightly so as to get the ripe 

 iiuls. This method adds slightly to the 

 cost of harvesting, but is much more 

 satisfactory than waiting for the nuts 

 to fall if continued wet weather comes 

 during the harvesting period. The 

 shaking may be done with a light pole 

 having a steel hook bolted on the end. 

 The pole may be of spruce, or other 

 straight grained lumber, one by one 

 and three-quarters inches at the bot- 

 tom and one by one and one-quarter 

 inches at the top, and of any desired 

 length. 



The hook can be made of a piece of 

 light carriage spring bent so as to make 

 the opening three and a half to four 

 inches and rounded on the inside to 

 keep from cutting the bark of the 

 branches. A short ([uick jar will loosen 

 the nuts, but care must be taken to 

 loosen only those nuts which will hull 

 clean since any part of a hull which 

 does not come off will adhere so closely 

 when dry that the nut w^ill be passed as 

 a cull. It is best to go over the orchard 

 about once a week in dry weather, but 

 the nuts should be gathered from the 

 ground oftener if the weather is rainy. 



After the nuts are gathered and taken 

 to the drying ground they should be 

 cleaned of lint and partick's of dirt by 

 running through a cylindrical screen 

 having a pipe above with small perfor- 

 ations, one-eighth inch or less, about 

 six inches apart to allow water to spray 

 on the nuts while the screen is turning. 

 It is better, however, to clean the nuts 

 without water unless particles of dirt 

 should adhere to the nuts. 



A convenient screen for small orch- 

 ards can be made by using wooden 

 heads doubled, with six-inch pipe 

 flanges bolted outside in which to 

 screw one-inch i)ipe and fittings for a 

 bearing and crank at each end. The 

 screen for hand work should not be 

 more than 30 inches in diameter and 

 four feet long, covered with any strong 

 netting of one-half-inch mesh. 



A door twelve inches wide and full 

 length of the screen should be arranged 

 for filling and emptying the screen. If 

 more than ten tons of walnuts are to be 

 handled it will pa>- to have a larger and 

 more permanent cylinder and to use 

 l)ower of some kind, in which case the 

 screen can be made to fill at one end 

 and empty at the other. The nuts can 

 be made to run from the screen to the 

 drying trays by having a sloping floor 

 under the screen. The nuts may be 

 sorted when they come from the screen 

 to remove the damaged and unsalable 

 nuts but the final culling should be 

 done when the nuts are dry. 



The drying trays should be made of 

 light lumber. The most convenient size 

 is made of the following pieces: Sides 

 IxtixC feet long, ends, 1x6x2 feet 10 

 inches long nailed together so as to 

 have the body of the tray 3 feet by 5 



By J. B. Neff, Anaheim, California 



feet outside and leaving 6 inches at each 

 end of the side pieces for handles which 

 should be cut down to 3 inches in 

 width. For the bottom use Mi-inch 

 laths 6 feet long cut in two and nailed 

 % inch apart. Also nail an extra lath 

 on each side of the bottom to keep the 

 short laths from coming off. They will 

 also be strengthened if a lath is run 

 full length in the center and nailed to 

 each cross-lath as well as to the ends. 

 Corner braces about 12 inches long of 

 lxlV2-inch soft pine nailed on top of 

 each corner adds to the strength and 

 allows additional ventilation when the 

 trays are piled. 



Do not put more than 60 pounds of 

 walnuts in a tray when drying and stir 

 often, particularly if the weather 

 should be damp. Sun drying is best 

 when the weather will jjermit. The 

 trays should be piled and covered at 

 night or taken indoors. Light covers 

 3 feet by (i feet made of shakes are very 

 convenient as a temporary roof can be 

 made hurriedly. 



A hopper six feet long and large 

 enough to hold 1000 pounds of walnuts 

 placed at the proper height for filling 

 sacks is very convenient. 



When the nuts are dry, properly 

 culled and sacked, the grower's work is 

 done and the nuts ready for the asso- 

 ciation. 



In marketing walnuts in California 

 the method now pursued by the walnut 

 growers of California is to form asso- 

 ciations for walnuts exclusively. The 

 association outputs varying from 150 

 tons to more than 1000 tons. 



These associations take the nuts from 

 the growers, grade, bleach and sack 

 them, then turn them over to the (Cali- 

 fornia Walnut Growers' Association 

 which sells them. The local associa- 

 tions equip a warehouse to handle their 

 crop, either by selling stock, or by 

 assessing each member according to the 

 amount of nuts put through the house, 

 payments being made to run over a 

 number of years. Samples of nuts are 

 taken from each load as brought to the 

 packing house and if it shows the re- 

 quired percentage of perfect nuts, 

 usually 85% to 87%, the load is weighed 

 and a receipt given the owner. The 

 nuts are kept separate until graded, 

 bleached and culled. The amount of 

 number one and number two nuts are 

 then credited to the grower's account 

 and the culls are either thrown into a 

 common pool or a charge is made for 

 the work of culling and the culls re- 

 turned to the grower. Payment of about 

 75% of the selling price is made to the 

 grower within a week and final pay- 

 ment when the season is over. Several 

 methods of bleaching walnuts have 

 been used but that in use now is known 

 as the chlorine in which chloride of 

 lime, sal soda and a small <|uantily of 

 sulphuric acid is used. The nuts are 

 either dipped in the solution or have 

 it sprayed on them as they pass over 

 shaking tables. A later and a|)parenlly 

 more convenient plan is to buy the 



chlorine solution in carboys. This so- 

 lution is made by electrically decom- 

 ))osing salt under a high voltage and has 

 the merit of cheapness as well as avoid- 

 ing the unpleasant odors of chloride of 

 lime. 



The selling is done exclusively by the 

 California Walnut Growers' Association 

 which acts as the broker for the local 

 associations. This is a non-profit, co- 

 operative association under the laws of 

 the State of California, composed of 

 one member from each local associa- 

 tion. Its purpose is to sell the walnuts 

 of its members at the lowest possible 

 cost and to secure the widest possible 

 distribution of the walnuts. In this 

 way it is hoped prices can be kept down 

 to the consumer, a large demand de- 

 veloped and a reasonable profit se- 

 cured for the grower. 



The business of this association is 

 carried on by a manager who is under 

 the direct supervision of an executive 

 committee of the board of directors. 



Selling agents are appointed through- 

 out the United States and may be either 

 brokers or salaried agents, all of whom 

 are under surety bonds. 



The contracts with the member asso- 

 ciations are for five years but provide 

 that any member association may with- 

 draw by giving notice thirty days be- 

 fore any annual meeting. The walnuts 

 are pooled according to quality and 

 time of gathering. 



The California Walnut Growers' As- 

 sociation in order to secure uniformity 

 of the walnuts, determines the size of 

 screens for grading; the manner of 

 handling and bleaching and establishes 

 a cracking test. It also appoints in- 

 spectors to examine each lot of walnuts 

 before shipment. 



Any widnuts which will not meet the 

 re(iuirements as to quality of first- 

 grade nuts are sold as off-grade, or 

 near-grade walnuts at the best price 

 obtainable for the account of the 

 grower. A plant has also been estab- 

 lished for cracking the cull walnuts of 

 its members and the result has been that 

 instead of selling cull walnuts for nuich 

 less per pound they are now bringing 

 the grower a good return without rais- 

 ing the price of walnut meats to the 

 consumer. The association also buys 

 all walnut bags and other materials 

 used by the member associations, 

 thereby making large savings. 



"Pinching Back" Conserves Tree Energy. 

 Pinching or stopping the growth of 

 suckers or branches that are not 

 wanted and must eventually be re- 

 moved at an earlier dale seems to be 

 a reasonable and effective manner of 

 conserving energy and diverting it to 

 the permanent branches of the trees. 

 Pruning demonstrations have been 

 very useful if for no other reason than 

 that they have jarred many growers 

 loose from old methods and compelled 

 them to think deeply and rea.sonably 

 u|K)n the "whys and wherefores" of 

 cutting the branches of trees. 



