38 OREGON WALNUTS 



are clean. Some men are using the prune dippers and washers 

 quite satisfactorily. It will be necessary, however, to use a 

 broom to help wash the nuts, and it is well to have a false bot- 

 tom in the water container. This will allow the fiber to settle 

 below the false bottom. The fiber is often quite plentiful 

 from one to two boxes sometimes being secured from a ton of 

 nuts. Poor nuts can often be picked out as they are passing 

 through the machine. 



It is well to start drying as soon as the nuts are washed and 

 a temperature of at least 70 degrees should be maintained. The 

 best temperature varies from 70 to 90 degrees. Below 70 de- 

 grees the mold will develop. Above 90 degrees, there is danger 

 of causing the seams to break and there is the additional dan- 

 ger of breaking down the oil in the nuts, which will later cause 

 them to become rancid. 



It will take two days and nights to dry the nuts thoroughly. 

 If they can be placed in the dryer in the early morning, they can 

 often be dried sufficiently the first day, so that it will be safe 

 to let the fire go out at night. If no night firing is done it will 

 take four or five days to dry the nuts. 



The numerous prune dryers can be used for the drying of 

 nuts. However, if one were equipping a building especially for 

 handling walnuts, it would probably pay to introduce some of 

 the improved California machinery for washing and grading, 

 and the drying rooms should be built on the kiln type. 



Occasionally nuts can be dried out of doors, but care should 

 be taken not to have them exposed to a temperature greater 

 than 90 degrees, and it will be necessary to cover them at night 

 on account of the excessive dampness in the fall of the year. 



As soon as the nuts are dried, they should be placed in a 

 cool, dry place, where they will keep until ready for the market. 



As yet very little bleaching of the nuts has been practiced in 

 Oregon. The trade has taken all nuts just as they have been 

 washed and dried and has paid the top price for them. It 

 would be well for us, indeed, to encourage this tendency. While 

 bleaching whitens the shells, it is a question as to whether it can 

 be done without causing the quality of the nuts to deteriorate. 



