CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



orchards at harvesting time, but the following explicit account of 

 procedure by Mr. J. P. Dargitz conveys general outlines of methods 

 and materials: 



"When the hulls on the nuts are loose from the shells, as will be 

 indicated by their bursting open, it is time to begin gathering if you 

 wish to hull them. If they get too dry you will have to wet them 

 before hulling or you will break the shells. If you^wish to shell 

 them then, the drier they get the better. It will not pay to begin 

 until the nuts about the crotches of the trees are ready and they will 

 be the last to ripen. When they are all ready you can get all at one 

 gathering. Have some sheets made of heavy unbleached sheeting 

 or light duck or sail cloth. Mine for large trees are 15x30 feet, 

 handled by two men to a sheet and two sheets to a tree. Spread 

 the sheets under the tree, one on each side, lapping the edges where 

 they join. Then the men take soft wood or bamboo poles and by 

 jarring the limbs cause the nuts to fall on the sheets. Always strike 

 the limbs sideways, for if you strike a glancing blow down the limb, 

 you will reduce next year's crop. The object is to get the nuts and 

 disturb the foliage as little as possible. When the nuts are all off 

 the tree, the men toss their poles to the next tree and then gather 

 up the sheets, one man at each end of each sheet, and, lifting them, 

 carry them to the next tree, where the process is repeated. When 

 enough nuts are in the sheets to fill several lug boxes, the boxes are 

 placed on the ground side by side, and the sheets are emptied into 

 them. These boxes are then stacked up so as to be easily seen, and 

 the teamster hauls them to the sheds where machines for hulling 

 are located. In the very small orchards the hulling is usually done 

 by hand. For orchards slightly larger there are small hullers which 

 can be operated by hand or by a small gasoline engine or electric 

 motor. For larger orchards, machines which can hull up to , two 

 or three tons per day are in the market." 



After the hulling more or less hand sorting is required, as the 

 small machines do no sorting, while the larger machines do more 

 or less perfect sorting of the hulls from the nuts. 



Bleaching. After this hand sorting, the nuts are spread out in 

 the sun to be thoroughly cured before bleaching. After they are 

 cured so that the kernel will break without bending, they are ready 

 for bleaching. The bleaching requires the dampening of the shells. 

 This is accomplished by immersing quickly in water or by a fine 

 spray from a hose nozzle, or by putting on trays and running in the 

 sulphur house and then introducing low pressure steam not more 

 than 30 poundsinto the sulphur house for 15 to 30 minutes. The 

 moisture from this low-pressure steam heats or dampens the outer 

 portion of the shell, and then while they are both hot and damp 

 the steam being shut off the sulphur fumes from burning sulphur 

 are introduced in the sulphur house for perhaps 15 to 30 minutes and 

 give the required brightening to the shell. If the almonds have 

 been immersed before bleaching it will be necessary after bleach- 

 ing to spread them out in the sun for several hours and stir them 

 occasionally to get rid of the excess moisture. If they have been 



