VARIETIES OF THE ALMOND 437 



dampened by a fine spray hose they may or may not need this dry- 

 ing, but they must be perfectly dry before being sacked. If the 

 steam process is used, the nuts can be taken immediately from the 

 sulphur house and sacked, and the heat that is in the shell will 

 evaporate the small amount of moisture in the process of sacking. 

 It is claimed that, after the outfit is provided, the steam process 

 costs only about one-half as much as the other process of bleach- 

 ing. If the shell is wet through, or if the kernels are not well cured, 

 or if the shells are open and the nuts immersed and there is more 

 or less water inside the shells, the sulphur will materially injure the 

 kernels and they will not keep well, but will soon become rancid. 



Almonds that are to be shelled for commercial purposes should 

 not be bleached under any circumstances, as the only object to be 

 accomplished in bleaching is the brightening of the shell, and for 

 shelling purposes the shells are not marketed. 



Pollination of the Almond. Careful studies* have shown that 

 arrangements for pollination are essential to the satisfactory bear- 

 ing of nearly all the varieties now being grown in California. The 

 following conclusions are most widely useful: 



California may be pollinated by Nonpareil and Peerless. 



Drake may be pollinated by California, Languedoc, Nonpareil and Texas; 

 however, Languedoc is a poor pollen producer. 



Harriott may be pollinated by Ne Plus Ultra. 



I. X. L. may be pollinated by Drake. 



Ne Plus Ultra may be pollinate by California, I. X. L., Jordan, and 

 Nonpareil. 



Nonpareil may be pollinated by California, Drake, Jordan, Ne Plus Ultra, 

 Peerless and Texas. 



Texas may be pollinated by Drake and Nonpareil. 



One colony of honey bees should be provided for each acre of orchard. 



A few years ago there was a general disposition to plant Drakes 

 and Texas because of their regular bearing and their pollinating 

 effect upon the Hatch varieties. The Texas has proven inferior as 

 table almonds and sells best after shelling, which is too expensive 

 to be profitable. It seems better policy to plant the better varieties 

 and rely upon their cross-pollination with the aid of the bees. The 

 need of shelling also limits the desirability of hard shell almonds 

 of the Jordan type. 



Varieties of the Almond. Almonds should bear well every year, 

 hull easily, have clean, thin, soft shells, and a smooth, bright, and 

 plump kernel. Almonds with long, single kernels are preferred to 

 those which have double ones. These are the characters which 

 ruled in the selection of new varieties by the pioneer propagator 

 of new almonds, A. T. Hatch, of Suisun. In 1878 Mr. Hatch planted 

 out about two thousand five hundred seedling almond trees grown 

 from the bitter almond seed. He afterward budded all the seed- 

 lings but about three hundred which were left to bearing age un- 

 budded. The fruit of these seedlings was of all degrees of excel- 

 lence. A few of the best of them were selected for propagation and 



*" Almond Pollination," by Warren P. Tufts: California Experiment Station Bulletin 

 No. 306, Berkeley, March, 1919. 



