HARVESTING WALNUTS 521 



enough to retain this position. Placing branches on the stem 

 according to the principles advanced in Chapter XII, should be 

 borne in mind. The stem should be protected from sunburn until 

 the foliage accomplishes this. Whenever shoots are killed back by 

 sunburn or by frost, they should be cut off cleanly below the black 

 mark which shows how far the injury has extended. If this is done, 

 the die-back down the branch is usually prevented. 



Bloom and Bearing of the Walnut. The walnut has its stam- 

 inate and pistillate blooms separate, but both occur on the same 

 tree. Successful fruiting depends upon the appearance of these two 

 forms of bloom, without too great interval of time, and although 

 there seems to be quite a retention of vitality, the lack of bearing of 

 some varieties has been found to be due to the fact that the catkins 

 disappear too long before the pistillate bloom was sufficiently de- 

 veloped to receive the pollen. 



The bearing age of the walnut depends upon the variety. Some 

 of the French varieties are very precocious and have borne fruit in 

 nursery row at two and three years old, but the pistillate blooms 

 were then fertilized from catkins growing on older trees. The 

 practical bearing age of the seedling English walnut in this State 

 may be rated at six to eight years, according to the variety. Trees 

 grafted with scions from bearing trees fruit much sooner. 



Harvesting Walnuts. Gathering walnuts is done in different 

 ways ; some gather them from the ground at intervals during the 

 months of September and October; others use poles and clean the 

 trees at one operation ; some go over the ground three times ; first, 

 picking up what have fallen; second, picking up what have fallen 

 and striking the limbs lightly to dislodge others which are ripest; 

 third, picking up again and then knocking off all that remain on the 

 trees. In this way gathering lasts a month or six weeks. Walnuts, 

 after gathering, are usually treated as described by F. E. Kellogg, 

 of Santa Barbara County : 



As fast as gathered the nuts are placed in slat-bottomed trays, 6x3 feet, by 

 six inches deep, about fifty pounds in a tray, being thoroughly shaken up once 

 or twice a day. If the weather is very hot, they should be dried in the shade. 

 When the nuts are dry they are passed through an inclined revolving grader, 

 making about twelve revolutions per minute, having a one-inch mesh wire 

 screen, and all that fall through this are called "seconds." The lower end of 

 the grader dips into a vat of water, thoroughly wetting the nuts and washing 

 them to a certain extent entirely sufficient for paper shells and soft shells, 

 and usually enough for hard shells. A system of buckets attached to the drum 

 of the grader then elevates the nuts to a chute, which discharges them into a 

 large box 4x4x8 feet high, with an inclined slat bottom two and one-half feet 

 above the ground. While in this box, they are subjected to the fumes of 

 sulphur for twenty to thirty minues for the purpose of improving the color. 

 The second grade walnuts are also put through the washing and sulphuring 

 process. The nuts are next drawn off from the bleachers into the drying trays, 

 piled one on top of the other, to prevent the sun from shining directly on 

 the nuts, and remain there for ten or twelve hours, until the nuts are thor- 

 oughly dried' off. The trays are then emptied into a hopper, from which the 



