408 Flandling Almonds. 
Gatheri:g, Huiling, and Bleachmmg—Almonds are gathered 
by spreading canvas under the tree and shaking the branches 
separately; the few nuts remaining can be displaced by striking 
with a light stick. The gathering should be done after the hulls 
have burst open, but should not be delayed until the nuts are 
badly discolored. Discoloration of the nut depends upon local 
atmospheric conditions and is worst in regions subject to moist 
winds or fogs from the ocean, and they often extend consider- 
able distances into the interior valleys. On dry plateaux adja- 
cent to the Mojave Desert perfectly bright almonds are pro- 
duced naturally. 
Hulling is done with machines devised for that purpose. 
There are several in use and recently great capacity and cheap- 
ness of operation have been attained. 
For the greater part of the almond product bleaching is ap- 
parently demanded by market requirements. Sulphur should 
not be applied until the nut is thoroughly dry, or else the fumes 
will penetrate it, and not only spoil its flavor, but wili destroy its 
germinating power. The nuts are dried by exposure to sun on 
platforms or trays, and in dewy places should be covered during 
the night. After being well dried, sprinkle the nuts sufficiently 
to moisten the’ shell surface and apply sulphur fumes. Various 
home-made contrivances are used for bleaching, such as piling 
up several of the slat-bottom trays one upon another, placing 
around them sides made of boards so as to hook together at the 
corners, cover the top with a damp canvas, and burn the sulphur 
in a hole in the ground below the bottom tray. 
Webster Treat, of Davisville, a large grower of almonds, 
describes his sulphuring-house for almonds :— 
My bleaching-house is about twenty-five feet by eight feet, and I 
generally put in about four thousand pounds of almonds, and expose 
them to sulphur fumes for three or four hours. The house is boarded 
with tongue and groove flooring, inside and out, and roofed with well- 
laid shingles, and has a flue about two feet high on the apex, to help 
draft the sulphur smoke up. The floor is of one-by-three-inch stuff, set 
up edgewise, three-eighths of an inch apart, or just wide enough to ad- 
mit the fumes from the sulphur burning below, and narrow enough to 
prevent the nuts from falling through. The floor is about two and 
one-half feet above the ground, and the lower space is boarded up with 
tongue and groove also, and fitted with small doors every five feet, so 
that the sulphur pans can be placed underncath the floor. ; 
Sulphur fumes are applied until the nuts are of a light yel- 
lowish color; the proper shade is tc be learned by securing ap- 
proved samples from some trustworthy dealer. 
Varieties of the Almond.—-Almonds should bear well every 
year, hull easily, have clean, thin, soft shells, and a smooth, 
bright, and plump kernel. Aimonds with long, single kernels 
