418 Bleaching |Valnuts. 
The following formula has been furnished to growers by the 
University Experiment Station:— 
Six pounds bleaching powder (also called chloride of lime), twelve 
pounds sal-soda, fifty gallons water. Dissolve the bleaching powder in 
about four gallons of water, stirring till dissolved. Dissolve the sal- 
soda in about four gallons of water. Add one solution to the other 
and stir well; let the carbonate of lime scttle to the bottom and draw 
off the clear liquor and add water to make a total of fifty gallons. Put 
the nuts in large dipping box or lath crate, immerse in the fiuid, and then 
add one and one-fourth pounds of fifty. per cent sulphuric acid and 
agitate by raising and lowering the dipping box. The bleach should 
be reached in five to ten seconds, and the nuts are then washed in clear 
water and put out to dry. Of course to employ this process cheaply 
specially contrived dipping appliances are used. The same liquor can 
be used with new batches of nuts so long as the proper effect is pro- 
duced, and small additions of acid will prolong the efficiency of the 
liquor. 
Varieties of the Walnut—Of walnuts of California origin 
there are two classes, which are called “hard’’ and “soft” shell, 
but the accepted commercial product is largely composed of the 
soft-shell class. Several varieties of French walnuts are now 
being widely distributed. An attempt will be made to give 
some of the distinctive points of each variety mentioned:— 
Common English Walnut; Los Angeles Nut, etc—This is the ordinary 
English walnut of commerce. It was planted at an early day in Los 
Angeles County, but is now largely replaced by the Improved Soft Shell. 
Santa Barbara Soft Shell; Sexton’s Soft Shell—Originated by Joseph 
Sexton, who gives this account of its origin and characteristics: “The 
winter of 1867 I bought in San Francisco a large sack of English wal- 
nuts. I raised about one thousand trees that season, and planted two 
hundred of them the following spring, in orchard form, at Goleta. 
Sixty of them proved to be the soft-shell variety. The soft shell is a 
little later in starting in the spring than the common nut, and blooms 
about ten days later. It commences to fruit at six years old from the 
seed, and some have been known to fruit as young as the fourth year. 
The hard shell commences to fruit about the ninth year, and bears full 
crops alternate years. The soft shell is not as strong a grower as the 
other walnut; it being so prolific retards its growth. It is a superior 
nut; the kernel is white. The shell is thin, rendering them easily broken 
by the hand, at the same time strong enough to bear transportation to 
any part of the United States ” 
Ford’s Improved Soft Shell—G. W. Ford, of Santa Ana, propagated 
an “Improved Soft Shell,’ gained by selection from the variety of 
Joseph Sexton, which has been largely planted. 
Proeparturiens—This famous French variety was introduced in Cal- 
ifornia in 1871, by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, and has since then been 
brought in by other parties, and is now widely distributed. Its chief 
characteristic, as its name indicates, is early bearing. The variety 
blooms from two to four weeks later than the common Los Angeles 
seedling: it shows both kinds of bloom simultaneously, and has the 
characteristics of ripening its wood well, and high quality of the nut. 
