FRUIT HARVESTING OPERATIONS 4 
from the trees and are then picked up and dried in the 
sun. Prunes are handled in the same way. Almonds 
and other nuts are allowed to fall naturally from the 
trees, or in some cases the almonds are knocked off from 
the trees and gathered in large canvas sheets spread 
under the trees. Grapes for shipping long distances are 
picked by hand, bunches being removed with a shears. 
Fig. 4—“KNOCKING ALMONDS,” SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CAL. 
Those that are dried for raisins, or go into the wine and 
grape juice industries, are pulled off more or less roughly 
from the vines. 
Persimmons are usually allowed to hang on the trees 
until frost, because before this time they are so astrin- 
gent that they have no particular market value. In the 
Gulf states many of the persimmons dry on the trees 
