ALMOND INDUSTRY IN SPAIN. 11 



The trade names, as distinct from the varietal, relate to the grades 

 more than to the different sorts. They are "donkeys," "horses," 

 "tigers," "lions," "elephants," and "mammoths," according to the 

 size of the shelled nuts. The "donkeys" are small and bring a lower 

 price, while the "mammoths" are simply the abnormally large nuts 

 found by the sorters who pick over the nuts by hand. These latter 

 bring fancy prices, only a few boxes being secured during the year 

 out of the thousands of all grades which are shipped. 



As the nuts are all cracked on the plantation by the men, women, 

 and children, and brought down on donkey backs to the small buyers 

 in the villages, to be sent to the large storehouses of the exporters, 

 these latter know their almonds chiefly from the character of the ker- 

 nel. Peculiarities of the American tariff, it is said, make the export 

 of shelled nuts more profitable. Purely mechanical devices for grad- 

 ing these almonds, similar to the gold-coin weighing chutes of banking 

 houses, would do away with much of the unnecessary labor of sorting. 



There are two more or less distinct types recognized by the export- 

 ers of almonds, but these include several varieties. 



The Jordan type of nut (see frontispiece and PL IV, fig. 1) is the 

 long, narrow, but plump sort, with exceedingly hard, smooth shell, 

 truncated base, and somewhat bent apex, with edges free from a sharp 

 knife-like character common to many bitter almonds. The edge view 

 is more or less arrow-shaped, and there is a distinct dorsi- ventral char- 

 acter to the nut. Its length alone distinguishes it from others of the 

 Spanish sorts, it being by far the longest and slenderest type. Char- 

 acters in the foliage may be discovered which will distinguish this 

 from other types. No striking peculiarities were noticed, no oppor- 

 tunity occurring to make very careful comparisons. 



The fruit itself is rather thin fleshed and covered with a heavy 

 pubescence. The kernel in good specimens nearly fills the cavity of 

 the nut and is covered with a most delicate papery skin. This skin is 

 much thinner and more delicate than that of any other almond in the 

 trade and is one of the most valuable qualifies of this variet}^. In 

 flavor and texture the flesh surpasses in delicacy any other kind. 



Attempts have been made to grow this Jordan variety in the neigh- 

 borhood of Alicante, but without success. Those of the growers with 

 whom the writer talked knew nothing about the sort, so it seems rea- 

 sonable to assume that these attempts were not made on any considera- 

 ble scale. 



The Valencia class of nut (PL IV, figs. 2, 3, and 4; PL V, fig. 1; PL 

 VI, fig. 1) is radically different in shape from the Jordan, being a short, 

 decidedly heart-shaped form, with a flat, broad kernel, thicker skin, 

 and somewhat less delicate flesh. The longest of these Valencias are 

 often used by shippers for the adulteration of their Jordans, and the 

 extent to which this adulteration goes on is evidenced by the mixed 



