Walnut Growing in Oregon — Walnut Cultivation through The Harvest through The Pound Package

THE HARVEST

The harvest comes in October, a convenient season where there are fruit crops to be taken care of.

The process is extremely simple, being little more than an old-fashioned "nut gathering."

When ripe, the nuts fall to the ground, shedding their hulls on the way.

They are picked up by boys, girls, men and women.

During the harvest three or four rounds must be made through the grove, perhaps a week elapsing between trips, each time slightly shaking the trees to make the ripe nuts fall.

On the last round, a padded mallet with a long handle is used to dislodge the remaining nuts.

The expense of harvesting is slight, five or six people being sufficient to care for a fifty-acre grove.

WASHING AND DRYING

When the nuts are gathered and brought in they are put into a revolving barrel-churn holding about 12 to 16 gallons.

Two buckets of water and about the same of walnuts are put in together and the churn revolved for some minutes.

Then the nuts are taken out and spread on wire crates and placed in the sun; they should be raked over two or three times a day.

Or, if the weather is wet, they may be placed in the dry-house in a good draught at about 70 degrees F. In an artificial drying if the heat becomes too great the nuts will be rancid, as the oil-cells will burst: so better err on the side of underheating than overheating.

If left out of doors, cover carefully to protect from dew.

The crates for outdoor drying are placed on trestles in some California groves, in order that the air may circulate through the nuts.

This is much better than placing them on the ground, where they draw dampness.

SORTING AND GRADING

After the walnuts are gathered, washed, dried and stored for a week or so to test the correctness of their drying, they are ready to be graded by passing over a sized screen.

The choicest ones will sell at top market prices, and the culls a little under.

The Prince grove harvest is never graded, as he finds ready sale at highest prices for the entire output just as it runs after sorting out the few imperfect nuts.

PACKING AND SHIPPING

They are next put into pound cartons, or 50-pound bags, common gunny sacks, ready for the market.

Not being perishable none are lost in shipping or by keeping.

Walnuts from Oregon groves have been kept two years, tasting as sweet and fresh as those in their first season.

Long hauls are not objectionable, as the rough handling is not injurious to the well-sealed varieties grown in Oregon.

In this they have an advantage over fruit.

WALNUT YIELD PER ACRE

While it is generally found that seedling trees properly treated come into bearing the eighth year, this crop is usually light, doubling each successive season for seven or eight years.

From then on there is a steady increase in crop and hardiness for many years.

Often trees in Oregon bear in their sixth year; while there are instances on record of trees set out in February bearing the following autumn.

This is no criterion, however, merely an instance illustrating the unusual richness of Oregon soil, and its perfect adaptability to walnut culture.

Thirty-five acres on the Prince place yielded at twelve years, twelve tons of fine nuts, which were sold at 18 and 20 cents a pound, two cents above the market price, making an average of per acre.

Another grove of two acres yielded in their ninth year two tons, or a ton to the acre, netting the owner an acre.

Mr. A.

A.

Quarnberg's eleven-year-old trees averaged twenty-five pounds each.

Mr. Henry J. Biddle's ten and twelve-year-old trees averaged thirty pounds each.

One hundred fifty dollars an acre from twelve-year-old trees is a conservative estimate, though some groves not cultivated may fall under that figure, while others in a high state of cultivation will almost double it.

THE WALNUT MARKET

The very fact that in 1907 Oregon-grown walnuts commanded several cents a pound higher price than those grown elsewhere indicates their market value.

When ordinary nuts sold for 12 and 16 cents a pound Oregon nuts brought 18 and 20 cents.

New York dealers who cater to the costliest trade throughout the United States, and who have never handled for this purpose any but the finest types of imported nuts, pronounced the Oregon product satisfactory from every standpoint--finely flavored, nutty, meaty and delicious.

They were glad to pay an extra price to secure all that were available.

In the home market the leading dealers of Portland and Northwest cities readily dispose of all of the Oregon walnuts obtainable at an advanced price.

In fact, the Oregon walnut has commanded a premium in every market into which it has been introduced.

California walnuts are largely shipped east, the percentage entering the northern markets being comparatively small.

The annual sum expended in Oregon for imported nuts at the present time is ,000. When the Oregon growers are able to supply the home demand alone, shutting out importations, the population of Oregon will have more than doubled, and the amount expended in this state for walnuts will approach if it does not exceed the million-dollar mark.

In addition to this the eastern markets will be clamoring for Oregon walnuts, as they now absorb Hood River apples, Willamette valley cherries and Rogue River valley pears.

With eastern buyers always ready to pay an extra price for extra grade products, superior grades of Oregon walnuts will undoubtedly be contracted for, leaving only the culls for home consumption.

It has been conservatively estimated that at the rate the population of the United States is increasing, and the rate walnut consumption is increasing, by the time every available acre in Oregon is in full bearing the supply will still fall far short of the demand.

Judging by past experience in California this is no chimerical conception.

Since 1896 the walnut crop in that state has steadily increased, and in like proportion has the price advanced, from seven cents in 1896 to twenty cents in 1907. COMPARED WITH FRUIT

In comparing walnut culture with fruit, one must take into consideration the fact that distance from transportation facilities is not a detriment; that there is very little expense in putting out or maintaining a walnut grove; that insects, blight and disease are unknown to walnut groves of Oregon, thus obviating the cost of spraying; that the expense of harvesting is exceedingly light; that no nut-fruit perishes--that it does not need to be sold at once, but will keep indefinitely, making a lost crop practically impossible.

It is estimated by experienced walnut growers that the annual cost of cultivation and pruning should not exceed an acre, while harvesting should not exceed 20 cents per hundred pounds.

It is a simple matter to figure the profits.

The original investment in a walnut grove may be made a comparatively small amount; thus it appeals particularly to those of limited means.

THE POUND PACKAGE

It is difficult or impossible to establish a uniform package good for every year.

Walnuts are not like other fruits; size is not a sure indication of weight.

The pound package used by Mr. Thos.

Prince is 3-3/4 x 4-1/2 x 5-1/4 inches, which in 1907 when filled weighed 17 ounces, in 1908 it weighed 16 ounces, and in the dry year of 1909 it weighed but 14 ounces.