he finest of the American blacks, is grown nowhere
outside of the United States except in certain districts of a narrow
adjoining fringe of neighboring Canada.

The present year may be one of the best likely to occur soon in which to
harvest and prepare these nuts for the market or home consumption on the
farm. The drought has undoubtedly reduced the crop as a whole, although
at this writing the yield appears considerably greater than that of
1929. At harvest time it will probably be found that many of the nuts
are below normal size and that the kernels are imperfectly developed.
The quantity of the finished product which it would be possible to place
on the market would therefore appear likely to be small.

On its face, with a light crop of poor grade in prospect, it may be
difficult to understand why this should be a propitious year to
inaugurate a systematic harvesting and marketing campaign. However, in
explanation of this, _first_, there are no carry-overs from last year.
So short was the crop of 1929 that manufacturers found the supply
exhausted before the end of last January. Many sent out urgent appeals
hoping to find some source of supply. They offered the inviting price of
65 cents a pound for good grade kernels, f. o. b. the farmers' shipping
point. Yet it was all in vain as the kernels were not forthcoming.

_Second_, as a result of the recent extreme drought and the consequent
shortage of some of the more staple crops, there will likely be
considerable slack time on many farms. Where this is the case and there
are nut crops in the field it will likely be found in many cases that
they may be gathered and sold to good financial advantage, assuming that
right methods are employed in harvesting and preparing for market.

_Third_, where there are nuts in quantity too limited to justify
gathering and preparing for market, they should still be gathered and as
carefully prepared as though for the market and used on the home table.
They will be found to be most excellent and pleasing food.

To obtain the highest prices for black walnuts or butternuts, certain
fundamentals should be kept in mind.

1. They should be sold only in the shelled condition.

2. The kernels must be delivered early.

3. They should present an attractive appearance.

4. They should be in thoroughly sanitary condition.

The explanation as to why they should be sold in the shelled condition
is simple. The weight of shell is too great t