board lined with water-proof paper,
should be used in packing for shipment. These should not be closed until
immediately before shipment.

8. As soon as received by the buyer the containers should be opened and
the kernels spread out in clean bins where they may receive frequent
inspection.

_Harvesting_

The nuts should be picked from the ground within three or four days from
the time they fall. If possible the limbs should be jarred so as to
shake the nuts from the tree. Good nuts will usually be found to mature
within a very few days and may readily be shaken down.

At this time the hulls will be perfectly sound and not objectionable, in
so far as staining the hands is concerned. But if the hulls be broken
open the juice which they emit will leave a lasting stain on the hands
or garments. But the hulls need not be broken to any great extent.

_Hulling_

The ordinary corn sheller on the farm is undoubtedly the most
practicable instrument for removing the hulls, generally available at
this time. If the hulls are still green enough to be firm, the nuts may
be placed in the machine by hand. Otherwise, some arrangement may be
worked out by which the nuts may automatically be fed into the machine.
After hulling by this method the nuts should be put into a tub or tank
of water and thoroughly washed with a broom or stiff brush. When the
nuts are hulled promptly and well washed it will be discovered that the
natural color of walnuts is light or whitish and not black. The dark
color is wholly due to stain from the green hulls. This stain, by the
way, loses its effectiveness as soon as the hulls turn dark. Stains from
nut hulls which have lost all trace of green color, so that the hulls
are black, are readily washed from the hands.

After the nuts have come from the sheller they may be handled by shovels
or by forks with tines close together. They should then be cured for a
few days. For this purpose they should never be placed in piles or deep
layers. Preferably they should be spread out in trays with bottoms of
wire mesh or narrow cleats so as to be open. These should be put where
there will be a free circulation of air all about. Where trays are not
available the nuts may be spread on a barn floor and the doors left open
during the day. If the weather is bright they may be spread on boards
laid on the ground directly in the sun, although it is probable that
they should be given partial shade during extremely hot