nt where they are run through hulling machines and the nuts
separated from the hulls after which they are spread out in trays and
left in the sun to dry. At that season of the year, there is practically
no danger of dew or rain and, after being exposed for several days and
nights during which they are frequently stirred, they are taken to the
nearest exchange point, bleached and put forth into final shape for the
market.

A very important factor in the success of almond production is the
honey-bee. Bee keepers shift their hives from orchard to orchard during
the blossoming period making a profit out of the honey and at the same
time charging a rental to the orchard owners. The bees, of course,
attend to the matter of interpollination.

In some sections, it is necessary to equip the orchards with smudge or
fire pots which are kept filled with crude oil and fired at the moment
the temperature goes down to below the freezing point during the
blossoming period. In one district these pots were this last year fired
again and again but after all the temperature went down to a point such
that a great part of the crop was lost. We are told that it is possible
to raise the temperature 26 to 34 degrees. It is tedious work and a
dirty job. The oil is placed in the pots in the daytime and the firing
usually takes place in the latter part of the night, very often after 5
o'clock in the morning.

We come now to the filbert industry. One of the reasons why filberts
were planted in the northwest was because the native hazels grow there
with great vigor. This picture shows a typical stool of the native hazel
as it is commonly seen in the western parts of Oregon and Washington.
Not infrequently it attains a height of 30 or 35 feet and when trained
to single stems, the trees not infrequently develop trunk diameters of
from 6 to 8 inches.

The Mr. Vollertsen of the Northwest is Mr. A. A. Quarnberg of Vancouver,
Washington. In 1893 Mr. Quarnberg read an article by the late Professor
H. E. Van Deman in which the latter urged the experimental planting of
the filbert in the Northwest. Mr. Quarnberg ordered two trees of the Du
Chilly variety from Mr. Felix Gillett, a Frenchman and then proprietor
of the Barren Hill Nurseries, Nevada City, California. These were
planted in February of 1894 and are believed to have been the first
trees of that variety shipped to the Northwest. They are so close
together that they are considerably crowded but s