and they
were talking about what nuts to grow, and one of the men said, "Before
you offer a man a good nut, give him a good nut cracker." That's been on
my mind for some time.

Commercial Production and Processing of Black and Persian Walnuts

EDWIN W. LEMKE, _Washington, Mich._

Sometime ago a group of nut minded men associated with Spencer B. Chase
announced their findings on the quality of the wild black walnut growing
in the area of Norris, Tenn. Nuts were gathered from 151 wild walnut
trees. After judging, the group came to the conclusion that only one
tree had a flavor that was considered by their standards as good. It is
these good nuts that caused the formation of the N.N.G.A. When we speak
of the good nut it gives the word commercial an entirely different
meaning. It by necessity excludes most of wild black walnut kernels
processed by the large cracking plants of Kentucky and Tennessee. The
large crackers are willing to pay better prices for the improved black
walnut but were they to rely on this source of supply they could not
stay in business very long.

To produce and process, I chose the Thomas and Ohio variety and I have
met with some success. The black walnut can be made to bear in the first
and second year after grafting but this is but a novelty feature. Jones
from whom I purchased my trees, told me that the black walnut could be
classed with the Northern Spy Apple for coming into bearing. This has
proven true. Commercial production of the improved black walnut is by
its very nature small scale production. Because of this fact only small
scale machines to process these nuts are feasible.

Since 1916 I have had time to reflect on the problem of the three basic
machines needed. These are the huller, cracker and kernel picker.
Fortunately for me I learned the machinist trade and had a machine shop
at my disposal. I tried every way to hull the black walnut and finally
accepted the commercial potato peeler as the best principle. I built
several crackers and at last accepted the Wiley cracker as the best
commercial cracker. The third machine is the picker which has yet to be
assembled. This picker is copied after The Kenneth Dick machine with
some variations in the separation process.

Let me briefly explain these three basic machines. As the nuts are
gathered in the orchard they are brought to the huller in bushel crates.
The huller is located in a separate room. This room has the floor
depre