Most of the hickories drop from the husk, leaving the nut clean; but in some varieties of the pecan the inner part of the husk adheres rather tenaciously, and they sell better if cleaned; besides, some have rather rough and thick shells, and a little scraping and polishing adds much to their appearance. The revolving cask, either worked by hand or other power, is an excellent implement for preparing these nuts for market, and if the husk is very persistent, a little dry sand thrown in will aid in cleaning and polishing. Sometimes these nuts are subjected to what is called the soapstone polish, leaving the shells very smooth, with a greasy feel. The French walnuts, which are extensively imported under the general name of Grenoble walnuts, are usually bleached with sulphur before they are shipped, and while this adds nothing to the quality of the kernel, the sulphur is an excellent insecticide and fungicide, and may be of some use on that account; but otherwise it is likely to be more injurious than beneficial. As bleaching both walnuts and almonds is often insisted upon by dealers, I give the process suggested by Director Hilgard, of the California Agricultural Experiment Station, which he believes will prove more satisfactory than the one usually employed, and is as follows:
"The nuts, placed in small baskets (such as the Chinese use for carrying), are dipped for about five minutes in a solution containing to every fifty gallons of water six pounds of bleaching powder and twelve pounds of sal soda. They are then rinsed with a hose, and after draining, again dipped into another solution containing one per cent of bisulphite of lime; after the nuts have assumed the desired tint, they are again rinsed with water and then dried. Instead of the second dipping, the nuts may be sulphured (fumigated) for ten or fifteen minutes. The cost of fifty gallons of chlorine dip will be about forty cents; the same bulk of the bisulphite dip, probably considerably less. The time occupied in handling one batch (two dips) is from twelve to fifteen minutes."
[FIG. 99]. THE CATERPILLAR.
[FIG. 100]. THE REGAL WALNUT MOTH—CITHERONIA REGALIS.
Insect Enemies.—The walnut is attacked by the same kinds of insects that infest the hickories, with, perhaps, a few exceptions; as, for instance, the bark beetles and the nut weevils. The leaves appear to be more or less acceptable food for the caterpillars that feed on the hickories, and the same insecticides and means employed for destroying these pests on one will answer for the other.
The caterpillars of some of the smaller kinds of moths are, as a rule, far more destructive to the leaves than the larger, and their ravages often escape notice until it is too late for the use of preventives, or for their destruction with insecticides.
Ever since I became connected with the New York city press, some thirty odd years ago, scarcely a season has passed during which one or more specimens of the Regal walnut caterpillar (Citheronia regalis), shown in Fig. 99, have not been received from some correspondent who had found them crawling down the stem or on the ground near a walnut tree. Such a large caterpillar would naturally attract the attention of almost any person, but to the timid its appearance is exceedingly ferocious and repulsive, while to the entomologist it is a beautiful and interesting creature, and far more likely to be handled with care than injured. This caterpillar is of a green color, and transversely banded across each of the rings with pale blue. The head and legs are of an orange color, also the long spine or horns, with the points tipped with black. It is certainly very formidable in appearance, but perfectly harmless, and may be handled with impunity. The parent moth (Fig. 100) has fore wings of an olive color, ornamented with small yellow spots and veined with red lines. The hind wings are orange-red, with two large irregular yellow patches before, and a row of wedge-shaped olive colored spots between the veins behind. Although this insect appears to be widely distributed over the country, and the caterpillars feed on the walnuts and occasionally on the hickory, it has never been known to be sufficiently numerous to attract any special attention.