The confectioners, on the other hand, care nothing for shell. They want a medium or large sized kernel, uniform in shape, and plump; one that can be coated smoothly or evenly with candy. For blanching and salting purposes, the kernels must be large and smooth. The best California variety for this purpose is the Nonpareil. It is also the best nut for table use when sold shelled. As a rule, the papershell varieties are the best for shelling because of the large percentage of unbroken kernels which may be obtained. The broken kernels and those obtained from cheaper and less desirable varieties are used largely by the bakers and almond-paste manufacturers.
The planting of large blocks of orchards to single varieties is not a wise practice. Planting of several varieties will assist greatly in lengthening the harvest season, and thus enable one to handle large crops with fewer men and less equipment. For example, the four best varieties—the Nonpareil, I.X.L., Ne Plus Ultra and Drake—ripen in the order named; the Nonpareil ripening about two weeks before the I.X.L., the Ne Plus Ultra about a week after the I.X.L., and the Drake about two weeks after the Ne Plus Ultra. Where there is danger of failure of varieties to set fruit due to frost or improper pollination or unfavorable weather conditions during, or soon after, blooming, the grower is more likely to get a crop from some variety if several are planted to secure a succession of bloom in the spring.
The principal reason for interplanting varieties is to secure adequate cross-pollination. For this purpose the Ne Plus Ultra and Drake are probably the best to use as pollenizers.
Other combinations, as indicated on [page 6], may be made that will be satisfactory, though care must be exercised to secure varieties that blossom near enough together to be effective. [Figure 26] shows the effective blossoming period for fifteen varieties.
Adaptation of Varieties.—The best marketable nuts are, as has been suggested, few in number, and most of these do well in all of the principal almond districts of California. Where the climatic and soil condition are equally favorable there is no great variation in their behavior, but owing to such differences it has been found that certain varieties are better adapted to some districts than others.
The Nonpareil, the best variety known at the present time for California conditions, bears more nearly uniform crops from year to year and shows a wider range of adaptation than any of the other good commercial varieties. It has proved itself to be satisfactory in every almond district in the state. The Drake closely approaches the Nonpareil in this respect. The I.X.L. and Ne Plus Ultra are the most variable in their behavior. The blossoms of the two varieties seem to be more tender and hence more liable to injury under unfavorable conditions; gumming is more prevalent near the coast, and during harvest the slower ripening and opening of the hulls in the more moist atmosphere in many of the coast valleys causes excessive darkening and sometimes molding of the shell. The Ne Plus Ultra does its best on comparatively high, well-drained soils, adjacent to the larger streams in the Sacramento Valley, such as the lands along the Sacramento River, Putah Creek, Cache Creek, etc., though it also grows and produces well in the Banning district and in many of the foothill sections where conditions are favorable. The I.X.L. does best on the foothills surrounding the Sacramento Valley, notable on the west side. In the Banning district the Ne Plus Ultra seems to be a better producer than the I.X.L. Varieties which ripen later than the Drake should be avoided in the Banning district because of the liability to damage from the frequent October rains.
There are a number of different varieties, such as the Eureka and Jordan, which give promise of filling a limited place in the markets but which have not yet been thoroughly tested throughout the state. The Eureka is popular with confectioners because of the similarity in shape to the Jordan. In limited quantities the demand is good. It is still a question as to whether it would hold up in price if grown in very large quantities. The Jordan nut is of excellent quality but in California the trees are variable in vigor. In some cases the trees make unusually large, vigorous growth while in others they are small and apparently stunted. The cause of this has never been adequately determined. In general, the Jordans do not bear sufficiently heavy crops to make them pay at the prevailing low prices. The chief reasons for the low prices are the extreme hardness of the shell and the absence of satisfactory methods of shelling. The invention of a satisfactory machine for this purpose would probably make it pay to plant Jordans in much larger quantities.
Fig. 26.—Period of Effective Blossoming of Almonds—University Farm—1917.