The days are bright and warm, and this sort of nutting becomes rather tiresome before sundown. The work must be done and the vacation is not a very long one, so each does his part cheerfully. When the nuts have been gathered, they are taken to the shed or place where they are to be washed. Here they are poured into a large wire cylinder which revolves in a tank filled with water. The machine is turned by a horse walking round and round, and it both washes and grades the nuts. The smaller ones pass through the meshes in the wire and are called _second grade_. The larger ones are known as _first grade_. [Illustration: FIG. 62.--Washing, Drying, and Sacking Walnuts.] When the walnuts come out of the washer, they are spread out on shallow, wooden trays to dry. Sometimes several thousand trays may be seen on one ranch. They are loaded on to a small car and pushed to the part of the field where they are wanted. If there is no foggy or cloudy weather, they will dry in about five days, but if there is, it may take ten. After the nuts are thoroughly dried, the trays are placed on the car and pushed to the _bleacher_. This is a large box made of tarred paper. It is placed over the trays, and a quantity of sulphur is burned in it. This is simply to whiten the shells, for they sell for a higher price when they are bleached. Sometimes the nuts are whitened by dipping them into a liquid preparation. The nuts are now sacked and marked, ready to ship. Soon after the boys and girls have finished their "walnut vacation," the nuts are on their way to the eastern part of the United States. Most of the walnuts raised in California have soft shells. Some have such thin shells that they are called "paper shells." The walnuts that grow in the woods of Indiana, Illinois, and other states have hard shells. They are dark in color and are called _black walnuts_. The trees are quite valuable, as the wood is used in making furniture. CHESTNUTS Let us go on a chestnutting expedition to the southern part of France. We can gather the nuts in many of the states of our own country, but the trip to a strange land will be enjoyed by all. The chestnut trees, many of which are very old, spread their branches to great distances. The nuts, as you see, are inclosed in a _bur_ or coat which covers the shell. There are generally two nuts in each bur. When _you_ eat chestnuts, you eat them as a sort of dainty, not as a regular article of food. This is not the case in the home of Jean, the boy who is helping his father fill those sacks. In his home, as in many homes in southern Europe, the nuts form one of the chief articles of daily food. In the winter Jean sells the freshly roasted nuts on a street corner in the city of Lyons. He gets a good many pennies each noon from workmen and poor people generally, who use them for their midday meal. He sells ten nuts for a penny.