The next basic machine is the cracker. This cracker is the Wylie cracker in principle and is made in Eugene, Oregon. Simply explained it could be likened to two pages in a book. One page is perpendicular while the other page is off the perpendicular about 7 degrees. The first page which is the anvil is fixed save for adjustments for nuts of varying size. The other page or hammer riding up and down through an inch and one quarter of travel is fixed to a crank below. Both of these pages or plates are heavy cast iron plates that are fluted and cause the nut to be cracked against these saw toothed flutes and while being cracked are revolved down through the plates. The plate moving at an angle forces the nut finally through a 3/8 inch opening where they fall into a rotary sieve. The sieve has three sizes of mesh. 5 mesh, 2 mesh and 3/4 mesh. The larger pieces go on through and are returned to the cracker. This cracker will crack up to 500 pounds per hour, and uses a 3/4 h.p. motor. The last of the three basic machines is the picker. I have not yet built the picker but a number of the parts have already been machined and before long it will be a reality. The Kenneth Dick, picker, of Peebles, Ohio is the best for small orchards. It is essentially a separator using a conveyor belt which carries the cracked nuts to needles that pick up the kernels and deposit them on trays that at the timed moment accept the black walnut kernels. The discarded shells remain on conveyor and travel to the end and fall into a receptacle. After this process, further inspection becomes necessary but up to the present it is the best we have. The black walnut is a messy nut to fool with but with the proper machines it soon becomes a pleasure to work with it. I can work all day hulling nuts and finish with clean unstained hands. Processing the Persian walnut is a simple matter as compared with the black walnut. My Persian nuts are gathered and placed on drying trays. Most of the nuts fall free from hull and the stick tights are discarded as inferior. N.N.G.A. members need but write to the agricultural colleges in California, Oregon and Washington and a list of publications will be sent. One of the latest machines being offered is one that picks the nut from the orchard floor with a speed with which no human can compete. It has not only removed the back ache but the human back as well. The Persian walnut industry in the Pacific Coast states is big business. There is only one organization that can and does disseminate the necessary knowledge and experience that will give the northern grown nut its proper place in the American diet. That is the Northern Nut Grower's Assn. You newer members have become heirs to knowledge based on the experiences of others which represents not only blood, sweat and tears but a lot of good hearty belly laughs. When one becomes nut conscious there is no turning back. It gives life a new approach and a finer meaning.