_Harvesting._—The harvesting of the crop should be commenced as soon as the hulls have opened to their fullest extent and no time should be lost in completing the work. The nuts in the center of the tree are the last ones to ripen and so may be used as indicators. If harvesting is commenced early, the nuts will cling to the tree rather tenaciously and knocking must be very vigorous in order to shake them loose. On the other hand, if they are allowed to hang too long after ripening, a number of difficulties may be encountered. They may be blown to the ground by light winds and the cost of gathering be increased, as quite commonly occurs with the Peerless, or the hulls may dry up and in doing so, close around the nuts to a greater or less extent and add to the cost and difficulty of hulling. This is most noticeable with the Nonpareil. Strong winds will break off a great many of the nuts of any of the varieties, and promptness is doubly essential where there is any likelihood of such winds during the harvest season. Depredations by birds may cause serious losses, especially with the soft and papershell varieties. Infestation by worms may often be quite serious in the papershell varieties when they are allowed to hang too long. In case of damp or foggy weather the shells turn dark and sometimes commence to mildew, requiring heavier bleaching to brighten them sufficiently for market demands. Rain stains can never be removed entirely by bleaching. [Illustration: Fig. 20.—Harvesting almonds by knocking onto sheets spread on ground.] The crop is gathered by knocking the ripened nuts and hulls with long poles onto sheets spread on the ground under the trees. The knocking should be done near the portions of the trees where the nuts are borne and by striking a number of light, quick blows, rather than by a heavy blow aimed to jar a large branch. This will avoid injury to the bark by bruising and will accomplish the work in less time. The blows should always be delivered squarely against the branch. A glancing blow will tear the bark and break off a great many fruit spurs, thus reducing the bearing surface for the next year. For this reason harvesters must be watched closely all the time to insure the proper use of the poles. The sheets, two in number, are spread under the trees so they will overlap and catch all the nuts that fall (see figure 20). When sufficiently loaded with nuts to make dragging the sheets from one tree to another difficult, they are emptied into lug boxes and sent to the huller.