Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting | Page 8

10c per pound for
cracking and picking out the kernels and in addition retained the shells
for fuel. Forty-five thousand pounds of nuts were used in the
experiment for which a uniform price of $1 per hundred weight was
paid.
The more efficient and conscientious workers produced as high as 15%
of kernels per unit of whole nuts, which was slightly better than the
production by factory methods. The general average, however, was
around 12-1/2%, or about the same for both methods. As to quality of
product there was no appreciable difference. It is necessary to exercise
greater care in the selection of workers where the work is done in
homes without supervision than in the factory. By actual experience it
was found that some workers would produce less than half the
percentage made by the more efficient workers. Such workers were
dropped.
Where relatively small quantities of nuts are to be shelled there is little
to be chosen between the home-industry method and such factory
method as was used by me. The cost of delivering the nuts to the homes
may be roughly set over against the cost of operating a factory. Based
on the hours of work required to produce a given quantity of kernels,
the factory method is more efficient. On the other hand, the home
worker will work for a smaller wage per hour. Where large quantities

of nuts are available, commercial cracking by machine methods will be
increasingly used in the future, especially if economic conditions so far
improve that people will no longer work for starvation wages. Point is
given to this observation by the fact that local buyers paid from 8 to
15c for country-produced kernels last season, while my bare cost,
without overhead or profit, was 20c per pound.
* * * * *
The most notable advance that has come to my attention during the
past year in the way of commercial production of black walnut kernels
is that contributed by Mr. C. E. Werner, President of the Forest Park
Nut Company, of Ottawa, Kansas. Mr. Werner, who is 84 years of age
and a veteran inventor with several notable inventions to his credit, has
designed and built a machine that seems to mark a new era in black
walnut kernel production. This machine, which is mounted on a truck,
is not only used for the local operations of the company, but is moved
from place to place in the performance of custom work, after the
manner of a grain threshing outfit. Mention is made in company
correspondence of cracking twenty thousand bushels of nuts for one
customer in southwest Missouri. The following details were supplied by
the manager of the company.
The machine has a capacity of from 75 to 100 pounds of kernels per
hour. As they come from the machine they carry not more than 10%
shells, and run from 28 to 30% full quarters. After being hand cleaned
the net recovery of kernels represents from 10 to 11-1/2% of the weight
of the whole nuts. Custom work is charged for at the rate of from 3 to
5c per pound for the kernels produced. The cost of the final hand
cleaning and packaging is given as 2c per pound, which makes a total
production cost of from 5 to 7c per pound.
The operation of the machine may be briefly described as follows: The
nuts are run through a revolving screen which separates and cleans
them from all adhering husk and grades them into three sizes. They
then pass through the cracker and thence, by conveyor belt, to the
picker. This ingenious device holds the broken nuts with soft rubber
rolls while a set of fingers literally pick the kernels from the shells.

Careful sifting is the last step as the kernels leave the machine, after
which they are hand-picked to remove any remaining pieces of shell.
The owners advise that the machine has been built primarily for their
own use, and has not yet been offered for sale. They would, however,
consider building the machines for sale.
While the subject assigned me did not include the marketing of kernels,
I cannot refrain from stating that no commodity is in greater need of
orderly, organized marketing. In the meantime I would urge the small
producer to cultivate his own local market as far as possible and refuse
to produce at unprofitable prices.
Cracked black walnuts make an excellent supplementary feed for
growing chicks and laying hens.
I advertised in the Rural New Yorker, The American Magazine and
Better Homes and Gardens. Mr. Hershey advised me I would go broke
advertising but I wanted to see what would happen. The Rural New
Yorker gave the best results. I got $1.25 for a 2-lb. package. The
kernels were in clean, first-class