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The Project Gutenberg eBook ofNorthern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Report
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Title: Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Report
Editor: Northern Nut Growers Association
Release date: June 18, 2008 [eBook #25831]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, E. Grimo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT ***
Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, E. Grimo and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+————————————————————————————————————+|DISCLAIMER || ||The articles published in the Annual Reports of the Northern Nut Growers||Association are the findings and thoughts solely of the authors and are ||not to be construed as an endorsement by the Northern Nut Growers ||Association, its board of directors, or its members. No endorsement is ||intended for products mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not||mentioned. The laws and recommendations for pesticide application may ||have changed since the articles were written. It is always the pesticide||applicator's responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current ||label directions for the specific pesticide being used. The discussion ||of specific nut tree cultivars and of specific techniques to grow nut ||trees that might have been successful in one area and at a particular ||time is not a guarantee that similar results will occur elsewhere. |+————————————————————————————————————+
Northern Nut Growers Association INCORPORATED
Affiliated with The American Horticultural Society
37th Annual Report
CONVENTION AT WOOSTER, OHIO
SEPTEMBER 3, 4, 5 1946
Table of Contents
Officers and Committees 3 State Vice Presidents 4 List of Members 5 Constitution 21 By-Laws 22 Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual Convention 23 Address of Welcome—Dr. J. H. Gourley 23 Response—John E. Cannaday, M.D. 24 Address of Retiring President—Carl Weschcke 24 Report of Secretary—Mildred M. Jones 25 Report of the Treasurer—D. C. Snyder 26 Aims and Aspirations of the Ohio Nut Growers—A. A. Bungart 27 Notes on the Annual Meeting 31 Nut Growing Under Semi-Arid Conditions—A. G. Hirschi 32 Weather Conditions versus Nut Tree Crops—J. F. Wilkinson 37 Nut Tree Notes from Southwestern Ohio—Harry R. Weber 39 Black Walnut Nursery Studies—Stuart B. Chase 40 My Experiments, Gambles and Failures—John Davidson 42 Nut Trees in Wildlife Conservation—Floyd B. Chapman 45 Commercial Aspects of Nut Crops as far North as St. Paul, Minnesota—Carl Weschcke 48 The 1946 Status of Chinese Chestnut Growing in the Eastern United States—Clarence A. Reed 51 Bearing Record of the Hemming Chinese Chestnut Orchard—E. Sam Hemming 58 Walnut Notes—G. H. Corsan 60 Self-fruitfulness in the Winkler Hazel—Dr. A. S. Colby 60 Hickories and Other Nuts in Northwestern Illinois—A. B. Anthony 61 Nut Trees for Ohio Pastures—Dr. Oliver D. Diller 62 How Hardy Are Oriental Chestnuts and Hybrids?—Russell B. Clapper and G. F. Gravatt 64 Growing Chestnuts for Timber—Jesse D. Diller 66 Improved Methods of Storing Chestnuts—H. L. Crane and J. W. McKay 71 Essential Elements in Tree Nutrition—W. F. Wischusen 73 Nut Tree Propagation as a Hobby for a Chemist—Dr. E. M. Shelton 83 Notes on Propagation and Transplanting in Western Tennessee—J. C. McDaniel 87 Propagating Nut Trees Under Glass—Stephen Bernath 90 The Economic, Ecological and Horticultural Aspects of Intercropping Nut Plantings—Dr. F. L. O'Rourke 91 Nut Work at the Mahoning County Experiment Farm, Canfield, Ohio—L. Walter Sherman 93 The Ohio Black Walnut Contest of 1946 96 1946 Iowa Black Walnut Contest 98 Grafting Methods Adapted to Nut Trees—H. F. Stoke 99 Beginnings in Walnut Grafting—C. C. Lounsberry 103 Forest Background—John Davidson 106 Graft the Persian Walnut High in Michigan—Gilbert Becker 111 Pecan Growing in Western Illinois—R. B. Best 112 Random Notes from Eastern New York—Gilbert L. Smith 114 Yield and Nut Quality of the Common Black Walnut in the Tennessee Valley—Thomas G. Zarger 118 The 1946 Field Tour—C. A. Reed 124 Report of Resolutions Committee 126 Obituary—Gourley, Bixby 126 Letters to the Secretary; Notes; Extracts 128 List of Exhibits 133 Attendance 134
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
President—CLARENCE A. REED, 7309 Piney Branch Rd., N.W., Washington, D. C.
Vice President—DR. L. H. MACDANIELS, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
Treasurer—D. C. SNYDER, Center Point, Iowa
Secretary—MILDRED M. JONES, BOX 356, Lancaster, Penna.
Director—CARL WESCHCKE, 96 S. Wabasha St., St. Paul, Minn.
Director—DR. A. S. COLBY, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.
Dean—DR. W. C. DEMING, Litchfield, Conn.
Parliamentarian—JOHN DAVIDSON, 234 E. Second St., Xenia, O.
EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS
PARLIAMENTARIAN John Davidson
LEGAL ADVISERS Sargent Wellman, Harry Weber
AUDITING E. P. Gerber, G. A. Gray, R. E. Silvis
FINANCE Carl Weschcke, Harry Weber, D. C. Snyder
PRESS AND PUBLICATION L. H. MacDaniels, George L. Slate, G. H. Corsan
VARIETIES AND CONTESTS—Gilbert Becker, Gilbert L. Smith, L. Walter Sherman, A. G. Hirschi, Seward Bethow
SURVEY John Davidson
EXHIBITS—H. F. Stoke, Mrs. G. A. Zimmerman, Mrs. Herbert Negus, I. W. Short, Gilbert L. Smith, H. H. Corsan, G. H. Corsan, L. Walter Sherman, J. F. Wilkinson, Royal Oakes, Seward Berhow, George Brand, A. G. Hirschi, R. T. Dunstan, Spencer B. Chase and Abe Margolin, Carl Weschcke,
PROGRAM—Mildred Jones, George L. Slate, L. H. MacDaniels, O. D. Diller, Thomas G. Zarger, R. P. Allaman, Clarence A. Reed
MEMBERSHIP—Mrs. S. H. Graham, A. A. Bungart, Mrs. Herbert Negus, George Kratzer, Lewis A. Theiss
NECROLOGY—Mrs. H. F. Stoke, Mrs. John Hershey, Mrs. William Rohrbacher, Mrs. John Davidson, Mrs. J. F. Jones
PLACE OF MEETING (Both 1947 and 1948)—George L. Slate, L. H. MacDaniels, G. H. Corsan, D. C. Snyder, G. J. Korn
OFFICIAL JOURNAL—American Fruit Grower, 1770 Ontario St., Cleveland, Ohio
State Vice Presidents
Alabama LOVIC ORR
Alberta, Canada A. L. YOUNG
Arkansas SEARLES JOHNSON
British Columbia, Can. J. U. GELLATLY
California DR. THOMAS R. HAIG
Canal Zone L. C. LEIGHTON
Colorado W. A. COLT
Connecticut WILLIAM G. CANFIELD
Delaware EDWARD C. LAKE
Georgia G. CLYDE EIDSON
Idaho FRED BAISCH
Illinois JOSEPH GERARDI
Indiana DR. CHARLES H. SKINNER
Iowa E. F. HUEN
Kansas H. S. WISE
Kentucky DR. C. A. MOSS
Louisiana J. HILL FULLILOVE
Maine RADCLIFFE B. PIKE
Maryland WILMER P. HOOPES
Massachusetts DR. R. A. VAN METER
Mexico JULIO GRANDJEAN
Michigan GILBERT BECKER
Minnesota R. E. HODGSON
Mississippi DR. ERNEST A. COOK
Missouri DR. F. M. BARNES, JR.
Nebraska GEORGE BRAND
New Hampshire L. A. DOUGHERTY
New Jersey MRS. A. R. BUCKWALTER
New York CLARENCE LEWIS
North Carolina DR. R. T. DUNSTAN
Ohio G. A. GRAY
Oklahoma A. G. HIRSCHI
Ontario, Can. G. H. CORSAN
Oregon E. RUSS
Pennsylvania H. GLEASON MATTOON
Quebec, Can. GORDON L. SOMERS
Rhode Island PHILLIP ALLEN
South America CELEDONIA V. PEREDA
South Carolina JOHN T. BREGGER
South Dakota HOMER L. BRADLEY
Tennessee THOMAS G. ZARGER
Texas KAUFMAN FLORIDA
Utah GRANVILLE OLESON
Vermont A. W. ALDRICH
Virginia DR. V. A. PERTZOFF
Washington F. D. LINKLETTER
West Virginia MEYER S. SLOTKIN
Wisconsin W. S. BASSETT
Wyoming W. D. GREENE
Northern Nut Growers Association
Membership List as of January 4, 1947
ALABAMA
Orr, Lovic, Penn-Orr-MacDaniel Orchards, R. D. 1, Danville Richards, Paul N., R. D. 1, Box 308, Birmingham
ARKANSAS
Johnson, Searles, Japton Upham, Harry, "Quinta Nogalada", Cove Williams, Jerry F., R. D. 1, Viola
CALIFORNIA
Armstrong Nurseries, 408 N. Euclid Ave., Ontario Field, Lt. Eugene A., USN, U.S.S. Whitney, c/o Postmaster, San Diego Haig, Dr. Thomas R., 3344 H St., Sacramento Kemple, W. H., 222 West Ralston St., Ontario Parsons, Chas. E., Felix Gillet Nursery, Nevada City Walter, E. D., 899 Alameda, Berkeley Welby, Harry S., 500 Buchanan St., Taft
CANADA
Brown, Alger, R. D. 1, Harley, Ontario Casanave, R. D. 2, Euburne, B. C. Corsan, George H., "Echo Valley", Islington, Ontario Crath, Rev. Paul C., R. D. 2, Connington, Ontario Eddie & Sons, Ltd., Pacific Coast Nurseries, Sardis, B. C. Elgood, H., 74 Trans Canada Highway West, Chilliwack, B. C. English, H. A., Box 153, Duncan, B. C. Filman, O., Aldershot, Ontario Gellatly, David, Box 17, Westbank, B. C. Gellatly, J. R., Westbank, B. C. Giegerich, H. C., Con-Mine, Yellow Knife, NWT Housser, Levi, Beamsville, Ontario Maillene, George, Naramata, B. C. Manten, Jacob, R. D. 1, White Rock, B. C. * Neilson, Mrs. Ellen, 5 McDonald Ave., Guelph, Ontario Papple, Elton E., R. D. 3, Gainsville, Ontario Porter, Gordon, Y.M.C.A., Windsor, Ontario Somers, Gordon L., 37 London St., Sherbrooke, Quebec Trayling, E. J., 509 Richards St., Vancouver, B. C. Wagner, A. S., Delhi, Ontario Wood, D. F., Hobbs Glass Ltd., 54 Duke St., Toronto, Ontario Yates, J., 2150 E. 65th Ave., Vancouver, B. C. Young, A. L., Brooks, Alta.
CANAL ZONE
Leighton, L. C., Box 1452, Cristobal
COLORADO
Colt, W. A., Lyons Wilder, W. E., 915 West 4th, La Junta
CONNECTICUT
Canfield, William G., 463 West Main St., New Britain David, Alexander M., 408 S. Main St., West Hartford Dawley, Arthur E., R. D. 1, Norwich **Deming, Dr. W. C., Litchfield Frueh, Alfred J., West Cornwall Graham, Mrs. Cooper, Darien * Huntington, A. M., Stanerigg Farms, Bethel Jennings, Clyde, 30 West Main St., Waterbury Lehr, Frederick L., 45 Elihu St., Hamden LeMieux, W. E., 44 Grove St., Rockville McSweet, Arthur, Clapboard Hill Rd., Guilford Milde, Karl F., Town Farm Rd., Litchfield Morencey, Edward, 37 Kensington St., Manchester * Newmaker, Adolph, R. D.,1, Rockville Page, Donald T., Box 228, R. 1, Danielson Pratt, George D., Jr., Bridgewater Rodgers, Raymond, R. D. 2, Westport Rourke, Robert U., R. D. 1, Pomfret Center Scazlia, Jos. A., 372 Matson Hill Rd., South Glastonbury Senior, Sam P., R. D. 1, Bridgeport Tower, Sidney, 31 Birchwood Rd., East Hartford Walsh, James A., c/o Armstrong Rubber Co., West Haven Warfel, Robert, 1675 Main St., Glastonbury White, Heath E., Box 630, Westport White, George E., R. D. 2, Andover
DELAWARE
Lake, Edward C., Sharpless Rd., Hockessin
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Librarian, American Potash Institute, Inc., 1155 16th St., N. W. Washington 6 Reed, Clarence A., 7309 Piney Branch Rd., N. W., Washington 12
GEORGIA
Eidson, G. Clyde, 1700 Westwood Ave., S.W., Atlanta Hunter, H. Reid, 561 Lakeshore Dr., N.E., Atlanta Neal, Homer A., Neal's Nursery, R. D. 1, Carnesville Skyland Farms, S. C. Noland & C. H. Crawford, 161 Spring St., N. W. Atlanta
IDAHO
Baisch, Fred, 627 E. Main St., Emmett Dryden, Lynn, Peck Hazelbaker, Calvin, Lewiston Kudlac, Joe T., Box 147, Buhl Rice, E. T., Parma Swayne, Samuel F., Orofino
ILLINOIS
Adams, James S., R. D. 1, Hinsdale Allen, Theodore R., Delevan Anthony, A. B., R. 3, Sterling Baber, Adin, Kansas Best, R. B., Eldred Bolle, Dr. A. C., 324 State St., Jacksonville Bontz, Mrs. Lillian, 161 W. Massachusetts Ave., Champaign Bradley, James W., 1300 N. Prospect Ave., Champaign Breeden, Robert G., Lane Technical High School, 2501 W. Addison St., Chicago 18 Bronson, Earle A., 800 Simpson St., Evanston Churchill, Woodford M., 4250 Drexel Blvd., Chicago Colby, Dr. Arthur S., University of Illinois, Urbana Colehour, Francis H., 411 Brown Bldg., Rockford Dietrich, Ernest, R. D. 2, Dundas Dintelman, L. F., Belleville Edmunds, Mrs. Palmer D., La Hogue Frey, Mrs. Frank H., 2315 West 108th Place, Chicago Frey, Frank H., 2315 West 108th Place, Chicago Frierdich, Fred, 3907 W. Main St., Belleville Gerardi, Joseph, Gerardi Nurseries, O'Fallon Haeseler, L. M., 1959 W. Madison St., Chicago Helmle, Herman C., 123 N. Walnut St., Springfield Johnson, Hjalmer W., 5811 Dorchester Ave., Chicago Jungk, Adolph, 817 Washington Ave., Alton Kilner, F. R., American Nurseryman, 508 S. Dearborn St., Chicago Knobloch, Miss Margaret, Arthur Kreider, Ralph, Jr., Hammond Livermore, Ogden, 801 Forest Ave., Evanston Logan, George F., Carpathian Nursery, Dallas City Maxwell, Leroy C., 1606 W. Washington St., Champaign Oakes, Royal Bluffs Powell, Charles A., Hickory St., Jerseyville Pray, A. Lee, 502 North Main St., LeRoy Sonnemann, W. F., Experimental Gardens, Vandalia Valley Landscape Co., Box 488, Elgin Walantas, John., 7048 S. Union Ave., Chicago Werner, Edward H., 282 Ridgeland Ave., Elmhurst Whitford, A. M., Whitford's Nursery, Farina Youngberg, Harry W., Port Clinton Rd., Prairie View
INDIANA
Behr, J. E., Laconia Boyer, Clyde C., Nabb Garber, H. G., Indiana State Farm, Greencastle Gentry, Herbert M., R. D. 2, Noblesville Glaser, Peter, R. D. 1, Box 301, Evansville Hite, Chas. Dean, R. D. 2, Bluffton Minton, Charles F., R. D. 5, Huntington Morey, B. F., 453 S. 5th St., Clinton Olson, Albert L., 1230 Nuttman Ave., Fort Wayne Pritchett, Emery, 1340 Park Ave., Fort Wayne 6 Prell, Carl F., 803 West Colfax Ave., South Bend Ramsey, Arthur, Muncie Tree Surgery Co., Muncie Skinner, Dr. Charles H., Indiana University, Bloomington Sly, Miss Barbara, R. D. 3, Rockport Sly, Donald R., R. D. 3, Rockport Tormohlen, Willard, 321 Cleveland St., Gary Wallick, Ford, R. D. 4, Peru Warren, E. L., New Richmond Wilkinson, J. F., Indiana Nut Nursery, R. 3, Rockport
IOWA
Andrew, Dr. Earl V., Maquoketa Beeghly, Dale, Pierson Berhow, Seward, Berhow Nurseries, Huxley Boice, R. H., R. D. 1, Nashua Cerveny, Frank L., R. D. 4, Cedar Rapids Christensen, Everett G., Gilmore City Cole, Edward P., 419 Chestnut St., Atlantic Crumley, Joe F., 221 Park Rd., Iowa City Ferguson, Albert B., Center Point Ferris, Wayne, Hampton Gardner, Clark, Gardner Nurseries, Osage Harrison, L. E., Nashua Hill, Clarence S., Hilburn Stock Farm, Minburn Huen, E. F., Eldora Inter-State Nurseries, Hamburg Iowa Fruit Growers' Association, State House, Des Moines Kaser, J. D., Winterset Kivell, Ivan E., R. D. 3, Greene Kyhl, Ira M., Box 236, Sabula Lehmann, F. W., Jr., 3220 John Lynde Rd., Des Moines Lounsberry, Dr. C. C., 209 Howard Ave., Ames McLeran, Harold F., Mt. Pleasant Meints, A. Rock, Diron Miller, Robert H., Box 604, Spencer Rohrbacher, Dr. Wm., 811 East College St., Iowa City Schaub, John M., 911 Locust St., Ottumwa Schlagenbusch Bros., R. D. 3, Ft. Madison Snyder, D. C., Snyder Bros., Inc., Nurserymen, Center Point Steffen, R. F., Box 62, Sioux City Van Meter, W. L., Adel Welch, H. S., Mt. Arbor Nurseries, Shenandoah Wood, Roy A., Castana
KANSAS
Borst, Frank E., 1704 Shawnee St., Leavenworth Boyd, Elmer, R. D. 1, Box 95, Oskaloosa Burrichter, George W., c/o Mrs. James Stone, 3011 N. 36th St., Kansas City Funk, M. D., 1501 N. Tyler St., Topeka Hofman, Rayburn, R. D. 5, Manhattan Leavenworth Nurseries, R. D. 3, Leavenworth Schroeder, Emmett H., 800 W. 17th St., Hutchinson Wise, H. S., 579 W. Douglas Ave., Wichita Yoder, D. J., R. D. 2, Haven
KENTUCKY
Alves, Robert H., Nehi Bottling Co., Henderson Baughn, Cullie, R. D. 6, Box 1, Franklin Cornett, Lester, Box 566, Lynch Gooch, Perry, R. D. 1, Oakville Moss, Dr. C. A., Williamsburg Tatum, W. G., R. D. 4, Lebanon Watt, R. M., R. D. 1, Lexington Whittinghill, Lonnie M., Box 10, Love
LOUISIANA
Louisiana State U., A. & M. College, General Library, University Fullilove, J. Hill, Box 157, Shreveport
MAINE
Pike, Radcliffe B., Lubec
MARYLAND
Crane, Dr. H. L., Plant Industry Station, Beltsville Eastern Shore Nurseries, Inc., Dover Rd., Easton Fletcher, C. Hicks, Lulley's Hillside Farm, Bowie Gravatt, G. F., Plant Industry Station, Beltsville Harris, Walter B., Andelot Inc., Worton Hodgson, Wm. C., R. D. 1, White Hall Hoopes, Wilmer P., Forest Hill Kemp, Homer S., Bountiful Ridge Nurseries, Princess Anne Kienle, John A., Land's End Farm, Queenstown Kingsville Nurseries, H. J. Hohman, Kingsville Lewis, Dean, Bel Air Mannakee, N. H., Ashton McCollum, Blaine, White Hall McKay, Dr. J. W., Plant Industry Station, Beltsville Negus, Mrs. Herbert, 4514-32nd St., Mt. Rainier Porter, John J., 1199 The Terrace, Hagerstown Purnell, J. Edgar, Spring Hill Rd., Salisbury Shamer, Dr. Maurice E., 3300 W. North Ave., Baltimore Thomas, Kenneth D., 10 N. Ellwood Ave., Baltimore 24
MASSACHUSETTS
Atwood, Gordon E., 60 Crescent St., Northampton Beauchamp, A. A., 603 Boylston St., Boston Brown, Daniel L., Esq., 60 State St., Boston Fitts, Walter H., 39 Baker St., Foxboro Fritze, E., Osterville Garlock, Mott A., 17 Arlington Rd., Longmeadow Gauthier, Louis R., Wood Hill Rd., Monson Graff, George H., 46 Chestnut St., Brookline 46 Hanchett, James L., R. D. 1, East Longmeadow Kaan, Dr. Helen W., Wellesley College, Wellesley Kendall, Henry P., Moose Hill Farm, Sharon Kibrick, I. S., 106 Main St., Brockton La Beau, Henry A., 1556 Massachusetts Ave., North Adams Rice, Horace J., 5 Elm St., Springfield * Russell, Mrs. Newton H., 12 Burnett Ave., South Hadley Short, I. W., 299 Washington St., Taunton Stewart, O. W., 75 Milton Ave., Hyde Park Swartz, H. P., 206 Checopee St. Checopee Trudeau, Dr. A. E., 14 Railroad St., Holyoke Van Meter, Dr. R. A., French Hall, M. S. C., Amherst Wellman, Sargent H., Esq., Windridge, Topsfield Westcott, Samuel K., 79 Richview Ave., North Adams Weston Nurseries, Inc., Brown & Winter Sts., Weston Weymouth, Paul W., 183 Plymouth St., Holbrook
MEXICO
Grandjean, Julio., Ave. Cinco de Mayo, num. 10, Mexico City
MICHIGAN
Andersen, Charles, Andersen Evergreen Nurseries, Scottsville Avery, R. O., R. D. 2, Brooklyn Aylesworth, C. F., 920 Pinecrest Dr., Ferndale 20 Barlow, Alfred L., 13079 Flanders Ave., Detroit, 5 Becker, Gilbert, Climax Blackman, Orrin C., Box 55, Jackson Bogart, Geo. C., R. D. 2, Three Oaks Boylan, B. P., Cloverdale Bradley, L. J., R. D. 1, Springport Buell, Dr. M. F., Dept. of Health and Recreation, Dearborn Bumler, Malcolm R., 1097 Lakeview, Detroit Burgart, Harry, Michigan Nut Nursery, R. D. 2, Union City Burgess, E. H., Burgess Seed & Plant Co., Galesburg Cook, E. A., M.D., Director, County Health Dept., Corunna Corsan, H. H., R. D. 1, Hillsdale Daubenmeyer, H., 7647 Sylvester, Detroit Emerson, Ralph, 161 Cortland Ave., Highland Park 3 Gage, Nina M., 6550 Kensington Rd., Wixom Hackett, John C., 315 Diamond Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 6 Hagelshaw, W. J., Box 314, Galesburg Hay, Francis H., Ivanhoe Place, Lawrence Healey, Scott, R. D. 2, Otsego **Kellogg, W. K., Battle Creek King, Harold J., Sodus Korn, G. J., 140 N. Rose St., Kalamazoo 24 Lee, Michael, Lapeer Leist, Dewey, 119 Livingston Dr., Flint Lemke, Edwin W., 2432 Townsend Ave., Detroit 14 Lewis, Clayton A., 1219 Pine St., Port Huron Mann, Charles W., 221 Cutler St., Allegan Mason, Harold E., 1580 Montie, Lincoln Park 25 McMillan, Vincent U., 17926 Woodward Ave., Detroit 3 Miller, Louis, 130 O'Keefe, Cassopolis O'Rourke, Prof. F. L., Hort'l Dept., Michigan State College, E. Lansing Otto, Arnold G., 4150 Three Mile Drive, Detroit Reist, Dewey, 119 Livingston Dr., Flint Scofield, Mrs. Carl, Box 215, Woodland Scofield, Carl, Box 215, Woodland Stocking, Frederick N., Harrisville Stotz, Raleigh R., 1546 Franklin, S.E., Grand Rapids 6 Tate, D. L., 959 Westchester St., Birmingham Wargess, R. D., 11 Rose St., Battle Creek Whallon, Archer P., R. D. 1, Stockbridge
MINNESOTA
Andrews, Miss Frances E., 48 Park View Terrace, Minneapolis Cothran, John C., 512 N. 19th Ave., E. Duluth Donaldson Co., L. S., 601 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis 2 Hodgson, R. E., Dept. of Agriculture, S. E. Exp. Sta., Waseca O'Connor, Pat H., Hopkins Skrukrud, Baldwin, Sacred Heart Vaux, Harold C., R. D. 4, Faribault Weschcke, Carl, 96 S. Wabasha St., St. Paul
MISSOURI
Barnes, Dr. F. M., Jr., 4952 Maryland Ave., St. Louis Bucksath, Charles E., Dalton Campbell, A. T., 8117 Meadow Lane, Kansas City 5 Fisher, J. B., R. R. H. 1, Pacific Giesson, Adolph, Pine Hill Farm, Weingarten Hay, Leander, Gilliam Howe, John, R. D. 1, Box 4, Pacific Johns, Jeannette F., R. D. 1, Festus Nicholson, John W., Ash Grove Ochs, C. T., Box 291, Salem Richterkessing, Ralph, R. D. 1, St. Charles Schmidt, Victor H., 4821 Virginia, Kansas City Stark Brothers Nurs. & Orchard Co., Louisiana Stevenson, Hugh, Elsberry Thompson, J. D., 600 West 63rd St., Kansas City 2
NEBRASKA
Adams, Frederick J., 5103 Webster St., Omaha 3 Brand, George, R. D. 5, Box 60, Lincoln Caha, William, Wahoo Clark, Ivan E., Concord DeLong, F. S., 1510 Second Corso, Nebraska City Ferguson, Albert B., Dunbar Ginn, A. M., Box 6, Bayard Hess, Harvey W., The Arrowhead Gardens, Box 209, Hebron Hoyer, L. B., 7554 Maple St., Omaha Lenz, Clifford Q., 3815 Maple St., Omaha 3 Marshall's Nurseries, Arlington Weaver, Francis E., Box 312, Sutherland White, Bertha G., 7615 Leighton Ave., Lincoln 5 White, Warren E., 6920 Binney St., Omaha 4
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Dougherty, L. A., University of N. H., Durham Lahti, Matthew, Locust Lane Farm, Wolfeboro Latimer, Prof. L. P., Dept. of Horticulture, Durham Malcolm, Herbert L., The Waumbek Farm, Jefferson Messier, Frank, R. D. 2, Nashua Ryan, Miss Agnes, Mill Rd., Durham
NEW JERSEY
Bangs, Ralph E., Allamuchy Beck, Stanley, 12 South Monroe Ave., Wenonah Blake, Dr. Harold, Box 93, Saddle River Bottom, R. J., 41 Robertson Rd., West Orange Brewer, J. L., 10 Allen Place, Fair Lawn Buch, Philip O., 106 Rockaway Ave., Rockaway Buckwalter, Mrs. Alan R., Flemington Buckwalter, Geoffrey R., Route 1, Box 12, Flemington Cumberland Nursery, R. D. 1, Millville Donnelly, John H., Mountain Ice Co., 51 Newark St., Hoboken Dougherty, Wm. M., Broadacres-on-Bedens, Box 425, Princeton Franek, Michael, 323 Rutherford Ave., Franklin Fuhlbruegge, Edward, R. D. Box 234, Scotch Plains Gardenier, Dr. Harold C., Westwood Goitein, Louis, 1081 S. Clinton Ave., Trenton * Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly Place, Jersey City Jewett, Edmund Gale, R. D. 1, Port Murray Lovett's Nursery, Inc., Little Silver Mann, Philip, 115 Bloomfield Ave., Newark McCulloch, J. D., 73 George St., Freehold Mueller, R., R. D. 1, Box 81, Westwood Piskorski, Mrs. Adelaide M., 604 Jersey Ave., Jersey City 2 Ritchie, Walter M., 402 St. George St., Rahway Rocker, Louis P., The Rocker Farm, Andover Sheffield, O. A., 283 Hamilton Place, Hackensack Sorg, Henry, Chicago Ave., Egg Harbor City Sutton, Ross J., Jr., R. D. 2, Lebanon Szalay, Dr. S., 931 Garrison Ave., Teaneck Terhune, Gilbert V. P., Apple Acres, Newfoundland Todd, E. Murray, R. D. 2, Matawan Tolley, Fred C., Berkeley Ave., Bloomfield Trainer, Raymond E., Roller Bearing Co., Box 480, Trenton Van Doren, Durand H., 310 Redmond Rd., South Orange White, Col. J. H., Jr., Picatinny Arsenal, Dover Williams, Harold G., Box 344, Ramsey Yorks, A. S., Lamatonk Nurseries, Neshanic Station
NEW YORK
Barton, Irving Titus, Montour Falls Beck, Paul E., Beck's Guernsey Dairy, Transit Rd., E. Amherst Benton, William A., Wassaic Bernath's Nursery, R. D. 1, Poughkeepsie Bixby, Henry D., East Drive, Halesite, L. I. Blauner, Sidney H., 290 West End Ave., New York Bradbury, Captain H. G., 30 Fifth Ave., New York 11 Brinckeroff, John H., 150-09 Hillside Ave., Jamaica Brook, Victor, 171 Rockingham St., Rochester Brooks, William G., Monroe Cowan, Harold, 643 Southern Bldg., The Bronx, New York 55 Davis, Clair, 140 Broadway, Lynbrook DeSchauensee, Mrs. A. M., Easterhill Farm, Chester Dutton, Walter, 264 Terrace Park, Rochester Ellwanger, Mrs. William D., 510 East Ave., Rochester Fagley, Richard M., 29 Perry St., New York 14 Feil, Harry, 1270 Hilton-Spencerport Rd., Hilton Flanigen, Charles F., 16 Greenfield St., Buffalo Freer, H. J., 20 Midvale Rd., Fairport Frifance, A. E., 139 Elmdorf Ave., Rochester 11 Fruch, Alfred, 34 Perry St., New York Garcia, M., 62 Rugby Rd., Brooklyn Graham, S. H., R. D. 5, Ithaca Graham, Mrs. S. H., R. D. 5, Ithaca Graves, Dr. Arthur H., Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Gressel, Henry, R. D. 2, Mohawk Gunther, Eric F., 25 E. Waukena Ave., Oceanside, L. I. Gwinn, Ralph W., 522-5th Ave., New York Hasbrouck, Walter, Jr., New Platz Hill, Ben H., 375 Beverly Rd., Douglaston, L. I. Hubbell, James F., Mayro Bldg., Utica Iddings, William, 165 Ludlow St., New York Irish, G. Whitney, Valatie Kelly, Mortimer B., 17 Battery Place, New York Knorr, Mrs. Arthur, 15 Central Park, West Apt. 1406, New York Kraai, Dr. John, Fairport Larkin, Harry H., 189 Van Rensselaer St., Buffalo 10 Lewis, Clarence K., 1000 Park Ave., New York Lewis, H. W., c/o Ann Cangero, Roslyn Little, George, Ripley Lowerre, James D., 1121 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn 16 * MacDaniels, Dr. L. H., Cornell University, Ithaca MacEwen, Harold, R. D. 5, Fulton Maloney Brothers Nursery Co., Inc., Danville Mevius, William E., E. Church St., Eden Miller, J. E., R. D. 1, Naples Mitchell, Rudolph, 125 Riverside Drive, New York 24 Mitchell, Thomas, 16 E. 48th St, New York * Montgomery, Robert H., 1 E. 44th St., New York Mossman, Dr. James K., Black Oaks, Ramapo Newell, P. F., 53 Elm St., Nassau Oeder, Dr. Lambert R., 551 Fifth Ave., New York Ohliger, Louis H., R. D. 2, New City Page, Chas. E., R. D. 2, Oneida Penning, Tomas, R. D. 3, Box 158, Saugerties Price, Jacob, Price Theatre Co., 352 West 44th St., New York 18 Price, J., 385 Arbuckle Ave., Cedarhurst, L. I. Rasmussen, Harry, R. D. 1, 85 Frederick St., E. Syracuse Rebillard, Frederick, 164 Lark St., Albany 5 Salzer, George, 169 Garford Rd., Rochester Schlegel, Charles P., 990 South Ave., Rochester Schlick, Frank, Munnsville Schmidt, Carl W., 180 Linwood Ave., Buffalo Schwartz, Mortimer L., 1243 Boynton Ave., Bronx Sheffield, Lewis F., c/o Mrs. E. C. Jones, Townline Rd., Orangeburg Slate, Prof. George L., Experiment Station, Geneva Smith, Gilbert L., State School, Wassaic Smith, Jay L., Chester Steiger, Harwood, Red Hook Stern, Otto, Stern's Nurseries, Geneva Stern-Montagny, Hubert, Erbonia Farm, Gardiner Szigo, Alfred, 77-15 A. 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, New York Timmerman, Karl G., 123 Chapel St., Fayetteville Waite, Dr. R. H., Willowwaite Moor, Perrysburg Weis, John F., Jr., R. D. 1, Carter Rd., Fairport Wichlac, Thaddeus, 3236 Genesee St., Cheektowaga 21 Wilson, Mrs. Ida, Candor Windisch, Richard P., W. E. Burnet & Co., 11 Wall St., New York * Wissman, Mrs. F. de R., 9 W. 54th St., New York
NORTH CAROLINA
Dunstan, Dr. R. T., Greensboro College, Greensboro Finch, Jack R., Bailey Malcolm, Van R., Celo P. O., Yancey County Parks, C. H., R. D. 2, Asheville
OHIO
Barden, C. A., 215 Morgan St., Oberlin Bitler, W. A., 322 McPheron Ave., Lima Bungart, A. A., Avon Chapman, Floyd B., 1944 Denune Ave., Columbus 3 Cinadr, Mrs. Katherine, 13514 Coath Ave., Cleveland 20 Clark, R. L., 1184 Melbourne Rd., East Cleveland 12 Clay High School, R. D. 5, Toledo 5 Cole, Mrs. J. R., 163 Woodland Ave., Columbus 3 Cook, H. C., R. D. 1, Box 125, Leetonia Cranz, Eugene F., Mount Tom Farm, Ira Crawford, L. E., Sylvarium Gardens, 5499 Columbia Rd., N. Olmsted Davidson, John, 234 E. 2nd St., Xenia Davidson, Wm. J., Old Springfield Pike, Xenia Diller, Dr. Oliver D., Dept. of Forestry, Experiment Sta., Wooster Dubois, Miss Frances M., 4623 Glenshade Ave., Cincinnati 27 Elliott, Donald W., Rogers Emch, Frank, Genoa Evans, Maurice G., 335 S. Main St., Akron 8 Fickes, Mrs. W. R., R. D. 1, Wooster Foraker, Major C. Merle, 152 Elmwood Ave., Barberton Foss, H. D., 875 Hamlin St., Akron 2 Franks, M. L., R. D. 1, Montpelier Frederick, Geo. F., 3925 W. 17th, Cleveland 9 Garden Center of Greater Cleveland, 11190 East Blvd., Cleveland Gardner, Richard F., 1474 Wagar Ave., Cleveland 7 Gauly, Dr. Edward, 1110 Euclid Ave., Cleveland Gerber, E. P., Kidron Gerhardt, Gustave A., 3125 Jefferson Ave., Cincinnati Gerstenmaier, John A., 13 Pond S. W., Massilon Goss, C. E., 922 Dover Ave., Akron 2 Gray, G. A., 3317 Jefferson Ave., Cincinnati 20 Hamlin, Howard E., 1945 Waltham Rd., Columbus 8 Haydeck, Carl, 3213 West 73rd St., Cleveland 2 Headapohl, Miss Marjean, R. D. 2, Wapakoneta Hill, Dr. Albert A., 4187 Pearl Rd., Cleveland Hoch, Gordon F., 6292 Glade Ave., Cincinnati Holley, Dr. C. J., 11 Elm St., Bridgeport Hunt, Kenneth W., Yellow Springs Irish, Charles F., 418 E. 105th St., Cleveland Jacobs, Homer L., Davey Tree Expert Co., Kent Jacobs, Mason, 3003 Jacobs Rd., Youngstown Jacque, John V., 13722 N. Drive, Cleveland 5 Kappel, Owen, Bolivar Kintzel, Frank M., 2506 Briarcliffe Ave., Cincinnati 13 Kirby, R. L., Box 131, R. 1, Sharonville Kratzer, George, Kidron Krok, Walter P., 925 W. 29th St., Lorain Laditka, Nicholas G., 5322 Stickney Ave., Cleveland 9 Lashley, Chas. V., 216 S. Main, Wellington Lehmann, Carl, Union Trust Bldg., Cincinnati Livezey, Albert J., Barnesville Madson, Arthur E., 13608-5th Ave., E. Cleveland 12 McBride, William B., 2398 Brandon Rd., Columbus 8 Meikle, William J., 730 Thornhill Dr., Cleveland Metzger, A. J., 724 Euclid Ave., Toledo 5 Miller, Arthur R., R. D. 4, Wooster Mutchler, Glenn M., Box 10, Massillon Neff, Wm., Martel Nicolay, Chas., 2259 Hess Ave., Cincinnati 11 Oches, Norman M., R. D. 2, Brunswick Olney High School, R. D. 1, Eggleston Rd., Toledo 5 Osborn, Frank C., 4040 W. 160th St., Cleveland Pomerene, W. H., Coshocton Poston, E. M., Jr., 2640 E. Main, Columbus Rowe, Stanley M., R. D. 1, Box 83, Cincinnati 27 Scarff's Sons, W. N., New Carlisle Schaufelberger, Hugo S., R. D. 2, Sandusky Shelton, Dr. E. M., 1468 W. Clifton Blvd., Lakewood 7 Sherman, L. Walter, Mahoning Co., Exp. Farm, Canfield Shessler, Sylvester M., Genoa Silvis, Raymond E., 1725 Lindbergh Ave., N. E., Massillon Soliday, E. C., 834 Madison Ave., Lancaster Southart, Dr. A. F., 24-1/2 South Main St., Mt. Gilead Smith, Sterling A., 630 W. South St., Vermilion Spring Hill Nurseries Co., Tipp City Stocker, C. P., Lorain Products Corp., 1122 F St., Lorain Sylvarium Gardens, L. E. Crawford, 5499 Columbia Rd., N. Olmsted Thomas, W. F., 406 S. Main St., Findlay Toops, Herbert A., 1430 Cambridge Blvd., Columbus Urban, George, 4518 Ardendale Rd., South Euclid 21 Van Voorhis, J. F., 215 Hudson Ave., Apt. B-1, Newark Walker, Carl F., 2851 E. Overlook Rd., Cleveland Weaver, Arthur W., 318 Oliver St., Toledo 4 * Weber, Harry, R. Esq., 123 E. 6th St., Cincinnati Weber, Mrs. Martha R., R. D. 1, Morgan Rd., Cleves Weibel, A. J., 4130 Florida Ave., Cincinnati 23 Whitmer High School, 5530 Whitmer Drive, Toledo 12 Willett, Dr. G. P., Elmore Wischhusen, J. F., 15031 Shore Acres Dr., N.E., Cleveland 10 Yates, Edward W., 3108 Parkview Ave., Cincinnati 13 Yoder, Emmet, Smithville
OKLAHOMA
Hirschi's Nursery, 414 N. Robinson, Oklahoma City Hubbard, Orie B., Kingston Hughes, C. V., 5600 N. W. 16-R No. 2, Box 564, Oklahoma City 8 Jarrett, C. F., 2208 W. 40th, Tulsa Meek, E. B., R. D. 2, Wynnewood Pulliam, Gordon, 407 Osage Ave., Bartlesville Ruhlen, Dr. Chas. A., 114 W. Steele, Cushing Swan, Oscar E., Jr., 1226 E. 30th St., Tulsa 5
OREGON
Borland, Robert E., 219 Mill St., Silverton Carlton Nursery Co., Forest Grove Dohanian, S. M., P. O. Box 246, Eugene Flanagan, George C., 909 Terminal Sales Bldg., Portland Miller, John E., R. D. 1, Box 312-A, Oswego Russ, E., R. D. 1, Halsey Schuster, C. E., Horticulturist, Cervallis
PENNSYLVANIA
Allaman, R. P., R. D. 1, Harrisburg Anundson, Lester, 2630 Chestnut St., Erie Banks, H. C., R. D. 1, Hellertown Barnhart, Emmert M., R. D. 4, Waynesboro Beard, H. G., R. D. 1, Sheridan Blair, Dr. G. D., 702 N. Homewood Ave., Pittsburgh Bowen, John C., R. D. 1, Macungie Breneiser, Amos P., 427-N. 5th St., Reading Brenneman, John S., R. D. 6, Lancaster Brown, Morrison, Carson Long Military Academy, New Bloomfield Buckman, C. M., Schwenkville Catterall, Karl P., 734 Frank St., Pittsburgh 10 Clarke, Wm. S., Jr., Box 167, State College Creasy, Luther P., Catawissa DeHaven, Edwin, 404 Wall Ave., Pitcairn Dewey, Richard, Box 41, Peckville Dible, Samuel E., R. D. 3, Shelocta Diefenderfer, C. E., 918 Third St., Fullerton Driver, Warren M., R. D. 4, Bethlehem Ebling, Aaron L., R. D. 2, Reading Etter, Fayette, P. O. Box 57, Lehmasters Gardner, Ralph D., Box 425, Colonial Park Gebhardt, F. C., 140 E. 29th St., Erie Gorton, F. B., 4110 Emmet Dr., Erie Heasley, George S., R. D. 2, Darlington Heckler, George Snyder, Hatfield Heilman, R. H., 2303 Beechwood Blvd., Pittsburgh Hershey, John W., Nut Tree Nurseries, Downingtown Hewetson, Prof. F. N., Fruit Research Lab., Arendtsville Hostetter, C. F., Bird-In-Hand Hostetter, L. K., R. D. 5, Lancaster Hughes, Douglas, 1230 East 21st St., Erie Jackson, Schuyler, New Hope Johnson, Robert F., R. D. 5, Box 56, Crafton Jones, Mildred M., 301 N. West End Ave., Lancaster Jones, Dr. Truman W., Coatesville Kaufman, M. M., Clarion Kirk, DeNard B., Forest Grove Knouse, Chas. W., Colonial Park Leach, Hon. Will, Court House, Scranton Long, Carleton C., 138 College Ave., Beaver Losch, Walter, 133 E. High St., Topton Mathews, Mrs. Geo., R. D. 2, Cambridge Springs Mattoon, H. Gleason, 258 South Van Pelt St., Philadelphia 3 McCartney, J. Lupton, Rm. 1, Horticultural Bldg., State College Mercer, Robert A., 435 E. Phil-Ellera St., Philadelphia 19 Miller, Elwood B., c/o The Hazleton Bleaching & Dyeing Works, Hazleton Miller, Robert O., 3rd & Ridge St., Emmaus Moyer, Philip S., Union Trust Bldg., Harrisburg Niederriter, Leonard, 1726 State St., Erie Reidler, Paul G., Ashland Rial, John, 528 Harrison Ave., Greensburg * Rick, John, 438 Pennsylvania Sq., Reading Robinson, P. S., Gettysburg Rupp, Edward E., Jr., 57 W. Omfret St., Carlisle Sameth, Sigmund, Grandeval Farm, R. D. 3, Kutztown Schaible, Percy, Upper Black Eddy Schmidt, Albert J., 534 Smithfield St., Pittsburgh Sheibley, J. W., Star Route, Landisburg Shelly, David B., R. D. 2, Elizabethtown Smith, Dr. J. Russell, 550 Elm Ave., Swarthmore Stewart, E. L., Pine Hill Farms Nursery, R. D. 2, Homer City Stewart, John H., Yule Tree Farm, Akeley Stoebener, Harry W., 6227 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh Theiss, Dr. Lewis E., Bucknell University, Lewisburg Twist, Frank S., Northumberland Waggoner, Charles W., 432 Harmony Ave., Rochester Washick, Dr. Frank A., 501 Cottman Ave., Philadelphia 11 Weinrich, Whitney, 134 S. Lansdowne Ave., Lansdowne Wicks, Dr. A. G., 227 Baywood Ave., Mt. Lebanon * Wister, John C., Scott Foundation, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore Wood, Wayne, R. D. 1, Newville Wright, Ross Pier, 235 West 6th St., Erie Zimmerman, Mrs. G. A., R. I, Linglestown
RHODE ISLAND
+ Allen, Philip, 178 Dorance St., Providence R. I. State College, Library Dept., Green Hall, Kingston
SOUTH AMERICA
Pereda, Celedonia V., Arroyo 1142, Buenos Aires, Argentina
SOUTH CAROLINA
Bregger, John. T., Clemson
SOUTH DAKOTA
Bradley, Homer L., LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge, Martin
TENNESSEE
Howell Nurseries, Sweetwater McDaniel, Dr. J. C, Tenn. Dept. of Agriculture, 403 State Office Bldg. Nashville 3 Meyer, James R., Agronomy Dept., University of Tenn., Knoxville Rhodes, G. B., R. D. 2, Covington Richards, Dr. A., Whiteville Roark, W. F., Malesus Zarger, Thomas G., Norris
TEXAS
Florida, Kaufman, Box 154, Rotan Price, W. S., Jr., Gustine
UTAH
Jeppesen, Chris., Wildwood Hollow Farm Nursery, Provo City Oleson, Granville, 1210 Laird Ave., Salt Lake City 5 Peterson, Harlan D., 2164 Jefferson Ave., Ogden
VERMONT
Aldrich, A. W., R. D. 3, Springfield Ellis, Zenas H., Fair Haven. Perpetual Membership "In Memoriam" Farrington, Robert A., Vermont Forest Service, Montpelier Foster, Forest K., West Topsham Ladd, Paul, Hilltop Farm, Jamaica
VIRGINIA
Acker, E. D., Co., Broadway Brewster, Stanley H., "Cerro Gordo", Gainesville Burton, George L., 728 College St., Bedford Case, Lynn B., R. D. 1, Fredericksburg Dickerson, T. C, 316-56th St., Newport News Gibbs, H. R., McLean Johnson, Dr. Walter R., Garrisonville Morse, Chandler, Valross, R. D. 5, Alexandria Nix, Robert W., Jr., Lucketts Pertzoff, Dr. V. A., Carter's Bridge Peters, John Rogers, P. O. Box 37, McLean Pinner, H. McR., P. O. Box 155, Suffolk Powell, Frank, Stuart Stoke, H. F., 1420 Watts Ave., Roanoke Stoke, Dr. John H., 408-10 Boxley Bldg., Roanoke Thompson, H. C., Short & Thompson, Inc., Hopewell Variety Products Co., 5 Middlebrook Ave., Staunton Virginia Tree Farm, Woodlawn Webb, John, Hillsville Zimmerman, Ruth, Bridgewater
WEST VIRGINIA
Cannaday, Dr. John E., Charleston General Hospital, Charleston 25 Cross, Andrew, Ripley Frye, Wilbert M., Pleasant Dale Glenmont Nurseries, Arthur M. Reed, Moundsville, W. Va. Golden Chestnut Nursery, Arthur A. Gold, Cowen Gross, Andrew, Ripley Holcomb, Herbert L., Riverside Nurseries, P.O. Box 5, S. Charleston 3 Hoover, Wendell W., Webster Springs Margolin, Abe S., University of West Virginia, Morgantown Slotkin, Meyer S., 629-10th Ave., Huntington
WASHINGTON
Altman, Mrs. H. E., 2338 King St., Bellingham 9 Barth, J. H., Box 1827 R. D. 3, Spokane 6 Bartleson, C. J., Box 25, Chattaron Biddle, Miss Gertrude W., 923 Gordon Ave., Spokane 12 Carey, Joseph E., 4219 Letona Ave., Seattle Clark, R. W., 4221 Phinney Ave., Seattle Denman, George L., 1319 East Nina Ave., Spokane Ferris, Major Hiram B., P. O. Box 74, Spokane 1 Jessup, J. M., Cook Kling, William L., R. D. 2, Box 230, Clarkston Latterell, Ethel, Greenacres Linkletter, F. D., 8034-35th Ave., N.E., Seattle 5 Lynn Tuttle Nursery, The Heights, Clarkston Martin, Fred A., Star Route, Chelan Naderman, G. W., R. D. 1, Box 370, Olymphia Shane Bros., Vashon
WISCONSIN
Bassett, W. S., 1522 Main St., La Crosse Brust, John J., 135 W. Wells St., Milwaukee 3 Dopkins, Marvin, R. D. 1, River Falls Downs, M. L., 1024 N. Leminwah St., Appleton Johnson, Albert G., R. D. 2, Box 457, Waukesha Koelsch, Norman, Jackson Ladwig, C. F., 2221 St. Lawrence, Beloit Mortensen, M. C., 2117 Stanson Ave., Racine Zinn, Walter G., P. O. Box 747, Milwaukee
WYOMING
Greene, W. D., Box 348, Greybull
* Life Member + Contributing Member ** Honorary Member
CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE I—NAME
This Society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers Association, Incorporated.
ARTICLE II—OBJECT
Its object shall be the promotion of interest in nut-bearing plants,their products and their culture.
ARTICLE III—MEMBERSHIP
Membership in this society shall be open to all persons who desire tofurther nut culture, without reference to place of residence ornationality, subject to the rules and regulations of the committee onmembership.
ARTICLE IV—OFFICERS
There shall be a president, a vice-president, a secretary and atreasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting; and aboard of directors consisting of six persons, of which the president,the two last retiring presidents, the vice-president, the secretary andthe treasurer shall be members. There shall be a state vice-presidentfrom each state, dependency, or country represented in the membership ofthe association, who shall be appointed by the president.
ARTICLE V—ELECTION OF OFFICERS
A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting forthe purpose of nominating officers for the following year.
ARTICLE VI—MEETINGS
The place and time of the annual meeting shall be selected by themembership in session or, in the event of no selection being made atthis time, the board of directors shall choose the place and time forthe holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seemdesirable may be called by the president and board of directors.
ARTICLE VII—QUORUM
Ten members of the Association shall constitute a quorum but mustinclude two of the four officers.
ARTICLE VIII—AMENDMENTS
This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the memberspresent at any annual meeting, notice of such amendment having been readat the previous annual meeting, or copy of the proposed amendment havingbeen mailed by any member to each member thirty days before the date ofthe annual meeting.
BY-LAWS
ARTICLE I—COMMITTEES
The Association shall appoint standing committees as follows: Onmembership, on finance, on programme, on press and publication, onexhibits, on varieties and contests, on survey, and an auditingcommittee. The committee on membership may make recommendations to theAssociation as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.
ARTICLE II—FEES
Annual members shall pay two dollars annually. Contributing membersshall pay ten dollars annually. Life members shall make one payment offifty dollars and shall be exempt from further dues and shall beentitled to the same benefits as annual members. Honorary members shallbe exempt from dues. "Perpetual" membership is eligible to any one wholeaves at least five hundred dollars to the Association and suchmembership on payment of said sum to the Association shall entitle thename of the deceased to be forever enrolled in the list of members as"Perpetual" with the words "In Memoriam" added thereto. Funds receivedtherefor shall be invested by the Treasurer in interest bearingsecurities legal for trust funds in the District of Columbia. Only theinterest shall be expended by the Association. When such funds are inthe treasury the Treasurer shall be bonded. Provided: that in the eventthe Association becomes defunct or dissolves then, in that event, theTreasurer shall turn over any funds held in his hands for this purposefor such uses, individuals or companies that the donor may designate atthe time he makes the bequest or the donation.
ARTICLE III—MEMBERSHIP
All annual memberships shall begin October 1st. Annual dues receivedfrom new members after April first shall entitle the new member to fullmembership until October first of that year and a credit of one-halfannual dues for the following year.
ARTICLE IV—AMENDMENTS
By-Laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of members present at anymeeting.
ARTICLE V
Members, shall be sent a notification of annual dues at the time theyare due and, if not paid within two months, they shall be sent a secondnotice, telling them that they are not in good standing on account ofnon-payment of dues and are not entitled to receive the annual report.
At the end of thirty days from the sending of the second notice, a thirdnotice shall be sent notifying such members that, unless dues are paidwithin ten days from the receipt of this notice, their names will bedropped from the rolls for non-payment of dues.
Proceedings of the Thirty-seventh Annual Convention
Report of the Proceedings of the Northern Nut Growers Association at itsthirty-seventh Annual Convention, held at Wooster, Ohio, September 3, 4,5, 1946, in the auditorium of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station.
The convention was called to order at 10 A.M. with the President, Carl Weschcke, in the chair.
Address of Welcome
By Dr. J. H. Gourley, of the Wooster Experiment Station
The thing that would strike me particularly about this meeting we arehaving is to see people come from so far away; a group that is on firewith interest in a fruit which has no great economic importance, in aplace like the central west, in comparison with other fruits. Anotherthing that is interesting, as contrasted with other fruit groups, wouldbe this; that the extent to which nuts become of great economicimportance in these places lies very largely with you. It seems to methat without the insistent desire of a very small minority of people anindustry like this would not get very far.
Ohio has not done as much as she should. You may have come to Ohio togive us a shot in the arm. On behalf of the Director, I want to extendto you a cordial welcome to the Experiment Station and to Wooster. ThisStation has 3600 acres of land and one-third is at Wooster—1200 acres.We have 15 district and county farms, 63,000 acres in state forests andparks.
This station has introduced a number of varieties of wheat. Sixty toseventy-five per cent of all wheat in Ohio is grown from varieties thatoriginated at this station.
This station was organized in 1882 at Columbus. The Federal Hatch Actpermitting this type of organization was passed in 1887; thus Ohio wasfive years ahead of the Federal Act. In 1892, the station was moved fromColumbus to Wooster. The state act provided that an experiment stationshould be located within fifty miles of Columbus, but later it waspermitted to extend the distance to 100 miles. They settled on Wooster,which is 90 miles.
The tendency is to work more and more closely with the State University.The trend seems to be so they will function as one agriculturalinstitution.
I would like to extend the keys of the Station to you, but the keys maynot unlock the fruit storage.
I trust you will have a most profitable time while you are with us.
Response
By John E. Cannaday, M. D., Charleston, West Virginia
It is a pleasure to meet here under such favorable auspices and to bereceived with these hospitable words by Dr. Gourley. In recent years,Ohio has gone far in nut growing under his leadership and that of hisstaff. Pennsylvania also has done a great deal to put nut growing on itsfeet. My own state, West Virginia, is also making good headway.
In the early 1900's I got the 'bee', but I lost two or three of my firstfew trees. In 1917 I imported some chestnuts from Japan for planting andtried out various schemes in nut growing. In my opinion, chestnuts arethe most important nuts for human food that grow in the temperate zone.It is interesting to observe how chestnuts follow true to seed in manyrespects. I have been advised that all of the chestnuts grown in Chinaare from selected seed.
Every foot of steep mountain land in some sections of Italy is said tobe completely covered with chestnut trees. In my state, the weevil isthe scourge of chestnuts; I had hoped that after the chestnut blightdestroyed our native chestnuts, the Chinese and Japanese chestnuts wouldbe free from that pest. Where it came from I do not know, unless it camefrom the chinkapin. West Virginia has chinkapins and these, being blightresistant, apparently have kept up the supply of weevils. Occasionally,shortly before the chestnuts begin to ripen, a few decay from some typeof rot.
I took a census of my chestnut trees recently and found 80 trees ofbearing age. Some of the largest are 22 to 24 feet in height, with atrunk diameter of 5 inches or more. None have been pruned but havemaintained their normal branch formation and grow low. The timber treemust be yet to come. I have read interesting statements to the effectthat in parts of China and Burma, there are chestnut trees of timbershape and size. Chestnut trees are likely to become of extremeimportance in our future economy. The nuts fill a very significant placein our dietary needs. We should continue to plant chestnut trees andtake care of them. I have also from 350 to 400 younger trees that arecoming on, and I want to plant additional chestnut trees every year. Theblack walnut and hickory nut are very important, but the chestnut cropis the corn crop of the nuts.
Address of Retiring President
Carl Weschcke, St. Paul, Minnesota
Our last convention at Hershey, Pa., in September 1941, was a veryoutstanding one. Not only was it successful because of good attendance,excellent addresses and the places of interest we visited, particularlythe home of Mildred Jones, our Secretary, at Lancaster and of the lateDr. G. A. Zimmerman at Linglestown, but it was important because itmarked the beginning of a long period during which we had to forego ourconventions. The death of Dr. Zimmerman shortly before that meetingdampened our usually jovial spirits when we were entertained at hishome, but his wife did much to alleviate this.
To me, the last convention we held was by far the most important sincethe very first one at New York in November, 1910, because at it Ireceived the honour of being chosen president for the ensuing year. Thiswas during the era when presidents were usually re-elected for a secondterm, but I assure you that I have not served as president for this longperiod because I have been seeking to emulate other presidents, but onlybecause the war years prevented our holding the annual meetings at whichour officers are elected.
In mentioning any part of the history of our group, we should alwaysremember that we owe its existence to Dr. Deming, who is now Dean of theAssociation.
Now it is not my province to make a long speech about the N. N. G. A.,because a number of other people will talk to you about it. I believethat the growth of our society in recent years has fulfilled the fondestdreams of Dr. Deming, since we have almost doubled our membership since1941. We now have approximately over 600 members. People all over theUnited States are becoming aware of the value of nuts as food importantto men. It is too bad that nuts have not been available on a competitiveprice basis with other foods, and that luxury prices have limitedinterest in nuts among the women buyers. A better understanding of theuses and comparative value of nuts is gradually coming about which willresult in a tremendous demand on the nut-growing industry, which ofcourse, includes the nurserymen who develop and grow all varieties ofnut trees.
It is unfortunate for our newer members that they will never have theopportunity of knowing those men who were among our earliest and mostvalued associates whom death has recently taken from us and that theyare thus deprived of the pleasure and knowledge they might have gainedthrough personal contact with the wisdom and friendliness these mendisplayed. Let us all take advantage of every opportunity we have tomeet with and learn from the senior members of our group who are with ustoday. They are the salt of the earth, I assure you.
To those of you who have come long distances from your homes to attendthis annual meeting of the N.N.G.A., to our hosts and to all of my goodfriends here, may I express my great pleasure at meeting again with youafter so long a time.
Secretary's Report
Mildred M. Jones, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
In addition to the regular routine duties of answering inquiries aboutthe Association, sales of reports, giving information about nut trees,where they may be obtained, and sources of additional reading materialand reference material about nut tree work, a large part of the time Icould devote to Association affairs this year was in preparation forthis meeting.
Because of travel restrictions, and the fact that the Canadian NationalExhibition would not be held this fall, and assurance from the TorontoConvention and Tourist Association, Inc. that the Exhibition would beresumed in the fall of 1947, and that it would be a newer and greatershow, it seemed advisable to place these facts before the members, andallow them to vote on their preference for a meeting place this fall. Inaddition to responses from the officers, I received 63 votes frommembers, 37 of which were for Wooster, Ohio, 24 for Beltsville,Maryland, and 3 for Canada. Since the letter asking for votes carriedthe understanding that we were putting the Canadian meeting off for ayear by voting for a place in the U. S. this year, and were notcanceling the Canadian invitation, this would explain the small vote forCanada.
Our program committee this year was comprised of three members andmyself—Mr. C. A. Reed, whose many years of Association work and wideacquaintance made him an invaluable source of suggestions; Dr. OliverDiller, who took charge of the tremendous task of handling localarrangements; and Mr. A. A. Bungart, who helped greatly in procuringspeakers. These men helped so splendidly that I should like here tovoice my thanks and appreciation.
Much new data for the revision of the 4-page pamphlet giving informationabout the Association, sources of seeds, nut tree nurserymen, andreference material for reading has been gathered for printing. Since Iaccepted the secretaryship in time for the first convention after thewar, it seemed advisable to me to hold this material until it could beturned over to my successor who will be elected at this meeting, ratherthan put the Association to the expense of printing only a small numberof circulars.
A good many inquiries were received during the year for sources ofcertain varieties of nuts. It would help the secretary, and also themembers, to have a list of those who have nuts for sale.
Treasurer's Report
For Period from October 1, 1945 to September 30, 1946
RECEIPTS:
Annual Membership $871.00 Contributing Membership— Philip Allen 10.00 Sale of Reports 154.80 Zenas H. Ellis Legacy 950.00 Miscellaneous 4.00 ———- $1,989.80
DISBURSEMENTS: Subscriptions to Fruit Grower $ 79.40 Supplies 12.52 Secretary's Expense 60.52 Treasurer's Expenses 41.94 Miscellaneous 10.00 ———- 204.38 ————— Excess of Receipts over Disbursments $1,785.42 Balance on Hand—October 1, 1945 1,474.46 ————— Total Balance—September 1, 1946 $3,259.88 Deposited in Walker State Bank $3,236.07 Cash on Hand 23.81
$3,259.88
Notes on the Annual Meeting
A telegram was sent to Dr. Deming in reply to one of greeting from him,and various committees were appointed.
Mr. Corsan suggested that an exhibit of nuts be placed on display in the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Canada.
Mr. Hirschi said that for killing trees by poison he uses two poundswhite arsenic, one pound caustic soda and one gallon of water.
A member stated that a few drops of mercury would answer the samepurpose.
Mr. Hirschi stated that he found the Niblack pecan an almost perfectcracker, bringing a premium price.
Mr. Wilkinson stated that while the Niblack pecan had never been aprolific bearer, the nut has few equals. Perhaps intensive cultivationwould improve the bearing.
It was voted to leave the date of the next meeting to the executivecommittee.
Mr. Spencer Chase, of the TVA, invited the members to meet in Tennesseeat an early date.
The President: "We should consider this a fine invitation for 1948. For1947 we should honor our commitments and go to Canada."
A free discussion occurred on the suggestion to establish a nut journaland on the proposal to raise the dues.
The President suggested that the way to get the work of association donepromptly would be to pay for it.
Dr. McKay expressed doubt about the inadvisability of raising the dues.
Mr. Walker thought that if the dues were raised it should be to theextent of a dollar on account of the inconvenience of sending fractionalcurrency. The treasurer suggested the advisability of getting out amimeographed letter to record progress. Mr. Slate emphasized theimportance of producing a good report to hold the members.
Mr. Hershey also approved the idea of getting out a news letter orprogress report. The President suggested that one thousand members wouldsettle the whole question. Mr. Jay Smith stated he thought theAssociation should advertise in some way, especially in sportsmen'smagazines.
A motion on the part of Mr. Stoke to raise the dues by fifty cents peryear was lost.
The nominating committee made the following nominations for officers forthe ensuing year, 1946-47:
Clarence A. Reed, President Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Vice-President Miss Mildred M. Jones, Secretary D. C. Snyder, Treasurer
The nominating committee also, through its chairman, Mr. Weber,recommended that appropriate steps be taken at the next annual meetingto amend the Constitution to consolidate the offices of treasurer andsecretary so that they can be filled by one person, and that theremuneration of the secretary-treasurer be fixed at fifty cents permember.
Mr. Stoke moved that the report of the nominating committee be approved,and that the nominees be declared elected. Motion was seconded andcarried.
Mr. D. C. Snyder offered the following resolution:
"Because of the great and enduring service that Dr. William C. Deming has rendered the Association, I move that he be named Dean of the Association and be given an honorary life membership, without payment of dues."
The motion was seconded, and carried with applause.
On being called to the chair, the newly-elected President, Clarence A. Reed, spoke as follows:
"I take this as a very great honor; it is an equally great responsibility. All I can say is that I appreciate it deeply, and that I will give you the best service I have in me."
The Ohio Section of the Northern Nut Growers Association, Inc.,submitted a copy of its Constitution containing a provision that itaffiliate with the Northern Nut Growers' Association by having itsaccredited members become also members of both Associations.
After an open discussion by officers and members of both Associations, aresolution was adopted by the Northern Nut Growers' Associationexpressing appreciation to the Ohio organization for their offer ofaffiliation, and accepting such affiliation on the terms stated.
It was also brought out as the sense of the meeting that the ExecutiveCommittee work out any necessary details in connection with this and anysubsequent affiliation on the part of any district or state Association,the same to be submitted to the next annual meeting of the Northern NutGrowers' Association for ratification.
It was also recommended that the President appoint a member of eachaffiliating Association to the Executive Committee of the Northern NutGrowers' Association.
This statement is made in lieu of an accurate transcript of theproceedings, or a verbatim report of the resolution as adopted, neitherof which is available.
Aims and Aspirations of the Ohio Nut Growers
A. A. Bungart, Avon, Ohio
In one of the previous bulletins of the NNGA, there appeared aneighteen-point program formulated by the Ohio Nut Growers. No doubt youare wondering what has been done and is being done to make this programfunction. We have eliminated one point, the one on the pollen bank. Atthe time our program was being prepared we assumed that nut pollen couldbe stored for several weeks or months: Since nut pollen does not remainviable in storage, we shall substitute a point on the use of lime,fertilizers of various formulas and the use of trace elements in nutculture.
The Ohio Forestry Association on January 18, 1944, passed a resolutionapproving our eighteen-point program.
As you are well aware, the war put a damper on many activities, nut andotherwise. Here in Ohio, the nut crops of 1944 and 1945 were virtuallyfailures; even the crop of 1946 is decidedly spotty. Yet in spite of thewar and adverse weather conditions, the Ohio growers are lookingforward, and planning for the future. As a group we are directing ourefforts to the attainment of two specific objectives.
In the first place, we have almost $300 collected as prize money forState nut contests. I take this opportunity to announce a donation of$105 from Mr. John Davidson, of Xenia, Ohio. With the aid of such agenerous contributor, we are able to offer a first prize of $50; secondprize of $25; third prize of $15; fourth prize of $10; fifth prize of$5; and five one-dollar prizes for black walnuts.
In three or five years we intend to have another contest; either asweepstakes of $110, or a repetition of the amounts offered this year.We may keep the contest open next year and the year after for thosewishing to enter nuts for the final awards. In this way, too, we includeblack walnuts which are not bearing this year.
Our follow-up will work something like this: We intend to keep a recordover the years of the performance of each of the ten prize winners andthe ten honorable mentions of the 1946 contest. To that end we have madea score card. The first section of this card will contain informationuseful to the Department of Forestry and to nut culture in general, butit will not be a factor in selecting the prize winner unless a virtualtie might result in the sweepstakes contest. This section will include:
1. Location—owner, County, rural route, village, town, state route, etc.
2. Location of Tree—isolated, moderately crowded, in dense woods, farm, pasture, city lot, fence row, general ecology; types of other trees in neighborhood, air drainage, exposure.
3. Size of Tree—circumference 4-1/2 ft. from the ground, probable age, height, limb spread; shape, tall, short; symmetry or lack of it.
4. Type of Soil—bottom land, slope and direction, upland; clay, loam, alluvial; presence or absence of humus; acidity; sod or cultivated, mulch or not; depth and kind of subsoil.
5. Moisture Conditions—presence of stream or tile drain, proximity to to stream, lake, pond, etc.
6. Fertility Conditions—wild natural state, near barnyard, fertilized or not with manure or commercial fertilizers, application of lime, etc.
The second section will contain information that will aid in awardingthe final prizes. Superior rating under this head might, in the finaljudging, make an "honorable mention" of the 1946 contest the best allaround performer three or five years hence. This section will include:
1. Resistance to disease and insect pests 2 points
2. Bearing habits over the given period; annual, biennial, occasional 7 points
3. Length of growing season; rate of growth; time of blossoming (staminate and pistillate flowers), time of leafing out, time of nut ripening, time of leaf fall 4 points
4. Size of nut clusters, range in number of nuts, per cluster, number of pounds of immature nuts 2 points
5. Size of crop in proportion to tree 5 points
Total 20 points
Some formula will have to be worked out for the last, i.e., size of cropin proportion to the size of tree. Perhaps we might say the crop equals(pounds of nuts) / (r squared x h) in which "r" would represent theradius or half the limb spread and "h" the height, measured from the topto lowest branches.
For example, if a tree that yielded 100 pounds of nuts had a limb spreadof 20 feet and was twenty feet high, it would have a value of 100 / (10squared x 20) or 1/20. The fraction, of course, could be eliminated ifthe number of nuts were substituted for pounds. It is hardly likely thatsuch a formula would be used for all the trees, probably only ininstances where scores in other respects were close.
The third section of the score card will record the rating of the judgeson the cracking qualities and other characteristics of the nutsthemselves. Any form accepted and approved by the NNGA will besatisfactory.
We plan to use this system for hickory, butternut and other nutcontests. Without a Mr. Davidson, however, we shall be compelled toreduce our prizes for the other contests.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. C. A. Reed fororiginating this plan. He told us we ought to know more about the treesfrom which the prize nuts were taken. Our score card aims at a completerecord.
Our second aim is to secure a full time research worker in nut cultureunder the Horticultural Department of Ohio. We have the promise ofDirector Secrest that he will include in his biennial budget anappropriation for such a specialist. We have the encouragement of Dr.Gourley, the head of the department. But both men will expect us to doour part. Both expect us to speak for our group and our project when thetime comes. We accept that responsibility.
Our group has already contacted the members of the finance committeethat passes on the budget, and we expect to have our representativespresent when the budget is discussed in committee. At present, to besure, we cannot furnish or even promise an endowment in money. Sixty NutGrower members can scarcely compete with such powerful groups as theApple Growers, the Hybrid Corn Breeders, the Poultrymen and others. Wecan, however, furnish an endowment of men. Among our members we havesuch men as Mr. Davidson, Mr. Shessler, Mr. Cranz, Mr. Smith and Mr.Weber, along with many others who have done a great deal with nut trees.
A research worker could draw upon their advice, their experience, theirtechnique. He would have as his assistants men who were actuated by nomercenary or selfish motives, and would give of their time and trees tomake this dream a reality. Certainly much of the experimental work suchas the crossing of varieties could well be performed on the trees ofindividual members.
The need of such an expert is obvious. The job of getting ahead in nutculture is too big for any one of us. We all know, frequently to ourregret, that nut growing is a slow and at times a discouraging business.If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit failures again andagain; yet the work is creative and fascinating. We always plan toeliminate some blunder, to perfect some method, next year.
Sometimes a man has a green thumb, or a magic touch, or whatever ittakes to make grafts grow, or buds take, or hunches to succeed. Such aman was Mr. Otto Witte, of North Amherst. As a nonagenarian, he was everlooking ahead to another year with his beloved trees, but he died in hisnineties. Some of his prize trees have been cut down and probably otherswill be. What has happened to the experiments of 60 years? Another suchman was Mr. Ross Fickes, of Wooster, whose skill in grafting nut treeswas at once our envy and our admiration. When his farm is sold, will thenew owner sense the hand of the master and watch carefully over thewalnuts and hickories, or will he cut them down?
I suppose that death brings an end to many a business, but the nutbusiness is a new one, and a slow one, too. It is regretted that a lifetime of patient care and painstaking research is lost to us and to nutculture.
True, a nut specialist will not keep death from the door of nut growers,nor will he save their groves from destruction, but he can keep a recordof each grower's trees. He can plant his trees and lay out his plantingson state land where there would be more assurance of permanency. Once anut department is established there is good reason to suppose that thework would go on until certain objectives were attained.
Well, what should our specialist specialize in? May I suggest a fewactivities? Such a specialist would be the proper person to keep thescore cards of the prize-winning black walnuts, hickories, butternutsand English (Persian) walnuts of nut contests held in the state. Hewould have the time and space for grafting scions from such trees forfurther observation and study.
In the second place, he could plant and study other varieties underidentical conditions and observe their performance. By correlating thesedata with the records of individual growers he ought to be able torecommend certain varieties of nut trees for various sections of thestate.
In Ohio, we have chapters of the Izaak Walton League; we have Friends ofthe Land; we have sportsmens clubs; we have extensive tracts ofmunicipal and state land. We have the problem of doing somethingconstructive with strip mining areas; we have, and will have undercontour farming, little crazy-quilt blocks of land unsuitable forcultivation. All these agencies and all these needs tie in with theintelligent use of trees, particularly nut trees, because they serve afourfold purpose; lumber, food, erosion control, and a balanced wildlife. Here is where the nut specialist would enter the scene. Bycollecting data, by pooling the results of the individual growers, andespecially by selection and breeding, he should be able to recommend theproper varieties of nut trees for specific needs.
It seems to me, however, that the main job of such a worker should be toproduce a streamlined black walnut, a thin-shelled, good-cracking,fast-growing walnut.
The black walnut is, indeed, a regal tree. It grows all over the State.Here is a tree of almost infinite variation. What an opportunity for thegenetic scientist! What an opportunity for the nut specialist!
In connection with the improvement of the black walnut as a nut andtimber tree, the specialist might well investigate the English orPersian walnut. What about the possibilities of Circassian walnutlumber? What is to prevent the growers and the specialist from plantingthe English walnut for timber? Here in Northern Ohio, English walnuttrees have been cut for timber. There are probably several hundredEnglish walnut trees scattered through the northern counties of Ohio.Some of them are from 10 to 18 inches in diameter. A few are secondgeneration. As these trees seem to be fairly rapid growers it would seemreasonable that nuts from these hardy trees would grow into valuabletimber, apart from the value of the nuts.
Perhaps all these aspirations and aims seem Utopian. Probably such aprogram would keep a dozen workers occupied. In cooperation with theForestry Department, however, students might be assigned to studycertain phases of nut culture. A Ph.D. dissertation might well bewritten on the variation of the Thomas walnut in Ohio.
In conclusion, the Ohio growers will try to produce better nut trees.Through prize contests they hope to find what nature has produced.Through the services of a scientist they hope to find what man canproduce. The two aims dovetail. We are reasonably certain of the prizecontests; we are not yet certain of securing the nut scientist.
Ohio is host to the NNGA this year. May the Ohio growers ask you foryour moral support in this venture? The NNGA is the mother organization.Through the efforts of the officers, past and present, the associationis in a flourishing condition with prospects of a very bright future.Whatever we do in Ohio, whatever will be done in other states andcountries will be a monument to the NNGA. The groping years, the hardyears, are behind. The spade work has been done. We want you to feelthat the aims and aspirations of the Ohio growers sprang from youradvice, your experiments and enthusiasm.
I would like to add a final word about the unique advantage we enjoyhere in Ohio. We have the cooperation of a powerful and excellent farmpaper, "The Ohio Farmer." Through its pages our contests get a widepublicity. Mr. Ray Kelsey has furnished us with 5000 folders announcingthe contest and the purpose behind it. We have the cooperation of theExperiment Station here at Wooster and its affiliated agencies. Drs.Secrist and Gourley have been kind, encouraging, helpful. Dr. OliverDiller, of the Forestry Department, and Mr. Walter Sherman, of theMahoning Farm, have helped and worked with us in a hundred ways. We feelthe NNGA ought to know about this harmonious and whole-hearted teamwork.
Nut Growing Under Semi-Arid Conditions
A. G. Hirschi, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The pecan is the major nut crop in Oklahoma. The timber growth along therivers and creeks contains enough pecan trees, if they were properlydistributed, to make one continuous pecan grove entirely across thestate.
Pecan improvement work is only in its beginning. The Oklahoma PecanGrower's Association was organized in 1926. It is devoted to the generalimprovement of the pecan, and to the dissemination of information gainedby the members from their experience and observation. Dr. Frank Cross,head of the Department of Horticulture of our A & M College atStillwater, is very active in nut improvement and is giving us muchvaluable assistance. Early in the history of our association we began tograft the large improved varieties on our seedling trees. True, manymistakes were made. I recall when all our trees producing small andinferior nuts, were cut down level with the ground, and the sproutsgrowing from the roots, were budded or grafted to paper-shells. Thismeant a long wait for production. We soon realized it was better to stubback the limbs and graft these, or permit the sprouts to develop and budthem, plus saving most of the framework of the trees, which gives usheavy production of grafted pecans in a short time.
Competing growth, that is underbrush and all kinds of trees other thanpecans, rob the grove of moisture, sunlight, and plant food. This growthwas formerly removed by hand grubbing, but now with a large bulldozer itis pushed right out of the ground into piles where it is burned. Now theground is clean, no stumps to grub out, and ready for a cover-crop orclean cultivation. Nothing remains but pecan trees, some elm, hackberryand oak, too large for the bulldozer. These are poisoned and burnedright where they stand the following winter. For poisoning a mixture oftwo pounds of white arsenic and a pound of caustic soda to a gallon ofwater, if applied from an oilcan with a spout in an open circle choppedin the bark so as to girdle the tree, will usually deaden it in a shortwhile. Within the year nothing is left but pecan trees. These arewatched carefully for production and shelling quality and, if notdesirable, or standing too thick, are removed for greater spacing forpermanent trees.
Today, only the smaller pecan trees are top worked, either to namedvarieties or to selected seedlings. Due to changed conditions of marketand labor, the native pecan has come into its own. The pecan shellerbuys 90% of the native pecans. He will pay only a few cents more for thebig paper-shell. The native pecan is as staple as butter and eggs. Everyproduce man buys them for the shelling plants. This leaves the bigpaper-shell to seek a special market at an advertising cost. Due to thesmall differential in the wholesale price of the native and thepaper-shell, the larger native trees are no longer top-grafted but areencouraged in every way for heavy production.
Thus, when creek and river bottom thickets are opened up to sunshine andair, nothing left but pecan trees properly spaced, and this on landusually considered worthless, these trees will quadruple in productionand pay a handsome return on a $200 per acre valuation. This is a realand altogether possible two-story agriculture to those who are fortunateenough to own undeveloped pecan timber land. Many of our members havebeautiful groves redeemed from the wild with bounteous crops of nutsoverhead and cattle grazing on enriching cover crops underneath. Thepecan means a lot to the farmers of Oklahoma. The average yearly tonnageis about 16,000,000 pounds, with a peak production of 30,000,000 pounds.This amounts to an average of $2,000,000 annually, with a peak of$5,091,000.
I want to show you what it means to some of our members to develop theirnative pecans, either as natives or grafted to improved varieties. Theproceeds from one lone pecan tree in Mr. Skorkosky's cotton patch paidthe taxes on his farm several different years. Thus encouraged, heredeemed a small thicket, added a few nursery trees of paper-shells,about ten acres in all, which now often makes a return equal to the restof the farm. Mr. Kramer paid $1,000 for 10 acres, with part in seedlingpecans. He sold $1,000 worth of pecans several different times, and therest of the farm makes a good return in pasture and hay. He also has 51acres that often makes a return of $50 per acre in pecans, besidespasturing 20 Herfords. Mr. Kramer destroys trees by girdling. Mr. Pfilemakes it a business to buy farms on which there are pecan thickets. Onefarm has 70 acres, all top-grafted to improved varieties. Trees weresmall and no production for five years, supporting production for thenext four years. Tenth year grossed $8,500; eleventh year, $5,400;twelfth year, $1,800, and this year his conservative estimate is$10,000. Mr. Camp has 600 acres in pecans, 90% improved varieties. Heplanted 50 acres on upland sandy land on terraces, with pecan trees 40feet apart and an apple tree between each two pecan trees. The tenthyear he produced 8,000 pounds of paper-shells and 4,000 bushels ofapples. More recently he planted 125 acres on upland, but planted thepecans 60 feet apart on terraces with an apple tree between. In thisorchard he produces 3/4 of a bale of cotton per acre and plants vetch inthe fall between cotton rows. In October he had four crops on this land,cotton, vetch, apples and pecans. He says apple trees alternated withpecans on terraces are OK. Cotton, potatoes and sweet potatoes betweenthe terraces for the first ten years are OK, but vetch as a winter covercrop to improve the soil must not be neglected. Grover Hayden has thelargest native pecan grove in the world—1,800 acres fenced hog tight.He started 31 years ago as a farm hand. He had rather have 500 acres ofpecans than 1,000 acres of alfalfa. Now after 30 years he owns the placeat a purchase price of $90,000, not counting improvements and equipment.His average production is about 300,000 pounds per year. In 1935, heproduced 400,000. He held back his 1941 crop and together with his 1942crop, he sold both for $61,000. Think of the faith a man must have inpecans in Oklahoma to go in debt for $71,000 as Mr. Hayden did! He rodea pony that was mortgaged for all it was worth from Arkansas to thisranch.
Those of us who do not have native or seedling pecan trees to work with,must develop orchards from nursery trees. I was raised on a poor farm inMissouri. I always had a desire to take a poor piece of land and seewhat I could do to improve it. Consequently, I planted 225 improvedpecan trees of 25 different varieties and all other kinds of nut trees,fruit trees and a variety of berries on a piece of worn-out upland,pronounced by our county agent to be the poorest piece of ground in ourcounty, and predicted it would be a complete failure.
I planted the pecan trees 60 feet apart, and interplanted with other nutand fruit trees. The trees were planted on the contour with youngberriesand many others planted in rows between the tree rows, making a perfectsoil conservation arrangement. Barnyard fertilizer was used to start thetrees. Every September, vetch and rye were sown as a cover-crop andsoil-builder and disked into the soil the following spring. Cleancultivation is practiced during the summer to conserve moisture. Thisprocedure has been adhered to most rigidly without a single cropfailure. At 12 years most of the trees are producing $25 worth ofpaper-shells. The youngberries and plants sold have paid the expense ofthe orchard and a handsome profit besides, until the trees needed allthe room. This project has proved to my satisfaction that profitablenuts and fruit crops can be grown on upland, if soil conservation andimprovement are practised. The limiting factors of nut and fruitproduction are plant food and moisture, and if these are supplied, goodproduction is assured.
Black Walnuts
The native black walnut of Oklahoma is small and of little value. Mostpecan growers have a few native black walnut trees they graft to theimproved varieties. I have Thomas, Stabler, Ohio, Mintle, Myers, andothers. Thomas has been used most extensively, but does not fill well onupland. However, in deep sand and low bottoms it fills perfectly. It isan alternate bearer and is subject to sunscald in our hot dry summers.Ohio and Stabler have not proven satisfactory. Mintle is a fine nut,splendid cracker, fills well, but is an alternate bearer. I like Myersvery much, a consistent bearer, has thinnest shell of all, vegetatesafter frost in spring, has abundant foliage and twigs, holds leavesuntil late autumn. Myers is my choice of all varieties at present.However, as with pecans, what varieties to use is each grower'sindividual problem. We will be looking for better varieties 50 yearsfrom now. For five years I am offering $25 annually for the bestseedling black walnut. Write to our A & M College, HorticultureDepartment, Stillwater, Oklahoma, for rules and regulations of thecontest.
How to Make Money with Black Walnuts
I believe I have discovered the best way to market black walnuts. I havenot had much success selling them either husked or unhusked, "too hardto crack." Then someone remarked, "If you would crack them and put insome horseshoe nails to pick out the meats, they might sell." There itis: the secret is discovered. The lowly and almost extinct horseshoenail will sell cracked black walnuts. I have the reputation among localhardware dealers of having more horses than any man in Oklahoma. Blackwalnuts and horseshoe nails are reminiscent of the good old days down onthe farm. The big fat meats of improved cracked walnuts peering throughthe sides of one or two pound cellophane bags pinned shut with a coupleof horseshoe nails is a temptation few people can resist. Leave a fewpackages with your grocer or druggist and try it. I get 25¢ per poundfor the whole walnuts, and 35¢ for those cracked. I sell severalthousand pounds every season, and since the black walnut does not becomerancid we sell them all the year. I have a down-town shop window todisplay nuts and fruits. We husk our walnuts by running them thru anordinary corn-sheller, or by jacking up the rear wheel of an automobile,put on a mud chain, with a trough underneath, place car in gear andscoop walnuts into trough in front of the wheel. This will husk themrapidly and well. We should promote the growing of more improved blackwalnuts. Most catalog nurseries still list seedling walnuts. We sold3000 Thomas and Myers black walnut trees to one mail order nursery, andthey could have used more.
English Walnuts
I tried all the California varieties, but these lacked hardiness. TheWiltz Mayette grew into a big fine tree but the 1940 Armistice Dayfreeze proved fatal. Breslau, Broadview, Schafer, and several otherswith some 25 Carpathian seedlings are just coming into bearing. Somegive promise of adaptation here. I am determined to find a prolific andadapted variety. In the meantime we must content ourselves to grow thismost attractive tree with its large waxy leaves and beautifullight-colored bark as a useful novelty.
Heartnuts
Here is a surprise nut and tree to Oklahoma people. Both are unlikeanything ever seen here. When they see this most unusual tree, with itstropical leaves and taste the delicious nuts they want a tree for theiryard. Visitors stare in amazement at the immense catkins, and thegrape-like clusters of nuts that develop later. This is a heartnut year.In most all varieties, ten to fifteen nuts to the cluster hang from theterminal of each twig. The leaves sun-burn easily. In spite of this wehad a heavy crop of well-filled nuts. Of the several varieties I have,Stranger is the most prolific. Fodemaier, and Walters bloom late enoughto escape our late spring freezes, are larger nuts, and should prove tobe the best eventually.
Butternuts
Butternuts grow native in Missouri and Arkansas. Our section is most toohot and dry for them. However, I have a few grafts of Buckley andWeschecke bearing nicely, grafted on native black walnuts.
Hickories
The wooded hills and river bottoms contain several kind of hickories. Ihave several pecan trees grafted to the Pleas and McCallister hybrids,but they are light producers in Oklahoma. I have 80 acres of riverbottom hickory nuts in southwest Missouri that bear abundantly.
Oriental Persimmons
Persimmons grow native here. The Early Golden, an American variety, isvery productive and ripens in September long before frost. Of theOrientals I have Tamopan, Eureka, Fuyu, Data Maru, Tanenashi. Most allbear heavily, in fact usually overbear. They stand our dry weatherbetter than does the native persimmon. The very large fruit usually incolors of yellow and red attract much attention from visitors who thinkthey are oranges. The persimmon belongs to the ebony family. The fruitcontains as high as 40% sugar and in the Orient is a national dish. Wepropagate them by grafting our native stock.
Pawpaw
The Pawpaw is native in Missouri and Arkansas and in the eastern part ofOklahoma. It is a beautiful tree and very productive. We shade the smalltrees here until they get started, after which they do quite well. Thefruit is a favorite with many.
Chestnuts
I think the greatest tragedy that ever befell American horticulture wasthe chestnut blight. Not so long ago every hill and mountain-side eastof the Mississippi River, from near the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadianborder was covered with native chestnut trees producing millions ofpounds of food for man and beast. Today all has been devastated by thisterrible blight and nothing remains save leafless trunks, liketombstones, in memory of a grand food tree.
In 1889, Tom and Mary Jones left their Kentucky mountain home toestablish a new one in Oklahoma. As with all pioneers they brought seedsof many species with them, including chestnuts. I now own the farm theyhomesteaded. On it today there is an American chestnut tree 4 feet indiameter with a limb-spread of 50 feet. This grand tree has been aninspiration to me, surviving our hot dry summers and outliving twogenerations of fruit trees by its side. This beautiful tree, now nearly60 years of age, was proof-sufficient that chestnuts would grow inOklahoma. I began to plant chestnuts. I planted all the Riehlvarieties—Progress, Dan Patch, Van Fleet and others. I also had Boone,an American and Japanese hybrid, brought about by Endicott, also ofIllinois. These have borne well. Being isolated and outside of thenative chestnut range, they have not blighted.
Since 1906, the Government has imported many thousand seed chestnutsfrom China. Later, it distributed little trees among the nut growers inan effort to re-establish chestnut growing in this country. This Chinesechestnut is blight-resistant. The best Chinese seedlings have beenselected for propagation and have been named; of these I have Stoke (ahybrid), Hobson, Carr and several others. They are very prolific andoften set burs the same year set out. Mr. Stoke sent me scions of thenewer varieties this spring—Colby's hybrid, and Stoke seedling's Nos. 1and 2. I grafted these on Chinese stocks; they set burs and matured nutsthe same year grafted. The named varieties of Chinese Chestnut are themost precocious bearers of all the nut trees, are adapted and worthy ofplanting over a wide area. It should be the duty of every man who isinterested in food trees to lend a hand to help re-establish chestnutgrowing in this country, now that we have blight-resistant varieties.
Almost within the shadow of our State Capitol, on a main highway leadingfrom our fair city, I have planted 2-1/2 acres of blight-resistantChinese chestnut trees, as a living memorial to our only child, Harold,who gave his life to our country in a Jap prison camp in thePhilippines. We shall devote the rest of our days to this LivingMemorial, and leave means for its continuance, so that passers-by ingenerations to come may be reminded of the world's greatest treetragedy, and to demonstrate that chestnuts which once grew native overhalf the nation, and were laid low by a terrible disease, may again begrown.
In conclusion, let me warn you to improve your soil continually. NO TREECAN BE BETTER THAN THE SOIL IN WHICH IT GROWS. No man is a greaterexponent of soil improvement than one of Ohio's most illustrious sons,Louis Bromfield. In his book, "IN PLEASANT VALLEY," he says, "What weneed is a new kind of pioneer, not the sort which cut down the forest,and burned off the prairies, and raped the land, but the kind whichcreates new forests and heals and restores the richness of the countryGod has given us."
Weather Conditions versus Nut Tree Crops
By J. F. Wilkinson, Indiana
Nut tree crops, like other crops, are dependent on heat, light andmoisture in proper amount at the right time to produce a crop of nuts ofnormal quality; soil conditions also to be taken into consideration.
These conditions are probably more essential to a nut crop than most ofus have realized; even the weather of the preceding season of latesummer and fall may affect or determine next seasons nut crop.
The size of the nut depends on the weather in Spring and early Summer,for when the shell is once formed and hardened little more growth can beexpected under any conditions, while plumpness of kernel depends onfavorable conditions in late Summer and Fall.
After the shell is formed it fills with water which gradually changes tokernel, beginning at outer part next to shell, and unless there isplenty of heat, light, and moisture, kernel may not be filled, whichwill cause kernel to shrink, and not be plump, neither will it havenormal germinating vitality, flavor, or weight.
In the past there have been seasons when nuts were not up to normalquality, but I did not realize then just what caused this condition,until a few years ago, I heard a party remark that a dry season was anindication of a good nut crop the following year.
Recalling back several seasons this, as a rule, has been true,especially where there was no unusually early Fall freezes, and Springweather was favorable.
The season of 1944 here was one of the driest on record. Up until themiddle of August, nut trees were showing signs of going dormant. Late inJune, sap was getting so low that I did all my budding late in June, amonth earlier than usual.
This early dry weather caused the nuts that year to be very small,especially on trees growing under less favorable conditions. Trees thatwere well cultivated produced nearer normal sized nuts.
About the middle of August rains began, and these nuts were well filled.The rains of August brought new life into the trees causing them to holdtheir foliage unusually late, and not being thoroughly dormant beforecold weather, at which time no doubt many of the fruit buds were killed,with the result that a very light crop of nuts was set in Spring of1945.
Spring opened very early with a bright warm March starting growth beforeusual time, even some trees set Pistillate bloom by the first of April;then later in April it began raining, and rains continued most of theSummer with much cool, cloudy weather with the result that most of thenuts failed to properly fill, or mature. This was true of hickory nuts,walnuts and pecans of both the named varieties and native seedlings.
While the 1945 nut crop was very light of both pecans and walnuts, I hada few trees with fair crops, though none of the nuts had well filledplump kernels.
Some of the first nuts to ripen seemed to have fairly well filledkernels after gathering and kernels got dried out, they shriveled andlacked flavor.
Walnuts seemed to suffer even worse than the pecans. I was not able tofind a walnut tree in this section that produced good planting nuts;even farm crops suffered, especially corn of which much of the crop wasnot of normal quality.
The spring of 1946 began very much as in 1945 with a very warm March,again causing trees to start growth unusually early, and this spring,pistillate bloom was visible on some pecan trees in the last days ofMarch. This weather condition remained until about the middle of Aprilwhen cool rainy weather set in lasting for a month with frosts and lightfreezes as late as May 10th, which took all the nut crop in this sectionwith the exception of a very few walnuts, and these were of very poorquality.
Another very peculiar thing happened in Spring of 1946. The Posey andGiles varieties, both of which are usually heavy bloomers of Stamenbloom, failed to set a single catkin this spring, while trees of othervarieties growing near them set heavy crops of catkin bloom.
The behavior of nut trees in this section in the past two years, both ofwhich have been unusual seasons, is evidence that nut crops are subjectto weather conditions, not only of the present, but of previous seasonas well.
Nut Tree Notes from Southwestern Ohio
Harry R. Weber, Cincinnati, Ohio
Influence of Stock on Scion
At my farm home in the northwestern part of Hamilton County, Ohio, atabout 800 feet elevation, on clay soil, the Carpathian walnuts commencegrowth too early in spring for their own good and my comfort, wellknowing what lurking Jack Frost can do to them. These Carpathian walnutsare uninfluenced by their black walnut understocks, the Schafer varietyalone excepted. I also have two Schafer trees that came graftedapparently on Carpathian understock; but these start as early as theothers.
The Schafer exception, to which I refer, is grafted on a native blackwalnut stock to which the Broadview variety also had been grafted. (TheSchafer variety is patented. I had permission to use the graft as Idid.) With these two hardy varieties in the same tree, which itself is alate starter in the spring, I unwittingly laid the foundation for anunanticipated result. This became apparent after a severe early springfrost in 1945 caused me to examine all my hardy (Persian) walnut treesto note the effects of that freeze. The new growth of Broadview on thesame tree with the Schafer was frozen, while the Schafer with the restof the tree was dormant. The new growth of the other two Schafer trees;of Breslau top-worked on two trees; of Broadview on another tree; of anunknown variety on still another tree; all trees being native blackwalnut, all were frozen. The same was true as to Breslau seedlings andalso a Kremenetz on Minnesota black walnut. Of course, all these treesstaged come-backs with no bad after effects.
In April, 1945, we had a severe hail storm that clipped clean the secondnew growth from these trees. The topworked Schafer was still dormant,while its companion Broadview in the same tree suffered like the rest.The spring of 1946 showed the topworked Schafer still dormant, while allthe others were active. The Broadview on the same tree with the Schaferwas almost in full leaf before the Schafer and the rest of theunderstock showed signs of growth. A number of persons thought the restof the tree was dead.
The Keystone Black Walnut
I have a cut leaf black walnut tree, of value as an ornamental, whichoriginated in Pennsylvania. Although it had catkins for several seasons,not until the past season did it produce, and then only one lone nut.The husk of that nut had a smooth exterior similar to that of a Persianwalnut; but it lacked the characteristic black walnut odor. In fact, ithad none. If this tree has any Persian walnut blood in its makeup, thathybrid strain may have manifested itself in the foliage; in any event,there was an influence of some kind that caused the change in the usualtype of foliage. I was more interested in planting the nut to see whatkind of foliage the seedling will have rather than in cracking it forexamination to determine its value as a nut.
Throp Walnut
The parent Throp tree stood bordering a road along the Ralph Throp farmin Indiana, 40 miles from my home. About six years ago, with thepermission of Mr. Throp, and being a very old tree, it was cut down asits branches interfered with overhanging wires. When I last saw thestump early in 1942, it had staged a come-back by throwing numeroussuckers. However, the main point in mentioning this tree is to registerthe fact that it bears two kinds of nuts, single-lobed, or peanut type,and doubled-lobed, with the peanut type predominating. A Throp tree ofmine showed this variation, and on my next visit to the Throp farm, inthe presence of Mr. G. A. Gray, one of our members, Mr. Throp definitelyconfirmed the fact that the parent tree bore the two kinds of nutsaforesaid and that the peanut type predominated.
I am prompted to make this statement for the reason that one of ourprominent members, well versed in the performance of our best varietiesof northern nut trees, had not been aware of the dual performance of theThrop tree, until I called it to his attention.
Black Walnut Nursery Studies
S. B. Chase, Tennessee Valley Authority, Norris, Tennessee
Briefly summarized, here are the results of a series of black walnutnursery studies undertaken in 1940 and 1941 by the Tennessee ValleyAuthority. The object was to develop nursery practices which would yieldthe large uniform seedlings most desirable as understocks for grafted orbudded trees.
Germination and Stratification
It is known that either fall- or spring-planted walnuts germinatereadily if the nuts are viable and if those planted in the spring areproperly stratified over winter. To find out just what effect spring andfall planting has on germination and to compare various methods ofstratification, three seedlots were given the following treatments onNovember 28, 1940:
1. Planted in seedbeds 5. Stratified at 65-75° F 2. Stratified outdoors 6. Stored dry at 45-50° F 3. Stratified at 38-40° F 7. Stored dry at 45-50° F 4. Stratified at 45-50° F subsequently soaked in water prior to planting
Nuts from the three seedlots were kept separate and planted in randomplots in three seedbeds. Each treatment was therefore represented ninetimes with a total of 162 nuts in each treatment.
To determine whether time of outdoor stratification has any effect ongermination and emergence, three other seedlots were treated as follows:
1. Planted November 28, 1940 5. Stratified January 30, 1941 2. Stratified November 28, 1940 6. Stratified February 20, 1941 3. Stratified December 19, 1940 7. Stratified March 13, 1941 4. Stratified January 9, 1941
These three seedlots were also planted in three seedbeds with a total of135 in each treatment.
With one exception, all nuts in the two tests were planted April 3,1941. One of the two lots stored dry was soaked in water for five days,then planted April 7. Seedbeds were equipped with screen wire cloth at adepth of 10 inches.
~Results~: In both tests, fall nut planting resulted in the bestgermination. Germination was higher for nuts planted in the fall thanfor nuts stratified on the same day for spring planting, although thedifference was significant only in the second test. Outdoorstratification produced the best results, followed in order by indoorstratification at 38-40° F and 45-50° F. None of the nuts stored drygerminated. Time of stratification proved to be important. Any delayafter November 28 resulted in reduced and retarded germination andconsequently smaller seedlings.
Depth of Planting and Seed Orientation
The effect of planting depth on germination and on seedling size wasinvestigated by planting black walnuts one, two, three, and four inchesdeep. Other nuts were planted in three positions: (1) radicle end up,(2) on side, and (3) radicle end down.
~Results~: Germination was unaffected by any of these treatments. Theemergence of the seedlings was retarded by deep planting and hence thefinal diameter of seedlings was smaller. There was little difference inseedlings from nuts planted one and two inches deep but they werenoticeably larger than those planted 3 and 4 inches deep. Planting nutswith the radicle end down invariably produced seedlings with undesirablecrooks in the root-stem region which made them unsuitable for grafting.Planting nuts radicle end up produced straighter seedlings than plantingthem on their side. The latter method was the most economical fornursery practice.
Seed Size
To study the effect of kernel size on size of seedling produced in thenursery, nuts from nine wild trees and Thomas nuts were planted. Kernelweights ranged from 1.21 to 5.61 grams; nut weight from 6.5 grams to24.3 grams.
~Results~: With one exception where germination was poor, nuts withsmall kernels produced small seedlings and nuts with large kernelsproduced large seedlings. Under nursery conditions the need foruniformly large seedlings for budding and grafting is apparent. Theresults of this study indicated the desirability of using seed nuts withlarge kernels for production of understocks.
Seedbed and Budding Studies
Density of stand in seedbeds influences seedling size. As size ofseedling is important in budding and grafting black walnut, informationon the most desirable spacing in seedbeds was needed. In three seedbedsThomas nuts were planted in three nut spacings: 4 x 4 inches, 5 x 5inches, and 6 x 7 inches. In other plots nuts were planted 4 x 4 inchesand after emergence the stand was thinned. All seedlings from thethinning test were set out in nursery rows the following spring andthose large enough were budded in the summer.
~Results~: Increasing the spacing produced seedlings of larger girth andshorter height—a desirable characteristic in black walnut buddingstocks. The most desirable spacing appeared to be 6 x 7 inches. Eventhough the number of seedlings resulting from this spacing wasapproximately half the number produced at 4 x 4 inches spacing, moreusable seedlings were produced at the wider spacing.
Thinning seedlings spaced 4 x 4 inches resulted in larger girth of thoseremaining—very similar in size to seedlings spaced 5 x 5 inches.Seedlings from the thinned and unthinned plots averaged 0.62 cm. and0.55 cm. in diameter, respectively. In the nursery row 73 percent of thelarger transplanted seedlings were large enough for budding thefollowing summer, while only 59 percent of the smaller seedlingsattained proper size. Bud survival was 22 percent on the larger stocksindicating the desirability of using large stocks.
My Experiments, Gambles and Failures
John Davidson, Xenia, Ohio
In reading the past reports of this Association, I find one thinglacking. One becomes interested in a report dated, let us say, 10 or 20years ago, which contains an account of a project then started. It hadgreat possibilities. What was the outcome? We do not know. No mention ofit has appeared since. Did it fail? Let us say it did. Why? The answerto this final query is almost, if not quite, as important as would be anaccount of the means employed to make it successful—if it succeeded.
I should like to know, for example, whether anything remains of theNeilson-Post project in Michigan and what its history has been. I shouldlike to hear more, also, about the outcome of many of Mr. Gerardi'sintensely interesting and original experiments, such as his method,described in the 29th Annual Report, of asexual propagation of heartnuttrees on their own roots; or his method of artificially creatingbeautifully marked burls on black walnut logs by systematically andrepeatedly scoring the bark. These and many others. Which experimentswere successful and which were not? Mr. Gerardi's original andadventurous mind is the sort that should be probed for the benefit ofthose who come after us.
My report today is my own short and tentative contribution to such aresume.
In the 1938 Report, on page 73, you will find my ambitious andoptimistic "Farm Plan for Nut Tree Planting." In it I tried to outline aplan which could be used by any practical farmer with but slightsacrifice of useful land. Its last sentence reads as follows: "Meantime,I shall have kept practically all my land in profitable use all thetime." Well, that depends upon what is interpreted as "profitable use."Tree growth is surely profitable.
The plan, in substance, was as follows: First, plant 20 acres in amodified forest formation to selected seed, mostly black walnut, thetrees to stand 8 feet apart in rows 22 feet apart. Use the space betweenthe rows first for truck gardening and later for an interplanted row ofsome fast-growing species for timber. No grazing permitted. Second,plant another 20 acres to a nut orchard using grafted trees of namedvarieties spaced 80 feet apart. Protect from livestock and permitgrazing. Finally, plant seed in another 30 acres, spaced 80 feet apart,the seedlings to be eventually topworked to the wood of promisingdiscoveries from the first plot. Protect and cultivate or graze.
What has been the outcome of this plan to date? The proposed plan workedvery well in a 20-acre plot where a meadow was planted to an orchard ofgrafted trees, mostly pecans and Carpathians, which were protected bycattle guards, but was not completed in the seedling 20-acre plantationwhere the trees stood 8 feet apart in rows 22 feet apart. No grazing waspermitted there, but berries and truck crops were put out. I couldn'tkeep it up. The reason: a World War, and lack of help for the intensivetype of farming required for the project. Finally, when I attempted tointerplant the rows with fast-growing trees, weeds choked out most ofthem in spite of my own efforts. My own physical and time limitationsdefeated me in the interplanting undertaking.
This leads up to an enumeration of my mistakes. First, I did not startearly enough in life. The elements of health and strength have theirpart in success. Then, too, let us see what might have been the resultif I had started at the age of 20. Remember, in this first tract of 20acres I planned a forest plantation of selected black walnut seedlings,some chosen for nut quality and some for large, straight timber growth.A tract of 20 acres planted 8 x 8 x 22 feet will hold about 4500 trees.Allow for thinning and other reductions. If only 1250 trees should reachlog size in 50 years, that is, by today for me, at an average of $50each, they would come to $62,500—a very tidy estate.
Just now there are perhaps 2500 well grown trees in the good portion ofthe ground in this 20 acres. Pleasantly enough, they do not now seem toneed the interplanting of faster-growing trees in order to developupright growth but are pushing each other up as they stand, 8 x 8 x 22feet apart. In this planting, then, there is evidence of successfultimber growth in the good ground but of almost complete failure in thepoor ground.
Another failure is to be noted in my original plan for cattle guards.These guards were 12 feet in diameter, and about 6 feet in height. Thesewere satisfactory for sheep after I had installed pipe for posts, butnot for cattle. Trees grow horizontally as well as vertically. Cattle,reaching for these side shoots, reached over the guards and pushed inand under. I later reduced the guards to a 6-foot diameter of strongerwoven fence-wire with 6-inch stays, not 12-inch, and raised the heightto not less than 10 feet. The cattle may now nibble off the side shootsif they wish but the vertical growth is protected. Above 10 feet thetrees can spread out without danger.
Others say, "Permit no grazing at all." This statement, I think, shouldbe made with certain qualifications. Where bluegrass bottom is used forthe orchard planting of pecans or black walnuts, there is a possibleslight reduction in growth from lack of cultivation, but this loss willbe nowhere nearly proportionate to a farmer's loss of pasturage. Andeven in my 8 x 8 x 22-foot planting of seedlings, though no grazing waspermitted while the trees were young, now the older trees are large andstrong enough in the good soil to take care of themselves. Some lowerbranches are rubbed off but they should be off anyhow. Also, thankheaven, the weeds are at last kept down by grazing, the grass isutilized and, most important of all, the hazard of grass fires isentirely wiped out. I know of a neighbor's planting destroyed in thisway and I shall always fear fire. I should not permit grazing in ageneral purpose woods lot where young growth is constantly coming on.
Failure three: I have failed completely to interest my tenant in myproject. Each mowing or clean-up job is just a chore to him. I can'tblame him. Why should I expect anything else? With a World War on hand,and with his son in the army, and with two farms to care for, theimmediate bread-and-butter jobs come first and my mowing suffers.However, the wonderful trees somehow continue to grow in spite of weedsand wars, perhaps a bit more slowly than they otherwise might, but I amin no hurry.
The last war casualty was my original plan to make a further orchardplanting of seedlings in loco, ready to be top-worked to the wood ofsome outstanding find among the selected seedlings. It has not beendone—period.
I think I do have one or two rather outstanding nuts among theseedlings, but this leads up to another casualty which must be faced byall of us—a temporary one, fortunately, namely, crop failures due tothe weather. The larger trees began to bear at age seven. Then, threeyears ago we had a drouth. For the two years since then, we have hadsummer in March and winter in May. The catkins were mostly killed andthe pistillate bloom was delayed in growth upon the new wood until mostof it came too late for even such pollination as was so sparinglyavailable. Thus we have had no generally good nut producing season forthree years in our part of Ohio. As a result, my truly outstanding nutis still in hiding, and I am waiting for a good season to bring it out.
Another disappointment with me has been the Carpathians. They partiallywinter-kill each winter. Their trunks still live and send up shoots. Ilet them stand, hoping for an eventual hardening of the wood. I regardthem not as failures but as not yet proven.
For purely experimental purposes I planted apple and peach trees closeup to the walnuts. Whichever won out was to stay. Both are there yet.There is as yet no sign of the results of toxicity. They stand,literally, arm in arm.
One success I feel may safely be chalked up. In selecting seed for myoriginal planting, some were chosen for better nuts, as stated, and somebecause of the magnificent growth of the parent trees. One such treegave me seedlings that are definitely superior in growth to other treeswhich stand in equally good soil—in fact, in adjoining rows. This isnoteworthy.
As for the seed selected for nut quality, because of the three poorproducing seasons now past, the result is not so apparent. I can onlysay that, out of some score or more sources, the nuts produced upon suchseedlings as have fruited tend to resemble the qualities of theirparents. They all show some variations. Each nut tree is a newindividual but with a family inheritance strongly enough marked to makethe planting of seedlings, when done in large quantities, from the bestparents, a sort of gamble in which the percentage is in favor of thegambler—which is, as you should know, unusual.
One utterly complete failure must be noted. I shall never again plant ablack walnut seed or tree in any but good soil. Even the bestinheritance cannot prevail against hardpan or worn-out soil.
I was unfortunate, when I made my first and largest planting of seed, innot knowing about the Northern Nut Growers Association. So I advertisedfor local nuts, paying double for the seed I accepted. So far as theseed which was selected because of the timber growth of the parent treewas concerned, I am well satisfied. But nut quality was only fair; farbelow the quality of our named varieties. Then, through the finemissionary work of Harry Weber, I was introduced to the NNGA. All myreplanting since then has been from seed bought from the member'splantations. Next year I expect some of them to come into bearing.
Most of you are chiefly interested in grafted or budded trees, and thisis as it should be. Where sure results and the best possible nuts arethe aim, one would be utterly foolish to plant a seedling. Upon theother hand, where plantings are made in great quantities, as is the casewith foresters, state or federal agencies, colleges and otherinstitutions—and with occasional individuals like myself who find theirgreatest interest in this particular exciting gamble, I think it isfairly well demonstrated that the percentage of success can be turned infavor of the planter by intelligent selection.
But where can the best seed be found? The answer is as plain as the noseon your face. The best possible source is in existing plantations ofnamed, proven varieties. As a farmer, I should not use a cross-roadsmaverick when I can use a registered Jersey, Hereford or Angus. As aplanter of black walnuts, or any other nuts, either for timber or wood,I should not pick up my seed haphazardly from cross-roads trees. Everynut produced by planters of orchards of the best named varieties shouldbe in active demand by state and national agencies for their ownplantings, and the seedlings from them should be available for thewidest distribution to the public. This urgent demand for better seedwill make existing plantations of proved varieties more profitable andwill fill our forests and farms with far better trees.
Nut Trees in Wildlife Conservation
By Floyd B. Chapman Ohio Division of Conservation & Natural Resources
Attesting to our great faith in the value of the nut trees for wildlifeconservation and restoration, the Ohio Division of Conservation andNatural Resources has distributed free of charge, to cooperatinglandowners: 132,000 American hazelnut, 1000 European and American hazelhybrids, 1000 pecans, 1000 butternut, over one thousand shagbarkhickory, 1500 Asiatic chestnut, 2000 black walnut trees, and more than50 bushels of black walnut nuts for seed spotting. This program has onlybeen in operation since 1942, and I think a great deal has beenaccomplished in spite of the war and difficulties in growing andshipping of nursery stock. This record would not be so impressive had wenot been able to take advantage of a vast amount of surplus stock madeavailable when the U. S. Soil Conservation Service closed out a largenursery in this region.
To show how dependent are certain wildlife species on an adequate supplyof nut mast, I need only mention one group, the squirrels. Muchinformation concerning the abundance of squirrels in the originalforests is on record. It is also well known that nuts of several kindswere always plentiful: native chestnuts, walnuts, butternuts, hazelnuts,hickorynuts, and beechnuts. The supply was so large that an occasionalcrop failure was unimportant; much of the production from the precedingyear was still available. Numerous wild animals, including squirrels,deer, rabbits, raccoons, and others fed on the native chestnut. It wassuch an important staple in the diet of many animals that its passing isone of the most devastating blows to befall the wildlife of thiscontinent. In order to compensate for the loss of the chestnut, and atthe same time restore some of the food and cover destroyed throughpasturing of woodlots, and the removal of fencerow cover in cleanfarming, the Division of Conservation instituted its popular tree andshrub unit planting project four years ago. In this program, units of100 or 200 pine trees and shrubs for food and cover are distributed freeof charge to farmers who will plant them as suggested and protect themfrom fire, grazing, and cultivation. American hazelnut was extensivelyused in this project during the first two years. Since then we have beenunable to obtain seedling plants in the large quantities that areneeded.
The Division also has several other wildlife restoration projects inwhich the nut trees are utilized. These are a farm pond project, a smallwildlife refuge program, and a fencerow cover restoration proposition.In the pond development program, a farmer is assisted in impounding asmall body of water, from which livestock is fenced, if he will agree topermit hunting on a portion of his farm. The pond margins are seeded toa grass mixture to prevent soil erosion and silting, and several hundredtrees and shrubs having value as wildlife food and cover are planted inthe area. The land immediately surrounding the pond becomes a wildliferefuge where no hunting is permitted. Many Asiatic chestnuts have beenplanted on these sites, in addition to American hazelnuts, andconsiderable seed spotting with black walnuts has been accomplished.
In the small refuge plan, areas are selected, developed for wildlife byplanting and other management measures, and are then closed to huntingfor a period of years. Many hazelnuts, butternuts, some hickorynuts,walnuts and Asiatic chestnuts have been used in this work. Our own fieldmen plant the seedlings or assist the landowner in planting them, thengive advice on the culture of the plants.
In the third undertaking, which is research to determine the bestmethods of restoring or developing fencerow food and cover strips;nearly a thousand hazelnut hybrids have been planted. Among thesehybrids are: Barcelona x European Globe, avellana x Italian red,Barcelona x purple aveline, Barcelona x Cosford, Barcelona x Italianred, Rush x Kentish Cob, and Barcelona x various other types. The bettersorts of hazelnuts have been used in this project to familiarize thefarmers with them so that they will have an incentive to grow somethingvaluable in fencerows. We have found that most farmers will not listento the argument of growing anything in fencerows purely for the benefitof wildlife. By using a more subtle, convincing, and practical approach,we are convinced that success will be attained and that wildlife will bebenefitted in the end.
In addition to these projects which are of a statewide nature, theDivision of Conservation owns some 14,000 acres of game lands on whichexperimental plantings of nut trees have been made. From plantings ofChinese chestnuts established in 1941, we are now beginning to realizedefinite returns. On the Zaleski State forest game area, one of thesetrees, now about 6 feet high, is bearing 21 burs this year. Inconnection with a squirrel research problem, one of our field men,Robert Butterfield, is carrying on some experiments in fertilizing nutand other trees which should yield some very valuable information. Irecently saw a plot of Castanea mollissima which had been treated with a33-1/2% nitrogen fertilizer. Planted on poor, acid, eroded soils in thehill country, these have barely survived. After treatment, the yellow,stunted foliage changed miraculously to a striking dark green, theleaves grew larger, and the entire plants showed every evidence ofhealthy growth. It has been suggested that interplanting chestnuts withblack locust might have the same beneficial effect and we intend to tryit.
None of us has ceased to hope that some day the blight which hasstricken our native chestnuts can be conquered. We can be assured thatwhenever a resistant variety of chestnut does originate in the wild,squirrels will find it and give it widespread distribution. In Ohio,squirrels are still proficient in locating the few sprouts that arefruiting, burying the nuts and forgetting them in the woods each year,with the result that we always have a few seedling trees coming on. Lastspring, I found several bushels of chestnut burs cached in a sandstonecave in southern Ohio by woodrats.
The States which are most interested in the nut trees from thestandpoint of wildlife are usually those in which squirrels or wildturkeys are important game species. If those who are growing nut treescommercially would concentrate their efforts in these states whichextend from Pennsylvania to Missouri and throughout the south, I thinkthey would be helping themselves and contributing in an importantmeasure to wildlife conservation and recreation. I think many States,and I know this is true of Ohio, would like to introduce some of thebetter named varieties of walnuts, hazelnuts, filberts, and other nuttrees to the landowners of the State through conservation projects whichI have described, but the cost is thus far too prohibitive for stockwhich is distributed by us free of charge. I am personally interested inthe fine program of nut tree research which is being initiated in Ohioand elsewhere. The hill culture experiments are especially interestingand valuable. However, I believe every grower should give increasingattention to the possibilities of nut trees in conservation, to the endthat better and more prolific varieties can be made available for thispurpose. States which can use good nut tree stock in their conservationwork should be solicited, their interest aroused in plantings for thedual purpose of home use and wildlife, and a few select varieties soldor given to them each year for experimental use. Some growers arealready generous in releasing a few new and promising nut tree varietiesfor trial growing in various sections of the country.
Most Conservation departments are financed on an annual basis with fundsfrom hunting and fishing licenses. This prevents our knowing from yearto year exactly what our requirements are going to be in the line ofplanting material. Such stock cannot be contracted for even one yearprior to purchase. We have no Division-owned nursery for propagatinggame food and cover plants, and nearly all hardwood stocks are purchasedfrom commercial nurseries. Most states prefer to purchase nursery stockthat is grown locally, and if nut growers could succeed in lining uptheir own state conservation departments, I am sure that they couldexpand their production to furnish the stock needed, both at a profit tothemselves and at a price we could afford to pay.
Commercial Aspects of Nut Crops As Far North As St. Paul, Minnesota
By Carl Weschcke, St. Paul, Minnesota
For the benefit of those new members who are not familiar with my nuttree plantation at River Falls, Wisconsin, I wish to explain itsgeographical conditions. Situated in the 45th parallel, longitude92-1/2°, about 860 feet above sea level, this is a very severe climatefor growing most species of nut trees. Fortunately, I did not realizethat fact 30 years ago, and I learned a great deal about the hardinessof many species and varieties and the difficulties of growing thembefore I was convinced of it. My optimism in those years so ruled methat I was influenced by it to try out such tender species as almonds,English walnuts, filberts, pecans and chestnuts, along with hardiertypes such as butternuts, black walnuts, hicans, hickories and hazels.
To give you a rough idea of the testing I did, I will mention some of mywork among hickories. I was fortunate enough to have a forest ofbitternut trees on my land. It is a well-known fact that, at leasttemporarily, these bitternut hickories lend themselves well as graftingstock for many superior varieties of hickories, hicans and pecans,although the last species seldom is considered permanently compatiblewith bitternut. The number of varieties I tested on bitternut stock isroughly about 75. During the years since I started such grafting, mostof these have been lost by natural elimination, lack of hardiness orincompatibility. Those varieties which on my place have proved hardy andcompatible with bitternut stock for at least ten years are: Bridgewater,Cedar Rapids, DeVeaux, Glover, Kirtland, and Weschcke. Those which haveendured well on this stock for from 6 to 15 years are: Barnes, Davis,Fox, Leonard, Milford, Netking, Platman, and Taylor. Among hybrids whichhave stood for 10 years or more, there are: Beaver, Burlington, Laney,Pleas, and Rockville. Of pecan, there are Hope and Norton. There are afew other survivors of whose identity I am not certain, as they have notyet fruited. This does not mean that all of those listed have borne, butonly that the identity of some of the survivors can not be establishedwithout such verification.
Preeminent among the hickories which have produced nuts, stands theWeschcke variety, which has borne the greatest quantity with the mostregularity. This variety, grafted on bitternut in 1932, produced one nutthat year. Its bearing record has been unbroken from then to 1946, when,on May 11, the temperature dropped to 26°F and on May 12, a similar, lowtemperature was accompanied by four inches of snowfall. Pictures I haveon display verify these statements. The frost at that time destroyed thewhole crop in a nearby 30-acre orchard of apples, pears, plums, andnuts. Although the first growth of Weschcke was totally destroyed alongwith the crop, the second growth contained a fair distribution ofpistillate flowers which probably would have produced nuts, had theybeen pollinated. The Weschcke produces no pollen, being one of thosecurious freaks of nature which aborts its staminate flowers before theyreach maturity.
Other hickory hybrids and shagbarks which have borne satisfactory cropson my farm, with fair regularity, are the Beaver, Fairbanks,Bridgewater, Cedar Rapids, Kirtland, Siers and Laney, in the order oftheir worth. The remaining varieties that I mentioned have not yetfruited, although I hope they will do so.
The facts I have given are my reasons for recommending the Weschckehickory as a tree suitable for commercial use in the north. I realize,of course, that farther south, where hardiness is not so essential aquality, other trees may be just as satisfactory. I might also mentionthat the size and cracking qualities of the Weschcke variety are alsocommendable. The quality of the kernel, which is practically 50% of thetotal weight of the nut, is praised by all who have tasted it.
It is with great regret that I admit that I have no black walnutvarieties which I can recommend for commercial use this far north.However, I would place Ohio ahead of Thomas, because of its greaterhardiness. The ease of hulling, the size and appearance of Thomas, plusits productivity, would certainly place it first were it not for thefrequent winter-killing it suffers, to which Ohio, of course, is notcompletely invulnerable. Other varieties which have been fairlysatisfactory but which are not as well-known, include Patterson andRohwer. The fact remains, however, that not one black walnut I havetested has produced a regular and satisfactory crop, although they havebeen more productive than native butternuts. At present, I would ruleout both species as apparently having no commercial value in thenorthern climate where my plantation lies, although they may besatisfactory for home orchards.
Before leaving the hickories, I do want to mention that I feel there isa good chance for growing pecans in this climate. I have seedling trees,now more than 20 years old, which are in bearing but do not mature theirfruit. It is possible that some of these may become acclimated to anextent that their cycle of dormancy will reduce itself, bringing theirperiod of flowering early enough in the spring to allow sufficient timeand heat units for maturing the nuts.
Early in my experimental work, I tested chestnuts and chinkapins but metwith poor results. Only in the last few years have experiments with thembeen successful enough to warrant their being mentioned as commercialpossibilities in the north. At present, I have several Chinese and twoAmerican varieties, as well as one chinkapin, which have proved hardyand fruitful. Further testing is necessary before I can report anythingdefinite about them.
I have grafted on native plum stock most of the almonds which have beenconsidered hardy, including the hard-shelled varieties from Michigan andthe Northland from the Pacific Coast. Some have flowered but none haveset nuts. All proved too tender for our climate. I feel more hopeful forsuccess with some of the many seedling hybrid plums I am growing. Anumber of these have edible kernels and the trees could be consideredfor their fruit as well as for the kernels of their seeds.
Among other species of walnut I have tested is the heartnut, which is asport of the Japanese walnut. This is a worthy nut and has done wellwhen grafted on black walnut stock. Only two varieties have proved hardyand only one of these, Gellatly, has produced good crops for a longtime. Were it not for the insect pests which attack it and, worse still,the sapsucker, this tree might be considered for semi-commercial use inthe north. The sapsucker is a woodpecker. It chips out bark right downto the wood, girdling large limbs and killing whole sections of a tree.This results in an excessive amount of succulent, tender growth which issubsequently winter-killed. Insects attack the new shoots, laying theireggs in the bud and stem portions, causing immature growth which stuntsthe tree and prevents its bearing. I have also found the heartnutdifficult to graft, even on black walnut, which is a favorablecombination.
I began testing Persian walnuts 30 years ago by grafting them on wildbutternut stock. Although many grafts were successful, not one evenlived through a winter. It was not until 1937, when I grafted hundredsof trees with thousands of grafts of the many varieties of Crathimportations from the Carpathian Mountains, that I succeeded in gettingany to survive our winters. A few eventually bore nuts, but the severityof our winters and the inroads of new insects during the war yearsfinally proved fatal to them. I made strenuous attempts to save thevarieties by regrafting, but I was wholly unsuccessful. Right now, I amnot at all hopeful that Persian walnuts of any kind can ever survivevery long this far north.
We now come to the last group of species mentioned at the beginning ofthis report, namely, filberts and their hybrids. In my opinion, thesehave potentialities of commercial value in the north. Even the frosts ofMay 11th and 12th this year (1946) did not wipe out the crops which hadbeen set. With proper pollinization, I am certain that their productionwill become as reliable as the corn crop in this part of the country. Atthe banquet, I shall give each of you a sample of a new product madefrom these nuts.
The combination of qualities of the cultivated filbert from Europe andour wild Wisconsin filbert results in an extremely hardy plant, withcharacteristics sometimes like the former, sometimes like the latter.Many times, the hybrid combines the best of each. I am testing these forfield culture, to be cared for much as corn is. I expect to have threeexperimental farms before very long, demonstrating the success ofcommercial orchards of these hybrids which I call "hazilberts.""Hazilberts" is a word I coined by borrowing from the names of itsparents. It has been readily accepted by the lay public and is easilyunderstood to refer to hybrids between hazels and filberts. Furthermore,I was able to obtain a U. S. trademark on this for application to theseplants.
Hazilberts are all subject to the native hazel blight, ~Cryptosporellaanomala~, a fungus infection. They are also susceptible to anotherblight similar to the bacteriosis of the Persian walnut. More seriousthan these, though, is the damage caused by a curculio, which cuts downheavily the production of nuts if measures are not taken to combat them.Breeding has demonstrated that some hybrids are so resistant to theinroads of this pest that they may almost be considered immune,especially when they are interplanted with other hazilberts which doattract curculios and so act as trap-plants. In this way, the insectsare encouraged to concentrate in one place where they may be poisoned,thus protecting the main-crop plants. Since pollinators are required forfilberts anyhow, the pollinators may be the trap-plants. This isactually the case in the initial plantings. Clean cultivation will alsodo away with many of the curculios, since they depend on unbroken soilin the fall for their metamorphosis.
The presence of blight makes it unwise to depend on a single-trunkedtree and I find that great productivity can be maintained when the plantis allowed to grow in stools having from three to five trunks. Themanagement of such plants is like that of raspberry bushes, except thatinstead of thousands of plants per acre to be cared for, with hazilbertsthere are only 145, 15 x 20 feet apart.
Judging by the number of nuts on small plants, one may reasonably expectcrops to average one-half ton of nuts per acre. The hybrids I have grownso far have been self-husking. The size of their nuts is good, somemeasuring an inch in diameter. For commercial purposes, however, thelarge size is not particularly desirable nor necessary.
In conclusion, I want to say that there is a very promising situationdeveloping for these nuts commercially. Not only are these hazel-filberthybrids easily planted, but they are easy to propagate, since they areone of very few species of nut trees which are easily propagated bylayers and root sprouts. Out of more than 600 hazilberts which I plantedin the fall of 1945, only about a dozen were dead in June of 1946, whichgives you a practical idea of the ease and safety of transplanting them.
The 1946 Status of Chinese Chestnut Growing In the Eastern United States
By Clarence A. Reed U. S. Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland
Introduction
The Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima, now dominates interest amongwell-informed chestnut planters of the eastern United States almost tothe exclusion of other species. Since its introduction in 1906, it hashad but one important competitor, the Japanese chestnut, C. crenata.Among the world's most important producers of tree chestnuts, only thesetwo species are effectively resistant to blight. However, the Japanesechestnut lacks the palatability to which Americans are accustomed andfor all practical purposes it has been rejected in this country. Manysmall plantings still survive; but this species serves better for shadeand ornamentation than for food production.
Description of the Chinese Chestnut
The nut of this species is usually of good size, roundish in form, notpointed at the apex, and with the basal scar smaller than the lower endof the nut. A certain amount of gray down is on the surface. This downmay be confined to a small area about the apex or it may cover much ofthe upper end of the nut, and it may be thick, thin, or scant. The nutmay have good cleaning quality, meaning that the kernel and its pellicleare easily separated. Cleaning quality may be good from the time the nutfalls from the tree or it may become so only after curing for a time.Once it develops it may remain good as long as the kernel is usable orit may last for a short while only. In texture and in palatability, thekernel of the Chinese chestnut is not excelled by any other truechestnut. Individual nuts are sometimes sweet from the first but thegreat majority become so only after being cured for a week or 10 days.Very few nuts of the pure species fail to be sweet when fully cured.
In the open the Chinese chestnut tree attains much the same size andgeneral proportions as does the apple but it may become somewhat larger,more upright and considerably taller. Young seedlings vary greatly inform and are often ungainly and unsymmetrical; but others are all thatcould be desired with respect to symmetry. Early lack of symmetry tendsto become less objectionable as the tree grows older and is seldomconspicuous after the first decade or so.
In fruitfulness, many of the seedling trees of bearing age aredefinitely disappointing. Also in many cases the nuts are small. Tojudge the species by the past fruiting performance of a majority of itsrepresentatives in this country would leave little justification forcommercial hope. However, there are a good many individual trees aboutthe country whose performance record is excellent and a large number ofthese are under careful observation as potential varieties.
The species has gained rapidly in popularity since the middle 'thirtieswhen enough good-performing trees began bearing for a fair appraisal ofthe species to be possible. It was also at about that time that treesfor planting began to be available from the nurseries. Before then treescould only be had in limited numbers from the Department of Agriculture.Today, they are listed in nursery catalogues of one or more firms ineach of a half dozen or more states. The total number of trees yetplanted is comparatively small and both nurserymen and planters up tothis time have proceeded cautiously because of the newness of theindustry and its uncertainties.
Environmental Requirements
The Chinese chestnut requires much the same conditions of climate soil,and soil moisture as does the peach, but there are indications that itwill succeed somewhat farther both north and south. As with the peachair drainage must be good and frost pockets must be avoided, for whileat the latitude of the District of Columbia, the flowering period isfrom late May until toward the end of June, growth begins early and maybe badly damaged in April. This is especially true during such seasonsas those of 1945 and 1946 in the middle Atlantic States when summertemperatures prevailed during a great part of March, and new shootgrowth up to two inches had developed when sub-freezing temperatureskilled all new growth and so injured the buds that at Beltsville,Maryland, and general vicinity there were no crops in either year. Insome cases young trees were killed out-right as were occasional oldertrees that had become devitalized in some way.
Young trees are so sensitive to lack of soil moisture that sometimeswhole plantings are killed by drought. Spring growth is rapid as long asthe soil is moist but root development is shallow during the first fewyears and, unless watered, trees are likely to fare badly in case ofprolonged drought. Another serious type of injury, especially to newlyplanted trees, is sunscald on the exposed sides of the trunks. Probablythe best means of prevention is to head the trees low enough to providefor shading by the tops.
It is said[1] that at the altitude of 2200 feet in West Virginia, snowand ice frequently cause much injury to young trees. It is a notablecharacteristic of the species for young trees to retain their leavesduring much of the winter. Unless these are removed soon after turningbrown, they are apt to become heavily weighted with wet snow and tocause severe breakage. Hail and spring freezes also cause much damage inthat locality. The last, however, is not peculiar to high altitude aloneas frost injury is frequent at much lower elevations. It was generallyin evidence in central Maryland during the springs of 1945 and 1946 ashas already been mentioned. This type of injury is easily overlooked,but the cambium will be found dark if a cut is made through the outerbark. Recovery usually takes place rapidly if the injured trees are leftundisturbed, but healing will be slow if they are dug up fortransplanting or the tops are severely cut back in preparation of thestock for grafting.
[Footnote 1: Verbal statement by Mr. Authur Gold, of Cowen, W. Va., madeduring April, 1946.]
Bearing Ages
Young trees may bear a few nuts three or four years after beingtransplanted, but it usually takes from 10 to 12 years for tops tobecome large enough to produce profitable crops. While there areoccasional trees that become profitable at these ages, there are manythat do not. The only significant record of yields yet made public isone reported by Hemming.[2] His statement shows that 18 seedling treesplanted in 1930 bore an average of 29.5 pound (green weight) during sixof the eight years from 1937 to 1944, inclusive, when crops were largeenough to be separately recorded for each tree. The range in totalproduction per tree for the six years was from 106 to 277 pounds. At anarbitrary price of 25 cents a pound, the average gross return per treewould have been $7.39 for each of the six crops. The 1944 crop was apractical failure. That of 1946, amounted to about 1000 pounds, or anaverage of about 55 pounds per tree.
[Footnote 2: E. Sam Hemming, Easton, Md., "Chinese Chestnuts inMaryland," Ann. Rep't., Nor. Nut Growers Association, Incorporated, vol.35, pp. 32-34. 1944.]
The Seedling Tree
The original planting stock of the Chinese chestnut as grown in theUnited States consisted wholly of seed nuts imported direct from theOrient. It was therefore, inevitable that a period of seedlingdevelopment should follow. The great majority of the earliest treesgrown proved unfit for use as potential varieties, although with someexceptions, they produced nuts that were sweet and palatable. Since themiddle 'thirties, superior strains have been introduced, cultural andenvironmental requirements have become better understood, and theoutlook for commercial orchards is much improved.
To a great extent the seedling has served as well as would a graftedtree for the pioneer experimental work that had to be done. It has beenfar better than no tree at all and even now it has its advantages. Withit there is no expense for grafting, no problems of congeniality betweenstock and scion and those of cross pollination are held at a minimum.Moreover, it must not be forgotten that it is only from seedling treesthat superior varieties are possible. In 1946, the year in which thispaper is being written, very few grafted trees are available from anysource.
The Grafted Tree
The first varietal selections were made in 1930. Quite unavoidably theywere chosen solely by what could be judged from the nuts with noknowledge of the bearing habits of the parent trees. These were firstgrafted in 1932 and first catalogued in 1935. Already by 1946, some hadbeen supplanted by others of greater promise. Few grafted trees havebeen brought into bearing and with minor exceptions, it has not beenpossible to obtain bearing records. It is, however, mainly with thegrafted tree that the future of the industry is expected to be built up.
Individual Varieties—Abundance
This variety was first catalogued in 1941 by Carroll D. Bush, then anurseryman at Eagle Creek, Oregon. Of the very few trees of this varietysold by him, one went to Mr. Fayette Etter, Lemasters, Penna., with whomit early became a favorite among 7 or 8 he had under test. During 1945,he sent a quantity of Abundance chestnuts to Dr. J. Russell Smith,Swarthmore, Penna., who in turn forwarded 12 specimens to the PlantIndustry Station. These arrived October 11 and were immediately placedin a refrigerator. On October 22, they averaged 50 to the pound andranged from 38 to 76. The appearance was very attractive as the colorwas a rich brown and there was very little down over the surface. Thecleaning quality was also very good and the flavor excellent.
The Abundance has attracted considerable attention and, while it doesnot appear to be listed in any nursery catalogue, a number of leadinggrowers are using it in top working seedling trees and it may soon beavailable through regular nursery channels.
Carr
The Carr chestnut originated as one of two seedlings sent by theDepartment of Agriculture in 1915 to the late R. D. Carr, Magnolia, N.C. Sixty-two nuts from Mr. Carr were received by the Department in 1930.These were not especially attractive as the surface was thickly coatedwith gray down. The lot averaged 58 per pound and the nuts wereconsidered large. Cleaning quality was very good and the flavor wassweet and pleasing. The variety was immediately named in honor of Mr.Carr although propagation did not begin until 1932. It is believed tohave been the first variety of the species ever grafted in this country.The work was performed by H. F. Stoke, Roanoke, Va. Later the Carrbecame available for several years from a number of nurseries. It was astrong grower but often failed to make good unions with its stock and isnot now in general favor.
Hobson
This also originated as one of two seedling trees sent to a privategrower by the Department. He was Mr. James Hobson, Jasper, Ga., in whosehonor it was named in 1930. It was later taken up by commercialnurserymen and widely distributed for several years. It has much in itsfavor as it is easy to graft, precocious, prolific, annual in bearing,and the nuts are very sweet. Also, the cleaning quality is very good,but the nuts are too small to meet market requirements of this countryto best advantage. Furthermore, being small, they are expensive and timeconsuming of labor at time of harvest. The average per pound for a lotof 110 nuts received in 1930 was 78. Others received during later yearswere even smaller. The variety rapidly lost favor with most nurserymenand its propagation was largely if not entirely discontinued. However,for home use, it is much to good to be abandoned at this time.
Reliable
Reliable was an introduction of H. F. Stoke, Roanoke, Va., by whom itwas propagated for a short time only, beginning in 1938. It is not knownto have been catalogued by any other nurseryman. Ten fresh nuts in 1939averaged at the rate of 79 to the pound. Six days later, after furthercuring had taken place, the number became 101 to the pound. Aside fromhaving a good bearing record, there appears to be little reason forcontinuing this variety.
Stoke
This variety appears to be the result of a natural Chinese-Japanesecross. The original tree was grown by H. F. Stoke, Roanoke, Va., whoseattention was attracted to it because of its habit of maturing early. Hereports that in southwestern Virginia, burs often begin opening duringthe third week of August. In appearance, the nuts greatly resemble pureJapanese. The parent tree bears well but the nuts are lacking in goodquality. Insofar as known propagation has been discontinued.
Yankee (Syn. Connecticut Yankee)
The Yankee originated as a chance seedling on property of E. E. Hunt,Riverside, Conn. It was first propagated by Dr. J. Russell Smith,Swarthmore, Penna., in northern Virginia by whom it was first cataloguedin 1935. The writer has seen no specimens but according to Dr. Smith,the size and other features are very good. The parent tree is said tobear well and to be hardy where it is located, which is not far fromLong Island Sound in the extreme southwestern corner of Connecticut.
Zimmerman
This originated as a 1930 selection made by the late Dr. G. A.Zimmerman, Linglestown, Penna. Very few sound nuts of Zimmerman haveever been produced, for soon after the first crop the identity of thetree became lost and eventually it was destroyed together with others inan overgrown nursery row where it stood. In one known case where thereare grafted trees of bearing age, the nuts are regularly destroyed byweevils. Such nuts as have been seen by the writer have been of a dullbrown color and have had surface down only about the apex.
The Zimmerman was first catalogued in 1938-39 by Dr. Smith. It isprobable that as many trees of this variety have been sold and plantedas of any one variety but performance records are difficult to obtain.
Potential Varieties
Other varietal selection are being made, mainly by the Bureau of PlantIndustry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering from trees at its variousfield stations. Some of these are already under test as grafted stock invarious parts of the country. The most promising will be released tocommercial nurserymen as soon as their superiority over existingvarieties is established.
Pollination
There is much evidence that chestnut pollen is largely carried byinsects although this has not been fully established. The Chinesechestnut is largely, although apparently not wholly, self sterile; morethan a single seedling or grafted variety should be included in anyplanting. Several seedlings or several varieties would be better. Inseedling plantings, all trees that produce inferior nuts should beremoved in order to avoid danger of undesirable pollen influence,either on nut characters, or on the genetic makeup of the embryos if thenuts are to be used as seed.
Harvesting and Curing
Chestnuts should be harvested daily as soon as some begin to ripen anddrop to the ground. They should be placed at once on shelves or incuring containers with wooden or metal bottoms through which the larvaeof any weevils with which the nuts may be infested cannot penetrate andreach the ground. In areas of infestation, these grubs soon begin tobore their way out of the nuts and leave conspicuous holes in theshells. All infested nuts should be promptly burned.
In order to cure chestnuts to best advantage, they should be spreadthinly on floors, or on shelves, or in shallow containers as justdescribed, and held in a well-ventilated room. They should be stirredfrequently and held for from 5 to 10 days depending both upon thecondition of the nuts and the atmospheric conditions at the time ofharvest: During the period of curing, the nuts will shrink rapidly inweight and the color will change materially. Both luster and brightnesswill largely disappear and, although still attractive, the nuts willquickly become dull brown. Three weeks is about as long as Chinesechestnuts usually remain edible without special treatment.
Chestnuts should be marketed as promptly as possible both to minimizedeterioration and to take advantage of good prices which are usuallyhighest early in the season.
Storing
Chestnuts in sound condition when stored may be kept fit for eating orplanting for several months by any one of several methods. Whenavailable, cold storage with temperatures somewhat above freezing is thesimplest and generally the most satisfactory method. Stratifying method.Stratifying in a wire-mesh container buried deeply in moist butwell-drained sand is very satisfactory and successful. Another method isto hold the nuts in a tightly closed tin container either in arefrigerator or in cold storage at 32° F. Burying under a porch or inthe shade of a house or even in a bin of grain, preferably wheat or rye,is also a good method. Regardless, however, of temperature or otherconditions, germination is likely to begin in early March and nutsintended for planting should be hastened into the ground as promptly aspossible after that time.
Insect Pests
The two chestnut weevils are the principal insects attacking the nuts.These are exceedingly well-known in certain large areas where thechestnut is grown and in these areas both are often extremely abundant.Unless checked in some way they often render whole crops unfit for use.One of most effective means of control is to plant trees only in wellpopulated poultry yards; however, in large developments, this isimpracticable and other methods must be employed. In preliminary workcarried on by the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine atBeltsville, DDT has given very encouraging results in the control of theweevil. The weevils have sometimes been called curculios, under whichname they were well discussed by Brooks and Cotton.[3] The JapaneseBeetle is also a serious pest as chestnut leaves are among its favoritefoods. Control methods have been given by Hadley.[4] Another insect pestwhich feeds on the leaves is the June bug or May beetle. It works mainlyat night and feeds on the newest leaves. It is seldom seen and usuallydisappears about the time when the operator becomes aware of itspresence.
[Footnote 3: Fred B. Brooks and Richard T. Cotton, "Chestnut Curculios." U. S. Dept. Agr. Tech. Bul. 180. 1929.]
[Footnote 4: C. H. Hadley, "The Japanese Beetle and its Control." U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bul. 1856. 1940.]
Diseases
Blight is the disease attacking the chestnut tree with which the publicis most familiar. The Chinese chestnut is strongly resistant althoughnot immune as few old trees entirely escape attack in areas where blightis prevalent. In most cases healthy vigorous trees of this speciesovercome the disease within a few years after being attacked. The onesthat die are usually those that have been devitalized in some way. Thenuts are subject to attack by any of several diseases either before orafter the harvest. A preliminary report on these has been made byGravatt and Fowler.[5]
[Footnote 5: G. F. Gravatt and Marvin Fowler. Nor. Nut Growers Ass'n. Proc. 31: 110-113. 1940.]
Present Extent of Planting
With few exceptions the known plantings consist of small numbers oftrees about residences. Occasionally there are one or two hundred treesin orchard arrangement. Production is not large and in most cases allsound nuts are either consumed locally or used by nurserymen and othersfor planting. The quantity that has reached the wholesale market isknown to be small although a beginning in that field has been made.
Future Outlook
Extensive expansion has not appeared possible in the near future untilthe 1946 crop was harvested. This was unexpectedly large and a number oftons are known either to have been planted immediately or set aside forplanting in the spring of 1947. It is conceivable that annual productionof nuts available for seed purposes will increase rapidly. In this case,the extent of planting within the next few years will be entirely amatter of guesswork.
Extensive planting in the early future cannot be considered economicallysafe for in addition to the usual number of problems that must be solvedin establishing any new horticultural enterprise, chestnut growers mustexpect keen competition with imports from both Europe and Asia. At theoutbreak of World War II, an average of more than 16 million pounds ofchestnuts were yearly being imported into this country.[6] These importswill doubtless again appear with the return of normal internationalrelations.
[Footnote 6: Computed from Table 541, p. 413, Agricultural Statistics1938. U. S. Dept. Agr. 19]
Furthermore almost an exact half-century ago, the chestnut outlook wasregarded as being so bright that it could hardly go wrong. During themiddle and late 'nineties extensive chestnut developments wereestablished in certain eastern districts mainly by use of Paragon andother varieties of European parentage. Thousands of small plantings weredeveloped about home grounds and occasionally there were large orchards.The greatest developments were conducted by top working suckers thatsprung up from stumps of native chestnut trees on cutover mountain land.Hundreds of acres were handled in this manner. Without exception, allended in financial disaster.
Summary
The nut of the Chinese chestnut is an excellent product. It isunexcelled in sweetness and general palatability by any other knownchestnut. The tree bears well and is about equally as hardy as thepeach. It appears to require much the same conditions of culturalenvironment as does that fruit. It is practically the only species ofchestnut now being planted by informed growers in the eastern part ofthe United States.
It is thus far grown in this country almost entirely as seedling trees.Variation is about what was to be expected, with the majority of bearingtrees proving to be poor producers and, in most cases, with nuts toosmall to sell well.
Varietal selections of much promise are being made; the first appearedin 1930 and were first catalogued in 1935. Some of the earliest havealready been dropped as their defects came to be known, and others ofgreater apparent promise have originated. The process of selection isconstantly going on and further introductions should shortly appear.
By taking certain simple steps chestnuts in sound condition may be keptin usable condition for many weeks.
The Chinese chestnut is subject to attack by certain serious naturalenemies. These include both insects and diseases and the tree as well asthe nuts are affected. However, all that are now known appearcontrollable.
Past planting has been largely limited to small numbers of trees mainlyabout residence grounds. The total number of trees available forplanting has never been large, due chiefly to the scarcity of seed nutsneeded for nursery use. Production, however, rose sharply with theharvest of the 1946 crop which was unexpectedly large. Annual productionmay continue to increase since the number of trees of bearing age islikely to become appreciably greater each year. Nursery planting islikely to be proportionately greater. The extent of future planting willdoubtless be correspondingly influenced.
Present enthusiasm over the Chinese chestnut is very great and it ispossible extensive planting may soon take place. It is believed,however, that this would be unwise from an economic point of view. Thereare many uncertainties in connection with the industry in its presentstate of development, and, not improbably there will be keen competitionin the market with imported chestnuts from both Europe and Asia as soonas international relations become normal.
Bearing Record of the Hemming Chinese Chestnut Orchard
By E. Sam Hemming, Easton, Maryland
Our Chinese chestnut trees have aroused such interest that we are surethe readers of the Proceedings will wish to hear of the large cropharvested in 1946. A year ago an unseasonal spring brought a frost thatkilled back the six inches of soft new growth. As a result, the 1945crop amounted to less than 250 pounds. This year the 18 trees produced1138 pounds, 938 by actual weighing and 200 estimated. This is anaverage of 63 pounds per tree, with the largest crop of 124 pounds onNo. 19, and the smallest on No. 14 of 22 pounds.
These trees are now 18 years old and were unfortunately planted tooclose. But using a spacing of 30 feet × 30 feet, they would have borne3000 pounds per acre and if planted 40 feet × 40 feet would have borne1600 pounds per acre. Figure this crop at 25¢ a pound and you would geta really high return. This year the price was much better than that, butwe planted the crop.
The tree record was as follows: Number 1—38; Number 2—25; Number3—30; Number 4—52; Number 5—44; Number 6—30; Number 7—42; Number8—40; Number 9—45; Number 10—58; Number 11—56; Number 12—48; Number13—58; Number 14—22; Number 15—50; Number 16—80; Number 18—86;Number 19—124; Total of 938 + 200 (estimated) = 1138.
It is also worthy of note, that No. 19 is spaced 30 feet from No. 18 andNo. 16 is the same distance from No. 18, while all the other trees arespaced 16 feet apart. An acre of trees like No's. 16, 18 and 19, spaced30 feet apart, would average 96 pounds per tree or 4200 pounds per acre,a really tremendous crop.
We had one disappointment this year, in that our method of controllingthe weevil was not completely effective. To our chagrin we found that,while we were diligently picking the nuts up each day, some of thelarvae were escaping through the cotton bags to reinfest the ground.Next year, we will use metal containers and we are sure that will stopthem. We will fumigate if necessary. We do not particularly fear theweevil as we are sure that spraying, and fumigation will clean them up;after that proper harvesting should control them. We have heard that theU. S. D. A. has found the use of DDT to be effective. In another countya raiser of hybrid corn seed dusted his corn with DDT by plane, to killthe Japanese beetle, for $3.00 per acre. Surely that method would beadaptable to chestnut orchards to control the weevil.
At the present time we are using our entire crop for seed purposes andthis year we sowed 40 to 50 thousand nuts. We carefully grade the seed,not only discarding any infested nuts, but all moldy, split orundersized nuts, so that we get trees grown only from the choicest. Bydoing this we feel that although the trees are seedling raised, theycome from parent trees that are bearing well, and from which allextraneous pollen is excluded so that the customer has a good chance ofgetting a tree that will bear well.
The seed is sown in the fall, because it keeps better that way andgerminates better too, although we have some trouble from a mole-micecombination. The seeds are sown in shallow trenches 6 inches apart and 2inches deep and back—filled either with sawdust or light soil. On topis mounded a further 4 to 6 inches of soil which is removed in thespring. This reduces damage from freezing and thawing.
We do not doubt for a moment that the Chinese chestnut is here to stayas an important food crop for the United States.
Walnut Notes
G. H. Corsan, Islington, Ontario
I find the Ohio, Ten Eyck, Stabler, Allen and Wiard black walnutsinferior and unsuitable. The Stabler has only a small crop every fiveyears. Very excellent varieties, I find, come from Thomas seedlings.
The black walnut makes an excellent stock for the Persian walnut in lowand slightly damp ground. I bud the Persian on the black during August.
The Japanese heartnut and the butternut x heartnut hybrid can be graftedon black walnut. The Persian walnut when grafted on the black decidedlyoutgrows the latter. The reverse is the case when Japanese heartnut,Japanese butternut, or hybrids of either are grafted on the black.
So far I have not found one good butternut worthy of naming, but thereis one Japanese butternut that grows in clusters of 17 or even more thathas a very thin shell; it is the Helmick. I have, however, very manynamed as well as unnamed black walnut seedlings that are very excellentnuts.
This has been a very cold summer and I cannot state yet as to thematuring of the larger black walnuts, as they require a long season tomature properly. Pecan and hican trees grow well at Echo Valley and thesmall twigs harden up so that there is never any winter killing but thenuts do not fill well; in consequence I am using the trees as stocks forgrafting with good shagbarks. The Weiker hickory ripens nicely with meand I consider it one of the best varieties in every way.
Self-fruitfulness in the Winkler Hazel
By Dr. A. S. Colby University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
To insure fruitfulness in nut plants it is generally recommended thatmore than one variety of each kind be planted in reasonably closeproximity to help in bringing about cross-pollination. Then, with otherconditions being favorable, the grower would be more certain of goodyields of well-filled nuts.
With specific reference to the filbert, the literature containsreferences to the effect that provision for cross-pollination isessential. However, one exception is listed. In the report of theproceedings of the 26th (1935) annual meeting of the Northern NutGrowers' Association, D. C. Snyder of Iowa says on page 47, "Thecatkins of Winkler always come through the winter bright and thevariety can be depended upon to bear without other varieties near forcross-pollination."
The writer has been interested in this subject for several years. Thequestion arises; how near were Mr. Snyder's Winklers to other varietiesand in what direction with reference to the prevailing winds? It is notknown just how far filbert pollen may be carried and still function. Aplanting of Winkler filberts consisting of about 30 bushes was set onthe University Farm at Urbana in 1940. Crops have been borne annuallysince that time. The planting was isolated from other filberts to thesouthwest by about one-fourth of a mile.
In an effort to determine whether the variety was self-fruitful, plantswere dug in the early winter of 1943 after the rest period was over andreset in the greenhouse. The plants leaved out in January, 1944, andboth male and female flowers appeared soon after. The pollen was appliedto the pistils both by shaking the branches and by means of a camelshair brush. Nearly all the blossoms set and the nuts carried through tomaturity. The experiment was repeated in 1944-45 with the same results.
It is therefore concluded that the Winkler filbert is self-fruitful andmay safely be planted alone where climatic conditions are favorable forfilbert production.
Hickories and Other Nuts in Northwestern Illinois
By A. B. Anthony, Sterling, Illinois
I have something like 25 grafted hickories of my No. 1 (Anthony)variety. The largest tree now has a trunk of 5-1/2 inches in diameter;has 20 nuts on it this year; and while it has had but few nuts eachyear, has missed bearing but one season in the past seven years. OtherNo. 1 trees run from 3-1/2 inches, in diameter down to about 1 inch. One3-1/2 inch tree is offering its second bearing with five nuts thisseason. All these trees were grafted in cutover woodland tracts andmoved here except the largest one which was moved in 1930 and grafted in1933, 30 inches high and never trimmed for a higher head. Heavy annualcatkin bloomer, few pistillates so far.
Of my No. 2 variety, one tree transplanted in 1927 now has somethinglike 25 nuts on it. The No. 3 hickories, five of them, have never borneeither pistillate or staminate blooms. No. 4 is a hican from the parenttree of which I have had but three good nuts. The weevil moth works sowell in dense woods that rarely are the nuts good there. The nuts areattractive and should not discolor like the lighter hickories, shouldtheir opening husks get rained upon when maturing.
Men of the future must decide on the merits of these trees. Of the twoHagen trees grafted in 1931, one now has its first nuts, eight innumber. I have been told that some one will cut these trees down someday. One of our county or state officials said a short time back that"if hog troubles keep coming on as of late, in 50 years we will not beable to raise hogs." With corn being the main hog food and the cornborer coming, this may come to be quite true, and then perhaps more menwill get new vision as to where their meat is coming from.
The past three years have offered almost no hickories at all. Hickoriesdo not like shade, but they have to grow where the squirrels haveplanted them. Carrying a nut 100 yards to bury it would doubtless beabout a squirrel's limit. I have noticed in timber of sizeable growth anorth slope showed no young hickories, while a south slope showed ascattering few. Oak trees in this section predominate when it comes togroves of one species. Cottonwood trees come up here and there, probablybecause their seed is wind-carried. Willow sticks get carried downstream and get lodged, and grow. I have known a few young oaks to comeup on my place all of a mile and a half of such woods. How come? It isprobably the combination of the blue jay and squirrel, this time. Notrouble for the blue jay to travel some distance and put his acorn in abark crevice of cottonwood or willow tree. Along comes a wanderingsquirrel, finds the acorn, and if not hungry enough puts in the groundwhere it has a chance to grow. I have seen blue jays start off withchestnuts and the nearest trees they could reach were willows one-fourthmile or further away.
For some reason there seems to be a tendency for the hickories to bearin seasons when the black walnut does not and the walnut to bear whenthe hickory fails. Last year, except for filling, walnuts did reasonablywell and this year, at least with my Rohwer variety, the yield is stillbetter except that the nuts are unusually small, doubtless because allof July and up to the 9th of August it was very dry.
Throughout my years there have always been walnut trees on the place,first started by a pioneer land owner, then squirrels took it up, so Ihave a choice of stocks I did not have in hickories.
Two of my Rohwer trees have trunks 12 inches in diameter; one is 11inches and the other 14 inches in diameter. For years these trees,grafted in 1931, have been very profuse with catkins, but with few nuts.I have heard other complaints of it not bearing.
My complaint with all walnuts grown in Northwest Illinois is that somany kernels turn out black and immature. I am inclined to blame it, inpart, to the walnut shuck, which takes in so much moisture. The hickoryshuck is much dryer and never has so many immature kernels. Late summeris generally the dryer part of our growing season, which can well be thecause. In the year 1940, we had an excess of moisture in that it rainedday after day all through August, and that is the only season I can saywe had good walnuts with practically all good, light-colored kernels.
I have a few Thomas walnuts planted on the edges of the lowest flatground I possess, hoping that they may there get more moisture andproduce completely matured nuts.
We had on August 9th about one inch of rain and since that 2-1/2 inchesmore. So far, throughout this month, I have been carrying about 15gallons of water daily to two Rohwer trees and hope for some betterfilled walnuts, though they are unusually small. I am writing thisAugust 24th.
Nut Trees for Ohio Pastures
By Dr. Oliver D. Diller, Wooster, Ohio
Today I would like to discuss for a few minutes the possibilities of nuttrees for shade and nut production in permanent pastures on Ohio farms.
One of the most important developments in Ohio agriculture during thepast decade has been improvement of pasture land through fertilization,new varieties, and combinations of grasses and clovers, and bettermethods of management. As one drives over the State it is evident thatmany farmers practice "clean" agriculture which means clean fence rowsand treeless fields. Shade on a hot summer day is an important item tocontented cows, so today I am going to plead the case for a cow out onpasture on a sweltering day. I believe that nut trees, particularlyblack walnuts, can be of real service in the fence rows and the interiorof hundreds of permanent pastures in Ohio.
In 1939, L. R. Neel,[7] of the Tennessee Agricultural ExperimentStation, published an interesting article on the effect of shade onpasture. The results indicated distinct improvement in the carryingcapacity of the pastures which had black locust and black walnuts spacedregularly throughout the fields. Improvement was evident both in theamount of Kentucky bluegrass and the pounds of beef produced. So far asI know, no evaluation has ever been made of the direct effect of shadeon the contentment and consequent increase in efficiency of cattle foreither beef or milk production. I believe this is an important factorand is frequently used as an excuse for woodland grazing.
[Footnote 7: Neel, L. R., 1939. The effect of shade on pasture. Tenn. Agr. Exp. Sta. Cir. 65.]
Another study similar to the one in Tennessee was conducted by R. M.Smith in southeastern Ohio during the period 1939 to 1941.[8] Dr. Smithmade an intensive study of the effects of black locust and black walnutsupon ground covers and he found that in poor pastures black walnut treesimproved both the species composition and chemical content of the plantsgrowing under the trees. He rated walnut high as an ideal pasture treebecause of its period of leaf activity; its light crown canopy; itssmall, fragile leaves which decompose rapidly, and are high in mineralmatter and nitrogen; its deep tap root which competes very little withthe surface rooted grasses for moisture and nutrients; its hardiness;and finally its high commercial value.
[Footnote 8: Smith, R. M., 1942. Some effects of black locust and blackwalnut on southeastern Ohio pastures. Soil Science, Vol. 53, No. 5.]
It seems apparent, therefore, that the introduction of improved blackwalnut trees into permanent pastures would be practical from theagronomic angle to say nothing about the beneficial effect of shade tolivestock and possible income from occasional crops of high qualitynuts.
One stumbling block to the adoption of this idea is the protection ofthe trees during the period of their establishment. The conventionalcattle guard with three or four long posts supporting a wire fence isexpensive in both labor and materials.
During the spring of 1946 in connection with my forestry instruction atOhio State University, I had as one class project the planting of 50black walnut seedlings of selected parentage in the cattle and poultryranges on the University farm. Thirty of these trees were planted alonga fence row at 32 foot intervals and were protected by a single electricwire connected to a battery charger.
The set-up is illustrated in figure 1 which shows the charger at one endof the line and the wire supported by the line posts and a short singlepost opposite each tree. The one year old seedlings were planted 4 feetfrom the fence at alternate posts and the wire zig-zagged along the lineto create the guards around the trees. Within a few days after plantingand completion of the electric guards the trees were mulched to controlweeds and conserve soil moisture.
While this experiment has been in effect for only one growing season,the results, to date, indicate that this method is effective inproviding protection from livestock. Growth and survival of the treeshas been very satisfactory thus far.
The advantages of this method appear to be the rather low cost of laborand materials and ease of installation.
Within the next decade, we should be able to determine how the nuts fromthese seedling trees compare with the parent tree and there should beadequate shade for all classes of livestock on either side of the fence.
How Hardy Are Oriental Chestnuts and Hybrids?
By Russell B. Clapper and G. F. Gravatt Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland
One of the questions most frequently asked in regard to the Orientalchestnuts is, will they thrive in a given locality? Broadly speaking,with respect to temperature requirements these chestnuts have been foundabout equally hardy with the peach. Some strains of the Chinese chestnutappear to be superior to the Japanese chestnut in hardiness.
The Chinese chestnut is more widely planted in this country than theJapanese chestnut and more information has been collected on thehardiness of the former species than of the latter. The Chinese chestnutis growing satisfactorily in certain plantings as far south as Orlando,Fla. and the other Gulf States, northward to the southern tip of Maine,and westward as far as Iowa. But many areas within this large zone areunsuitable for growing Chinese chestnuts because of more severe climaticconditions.
Specific data have been obtained relating to several types of winterinjury of Oriental chestnuts and hybrids. This information is limited tothe performance of mostly young trees and to a comparatively smallnumber of locations.
The fall freeze that occurred in mid-November, 1940, was studied indetail by Bowen S. Crandall,[9] formerly of this Division. Widespreaddamage occurred to Oriental chestnuts in the central parts of SouthCarolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Temperatures before the freeze had beenmild, and heavy rains in early November had broken a drought. On thenights of November 15 and 16, temperatures of 12° and 14° F. werereported by various farmers, and a drop to 20° F. was general on thenight of the 16th. The damage to chestnuts by this freeze was increasedbecause of the mild temperatures and heavy rains that preceded thefreeze. The chestnut trees were not able to attain complete dormancy.Those trees, however, that were growing on uplands or on sites that werewell air-drained suffered much less damage. Apparently equal damage wasinflicted to Chinese and Japanese chestnuts.
[Footnote 9: Crandall, Bowen S. Freezing injury to Asiatic chestnuttrees in the South in November, 1940. Plant Disease Reporter 27:392-394.October 1, 1943.]
On one farm near Columbus, Ga., four plantings were located at differentelevations. The planting at the lowest elevation, maintained as a wellcultivated orchard, suffered almost 100 per cent loss from this fallfreeze. The trees at the highest elevation, in a forest planting, werepractically uninjured. The damage from this freeze varied from killingof buds and shoots to killing of complete trees. Many owners of chestnutplantings did not notice the damage until the following spring.Fortunately fall freezes of this magnitude occur only infrequently.
In the winter of 1944, this Division lost 23 per cent of its hybrids atGlenn Dale, Md., from freezing following abnormally high temperatures.The hybrids had been fertilized in October of the preceding year, butthe effect on the extent of freezing damage is not known. The months ofNovember, 1943, through March, 1944, were characterized by extremelyvariable temperatures. For example, in November a minimum of 15° F.occurred on the 17th, a maximum of 72° on the 19th; in December amaximum of 66° on the 3rd, a minimum of 2° on the 16th; in January aminimum of 8° on the 17th, a maximum of 74° on the 27th; in February aminimum of 11° on the 2nd, a maximum of 72° on the 25th; in March aminimum of 8° on the 10th, a maximum of 81° on the 16th.
The extremes of temperatures in any one of these months may have beensufficient to cause damage to chestnut, although the extent of damage isinfluenced by the physiological conditions within the tree. The usualtype of injury to the hybrids was a killing of the cambial cellsextending from the base of the trunk up to varying heights. The cambialregion was grayish-black and the inner bark was sappy andgreenish-brown. More trees were injured and killed on the lower portionsof the plot than on the higher portions.
This catastrophe afforded opportunity to study resistance of the hybridsto freezing. In the lower part of the plot there were several 3-year-oldAmerican chestnut seedlings that were not damaged. Sixteen per cent offirst generation hybrids of Chinese and American chestnut were killed.Chinese by American backcrossed with Chinese were killed to the extentof 36 per cent. Chinese by Japanese chestnut of the second generationwere killed to the extent of 35 per cent.
Despite this extensive killing of hybrids by extreme variations ofwinter temperatures, older Chinese and Japanese chestnuts on slightlyhigher ground in the same plot suffered no visible injury. These oldtrees have rough bark, which may serve as an effective insulator againstextremes of temperature. In 1944, there was no damaging late springfrost, and these old trees produced the largest nut crop in theirhistory.
Winter temperatures of -25° F. or lower are usually injurious toOriental chestnuts. A few reports of chestnuts surviving temperatures of-25° F. have been recorded, but usually Oriental chestnuts do not thrivein those northern States or regions where such temperatures occur.
Many of our cooperators report that late spring frosts frequently causefailure of chestnut crops. Damaging frosts in late spring occur morefrequently and over greater areas than early fall frosts or extremewinter temperature variations. A late spring frost in 1945 reduced thechestnut crop at Glenn Dale, Md., from 50 bushels expected to 3 bushelsactual. A freeze of 24°F. on the nights of April 4 and 5 was sufficientto inflict this damage after two weeks of abnormally warm weather. Manyof the trees were visibly injured, with wilted or dried unfolding buds.Other trees on higher ground were not visibly affected, yet theyproduced no crops.
Again it was noted that the American chestnut, followed by Americanchestnut hybrids, sustained none to little damage. The Americanchestnut, besides its inherent resistance to freezing, leafs late inthe spring. Most of the crop of nuts obtained in 1945 was produced bythe American chestnut hybrids.
Late spring frosts in 1945 were very extensive, reaching throughout theeastern and northeastern States, and there were practically no chestnutcrops. There were also numerous reports of late spring frost injury tochestnut in the Central States.
In order to reduce freezing injury to Oriental chestnuts, it isessential that they be grown on sites that have excellent cold airdrainage. As an approximate rule, these chestnuts should be planted onsites similar to those that are best for peaches. The orchard plantingis not the only type that is subject to winter injury; forest plantings,ornamental plantings, and plantings for wildlife are also subject towinter injury especially if they are not on the most favorable sites.
Growing Chestnuts for Timber
By Jesse D. Diller Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland
Before the turn of the century, and even before chestnut blight hadswept through our eastern forests, destroying one of our most valuablecommercial timber trees, European and Asiatic chestnuts had beenintroduced. They made variable growth in the Gulf States, along theeastern seaboard from Florida to southern Maine, the southern half ofPennsylvania, southwestern Michigan, southeastern Iowa, down theMississippi River Valley and on the Pacific Coast. These trees weregrown for horticultural purposes, and for the most part, representedlarge-fruited varieties of Japanese chestnuts. They were not regarded ashaving forest-tree possibilities for in the open situations in whichthey were usually planted to insure early fruiting, the trees developedlow-spreading crowns, resembling orchard trees. However, after theblight became fully established and it became apparent that our Americanchestnut was doomed, and that these scattered Asiatic chestnut trees hada natural resistance to this disease, a new interest developed in theAsiatic chestnuts as a possible substitute for the American chestnut.
The interest in and need for resistant, forest-type chestnuts became sogreat that the U. S. Department of Agriculture imported from the Orientseed of strains that might be suitable for the production of timber,poles and posts, with tannin and nuts as valuable by-products—qualitiesinherent in our native chestnut. The Division of Forest Pathology,Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering has beencarrying on the project of testing Asiatic chestnuts as timber trees.Professor R. Kent Beattie of this Division was in China, Korea, andJapan from 1927 to 1930, and collected over 250 bushels of seed forshipment to this Division. The seeds represented four species: Castaneamollissima—the Chinese chestnut; C. henryi—the Henry chinkapin; C.seguinii—the Seguin chestnut; and C. crenata—the Japanese chestnut.
Direct Seeding Studies
At the very beginning of these investigations in growing Asiaticchestnuts as timber trees, it was believed that greater success inestablishment could be obtained by planting seedlings, rather than bydirect seeding. In direct seeding trials during the early thirties theplanted nuts were promptly devoured by rodents. Sixteen years of fieldexperience has proven the soundness of this belief. The imported nutswere planted in the Division's nursery at Glenn Dale, Md., and theresulting seedlings distributed as 1- and 2-year-old trees tocooperators throughout the eastern United States.
In order to thoroughly test the possibilities of direct seeding as aneconomical method of establishment, this Division during seven years(1939 to 1942, and 1944 to 1946) planted over 7,000 nuts by directseeding in 200 locations in 18 eastern States. It was suspected that thegreatest hazard to direct seeding in or near forests would be rodents.Accordingly, in the spring of 1939 and 1940, 400 nuts and 600 nuts,respectively, were coated with a strychnine-alkaloid rodent repellent,and a comparable number of seeds, for both years, were left untreated toserve as checks. The checks were held in sphagnum moss at Beltsville,Md., and the nuts to be treated were packed in sphagnum moss andexpressed to Denver for treatment by the Division of Wildlife Research,the Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior. Only 5.9 and2.5 per cent of the treated seeds developed into seedlings, whereas 22.6and 13.5 per cent of the untreated seeds produced seedlings. Not onlydid more of the treated seeds fail to germinate than of the untreatedseeds, but the seedlings from the treated nuts were less vigorous.Because of the results obtained, the rodent-repellent study wasdiscontinued at the end of the second year.
In 1941 and 1942, over 4,000 untreated chestnut seeds, representing 22strains, were planted in 12 locations in eight eastern States. The seedsource was entirely from American-grown, Asiatic chestnut trees growingin 28 locations in 16 eastern States. They represented Chinese,Japanese, hybrids, and also a limited quantity of American chestnutseed. Seed of the American species was included primarily to determinewhether or not it differs from the Asiatic species with reference toestablishment by direct seeding. The results for the two years confirmedour earlier beliefs: Only 2.2 per cent in 1941, and 4.0 per cent in1942, developed into seedlings, of which only a remnant have survived.No species or strain differences were apparent.
"Tin Can" Method
In 1944, the tin-can method was employed in planting 400 nuts in foureastern States. By this method 15.5 per cent of the planted nutsdeveloped into seedlings, representing a fourfold increase over resultsobtained for the three previous years. One end of a No. 2 can isremoved, and a cross is cut in the other end with a heavy-bladed knife.The open end of the can is then forced into the ground, over the plantednut, so that the top lies flush with the ground level. The four cornersat the center of the cut top then are turned slightly upward, to allow asmall opening through which the hypocotyl of the developing seedling canemerge. The can completely disintegrates by rusting within two or threeyears, and does not interfere with the seedling's development.
An examination made of the various burrows about the tin cans, and alsoof the teeth marks on fragments of chestnut seedcoats lying about,indicated that not only squirrels, but other rodents, such as chipmunks,field mice, moles, and even woodchucks were probably involved in thedirect seeding failures.
In 1945 and 1946, the tin-can method was tested widely on farms, todetermine its possibilities in securing establishment ofblight-resistant chestnuts without a great outlay of cash to farmers. In1945, five seeds were distributed to each of 90 cooperators residing inthe Piedmont and southern Appalachian regions, and in the lowerMississippi and Ohio River valleys; and in 1946, to 38 cooperatorsresiding in the Middle Atlantic States. Preliminary results indicatethat 40.0 and 37.2 per cent of the nuts planted by the farmers developedinto seedlings. It should be pointed out that these results are notstrictly comparable with those of previous years, because most of thefarmers preferred to plant the chestnuts in their gardens, and underthese conditions the nuts were not exposed to the severe competition andthe extreme rodent hazards that occur in the forests.
Further proof of the superiority of planting seedling stock over directseeding as a method of establishment is indicated in the results of anexperiment initiated in 1939. One hundred and fifty 1-year-old seedlingsand 150 nuts, all of the same Chinese strain, were planted on clearedforest lands in the Coastal Plains, the Piedmont, and the southernAppalachian regions, and in the Middle West. At the end of the eighthyear, at each location, establishment and development of thoseoriginating from the 1-year-old transplants were better than thoseoriginating from seed, and their average survival was six times greater.
Distribution of Planting Stock
During the period 1930 to 1946, the Division of Forest Pathologydistributed thousands of Asiatic chestnut seedlings to Federal, State,and private agencies for experimental forest plantings in 32 easternStates. The ten States receiving the most planting stock, in the ordernamed were: North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, WestVirginia, Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, and Maryland. Thepurpose of this seedling distribution was to obtain informationconcerning the little-known characteristics of the Asiaticchestnuts—their soil and climatic requirements, and their rangeadaptability.
Selection of Planting Sites
At first the selection of the planting sites was left entirely to thejudgment of the cooperators, and most of them assumed that the Asiaticchestnuts have site requirements similar to those of the native Americanchestnut. Because the American chestnut often occurs on dry ridges andupper slopes, especially where soil is thin and rock outcrops arefrequent, the cooperators proceeded to plant the Asiatic chestnuts onsimilar "tough" sites. They believed that the planting of forest-treespecies is justified only on defrosted areas that have reverted tograssland, or worn-out, unproductive agricultural land, or onwastelands—sites that we now know are better suited to the growing ofconifers rather than hardwoods. As a result of this unfortunate choiceof site selection, together with the several severe drought periodsrecurring in the early thirties, the cooperators lost most of theirtrees during the first and second years after planting.
Inspections of some of these planted areas after a lapse of from 10 to15 years indicated that the sites still support only a scant herbaceouscover, with broomsedge and povertygrass predominating, and with noevidence of native woody species encroaching on the areas. The fewsurviving Asiatic chestnut seedlings were sickly looking, multi-stemmed,misshapen trees, heavily infected with twig blight and chestnut blight,and severely damaged by winter injury. But despite these heavy losses, afew plantations succeeded at least in part, and from these limitedareas, together with an appraisal of the situations where some of theearlier planted chestnuts grew well, valuable information as to the siterequirements of the Asiatic chestnut species was obtained.
Site Requirements
These field studies clearly showed that the site requirements of theAsiatic chestnuts, particularly with reference to soil moisture, aremore nearly like these of yellow poplar, northern red oak, and whiteash, than like the American chestnut or the native chinkapin species. Onfertile, fresh soils that support the more mesophytic native species,Asiatic chestnuts remained relatively disease-free, developed straightboles, made satisfactory growth, and were able to maintain themselves inthe stands in competition with the other rapid-growing associatedhardwood species.
The indicator plants that suggest good sites for Asiatic chestnuts are:(a) Tree species—yellowpoplar, northern red oak, white ash, sugarmaple, and yellow birch; (b) shrub species—spicebush; (c) herbaceousspecies—maiden hair fern, bloodroot, jack-in-the-pulpit, squirrelcornand/or Dutchman's breeches. Plants that indicate sites too dry forforest-tree growth of Asiatic chestnuts are: (a) Tree species—the"hard" pines, black oak and scrub oak; (b) shrub species—dwarf sumac,and low blueberry; and (c) herbaceous species—broomsedge, wildstrawberry, and povertygrass. Plants that indicate sites too wet are:(a) Tree species—black ash, red maple, and willows; (b) shrubspecies—alder; (c) herbaceous species—sedges and skunkcabbage.
Climatic Test Plots
On the basis of the experience gained from the earlier, extensivedistribution of Asiatic chestnut planting stock, the Division of ForestPathology, during the years of 1936, 1938, and 1939, established 21Asiatic chestnut climatic test plots on cleared forest lands in eighteastern States on the most favorable sites obtainable. These plots, withtheir isolation borders, aggregating slightly less than 32 acres, andaccommodating nearly 22,000 trees spaced 8 by 8 feet, occur fromnorthern Massachusetts, along the Alleghenies southward to the southernAppalachians in southwestern North Carolina, and from the Atlanticseaboard, in southeastern South Carolina through the Middle West tosoutheastern Iowa. More than 20 strains are being tested at each place,including Chinese, Japanese, Seguin, and Henry species, as well ashybrids, and progeny of some of the oldest introduced chestnuts. Most ofthe plots are fenced against livestock and deer.
Although the results from these plots are as yet entirely preliminary,during the 8- to 11-year period of testing, valuable information hasalready been obtained: (1) The range of the Asiatic chestnuts testeddoes not coincide entirely with the range of the American chestnut orthe native chinkapins. All Asiatic chestnut species that have beentested have failed at Orange, Massachusetts, where the American chestnutgrew in abundance. In southeastern South Carolina, where the severalspecies of native chinkapin thrive, some of them attaining a height of20 feet, the Asiatic species have largely failed. On the other hand innorthern Indiana and southeastern Iowa, entirely outside the botanicalrange of the American chestnut, a few Chinese strains have doneremarkably well. (2) The Chinese chestnuts have a much wider rangeadaptability to site than the Japanese chestnuts; the latter are morerestricted to mild climate and appear to require somewhat better siteconditions. Of ten Chinese strains tested, only four can thus far berecommended for future planting in the Middle West. One Chinese strainthat has thus far proven far superior to the others, in all the climaticplots, was introduced by the Department of Agriculture as seed fromNanking, China in 1924. (3) Poorly aerated soil is an important limitingfactor in all regions where the chestnuts were tested.
Establishment by Underplanting and Girdling
On the basis of the field experience gained from the wide distributionof Asiatic chestnut planting stock and the information thus far obtainedfrom the climatic test plots, a new method of establishing Asiaticchestnut under forest conditions was initiated in the spring of 1946,and is now being tried on a limited scale. It consists of underplanting,with chestnut seedlings, a fully stocked stand of hardwoods ranging from4 to 8 inches in diameter breast height in which the predominant speciesare yellow poplar, northern red oak, white ash, and sugar maples. Alloverstory growth 5 feet and over in height is then girdled. As thegirdled overstory trees die, they gradually yield the site to theplanted chestnuts in transition that does not greatly disturb theecological conditions, particularly of the forest floor. Rapiddisintegration of the mantle of leafmold is prevented by the partialshading, which the dead or dying overstory, girdled trees cast. At thesame time, the partial shading hinders the encroachment of the sprouthardwoods and the other plant invaders (which would normally becomeestablished if the planted area had been clear cut) until the chestnutshave become fully established. Not only does this system provide thebest site conditions conducive to the development of forest-tree form inthe Asiatic chestnuts, in limited areas, but also under establishmentconditions that require a minimum amount of maintenance.
Summary
In general, Asiatic chestnuts, when grown for timber purposes, are bestadapted to northern slopes, above frost pockets on cool protected sites,on deep, fertile soils having a covering of leaf litter and humus in thetop soil, a soil that is permeable to both roots and water, and that hasa good water-holding capacity. The plant association, above mentioned asindicating ideal sites for Asiatic chestnuts for best timberdevelopment, occur in rich soils of slight hollows in moist hilly woodsand on the mountains in cove sites.
Improved Methods of Storing Chestnuts
By H. L. Crane and J. W. McKay Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland
Trees of the Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima, are quite resistantto the chestnut bark or blight disease. The heavy bearing of the treestogether with the good quality of the nuts produced has stimulatedplanting of trees to replace those of the American species largelykilled by that disease. Although a few horticultural varieties ofChinese chestnuts have been introduced and propagated, the greatmajority of the bearing trees are seedlings. In seedling plantingsseldom do two trees produce nuts of the same size, color, and shape. Allof these nuts when properly harvested, treated, and stored are sweet andedible and nourishing as food either raw, boiled, roasted, or combinedwith other foods in poultry dressing, salads, or pancakes. Then too,there is a big demand for Chinese chestnuts as seed for the purpose ofgrowing seedling trees to be planted in orchards or to be used asrootstocks in propagating horticultural varieties. In either case, it isoften desirable to store the nuts for several months before using them.
Chestnuts are not like the oily nuts, such as pecans, walnuts, almonds,filberts, or peanuts, that must be dried to a moisture content of 5 to 8per cent to store well. Chestnuts are starchy nuts, containing about 50%moisture when first harvested, and on drying they become very hard. Inexperiments conducted at the U. S. Horticultural Field Station,Meridian, Miss., it was found that the loss in weight of chestnutsranged from 16.2 to 30.5% when stored for 4 months in open containers at32°F., and 80% relative humidity. In an experiment in which chestnutswere stored 4-1/2 months at 32°F., they lost 18.8% in weight when storedin burlap sacks, 3.7% when stored in waxed paper cartons withtight-fitting lids, and 2.0% when stored in friction-top cans.Furthermore, chestnuts on drying lose their viability and becomeworthless. Chestnuts lose moisture rapidly and become subject tospoilage due to molds and other fungi and therefore must be consideredas highly perishable and handled accordingly.
There is a great difference in the keeping quality of the nuts producedby different trees in that some are very susceptible to infection bymolds and bacteria and spoil quickly while others keep quite well. AtMeridian, Miss., nuts from 5 different seedling trees ranged from 2 to34% mold infection at harvest. Studies made by John R. Large at U. S.Pecan Field Station, Albany, Ga., showed that much of the infection ofthe nuts by molds occurred after they had fallen from the burs and whilethe nuts were in contact with the soil. It is, therefore, essential thatthe nuts be harvested promptly after they are mature.
As a general practice the nuts should be gathered every other day duringthe ripening season. Burs that have split open and exposed the brownnuts should be knocked from the trees, and all of the nuts on the groundshould be gathered up cleanly. It would be difficult to emphasize toostrongly the importance of harvesting the nuts promptly as soon as theyare mature. Prompt and careful attention must then be given to theconditions under which they are stored if they are to remain for long inan edible and viable condition.
After the nuts have been gathered[10] they should be held in a layer notexceeding 1 or 2 inches deep for 3 or 4 days. It is important that theybe kept in a well-ventilated building and that the sun does not strikethe nuts during curing. After the preliminary curing, the nuts should beplaced in friction-top metal cans (slip-top cans) and the lids shouldnot be tight for the first month of storage. The nuts contain enoughmoisture after the short curing process that the lids will "sweat", orsurplus moisture will accumulate on the under side. This will disappearslowly by evaporation during the first month or 6 weeks of storage andthe lids may then be pushed firmly into place, making the can nearlyairtight. The containers of nuts should be held in cold storage attemperatures of 32° to 36°F. While some nuts have kept quite well attemperatures as high as 45°F., the tests indicate that the nearer thestorage temperature is to 32°F., the less is the mold development.Placing the cans in an ordinary home refrigerator should prove fairlysatisfactory with nuts that have good keeping quality.
[Footnote 10: If the nuts are infected with weevils, they shouldimmediately be treated after harvesting with the hot water or methylbromide treatment as recommended by the United States Department ofAgriculture, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine.]
It is essential that the nuts be placed in storage immediately afterthey have had the preliminary curing. Any delay may increase thepossibility of mold development.
In the winter of 1945-46, nuts from 6 seedling Chinese chestnut treeswere stored separately in five-gallon friction-top cans at the PlantIndustry Station, Beltsville, Md., at 32°F. for approximately 6 months.The results are given in Table 1. It will be noted that there was somevariation in the percentage of spoiled nuts in the different lots, butthe loss was small when compared with results obtained by other methods.All of the sound nuts in these lots were planted in a rodent-proofcoldframe immediately after they were removed from storage, and from 90to 95% germination of the seed was obtained throughout.
It is almost impossible to keep some varieties satisfactorily with eventhe best of care. Because of the great difference in keeping quality ofthe nuts of different varieties and from different seedling trees, eachchestnut grower should study the keeping performance of the nuts fromthe different trees in his own orchard. He should save for permanenttrees those producing nuts that keep well.
The method of storing chestnuts that perhaps has been more widely usedthan any other is to pack the nuts in slightly moist sphagnum moss orfresh hardwood sawdust in boxes and place them in cold storage at 32°F.to 34°F. A little less volume of packing material than of nuts iscustomarily used. The correct amount of moisture may be attained byadding 4 fluid ounces of water to 1 pound of dry sphagnum moss. There isgreat danger of getting too much moisture, which will tend to causespoilage. If the cold storage compartment is one that has a tendency todry the stored material, it may be necessary at some time during theyear to open up the boxes and add a little moisture to the sphagnum, butin most storage houses this is not necessary.
Based upon results obtained during the last 2 or 3 years, it seemsprobable that the method of storing chestnuts in friction-top cans willprove to be more efficient than other methods now in use. Tests areunder way to determine the most desirable moisture content of nuts atthe time of storage. If this can be determined the present period ofpreliminary curing will become a matter of reducing the moisturecontent of the nuts to a known amount before they are stored. It islikely that other refinements of the method will be made in the nearfuture, but the procedure here described has given results that meritfurther trial by those concerned with chestnut storage problems.
TABLE I—Record of Keeping Quality of Nuts from 6 Seedling Chinese Chestnut Trees Stored In Friction-Top Cans At 32°F. for Approximately 6 Months At Beltsville, Winter—1945-46[11]
====================================================================== Total Weight Weight of Weight of Tree Number of Nuts Sound Nuts Spoiled Nuts Percent Spoiled 4-24-46—Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. ——————————————————————————————————— 7861 23.69 23.08 .61 2.57 7881 25.20 24.63 .57 2.26 7930 26.85 26.48 .37 1.37 7932 24.29 23.80 .49 2.02 7938 29.00 27.48 1.52 5.24 8174 15.82 14.80 1.02 6.45 ====================================================================== ALL LOTS 144.85 140.27 4.58 3.16
[Footnote 11: Weighed and examined 4/24/46.]
Essential Elements in Tree Nutrition
(Paper presented before the Northern Nut Growers Association Convention, September 3-5, 1946, Wooster, Ohio.)
By J. F. Wischhusen Manganese Research & Development Foundation, Cleveland 10, Ohio
Mankind has harbored an age-old grudge against insects and fungi, sothat under the heading of crop protection from these pests there hasdeveloped a large insecticide and fungicide industry.
Relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of anutritional character that can be obtained from simultaneousapplications of essential elements. Insects will probably alwaysconstitute a problem of destruction, either of them or by them. Butfungi, bacteriae, viruses, can be made to combat, control and balanceeach other; depending on the conditions under which their propagation iseither facilitated or inhibited.
There is evidence that so-called essential nutrients, also variouslyreferred to as "minor", "trace", "rare", or "micro" elements play adirect as well as indirect role of considerable importance in thismatter, and that trees can be fertilized, sprayed, injected or treatedwith them in other ways to insure their growth, health, crop bearingability, longevity, disease—frost—and drought—resistance. There stillexists a paucity of scientific explanations on these subjects, but thereis already a good deal of scattered information, which it is my purposeto draw to your attention. People do not care about scientific facts ifthey can obtain results without them, and then scientific concepts toomay undergo changes. The manner in which trees obtain their nutrientsfrom soil, air and water, however, will forever remain unchanged,whether we understand it or not, and it behooves every grower to observeeffects from causes, and to reflect upon them, and report hisobservations to his association for the benefit of all.
Physical Soil Characteristics
That the primary requisites for tree growing are the physicalcharacteristics of all soils favorable for that purpose requires nodiscussion. The successful nut tree planting starts with the soil,whether it be on the scale of an orchard, grove, or just a few treesaround the farm or garden.
The better soils for general crop production are on limestone, basalt,dolemite, dolerite, diorite and gabbro formations, whereas sandstones,aplites, granites, pierre shale, cretacious rocks and volcanicformations weather into inferior soils. Gneiss can be sometimes good,sometimes unfavorable for building of fertile soil.
It is well to bear in mind that geology and botany are our twofundamental sciences, and that all our other sciences are in realitydepartments of these. Chemistry can be either a branch of botany if itdeals with organic chemistry, or else a branch of geology, if it dealswith inorganic chemistry, and it would appear that the modern scientificgrower of nut trees or any other crops is wittingly or unwittinglyconcerned with both. Biology and zoology both are branches of botany.
The Essential Elements
In the past, economics have governed any crop production, whether oftrees, grains, fruits or vegetables; not nutrition and health. Thefuture in all likelihood will demand improved crops from the standpointof nutritional purposes as foods. It is gradually being realized thatthe production of better crops can be brought about by greaterapplication of essential nutrients to soils or as nutritional spraysdirect to trees, and that such practices also reflect true economics.The same principle should govern wood production.
According to our today's knowledge, there are at least nineteen elementsinvariably essential to life, viz:
It is furthermore safe to state at the present time that fertile soilsshould contain at least the following twenty elements: Nitrogen,phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, hydrogen, carbon,oxygen, iron, sodium, chlorine, aluminum, silicon, manganese, copper,zinc, boron, iodine, and fluorine.
Until quite recently many scientists believed that only the first tenelements were necessary for growth and maturing of crops; that only thefirst three should be considered as fertilizer ingredients, and that theothers were supplied by soil, air and water, or were present as naturalfillers in manures and fertilizer raw materials.
The modern agronomist, however, takes all these twenty essentialelements into consideration, and many so-called "complete" fertilizerscontain at least sixteen to eighteen, if not all of the elementsmentioned above. Cobalt, essential to animal nutrition, can also mosteconomically be supplied through the soil, even though crops growwithout it.
As long as we have sufficient experimental research data that at leastnineteen elements are invariably essential to all life, it stands toreason, that they at least must also be present in one way or anotherfor the normal, or better the optimum growth of nut trees, and a crop ofmore nutritious nuts. Therefore, every time one of them is considered,all the others must also be borne in mind. It will neither provedifficult nor costly to experiment with them. It is a matter of findingthe proper balance of everything essential for optimum nut tree growing.
Indeed, to ascertain the true balance of all elements that areinvariably essential to life, and their relationship to the elementswhich are variably essential, would quite naturally appear to constitutethe quintessence of research still to be performed. We cannot controlsuch essential factors as climate, weather, sunshine, but man cancontrol the supply and adjustment of nutrients to trees, and it restsentirely with him to do so.
There is one advantage a nut crop has over some other crops; it does nothave to be harvested before fully mature. Nut crops obtain the benefitfrom elements that may be slowly assimilated during the season.
The following experimental and historical evidence and opinions havecome to my attention, and I record them for what interest they may have.Past experience is often discarded as too old, but many a time anexperimenter was ahead of his time, and his work remained unrecognized,so that now some old references can be revived and presented asnovelties. What the past ignored may indeed be due to the ignorance ofthose who did the ignoring.
1) The Chestnut Blight
The chestnut blight, for instance, of a generation ago, may bere-examined in the light of the proceedings before a chestnut blightconference, held at Harrisburg, Penna., February 20-21, 1912. A chestnutextract manufacturer, a Mr. W. M. Benson[3], stated at the time that inhis experience the best extracts were made from trees high in lime. "Ablighted tree," he stated, "is simply a tree in the process of starvingto death for lack of lime." Maps showed that the blight was worst wherethere was least lime, and that the chestnut trees died last inTennessee, where soils are high in lime. Analysis showed that chestnutscontained 40% lime, an unheard of amount. That this high test mayreflect a faulty condition is pointed out later.
All I can add to this is that there is an English Walnut Tree, Alpinevariety, on the farm of Mr. Deknatel, on Route 202, Chalfont, Penna.,which is remarkable for its virility and crops of large nuts. This treegrows in a place protected by house and barn near a well, in limestonesoil. It resisted the severe winters of 1935 and 1936, when many otherEnglish Walnuts in the vicinity died. My opinion is that any tree inthat location would be an outstanding tree; and vice versa, had thatparticular tree been planted in another location, it would have done nobetter than any trees there located. Nuts from that tree might well betested and compared with nuts from other trees.
2) The Banana Blight
The banana blight in Central America threatened for a while to be asdestructive as the chestnut blight in this country. It was dueadmittedly to an attack by soil fungi, but no fungicide to foliage or tothe soil served its purpose. However, the proper restoration ofbacterial life in soils to keep the soil fungi in check provedeffective. This was a matter not of the presence or absence of any oneinorganic nutrient, but of restoring to soils the balance of fertility,an abundance of organic matter as food for bacteriae. Dr. George D.Scarseth, West Lafayette, Ind.[4], is one of those largely responsiblefor correcting this epidemic. His experience may prove useful to nutgrowers, so that they may not live in constant fear of another blightepidemic such as the one that exterminated our chestnuts only ageneration ago.
3) Tree Nutrition, Microbial
From England comes interesting information about "Tree Nutrition"[5].Evidence shows that the healthy growth of trees such as pines andspruces is intimately bound up with an association between their rootsand fungi present in woodland soil. Poverty in mineral nutrients is nolonger regarded as a necessarily critical factor in the failure ofgrowth of trees of this kind, since the associated fungi have at theirdisposal sources of supply inaccessible to the roots of higher plants.
Experiments carried out during the past ten years at Wareham in Englandfully confirm the opinion expressed long ago by Professor Elias Melin,Upsala, Sweden, that the growth of trees and other plants on poor soilsof the raw humus type is greatly influenced by the root-fungusassociation. By fostering the appropriate combination it has beenpossible to carry out successful afforestation of heathland so poor thatordinary cultural methods prove inadequate for the least exacting treespecies. Satisfying the mineral requirements of the trees by directapplication of fertilizers is not in itself sufficient treatment toensure continued healthy growth; biological factors also play anessential role in promoting soil fertility. The experiments have shownthat failure of the trees to establish a satisfactory biologicalequilibrium with the necessary fungi is due in this case, not to theabsence of these fungi in the soil, but to their inactivation by toxicproducts of biological origin. The factors inhibiting the activity ofthe fungi can be removed by the application of comparatively smallamounts of organic composts which produce dramatic and lasting effectson the growth of roots and shoots.
The special composts used are prepared from organic materials such asstraw, hop waste and sawdust. The mechanism by which they stimulategrowth is still obscure. All of them contain small amounts of directlyavailable plant foods such as phosphates and potash, but carefulinvestigation both in laboratory pot cultures and in the field, hasshown that these can account for only a relatively temporary effect ongrowth. It is suggested that the composts act mainly by modifying thecourse of humus decomposition, thus bringing about drastic changes inthe biological activities of the organic substrate of the soil.
This demonstration of the profound influence of biological factors onthe nutrition of trees challenges the attention of foresters and hasimportant practical applications. By making use of suitable composts, itwill be possible to carry out the successful afforestation of landformerly regarded as wholly unproductive.
For further information see "Problems of Tree Nutrition"[5].
From the two foregoing examples it is seen that in the case of bananablight, fungi had to be suppressed by bacteriae, but that for pine treeson poor English soils fungi had to be activated for proper treenutrition.
4) Inorganic Tree Nutrients
Other information also from England concerns the use of so-called"minerals" which I prefer to call "essential inorganic nutrients," andname by the element or the compound in which the element is contained."Minerals", strictly speaking, refers to compounds formed by nature asrocks, ores, brines, salt deposits, etc.
Professor Wallace, Director of Britain's Long Ashton ResearchStation[6], has laid the foundation for diagnosing mineral deficienciesby leaf symptoms. These are reliable indicators of what nutrients tofurnish plants when they are distinct and easily recognized. But forsubacute deficiencies, plant analysis and injections are resorted to.Injections of manganese sulphate as pellets into holes drilled in trunksof cherry trees caused orchards that had been barren, to bear heavycrops a few months later.
Manganese, boron, zinc, copper, iron, magnesium also lend themselvesquite readily for applications as nutritional sprays, when applied assuitable compounds such as the sulphates. Both spray applications andtree injections have great diagnostic values, because a response tothem, if needed is relatively quick. When trees are deficient theirfoliage will show marked improvement from a spray application within afew days, so that a test can be made on a few trees before an entireorchard is treated. Trunk injections should of course be made during thedormant season for results to show the following summer.
5) Nutritional Sprays
Florida and California lead in the application of nutritional sprays oncitrus and other fruit[7]. Vegetables, too, respond remarkablythereto[8]. I see no reason why nut trees likewise should not benefitfrom them, especially when other spray materials are used. Coppersulphate, zinc sulphate, manganese sulphate, magnesium sulphate, ironsulphate, cobalt sulphate and borax are all compatible with each otherand with most other spray materials. Combination sprays seem to performbetter, anyway, than single sprays, and the only objection would seem tobe that some element is applied that is not deficient. It can be takenfor granted, however, that nothing is wasted, even though the benefitsmay be invisible. Soils benefit in the long run from sprays. Oneelement, even though not noticeably needed, may make another availableor it may antidote toxicity of some element present to excess. Indirectresults in all likelihood are always obtained.
In Florida, recommendations for spray applications to citrus are madeannually[9]. They can be obtained from the Florida Citrus Commission,Lakeland, Fla. A typical formulae is as follows:
3-5 lbs. zinc sulphate | 3-5 lbs. manganese sulphate | per 100 gallons of water or 2-5 lbs. copper sulphate with | other spray material equal amounts of lime.|
1 gallon of lime sulphur or 1-1/2 lbs. of lime is used for every 3 lbs. of sulphate of manganese or zinc.
Cherries, apples, plums are quite responsive to such applications, and Ihave seen the defoliation of prune trees in New York State correctedwith a mixture containing:
Manganese 10% | All as metallic, in the form of hydrated oxides, Copper 10% | and applied at the rate of 4 lbs, for the combination Zinc 5% | material per 100 gallons. Boron 1%| The addition of 2 lbs. lime is optional.
In California a manganese deficiency has been observed on EnglishWalnuts[10], and 5-15 lbs. commercial manganese sulphate was used per100 gallons of water during late May, through June, to correct this.
Sprays should be applied at ten day intervals until the deficiencysymptoms no longer persist.
Plausible reasons for the somewhat quicker action of sprays thanfertilizers may be furnished by two prominent authorities:
McCollum[11], one of our foremost nutritionists, first noted thediscovery that the leaf of the plant is a complete food, and that noneof the storage organs of plants, seeds, tubers, roots, fruits enjoy thatdistinction. In the leaf, biological processes are most active. It isthe site of synthesis of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The leaf isrich in actively functioning cells which contain everything necessaryfor the metabolic processes, and they supply all the nutrients which ananimal requires. ("All flesh is grass").
Hoagland[12], another authority, writes on this subject thus:
"It is now certain that soils are not invariably capable of supplying enough boron, zinc, copper and manganese to maintain healthy growth of plants. This knowledge has come mainly during the past ten years. Within this period thousands of cases from many parts of the world have been reported of crop failure, of plant disease, resulting from deficiencies of micro nutrient elements…. The statements do not imply that most soils are deficient in any of these elements, but the areas involved are large and important enough to warrant the view that the recognition of micro nutrient deficiencies constitutes a development in applied plant nutrition of major significance.
"When I refer to deficiencies of boron, copper, manganese, or zinc, it is not a question of absolute deficiency in total quantity of the element present in the soil, but rather a physiological deficiency arising from the insufficient availability of the element in the plant; in other words, not enough of the element can be absorbed and distributed in the plant for its physiological needs at each successive phase of growth."
Nutritional sprays under such circumstances may prove the remedy, and wehave experimental evidence to support this. Nut trees as is shown by theabove mentioned experiment, may respond to spray applications equally aswell as citrus, other fruit and vegetables, and effects, too may possessspecial diagnostic values, showing the need of trees, and therefore alsothe need of soils on which they are grown.
Investigators are constantly confronted with determining whether foliageshows symptoms of disease or starvation, and whether this is due to adeficiency or an excess of any particular nutrient; whether fungicidesinhibit the generation of fungi from the spore state, or whether theplant is fortified from sprays or dusts to become disease resistant, orrepellent.
Fungicides are valueless where plant disease is caused by bacteriaewhich invade the water conducting tubes, (roughly corresponding to theblood vessels of mammals), of plants, tree trunks, etc. and prevent theflow of water and nutrient solutions from roots to leaves. Deprived ofwater and nourishment, the plants or trees will wilt and die. Where,however, soils furnish these plants with protective inorganic nutrients,such as manganese, copper, iron, zinc, borax, etc. these bacterialdiseases are prevented. Similar actions may take place in leaves.
Deficiency Symptoms. Kodachrome Slides.
Many acute deficiency symptoms have been identified by authorities andphotographed, and I am able to show Kodachrome slides of the following:
Manganese starvation on Swiss chard, spinach (five illustrations), courtesy of Dr. Robert E. Young, Waltham, Massachusetts.
Apricot, sweet cherry, lemon, onions, peanut, soybean (two illustrations), tobacco (4 illustrations), sugarbeets, walnuts, wheat, all by different authors.
Manganese deficiencies in Indiana on soyabeans, hemp, corn, by courtesy of George H. Enfield, Purdue University.
Manganese on beets (mangels), (4 illustrations), and Romaine lettuce, Nassau County, Long Island. Courtesy of Dr. H. C. Thompson, Cornell University.
Many more are published in "Hunger Signs of Crops," an illustratedreference book popular with scientific farmers and growers[13].
Other deficiencies that have been observed on nut trees are theso-called "little leaf" or "rosette" of pecans and black walnuts[14],which is due to a lack of zinc. Strangely enough, healthy orchards inthis case contained a preponderance of fungi, whereas in affectedorchards the soil microflora was predominantly bacterial[15].
We now have definite experimental evidence that lime, manganese and zincare required in appreciable quantities for the growth, health andbearing quality of nut trees. It is well to make sure of these elementsin the soils devoted to nut tree planting, but it cannot be emphasizedtoo often that all essential elements and factors should be taken careof; anyone of them may be the limiting factor in crop failure; the onethat is absent is always the most important.
In regard to inorganic nutrients, more attention has probably beendevoted to citrus trees than to any other tree species, largely becausethe soils of Florida and California require additions thereof. It wouldbe unfair to say that such main fruit crops as apples, cherries,peaches, plums have been neglected; we merely possess more informationon the nutrients of citrus trees than on other tree crops, as far as themicro essential nutrients are concerned. Most orchards and groves arefertilized only with nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, and limed whennecessary. Nitrogen can stimulate size of fruit at the expense ofquality.
A paper by P. W. Rohrbaugh[16], Plant Physiologist of the CaliforniaFruit Growers Exchange, Ontario, California, deals with eleven mineralnutrient deficiencies and their causes, viz: calcium, magnesium, potash,phosphorus, sulphur, nitrogen, iron, boron, zinc, manganese, copper, andthis might well be used as a guide for nut trees.
6) Miscellaneous
A few oddities may also be mentioned for anyone inclined to experiment:
From Holland it is reported that an avenue of large handsome shade treesclose to a century old, all died in one year, except where a junk dealerhad stacked a pile of old metals. The trees had exhausted the inorganicnutrients within reach of their roots in the soil, but the junkpile hadreplenished them sufficiently, so that those within reach of it keptalive to this day, twenty years later.
A rock mulch is reported to have improved the growth of lime and lemontrees considerably[17], and it would seem that similar experimentsshould be made on young nut trees, just before bearing age in acomparative test with a check planting. Stones can be selected for thenutrients they contain, and a geologist can easily point out thosecontaining the greatest number of elements. No one could go wrong inplacing a few rocks of limestone or dolomite near the base of a tree,and let rain and sunshine, heat and frost attend to the fertilizing in aslow but perpetual manner.
Maple sugar contains manganese[18], showing this as a distinct qualityover cane sugar. Manganese and other essential nutrients are known tofacilitate the production of proteins[19], and the question of betterquality nut production may well be examined from the viewpoint of theindirect effect from activities of soil microbiology by manganese,copper, cobalt and zinc. Some of these elements have also been classedas inorganic plant hormones[20]. "Chlorosis," the yellowing of leaves,may not only be a deficiency symptom of manganese, but also one of iron,copper and magnesium. Lack of manganese can cause a decrease inphotosynthesis[21], so much so that in manganese deficient leaves theCO2 assimilation may be reduced to half of normal. Herein, too, may liethe cause of low yields, smaller roots and lowered resistance of thoseroots to invading detrimental organism.
Contemporary work on soil microbiology may show that manganese and otheressential nutrients are perhaps most important in their functions forthe preservation and balancing of microbial life and actions in soils.There is where tree nutrition must begin; whatever is neglected in soilscan at best only temporarily be adjusted afterwards. After all,deficiency symptoms on foliage show lack of soil fertility, and while weshould welcome them for their diagnostic value, our corrective measuresto be most economical must be taken on soils.
Transmission of Inorganic Nutrients from Soils to Plants to Animals
Soil analysis and plant tissue tests both have their value, but alsotheir limitations. Many laboratories and experiment stations areequipped to make rapid soil tests, and some engage in leaf analysis. Itis important that they be correctly interpreted. For instance, at theCitrus Experiment Station, Riverside, California[22], bark and leaveswere collected from healthy and diseased Persian Walnuts. They wereanalyzed for calcium, magnesium, inorganic phosphate, manganese andiron. A higher percentage of ash was found in the diseased than in thehealthy bark, and calcium, magnesium, manganese and inorganic phosphateswere also generally higher.
It would be a fallacy I think to conclude therefrom that these elementswere not necessary, or were present to excess. They were probablypresent because they had failed to function properly, due to changes inweather, excessive rains or droughts, and could not eliminatethemselves.
We must consider the results from the functions of the essentialelements, and discard the popular belief that inorganic nutrients insoils are transmitted from soils to plants, and therein contained forthe express purpose of satisfying the need of animals and humans[23].
The plant has only one purpose to perform which is to grow and toreproduce itself, and such is the case with all other forms of life.
Plants contain very often inorganic elements in a form in which theycannot be utilized. It is therefore quite easy to mistake their presenceeither as a toxicity symptom or as a high requirement, when as a matterof fact these elements are present due to conditions unfavorable tometabolism, and they remained in bark and leaves as end products, in aninert form. Rather than being transmitted from soils to plant, theirfunctions may consist of the formation of enzymes, proteins, hormones,chlorophyll, antibodies, vitamins, in carbon assimilation. When theyhave served such purposes they are not likely to be present in plants inanything like the amounts or forms as present in soils. They may comeinto question as catalysts or bio-catalysts, as sources of energy formicroorganism, from which their optimum effects have been secured whenthey are not transmitted at all, causing changes, but remainingthemselves unchanged. They are essential in the sense that the elementscomposing soils, sea, atmosphere are constantly energized, changed andused over and over again to create plant, animal and human life. In thiscycle nothing is lost, only changed from old to new generations.
Summary
Soil factors for tree growth are physical, chemical and biological. Tocontrol the organisms of soils and plants is probably the most difficultproblem in microbiology. It is not wise to alternate neglect withfeverish attention when blights or other pests become epidemic orthreatening. They may be of a nutritional, preventable rather thancurable nature. Pathology and tree nutrition may as well become aconstant part of your activities.
References to the Literature
1. BEESON, K. C. The Mineral Composition of Crops U.S.D.A. Bulletin No.369. March, 1941
2. FEARON, W. R. A Classification of the Biological Elements Sci. Proc.Royal Dublin Soc. Vol. 20 No. 35. February, 1933
3. WISCHHUSEN, J. F. Minerals in Agricultural and in Animal HusbandryManganese Research & Development Foundation Cleveland 10, Ohio
4. RODALE, J. I. The Organic Forest—Editorial Organic Gardening,Emmaus, Pa. April, 1945, pp. 4-9
5. SCARSETH, GEORGE D. Growing Bananas on Acid SoilsAgriculture in theAmericas, Vol. IV. October, 1944, No. 10
6. RAYNER, M. C. and NEILSON-JONES, W. Problems of Tree Nutrition Faberand Faber, Lt. London
7. ROACH, W. A. Soil Fertility and Trace Elements Soil Conservation,Washington. October, 1945 Condensed in Farmer's Digest, Ambler, Pa.January, 1946
8. CAMP, A. F. The Minor Elements in Citrus Fertilization CommercialFertilizer, Atlanta, Ga. January, 1945
9. CHAPMAN, H. D.; BROWN, S. M.; and RAYNER, D. S. Nutrient Deficienciesin Citrus California Citrograph, May, 1945
10. McLEAN, F. T. Feeding Plants Manganese through the Stomata Science66 (1927). Exp. Sta. Rec No. 58
11. SPRAY AND DUST SCHEDULES, Published Annually Florida CitrusCommission, Lakeland, Fla.
12. BRAUCHER, O. L. and SOUTHWICK, B. W. Correction of ManganeseDeficiency Symptoms of Walnut Trees Proc. Horticultural Science 39.133—6. 1941
13. McCOLLUM, E. V. ORENT-KEILES The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition. FifthEdition The MacMillan Company, pp. 661-2
14. HOAGLAND, D. R. Inorganic Nutrition of Plants Chronic Botanica,1944, pp. 32-3
15. HUNGER SIGNS OF CROPS—A Symposium National Fertilizer Assn.Washington, D. C. 1941 Judd & Detwiler, Baltimore, Md.
16. BLACKMON, G. H. Variety and Stock Tests of Pecan and Walnut TreesFlorida Agr. Exp. Sta. Annual Report 1936, 75 (1937)
17. BLACKMON, G. H. Pecan Variety Response to Different Soil Types,Localities: Zinc Treatments Florida Agr. Exp. Sta. Ann. Rep. 1935, 74-5,(1936)
18. ARK, P. A. Little Leaf or Rosette of Fruit Trees VII. SoilMicroflora and Little Leaf or Rosette Disease Proc. Amer. Soc. ofHorticultural Sci. 34, 218-21. 1937
19. ROHRBAUGH, P. W. Mineral Nutrient Deficiencies in California CitrusTrees and their Causes California Citrograph, April-May, 1946
20. WHITE, CLARENCE Decorative Rock Mulches Organic Gardening, November,1945—Emmaus, Pa.
21. RIOU, PAUL and DELORME, JOACHIM Manganese in Maple and Cane SugarsComptes Rendues 200 1132-3 (1935) C.A. 294617
22. DELORME, JOACHIM Manganese in Maple and Cane Sugars Contrib. Lab.del'Ecole Hautes Etûdes Comm. Montreal No. 7, page 32 1937
23. BAUDISCH, OSKAR Biological Functions of Minor Elements Soil Sci.Vol. 60 No. 2 August, 1945
24. ELLIS, CARLETON; SWANEY, MILLER. W. Soilless Growth of PlantsReinhold Publishing Co. 1938
24. WILLIS, L. G. and PILAND, J. R. Minor Elements and Major SoilProblems Jour. Amer. Soc. Agronomy. 30—385—874 (1938)
26. HAAS, A. R. C. Walnut Yellow in Relation to Ash Composition,Manganese, Iron and Ash Constituents Bot. Gazette 94 (1933) E.S.R. 69,511
27. WISCHHUSEN, J. F. Recommendations for Feeding Manganese ManganeseResearch & Development Foundation, Cleveland 10, Ohio
Nut Tree Propagation As a Hobby for a Chemist
By Dr. E. M. Shelton, Cleveland, Ohio
Not so long ago we saw a movie by the title of "Cluny Brown." Theheroine was possessed with a passion for repairing plumbing, but wascontinually inhibited by well-meaning relatives who told her that she"didn't know her place." A scene early in the story shows Cluny on thefloor under a stopped-up kitchen sink explaining her problem to asympathetic professor who states a philosophy something like this. "Tobe happy, one should not have to be bound by what is appropriate. If itis customary to throw nuts to the squirrels and you prefer to throwsquirrels to the nuts, it should be all right to throw squirrels to thenuts."
It is obviously not always advisable to be so unconventional, but itseems to me that in matters pertaining to one's hobby it should bepermissable to throw "squirrels to the nuts."
A hobby, like a shadow, is necessarily a very personal thing. Withoutthe person with which it is associated it could not exist. Therefore, Ifeel that it is appropriate to present throughout this paper a liberaluse of the pronoun in the first person.
Years ago, as a boy on an Ohio farm, I tried repeatedly, withoutsuccess, to graft on small hickory trees along the river bank scionsfrom one especially good tree that stood out in a cultivated field. Timethat followed was too crowded for further attempts at nut treepropagation until about fifteen years ago, when, living in Connecticut,I bought a grafted walnut, a Thomas, and set out to produce more likeit. Before we left Connecticut, I had been able to present graftedwalnut trees to many of my neighbors who had persisted, hitherto, incalling hickory-nuts "walnuts." They would listen with some show ofinterest while I expounded on my enthusiasm for black walnuts, butsooner or later would inevitably ask, "Do you mean the shagbark kind?"
Last summer we drove back to Connecticut for a brief visit, and, oncalling at the home of one of these friends, we found that the first nutborne on their Thomas tree had been carefully saved. Forthwith there wasa solemn nut-cracking ceremony, and all present tasted the meat andpronounced it good. We hope that that tree and many others will thrivefor years to come to add to the bonds of friendship with these neighborswe have known.
Lately I have arranged my work so that we may once again live in Ohionot too far from my boyhood home. Last year I tried once again to graftalong the hillside scions from that prized hickory, and this time sixout of seven grafts have grown.
My field of work has been that of a chemist, engaged in industrialproblems related to animal and plant products. Hence, my hobby and myday's work are productive of mutually helpful ideas. The literaturewhich I review frequently contains suggestions applicable to the variousphases of tree propagation. Though a few references are quoted in thebibliography at the end of this paper, these are for illustration onlyand comprise a very small number of those which have appeared.
My experiments in nut tree propagation have been reported from time totime in the yearbooks of the N.N.G.A. and I intend in the remainder ofthis paper only to outline problems under a number of general headingsin which I am particularly interested, and give some indication ofprocedures which seem worth while investigating.
An important phase of nut growing to which I have given little attentionis the search for new varieties. I find my interest in this aspectgrowing as I associate with the group of nut growers in Ohio, whothrough prize contests and active personal work are trying to discoversuperior nut trees in nature, yet I do not find in this the opportunityI seek for experimentation unless it may be in the matter ofhybridization.
Rootstock Propagation
Rootstocks for walnuts and hickories are very easily grown from seed.Chestnuts are grown with variable success, and it would seem thatparticular care in drainage of the seed bed, and possibly the use of oneof the seed fungicides, should improve chestnut germination.
The present trend in the propagation of fruit trees is toward selectionof particularly suitable rootstocks. Do some nut tree seedlings acceptgrafts more readily than others? We do not know. Numerous writers havediscussed the idea of varying degrees of compatibility of rootstockswith scions and Jones[1] has brought together considerable evidence torelate incompatibility among plants with something parallel to allergyin animals. Initial growth of the scion leads to a flow of foreignbodies into the stock. The theory is advanced that the stock developsantitoxins to these foreign bodies which succeed in killing the scion afew weeks later.
If a particular strain of nut tree stock is some day found to be ofparticular value for grafting, or for propagation of a disease resistanttype, as in the chestnut, the propagation of such stock vegetativelywould be essential. A present illustration is the series of Mallingapple rootstocks which are grown from cuttings.
I have tried many times to grow chestnuts from cuttings with no success.A few experiments now in progress are limited to Malling IX apple stockswhich I assume are not especially difficult to root. I am trying severalmodifications of a principle of making the cuttings at some time aftergirdling the stem. The hope is that in this way there will beaccumulated at the base of the cutting more than the usual reserve ofnutritive elements together with whatever plant wound hormones and plantgrowth substances the twig is capable of synthesizing.
Scion Storage
In earlier papers I described the use of sodium sulfate crystals(Glauber's salt) for controlling the humidity in scion storage. Thisseason I have adapted the practice to the shipping of fresh walnut budsticks. A sack of Glauber's salt in the bottom of the mailing tube keepsthe cuttings moist, and if, in addition, the container is kept in arefrigerator when not actually in transit, the buds have been kept incondition for use up to twenty-five days.
A low temperature is essential in storage of any scions. Variations inthis factor may have been the cause of some of the objections which havebeen raised to the practice of coating scions with wax when they go intostorage. If wax is to be applied over a scion, it can be done moreuniformly and in a thinner coating by immersion of the scion in meltedwax. The scion so coated seems to be in better condition than anuncoated scion when it comes out of storage provided the storagetemperature has been low. However, if the wood has not been kept dormantby low temperature, gases are evolved which form blisters under the waxand injure the scion. It is quite probable that a wax coating thenaggravates this damage.
Grafting and Budding
Until this year I had not tried budding, and have gotten into it firstof all to learn whether an ordinary laboratory cork borer is not ausable substitute for a patch bud cutter. It seems to do very well. Thepatches are small, but as an aid in tieing them in I prepared shortstrips of painter's masking tape with a thin coat of a plastic graftingwax on one side. In the center of each piece of tape is a hole justlarge enough for the bud to show through. The tape is pressed on overthe bud patch, after which the usual binding with rubber strips isapplied.
The whole technic of budding is fascinating and I plan to experiment asextensively next season as time and stock permit.
Wax and Tape
In 1937, Shear[2] published a report on a number of wound dressings fortrees in which he observed that lanolin exerts a marked action instimulating cambial growth. This led me to try various wax combinationsin which lanolin was incorporated, and a mixture of equal parts oflanolin and beeswax has become the base for most of my experimentalgrafting wax mixtures. I have commented already on the importance ofincorporating an opaque ingredient to exclude light. Experiments inprogress this season have had to do with introduction of green vs. reddye and with the incorporation of a wax soluble pyrridyl mercuricstearate[3] as a fungicide.
I have recommended painter's masking tape for tying in scions in allcases in which moderate tension is sufficient. A winding of such a tapeof course excludes the grafting wax from contact with the line ofcambial contact, so any favorable action which any ingredient in the waxmight have must be largely interfered with. If a tape is prepared with athin coating of plastic grafting wax on one side to serve as theadhesive, it should be possible to bring the wax into contact with thecut cambial surface without, however, introducing such a mass of wax aswould make its way between stock and scion and interfere with contact.
Nutrition
My own field of work has recently changed to nutrition, infant feeding,and I shall undoubtedly come to have more of an understanding of plantnutrition as well as of babies as I study longer on this subject.
Our recollections of the "good old days" are often mistaken, but I thinkthere is no doubt that the nut trees bore more and better nuts when Iwas a boy than we can find now. Can it be a matter of nutritionalfailure?
The first consideration in plant nutrition seems to be the water supply,and perhaps in many localities the water table has fallen sufficientlyto threaten our trees with malnutrition.
The supply of the common mineral elements may or may not be adequate.These elements should not be difficult to supply. The matter of thetrace elements and their significance catches our fancy at present andmany of us will undoubtedly begin to explore the effect of this or thatpanacea for restoring a favorite old tree to a second youth.
Medication
It is only a step from the consideration of nutrition of a plant oranimal to that of medication. Remedial agents are readily introducedinto plants, either through the roots, or by spray on the foliage, or bydirect injection into the trees. Going a little further, such methodsbecome means of killing trees.
A few years ago, I became interested in killing trees in a way whichwould prevent sprouting and also protect the wood to some extent frominsect attack and decay organisms. More recently my interest has turnedtoward the use of hygroscopic chemicals injected in the living tree forthe purpose, not only of killing the tree, but of preventing the woodfrom cracking radially or drying. A number of governmentpublications[4-10] have contributed information along this line.
To inject enough chemical to accomplish this purpose it seems necessaryto introduce the chemical solution through a cut the depth of the sapwood and extending entirely around the tree. A collar of water-proofpaper cemented to the tree provides a means of supplying the chemicalsolution to the cut. All this is described in the literature cited. Theonly contribution I have made is the use of urea in the solutions.
Many salts are more soluble in a water solution of urea than in wateralone, and many such mixtures are very hygroscopic. Moreover, it seemsthat in the presence of urea higher concentrations of salt may beintroduced into the sap stream of trees, though I do not as yet haveexperimental data to confirm this statement quantitatively.
An example of a solution injected into a small ash tree is as follows:
90 grams urea
120 grams copper sulfate crystals
300 cubic centimeters water
I hope in another year to cure a number of varieties of woods on thestump and later to compare their qualities in the shop with lumber curedin the usual way.
By-Products
Any object as juicy and colorful as a black walnut hull may well becomea subject for search in recovery of by-products. The thermally activecarbon made from the shells has actuated laboratory thermostats for mefor several years.
But more real and immediate by-products have been the personalassociations which have arisen from this hobby. Physicians, engineers,teachers, farmers, persons from every calling are among those whom Ihave met through a common interest in nut tree propagation. I canrecommend this hobby to anyone mature enough to take an interest in thefuture, and to chemists in particular.
Bibliography
1. W. NEILSON JONES Plant Chimaeras and Graft Hybrids Methuen andCompany, London
2. SHEAR-LANOLIN As a Wound Dressing for Trees Proc. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci.34, 286-8 (1937)
4. U. S. BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE—E-409—June 1937. Amethod for preventing insect injury to material used for posts, poles,and rustic construction.
5. E-434—May 1938, An efficient method for introducing liquid chemicalsinto living trees.
6. E-467—February 1939, Chemicals and methods used in treatments oftrees by injections, with annotated bibliography.
7. Conn. Agr. Expt. Sta.—Cir. No. 123—July, 1938 The use of watersoluble preservatives in preventing decay in fence posts and similarmaterials.
8. U. S. D. A.—Cir. No. 605—June, 1941 The internal application ofchemicals to kill elm trees and prevent bark-beetle attack.
9. FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY—November, 1938 A primer on the chemicalseasoning of Douglas fir.
10. REPRINT FROM JOURNAL OF FORESTRY—Vol. 35—March, 1937 (Procuredfrom Forest Products Laboratory) Seasoning transverse tree sectionswithout checking.
Notes on Propagation and Transplanting in Western Tennessee
By Joseph C. McDaniel, State Horticulturist
Tennessee Department of Agriculture
Nashville 3, Tennessee
These observations are presented as a preliminary report of the resultsobtained by three enterprising amateurs of nut growing in the westerncounties of Tennessee, whose work points the way toward overcoming someof the weaknesses previously encountered in nut culture in the northernpart of the cotton belt states. These growers are the "three R's" of ourAssociation in west Tennessee: Dr. Aubrey Richards of Whiteville, Mr.George Rhodes of Covington, and Mr. W. F. Roark of Malesus. I am givingthis brief account of some of their experiences, with the hope that itwill stimulate others to try their methods under various conditions, andto report their results at later N.N.G.A. meetings. We do not expectthese methods to work equally well in all parts of the United States andCanada represented here today, but they are giving promising results inthe mid-South territory, and perhaps will have value in a wider area. AsMr. Davidson has so ably done at this meeting in the case of his Ohioplantings, we expect to give you a follow-up report on this work in westTennessee at the Toronto meeting or later.
"Twin-T" Budding in Chestnut Propagation
Of the nut trees grown in this area, the chestnut has been the mostdifficult to propagate by budding. Nurseries in the upper South havepropagated their pecan and walnut trees mostly by patch-budding or thesimilar ring-budding method, with very good success. When applied tochestnuts, patch-buds have seldom grown. The common T-bud, likewise, hasbeen a general failure on chestnuts in America, though reportedsuccessful in Japan. Chip-buds have not been much-better.
Several years ago, Dr. Max B. Hardy told me that the inlay bark-grafthad been used successfully with Chinese chestnuts at the U.S.D.A,laboratory in Albany, Ga., following Dr. B. G. Sitton's use of thismethod with pecans in Louisiana. (It is described in a bulletin fromMichigan State College, East Lansing, Mich.) I tried it in a small way,and had some success using it on chestnuts in July and August. Thisspring I suggested it to Mr. Roark and Dr. Richards, both of whom triedit out, using Castanea mollissima stocks and various scion varieties.
Mr. Roark used the inlay bark-graft in the spring, topworking a C.mollissima seedling with scions of the Colossal, a hybrid variety fromCalifornia. About 50 per cent of these have grown this year. Dr.Richards tried it during July, on C. mollissima seedlings from adifferent source. None of the Colossal would grow on his trees, but hewas partially successful with scions of the C. mollissima varieties,Hobson, Carr and Zimmerman. He then devised a variation in the methodwhich was highly successful with C. mollissima varieties. This I shallcall the Richards "Twin-T" bud.
In "Twin-T" budding, a vertical slit is made in the bark of the stock.Then horizontal cuts are made through the bark at both top and bottom ofthe vertical cut. The bud piece is cut from the well matured part of acurrent season's twig, leaving a rather thick slice of wood beneath thebud. (It may be as thick as half the diameter of the twig.) The bud isinserted in the stock as in ordinary T-budding, then wrapped with alarge sized rubber budding strip. (Westinghouse electrician's tape andCurity adhesive tape have also been used. Some other brands poisoned thebuds.) The "take" of Chinese chestnut buds by this method has run from60 to 90 per cent on Dr. Richards' trees of various sizes this year. Ina short nursery row, buds were placed under first or second year bark,while larger trees were topworked by placing the buds mostly under thebark of second year limbs.
The Colossal failed again on Dr. Richards' trees when budded by the"Twin-T" method, but Carr and other Chinese varieties were buddedsuccessfully. The graft-compatibility problem in chestnuts is one ofconsiderable complexity. Thus Carr, which has presented incompatibilitywith certain stocks of C. mollissima at other places, grew on thesetrees, and Colossal, compatible on another C. mollissima tree, failed ontrees which are apparently compatible with Carr. The Chinese chestnutspecies varies in its graft-compatibilities possibly as much as in othercharacteristics (growth, productivity, size and quality of nuts, etc.)so that nut nurserymen should begin to select their seed for chestnutunderstocks with a view toward getting strains with a greater degree ofcompatibility to the leading scion varieties.
Mr. Roark has been able to propagate the Colossal upon its own roots bylayering a small tree in his orchard. Two limbs pegged into the groundin the spring of 1945 had produced roots a year later, and were thendetached from the parent tree. This is a slow but sure method ofpropagating nut tree varieties that are not congenial with the stocksavailable for grafting or budding. He has also layered sweet cherriesand prune trees by this method which is described in U.S.D.A. FarmersBulletin 1501 with reference to filberts.
A Heartnut Variety Compatible with Black Walnut Stocks
Seedling black walnuts are common on farms of west Tennessee. Dr.Richards and Mr. Rhodes have been most active in showing that these canbe topworked readily to improved black walnut varieties under theconditions prevailing there. Mr. Rhodes has also fruited such olderPersian walnut varieties as Lancaster, Mayette, and Franquette on blackwalnut stocks, but finds them generally unproductive in his climate.Newer varieties, including some selections of the Carpathian strains arenow being tried and should be of fruiting age soon. Mr. Rhodes has alsofound, at Covington, a heartnut that is vigorous and productive underwest Tennessee conditions. He finds that it buds readily on the nativeblack walnut. Some budded trees of it are over a dozen years old. Theyhave medium sized nuts, smooth shelled (with fairly thick shells for aheartnut) and kernels of good flavor, coming out whole when the nuts arecracked carefully. I am giving this variety the name Rhodes, andsuggesting it for use in west Tennessee because of its adaptability andthe fact that it can be budded upon black walnut. Others have reportedJapanese walnut (including heartnut) varieties incompatible with blackwalnut at other locations. Dr. Richards has propagated some otherheartnut varieties on black walnut, but finds them more variable thanthe Rhodes, in obtaining a good union.
Paper Wrap Gives Summer-Long Protection to Transplanted Trees
Too commonly, transplanted nut trees suffer from sunscald injury ontheir southwest sides during the first summer in the orchard. Thisinjury is particularly common on pecans, which suffer a severe shockfrom transplanting and are slow in re-establishing vigorous growth. Inwest Tennessee, as one grower puts it, "A pecan is doing well if itholds one green leaf its first year." Pecans have been known to remaindormant in their tops until the second spring after planting, and thenstart growth. During this initial period of establishment in theorchard, it is beneficial to give some kind of shade to the tree trunk,to keep the bark from "cooking" and dying on part of the most exposedside. Waxing of the trunks before planting helps reduce drying out ofthe tops before the roots are partially regenerated and top growthbegins, but waxing alone, under our conditions, is not sufficient toprevent the frequent occurrence of a dead area starting on the southwestside of the trunk during the summer following tree setting.
Dr. Richards has found that a heavy wallpaper of a cheap grade, cut instrips and wrapped spirally to cover the tree trunk from the ground up,lasts through the season and eliminates nearly all of the sunscaldinjury on pecans which he has moved from his farm nursery row to theorchard. With trees that are shipped long distances, and allowed to dryout too much before resetting, the results are not so uniform. We arestill in favor of the use of wax coatings on trees that must be shipped,but would recommend that they be given additional protection by somemeans, to shade the trunks throughout the first growing season. Thispaper wrap of Dr. Richards seems as efficient as any method, and is themost economical I have observed. It should be beneficial on most speciesof nut trees under summer conditions in the mid-south region.
Propagating Nut Trees Under Glass
By Stephen Bernath, Poughkeepsie, New York
About ten years ago I decided to try a few nut grafts in my smallpropagating house. The results were so satisfactory that since that timeI have grafted from a few hundred to several thousand each year.
I found by experiment that I could not graft nut trees exactly as I didornamental trees and shrubs, due to their extra sap content. Nut treesbleed excessively and I had to overcome this or my losses were heavy. Iuse no wax on grafts. My method is as follows: I take a strong lightstring and wax it with beeswax and parafin mixed fifty-fifty. I use amodified side graft, tying with this waxed string.
Late in December or early in January, I pot the understock, using blackwalnut seedlings for four varieties (Persian walnut, butternut, blackwalnut and heartnut). I make sure the understock has had its rest periodby not digging and storing them until they have been really hit by frostand left for a period, to be sure the wood has matured for the season.The mature understock is then stored in moist sand in a cool cellar.
In late-December, as I have stated, I place the understock in benchesusing 3-1/2 to 4 inch pots, wetting them thoroughly after imbedding themin peat moss. Keep the moss damp and at a temperature of 55 degrees atnight. After two or three weeks examine the roots by knocking severalloose from the pots. If root action has started, the roots will showwhite thread-like fibers and are ready for grafting. This is important,because if grafting is done too soon the loss is heavy. If delayed toolong the top starts growing. So I caution, do grafting when theunderstock is ready.
Place newly made grafts on their side, imbedded in moss, and refrainfrom watering until the union has formed. Open grafting case after thirdday and daily thereafter, until union is complete. Each day wipe glassoff with cloth to prevent moisture from dripping on grafts. Increasebottom heat after grafts are laid in benches from 68 to 75 degrees. Inabout three to four weeks, if union has formed, place grafts in up rightposition, then watering is resumed and heat is reduced to around 60degrees at night. When graft shows two inches or more growth, cutunderstock off close above the union, and then give house plenty ofventilation to avoid soft growth.
I find nut trees very tender subjects and delay planting theseunder-glass grown grafts out in nursery rows until every vestige offrost has passed. Also be sure to sever the waxed string as this istougher than the green graft.
If this method sounds like a great deal of work and trouble generally,remember the reward will be heavy rooted, easy to transplant, healthy,named varieties of nut trees. Who can say that, at the present, there isan abundance of such trees in this country.
The Economic, Ecological and Horticultural Aspects of Intercropping Nut Plantings
By F. L. O'Rourke Michigan State College, East Lansing, Michigan
Mature nut trees are usually large trees, and large trees demand space.Young nut trees, therefore, must be planted relatively far apart fromeach other and for the first few years, at least, there is an abundanceof unused land between the trees, which may be used for intercropping.The choice of just what crop or plants to use is often perplexing andshould be considered for several aspects.
The economic factors are of prime importance. The cost of growing thecrop, the specialized farm machinery and equipment needed, theavailability of labor, the distribution of the seasonal labor demand,the time of the critical cultural practices or of harvesting, thepotential market, and the expected price of the saleable product mustall be considered.
The staple farm crops of the region are often preferable to specialtycrops, particularly from the labor standpoint. Corn, wheat, oats,potatoes, and legumes can all be grown with a minimum of labor and theuse of power machinery. There is less risk involved with farm crops thanwith specialities, both in securing an adequate crop and in the pricereceived for the product. Fruit, vegetables and ornamentals often havevery critical requirements. They must be sprayed, harvested, and shippedat exactly the right time or all the proceeds will be lost. Staple cropsare not so demanding in either culture or harvesting.
The labor distribution throughout the season or even throughout the yearmust be considered and well planned in advance. No two crops shouldrequire exact and demanding attention at the same time. They should bechosen and planted so that a regular, even distribution of labor can bemaintained with as little of a rush period as possible and yet with aminimum of idle time.
The general agricultural pattern of the region must be considered. In asparsely settled grain and livestock region it would be quiteinadvisable to grow strawberries or other crops which require a maximumof hand labor during a very brief period. Berries, however, may beperfectly well suited to sections where either transient workers or citychildren can be secured with little effort.
The crop should suit from the ecological viewpoint. It must not competewith the young, growing trees for mineral food and water, particularlyduring spring and early summer when the trees make most of their annualgrowth. On the other hand, if planted too close to the trees, someintercrops may be shaded too severely to produce a normal yield.
Success in intercropping is usually found between plants which are quitedissimilar in form and habit. Black walnuts and pasture grasses furnisha typical example. The long taproots of the walnuts penetrate deeplyinto the soil, while the grass roots are shallow and fibrous and feedin the soil surface layer. The aerial portions of these plants arelikewise quite different, the walnuts tower high in the air, while thegrasses form their crowns on the very surface of the ground. The lightshade cast by the walnuts does not interfere with the photosyntheticactivity of the grasses, but it is sufficient to discourage growth ofbroad-leaved weeds which have a higher light requirement than that ofgrass. This light shade also tends to provide a greater supply ofavailable moisture for the grass, in that it reduces temperature and,consequently, water loss from the grass and soil by keeping down bothtranspiration and evaporation.
Experiments in both Tennessee and Ohio have shown that the quantity ofgrass produced from beneath walnut trees is greater than on equal areasin the open and that the quality, as represented by a larger proteincontent, is also higher. For this reason, one may well considerlivestock as the income-producing portion of a walnut-pasture planting.Over one fourth of the agricultural land of the United States is devotedto pasture and much of the land is suitable for interplanting towalnuts, butternuts, and other pasture trees, as honey locusts and blacklocusts, all of which are known to improve the pasture grasses to someextent. The potential income which may be derived from such plantingsover this vast acreage is enormous and is the more striking in thatthese pasture trees occupy a plane that is now idle and unproductive,that is, the area lying above the grass tops. The nuts produced on this"upper story" will represent almost all "clear profit" in that verylittle care need be given these walnut trees after they have beenproperly planted. Livestock guards will need to be placed about thetrees at planting time and kept there until the trees have grown to thepoint where they may no longer be harmed by straddling and browsing.
Pastures are excellent sites from another angle. The closely grazed sodfurnishes an ideal place to rake the nuts together at harvest time.Anyone who has hunted for nuts in a dense ground cover will appreciatethis factor.
While the walnut responds best to the deep, fertile soil of the riverbottoms and flood plains, it will grow well on the lower portions ofslopes if water is available and the site is not too exposed to theforce of drying winds. Contour strips should be prepared by plowingseveral furrows downhill, each a little less in depth than thepreceding, and the walnuts planted thereon. The walnut is a spreadingtree and plenty of space should be allowed. Perhaps it may be wise toplant the walnuts at extended intervals and fill up the contour row withblack locusts, for post wood, and honey locusts to produce succulentpods for cattle feed. In any event, it is better to allow too much,rather than too little space, as walnuts are long-lived trees and willthrive best where there is least competition. In Iowa, black walnuts areresponding well to "basin culture" in sites which were prepared by"scalping" the sod from the upper portion of a slope and depositing iton a lower portion in order to catch and retain more water.
Nut trees are like all other trees in that they react favorably to goodhorticultural practice. Fertilizer, particularly nitrogen, is usuallyalways helpful. The addition of lime when the soil is acid and oforganic matter when humus becomes depleted will aid in better soilaeration and an increased moisture supply. This, in turn, will bereflected in more vigorous tree growth and greater nut production.Occasional spraying may be necessary to control the Datana caterpillarin the summer.
Chinese chestnuts seem to be admirably adapted for interplanting withmulberries, cherries, pears, and the like in poultry runs and hog lotswhere the pigs and chickens will control the weevils by gleaning theprematurely dropped and overlooked chestnuts which contain the grubs ofthe weevil. The fruit portion of the integrated planting will maintain ahigh carbohydrate ration during the season for the use of the livestock.Here, again, plenty of space should be allowed between trees to alloweach its full measure of water, food, air and sunlight.
Careful and thorough research is needed to determine the fullrequirements of nut trees and to work out the interplantingrelationships. In view of the vast potentialities for their use,investigational programs may soon be under way and much more definiteinformation be made available to the farmer and landowner.
References
AIKMAN, J. M.—A Basin Method of Nut Tree Culture. Proc. Iowa. Acad. Sci. 50:241-246. 1943
NEEL, L. R.—The Effect of Shade on Pasture. Tenn. Exp. Sta. Cir. 65,1939
SMITH, R. M.—Some Effects of Black Locusts and Black Walnuts on Southeastern Ohio Pastures Soil Sci. 53:385-398, 1942
Nut Work At the Mahoning County Experiment Farm, Canfield, Ohio
By L. Walter Sherman, Superintendent
My interest in nuts dates back to the turn of the century when, as a boyin high school, I delighted in gathering wild nuts for my own use. Iknew of several black walnut trees bearing very fine nuts and also oneexcellent hickory. These were near my home in northern Ohio.
After my school days were over, I married and went to Oklahoma, where Ifound the most miserable wild nuts imaginable. However, I stayed but ashort time and returned to my native state where the wild nuts werereasonably good. In 1935, I made a trip to California and visited thePersian walnut orchards at harvest time. As if that were not enough toconvince me that it would be worth my while to do what I could in behalfof the nut industry, the Agricultural press of the time publishedseveral intriguing accounts of Persian walnuts growing in and nearToronto, Ontario which had been brought there by Rev. Paul C. Crath fromthe Carpathian Mountains of Poland.
My constant talk about hardy strains of Persian walnut prompted friendsto tell me of several plantings already growing in northern Ohio withmore or less success. I promptly obtained scions and undertook to grafta number of these, but I had the usual ill-success of a beginner. Ifailed in attempts to top work trees and had no better results withbench grafting although I began early in the season and continued myefforts till the time arrived for planting the trees. I stored thegrafted material in a cool apple storage house from the time they weregrafted until they were planted. Then somehow I learned that walnutwounds would not callous over except at relatively high temperatures.Accordingly, I placed my next bench-grafted trees in a warm greenhouse,where growth started at once. This marked my first successful graftingof black walnut. Later, Mr. W. R. Fickes of Wooster, explained to me histechnique of "boxing off" or "bleeding." By following his instructions,I was able successfully to top work some of the seedlings I had grownfor the purpose. My next steps were to procure some of the nuts fromRev. Crath which he had brought from Poland and to make a personalimportation of seed from an experiment station in Russia. With these twolots I started out to raise Persian walnut seedlings.
The first grafted trees set out at the Farm were obtained from Homer C.Jacobs of Kent, Ohio, in 1937. That year we began planting a three-acretract. The trees were grown with scions cut from prize winning seedlingsbrought out as a result of the Ohio nut contest held in 1934. The treeswere set 25 feet each way in order to conserve room. This distanceallowed for but 69 trees to the acre and available space was quicklyoccupied. By 1944, it became necessary to add two more acres. The newland was from an abandoned berry ground. It was plowed, limed heavilyand fertilized. The alternate rows were used for peach trees as fillers.The main rows were mostly filled with new varieties of Persian walnutfrom northern Ohio which had been grafted on black walnut stocks. Someof the room was used for growing black walnut seedlings for use ingrafting with scions of prize winners in the next Ohio contest, plansfor which were already under way.
In 1944, four plantings of Persian walnut trees located some distancefrom each other in northern Ohio, all had good crops and all producedsuperior nuts. A half bushel of the nuts were planted at the Farm duringthe following spring. All lots grew remarkably well. The resultingseedlings, together with grafted trees, which by then were growing inthe Farm nursery, made it necessary to further add to the orchard room.The increase this time was eight acres, of which five were planted totrees during the spring of 1946. In all plantings, the distance betweentrees has remained the same as at first, not that 25 feet is enough forbearing trees but because it is expected to do a large amount ofthinning out as bearing begins and many trees prove their inferiority.
The problem of propagating desirable varieties has been our greatestdifficulty. The kinds we wanted were not to be had from nursery sourcesas they were entirely new. Commercial nurserymen would not evenundertake the task of grafting. We were forced to rely upon our owningenuity. Not only did we have to master the art of grafting but we hadto drive hundreds of miles in order to obtain scions of the variouskinds. We still know too little about grafting. We often raise thequestion as to how it happens that surgeons can do almost anything theywish in the way of cutting and splicing parts of the human body, yetwith nut trees, 75 per cent of success is rarely attained.
Last spring I began a rather elaborate comparison of paraffin withbeeswax—lanolin for use in grafting. Dr. Shelton had demonstrated thatthe latter was a good dressing for wounds and I assumed that ingrafting, it would promote callousing. My experiment was partiallyfrustrated by the loss of my melting pot which burned at about the timethe work was half done. The grafting had to be finished without wax ofany kind. Out of 60 grafts so set, only five grew. The five survivorshad been merely "boxed off" or "bled," none grew which had been treatedwith hot wax of any kind.
Research with nuts has but barely begun at the Farm. We feel, however,much encouraged and that the worst is over. We have a total of 725 treesin the planting, many of which have already borne a few nuts. Productionshould increase rapidly and we will soon have considerable quantities ofnuts and other material with which to work. We have the followinggenera, species, varieties, and hybrid forms: Butternut—Craxezy andVincamp; Chestnut—Carr, Hobson, Yankee (Syn., Connecticut Yankee), andZimmerman; Hickory, including hybrids—Bixby, Bogne, Boor Nos. 1 and 2,Bowen, Cranz Nos. 1 and 2, Fairbanks, Frank, Haskell, Leach, Lozsdon,McConkey, Nething, Reynolds, Ridiker, Russell, Stratford, Weschcke, andWright; Pecan—Busseron, Greenriver, and Posey; Black Walnut—Barnhart,Brown, Cowle, Fulton (Syn. Miller of Ohio), Hare, Havice, Horton,Jansen, Krause, Lisbon, Mintle, Mohican, Murphey, Ohio, Rohwer, Snyder,Sparrow, Stabler, Stambaugh, Thomas, Tritten, Twin Lakes, and Wanda;Persian Walnut—Alliance, Baxter, Blosser, Broadview, Diller, Elmore,Gligor Nos. 1 and 2, Graber, Hall, Lieber, Lopeman, Oehn, and Schafer;Heartnut—Bellevue, Canoka, Fish, and Keck. In addition there are 55black walnut seedlings of Brown and Lisbon varieties; 65 seedling blackwalnuts of unknown parentage; 280 Persian walnut seedlings of knownpercentage; 37 heartnut seedlings; 30 Chinese chestnut seedlings; and 22seedling filberts.
The Ohio Black Walnut Contest of 1946
The contest was sponsored by the Ohio chapter of the N.N.G.A., Inc., andwas publicised through the cooperation of the Ohio Forestry Associationand the Ohio Farmer magazine. There were 692 separate black walnutentries, showing the great interest aroused.
The nuts that won first place were grown by Mr. Duke Hughes, of Coal Run, Noble County, O. He states the tree is about 50 years old and stands in well-limed permanent pasture near the crest of a ridge, in Muskingum silt loam.
The system of judging was that set up by the TVA at Norris, Tenn. Thejudges were Oliver D. Diller, Secretary of the Ohio ForestryAssociation; L. Walter Sherman, Superintendent of the Mahoning CountyExperiment Farm; and C. W. Ellenwood, Associate Horticulturist at theWooster Experiment Station. They were assisted by William H. Cummings,Spencer B. Chase and Thomas G. Zarger, all of T.V.A., and severalmembers of the Ohio chapter of NNGA. The prize winners are listed inorder of awards.
[Illustration: Mr. Duke Hughes, Coal Run, Washington County, Ohio, andthe tree producing the first prize—Duke black walnut.]
Name Weight, First Final Percent Applied Grams Pick, Pick, of Grams Grams Kernel
1. Duke Hughes, Coal Run, Duke 27.2 6.8 6.9 25.3 Washington County, Ohio
2. J. C. Burson, Rt. 5, Athens, Burson 21.5 4.9 6.2 28.8 Athens County, Ohio
3. Mrs. C. E. Campbell, Lowellsville, Kuhn 19.0 5.5 5.8 30.5 Mahoning County Ohio
5. Mrs. O. Shaffer, Lucasville, Oliver 22.6 5.3 5.8 25.5 Scioto County, Ohio
6. Wm. J. Davidson, Xenia, Davidson 13.5 4.6 4.8 35.5 Green County, Ohio
7. A. C. Orth, Rt. 5, Dayton, Orth Montgomery County, Ohio
8. H. C. Williamson, Southside, Williamson Mason County, West Virginia
9. Herbert Penn, Otway, Penn Scioto County, Ohio
10. Mrs. A. L. Jackson, Little Jackson Hocking, Washington County, Ohio
[Illustration: The Judges At Work]
1946 Iowa Black Walnut Contest
By C. C. Lounsberry, Secretary I.N.G.A.
The 1946 black walnut contest sponsored by the Iowa Nut Growers' Association was held at the Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, Iowa, on November 14 and 15, 1946. The judges were Prof. H. E. Nichols, Dr. H. H. Plagge, and Dr. J. M. Aikman.
Following the policy set in the 1942 contest, the Iowa StateHorticultural Society put up cash and ribbons with special reference tostandard and previously shown varieties, while the Iowa Nut Growers'Association was interested in new varieties. The following are thepremiums awarded:
Standard Varieties:
Prize Name Variety
1 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Thomas 2 Russell Krouse, Toddville Krouse 3 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Stambaugh 4 E. F. Huen, Eldora Thomas 5 Seward Berhow, Huxley Ohio 6 Seward Berhow, Huxley Myers 7 R. S. Herrick, Prole Thomas 8 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Hepler 9 E. F. Huen, Eldora Ohio 10 E. F. Huen, Eldora Rohwer
New Varieties:
Prize Name Variety
1 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Schlagenbusch 2 F. J. Wagner, Danville Wagner 3 Tom Bandfield, Shell Rock Shepard 4 Roy A. Wood, Castana Wood 5 Mrs. Minnie Waldo, Grand Junction Waldo 6 E. F. Huen, Eldora Huen 7 Ira M. Kyhl, Sabula Tinker 8 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Kramer 9 Sam Moncrief, Center Junction Acme 10 C. E. Brockway, Grundy Center Birchwood
There were only 22 entries in standard varieties and 22 entries in newvarieties so we did not make much of a showing as compared with the 1946Ohio contest. However, very good walnuts came in. They were all sampledwith a mechanical cracker. An interesting development to me was the factthat machine cracking left the center of several of the best varietiesof walnuts looking much like the core of an apple, instead of beingbroken in two as in hand cracking.
Grafting Methods Adapted to Nut Trees
By H. F. Stoke, Virginia
(The notes I contributed to the 1945 Report under the title "ExperiencesWith Nut Grafting" were so fragmentary as to be of little value. In aneffort to correct the error I am offering the following supplementarynotes in the hope that amateurs like myself may find them of somepractical use.)
My best success with the propagation of nut trees has been with thefollowing methods. For budding, I use the plate bud exclusively. Forgrafting on stocks up to one inch I use either the splice graft or themodified cleft graft. For larger stocks I use either the simple barkgraft or the slot bark graft. Each will be discussed in order.
In making the plate bud, it is cut from the scion or bud stick the sameas for the familiar T bud. Usually a bit of wood is cut away with thebud, which should not be removed. A bud, or a bit of bark, shouldsimilarly be cut from the stock at the desired point, and discarded. Thearea of exposed cambium on the stock should correspond as closely aspossible with the cambium area exposed on the bud. The bud is then laidon the exposed cambium of the stock, and bound in place, preferably withrubber budding strips. The point of the bud should be left exposed.
[Illustration: SIMPLE BARK GRAFT Useful with thin-barked species.]
Choice of time when conditions are right is quite as necessary forsuccess as the proper procedure. There are two separate periods when theplate bud may be used on walnut with the greatest success. The firstperiod, in Virginia, is the latter half of May, when the black walnutstock is in almost full leaf. If done earlier the bud is likely to bedrowned by the excessive bleeding of this species. Dormant buds cut theprevious winter are used.
The follow-up care is vitally important. The stock should be cut offabove the bud within five to seven days after budding. If successful,the bud will start into growth within another week or ten days, and maybe a foot long within 30 days.
[Illustration: 1. Slot bark graft; useful in top-working.
2. Splice graft; unexcelled when scion and stock are of equal diameter.
3. Modified cleft graft; for all general purposes.
4. Plate bud; for small and medium stocks.]
The tying material should be cut and removed within a few days after thebud starts, to prevent strangulation of the tender shoot. Be sure tokeep native growth of the stock trimmed off until midsummer to forcegrowth of the bud.
The second period for successful plate budding of the walnut centersaround August first, varying somewhat with the weather conditions. Budsof the current season's growth are used. The time must be late enoughfor these buds to be well matured, and early enough so that the stock isstill growing and the bark slipping. If the buds are immature, or thebark tight, the operation will be a failure.
The buds remain dormant during the following winter, and are forced intogrowth by cutting off the stock above the bud early in the spring. Thetying material, if durable, should be removed about 30 days afterbudding.
If conditions are right and the work is properly done, a high percentageof "takes" may be expected. In summer I preferably place the bud on theshady side of the stock, or shade it with a little skirt of white papertied just above the bud.
Chestnuts can be budded by the same method, but the spring buddingshould be done earlier, while the stocks are in bud, and the summerbudding should be done two or three weeks later than with the walnut.
I have not tried the plate bud on hickory or pecan, but it is the onlybudding method I use on walnut and chestnut, and I have tried them all.
When it comes to grafting, the simple splice graft, as illustrated, isvery successful, but it should only be used when scion and stock are ofthe same size. It works splendidly on chestnut, filbert and hickory, andcan also be used on walnut; however, I prefer the modified cleft graftfor the latter, because of the bleeding problem.
In making the splice graft, the diagonal cut should be about four timesas long as the diameter of the scion, to prevent slippage in tying.
For the modified cleft graft I cut the stock off at the selected pointat an angle of from 45 to 60 degrees. This greatly facilitates thehealing of the entire wound.
The cleft is made not by splitting, but by making a cut with a sharpknife, beginning at the apex of the stock and cutting diagonallydownward and inward toward the center of the stock.
Before making the cut, the scion should be selected, and the wedge cut,with one face slightly longer than the other. This enables one toproperly judge the depth and angle of the cleft, thus securing a fit onall four cambial lines. The longer face goes toward the main body of thestock, and is left slightly above the top of the stock. The apex of thestock is squared off slightly before the cleft is cut, and the knife isset very slightly on the wood at the starting point, rather than betweenthe bark and the wood. Care at this point guarantees very rapid healing,with no dead tissues or "heel" on the stock, sometimes called "dieback."
Remember to watch all ties in grafting to prevent strangulation of thetender new growth. This, with removal of sprouts or suckers from thestock below the graft are two very important features of after-care, andneglect can nullify the most expert work in the grafting operation.
In grafting the black walnut I prefer to use the side graft because ofthe bleeding problem. This is precisely the same as the modified cleftgraft except that the cleft is made about three-fourths of an inch belowthe apex of the stock. By making the graft a little below the top of thestock one can tie and wax it, without waxing the top of the stock, whichis permitted to bleed at will. This freedom to bleed relieves thepressure of the sap at the graft, where healing takes place withoutflooding.
For stocks under an inch in diameter, I use the splice and modifiedcleft grafts exclusively. For larger stocks, such as are encountered intop working, other methods are preferred.
One can cut the main stock off just above a small limb, and graft one ormore of the limbs. Again, one may cut the large stock off a year inadvance, and bud or graft one or more of the suckers that are thrownout.
If neither of the above methods are applicable, one can use either thesimple bark graft, or the slot bark graft.
In making the simple bark graft, I cut the stock off at a 45 degreeangle as for the modified cleft graft. The scion is prepared by makingone long wedge face, and on the other side make two short faces so thatthe point is triangular.
To insert the scion make a cut through the bark downward from the apexof the stock. Insert the scion between the bark and the stock, with thelong face next to the wood, and force gently down until just a little ofthe face of the wedge shows above the top of the scion. It is well, incase the stock is large, to place three or four scions around the stock,removing all but the strongest after a year of two.
This graft is satisfactory for thin-barked species, but for the hickory,the slot bark graft is preferable.
For this graft, the scion should be trimmed as a wedge, with one faceabout twice as long as the other. Two parallel cuts are made through thebark at the top of the stock a distance apart equal to the width of thescion wedge. This strip of bark, or "tongue" is loosened at the top, andthe wedge is forced between it and the wood, with the long face next tothe stock, as in the simple bark graft.
Secure tying and waxing should be practiced in all grafting. Small nailsor tacks driven into the top of the stock will help in anchoring thetying material to the sloping surface.
Inexperienced propagators should get it clearly in mind that union takesplace only in the new growth. This new growth builds up from the cambiumlayer, which is the outside layer of wood cells that lies just beneathand in contact with the bark.
This is why it is so vitally necessary that the lines between the barkand cambium be placed in parallel contact as closely as possible, in thesplice and cleft grafts. Never mind if the outside of the bark of scionand do not match perfectly, due to differences in the thickness of thebark. It is the inside line of the bark that must match.
Actual union takes place along this cambial line. The old wood of thewedge and cleft cannot, and never does, unite.
A word about scions. I seldom use a scion with more than two buds. Thebest scion wood is of the previous season's growth, if it is of gooddiameter and well ripened. Thin, slender twigs give poor results. Onold, slow-growing, bearing trees it is sometimes not possible to getgood scion wood one year old. In this case it is best to take some ofthe older wood in cutting the scion. When used, the wedge should be cutfrom the two-year wood, just below the one-year wood, with the top ofthe scion carrying two or three buds on the new wood. The tip of thescion should be waxed, if cut.
Scions should be cut when perfectly dormant and kept in cold storageuntil used. If kept too warm and wet the buds may swell, making thescions worthless.
It is quite possible to cut the scions about three weeks before the budsbegin to swell and get good results by grafting immediately. The chiefdanger from this practice is that late frosts may nip the buds afterstarting, which is fatal to the new scion.
Waxing all cut surfaces, including the tip of the scion, should bepracticed except as explained when the side graft is used for walnuts.Some advocate waxing the entire scion, also. If this is done I think itbetter to leave the buds unwaxed.
Have your knife very sharp. A broad blade is desirable in a graftingknife, as it helps in making smooth, flat surfaces in wedges and clefts.For budding, use a knife with a narrow blade, but also very sharp.Develop skill in making the scion wedge, and in cutting the cleft justthe right depth and width for the scion selected. Experiment onworthless material until you get the knack. If you are a good,natural-born whittler you will find it a greater asset than a collegedegree.
Beginnings in Walnut Grafting
By C. C. Lounsberry, Iowa
Anyone who has studied propagation manuals from ancient to modern timescannot help but see how methods are carried down from older books tomodern ones. However, in walnut grafting one suspects there were tradesecrets not permitted publication. How different this was from friendlyand helpful cultural and propagation directions given by Mr. J. F.Jones, Dr. W. C. Deming, Dr. Robert T. Morris, and others of theNorthern Nut Growers' Association.
Beginning with Ancient Times
Greeks: Theophrastus mentions hazel nuts but nothing about walnuts.
Romans: Pliny, Cato, etc. have little to say about walnuts. Pliny refersto planting seeds of walnuts but no other method of propagation.However, he states oaks and walnuts are poisonous to soil, and walnutsare only used in a few cases for human remedies.
English: Loudon, Evelyn, Knight, etc. Loudon sticks to propagation ofwalnuts by seed. Knight[8] followed the French practice of graftingwalnuts by approach up to the time of his discoveries in 1832, whichwere similar to Dr. Morris's "immediate" grafting.
French: The French used grafting by approach (inarching) early in the19th century. Mortillet[11], 1863, states only one-third to one-half ofwalnut grafts are successful. These were probably Persian walnuts. Weare not sure what other methods the French used. Mr. C. E. Parsons ofthe Felix Gillet Co. in 1940, sent us a picture showing Felix Gillet inhis greenhouse at Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City, California. Thispicture he states was taken in 1900-1902. It shows one year graftedwalnut trees, and bench grafted walnut trees covered by tumblers sixinches high, grafted by the "Treyve" process.
Beginnings in the United States
The first grafting of black walnuts thus comes down to the beginning ofthe 20th century.
William P. Corsa[3] with the USDA gave much information from replies toa questionnaire sent out in 1890, on nut culture and grafting, includingbench grafting, in 1896. Mr. G. W. Oliver[13] in 1901, describes amethod followed by Corsa in bench grafting walnuts and hickories. Heused an incubator. Mr. Jackson Dawson[15] previously, working withhickories, had success in the greenhouse.
Andrew S. Fuller[4] in his Nut Culturist, published in 1896, advisesthat the South had not yet perfected pecan grafting. This seems to havebeen a challenge to Mr. J. F. Jones[1 & 7], for we find he moved fromMissouri to Monticello, Fla., about 1899, and specialized in pecangrafting. He developed the slanting cut he later advocated in walnutgrafting. However, again showing "there is nothing new under the sun"the author's uncle, Owen Albright, is credited by Corsa[3] withsuggesting it in 1894, and it is also suggested by Mortillet[11] in1863.
Grafting Wax
The necessity to protect graft unions by excluding air and moisture fromcut plant tissue led to the use of balls of mud in ancient times. Later,various kinds of waxes were used.
In 1879, Prof. J. L. Budd[2], head of the Horticultural Department atIowa State College, using resin and linseed oil, side grafted 150varieties of Russian apples received from the interior of Russia in thewinter of 1878. A boy swabbed hot wax on the grafts, using a lanternheater not too different from those used nowadays.
Mr. F. O. Harrington and Mr. S. W. Snyder, Iowa nurserymen were teachinggrafting to members of the Iowa Horticultural Society in 1900, 1901 and1902, at their annual meetings. Mr. J. B. McLaughlin[9], CollegeSprings, Iowa, speaks of successfully grafting walnuts in 1900 in adiscussion of the horticultural society led by Van Houton, Edwards, etc.
In 1909, Mr. E. A. Riehl[14] gave a talk before the Iowa StateHorticultural Society in which he advocated covering the whole walnutscion, buds and all, with liquid wax. His first Thomas grafted tree isin a ravine back at his barn at Godfrey, Illinois. It was planted about1902[12].
In 1910, the Northern Nut Growers' Association was organized by Prof. John Craig of Cornell University, Dr. Robert T. Morris, Dr. W. C. Deming, Mr. T. P. Littlepage and others. Craig had previously been at Iowa State College where he and Budd had shown much interest in nut trees.
In 1912, Mr. J. F. Jones [1][7], came up from the South where he hadbeen successful in pecan grafting and started a black walnut nursery atLancaster, Penna. He had been in Florida up to 1907. While in Florida hebecame acquainted with Mr. John G. Rush, of Willow Run, Penna., and didsome walnut grafting for him. It was Mr. Rush who advised him to go toLancaster and start a nursery for northern black walnuts. Jones patentedhis patch budder in 1912, and using the hot wax method developed by Mr.E. A. Riehl was very successful in walnut grafting.
In 1914, Dr. W. C. Deming and President T. P. Littlepage of the N.N.G.A. and Messrs. C. A. Reed and C. P. Close of the USDA had a conference in Washington which resulted in the publication of the American Nut Journal.
Paraffin In Grafting
Dr. Robert T. Morris[10], writing in the American Nut Journal in 1929,advocates the use of paraffin to cover walnut grafts instead of wax.Both he and Dr. J. Russell Smith[15] credit Mr. J. Ford Wilkinson withfirst using paraffin instead of wax on walnut grafts. Mr. Wilkinsonwrote that he got the idea from seeing a careless workman splashparaffin on the buds as well as on the union in fruit tree grafting atthe McCoy Nursery about 1914. The author bought apple and plum graftsabout 1922 from the Gurney Nursery which were all covered with paraffin.It was at conventions of the Northern Nut Growers' Association that newmethods like this were passed along to members.
Bench Grafting
In 1932, on account of the difficulties in outdoor grafting of thewalnut, the author became interested in bench grafting of walnuts in thegreenhouse as a means of supplementing outdoor grafting. However, likemany other so-called new methods, it was discovered when we looked upthe literature in 1937 that William P. Corsa[3] had used methods thatwere similar about 1896. He cut off the seedling above the crown insteadof below the crown as we did. The completed graft was packed in layersof sphagnum and placed in an incubator instead of using a greenhouse.
Notwithstanding all that has been done in black walnut grafting, thestraight grained and brittle wood, the heavy sap flow, the almostinstant oxidation of cut tissues, the liability to frost injury in theNorth in short seasons lowering vitality of scions, all combine to makewalnut grafting with best methods available, a seasonal gamble.
Literature Cited
1. AMERICAN NUT JOURNAL Life of J. F. Jones. Am. Nut Jour. 28:35, 1928
2. BUDD, J. L. Hot Waxing of Apple Grafts. Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc. 14:421. 1879
3. CORSA, WILLIAM P. USDA, Div. of Pom., Nut Culture of the United States. pp. 13-16, 58. 1896
4. FULLER, ANDREW S. Nut Culturist. 1896
5. HERSHEY, JOHN W. Life of J. F. Jones. The Nut Grower. 4:22, 1928
6. INSTITUT FUR OBSTBAU, BERLIN Die Walnusz verediung. (Vegetative Propagation of Walnuts.) Merkbl. Inst. Obstb. Berlin 5, pp. 15, 1936
7. JONES, J. F. Propagation of Nut Trees. About 1927
8. KNIGHT, THOMAS ANDREW New methods of Grafting Walnuts. Trans. Hort. Soc. of London. 2nd series. Vol. I, 1831-1835. pp 214-216
9. McLAUGHLIN, J. B. Grafting Black Walnuts. Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc. 35:534, 1900
10. MORRIS, DR. ROBERT T. Paraffin Coating Solves Difficult Grafting. Am. Nut Jour. 30:70,85. 1929
11. MORTILLET, PAUL D. Le Noyer sa Culture ses Varieties. (Propagation of the Walnut.) Rev. Hort. 136:499. 1863
12. NNGA CONVENTION, St. Louis Trip to Riehl Nut Orchard. Am. Nut Journ. 23:59, 1925
13. OLIVER, G. W. Grafting Walnuts and Hickories. Amer. Gard. 22:307-308. 1901
14. RIEHL, E. A. Nut Growing for Pleasure and Profit. Trans. Iowa State Hort. Soc. 44:84, 1909
15. SMITH, J. RUSSELL Tree Crops. 1929
16. STANDARD CYC. OF HORT. Hickory Propagation, p. 1489, 1925
17. WITT, A. W. and HOWARD SPENCE Vegetative Propagation of Walnuts. Ann. Rep. East Malling Res. Sta. 1926-7, Supl. A 10, 1928, pp. 60-64
Forest Background
By John Davidson, Xenia, Ohio
(Read at the Ohio Nut Growers Annual Meeting, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, August 16, 1946.)
Where did the Persian, or so-called "English" walnut come from? Why isit a good commercial nut? The Pecan? How far can it be carried northbeyond its natural, or original, environment? The Pawpaw? Why is it nota good commercial fruit? Why don't most people like it? What is thematter with the mulberry in America? In China and Japan it has a scoreof uses and great popularity.
These questions need an answer, and the answer almost invariably is thatthe poorer varieties and species have had but little attention anddevelopment by human beings while the better ones, Persian walnuts,grapes, melons, apples, dates, figs—all have had much attention andpainstaking selection—in some cases for centuries. Upon the other hand,to cite a contrasting case the black walnut has no such history. It isthe baby among nuts—a pure American baby—waiting for somenursemaid—for many nursemaids—to tend and develop it as a prince amongtrees should be developed.
Let us look back into the story behind a few—a very few—of our betterknown fruits and nuts and see, if we can, how they happened.
In America once lived a man nicknamed "Johnny Appleseed." His neighborscalled him a "crackpate." He had a mania for planting tree seedswherever he went. As a rule they were haphazardly selected seeds, butusually appleseeds.
What started him upon this crazy journey through the wilderness?Whatever it was, it would be worth while to isolate the germ and with itinoculate our present-day soil wasters.
But he was not the first one of his kind. Hundreds of pre-historicplanters had gone before him. For years, now, explorers have beensearching out and sending back to America certain valuable discoveries.Tremendously interesting, all of them. As one reads, it becomesincreasingly evident that a considerable amount of scientific plant andanimal breeding, selection, perhaps even grafting and artificial crossfertilization, budding and slip propagating may have been practiced bypre-historic, intelligent, forgotten men long before our modern times.
We usually find, today, that the best plants and animals have had theirstart in some center of old civilization. China, Manchuria, Japan,Indo-China, India, Persia, Asia Minor, Central America, Oceania—theseplaces, the nurseries of all existing races of men are today the bonanzaspots for these explorers. Such a coincidence could hardly have been dueto chance. It must surely occur to the mind of anyone who cares to puttwo and two together that, in each of these centers, other ancientgatherers and planters had been busy in their day, just as our ownexplorers and experiment station scientists are carrying on today—ourmodern, scientific Johnny Appleseeds.
It is hardly possible, here, to follow to the ends of the earth all ofthe trails of the tribe of Johnny Appleseed. One little section will dowell enough for purposes of illustration. Let us consider Iran, or, asour fathers knew it, Persia. Here is a field that, possibly because ofprevious plunderings, is not now the most fruitful of our sources ofplant and animal discovery, yet it is an eye-opener, and will do verywell as a type of similar test-plots throughout the world.
Here is a short list of only a few of the plants which have beendeveloped for centuries, and were reported in the last century asgrowing in Persia—many, no doubt, descended from stocks which once grewin the famous hanging gardens of Babylon: apples, pears, filbertsmuskmelons, watermelons, grapes, peaches, plums, nectarines. And offlowers, these: marigold, chrysanthemum, hollyhock, narcissus, tulip,tuberose, aster, wallflower, dalia, white lily, hyacinth, violet,larkspur, pink and finally, the famous rose of Persia, from whence comesthe attar of roses for which Persia is still famous. It would seem thatsomeone must have possessed a knowledge of plant propagation in Persiacenturies ago.
Several of these products have had their influence upon the history andpoetry of the world. It will be remembered by most high school studentsthat when the Caesars and big shots of Rome and Greece wished to createa big splash in the social ponds of their day, they sent, at enormousexpense, for melons and dates from Persia. Melons, in particular, seemedto be the high spot in those Lucullan feasts, and, in this connection itis well to remember that Lucullus, himself, as commanding general of aRoman legion, had long lived in Persia and had, no doubt, acquired ataste for Persian delicacies. His princely estates near Rome, no doubt,grew rare plants from Asia Minor and were very likely tended by theskilled Aryan, early Accadian or Semitic gardeners of Persia. Theseslaves were probably descended from and were heir to the trade secretsof some of the very builders of that seventh wonder of the world, thehanging gardens of Babylon. Except for those forgotten workers fromPersia, one may well wonder whether, today, our Rocky Ford, Ohio Sugar,or Hearts-of-Gold muskmelon delicacies would exist at all.
An interesting side-light may be found in the history of the peach.Originally this fruit was in all probability a poisonous variety ofalmond. What wizard, or succession of wizards, was it who created apeach from a pest—an asset from a liability? Persian, probably. Whoeverdid it, it constitutes one of the outstanding miracles of plantbreeding, whether natural or artificial. The poison was sealed withinthe seed (where it remains to this day) and the nectar of the gods wasbred into the pulp around it.
Consider also the Persian walnut, now, for some strange reason,popularly called "English" walnut. This delicacy, too, was unlikely tohave happened merely by chance. It was, no doubt, bred by a race of mentrained in observation and experiment such as the Persians preeminentlywere. Having first been nomads, domesticators and breeders of animals;they eventually became husbandmen, breeders of trees and plants, andthey undoubtedly found that the principles which were so usefullyemployed in producing animal variations could also be used in producingand fixing plant varieties. The pollen or germ of an outstanding goodmale individual, when brought into contact with the pistil or ovum of anoutstanding female individual of the same species will produce a scionthat is more likely than any other to have good qualities. Here was thesecret of most of the progress which has been made in both animal andplant breeding, a secret of immense value—so valuable, in fact, that itwas guarded for generation after generation by a close-mouthedpriesthood.
Just as, in the middle ages, the monasteries of Europe and Asia keptalive the tiny flame of Greek and Roman culture throughout the foggyignorance of the Dark Ages, so did the priests of Baal, of Ashtoreth, ofMarduk and of Ormuzd pass on the torch of their day to their successorswho were Greeks and Romans. The Eleusinian mysteries, which at a latertime were associated with a considerable amount of sensual, closelyguarded ritual, were, in the Greek period, celebrated in the temple ofCeres in Eleusis. The origin of these sacred mysteries is lost in theshadow of profound antiquity. We know, only, that they were in thesafekeeping of many generations of priests who jealously guarded themfrom thieving and ignorant conquerors. These mysteries were probably, atbottom, a body of scientific truths. They undoubtedly had to do with astore of information, painfully gleaned for generations, about thosefacts of reproduction, selection and beneficient fertility which are soclose to the Holy of Holies of creation itself. Probably these preciousmysteries could be simmered down to a few fundamentals and such as arenow generally practiced by all plant and animal breeders. And they arenot fully understood today, any more than they were fully understoodthree thousand years ago.
By the practice of these simple arts, hedged in with taboos andreligious inhibitions, Persia, Assyria, and all Mesopotamia became thegarden spot of the world where things seemed to grow as they grew noplace else. Here, in fact, was said to have been located the onlygenuine and original Garden of Eden, pointed out to this day by thefaithful as the veritable spot where the father and mother of the racelived in a laborless, exhaustless Paradise.
Mention has been made of the probability that the Persians, whooriginally were nomadic and therefore were chiefly interested in thedomestication of animals—which means, really, selective breeding—usedthis knowledge in plant breeding when they finally settled down. The bigleap from nomadic to settled life must have caused the old timers ofthat day plenty of headaches. It was a new deal to top all New Deals.Was it, perhaps, some Johnny Appleseed who engineered the New Deal ofthat day?
Let us guess at the method he used. As the nomad tribe passed from placeto place with its goats, its sheep, its camels, Johnny with his sons andgrandsons would take to prettying up the camp sites a bit. Heparticularly like the dates from one palm that grew upon an oasis fardown the desert. He carried the seeds from this tree and planted them atvarious stopping places. He did the same thing with some especiallysweet nuts from a walnut tree which he had found, let us say, in theCaucasus Mountains. He set out many bright-blossomed desert weeds inorder to attract the wild honey bees. Bees! Wherever there were bees, hehad found flowers that reproduced themselves, trees that bore fruit.Some of these bees he found to be good workers and others he found lazy,quarrelsome and inefficient. He killed out the quarrelsome colonies andbuilt hiding places for the better ones. In short, he did so much tomake the camping places cozy, comfortable and in every way desirablethat finally it became more and more difficult for the tribe to tearitself away on moving day. By reason of the small irrigationarrangements which Johnny had found desirable for his plantings and hisbees, grass became more abundant and the flocks did not need to bemoved so often. In time, the whole tribe wakened to the fact that arevolution had taken place. They did not need to move at all, ever!There was plenty of grumbling from the die-hards, but here the tribestuck. It refused to budge.
In time, a certain phrase, current throughout that part of the world,was used to describe this pleasant country: "A land flowing with milkand honey!"
Unfortunately, it was a land, also, which could not fail, in the flowerof its wealth and luxury, to attract the attention of those savagenortherners who lived beyond this favored land. They came, they saw, andeventually they conquered. When Rome had definitely destroyed the flowerof Asia Minor's civilization, the Roman proconsuls and merchants"rescued" and carried back to Italy many of the rarest of Mesopotamia'spossessions. Among these, perhaps, were those indispensablewonder-workers among the flowers, the better bees of Persia. And thismay be the reason why, these many centuries later, our bee experts stillrecommend that, if we wish to increase the strength and productivity ofa backward hive of bees, we buy and introduce into the hive an Italianqueen. Her ancient and still prepotent virility can almost invariable berelied upon to transfuse the colony with new and fruitful vigor. An"Italian" queen, is it? We wonder, as we think of that venerable land ofEden which once flowed with milk and honey, whether this so-calledItalian queen might not more correctly be named Persian.
You see, in this story we are traveling backwards into history like AllyOop in his time machine. But beyond Persia one can go only inimagination. For the Persians, too, were a conquering nation and, nodoubt, gathered their booty of gold and sheep and camels, of flowers andbees, from all the then known world which was subject to them. Soperhaps Persia, too, has no more right to label her treasures Persianthan has Italy with her presumably mislabeled Italian bees, nor Englandwith her undoubtedly mislabeled English walnuts. However, the work ofJohnny Appleseed has always belonged, not to his tribe nor to hislocality, but to the world. These same Persian walnuts take rank amongthe better clues by which migrations of the Aryans may be traced overthe face of the earth. For instance, not only do they take root easilyin the mild, friendly climate of California, but much hardier strainsare found to have climbed the Carpathians and the steppes of Russiaalmost to the very doors of Moscow. Scions of these hardier strains havevery recently been made to grow and yield their nuts in America as farnorth as Toronto and are being set out in numbers in the northern partof the United States. How well they will prosper in this new, morevariable and chilly climate remains to be seen, but the start is made.No doubt it will be by Johnny's old method of patient and repeatedselection, first for hardiness then for quality, that the planned resultwill be accomplished.
The contributions of Persia and the plantings of its forgottenscientists have here merely been touched on. Nothing, for instance, hasbeen said about her great groves of mulberry trees, which led tosilk-worms, which led to silk, which led to the production ofjewel-bright vegetable dyes, which led to the development of adecorative art in fabrics that is rivaled by China, alone, in all theworld. And of course, Aryan Persia is only one of the many treasurecenters of ancient civilization. In scores of racial settlementselsewhere our lives today are being changed and enriched in innumerableways by the hands of those old miracle-workers whose names were writ inwater and whose works are immortal. The accomplishments of China are ofsuch magnitude that even now we are only beginning to discover our debtto her. India, Indo-China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Japan—all have similarbackgrounds. Even in the United States, young as it is, the migrationsof pre-historic races have left their trails in the gardens and forestsaround us. Pecans from the South, for example, have been carried Northand are gradually developing hardy strains that survived in Indiana andIllinois groves.
Enough has been said to blaze the way to the end at which I have beendriving. It may begin to look as though modern plant explorers have nowfollowed the plant-spoor of human migrations to their final limits. Itmay look, too, as though the ends of these converging trails will findcivilization at last firmly established. Or will they?
The future race, let us admit, may eventually be able, by means of analmost unthinkable development of food, clothing, building and medicalsupplies of a synthetic or semi-synthetic nature, to dispense with someof the agriculture we know. This is the prediction of some scientists.Let it stand. What then is to be done with the land upon which our foodcrops had formerly been raised? Manifestly, it must again be coveredwith hurricane-control, flood-control, and erosion-control vegetation,chiefly trees, perhaps. Trees for safety's sake, trees for beauty'ssake, for recreation's sake, trees for food's—yes, food's sake, forflavor and health, trees and vegetation as sources for the verysynthetic that are supposed to supplant them; and last but not least,trees and vegetation for the protection and perpetuation of animal life,of bird life, and insect life. All these are inseparably bound up withhuman life.
Come what may at the hands of a short-sighted human race, no matter whatsurface changes may come about in human eating habits, housing styles,farming or factory practice, still the winds will sweep the earth inhurricanes where there is nothing to impede them; the waters and ice ofthe heavens will still tear apart and level the hills, will gash thevalleys and will carry off the earth and dump it into the sea. Followingthis, the sun will burn the unprotected earth into a cinder. Nothing canchange these facts. From the beginning of life upon the earth, trees andvegetation have been the chief means by which a balance has beenmaintained between the antagonistically destructive and creative naturesof the elements.
Do we realize fully, I wonder, how important is the work of this groupand the parent NNGA? The interest of its members is chiefly in "wild"trees that produce food crops—mainly, but not exclusively, nut crops.And they are interested not merely in planting and testing names andknown varieties, but in finding and testing the best individuals amongthe wild trees, planting selected seed, enjoying the exciting gamblewhich is always sealed up in the magic, unknown potentialities of ahybrid.
As, centuries ago, the Persian walnut was rescued from the forest anddeveloped into the splendid nut we know today, so the American blackwalnut can be rescued; its nut can be improved and developed byselection and cross-breeding. It is a grand mahogany-like timber treewhich is becoming far too scarce. Each war takes its toll for gunstocks. Its nuts are the only nuts within my knowledge, not evenexcepting our lost American chestnuts, that retain their fulldistinctive flavor through cooking. Nothing can replace its flavor incandy or cake making. The tree is indigenous to America and, in contrastto the Persian, has only decades, rather than centuries of selectivebreeding behind it. No one can tell what even one short century ofintelligent selection may make of this great tree.
We Americans, in fact, have barely started on the Appleseed trail, atrail which tends toward the development of a permanent perennial,rather than annual, type of agriculture, with trees, shrubs, vines andperennial grasses its chief interest. For, no matter what chemistry hasin store for us in the way of plastics for construction and ofsynthetics for foods and drugs, the good earth is still our sole sourceof supply. The chestnut, the mulberry, persimmon, pawpaw, pecan,hickory, wild cherry, the grape, the elderberry in fact the whole tribeof fruits and nuts with flavors found nowhere else on earth—all aregrowing along this ancient trail. They offer an infinite variety ofopportunity for exploration and discovery. To work with them gives one asense of sharing in the work of creation.
Graft the Persian Walnut High in Michigan
By Gilbert Becker, Climax, Michigan
The rule to plant the Persian walnut where peaches and sweet cherries dowell is a good one; but not infallible and certainly can't be tooclosely relied upon here in southwestern Michigan. Since 1933, I haveplaced several hundred grafts of the Persian walnut upon black stocks.Many of these are top worked trees, but there were 68 grafted seedlingsin nursery rows, grafted in 1936. These were planted out two yearslater. Some are now about ten feet tall with a well branched head. Ofthis lot I have only harvested one ripe nut and that was four years ago.Two of these same trees were planted near some buildings and shrubberyat a neighbor's home, and they are now bearing well.
Before going further I must say that Persian walnut trees and peachtrees are quite different. First, the Persian walnut cannot stand havingits female flowers frosted when they are out or nearly so. Second, thepeach can stand frost at, or shortly after, full bloom, and they willset a bumper crop of peaches. We have had two years of late springfrosts at the time nut trees were in bloom, and we have had bumper cropsof peaches each year. Apples were badly hit, so many have failed tobear. Lilac blossoms failed to come out and be showy because of thesesevere frosts. However, I know of a peach tree heavily loaded right nowgrowing between two Persian walnuts that haven't had a single nut eitheryear, though they have borne nuts previously. Thus, peaches will bear infrosty springs when Persian walnuts are damaged. Further, good-airdrainage, such as a high hill, with a deep valley below will save thePersian nut crop in a frosty spring. I have a small Persian walnutgrafted in such a location, and it is the heaviest loaded nut tree Ihave. It has so many large nuts on its limbs that its lower limbs areactually resting upon the ground. This was grafted upon an establishedblack seedling four years ago.
What I have so far told would lead one to think that there is no nutcrop on my Persian grafts this year. This is not so, for I have one ofthe largest crops in the 13 years I have had grafted Persian walnuts.These are on top-worked trees high above the ground! Most of thetop-worked trees are over 12 feet at the graft, or higher, and it isbest to have them this high, because almost all lower limbs are simplyminus nuts, due to our unfavorable spring. As for proof, I noticed thatthe lower limbs had blackened leaves, while the entire tops wereundamaged a few days after the frosty weather. The lower branches leavedout the second time in late May. It seems as if the Persian walnutproduces two nuts to every one that a grafted black walnut will on a topof equal size. We are troubled with walnut curculio as well asconsiderably by squirrels, and by a leaf disorder that often blackensthe leaves and causes them to fall in early September, followed bypremature dropping of the nuts. Even then, there should be a good cropthis year.
Now, comes the question, should we graft the Persian walnut high, herein Michigan? It certainly saves time, because a middle-aged walnut treeproduces, in terms of pecks and bushels, in eight to 15 years. Beingwell established it saves patience and disappointment. And I know it isfar more profitable.
This writing of my experience is not intended to hurt the establishednut tree nurseryman in any way. Any of you who may live in Michigan arecertainly devoted to your hobby and have doubtless learned the skillsand pleasures of top-working a good sized seedling black walnut. Youwill surely find it profitable. First, purchase the grafted Persian treefrom your nurseryman, and later, from this, work your establishedseedling blacks at your convenience. Graft them at least 12 feet up andsee if what I say isn't quite true.
Pecan Growing in Western Illinois
By R. B. Best, Eldred, Illinois
We need a consistent philosophy in this troubled world of ours. Workingwith nature and especially with nut trees helps us to develop thisphilosophy and to realize that there are no panaceas for our present dayproblems except as we work them out ourselves. After all our wishfulthinking with panaceas and doctrines, we come back to the sameconclusion. Those people with the best foundations built on reason andtruth are those who are nearest the soil and growing things. Those whowork with trees and other living things in nature possess the philosophywhich acts as a breastwork against the forces which would destroy oursociety.
We started our propagation of nut trees in 1930 under the guiding handof Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Sawyer and Professor Ray Marsh of the Universityof Illinois, and later have had help from Dr. Colby of the University.We have at present about 2500 grafted pecan trees, a few varieties ofhickories, black walnuts, chestnuts, filberts, persimmons, butternuts,heartnuts, pawpaws, etc. When people ask me what we expect from ourtrees, I tell them that the trees have already paid me in satisfactionif not in filling my purse. I do expect our nut tree project to give usa good financial return. The pecan is our leader in Western Illinois asa popular nut. Much of our Illinois river bottom land, if deserted byman, would immediately pass back to nature and exist as pecan groves. Ihave been working with pecan trees since 1930 and today find myself withmore questions than answers. We are growing at present about 37varieties of pecans. We are reaching certain notions which we hope areright. The hybrids are fine and make wonderful trees but I doubt ifthey are the answer to our problem. With these remarks I dispose offurther discussion of the Burlington, Rockville, McCallister and Gerardivarieties.
The Major and Greenriver are excellent performers but are a little latematuring for us. The Posey nut is slightly earlier and makes anexcellent quality but is not to be compared with Major and Greenriverfor bearing. Our Butterick trees are excellent growers but bear fewnuts. This variety is the poorest bearer that we have. Our earliestpecans of the better known varieties are Indiana and Busseron, of thenewer varieties, Stephens and Gildig No. 2.
The Giles pecan which Mr. Wilkinson discovered in Kansas is ouroutstanding nut for yield, size and early bearing but it should also beearlier maturing. Although the Giles has been late when grafted on someof our native trees, it has been early on others. In 1945, which willalways be known by the Illinois weather man as the year without asummer, we found a great difference in our Major, Greenriver, and Gilesnuts from tree to tree as to size and maturity. This question ofcompatibility between stock and scion is of the utmost importance and itimpedes investigational work, complicating comparisons we are trying tomake. Some of our new varieties which we are trying out might be checkedimmediately if we knew the effect of the under stocks of our trees.
Our farms are about 50 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Our first problemwith pecans is maturity. The old named varieties are a little late forus. I personally feel that we should get grafts from no farther norththan New Haven, Ill., or Rockport, Ind. I am interested in Mr. Gerardi'svarieties at O'Fallon, Ill., because they should be early. Dr. Colby hasbrought to light three new ones from Cass County, Ill. which should makeexcellent maturity in central Illinois.
We are blessed in our community with large numbers of native pecanseedlings. The behavior of different nuts on different stocks is not thesame. Before any nut should be condemned we feel it should have anopportunity to perform on different stocks over a period of years. Forthis reason we always try to graft a number of trees to each variety.
Most things taken from nature are subject to improvement and can bebetter adapted to the use of man. I would like to see some new varietiesof pecans developed for our northern zone. I would like to see largeplantings of nuts from all our leading varieties of pecans. From theseseedling studies, great good would come and possibly a good variety. Iwould like to see Major, Greenriver, Giles, Posey, Busseron, Indiana,the Gildigs crossed with some early prolific nuts. I would like to seeevery nut that had any good quality crossed with every other good nut ina mass planting so that genetics could operate and have these treesplanted where they might be permitted to reach maturity and the "get" ofeach union studied. We might get an early heavy bearer which wouldrevolutionize the pecan industry. I would like to see some of our goodSouthern varieties like Stuart crossed with early northern varieties.This search for new nuts should be accelerated.
Let us rededicate ourselves to the problem of getting the "super-nut."Let us explore these new fields of nut germ plasm which lie all aboutus, pull these old nuts apart genetically and recombine their good withthe good of other nuts into new varieties. If we should fail 10,000times and succeed once, success would be cheap.
Random Notes from Eastern New York
By Gilbert L. Smith, Wassaic, New York
During the past few years I have found it increasingly difficult to keepup my nut tree work. However, three years hence, I expect to retire frommy job as Farm Manager at Wassaic State School and then to devote muchof my time to nut work. Mr. Benton now has even less time than I do forthe nut work. Our work of previous years is now beginning to showresults, especially our variety tests which should become moresignificant each year as more varieties come into bearing and repeatcrops bear out or disprove our earlier opinions. Following are some ofour findings on such varieties as have borne enough for us to form anopinion.
Black Walnuts
THOMAS, no doubt, is still entitled to first place. We made a poor startwith Thomas as our first graft was placed on a stock growing at the edgeof low swampy ground and the nuts of this graft have never maturedproperly, while those from two younger grafts, on higher ground, havematured their nuts well. This shows that black walnuts should not beplanted in low wet ground, that is, land that is actually swampy; lowground which is well-drained is all right.
We have found Thomas to be a fast growing and very good type tree. Thenut is large, thin-shelled and cracks excellently, giving light-coloredfine appearing kernels, largely in whole quarters. We do not considerthe flavor of Thomas to be one of the best. I have tested this manytimes by cracking nuts of Benton, Snyder, Sparrow and Thomas, and then,without revealing which is which, have had various people try them andpick out the ones they like best; Benton and Sparrow in all cases wereliked best, Snyder second and Thomas always least in favor. Thomas is aconsistent bearer here.
SPARROW is a little known variety which has a good many good points inits favor. In my opinion, it surpasses Thomas in everything except sizeof nut and cracking quality. In cracking quality I consider them to beabout equal. Sparrow originated near Lomax, Ill. Wood of it was sent tous by C. A. Reed in the Spring of 1938. It has never been entered in anycontest so is little known. The tree may not be quite as fast growing asThomas, but it retains its foliage in the fall until cut by hard frost,long after its nuts have ripened, while Thomas will be nearly bare ofleaves for some time before frost or its nuts are ripe. Sparrow ripensits nuts a full two weeks ahead of Thomas.
The nuts of Sparrow are medium in size, being about 27 to the poundwhile Thomas will run about 19 or 20 to the pound. The nuts of Sparrowlook small while on the tree because it has a thin husk. Yet it huskseasily, coming out of the husk cleaner than any other black walnut Iknow of. Also I have never seen a husk maggot in this variety while somevarieties with thick husks were badly infested. As the nut ripens, thehusk turns yellow. The nut yields practically 30% kernel (29.94%) with96% unbroken quarters. Color of kernel is bright and the flavor isexcellent. Sparrow has borne consistently.
SNYDER is a fairly well-known variety, having won first prize in the NewYork and New England contest of 1934. The tree is a little slower ingrowing than most varieties, yet it bears young and consistently LikeSparrow, it retains its foliage well until cut by frost. The nut islarge, being about 21 per pound, with a very thick husk, on whichaccount it should be husked as soon as gathered, as the husk will turndark and stain the kernel. It ripens at the same time as Sparrow, lastof September here. The nut cracks well, yielding about 25% kernel ofgood quality, about 95% in unbroken quarters. The color of the kerneltends to be a little dark.
Certainly Snyder should prove to be a valuable variety for short seasonlocations and possibly as a pollinizer for Sparrow. Also the retentionof foliage in fall, until cut by frost, make this and Sparrow ofconsiderable ornamental value. Early dropping of the foliage in the fallis a serious fault of some varieties as an ornamental.
BENTON originated with us, the original tree growing in Mr. Benton'sdooryard. It won second prize in the New York and New England contest of1934. The nut is rather small, running about 34 to the pound. However,it yields about 29% kernel of excellent quality, light in color andabout 86% quarters. It ripens about a week later than Snyder andSparrow. It is a consistent bearer, a fairly fast growing tree, but onlyfair as to retention of foliage in the fall.
STAMBAUGH is a well known variety, but we are a little too far north forit, 41°45' N. Lat. It matures well here only in our most favorableseasons. It appears to be an excellent nut, large, good cracking qualityand good flavor. It appears to be a little capricious as to bearing, twoyears ago our one graft was heavily loaded, but there was no crop lastyear and a light one only this year. In spite of the lateness inmaturing the nut, the tree sheds its foliage early.
Hickories
WILCOX is the outstanding variety of hickory of those which have bornein our test orchard, so far. This originated near Geneva, Ohio. It. wonsecond prize in the Ohio contest of 1934. It appears to be a consistent,alternate bearer. The nut is only medium in size for a shagbark, about90 to the pound. It cracks almost perfectly, yielding about 38% kernel,mostly in whole halves. Color of kernel bright and of very good flavor.
MINNIE has also appeared very good. It is a trifle larger than Wilcox,being 85 to the pound. It cracks excellently and is of good quality. Butso far it has not yielded as well as has Wilcox.
DAVIS has shown up quite well. Our oldest graft is on a bitternut stock;it has borne well but the nuts have not cracked as well as those fromthe original tree or the ones grown at Cornell. In size the nut isbetween Minnie and Wilcox, kernel bright, plump and of good quality.
FOX has been rather disappointing as produced on grafts so far. Not thatit is a poor nut, in fact it is a good nut, but because it has fallen sofar short of what was expected of it. Fox is the mystery variety of thehickories. How it could unanimously win first prize in the Northern NutGrowers Association contest of 1934, with a sample of nuts so excellentin every way and then for the grafts to bear only fair nuts, is amystery. Some have advanced the idea of bud variation in the parenttree. To prove or disprove this, I made a trip to the original tree inthe spring of 1943 and gathered grafting wood from various parts of thetree. This wood was grafted on various stocks in our test orchard, sothat we now have living grafts from 13 different parts of the originaltree. If there is a bud variation, we should certainly have some of thegood ones and are anxiously waiting the time when these grafts begin tobear. To lend a little credence to the bud variation theory, I foundthat at some time in the past the Fox tree had been broken off in astorm and had since formed a new top, largely from a single leader. Mr.Fox stated that he had naturally taken wood from the lower portions ofthe tree as it was much easier to do so. (The late Dr. Zimmerman made asimilar study of this tree and its nuts from different branches. He wasfirmly convinced that there were differences.—Ed.)
Heartnuts
We have really tested only two varieties so far, these are theFodermaier and Wright. Both are very good, but we now consider Wright tobe by far the better of the two. It is somewhat hardier than Fodermaier,nuts ripen earlier, and bears better with us. Fodermaier is also moreseverely affected by the butternut curculio than is the Wright, someyears nearly all of the Fodermaier nuts have been destroyed by thecurculio.
GELLATLY has borne only one year with us, so we cannot form much of anopinion on it. It appears to be a very good nut.
Crath Carpathian Persian Walnuts
Several of our seedling Crath trees have nuts this year. In all cases,there are only a few nuts on each as our trees are still quite small. Ihad to hand-pollinate the blossoms this spring; this resulted in arather small percentage of sets; then the curculio took a rather severetoll, so we will have only a few of each variety.
In 1944 one of our seedlings bore 12 nuts. These were so good that wehave named the variety "Littlepage" in honor of the late ThomasLittlepage, and are having it patented. We have published a littlebooklet on this variety, and upon request, we will be glad to mail acopy to anyone interested.
This is about all we have to offer at this time in regard to our varietytests.
We have a problem which I wish to bring before the members of theAssociation. It is that of controlling the butternut curculio. Thisinsect is very bad on butternut, heartnut and Persian walnuts, with usit does not attack black walnuts or hickories. I fear that it is goingto prove hard to control, as the larva is of the boring type, beingfound inside the green nuts, inside the new growth of the terminals andin the fleshy part of the leaf stems. In these places it cannot bereached by poisons. It appears that we will have to work entirely on theadult beetles. These eat very little and seem to make puncture-likeholes, eating little outside tissue but mostly deeper tissues, thuspoison will probably have to be applied heavily in order for it to getenough to kill it. D.D.T. is not effective against the apple and plumcurculio so probably will not be so against the butternut curculio. Itmight be effective to apply a heavy coating of D.D.T. bearing dust underthe trees so that as the larva drop to the ground to pupate, they willbe killed while the adult beetle may be immune to D.D.T., it is notlikely that the pupa could survive in heavily impregnated soil.
The adult beetles are present from the time the first leaves appearuntil late summer. A spray of 4 to 5 pounds of arsenate of lead and 12to 15 pounds of hydrated lime to 100 gallons of water, applied once aweek throughout the early part of the season might prove effective butit will certainly prove expensive.
Planting of the affected varieties at some distance from woodlands andwild butternut trees is helpful in avoiding this insect, but as thetrees grow older the pests may build up a population of their own. Somesections of the county may not be affected; I hope so.
Maybe we can get some of our entomologists to work on this insect. Let'sput a little pressure on our State Experiment Stations and the U. S.Department of Agriculture. Maybe Mr. Reed can help us.
Another subject I wish to mention is that of hardiness in nut trees. Inreading the NNGA reports and in some of the letters I have received, Ihave found that many people confuse killing of the young leaves in thespring by late frosts, with winter hardiness. In my opinion there is noconnection at all. I have seen many trees that were not hurt at all by-34°F. in mid-winter yet had all of their leaves killed by a late frostin the spring. In fact all species and varieties of hickory and walnutwill have their leaves killed by a hard frost if the leaves have openedout of the buds; this includes our native wild trees as well as thegrafted varieties.
The only hardiness against late spring frosts is the characteristic ofleafing out late, thus escaping most of such frosts. Of the differentspecies, the black walnuts seem to be best protected in this way, withthe hickories next and the heartnuts and Persian walnuts leastprotected. Of course there is a considerable varietal variation withineach species.
Then the protection we can provide, is to plant nut trees on side hillsor other high ground where there is good air drainage, thus avoiding thefrost pockets. Of course many want to plant nut trees and have no placeexcept in low frosty sites. To these I say that they can expect to losean occasional nut crop by these late spring frosts, but that only inexceptional cases will the trees suffer permanent injury. In years whenthe crops are lost the trees will still be good ornamentals and shadetrees. My door yard is quite a frost pocket, yet I have lost only onecrop of heartnuts out of four or five crops, no permanent injury to thetree.
Yield and Nut Quality of the Common Black Walnut In the Tennessee Valley[12]
By Thomas G. Zarger, Tennessee Valley Authority
Black walnut occurs on open, non-crop land in the Tennessee Valleyregion. Trees grow around the farmstead, along fence rows, and inpastures on most farms. In recent years harvesting of walnuts for marketfrom these trees has increased significantly. Looking forward to afuller utilization of the wild black walnut crop, knowledge on thebearing habits of these open-grown black walnut trees was required. Tosupply this information a study of tree growth, nut yield, and nutquality was undertaken in 1940. Results on nut yield available from thisstudy after six years are summarized in this report.
[Footnote 12: Contribution from TVA Forestry Relations Department, Forestry Investigations Division on a project conducted in the Forest Products Section.]
This study was initiated with the selection of representative open-grownwalnut trees throughout the Tennessee Valley. In 1940, 96 sample treeswere selected and 36 trees were added to the study in 1942. These 132trees are located in 42 counties and afford a good representation ofage, size, and growth quality of open-grown black walnut. Each sampletree has been visited annually. Entire crops were collected, carefullyweighed and sampled: tree diameters and other measurements were takenfor the tree growth phase of the study. When convenient, nuts werehulled in the field with a corn sheller, but more often they werebrought to Norris and run through a hulling machine. After hulling, thenuts were dried until cured, then a sample for each tree was tested forpercentage of filled nuts, nut weight, and cracking quality.
Yield
Results on nut yield and nut quality for the 132 sample trees have beencondensed to the presentation in Table 1. For the six-year period theaverage tree in this study had a diameter of 13.3 inches and yielded 33pounds of hulled, dry nuts a year. The yield of common black walnuttrees in the Tennessee Valley is characterized by extreme variation.Tree size, of course, influences nut yield. One-half of the yields froma 6-inch diameter tree ranged from no crop to 4 pounds of hulled, drynuts; whereas half the yields from a 22-inch tree ranged from 40 to 100pounds. A yield of less than one-half pound of hulled, dry walnuts wasconsidered "no crop". Some individual trees had unusually high or lowyields. The outstanding bearer was tree 117. It had the highest averageyield for the six-year period, and the heaviest crop of hulled, dry nutsfor any single year. During the six years this tree yielded 953 poundsof dry, hulled nuts and 194 pounds of kernels—truly outstandingproduction for a common black walnut tree. Another notable bearer, tree100, yielded 916 pounds of nuts and 189 pounds of kernels. However, thistree was almost 11 inches larger in diameter than tree 117. Theexceptional bearers in each diameter class also had the highest singlenut crops. The other extreme is characterized by low yields. Crops werelacking or insignificant for trees 60, 63, 211, and 221. Tree 37, witha 19.7-inch diameter, bore only one crop of 31 pounds during the entiresix-year period. This tree has no value for nut production but wouldyield a good sawlog.
Variation of yield by seasons and locality was examined by grouping the132 sample trees into six localities of 22 trees each. Greater variationin averages by crop years existed than averages by tree location groups.However, some variation was found between the eastern and westernportions of the Tennessee Valley.
Indications on bearing habits were obtained for a six-year period on 96trees, Nos. 1 through 140 (Table 1). Crop records for each of thesetrees were examined for relatively high and low yield by seasons.Convincing evidence on the alternation of bearing has accumulated duringthis six-year period with 46 percent of the trees having lighter cropsevery other year. Of these, 28 trees bore lighter crops in the odd yearsand 16 trees bore lighter crops in the even years. Tree 117, previouslymentioned as outstanding in regard to yield, produced lighter crops in1940, 1942, and 1944. This tree is located in west Tennessee.
Walnut trees bearing lighter crops in 1941, 1943, and 1945 are moreabundant in the eastern than in the western portion of the TennesseeValley. This occurrence undoubtedly accounts for much of the variationfound between the eastern and western portions.
Four other yield patterns were recognized in 30 per cent of the trees.These indicate the existence of uniform annual crops and three-yearcyclic bearing of black walnut. The bearing habits of the remaining 24per cent of the trees is considered merely irregular, since definitepatterns cannot be recognized until bearing records cover a longerperiod of years.
Nut Quality
The cracking quality of the nuts from the trees in this study was testedon a random sample of nuts from each crop that was collected and broughtback to Norris. The nuts of each sample were weighed and the average nutweight computed. The nuts were then cracked in a hand-cracking machine,and kernels that could be extracted with the fingers were removed andweighed.[13] From this weight was computed the first-crack marketablekernel percentage. The nuts that still contained kernels were recrackedand the remaining kernel removed. All kernels, including crumbs, werethen weighed in order to compute the total kernel weight and kernelpercentage. Finally, all of the quarters extracted were counted, and theaverage number of quarters was computed. Kernels recovered at firstcrack and the average number of quarters extracted indicate the relativeease of extraction of kernels.
Cracking quality of walnuts for individual sample trees averaged by cropyears are presented in Table 1. Nuts of all crops collected from fourtrees, 57, 58, 60, and 139, were shriveled or abnormal, and afforded notest of nut quality during the six-year period. Thus, nut quality data,based on 440 nut crop samples, are complete for 128 of the 132 sampletrees. From this study, the average common black walnut in the TennesseeValley has a nut weight of 17 grams, a kernel weight of 3.3 grams, atotal kernel content of 20 per cent, a marketable kernel recovery atfirst crack of 17 per cent, and a quarter recovery of unbroken quartersaveraging 1.8.
[Footnote 13: The kernels were extracted over a 6-mesh wire screen. Incommercial cracking, kernel pieces passing through this type of screenare not marketable as kernels.]
Table I—Yield of Nuts and Kernels, and Cracking Quality of Nuts from132 Sample Trees of Common Black Walnut in the Tennessee Valley
Diameter at 4-1/2 ______________________________________________________ Sample ft. number av. yr. 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Av. yr. _________________________________________________________________________
Av. Filled nuts Complete crack Kernel _________________ ________________________ yield First- bearing In terms crack Crops yrs. of total Average marketable Kernel tested number only weight weight kernel weight Kernel Quarters basis ______________________________________________________________________________
Diameter at 4-1/2 ______________________________________________________Sample ft.number av. yr. 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Av. yr._________________________________________________________________________
Av. Filled nuts Complete crack Kernel _________________ ________________________ yield First- bearing In terms crack Crops yrs. of total Average marketable Kernel tested number only weight weight kernel weight Kernel Quarters basis ______________________________________________________________________________
pounds percent grams percent grams percent number number
Results of cracking tests show that, in general, cracking quality of nutsamples from the trees in this study is poor. When cracked, the kernelscrumble badly, making extraction difficult and quarter recovery low.Variation in cracking quality can be seen by studying the values inTable 1. Nuts from trees 28 and 136 were extremely small, averaging 9and 10 grams, respectively. Nuts from trees 61 and 98 had generally poorcharacteristics. Trees bearing walnuts of better-than-average qualityare trees 5 and 18 with high total kernel per cent, and trees 8, 16, and59 with high nut weight and an unusually high kernel weight. Othertrees, of interest as exceptional bearers, include tree 101 with largenut weight, and tree 117 with both exceptional nut and kernel weight.The outstanding tree in the study from the standpoint of crackingquality of the nuts is tree 13, which has exhibited thosecharacteristics of thinness of shell and high kernel content sought forin improved varieties. This black walnut selection is being propagatedat the Norris Nursery under the appropriate name of Norris.[14]
[Footnote 14: Kline, L. V. A method of evaluating the nuts of blackwalnut varieties. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 41:136-144. 1942.]
Results from this study on the common black walnut have application inthe evaluation of the relative yield and nut quality of improvedselections suitable for use in the Tennessee Valley. This summary shouldalso prove of value to other workers dealing with black walnut in otherregions. It provides a basis for comparison, brings out thepossibilities for making selections, and emphasizes the importance ofnut production from improved varieties.
The 1946 Field Tour
By C. A. Reed
Attending the indoor sessions of the meeting for two days in Wooster,visiting the Station orchards and plantings near town and contactingpersonally some of the big men of the Staff together with the wives ofsome, called for intensive attention on the part of everybody. It wastime exceedingly well spent and created a feeling in everybody that theywould like soon to return for another convention of the same kind. Butthe good things that had been planned were not over when the delegatesleft on the morning of the third day in the general direction of theirhomes. No matter in what direction they went, hardly a route could befound which did not lead near or through the home town of some nut man.
A few took opportunity to visit the planting near Wooster of the late W.R. Fickes. A letter is before my eyes as these lines are being writtenwhich was directed to Dr. W. C. Deming by Mr. Fickes on January 9, 1924,in which he asked for information regarding certain kinds of nut treeswhich he did not have. He mentioned having Beaver, Fairbanks, and Siershickory hybrids and asked about Weiker. He wanted to know aboutBarcelona and White Aveline filberts. He said he had procured sevenvarieties of filbert of European origin which were then being featuredby Conrad Vollertsen of Rochester, N. Y. He was concerned over thechestnut weevil as he had about 125 trees of the Reihl varieties fromIllinois and already weevils were troublesome.
Those who had the privilege of keeping in touch with Mr. Fickes duringhis later years know that he assembled together a good many varietiesof other kinds of nuts. His was an excellent collection of black walnutvarieties. Persons who knew him well still mourn his passing. He was thetype of man who made others feel better to be in his presence.
It was 24 years ago last February that the American Nut Journal, thenedited and published by R. T. Olcott of Rochester, N. Y., told of "x xthe 57-acre farm of O. F. Witte near Amherst (in northern Ohio), onwhich Mr. Witte, who was then 72 years old, had been growing nuts for 52years." The dispatch went on to say that the "x x farm was devotedexclusively" to nut trees. What a pity such men can't live onindefinitely! However, the spirits of Fickes and Witte live on. No oneneed go far in Ohio to see the evidence.
Going east from Wooster on the morning of the third day, a group of 50or more persons stopped first at Kidron where they were shown the nutplantings of Mr. E. P. Gerber and his family of that small hamlet. Ahalf mile north of town, Mr. Gerber led the party through his largestplanting of nut trees mostly of bearing age. Of black walnuts he showedsuch varieties as Deming (purple foliage, especially in early spring),Lamb (the original tree had a figured grain), Ohio, Stabler, Ten Eyck,and Thomas. Of pecan, there were five varieties, Busseron, Butterick,Greenriver, Indiana and Posey. In the group of heartnuts, there were twonamed varieties, Bates and Faust, and one of which Mr. Gerber appearednot to have the name. He simply called it a "sport." There were filbertsof various kinds, Barcelona, DuChilly and Jones Hybrids, being the onesbearing variety designations. Also there were Persian (English) walnuttrees, principally Broadview and Crath. Mr. Gerber had more Chinesechestnut seedlings than trees of any other one kind. There was but onebutternut and that appeared to have been unnamed. Altogether 40 blackwalnut trees, 20 pecan, 30 filbert, 20 Persian walnut, one butternut,and 140 Chinese chestnut trees were seen.
Upon finishing with the first block of trees, the party was taken intotown where a large business house of Gerber and Sons was passed and ashort visit paid to a second planting in the rear of various Gerberbuildings, including the residence of Mr. Gerber. Here were some two orthree dozen fine appearing trees of various species and hybrid forms.
Lastly at Kidron, the party, was piloted a half mile west to a smallpark which Mr. Gerber had developed as a public picnic ground and asource of water for the village. It was well planted with nut trees andit was here that the Gerber family had provided tables and various fooddelicacies, including fresh milk, peaches and ice cream for everybody. Agreat part of the work of preparation had been taken care of by Mrs.Gerber and her two youngest children.
The next stop on the tour was at the Mahoning County Experiment Farm, ahalf-mile south of Canfield, some 70 odd miles east and north ofWooster. Here transportation was provided and the entire group was takenin charge by L. Walter Sherman, Superintendent. The first impression onegained here was that of good buildings, excellent land, able management,and a lot of things under way. All is comparatively new. From amimeographed list of species, varieties, hybrids, and strains which wasprepared in June for another occasion, one gathered that there wereperhaps more seedling nut trees here than grafted kinds. Mr. Sherman hasreported fully elsewhere in these Proceedings regarding the nut workthat is under way at this Station.
Report of the Resolutions Committee
The Northern Nut Growers Association in its annual meeting assembled atWooster, Ohio, September 3rd to 5th, 1946, adopted the followingresolutions:
That our sincere thanks be extended to Dr. Edmund Secrest, Director of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station and other members of his staff for the courtesies extended, and for the facilities provided in the use of the auditorium and exhibit room of the Station.
That we extend thanks to the speakers who unitedly made a successful meeting.
That we appreciate the fine work of our Secretary, Miss Mildred M. Jones, in formulating the program and that we are mindful of the valuable assistance rendered by Dr. Oliver Diller, Mr. Clarence A. Reed, and Mr. A. A. Bungart.
That we acknowledge appreciation to the estate of the late Zenas H. Ellis for providing in his will a gift of one thousand dollars to a special fund of the Association and that we thank Mr. Sargent H. Wellman for his legal efforts therewith.
That the members of the Northern Nut Growers Association fully appreciate and extend sincere thanks to our officers for their hard work and enthusiastic efforts in maintaining the Association during the past five years when war conditions precluded annual meetings.
RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE C. F. Walker, Chairman J. L. Smith Albert B. Ferguson
Obituaries
DR. J. H. GOURLEY
Members of this Association who attended the Wooster meeting in 1946will not soon forget the cheery, witty and resourceful toastmaster whopresided at their annual banquet, Dr. Joseph Gourley. Soon after thismeeting, on October 19th, to be exact, Dr. Gourley was stricken withcoronary thrombosis, and the field of horticulture lost a nationallyknown leader.
Dr. Gourley's passing came at a time of high tide in his work. "Lessthan an hour before he was stricken," said an associate, "he was engagedin planning a project that he knew would continue long after his activecareer must end. This is the spirit of the true research man."
He was a graduate of Ohio State University, had served as head of theDepartment of Horticulture in the University of New Hampshire and laterin a like position with the University of West Virginia. In 1921, he wasappointed chief of the Department of Horticulture at the OhioExperiment Station and, from 1929, he concurrently held the position ofChairman of the Department of Horticulture at Ohio State University. Heserved both of these offices until the day of his death. He was theauthor of many bulletins and technical articles as well as of somebetter known text books which have had wide use in AmericanUniversities. He had acted as president of The American Society forHorticultural Science, President of The American Promological Society,and as president and member of numerous similar organizations to whichhe gave continued and enthusiastic service.
It is as a good teacher, companion and warm friend, however, that Dr.Gourley will best be remembered by those who knew him well. His life andfire have sparked many another teacher, research worker and common manto greater effort and better achievement. A close associate closed apress notice of Dr. Gourley's passing with these words:
"His consideration for his associates, both those equal and below inrank, marked his every contact through his long years of service. He wasindeed, a truly great Chief.
His family and close associates in the two departments he headed for somany years will miss him most of all, but life for them and forcountless others who called him friend has been made richer, fuller anddeeper because he passed this way.
Teacher, scientist, Christian gentleman, friend and chief, we saluteyou."
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MRS. I. E. BIXBY
Mrs. Ida Elise Bixby, wife of the late Willard G. Bixby, died at herhome at Baldwin, New York, April 29, 1945.
Mrs. Bixby was a life member of the Northern Nut Growers Association, ofwhich her late husband was a past president. Following Mr. Bixby's deathin August, 1933, Mrs. Bixby interested the United States Department ofAgriculture in taking over much of their large experimental planting ofnut trees. Many specimens were moved to experiment stations underGovernment control, while other institutions as well as individualsbenefitted by their collection.
Mrs. Bixby is survived by three children: Willard F., of Cleveland, Ohio; and Katherine Elise and Ida Tielke, of Baldwin.
Letters to the Secretary; Notes; Extracts
EXCERPT FROM LETTER TO SECRETARY FROM G. S. JONES
July 4, 1946. From G. S. Jones, R 1, Box 140, Phenix City, Lee County, Alabama.
My trees (Chinese chestnuts) appear to be healthy and grow vigorously.(They were given me by the Bureau of Plant Industry in 1934.) They beganbearing in 5 or 6 years and have now been bearing quite large crops for3 or 4 years. There are 22 trees in the orchard, and the approximateyields have been: 1943—550 pounds; 1944—450 pounds, and 1945—950pounds. The enormous increase in 1945 was due partly, I am quite sure,to mineralized fertilizer (Es Min. El.) which I began using in 1944.
As my trees are seedlings they vary considerably in productivity and insize of nuts. Most of the nuts are of good size and quality when firstgathered. This is where the trouble begins. The keeping quality is verypoor, sometimes half of them spoil during the first month after beingharvested. Since this is the case, you can see that germination may bevery poor, unless they are handled in a special way. Refrigeration helpsfor a short while only. During the last two years, I have had goodresults in germination by stratifying the nuts under the trees, just assoon as they fall. In this way, the nuts are not allowed to become toodry as they are not exposed to the hot sun but are kept in the shade.Our falls are usually dry and our soil is sandy so there is littledanger of the nuts becoming too wet during the winter. The danger ofspoilage does not seem to be so great by the time winter rains set in.By this plan, I have had from 60 to 90 per cent germination during thelast two years. I dig the nuts just as soon as they begin to sprout inlate winter and line them out in nursery rows where they are to growduring the first year. Sometimes the sprouts become from 4 to 6 inchesin length before I get to do the moving, but they transplant easily. Ibelieve the micorrhiza from the soil of the old trees helps the youngones to grow better.
December 11, 1946—My chestnut trees this fall produced slightly over1,722 pounds. The nuts seemed to keep better than usual which Iattribute to the cool rainy weather which we had during the ripeningperiod. Hot, dry weather causes the nuts to begin spoiling quickly. Myrecords show August 7th as the beginning of the ripening period andOctober 3rd as the ending. So one can see that this is often a hot anddry period in our section.
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EXCERPT FROM LETTER TO SECRETARY FROM MRS. W. D. POUNDEN
Dairy Department—Ohio Agric. Expt. Sta. Wooster, Ohio October 14, 1946
I am glad to give you the method I used in canning pecan kernels.
Spread the shelled pecans in a shallow pan and place in a warm oven justlong enough to heat the kernels through. Have clean jars—preferablypints so that the heat will penetrate more easily in processing—whichhave been warmed in the oven to be sure they are thoroughly dry insidebefore adding the pecans. Fill the jars with the pecans (do not add anyliquid), place the lid on the jar (I prefer the Kerr self-sealing type),and process the nut-filled jars in a 250° oven for 30 minutes.
I have kept pecan meats for over a year using this method and they areas crisp and good as when they came out of the shell.
HYBRIDS
At an informal meeting at Dr. Diller's cabin the evening before the Convention, Mr. Slate was asked to say something about hybrids.
Mr. G. L. Slate: Hybrids between black and Persian walnuts were made atGeneva about 1916 by Professor W. H. Alderman, now of the MinnesotaExperiment Station. After these trees had fruited all but five wereremoved to permit the remaining trees to attain full size. The treeshave produced very few nuts and have been absolutely no good. Variouspersons have attempted to raise second-generation seedlings from thesetrees, but from my observation no one has succeeded.
From what I know of these hybrids and what Reed has published aboutthose with which he is familiar I am convinced it a waste of time andeffort to attempt to produce hybrids between black and Persian walnutswith the hope of getting desirable nuts. The trees themselves are veryrapid growing, handsome and well worth while as shade trees. But thewalnut breeder will have more to show for his efforts if he confines hislabor for the time being to improving the black and Persian walnuts bycrossing among themselves the many clones within each species.
However, the unsatisfactory hybrids between black and Persian walnuts,of between butternuts and Persian walnuts should not blind us to thefact that there are many species-hybrids of great pomological value. Thehybrids between the Rush variety of Corylus americana and variousvarieties of C. avellana produced by the late J. F. Jones are very muchworth while. Some of our finest red raspberry varieties are hybrids ofthe European and American species.
The purple raspberry resulted from crossing the red and blackraspberries. All our cultivated strawberries are descended from crossesbetween the native Virginia strawberry and the Chilean strawberry. Thevaluable new plums from the Minnesota Experiment Station resulted fromcrossing the native American plum, Prunus americana with the Japaneseplum, P. salicina. Many of our best grapes, the Boysenberry, the Kiefferpear, and various citrus varieties are species hybrids.
We must not generalize too much as to the merit or lack of merit ofspecies-hybrids. Some are very good and of great economic importance.Many others of which we never hear are without merit, often beingdiscarded, leaving only a few lines in a notebook to record theircharacteristics.
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Mr. Stoke: Would you consider chestnut hybrids worth while?
Mr. Slate: If you can get everything you need from the Chinese chestnut I see no reason for hybrids with any other.
Mr. Stoke: Dr. Arthur S. Colby has made a number of hybrids betweenFuller and Chinese. I consider his hybrid No. 2 as promising; the nut islarge, beautiful and of good quality. So far I have found no weevils inthis hybrid. The bur is very thick and fleshy, with close-set spines.Possibly the curculio is not able to penetrate the thick husk in layingits eggs. Colby No. 2 is the most rapid grower of all my chestnuts.
PECANS WITH COMPANION EVERGREENS[15]
Twenty years of experimenting with pecan trees at the Iowa Park stationhave revealed that pecans in the Wichita irrigated valley of Texas dovery poorly in buffalo grass or Bermuda sod, much better when givenclean cultivation, but best of all when planted with or near evergreens,particularly conifers.
In 1926 some pecan trees were set along the west line of the farmstead.Most of these died soon after setting and the few that survived did notgrow satisfactorily. Later, a general farmstead improvement programcalled for Arizona cypress along this line. In 1933, when these pecantrees were seven years old, they had made little growth and were in suchpoor condition that it was decided to ignore them and set the cypress onequal spacings. Some of the cypress trees were placed very near pecantrees while others were farther away. None of the pecans were removed,however.
As the cypress trees grew, the pecan trees near them began to take onnew life, while the isolated pecan trees continued in their unthriftystate. As the years passed the pecans with companion cypress treescontinued to increase in health and vigor until there was no doubt aboutthe favorable influence of this companionship. At the time the cypresstrees were set close to the older pecans, other pecan trees were beingset in various locations on the farmstead; some in open sod and otherswith or near evergreens of various types. The behavior of these treesalso confirms the value of companion evergreens for pecans in theWichita irrigated valley.
At the age of seven years the pecan trees were about the same size andin equally poor condition. The treatment as far as cultivation andirrigation is concerned has been the same. Hence, the great contrast insize of the pecan trees is attributed to the favorable influence of thecompanion conifers.
[NOTE BY EDITOR—Heavy shade can reduce soil temperature, on summerafternoons, more than 20°F six inches underground. This may largelyexplain the benefits of companion trees.]
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SAWDUST MAKES GOOD FRUIT TREE MULCH
Many kinds of material ranging from paper to glass wool have been usedas mulches for fruit trees, discloses J. H. Gourley, of the Departmentof Horticulture at The Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. Straw, hay,and orchard mowings have been most commonly used.
In some areas, sawdust and shavings are available in quantity and havebeen used to some extent for mulches which raises the questions ofwhether they make the soil acid.
The Experiment Station has used both hardwood and pine sawdust and alsoshavings for a number of years in contrast with wheat straw, alfalfa,timothy, and others. No difference in appearance or behavior of thetrees can be noted. Sawdust packs and gives poorer aeration than strawand it requires a large amount to mulch a tree. This mass also absorbs alarge amount of rainfall before passing through to the soil but noinjurious effects have been noted.
The chief question has been about soil acidity and it may be stated thatafter 12 years of treatment the soil is little or no more acid than itis under bluegrass sod. The soil under the latter has a pH of 5.22, thehardwood sawdust 5.07, the softwood sawdust 5.07, hardwood shavings5.20, and wheat straw 5.35. Contrary to the common conception, noobjection to sawdust from the standpoint of soil acidity is justifiedfrom Station experience.
* * * * *
TWO FAMOUS TREES
(Taken from "Bruce Every Month," December, 1938, page 17. Published byE. L. Bruce Company, Memphis, Tennessee.) Living monuments to a greatgovernor of Texas are two nut bearing trees, a pecan and an oldfashioned walnut. The last wish of Governor James S. Hogg was that "nomonument of stone or marble" be placed at his grave, but instead thereshould be planted—"at my head a pecan tree and at my feet an oldfashioned walnut; and when these trees shall bear, let the pecans andwalnuts be given out among the plains people of Texas so that they mayplant them and make Texas a land of trees." His wish has been fulfilledin its entirety, many trees from these two parent ones adorning thelawns of schools and court houses throughout the State of Texas.
* * * * *
OHIO TREES SERIES
No. 1.—Black walnut (Juglans nigra):—Black walnut is one of the mostvaluable of the forest trees native to the United States. It is regardedas the country's premier tree for high grade cabinet wood; it producesvaluable nut crops; and under certain conditions is highly effective asan ornamental shade and pasture tree.
~Lumber~—As lumber, black walnut is used principally for furniture,radio cabinets, caskets, interior finish, sewing machines, and gunstocks. It is used either in the form of solid wood cut from lumber orin the form of plywood made by gluing sheets of plain or figured veneerto both sides of a core. Black walnut veneer is made by the slicingmethod and to a limited extent by the rotary-cut method.
~Nuts~—In recent years the black walnut has gained an importantposition in the kernel industry. There has never been a market surplusof black walnut kernels. The demand, mostly from confectioners and icecream manufacturers, has steadily increased while the supply has beenlimited largely by the labor of cracking and extracting the kernels. Theprocess of cracking the nuts and separating the kernels from the shellshas been mechanized by a farmer in Adams County, Ohio, to the extentthat he uses over 4,000 bushels of walnuts per year. He sends thekernels to markets in New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Columbus, andChicago. The facts all emphasize the economic importance of the blackwalnut in a market that is still far from saturated.
~Ornamental Value~—There are few trees whose utility is as great as theblack walnut, that can rival it in beauty as a lawn tree. Its longgraceful leaves provide a light dappled shade and grass will growluxuriantly up to the very base of the tree. In its pleasing form andmajestic size the black walnut can be a great addition to any landscape.Any tree yielding such fine timber and nuts, yet possessing beauty andutility for yard and pasture, can be nothing but a sound investment.
~Soil Requirements~—Black walnut grows best in valleys and bottom landswhere there is a rich, moist soil but well drained. It does notgenerally grow on the higher elevations nor on wet bottom lands. Itusually occurs as a scattered tree in hardwood stands and alongroadsides, fence rows, and fence corners.
~Distribution and Growth~—The botanical range of this tree covers mostof the eastern half of the United States. It is among the more rapidgrowing hardwoods. On good sites trees 10 years old will be about 20feet high and in 40 years will reach 60 feet in height and 12 inches indiameter at breast height. According to Forest Survey figures, theestimated merchantable stand of walnut in Ohio in 1941 was 112,275,000board feet while the cut during the same year was slightly over 3million board feet.
~Pests~—The most serious pest is the walnut datana whose larvae eat theleaves. Other leaf-eating insects include the fall web worm and thehickory-horned devil. Several leaf spot diseases have attacked theleaves, also causing early defoliation. Leaf eating insects and leafspot disease can be controlled by the application of one spray in June.This is composed of three pounds of arsenate of lead, ten pounds ofpowered Bordeaux mixture, and a good sticker in one hundred gallons ofwater.
~Selected Varieties~—Walnut trees vary greatly in the type of nut theyproduce. The most popular strains have been selected for propagation.The varieties which have been propagated by nurserymen are the Thomas,Ohio, Stabler, Ten Eyck, and Elmer Myers. Since the cost of grafted nuttrees is rather high, many people are interested in planting the nuts ofthe better varieties for large scale planting. Seedling trees may beraised easily by anyone, whereas much skill and practice are required toproduce grafted and budded trees. The degree to which the desirablecharacteristics of selected varieties are transmitted through seed isnow being studied by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station.
A list of commercial nut nurseries may be obtained by writing to Miss Mildred Jones, Secretary, Northern Nut Growers Association, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
~References~—A few of the most outstanding publications on black walnutare listed below.
1. Black walnut for timber and nuts. Farmers' Bulletin No. 1392, U. S.Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
2. Nut Growing in New York. Bulletin 573, College of Agriculture,Ithaca, New York.
3. Top-working and Bench Grafting of Walnut Trees. Special Circular 69,Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, Ohio.
4. Growing walnut for profit. The American Walnut ManufacturersAssociation, 616 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago 5, Illinois.
Exhibits
Gilbert Becker, Climax, Michigan.
Crath strains of J. regia, hickory, black walnut kernels.
Hebden H. Corsan, Hillsdale, Michigan.
Cases of nuts, folders on nut planting for success.
H. F. Stoke, Roanoke, Virginia.
Chinese chestnuts, hybrid chestnuts, tree hazel hybrid, Jones hybridfilberts, hazelberts, black walnuts, E. Golden persimmons, J. regia,hickories, nut ornaments.
Edwin W. Lemke, Washington, Michigan.
Heartnuts, black walnuts, filberts, tree hazels, black walnut wood, avacuum nut cracker.
Jay L. Smith, Chester, New York. Books, black walnuts, hickories,chestnuts, hacksaws, grafts.
E. J. Korn, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
J. nigra, hickories, filberts.
S. H. Burton, Indiana.
Petrified nuts, wild hazels.
Harry R. Weber, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Breslau Persian walnuts, filberts.
E. P. Gerber, Kidron, Ohio.
Photos, hickories, chestnuts, hicans, black walnuts.
U. S. D. A., Beltsville, Maryland.
Green hickory nuts of several varieties.
A. G. Hirschi, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Heartnuts, J. regia, persimmons, chestnuts.
U. S. D. A., Beltsville, Maryland.
35 large pictures of famous nut and other trees fully described; manyother smaller photos of famous trees remarkable for clearness.
John Davidson, Xenia, Ohio.
Cross-sections of seedling black walnut. A very remarkable exhibit ofthin-shelled black walnuts.
Dr. A. S. Colby, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
A very desirable Crath (seedling I believe) Persian walnut.
Fayette Etter, Lemasters, Pennsylvania.
Large number of filbert varieties.
Attendance
Dr. and Mrs. Truman A. Jones, Farkesburg, Penna. Geoffrey A. Gray, Cincinnati, O. John W. Hershey, Downingtown, Penna. Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Reed and Miss Betty Reed, Washington, D. C. Mrs. G. A. Zimmerman, Linglestown, R. I, Penna. S. B. Chase, Norris, Tenn. Thomas G. Zarger, Norris, Tenn. W. A. Cummings, Norris, Tenn. Mr. and Mrs. John Davidson, Xenia, O. H. C. Cook, Leetonia, O. Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Stoke, Roanoke, Va. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond E. Silvis, Massillon, O. Victor Brook, Rochester, N. Y. D. Ed. Seas, Orrville, O. L. H. MacDaniels, Ithaca, N. Y. C. F. Walker, Cleveland, O. Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Wischhusen, Cleveland, O. Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Graham, Ithaca, N. Y. Dr. R. H. Waite, Perrysburg, N. Y. Kenneth W. Hunt, Yellow Springs, O. J. F. Wilkinson, Rockport, Ind. William S. Clarke, Jr., State College, Penna. Ira M. Kyhl, Sabula, Io. Edwin W. Lemke, Detroit, Mich. William C. Hodgson, White Hall, Md. J. H. Gourley, Wooster, O. H. R. Gibbs, McLean, Va. Mr. and Mrs. S. Bernath, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Weschcke, St. Paul, Minn. Joseph M. Masters, Wooster, O. George L. Slate, Geneva, N. Y. George H. Corsan, Toronto, Ont. Mrs. Katherine Cinadr, 13514 Coath Ave., Cleveland 20, O. O. D. Diller, Wooster, O. Emmet Yoder, Smithville, O. F. L. O'Rourke, E. Lansing, Mich. R. E. McAlpin, E. Lansing, Mich. G. J. Korn, Kalamazoo, Mich. L. W. Sherman, Canfield, O. H. H. Corsan, Hillsdale, Mich. J. L. Smith, and daughter, Chester, N. Y. A. J. Metzger, Toledo, O. A. W. Weaver, Toledo, O. S. Shessler, Genoa, O. A. A. Bungart, Avon, O. Sterling A. Smith, Vermilion, O. C. P. Stocker, Lorain, O. Dr. and Mrs. John E. Cannaday, Charleston, W. Va. Andres Cross Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Best, Eldred, Ill. G. M. Brand, Lincoln, Nebr. Wm. M. Rohrbacher, Iowa City, Io. D. C. Snyder, Center Point, Io. Wm. N. Neff, Martel, O. E. P. Gerber, Kidron, O. Geo. Kratzer, Dalton, O. A. G. Hirschi, Oklahoma City, Okla. Mr. and Mrs. Harry R. Weber, Cincinnati, O. Mr. Ford Wallick, Peru, Ind. Carl Prell, S. Bend, Ind. Albert B. Ferguson, Center Point, Io. E. F. Huen, Eldora, Io. John B. Longnecker, Orrville, O. Percy Schaible, Upper Black Eddy, Penna. Ruth Schaible, Upper Black Eddy, Penna. Mr. and Mrs. Blaine McCollum, White Hall, Md. Mrs. H. Negus, Mt. Ranier, Md. Dr. Elbert M. Shelton, Lakewood, O. H. M. Oesterling, Harrisburg, Penna. Frank M. Kintzel, Cincinnati, O. Dr. J. W. McKay, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md. Dr. A. S. Colby, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. E. C. Soliday, Lancaster, O. L. E. Gauly, Cleveland, O. Mrs. Reuben Bixler, Apple Creek, O.
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