THE PROPER PLACE OF NUT TREES IN THE PLANTING PROGRAM.
By C. A. Reed, Nut Culturist,
U. S. Department of Agriculture.
In the planting of trees for most purposes, it is now possible to exercise practically the same degree of choice with regard to special fitness as is employed in the selection of men for positions or tools for a piece of work. The fruit grower in every part of the country has his special species and pomological varieties from which to choose. The foresters and landscape gardeners have their species and botanical varieties or improved strains to pick from.
Among the important purposes for which trees are planted the production of native nuts is singularly behind. The leading species of native nut-bearing trees include the hickories, the walnuts, the chestnuts, the pines, and the beech. Of these, one of the hickories, the pecan, is the only species which has so far been developed by cultivation as to become of importance for the production of an orchard product.
The timber of the pecan is less valuable than is that of most other hickories, and is in commercial use only as second-class material. However, it is the most important species of nut-bearing tree in the United States. Its native and introduced range includes the fertile lands of the plains of practically the entire southeastern quarter of the country. It is neither an upland nor a wet land tree. In the United States it is not found in the mountainous sections, nor, to any important extent, south of Middle Florida. In Mexico, it is occasionally found on mountain sides at considerable elevations and by some is supposed to be there indigenous. However, according to "Pomological Possibilities of Texas," written by Gilbert Onderdonk, of Nursery, Texas, and published by the State Department of Agriculture in 1911, its success at those altitudes is vitally dependent upon the water supply. In each case investigated by Mr. Onderdonk, while upon official trips made for the United States Department of Agriculture, he found the pecan trees to be adjacent to some stream, either natural or artificial. "At Bustamente," says Mr. Onderdonk, "one hundred and seven miles beyond Laredo, are pecan trees two hundred years old that have been watered all their lives and have continued productive. From these trees, grown from Texas pecans, pecan culture has been extended until there are now thousands of thrifty pecan trees under irrigation. One owner of a small lot sold his water right when his trees were about seventy-five years old, and when the writer visited his grounds fourteen years later, every one of his trees was either dead or dying."
We may yet find the pecan to be suitable for plateau or mountain land growth, but as Mr. Onderdonk reports was the case in Mexico, it is also the case here. The species must have ample water. With the proper amount of moisture, neither too much nor yet too little, there is no way of predicting to what altitudes or even latitudes it may be taken. Its northernmost points of native range are near Davenport, Iowa, and Terre Haute, Indiana. Iowa seed planted in 1887, at South Haven, Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, at a latitude of about 42½ degrees, have never been seriously affected by winter temperatures. However, they have fruited but little. So far as the writer can ascertain the crops of nuts have been insignificant both as regards quantity and character. Dr. Deming reports a large tree at Hartford, Conn., at a latitude of nearly 42 degrees which, judging from a photograph which he took several years ago, was then 3 feet in diameter and quite at home, so far as growth was concerned.
Other planted trees are fairly numerous along the Atlantic Coast between Washington and New York. There is one in the southern part of Lancaster County, Pa., near Colemanville, but so far as is known to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, important crops of nuts have never been realized from any of these northern trees. Crops from the native trees in the bottoms north of latitude 39 degrees or approximately that of Washington, D. C., and Vincennes, Indiana, are fairly uncertain. Northern nurserymen are now disseminating promising varieties of pecans from what has come to be known as the "Indiana district," which includes the southwestern part of that state, northwestern Kentucky and southwestern Illinois. In many respects these varieties compare very favorably with the so-called "papershells" of the southern states. They are believed to be of very great promise for northern planting in sections to which they may be adapted. However, before any northern varieties are planted for commercial (orchard) purposes, they should be fully tested as to their adaptability in the particular section where the planting is to take place. The commercial propagation of northern varieties of pecans began less than ten years ago; the first attempts were not generally successful, and as a result there are no budded or grafted trees of northern varieties yet of bearing age.
Aside from the pecan there are no named Pomological varieties of any native nut now being propagated, with very few exceptions. So far as these exceptions are concerned, it is probable that fewer than one hundred budded or grafted trees of such varieties are yet of bearing age, and of such as have attained the age at which fruit might be expected, exceedingly few have borne in paying quantities for any number of consecutive years. Therefore, with reference to the planting of native nut species for profit, the truth of the situation is simply this: In the ordinary course of events, with the exception of the pecan, years of experimentation in the testing of varieties and in a study of their cultural requirements must be gone through before any native species of nut-bearing trees can be planted in any of the northern states with a certainty of commercial return from nuts alone which would be comparable with that of many other crops which already are upon a well established commercial basis in this part of the country.
With reference to two of the foreign species of nuts which have been introduced, the situation is quite different. In order of commercial importance of the nuts now grown in this country, two foreign species, the Persian (English) walnut and the almond, stand second and third, respectively, the pecan, which is an American species only, being first. With these exceptions, the foreign introductions are all in the experimental or test stage, and while possibly the European hazel (filbert) may now be making a strong bid for commercial recognition in the northwest, and the pistache in parts of California, neither species can yet be recommended for commercial planting.
With the exception of a few hardshell varieties of almonds, which are practically as hardy as the peach and which are suitable only for home planting, as they are in no way to be compared with the almond of commerce, there is now no indication that this species is destined ever to be come of commercial importance east of the Rocky Mountains.
The Persian or so-called English walnut is of commercial importance in this county only in the far Western States. In the South, it has thus far failed altogether. In the North and East it has held out gleams of hope, first bright, then dull, for more than a century. There is no way of telling the number of trees of this species which have been planted in the northeastern section of the country, but let us imagine it to have been sixty thousand. Of these fully fifty per cent have succumbed to climatic conditions; twenty-five per cent have been but semi-hardy, and possibly twenty-five per cent have attained the bearing age. A part of each of the last two classes have borne crops of commercial size for a number of years. Some have produced nuts of good size and quality. A great many of all those surviving are now proving susceptible to a walnut blight upon which Mr. McMurran is to report tomorrow. A liberal estimate of the present number of bearing Persian walnut trees in this part of the country would be ten per cent of the original supposed sixty thousand or six thousand trees. Of these, the writer has positive knowledge of none which are now bearing crops of nuts in such quantity, and of such size, and quality and with such regularity and which have so borne for such length of time as to encourage commercial planting. Few of the eastern grown nuts are so free from tannin as to be really pleasing to the taste, or favorably comparable with the best nuts of the market. The writer is now closely watching the best known varieties which the nurserymen are putting out, but at the present time there is no variety which, in his judgment, should be commercially planted without further testing.
The proper place for such partially improved species, as are most of the nut producers hardy in this section at the present time, is that in which they may be used for more than the single purpose of nut production. Most of the species of the botanical family Juglandaceae, to which the walnuts and hickories belong, are slow growers, and as such, are objectionable to the average planter. In answer to this, it may be said that among trees, slowness of growth is invariably associated with longevity of tree and its value when cut as timber. Also, when due pains are taken, it is possible to select species which are exceedingly satisfactory in the landscape. Several of the slides, which are to follow, illustrate the individual beauty of selected nut trees, and some show their effective use in the landscape.
Foresters are now advocating the planting of trees in waste places in the country, especially about farm buildings. There are, perhaps, no conspicuous waste places with a greater aggregate area than the strips along the public highway. In certain foreign countries, these strips are planted to fruit trees and the right of harvest awarded to the highest bidder. The revenue so obtained goes a long way toward keeping the highways in good condition. It is possible that this practice may sometime be introduced into the United States, but until public opinion is radically changed, the planting of fruit trees along the highways can not be expected to yield any satisfactory returns to the public. The experience of Dr. Morris who planted cherry trees along the public road past his farm here in Connecticut, where we have just been, is typical of what, under present conditions, might be expected in any part of the country. When the cherries were ripe, automobile parties came for many miles to pick the fruit, and when that in the highway was gone, the cherries from the nearby orchard were taken. In both cases, the branches were broken down and the trees left in badly mangled condition. Dr. Morris then tried nursery-grown and expensive evergreens, but on Sundays, automobile parties came again with spades and shovels and dug up the trees.
The ratio of population to tillable land in this country is not such that, for a long time to come, the American people as a whole will be pressed into the using of highway land for the production of crops or into respecting the right of the public to harvest such crops as might be grown in its highways. Therefore, for the present, except in densely populated, or in more than ordinarily well regulated communities, it would be useless to advocate the planting of ordinary fruit trees along the public roadways.
Irrespective of the possible value of their crops, fruit trees of most species are both too small and too short-lived to be suitable for highway planting. With nut trees, the situation is entirely different. The native walnuts, most species of hickories and the American beech are large-growing and long-lived trees. In addition, they are capable of withstanding severe temperatures; they are tough and strong and not liable to injury by storm or while being climbed by ordinary persons; and they readily adapt themselves to a wide range of soil, moisture, and climatic conditions.
Ordinary species of nut trees can not be recommended for the dual purpose of timber and nut production, as, for the former purpose, the trees should be planted close together in order to induce length and straightness of trunk with a minimum of top or bearing surface, while for the latter, they should be planted in the open and given space for the maximum development to bearing surface and a minimum length of trunk. The great demand for hickory in the making of axles, wheels, and other vehicle parts and handles for tools, and for walnut in the manufacture of furniture and gun stocks, makes it not only possible but common practice to use these woods in short lengths. Therefore, both species planted along the highways and in other waste places might profitably be converted into their timber upon reaching maturity, if their crops of nuts should prove to be of small commercial value.
The butternut, J. cinerea, is a less symmetrical grower than are the black walnuts. The timber is less valuable and the nuts are cracked with greater difficulty. Nevertheless, it is the most hardy of any native species of Juglans. Its kernels are rich in quality and of a flavor more pleasing to some persons than that of any other nut. Cracking the native butternut and marketing the kernels affords the rural people in many sections a fairly profitable means of employment during the winter months. Its native range extends farther north than does that of either the eastern black walnut, or that of the shagbark hickory, Hicoria ovata, and considerably beyond that of the shellbark hickory, H. laciniosa. Therefore, in view of its hardiness, and the merit of its kernels, it is well worthy of consideration for planting in the most northern parts of the country.
Were it not for the blight which is now making practically a clean sweep of destruction over the eastern states, wherever the native chestnut is found, the American chestnut, Castanea dentata, would certainly be entitled to leading consideration as a highway, an ornamental or a nut producing tree. Unaffected by blight or other diseases, it is one of the largest-growing and most graceful species in the eastern United States. The European chestnut is nearly as susceptible to this blight as is the American species. The chestnuts from eastern Asia now appear to be sufficiently immune to offer a practical solution to the situation by their introduction into this country. However, they commonly lack the sweet agreeable flavor of the American species and need hybridizing in order to improve their quality. This, the Federal Department of Agriculture is now doing, and in due time, there may be something to offer in ample quantity which will make a satisfactory substitute for the native species. Exclusive of the Asiatic species and the government hybrids, there are now no available species which can be recommended for planting in the blight affected area, and these should be planted only for test purposes.
The pines referred to at the outset of this article as being important nut producers are all western species found only on the mountains and nowhere under cultivation. There are at least fourteen American species. Representatives are found in most of the Rocky Mountain states. The most important species is Pinus edulis. It is found at altitudes of from five to seven thousand feet in the mountains of New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico. In favorable years, the seeds are gathered in enormous quantities under the name of "piñons," or according to the Mexicans, "pinyonies." The nuts are rich in flavor but small and difficult to extract from the shells. They are not well known in the eastern market, but in the southwest they form a highly important article of food for the Indians and Mexicans. These pines are exceedingly slow growers and not of graceful form. They could scarcely be considered for ornamental planting, except at the altitudes to which they are common, and then; probably, only where some more satisfactory shade trees would not succeed.
Among all American species of trees, it is probable that in a combination of beauty, longevity, strength and hardiness, the American beech, Fagus grandifolia, is unexcelled. Although commonly looked upon as being a northern species, its range extends south to northern Florida and west to the Trinity River in Texas. It is most familiar as a clean-barked, spreading tree, with low head, and a height of from fifty to sixty feet. However, its form depends largely upon environment. The writer has seen it in the bottoms of southwestern Georgia, in common with the magnolia, growing to a height of from seventy-five to one hundred feet and with trunks of two feet in diameter extending upward in a manner which, with regard to height and uniformity of size, compared favorably with the long-leafed Georgia pine. The nuts of the beech are rich in quality and of excellent flavor, but owing to their small size and the great difficulty attending the extraction of the kernels, they are not ranked as being of direct importance for human food. Their principal use in this country is as a mast crop for turkeys and swine, for which they serve a most useful purpose. Crops which can be used in this manner to good advantage, thus practically obviating the problems of harvesting, storing and marketing, are certainly well worth thinking about in these days of labor scarcity.
There are few large sections of the United States adapted to the growing of trees to which some nut-bearing species is not suited. Most species of nut trees are as capable of producing shade and ornamental effect, and are as hardy and lasting as any others which might be mentioned. In addition, they produce an edible product which is entering into the list of staple food products with great rapidity. The present scarcity of meats and the consequent high prices are compelling the substitution of other products. The superiority of nuts over practically all other products which are available, as substitutes, scarcely needs argument. Already, nuts are being pressed into service as rapidly as production permits, and perhaps more so than prices and comparative food values justify. Singularly enough, this section of the United States, which is the oldest and most thickly populated portion of the country, and that within which the greatest number of edible species of nuts are indigenous, is today practically without pomological varieties for planting. Within this area, individuals have made tests of species and varieties for many generations, yet little progress has resulted. The obvious need is for further test on a large scale. A better opportunity for the making of such a test could scarcely be imagined than that of highway planting.
Pomologists are firmly recommending the exclusive use of budded or grafted trees. But this advice applies only to orchard planting for the purpose of commercial production. Until more and better varieties are known and their merits established, that portion of the country lying north of the pecan belt and east of the Rocky Mountains, must await the development and trial of new varieties. Seedlings must be planted in large numbers from which to select varieties. The process is too slow and the percentage of varieties which may be expected to be worth while too small for it to be possible for the individual to make much headway during an ordinary lifetime. Our present system of national highways by which all parts of the country are being connected is perfecting the opportunity. The general planting along these great national highways of elm, oak, poplar, tulip, cedar, hemlock, magnolia, pine or any other species which, unless cut, are capable of producing no crop other than that of shade, would hardly be in keeping with the present need for utility. It would be giving a questionable degree of thought to the welfare of future generations.
To the list of nut trees as utility trees there might be added the sugar maple, and certain species of prolific-bearing oaks. The former could be drawn upon for the making of syrup and sugar, and the acorns from the latter could be put to good use as hog and turkey food. In wet sections, willows might prove useful from which to cut material for baskets, furniture, or tying bundles.
A way of overcoming the objection of slow growth of some of the nut species might be the alternate planting of quick-growing species which would furnish shade in a minimum length of time, and which could be cut for pulp or other purposes by the time the nut trees reach maturity.
A practical objection to highway planting of nut trees is that unless cared for, such trees are in danger of becoming breeding places for diseases and insect pests which would quickly spread to nearby orchards. However, such planting in numbers too small to be worth caring for is not to be considered. Already the country is agreed that the maintaining of the middle of the road in such condition that it can render maximum service is a paying investment. The suggestion here made is only as the next step in highway investment. It is a proposition to make more comfortable and attractive the present system of roadways, and at the same time to help develop new varieties of nut trees for orchard planting. Unless such new varieties are soon to become available, a large part of the country will presently find itself dependent upon outside sources for its principal substitute for meat and its main supply of vegetable fats.
A little thought should be able to work out a sound program for the planting of utility trees on practically every highway in this country.
Since this manuscript was completed, attention has been called to a reference to a war use of the horse chestnut, which appears on page 18 of the July number of "My Garden," a monthly publication, with headquarters at 6 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, London. As the heading "NEW USE FOR HORSE CHESTNUTS," and its sub-head "Cereal Saving," both indicate it may be of interest to the American people, although the production of horse chestnuts in this country is not large. The article which is credited to The Times, is as follows: "An important war time use has been found for horse chestnuts by the systematic collection and transport of all the nuts that can be obtained to the centre where they can be utilized. Up to the present time cereals have been necessary for the production of an article of great importance in the prosecution of the war. Under the direction of the Food (War) Committee of the Royal Society, which acts for and in consultation with the Royal Commission on Wheat Supplies, the Minister of Food, and the Minister of Munitions, experiments have been carried out during the winter to find a substitute for these cereals, and thus to set them free for food supplies. Brilliant work has ended in the difficulties being overcome, and the proof that the seeds of the horse chestnuts answer the purpose admirably. Except as food for deer and goats the seeds have, in the past, been practically a waste crop, and they can be used instead of cereals, essential for human consumption, without interfering with any existing industry or interest.
"The organization for the collection and transport of all that can be obtained is being rapidly perfected. When the time comes it will be the privilege and duty of every owner of a tree or trees to help and to give facilities for the collection of the nuts. Every ton of chestnuts collected will set free an equivalent amount of grain. The tree being chiefly grown for ornamental purposes occurs most freely in towns and private gardens. In some towns it is the practice to remove the young nuts from the trees in July so as to prevent them from being stoned and broken by boys later on when the "conker" demand begins. Urban authorities and park-keepers must discontinue the practice this year. Chestnut Day, early in next autumn, will have a far wider observance and significance this year than any Chestnut Sunday at Bushey, or than Arbor Day over here, or even in America. For once the small boy will collect the nuts with the full approval of the owner.
"To prevent any misapprehension it should perhaps be made clear that the horse chestnuts will not themselves be used as food. They are required for another purpose altogether, and the only way in which they will help the food supplies of the country is by setting free cereals which have now to be consumed in the production of a necessary article."
Thursday, Sept. 6, 1917.
Meeting called to order at 9.30 A. M.
The Nominating Committee reported the renomination of all the officers. The Secretary was instructed to cast one vote for these candidates.
[Carried.]
Moved and carried that the selection of the time and place for next meeting to be left to the Executive Committee with especial consideration of a joint meeting with the National Association at Albany, Georgia.