The association adjourned until 2 p. m.
Afternoon Session, Friday, October 8, 1920, 2 p. m.
The President: We very fortunately have with us a gentleman from the Bureau of Entomology, Mr. F. E. Brooks, who will talk to us about nut insects for a time and we will be very glad to listen to him.
Mr. Brooks: I believe your program is full for this afternoon and I shall keep you but a few minutes.
A little more than a year ago the problem of insects affecting the nut crop of Northern United States was assigned to me by the Bureau of Entomology. I wish to say the work has been very delightful to me from several standpoints. In the first place, it has brought me into association with a delightful group of workers. I want to express to you the pleasure I have had in meeting the various nut growers of the northern part of this country and noting the hearty way in which they are ready to co-operate in solving the nut insect problems. The field of work is interesting because there appear to be in sight no insect pests that promise to embarrass or overwhelm the nut grower. We have a few quite serious insect problems, perhaps none more serious than that occasioned by our old acquaintance, the "chestnut worm." That problem, however, is being solved rapidly in many localities by the chestnut blight.
Thus far in the work, I have devoted most of my time to a study of the species attacking the fruit of nut trees, and I may mention three groups that have been given special consideration. First, the group to which the chestnut worm, or chestnut weevil, belongs. There are two very similar species of these weevils which attack chestnuts, one which attacks hickory nuts and pecans, one which attacks hazel nuts and numerous species which attack acorns. The adults of these weevils are medium-sized beetles, yellow, brown or gray in color, and all have enormously long snouts. The mouth is located at the point of the snout and the beetles use these snouts to bore through the covering of the nuts after the kernel is partially or fully formed. When the puncture into the nut is completed one or more eggs are inserted by means of an extensile, thread-like tube, or ovipositor, of the same length as the snout. The eggs hatch into the familiar worms found in ripe chestnuts, hickory-nuts and hazel nuts. The large hole in the shell of the nut is made by the full grown worm as it escapes to enter the ground, where it completes its transformation into a beetle. An interesting thing in connection with these weevils is that each species confine its attacks to one particular kind of nut. Even those species that attack acorns show a decided tendency to distinguish between oak species and confine themselves as groups very largely to particular species or botanical groups of oaks. There is, therefore, no danger that any of these weevils will multiply, for example in an oak forest, and then migrate into nearby plantations of chestnut, hickory or hazel. Hazels might be used for interplanting among chestnut or hickory trees with no danger that the hazel nuts would become infested by the weevils that develop in the chestnuts or hickory nuts. This habit of the weevils is greatly to the advantage of the person who would plant a particular kind of nut outside its natural range, or at a considerable distance from any other trees of its kind. He could do so with reasonable assurance that the weevil attacking his species of nut would not occur upon his trees until brought into the locality by artificial means.
There is another group of weevils, nearly related to the common plum curculio, the species of which attack immature nuts. In this group the snout is much shorter than in the group just described, and the insects are considerably smaller. There is one species, Conotrachelus juglandis, that confines its attacks to the young fruits and shoots of walnuts of the butternut group, another, Conotrachelus retentus, that seems to attack exclusively the black walnut fruits from the time they set until they are half grown, still another, Conotrachelus affinis, that appears to attack only half-grown hickory nuts. Another species, Conotrachelus aratus, feeds abundantly in some localities within the leaf petioles of hickory. At least two other species of the group commonly attack acorns. Those injuring walnuts lay their eggs on the concave side of crescent-shaped punctures which they eat in the husks of the young nuts. The larvae developing from the eggs cause the nuts to drop within a few weeks and the larvae enter the ground to complete their transformation. There is a divided tendency with some of these species to attack the young wood and leaf stems of the introduced species of walnut. Dr. Morris states that he has had young Japanese walnut trees killed by C. juglandis feeding in the grub stage within the branches. He has, however, found that the pest succumbs to an arsenate of lead spray.
Species of this group are apt to have alternating periods of increase and decrease and a year of great abundance may be followed by a year of comparative scarcity. This variation is due, at least in part, to the fact that the larvae, as they feed within the tissues of their host plants, often become rather heavily parasitized by certain two-winged and four-winged flies, the parasitized larvae dying before they reach the adult stage. Nature in this way does considerable toward holding the pests in check, but artificial means of control will often need to be considered.
The third group referred to is represented by a two-winged fly, about the size of the common house fly, known technically as Rhagoletis suavis, and commonly as the walnut husk-maggot. The fly is light brown in color, with broad, irregular, dark brown bands on the wings. It appears when walnuts are nearly grown and deposits clusters of small, white eggs within punctures in the husks. Maggots hatch from the eggs and at the time the walnuts drop these maggots are often found converting the inner parts of the husk into a blackened, pulpy mass. Infested nuts are disagreeable to handle and the husk does not part readily from the shell. I have found the fly attacking black walnuts, butternuts, Persian walnuts and Japanese walnuts, within the states of West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. It probably occurs over the natural range of the black walnut and butternut. It is proving to be a rather serious pest, especially of the Persian walnut. Some of the infested walnuts appear to drop prematurely and others adhere to the branches beyond the regular harvest time. The shell of infested Persian walnuts parts poorly from the husk and the nut is discolored, soiled and unmarketable.
The fly has rather interesting habits. I found that by pricking a nearly mature black walnut with a pin, the wounds would almost invariably be used in a little while by the female flies for depositing their eggs. In one such wound, 180 eggs were laid within 24 hours. When the husk was pricked a slight flow of juice would take place and the male flies would soon find the spot, and, recognizing, I suppose, a suitable place for the females to come to oviposit, they would stand guard at the puncture awaiting the coming of the female. On one occasion I made minute punctures in the husk of eight black walnuts and in a little while a male fly was located at each puncture. Pairing took place usually as soon as the female came and began to lay eggs. Sometimes a male would be found at a puncture in the early morning and would hold its position against all coming males throughout the entire day. When another male would come to the nut the two flies would rear up facing each other and engage in a brief sparring bout with their front legs. Usually, the original occupant of the nut would be the victor. In some experimental spraying of Persian walnut trees in Maryland and Pennsylvania the past season with a sweetened arsenate of lead spray apparently good results were obtained. In one case it seemed that the spraying was about 75 per cent efficient in controlling the pest. In in another case, whereas last year 75 nuts in 100 were infested, this year, after spraying only four nuts in 100 contained the maggots at harvest time.
I desire to state to the nut growers that I am interested in any nut insect problems that you may encounter and shall always be glad to receive reports and specimens. Your co-operation in this work is greatly appreciated and I hope we may continue to work together and that before long we may have more definite knowledge of the means of preventing, to some extent at least, the various forms of injury by insects to the nut crop.
Mr. Rush: I cannot help but express a word of gratitude and appreciation to my friend Mr. Brooks in helping me out of a serious difficulty that I had in connection with walnut culture at Lancaster. A year ago I was ready to throw up the sponge. In fact I might say that my whole crop last year was destroyed by this husk-maggot. This year I have a very fine crop. Last year it was practically worthless. This year I have very few walnuts that were affected by the maggots, largely owing to the successful spraying that he gave the trees at the proper time. I think the future has a bright prospect for making walnut culture more profitable.
The President: We are certainly under obligations for the very interesting talk and glad that Mr. Brooks could be with us.
The first thing on the program for the afternoon session, according to the published program, I know will be of a most interesting character, Top-Working Hickories, by Robert T. Morris.
TOP WORKING HICKORIES
Robert T. Morris, New York
At the present time when our views on the subject of top working trees are based upon incomplete knowledge and experience perhaps it is unwise to present a paper upon the subject which might be taken as authoritative. On the other hand my experience to date is worth recording for its face value, subject to change of view subsequently.
Different species of hickory act differently when subjected to top working methods. The bitternut may be cut back severely without giving evidence of any great degree of shock. The shagbark on the contrary makes slow recovery and many years are required for a cut-back shagbark hickory to regain normal equilibrium between top and root. The pignut and mockernut apparently stand midway between the bitternut and the shagbark in respect to the trimming of the top. My experience with shagbark includes the top working of trees ranging from a few inches in diameter up to fifteen or twenty inches in diameter, and the cutting back has included all stages from actual felling of the tree to cutting off half of the top or less than half of the top. The idea of felling trees completely was to graft stump sprouts or to insert the slot bark graft into the stump near the ground. When this has been done the larger hickories do not send up stump sprouts at all and the root dies excepting in cases in which a slot bark graft has been introduced. The graft grows slowly without a great degree of vigor and requires so many years for balancing the root that the method has not been practical up to the present time. The same statement is true of the shagbark hickory which has been trimmed back very severely leaving nothing but the stubs of large branches to be grafted immediately or for the purpose of grafting sprouts in the following year. The bark of the shagbark hickory is so hard that new shoots are choked severely and many years are required before they have a secure hold upon the stock. My final conclusion is that we may cut shagbark limbs having a diameter of three inches or less for the purpose of leaving grafting stubs. If a large number of grafts are inserted in such a topworked tree or in stock sprouts which start and are grafted in the following year the work is successful. In order to avoid the labor of topworking a large shagbark tree in its entirety we may graft only one or two limbs and allow stock sprouts to grow on other limbs until both stock sprouts and graft sprouts have become well branched. Branches carrying stock sprouts may then be removed a few at a time year after year, leaving the graft sprouts in charge finally.
By means of the bark slot method of grafting grafts may be inserted in any part of a hickory tree. The bark slot method consists in using a chisel and mallet for cutting parallel lines the width of the scion in the bark of the stock. The tongue of bark between the parallel lines is pried outward with the point of the chisel until the scion has been inserted next the wood and the tongue of bark is then allowed to return to place, leaving the scion interposed between the tongue of bark and the wood. Rules which apply to the shagbark may be applied to all of the hickories with which I have experimented. When cutting back the limbs in preparation for topworking it is well to leave as many as possible of stubs or branches of small diameter. Branches of small diameter may be grafted by ordinary cleft grafting methods but branches of larger diameter should be treated by the bark slot method. At the present time and in the locality of my country place at Stamford, Connecticut, melted paraffin suffices in place of grafting wax and melted paraffin is brushed over the entire scion, buds and all, as well as over the wound in the stock.
The time for cutting back hickories in preparation for topworking is probably important and in my experience to date, autumn cutting is preferable. The reason is that a good deal of activity is going on in the tree before it enters into a state of winter rest and wounds are pretty well repaired. In winter cutting there is some danger of incomplete repair and in the springtime the free flow of sap invites the entrance of various enemies, bacterial and fungous. Summer cutting according to the laws of plant physiology would cause more shock to the tree than cutting at any other time, although practically I have done this successfully. Without regard to season for cutting in preparation for topworking it is very important to trim cut ends very smoothly with a sharp knife in order to remove ragged tissue left by the saw. It is difficult to persuade employees to do this and it will not be done as a rule unless the owner looks after the matter personally. The smoothly trimmed end of the cut branch should immediately be protected with white paint, melted paraffin, or some other protective covering.
What are the disadvantages of the slot bark method of topworking hickories? The scion does not have such a secure hold upon the stock as it does in cleft grafting and it will blow out in a high wind unless it is protected by braces. I have found it not harmful to a tree to fasten laths to the stock for holding the growing scion, driving galvanized iron nails through the lath directly into the stock. Unless growing grafts are well braced by some method the entire season's work may be lost in two minutes of a gale preceding a thunderstorm in summer. By the slot bark method, in other words, we may catch more grafts and lose more grafts than by any other method with which I am familiar, but the loss may be avoided by proper attention.
The best time for grafting varies with the locality. At Stamford I have grafted hickories from February until September. Very early grafting is largely a failure because of incomplete repair of the wound in the stock and scion. Late summer grafting is not practical because the scions which make a start do not lignify their new shoots sufficiently to withstand the winter cold. In late April or early May when the sap is running very freely we also have a considerable loss of scions because an excess of water causes the scion shoots to grow too rapidly before wound repair has taken place to the point necessary for conducting nutrition for the growing shoots. Grafting after the leaves are pretty well out on the tree has given me best success. Grafting from then up to the last week in July has been found to be practical. Scions for topworking hickories have been employed for what I call "mediate" and "immediate" grafting. By mediate grafting is meant the employment of scions which have been cut while they were dormant and which have been stored in any appropriate way. Immediate grafting means the transference of scions cut from one tree and used upon another in the same hour or day. Mediate grafting is the sort which belongs to all history of the subject and immediate grafting relates more particularly to my recent experimental work.
Mr. Bechtel: What kind of wax did you use if any besides paraffin?
Dr. Morris: I have given up everything but that. The paraffin has a number of special advantages. In the first place, it seals any wound against infection from bacteria or fungi. It prevents moisture from rain carrying bacteria into the wound. It prevents evaporation from the cut surfaces.
Mr. Bechtel: Doesn't it melt too much in the sun?
Dr. Morris: It might with you and you might need to use a harder paraffin. There are a great many kinds of paraffin. The paraffin series is a large one in chemistry. The one I find best for our locality is the common parowax that you can find in any grocery store. I use just the pure straight thing but in your country you are further south and may need a different one. It does melt some in the middle of a hot day and will be nearly fluid sometimes but it hardens up when the sun goes down.
Mr. Foster: Were the grafts kept in cold storage?
Dr. Morris: I have used two ways of keeping grafts for top working. Some have been kept in cold storage, others have been kept in the ice house. I have been in the habit of kicking up the sawdust and dropping scions in the hole not very far above the ice. Last year I could not get any ice and two years ago I could not get any but the scions kept just as well in the sawdust near the ground. Then I have kept them packed in leaves with two feet of leaves on top of the scions. I have also kept some as Mr. Jones has but the difficulty is in keeping them at the right degree of moisture. The enzymes go to work the minute the cells of the scion have a full charge of water despite low temperature unless it is actually below freezing. Scions of another kind are the ones that I cut off from one tree and put on the next tree the same hour or day. That has only been possible by this method that I now employ. Almost any time in the summer we can do that without keeping the scions in storage at all. I gave some of them a resting period experimentally for a day or two but to no advantage.
Prof. Close: Don't you have to be pretty careful with the melted paraffin so as not to injure the tissue?
Dr. Morris: Yes we need special apparatus. I took a lantern, cut out the top and sunk a spun cup down in the lantern. On a cold day I turn the alcohol flame higher than in a warm day. I have been trying to have this lantern made so that it could be got on the market. There is nothing else to my knowledge that will allow the grafter to regulate the temperature of melted wax according to the weather. I am going to get it manufactured so you can each have one.
Mr. Bixby: There is a series of paraffines pure paraffines which are known only in chemical laboratories and also a number which can be obtained without much difficulty. The common parowax I think is the grade that is known in the trade as 120. That is it melts at 120 degrees F. but paraffin can be obtained without much difficulty that melts at 125°, 128° and 130°, so if the parowax is too soft for Mr. Bechtel's district I am sure he can get something that will be all right. He might have to send to New York to get it but it is readily obtained there.
Mr. Bechtel: I have used bees wax and find that that melts at a higher temperature.
Dr. Morris: I want complete transparency.
Mr. Foster: Would it be out of order for a beginner to ask what type of grafting Dr. Morris uses in his work on these trees.
Dr. Morris: I think that somebody who was not a beginner might ask that quite as well. I have tried almost all the methods employed by the experts and have gotten down to very simple principles. If I am going to get fifty, sixty, eighty or ninety per cent of catches in hickory as we sometimes do I have to use methods that are very simple. For limbs that are small not larger than one's finger the plain cleft graft is good enough and I like as far as possible to choose a branch that is about the diameter of the scion. If the limb is larger in diameter than the scion I make my cleft to one side so that the cambium line of stock and scion will correspond. It is important to have cambium layers together. By all means the best feature of all in my grafting work is what I call the bark slot. This bark slot consists in making two parallel lines in the stock bark the width of the scion. I turn down that tongue of bark and stick in the scion. I turn back the bark again and bind all with raffia. That is the bark slot graft. The bark slot is by all means the most successful method that I have ever employed. What are the objections to it? Not so firm a hold on the stock as you will get in a cleft. What are you going to do about it? Put on good strong braces for the growing stock. I find it does not do much harm to drive galvanized nails right into the tree to hold the brace, three or four nails right into the limb, and then tie the rapidly growing shoot to the brace. If I do not do that the new shoot blows out very readily when I use the bark slot. In other words you will catch more by this method and lose more unless you give the grafts a good deal of attention.
Prof. Close: How do you trim the scion?
Dr. Morris: I trim it mostly with one good long cut on one side and sometimes turn it over and make a little nick on the other, but one good long cut is usually all that it needs.
Prof. Close: Supposing the bark does not peel?
Dr. Morris: If it does not I think the chances are against its catching your graft. I have done all my grafting until this year at times when the bark peeled but this year I carried it up into September after the bark had set and I am trying to see if I can get a catch then. In that case I take a chisel and chisel off the bark where it is hide-bound. The experiment may be a failure but I have had so many failures that they are sort of a pleasant experience.
Mr. Foster: In the cutting back I understand that you prefer to do so when the tree is dormant. Then in the spring when you start your grafting do you leave that cut just as it is or do you cut it off again?
Dr. Morris: These are very important questions that are coming out. When you have sawed off the limb trim the end neatly with a sharp knife. An employee will almost always leave the cut end ragged but if you do it yourself and have smooth ends and cover them with paraffin you can graft right squarely on that end. Turn down your bark for a slot and stick in the scion at any time. If the cut end was made by someone who was not careful make a cut down through any living bark with a chisel or a knife until you get down to the wood, then make parallel lines from that point and turn down the tongue of bark. I have put in scions where I had to use a heavy chisel and mallet to turn down the tongue. It was not necessary to put on any binding there where the tongue of bark was so thick.
Prof. Close: I understand you to say that if the end has become dried you go down below the dried part?
Dr. Morris: When I find the end of the stub dry I go below that point to get live bark for grafting purposes. After my scion is well under way a year or so then I saw off any projecting stub beyond the graft and put paraffin over the cut end. That form of graft works very well except that it makes more work.
Mr. Littlepage: I have been very much interested in what Dr. Morris said. I found it no trouble whatever to get a hickory from four to six or eight inches to grow a great big graft, but I have never seen one live three years. I have my woods full of dead ones. I have one in front of my house now which I slip-bark grafted about the diameter of two inches and it is still growing but I expect an invitation to its funeral next spring. I have never seen a hickory tree successfully grafted over five inches in diameter. I found in my woods that the trees would sometimes die down to the ground. If they lived they would drag along for two or three years. If those of you who were out there yesterday had had a little more time I could have shown you those dead hickories. I would like to know what your experience is in grafting hickories over an inch in diameter.
Dr. Morris: That is an important point and it relates to the matter of cutting back to such an extent that it causes too much shock to the tree. In very large hickories I have cut them hack to short stubs and have had a number of them die. On the other hand where I have cut back so that the largest limbs cut were not more than three inches in diameter those trees would do very well. I have living shag bark grafts now on trees that are from five inches to more than fifteen inches in diameter.
Mr. Littlepage: Do you cut these back in the winter or spring?
Dr. Morris: I do not remember about all. Some, were cut back in both seasons. Winter is probably better. Autumn better yet.
Mr. Littlepage: I cut mine in the spring.
Dr. Morris: That has a lot to do with it if the trees bleed too much.
Mr. Foster: Are your pignuts native?
Mr. Littlepage: I think most of them are worse than that.
Mr. Foster: They are familiarly known in my state as pig nuts.
Prof. Close: You could top-work them.
The President: We will proceed with the next number. We are honored in having with us the President of the National Nut Growers Association who has come to us all the way from the southland to tell us about selection and propagation for the improvement of the pecan. I now have the honor of presenting to you Mr. Theodore Bechtel, President of the National Association.
Mr. Bechtel: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: After having listened to so many good papers and addresses it seems to me that as far as imparting any knowledge to this audience my trip may have been in vain. However I assure you as this is my first visit to Washington it lacks a whole lot of being in vain from what I have already seen and enjoyed. I may be able to add a few points to what has already been said.
SELECTION AND PROPAGATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF PECANS
Theodore Bechtel, Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is indeed a great pleasure to meet you all here in the interest of Horticulture, one of the greatest, and, by the way, the oldest industries of which we have any record, since Adam and Eve were engaged in it, and in the interest of one of the greatest branches of that industry, Nut Culture, and this in the greatest city on Earth, because it is the seat of Government of the greatest nation on Earth. We are all here, primarily, in the interest of Nut Culture and I venture to say that these meetings will not be in vain, as a congregation of such intelligence, interest and determination as I see displayed here is certain to accomplish much in the course of time. The very fact that there are many problems in Nut Culture to be worked out makes the industry the more interesting for those who are not looking for an easy get-rich-quick scheme. We have accomplished some things in the line of propagation of pecans which were said to be impossible only a few years ago, and they now seem easy. The problems you will have to work out in the Northern pecan section, as it appears to me, are selection and development of suitable varieties for your climate. This will no doubt be done by using the best hardy varieties you already have, some of which are showing good results, and crossing these just as is being done in the South now by our Government officials and by several private individuals. This great Government of ours has an Agricultural Department which is capable of performing tasks in the way of experimental work in this line on an extensive scale, which would be too great an undertaking for an individual, and we should use every effort to induce this work to be extended to the Northern sections, if it has not already been begun.
The results obtained by Mr. C. Forkert, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, who was one of the first to take up the work, are highly interesting and give satisfactory evidence of what can be done by way of combining the good qualities of two varieties by a systematic scientific method of cross pollenizing and the work of Dr. Van Fleet, whose place we visited yesterday certainly was convincing of the great possibilities along this line of work. The fact that you have not the best now does not indicate that you will not in time surpass in results some of the sections where pecans now abound. Jackson County, Mississippi, had no native pecan forest to start with and yet we now have some of the best and most profitable orchards in the world, and it is the place where most of the standard high class varieties have originated.
In the selection of varieties upon which to build up your pecan industry be careful to choose varieties showing as many of the following qualities as possible: Productiveness, hardiness, early maturity, plumpness of kernel, good flavor and cracking qualities. The varieties selected for cross pollenization should combine as many of the desirable qualities as possible. By grafting from the young hybrids into the top of old bearing trees you may have samples of nuts in a very few years. The propagation of pecans in the Northern nurseries seems to be well under way and will no doubt be stimulated as orchard planting increases.
I might add as a suggestion that seedlings to graft upon be raised from seed obtained as near by and as nearly in the same latitude as possible as these will usually be found best adapted to local conditions of that section.
Whether grafting or budding is the best method of propagation will likely depend upon local conditions. We find in the far South that budding succeeds best in some localities while grafting is best in others. Ultimate results of the two methods in the orchards are equal. In sections where there are native pecans growing in suitable places these should be top worked to the best hardy varieties possible for quick results. The best method to do this work will also depend upon local conditions and seasons. The slip mark method of grafting as early in the spring as the bark will slip, will no doubt be one of the most expeditious, as it is quickly done, and in many sections is very successful, providing the scions are kept perfectly dormant and the waxing and tying are carefully done.
As commercial orcharding is still in the experimental stage in the Northern section of our country it will be well to sound a note of warning to prospective planters that they may avoid some of the mistakes that we in the Southern pecan belt made at one time. Next to the neglect, which some of the planters allowed their orchards to undergo, probably the selection of the wrong kind of land has been the cause of more disappointment than any other one source. A fertile soil deep, mellow, well drained sandy or gravelly clay subsoil should be ideal for pecans anywhere in the latitude in which they are hardy. However, many other types of soil are producing pecans, and if your home happens to be located where the soil is not ideal, you can still grow them by furnishing the elements which nature has failed to provide, if your soil is well drained and free from hard pan. The planting and cultivation, to be sure, must be carefully and thoroughly done to insure success anywhere.
I will say in conclusion that I believe there are wonderful possibilities in Nut Culture in this country of ours. We know it is an established fact that nuts are entered into the dietary of our upwards of one hundred and ten million inhabitants of the United States of America more and more from day to day. We have evidence of this in our importations of nuts, which have increased from year to year until they have nearly reached the enormous value of $57,000,000 for the year 1919 as stated by the American Nut Journal. Then, too, there certainly can be no more fascinating branch of horticulture combined at the same time with financial reward.
Now, let me thank you for your attention and say that I only wish that every one of you might join us in our big meeting of the National Association at Austin, Texas, next week.
Mr. Foster: A thought occurs to me in connection with Dr. Morris' idea of paraffin for use in warm climates. I happen to know as a patent attorney that in the manufacture of candles in order to give paraffin heat resisting qualities they introduce stearic acid. I have no doubt that it would be just as successfully employed in paraffin for the purpose of grafting. I think in candle making they add something like ten or fifteen per cent to the ordinary paraffin.
Mr. Littlepage: I think we are very fortunate to have with us Mr. Bechtel and Mr. Perry from down South who are really in the nut business. The problem before us is varieties. If you want to plant black walnuts what walnut do you want to plant? Just because I happen to say that Stabler is a first-class walnut does not make it so. If you want to plant English walnuts what variety? I said to Dr. Van Dazce a few years ago, "I wish I knew more about that variety." He said: "Don't bother about that. You will be top working them all in a few years." (Applause.) I have found a bigger pecan down in Indiana than the Major. It is a big type and I wish we knew more about it. I wish the Department of Agriculture would make an investigation and find out. What nuts to plant and what soil to plant them on and what varieties to plant it seems to me ought to be the trend of our talk here at these meetings, and I am glad that Mr. Bechtel has taken up that question.
Mr. Olcott: I think the members of the association would be interested in hearing a brief account from Mr. Bixby of the only commercial nut planting proposition in the North at present,—a very successful one. He has visited it within a week and I think he could tell us what varieties they have planted.
The Secretary: About a week ago I was at Alton, Illinois, at the place of Mr. E. A. Riehl. He has been a pioneer in many things, in fruit culture and what interests us more today in nut culture. He is outside the native chestnut belt and many years ago he planted some native American chestnuts. When the Rochester chestnut came out he planted it and he obtained from the late J. R. Parry of Parry, N. J., his best Japan chestnuts including the Reliance. He also obtained Boone trees from the originator the late Geo. W. Endicott, Villa Ridge, Ill. He has raised many seedling trees from the above varieties and planted a small hillside to them. Out of those he has selected the best and is propagating from them. He has chestnuts there that I wish I might show here, some that are fifty per cent larger than Paragon and with a better flavor. Furthermore they will drop out of the husks so that it is not necessary to pick up an unopened burr and heat it or pound it to get the nuts out. He has now between one and two thousand chestnut trees. Most of his chestnut trees however are seedling trees which do not bear nearly as well as his best trees. The greater part of his trees are in land that has never been cultivated. Many of his trees are not yet in bearing. Some of his trees however are now 25 to 28 feet spread and bearing heavily. He is certain that the yield of his orchard could be greatly increased by top working the poor bearers and that he is doing. Still he told me be obtained not less than 35¢ per pound for any of the crop and for some as high as 40¢ and 50¢ wholesale. In 1920 he produced over 4000 pounds.
In this connection a short history of the Boone tree will be of interest. In the spring of 1895 Mr. Endicott fertilized blossoms of Parry's Japan Giant chestnut with pollen of a native American chestnut and planted the nuts. This cross was made with difficulty for the American and Japan chestnuts do not bloom at the same time and it was several years after he had made up his mind to make the cross before he was able to do it. In the fall of 1897 one of the trees produced six burrs filled with nuts and was named the Boone. Since then it has borne as follows: 1898, 1 lb.; 1899, 3 lbs.; 1900, 5 lbs.; 1901, 6 lbs.; 1902, 8 lbs.; 1903, 12 lbs.; 1904, 17 lbs.; 1905, 25 lbs.; 1906, 31 lbs.; 1907, 43 lbs.; 1908, 50 lbs.; 1909, 56 lbs.; 1910, 5 lbs. (small crop due to hard freeze in April); 1911, 80 lbs.; 1912, 76 lbs.; 1913, 140 lbs.; 1920, 153 lbs. I am not informed as to the crops in 1914 to 1919 inclusive. Two other trees of the same parentage planted at the same time bore 128 lbs. and 168 lbs. respectively in 1920. If we consider that chestnut trees are set 40 feet apart each way, which means 27 trees to the acre, and estimated the crop at a fraction of that borne by the Boone tree we shall still have figures sufficient to show the wonderful possibilities of the chestnut in those sections outside of the native chestnut area of the country where it will succeed.
Mr. Riehl also has black Walnuts. He procured a Thomas black walnut from Joseph W. Thomas & Son, King of Prussia, Pa., fifteen or sixteen years ago. From that original Thomas tree he has top worked a lot of seedling black walnut trees and he has I should think between one and two hundred in bearing at the present time many of them bearing heavy crops. It is very evident that Mr. Riehl has in his chestnuts and in his black walnuts gotten northern nut culture down to the point where it pays. I wanted to get Mr. Olcott to go there on his trip and get some facts from Mr. Riehl to present at this meeting. When I was there I had another mission in mind and I spent the time in getting what I went for. Consequently I did not get all the practical details and results in dollars and cents which we ought to have to demonstrate that it has been a commercial success. But I am satisfied that it is because he is constantly increasing his plantings.
Mr. Jones: Two years ago he favored black walnuts.
Mr. Bechtel: What has he done with pecans?
The Secretary: The pecan is native with him but he is probably pretty near its northern limit even though I have found it bearing good crops further north. The pecans I have seen at Alton do not seem to be bearing much. He has one or two northern varieties top worked on native pecans one eight years old and another one five neither one of which is bearing.
Mr. Bechtel: He had a very small choice nut that he prized very highly and sent me some scions to propagate for him I think about 12 or 14 years ago. I grew them on our native stock shipped them to him. I never followed it up to see what results he had. I think probably those roots may have frozen out if he had severe winters.
The Secretary: What he showed me were two of the standard northern varieties, I think Busseron and Indiana, which he had grafted on young trees. In southern Indiana they are doing much better. Grafted varieties are bearing but with Mr. Riehl it is the black walnut and the chestnut with which he is making a success.
The President: The next speaker has for his subject the southern pecan and how its commercial development came about. He comes from the one state in the Union of which I may be somewhat jealous. It is the only state east of the Mississippi River with a larger area than Michigan. (Applause). I take pleasure in presenting Mr. A. S. Perry, of Cuthbert, Georgia, Secretary of the National Nut Growers' Association.
GEORGIA'S PECAN INDUSTRY
A. S. Perry, Cuthbert, Georgia
My heart thrills with pride and pleasure as I stand in the Capital City of our great nation and bring greetings to the Northern Nut Growers Association from the fertile fields of the far South.
I am a southerner to the manner born. For six generations my people sleep in Georgia soil and for an hundred years my family have lived in the Albany district the queenliest section of the far south that rests resplendant as a jewel upon the snowy bosom of her royal mother Georgia and as beautiful as a cluster of fragrant flowers that nestles in the girdle of a lovely woman.
My imperial mother Georgia is a land of surpassing loveliness and thus has for ages been the inspiration of poets and painters too.
The southerners dream of beauty is the magnolia and who can tint her roses or paint the morning glory that points its purple bugle towards the sky as though to sound the revelie for a waking world. No prima donna has ever yet entertained the crowned heads of Europe with such music as that divine melody with which the mocking bird greets the coming dawn.
Ours is a land where skies bend blue and all nature seems to smile; where mosses veil the infirmities of decrepit oaks and vines spring unbidden from the ground to hide the scars of grey old walls; where the grape-vine staggers from tree to tree as though drunk with the purple juice of its own luscious fruit; where flowers lie at your plate on a winter's day and the humblest laborer carries in his dusky hand flowers fit to grace a May queen's crown.
As proud as I am of the beauties of Georgia I am prouder still of her material and natural resources. We have a vast undeveloped empire within whose borders there awaits the prospector such potential treasure as would make the fabled wealth of Lydia's ancient king seem but a beggar's trifle, and the consuming ambition of my life is to see these resources developed to the fullest degree and then shall my imperial mother Georgia shine as the brightest star that gleams in Columbia's diadem.
But of all the natural resources of Georgia there are none to be compared to the possibilities in the development of our NATIONAL NUT the Paper Shell Pecan.
The history of the paper shell pecan is but another example that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country," for native Georgians failed to avail themselves of the opportunity at their door and the credit for the development of Georgia's pecan industry belongs to the far sighted men and women of the North. Then why should I not feel grateful to such men and women as you believing as I do that the paper shell pecan industry is destined to lead Dixie out of her industrial bondage and restore her to her rightful place among the sisterhood of states.
"History repeats itself" says the soldier and there is pictured in his mind vision of other Shenandoah Valleys swept by the fiery broom of war and other Atlantas and Savannahs given to the flames on some other Sherman's March to the Sea.
But history has repeated itself; the North has again invaded the South but not with drum and fife and armed hosts and has been met not with shot and shell but with a genuine southern welcome and from this commingling of northern capital and energy with southern soil and sunshine has sprung a new industry of such roseate promise as to almost make the story of Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp fade into insignificance and Dixie's imperial product, the cultivated paper shell pecan makes her bow to the world.
French explorers as early as 1740 left authentic records of pecans in the Mississippi Valley and the many giant pecan trees scattered from Maryland to Texas which the scientists tell us are hundreds of years old seem to indicate that the pecan is a native of America whose origin is lost in prehistoric times.
The earliest financial transaction in pecans that has come to my notice was in 1772 when William Prince of Flushing, New York, sold in England eight pecan trees for ten guineas each. These trees were grown from seed planted by himself.
Prior to 1890 there had been little if any attempt to plant pecans in orchards but about this time a few scattering seedling orchards began to appear.
In October 1902 about thirty owners of small pecan orchards met in Macon, Georgia, and organized the National Nut Growers Association. Of those pioneer growers only three remain today as active members of the Association, Theo. Bechtel, H. C. White, and O. P. Mears.
By this time the art of budding and grafting having become reasonably well known several pecan nurseries came into bearing and orchards of budded trees began to appear and the foundations of a real industry were laid. About this time the nursery crook began to appear and sold thousands of worthless trees but despite this handicap pecan culture continued to spread and shortly thereafter attracted the attention of Prof. John Craig of Cornell who after investigation pronounced it safe sane and profitable. He also made a study of the various sections and decided that the Albany district was the ideal section for profitable pecan culture.
This announcement by Prof. Craig was sufficient to induce northern capitalists to begin developing the Albany district on a commercial scale and several companies entered the field planting many thousand acres to be sold in units. As an evidence of the lack of faith on the part of local land owners let me say that a few weeks ago I read the original contract between one of the pioneer development companies and the gentleman from whom they bought their land. This contract was dated early in 1908 and provided for the sale on time payments of several thousand acres of land closing with the limitation that unless as much us 100 acres of this land were planted in pecans and sold in 1920 the contract was to be null and void. As a matter of fact this company developed and sold about 4500 acres in less than five years. They have long since retired as developers and give their entire time to the care of their immense orchards and the sale of their nuts which annually run around two hundred thousand pounds.
More than one of these pioneer development companies found themselves in financial difficulties due to the fact that they had sold their orchards too cheaply. Pecan growing is expensive, much more so than the average man thinks and the pecan orchards in the Albany district today that do not meet the expectations of their owners are mostly those that suffered for lack of money. Those companies with financial resources and intelligent horticulturists have developed orchards that are a source of perennial pleasure and profit to their owners.
The cultivated paper shell pecan is as superior to the wild seedling as is American gold to Mexico's money. These wild seedlings are small in size artificially colored a bright red and have a sharp, astringent taste and have a commercial value only because they are used to lower the price of mixed nuts.
When the average man hears the word "pecan" be instantly thinks of the bitter red little nut which is ever present in the supply of Christmas goodies but which is religiously culled and fed to the glowing grate. Mr. Average Man never even heard of the southern paper shell pecan. In fact, up to the present time, the demand has far exceeded the supply and but little if any effort has been made to develop new markets. I think it a conservative estimate that not ten per cent of our population have ever tasted a paper shell pecan.
The paper shell pecan is our national nut and its only competition in the markets of the world is the ignorance of the public. Acquaint the public with its merits and there will be a demand for a million times our present supply.
Away with the thought of overproduction. The "avalanch of nuts" is an old wife's fable. Do not talk to us about overproduction, when the food problem is giving the gravest concern to the master minds of the world. With population increasing and food supply diminishing the gaunt specter of famine is creeping closer and closer to the homes of men even in our own favored land.
Hunger knows no armistice. It conquers amid the snowdrifts of the North, where the grand army of Napoleon found its winding sheet. It conquers amid the burning sands of the south where the phalanx of Alexander halted in mutiny. Away with such nonsense as overproduction in discussing this the choicest food product ever given by a gracious God to a hungry world.
The ideas of yesterday do not fit the ideals of today. When conditions shift opinions must be adjusted accordingly and the pioneer growers are about to realize their golden dreams and reap their reward, for their orchards are coming into bearing and yielding tons of beautiful brown nuts for which they find a ready sale at prices ranging from 50 cents to 75 cents per pound and at even higher prices for extra fancy stock.
No doubt many extravagant statements have been made about the pecan industry but why exaggerate when the plain truth staggers the reason? Why draw on the imagination when reputable growers in the Albany District certify to returns to non-resident owners of $300 per acre in a single season.
This is one infant industry that will not cry for a protective tariff. Never will Capitol Hill resound with the eloquent plea of some statesman urging that the southern paper shell pecan industry be protected by a tariff wall.
The paper shell pecan is the horticultural triumph of the ages the gift of a gracious God who no doubt could but never did produce a finer nut and who in his inscrutable wisdom gave a natural monopoly in its culture to the lower cotton belt for no where else on the habitable globe does it reach the perfection attained there.
The Mississippi Valley has been called the cradle of the pecan industry and Georgia its nursery.
Almost all the standard varieties of pecans have come from the lower Mississippi Valley, Jackson county, Miss., perhaps leading the procession as she is the mother of no less than twelve of the standard varieties now fruiting in thousands of orchards making heavy the pockets and light the hearts of as many owners.
Southwest Georgia has monopolized the pecan nursery business. Given Albany, Georgia as a center and scribe a circle with a sixty mile radius and you have inclosed the area from which 90% of all pecan nursery stock has come. This circle includes Monticello, Florida, which probably is entitled to the honor of having grown a greater amount of pecan nursery stock than any other one community.
Texas produces the bulk of the pecan crop well informed men stating that nine-tenths of the pecans come from the Lone Star State. This may be correct but practically all Texas pecans are seedlings and while some are of real merit the bulk of the Texas crop goes to the crackeries.
The pecan belt roughly speaking is the lower cotton belt and includes in a general way the southern part of South Carolina, Georgia, north Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The paper shell pecan grows to perfection in this limited area and nowhere else but all varieties do not thrive alike in the different sections and the growers have long since learned this and have eliminated the cumberers of the ground and replanted with those varieties adapted to that territory.
To successfully develop a pecan orchard requires money, brains and everlasting bull-dog determination for the lean years with all going out and nothing coming in try the patience and test the nerve of the stoutest man. In pecan growing even as in love-making "faint heart ne'er won fair lady."
While the kingdom of the pecan stretches from Charleston to the Rio Grande, the seat of government the capital city is Albany, Georgia, for in the charmed circle known as the Albany district is to be found a greater number of cultivated paper shell pecan trees than in all the world besides. Here it is that abundant northern capital applied to southern soil and sunshine has made the desert to blossom like the rose. Here it is that abandoned farms scarred with gullies and over grown with briar have been touched as with a magic wand and transformed into a veritable fairyland of flower gardens and fertile fields dotted with hundreds of thousands of beautiful pecan trees that lift their majestic heads towards the sky as though proud of their royal lineage. Here it is that the Mexican boll weevil before whose blighting breath our snowy fields of cotton melted over night brought no terror for King Cotton no longer reigns supreme. The king is dead but the people rejoice as the scepter falls from his nerveless hand and a new monarch ascends the throne. Millions of royal banners flutter in the breeze glistening green with promise for the future and hope is high, and the hearts of the people light as they gather to pay homage to the new monarch, Her Imperial Majesty the Paper Shell Pecan.
The President: We now have arrived at the time when we should go ahead with some of our business work and probably the first thing we should take up is the report of the committee on nominations.
Mr. Olcott: Your nominating committee regards it as especially fortunate that the association has a board of officers so well equipped as is the one under which the organization has just completed another year. For that reason and also because in a single year officers can scarcely put into effect plans they may have in view, the president especially being of necessity engaged largely in becoming acquainted with the field and the membership; your committee recommends the re-election of the present officers: President, Wm. S. Linton, Michigan; Vice-President, James S. McGlennon, New York; Treasurer, Willard G. Bixby, N. Y.; Secretary, Dr. W. C. Deming, Connecticut, and the executive committee as at present composed.
The Northern Nut Growers Association has reached the stage of advocating strongly the planting of nut trees of the kinds the Association has investigated. Roadside planting appears to offer an immediate field for activity and President Linton's leadership by reason of his special interest and activity in this field is particularly needed during the coming year when through the urging of this and other societies it is expected many states will follow Michigan in the matter of roadside tree planting.
We believe it would be a matter of particular satisfaction to any nominating committee of this association (as it is of this committee) to recommend continuation in office of Treasurer Bixby and Secretary Deming.
(Signed)
Ralph T. Olcott
T. P. Littlepage
Robert T. Morris
C. A. Reed
C. P. Close
Mr. Littlepage: I move the adoption of the report and that the secretary be instructed to cast the entire vote of the association in support of the report of the committee.
Mr. Jones: I second the motion.
The motion was carried.
The President: Ladies and gentlemen. When I started for Washington it was with the determination that another should succeed me as president of the association the one reason being that my time had been so occupied during the past year that it seemed impossible for me to go ahead with the work as it should be done as president of this organization. Now I am going to accept the election which you have so kindly conferred and I am doing it for two reasons. I like the association and the membership of this organization. I feel for the other reason that my work has not been completed and I desire to finish it. Now then you should have your membership doubled. Every last member of the organization should put forth efforts this year towards that end. Here is one plan that I have under way. I asked the faculty of our agricultural college at Lansing if they would undertake to supply me with the names of those who have nut trees in Michigan not the ordinary kind but those producing good nuts and in plenty. I have the names of from fifty to one hundred of those men owning perhaps a thousand good nut trees. I do not believe that there is one of those men but would become a member of this association if the matter were properly presented to him. We have in Michigan 1,500 townships or more. Now we have a way of reaching the supervisors of those townships through some of our departments and we can practically take a census of the nut bearing trees in Michigan so that instead of having from fifty to one hundred names here we should have several hundred. Really 75 per cent of those men should be members of this association. Now what we hope to do this year in Michigan I feel can be done in every other state that is interested in our particular work. I want to ask your co-operation you who live in other states to assist in doing it. Then when we meet a year hence I hope it may be somewhere in the central West. You honored our state last year with the annual meeting. Of course we would like to have you there again. You are welcome. We would be glad to receive you but Michigan has been thus honored and I imagine that it would add to our force in other sections to hold the meeting elsewhere, in Illinois or Iowa or perhaps even a little further west. Some associations are now meeting in Yellowstone Park and if we should go there we would have the states of Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. We should get membership in all of those states. The place of the next meeting I think is very important. Now I think I have plainly stated my position in the matter and I am going to try to serve you another year. I hope that at the end of that year we will have our membership at least doubled. Let us try and treble it. I thank you. (Applause).
The next subject under discussion then will be the place of meeting.
The Secretary: The by-laws say that the place for the next meeting shall be selected by the convention assembled or in the event of failure in that by the executive committee. Sometimes we have done it one way and sometimes the other. The proper thing to do I think is for the advocates of the different localities to now present their attractions.
Mr. Pomeroy: Our vice-president when he left asked me to suggest Rochester, N. Y. While at Rochester Niagara county is only a short automobile or trolley ride away. In Niagara county are quite a good many walnut trees in bearing.
Mr. Rush: Mr. President, I invite this association to convene next year in Lancaster City, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We can show you a very prosperous nut nursery and some young bearing walnut trees and Harrisburg and other places of interest. I am satisfied that you can not meet at a more convenient place than Lancaster City. Therefore I extend the association a hearty invitation.
The Secretary: I would like to hear from Mr. Reed as to the attractions of the eastern shore of Maryland.
Mr. Reed: There are several places, Mr. President, where I wish you might go next year. One of those places is the eastern shore of Maryland. As I told you last year I regard the eastern shore of Maryland as one of the promising places of the whole East for the development of nut orcharding and I find there a great deal of latent interest and a great deal to see. I am a little disappointed that we have not some representatives here at this meeting from the eastern shore. I am sure that if we should decide to go there we would be received with enthusiasm and we would be shown something that would be quite a surprise to most of us.
Then another place that I would like to have considered for some meeting in the near future is the middle West. The Professor of Horticulture in Missouri is a warm personal friend of mine a classmate of mine in college, and he is very enthusiastic about the possibilities of nut culture in that state. He is waiting to be told or shown how to go ahead, and if we were to go out there I am sure he would follow the lead if we set the pace. He would take hold and push the nut industry in that section. In that same neighborhood is the orchard that Mr. Bixby told us about the chestnut orchard of Mr. Riehl of one or two thousand chestnut trees planted on hillsides that have never been plowed and which are giving Mr. Riehl a very lucrative income. Mr. Riehl is 83 years old and is not going to live always. We certainly ought to see that place while he is there. We have no invitation out there and none from the eastern shore and I am always in favor of going where we have an invitation. It would be my feeling in view of the present situation that we accept one of the invitations that have already been given to us.
Mr. Rush: We met once in Lancaster about eight years ago but at that time we had little to show. We had no nut nursery of any consequence at all and no bearing walnut trees at that time. Now we have them in their prime.
Dr. Morris: I would like very much to go to both places, the ones described by Mr. Pomeroy and by Mr. Rush.
Mr. Jones: I would like to say that we were at Rochester three years after Lancaster and I think Lancaster is entitled to it if you take time into consideration. I think Lancaster is entitled to the meeting now.
Mr. Littlepage: I move that we accept the invitation of Mr. Rush and Mr. Jones to meet in Lancaster, Pennsylvania next year. I am going to couple with that another motion which you can consider if you desire and that is that we fix the time of meeting. I think that rather important. I think there are many reasons for it. These meetings are attended by many people who must know as far in advance as possible. Quite a good many people take touring trips over the United States and if they know when these meetings are going to be held they would be very glad to time themselves to be at that point at that particular time. For example a few years ago when we had a meeting here Mr. Groner toured here from Oregon and timed his trip to be here. Later he timed his trip to be at the national meeting at Mobile, Alabama. It is very important because we all take vacations and we have to make our vacation arrangements in advance. It seems to me that the time would be fixed now instead of letting it lie over and finally select the wrong time. I therefore move that we accept the invitation of the gentlemen from Lancaster and then that we fix the time.
Prof. Close: I second the motion.
The motion was unanimously carried.
Mr. Reed: Mr. President, I would like to make a suggestion in regard to the date. There are two purposes that we have in mind. One to see things growing and another to see the product. We can hardly do both the same year. This year we have seen things growing. We have had almost a summer meeting and it seems to me that unless the local folks who have invited us to Lancaster should disagree we might well afford to have our next meeting a December meeting. Then we can see nuts. We can discuss nuts themselves. I would make that motion that our meeting be the second week in December the Wednesday and Thursday of the second week in December, 1921.
The Treasurer: Would not the prime object in going to Lancaster be to see things grow? Wouldn't it be difficult if not impossible to really accomplish that by a December meeting?
Mr. Littlepage: I think a winter meeting might just us well be held in New York or Baltimore or Washington. I do not agree with Mr. Reed. If I go to Lancaster I would go to see things. I went up there one December and nearly froze.
Dr. Morris: We could split the difference between the two. I think Mr. Jones and Mr. Rush should be consulted in the matter.
Mr. Rush: I think it would be important to have it the same week as the York Fair as they have the reputation of never having any rain and this is a very good time of the year to have an exhibition. You see the fine crops and everything which is agricultural and horticultural. And another thing in connection with this we can see the hazels on the bushes at this time of the year.
Dr. Morris: I move that we meet about this time next year.
Mr. Rush: I think this week in 1921.
Mr. Littlepage: In order to get the matter before the meeting I move that the convention next year meet at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on the Thursday and Friday of the first week in October.
Mr. Jones: I second the motion.
The motion was unanimously carried.
President Linton: Before closing I want to call to your recognition a kindly act that I know will please you all. Yesterday while we were having our pictured taken I lost this package of papers. Today it has been returned to me by two boy scouts. From what I know of that organization I do not believe that there is anything doing the boy any more good than their training. I am interested in a forty-acre piece of land on Lawton Lake, Michigan, on which this year we permitted the boy scouts to camp. I followed their training somewhat to ascertain what it was. I was in camp with them two or three days and learned that it is a training that is doing the boys of the country a lot of good. Their motto as I understand it is to do good or to be of service to others. These two lads that brought this package to me refused to receive any compensation whatever. They are the two who have tramped from New York City to San Francisco and are now on their way back. If these boys or their organization ever get interested in our movement in the planting of nuts throughout the country we will be glad to help them.
Prof. Close: There is one committee whose report has not been called for and for the sake of the record I presume it might better be offered. That is the auditing committee. The committee was composed of Messrs. Reed and Close and we desire to say that the report of the treasurer has been scrutinized very carefully and we are not able to detect any mistakes. The balance in the treasury is $75.26; total receipts including the amount on hand at the beginning of the year $666.48; total expenditures $591.22, leaving a balance in the treasury of $75.26.
The Treasurer: I want to offer a resolution that Article III of the by-laws on Membership which now reads, "All annual memberships shall begin with the first day of the calendar quarter following the date of the association" be amended to read, "That all annual memberships shall begin with the first day of such calendar month as shall be agreed upon."
Now I will tell you why I ask that. Most of the memberships are combined with the subscription to the American Nut Journal. In many instances the new members have requested that their subscription to the journal be dated back one or two months for the sake of getting one or twp numbers of the journal. In some instances they are already subscribers to the journal and they want to change it to make it come the same time. I offer that amendment to the by-laws.
Mr. Reed: I move that the change be made.
Dr. Morris: I second the motion.
The motion was carried.
The Treasurer: Here is another thing I think is a matter of a good deal of importance. There has been spoken of two or three times during the day the great progress which is likely to be made in systematic hybridization of nuts. It has come to my knowledge recently that the Arnold Arboretum is seeking to establish a regular plant breeding department. They have growing on their grounds the greatest collection of trees and shrubs that will grow in that section that can be found anywhere in the country. I want to offer a resolution as follows:
WHEREAS it is the firm belief of the Association that one of the most hopeful sources of obtaining nuts better than we now have is by carefully planned and executed work of hybridization, and
WHEREAS such work, particularly in the case of the slower developing nuts, such for example as the hickories, will require the uninterrupted carrying out of carefully planned work for a long series of years, and
WHEREAS the Arnold Arboretum, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., has on its grounds a greater collection of the trees and shrubs from all parts of the world that will grow in that location than can be found anywhere else in the country, including a large number of hickories of various species in bearing, and
WHEREAS the Arnold Arboretum is now assembling on its grounds the various propagated nut trees, and has expressed its intention of continuing this work and of including all varieties that it may be able to obtain of those hickory trees notable for any one quality and which may promise to be valuable for hybridizing purposes, and
WHEREAS the Arnold Arboretum is desirous of establishing a regular plant breeding department where nut trees, particularly hickories, as well as trees valuable for timber purposes, flowers, etc., may be bred, and, in order to provide for the uninterrupted carrying out of this work is seeking to raise an endowment, be it hereby
RESOLVED: That the Northern Nut Growers Association assembled in the City of Washington, D. C., this 8th day of October in the year 1920 heartily endorses this purpose of the Arnold Arboretum as one likely to promote the acquisition of finer nuts than we now have, and urges all persons able to do so to aid in any way possible.
Dr. Morris: I move that we adopt that resolution.
Mr. Reed: I second the motion.
The motion was carried unanimously.
The President: If there is nothing before the body at this time I will declare the eleventh annual session closed.
APPENDIX
From C. K. Sober, Lewisburg, Pa.:
My bearing chestnut trees, most of them, have gone out but in the 40 acres of chestnut nursery stock I find there are thousands of trees that seem to be immune from the blight up to this time. While they stand right beside trees in the nursery that have died from blight yet there is not a spot on them.
From W. O. Potter, Marion, Illinois:
I am putting forth every effort to develop a nut orchard here in southern Illinois the like of which will not be excelled in this state. My pecans are doing nicely. I have five acres already set to budded trees and fifteen acres planted to seedlings which I hope to bud next year. I have budded chestnuts, black walnuts and almost all varieties of nuts that will grow here in the North. I am using filberts for fillers among my pecans.
I have just harvested my first crop of filberts from my experimental garden here in town and my bushes at Halcyon Frunut Gardens (this is the name of my nut farm) are growing nicely and some have catkins for next year's crop. The filberts that I have just harvested were borne from three Cosford bushes of the French strain. I have some German strain that I received from Mr. McGlennon that are full of catkins for next year.
I had some pecans to bloom last spring, but they failed to set any nuts. I have about a peck from two budded Thomas black walnut trees that are four and five years old. I have one Stabler that has two nuts on it now only three years from transplant. My Rush seedling chinquapin that bore last year has only about six nuts on it this year but they have not yet matured.
I hope some day to have a nut orchard that will be the show place of southern Illinois and then I will invite the association to have an annual meeting here and at my farm.
From G. H. Corsan, Toronto, Canada:
This time I can say that my trees never looked so well. All passed through last winter and the terrible winter of three years ago. My list consists of the following: Constantinople hazelnuts, Kent filberts, Manchurian juglans regia, Jap heart nuts, Pomeroy juglans regia, Canadian seed juglans regia, common native chestnuts, Col. Sober's paragon chestnuts, castanea crenata.
The chestnuts grow a foot more from all terminal branches, not a twig winter-killed. Constantinople hazelnuts grew two feet from all terminal branches and not a bud winter-killed. Kent filberts killed back some branches, others did not, grew well this summer from 1½ feet to a yard.
There is a huge crop of Pomeroy paragon chestnuts on my trees this year. No blight near me, as thank heaven the farmers around me are too stupid to plant chestnut trees and in fact no farmer ever planted a nut tree with two exceptions within 20 miles of me. But one farmer by name of Anderson planted a mile of black walnuts along the roadside 75 years ago. These trees are loaded with nuts and boys just now and they reach away up higher than the tallest phone wire (that is the lowest branches do).
All juglans regias grew a yard from each terminal bud. My Pomeroys after killing back for several years have at last got a real good start and are going to live and bear. When I see a bluish tinge to the leaf of juglans regia, together with a smooth glossy leaf, not too long—having 7 and not 17 leaves to the stalk—and having a very white grey bark, then I know that the nut will be EXTRA good, and though that type of tree is a bit tender and requires water in the early and mid-dry summer, as well as hard wood ashes, lime and chicken manure in the late fall, this is the tree that on the north aide of Lake Ontario where I am now some day will bear and ripen real nuts.
My grapes and peaches ripen well this fall, though we as all others had a late spring and my Indiana and Iowa pecans actually grew 2 feet from terminal buds.
Were I an old man of 80 I would plant nut trees to the exclusion of every other work. First, I would be growing a crop of food 150 years after my death. Second, I believe that every man who has vitality to live over 80 has been a bad man in his youth and he owes it to the world. Third, it is a healthy occupation, stooping down and digging and takes the rust and poisons out of the system. Fourth, there is a joy seeing the leaves and branches grow the next summer and in old age one must feed and take joy from the eye and ear more and more and less and less from the mouth and stomach. Fifth, it is not at all an unreasonable supposition that as a boy again I may be climbing the same trees that I planted. And if I know for certain that I would not be then some other boy will take my place.
The salvation of the future is more and more food from trees and less and less from animal sources. The day is fast passing when the farm consists of a tobacco barn, a pig pen, a cow stable and a hennery. From living upon a badly selected type of food we fear the flu and other diseases. No disease will ever come out of a nut tree. But we are a lot of fools and blame the absolutely innocent cucumber for what a vile mixture of salt and vinegar does to us and thus these same asses will say, "that nuts are unhealthy" and we pay a billion dollars out every three months to have the dentists fix our teeth that never receive any nut grinding exercise!
From J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.:
I expect as you do that there will be no need of much room for the convention. The fact is that without any commercial nut planting in the territory covered by the Northern Nut Growers Association it is remarkable that there has been as much interest as there is. I happen to know that the southern pecan (National) Association was kept going by the nurseries down there for a good many years, or largely by them, and without the commercial planting of the pecan there I do not think the Association would have kept going very long even if it had been founded.
I believe eventually there will be some interest in commercial planting north but it will go pretty slow and be after our time I judge. In commercial planting I mean plantings of not less than ten acres. I occasionally sell orders of 50 and even 100 trees, but they are usually scattered as to kinds and varieties of nuts and evidently designed to test out on a fair scale the merits of the different nuts. A man was here a few days ago and gave me an order for nearly a hundred black walnut trees. He has been planting for several years, starting with a half dozen trees three or four years ago and reports the trees doing fine. I presume you could call his planting this year a small commercial planting as that is what he has in mind.
The boom in planting fruit trees has taken some interest away from nut planting and this will continue as long as fruit is selling well.
From T. C. Tucker, Sail Francisco, Ca.:
Your program for the approaching meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association, which has just reached me, is a most interesting one. It is with regret that I find I shall not be able to be with you. This is shipping season for the California Almond Industry and my presence here at this time is imperative.
While through the California Almond Growers Exchange I have for some time been a member of the Northern Nut Growers Association, I have not as yet had the pleasure of meeting with you, but I want to extend you a cordial invitation to visit California and I hope that at some future date a convention of the Northern Nut Growers Association will be held in this state. Here, as nut growers, you will find much of interest. This is the only state in the Union producing almonds commercially. Our 1919 crop was worth approximately $4,000,000.00 and represented 7000 tons of nuts. Here in this state we also produce the California Walnuts which in 1919 brought a return of approximately $20,000,000.00. Both of these industries are in their infancy, particularly is this true of the almond. It is estimated that there are 100,000 acres in California planted to almonds, the major portion of which is non-bearing.
We are now preparing for the future through an energetic sales campaign and by making plans for manufacturing by using almonds in new and attractive preparations. In 1919, the California Almond Growers Exchange, a non-profit association of 3800 farmers, spent approximately $208,000.00 for National Advertising and the expenditure in 1910 will exceed a quarter of a million dollars. This is done not only to sell the crops of 1919 and 1920 advantageously, but to educate the consumer up to the high food value of the almond and incidentally to lay a substantial foundation for future business.
We believe that the outlook for the California Almond is promising, but it is only as promising as the growers co-operate to that end. We believe that by a strong association of growers, quality and grades can be improved, distribution widened and the public made acquainted with the value of our product through the medium of our advertising.
We are also taking up at this time the cultural question endeavoring to eliminate the undesirable varieties and improve those which are commercially profitable.
We have some eighty odd varieties of almonds in this state, many of which are not known commercially. You will thus see that we have quite a problem in cultural lines.
The principal object of the Northern Nut Growers Association, I believe, is the diffusion of knowledge on cultural questions, but a word of co-operative marketing may not be amiss.
Our investigations have shown that for twenty-five years before the war Nonpareil Almonds (our highest priced variety) retailed at about 30c per pound. The grower received from 7c to 10c per pound, the average being close to 8c. This was before the association was formed. After the association was organized, the grower received, through co-operative marketing and by the elimination of speculation and waste in distribution, a range of from 14c to 20c for Nonpareils with an average of approximately 16c while the price to the consumer remained about 35c. During the past two years, the price to the consumer has of course advanced to meet the increase in cost of transportation, cost of doing business and of production. As a matter of fact, the increase in price to the consumer has not kept pace with the big increase in the cost of production. The point I wish to make, however, is that co-operative marketing has on the average, by the elimination of speculation and, as before said, by minimizing waste in distribution, secured for the almond grower a living price.
We do not believe that the marketing problems of the farmer will ever be satisfactorily solved until he takes them up through co-operative methods and solves them himself.
My work for the past eleven years has been in connection with the sale of almonds and I am happy to say that while our country is going through a period of trying re-adjustment at the present time, the association has meant to the almond growers of California a wonderful insurance against loss. The consumer, too, has been benefited as this association has been able to lay down almonds in the markets of the United States at a lower distribution cost than would otherwise have been possible.
However, assuming that this convention is interested mostly in cultural questions, I shall refrain from further discussing the marketing problem. Let us not however, lose sight of the fact that it matters not what may be the quality of our product if we cannot dispose of it at a profit.
A satisfactory margin of profit means improved varieties, better culture, increased yields and better satisfied producers. Scientific yields and better satisfied producers. Scientific cultural effort, to achieve its highest possibilities must inevitably be linked with commercial success.
ATTENDANCE
Dr. J. E. Cannaday, Charleston, W. Va.
Conrad Vollertsen, Rochester, N. Y.
J. P. Beck, Saginaw, Michigan
Prof. C. P. Close, Maryland
B. C. Foster, Washington, D. C.
J. W. Ritchit, Yonkers, N. Y.
Dr. G. J. Buist, Brooklyn, N. Y.
T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C.
C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C.
Mrs. C. A. Reed
William S. Linton, Saginaw, Michigan
W. C. Bixby, Baldwin, N. Y.
Mrs. Bixby
A. S. Perry, Cuthbert, Ga.
Dr. W. C. Deming, Wilton, Conn.
R. T. Olcott, Rochester, N. Y.
W. R. Fickes, Wooster, Ohio
A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, N. Y.
Elam G. Hess, Mannheim, Pa.
F. E. Brooks, French Creek, W. Va.
W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va.
Mrs. Roper
Dr. R. T. Morris, New York City.
Dr. J. H. Kellogg, Battle Creek, Michigan
J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Miss Jones
Dr. J. B. Curtis, Orange Heights, Fla.
Mrs. Curtis
Dr. John F. Keenen, Brentwood, Maryland.
J. S. McGlennon, Rochester, N. Y.
H. C. Best, Bridgeport, Conn.
J. E. Brown, Elmer, N. J.
E. E. Reynolds, Washington, D. C.
J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
D. F. Clark, Harrisburg, Pa.
Theodore Bechtel, Ocean Springs, Miss.
Mrs. Bechtel
Miss W. M. Daish, Washington, D. C.
EXHIBITS
Morris hybrid chinquapin No. 1—From graft set spring 1910 on bush chinquapin stock. A scientific cross or hybrid made by Dr. Robert T. Morris New York City. Very resistant to blight is not blight proof. Has the fruiting habit of the chestnut and bears on very small bushes or trees. Grown by J. P. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Morris hybrid chinquapin No. 2—From grafts set on stocks of the bush chinquapin spring 1919. Similar to No. 1.
Chinese pine nuts, Pinus armandi, from the mountains of North China. The Chinese pine nuts, P. armandi and P. bungeana, although not equal to some of our own pine nuts from the southeastern states, are considered the best and most reliable for eastern and northern planting in this country. Sent in by J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Bush chinquapin Castanea pumila, grown by J. F. Jones. Branches of ordinary wild nuts.
24 plates hazels or filberts grown by Carl Vollertsen, Rochester, N. Y.
Nine varieties J. regia, peanuts, hazels and Weicker shellbarks, grown by J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
23 plates and varieties of the southern pecan, sent by A. S. Perry, Cuthbert, Ga. Also collection of photographs.
Specimens of the Beam, Beaver, Clark, Manahan, Stanley, Swaim and Weicker hickories by W. G. Bixby, New York.
Miscellaneous nuts by W. C. Deming, Wilton, Conn.
Large table map of the United States with the different nuts grown therein so placed as to show their native habitats. By C. A. Reed, Nut Culturist, Dept, of Agriculture.
Specimens of Corylus avellana, Montebello Bysance and other nuts by Dr. David Fairchild, Washington, D. C.
By Prof. C. P. Close, College Park, Md., plates of seedling J. regia from J. W. Smith, Centerville, Md. Five seedling J. regia probably Mayette from S. H. Derby, Woodside, Del. Japanese seedling chestnut from J. W. Killen, Felton, Del. The tree on which they grew has never blighted. J. Sieboldiana from tree set by Prof. Close in 1910, first crop 1920.
Native chinquapins and two varieties of Dr. Van Fleet's hybrid chinquapins. Major pecans borne in 1919 on three year graft set by Prof. Close at College Park. A hazel seedling from New Jersey grown on four year old graft. Large and good.
By Dr. R. T. Morris of New York, plate of pistache nuts, 6 varieties of hazels, 1 of black walnuts and one of butternuts.
Nut cracker for pecans of different sizes.
