ADDRESS BY DR. L. C. CORBETT
U. S. Department of Agriculture
The work in nut culture by the Department of Agriculture antedates the present Bureau of Plant Industry, and to confine the history of the work to the present Bureau of Plant Industry would not quite do the subject justice.
From the time of the beginning of fruit work in the Department of Agriculture, in 1885, nuts have received more or less attention. After the formation of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in 1901, special appropriations were received from Congress for the support of nut investigations, and individuals were appointed to that service in the department. Mr. C. A. Reed, whom you all know very well, was the first appointee of this service, devoting his whole time and attention to the work. He has been with the department for several years, and has given his time exclusively to the nut problems of the country. Naturally, the nut problems are not confined to any geographic area, but are nation-wide; but certain of the plants which have entered into the problems of nut culture have demanded more attention than others, for reasons that are the same as in fruit culture. The older fruits, those better known and longer in cultivation, whose problems are better understood, require less attention from the grower and from the experimenter than do the newer ones in the field.
Nut culture in America, as I understand it, not being a nut culturist myself, consists of two types of projects. We have one type that has long been practiced by man, that we imported from European countries and established on this continent. People have cultivated these nuts more or less intensively for generations, and many of the problems have been worked out, so far as Europe is concerned. Of course, when introduced in America, new problems confronted the growers here. The other type of nut industry is based upon indigenous nuts of which we know little, either from the orchard standpoint or as to the varieties concerned. Our native nuts, particularly the pecan, have forced themselves upon the attention of investigators of the department to much greater extent, perhaps, than any other nut with which we have to deal. Being a native, indigenous plant, not yet under cultivation, there is immediately presented the problem of the choice of varieties, adaption to changed conditions, and all of the problems arising in connection with a rapidly developing commercial industry; certain enthusiasts soon become enamored with the possibilities in the southern parts of the United States for pecan culture, and they immediately transplant it into new and untried regions, and as a result their problems have become legion.
The work of the Department of Agriculture in nut culture has developed really around the growing industries of the country; primarily, around the pecan, and secondly, around the almond and the walnut, for these are the more important, commercially. Naturally, the most pressing problems arise in connection with growing industries; they have growing pains which have to be eased the same as with small boys.
The Department of Agriculture has therefore found itself in the position of seeking answers to numerous questions which have been made in connection with these developing industries. I believe that we have contributed very materially to the knowledge of varieties, particularly as regards their adaptation to different geographic locations. We have also assisted the industries to solve some of their problems of cultivation, particularly of propagation, and also the problems growing out of the maintenance of soil fertility. With a new crop, in a new environment, it is always a problem to know how to manage the soil, and this is one of the leading lines of activity in the field, at the present time. In the Bureau of Plant Industry, two offices, that of Horticulture and Pomology and that of Soil Fertility, are co-operating in the solution of the soil fertility problems in the pecan regions.
Of course, as the industry developed and became established, the natural enemies of the pecan and of the other nut trees asserted themselves, as a result of which there have been set up investigations in the Bureau of Plant Industry to study the life histories of the various fungi that attack pecans; and outside of the Bureau of Plant Industry, the Bureau of Entomology has been devoting time to the study of the control of insect enemies. So that, at the present, the department is so organized that three or four important lines of attack are being made upon problems of these industries. Thus, while at the beginning of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in 1901, there was no single, individual person devoting his time and attention to the problems of nut culture, at present there are quite a group of individuals giving their whole time. I feel we are making progress in the work, and while we may be lagging very much behind what we should like to do, we are assisting as best we can, and are at least keeping in sight of the industry, as it goes forward.
I will not try to go into details about the work we are carrying on, because it is better to tell of what we have accomplished than to tell what we hope to do. We have a man on the Pacific Coast giving his whole time and attention to the study of breeding and of the cultural problems of almonds. Besides this, we have two men giving all of their time to pecans; and during the last year, there has been established near Albany, Georgia, a station devoted to the cultural problems of pecans. One gentleman is continuously on the ground with the work, and two others devote more or less of their time to it.
Now, while these problems connected with the industries are the ones occupying most attention, the workers in the Department of Agriculture have not been unmindful of other native nut-bearing plants, such as the native black walnuts, the hickories and the chestnut up to the time of the very destructive attack of blight. The chestnut, however, has not passed out of our sphere of activity, because at the present time, (and I think you will see tomorrow at the Bell Station, some interesting possibilities in the future of chestnut culture in this country), the Chinese forms, which are much more resistant to blight, bid fair to give us a progeny to make it possible for us also to have a chestnut industry from the horticultural standpoint.
Probably the day of timber supply from our native chestnut is at an end. We hope not, but it looks that way at the present time. The possibilities of growing trees from China, the mollissima, or hybrids of them, bids fair to place the chestnut industry so that we can contend with the blight. We probably will not have immune varieties, but those which are able to live with the blight. That, it seems to me, is a very important consideration, because chestnuts have always been an important nut in our eastern markets, and are important in the European markets as well. While the larger forms of southern Europe will probably not be of value to us here, if we can establish a nut industry with nuts of fair quality, as large as our native sweet chestnuts, based on the Chinese species, the mollissima, then we will be making progress. You may see some of these trees at Bell Station which are eight or ten years old; they are bearing quite abundantly, and some of the chestnuts are really very palatable and of satisfactory size.
In addition to this breeding work with chestnuts, there is under way intensive breeding work with almonds which has for its object the development of those more hardy than those now in cultivation in California. This almond industry, though large, is handicapped because of the late frost injury, and it is desirable to get those which will bloom later and withstand lower temperatures.
The varietal problem with pecans will be ever with us, as long as varieties are found in the wilds and as long as people continue to plant seedlings in different localities. That is one of the subjects that is being given considerable attention.
In addition, the relative productivity of the plants to use as mother plants is an important one. In the work of the Department of Agriculture in connection with citrus fruits, it has been found that the individual bud carries over into its progeny the ability to produce fruit not only of a given type, but also the productivity of the parent to the progeny. A long series of records of the behavior of individual trees have been secured; we are building up a mass of information on which to base selections for better parent trees than any available at the present time. If the pecan behaves like the citrus fruits of California, we will be able in the future to have strains and varieties which will be very much less variable than those at the present time.
The propagation, selection, disease and cultural work covers the field that is handled by the Bureau of Plant Industry. We always like to dream of the future, and we are pleased to have the dreams come true. We must have in mind the possibility of better black walnuts than we have at present; and after the great inroad into the industry made at the time of the War, when the trees were used for timber purposes, there should be a greater effort on the part of the people in the northern districts to propagate black walnuts, not only for nuts but also for timber. The black walnut is a very great asset not only for timber and for ammunition purposes, but for food as well.
The hickory tree is in the same class as the black walnut—it is a valuable timber tree as well as nut tree. No other timber is as valuable for the construction of wheels as hickory, and while the "disc wheel" has served a useful purpose in railroad car construction, it is not likely that it will replace hickory altogether in the construction of wheels of motor vehicles. We are veritably a nation on wheels and we will always be looking for material with which to carry us through the country. As I have said, we are a nation of people on wheels, and if your propaganda did nothing more than to stimulate an increased interest in the production of hickory for timber purposes, it would be accomplishing a great result. But I believe that there are varieties among the hickories which should be to the North what the pecan is to the South. There are those which are very large and those which are thin-shelled, and those of fine flavor; as a food product I think the shellbark is second only to the pecan. And I should hail the day with great interest when there are good, recognized varieties of hickories corresponding with the best varieties of pecans. I believe they will be found and developed.
I have told you something of what we are doing and of what we hope may result. I hope that you will all visit the offices of the Department carrying on this work, and that you will get acquainted with the men handling the various projects, and tell them what your troubles are, that they may know how to proceed, and that they may discuss with you the best ways of attacking and handling the problems with which you are confronted.
Prof. Lumsden of the Federal Horticultural Board spoke of the chestnut bark disease and the fact that our experts advise us that within the period of twenty-five years the destruction of the native American chestnut will have been accomplished. The tanners and related interests of the country are now scouting around to find some species of tree to use as a substitute for tanning operations. Castanea mollissima is capable of developing into a good sized tree. From an economic standpoint the texture of its lumber is good, while the quality of its fruit is fair, and as an ornamental tree it has a future. It has resistance to the chestnut bark disease. It may become a substitute for C. dentata. Several crosses have been made between C. dentata and C. mollissima and some of them show considerable merit. Selection of these hybrids will have to be made for two purposes, namely wood production and fruit production.
Corylus colurna, the Constantinople filbert, is destined to become popular as an ornamental. On the Pacific Coast a bacterial blight occurs in some sections on corylus. A great work can be done in this country by the Northern Nut Growers Association by publishing bulletins advocating plantings of nut bearing trees for a three-fold purpose, timber, food, and beauty.
Communications were read from Miss Frances L. Stearns, Instructor in Botany of the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Junior Colony, asking information about planting nut trees, and from Mr. J. A. Young, Secretary of the Tree Lovers Association of America, asking the association to adopt their slogan and to co-operate with it in urging the more intelligent planting of trees, shrubs and flowers.
The evening session on Sept. 26th was called to order at 8:10 and a moving picture reel, "The Almond Industry in California," loaned by the Dept. of the Interior, was shown. Following that an address with lantern slides was given by Mr. C. A. Reed of the Dept. of Agriculture, on his recent trip to China.
MR. REED: In 1910 certain Americans in China conceived the idea of exporting the walnuts produced in that country to America. The experiment proved so successful that they continued to do so, and shipped their walnuts to this country year after year. The business built up very rapidly, until the war broke out when, for the time being, the industry was forced to a standstill. But as soon as the war was over the business picked up again, and had assumed such proportions, about two years ago, that American growers wanted to know how much longer the Chinese would be able to send walnuts over here. Most of the nuts from China were of inferior quality to those produced in this country. Records of the exports showed that there had been an increase from China each year; but as to the methods used, the extent of orcharding, or the growth in planting, etc., the matter had not been written up, and the consuls had not the remotest idea. It was finally decided by Congress, therefore, that a special appropriation for an investigation should be made. So a special trip was made to China to ascertain, first of all, the probable trade from there for the next ten or twenty years. Our people felt that more walnuts would be coming here, and they wanted to know about this before they planted any more here. It fell to my lot to make the trip, a year ago this summer.
We went first to Honolulu; then to Manila and Japan, and finally to China. We went into the section just to the right of Tientsin. By superimposing a map of China over that of the United States you may see that China more than covers this country; China is considerably larger than the United States.
Our basic point was Peking, which is in about the same latitude as Philadelphia. We found that walnuts were grown all through this section of China, not very much farther north than Peking, but not much farther south than Shanghai. There are walnuts cultivated here, in the Chinese way, over a great area; but we were convinced that the exportation of walnuts to this country was not likely to increase, for the business has apparently reached its height. American trade takes the best nuts; the second best go to Canada, the third to Europe and the fourth and fifth to Australia.
Our first expedition into the country was almost directly north of Peking. We went down the railroad about 15 miles, to Shaho, where we employed donkeys and a ricksha, and rode across country some 12 or 15 miles. Here we found a very excellent Chinese hotel, and surrounding orchards of perhaps 300 trees. Some of the consular reports in China stated that this place was one of the three sections in which the finest shipments of nuts were produced.
We next went to the east of Tientsin where we found quite a number of orchards and trees claimed to be from 150 to 200 years of age, although we found, after travelling a short time and inquiring from the Chinese farmers, that the figures they gave to us were probably inaccurate. We finally ceased to ask the Chinese farmers for figures of that sort. It was very interesting to note the difference in Chinese and American methods. For instance, in China, the land may be owned by one or by several people, who will lease the land or the trees, or perhaps even an individual tree, for a period of years. White marks placed on the trees indicate their ownership.
Young walnut trees were very scarce. We were told in one province that Chinese merchants, who had been forced out of Russia because of economic conditions there, and had lost everything, had come home and were seeking something with which to make money. They were already planting a considerable number of walnut trees, and were growing crops under the trees, planting crops of millet first, and then of soy beans later in the season. Another crop they use is called kaolin (pronounced "gollin" in this country).
Very few of the trees are ever pruned systematically, or taken care of; the Chinese seem to have no idea of this. Of course, the rainfall there is at a different time of the year than ours. Fall, winter and spring, in North China, are practically without rain. Consequently, the atmosphere is very dry.
Here and there we found trees that struck us so favorably that we made notes with the intention of going back to the trees to get scions for propagating purposes for this country. We were told that one of these trees had borne 800 pounds of nuts. I suppose, however, if that was so, it was green weight, and included the hulls. This tree was on the grounds of the Y. M. C. A., about 80 miles below Shanghai, the farthest south we went. The tree had been planted by missionaries, and had made splendid growth. There were not many walnuts south of that point, however. In the province of Shanshi the soil is of a washed nature, subjected to rains, and we found there huge gorges that had evidently been forming for centuries. All of the soil there, that is not too uneven to be cultivated, is terraced; and along the sides of the terraces walnut trees are planted. We usually found tunnels along the sides of the terraces. These were dug around the bank so that the water would run through the tunnels instead of over the terrace.
We saw no indications of blight. We thought we saw it in one case, but when we examined the nuts, it proved to be nothing but insects working on the hulls.
Wherever we went, we were told by the Chinese that they harvest their walnuts at about the time of the year which in America would be about the first week in September. We found, however, that the nuts were off of the trees and assembled on the ground for sorting and drying, long before that. They were put in windrows covered with millet straw and left for ten days, after which time the hulls were chipped off with knives and the nuts immediately washed and put on the market. I was particularly struck with the mechanical motion with which the Chinese men worked; it was just as regular as a machine. This was the first time that characteristic came to my attention, and afterwards I was struck with the same thing everywhere.
Each farmer takes his products, whatever they may be, to a common town called "market town," and there they are bought by the local merchants, or the "compradors." The exporters are missionaries and foreigners who make no effort to buy from the farmers, for the tradesman, or comprador, can get the nuts at a better figure than can the foreigners. The tradesman gets his commission in addition. The baskets of nuts are carried on poles placed over the shoulders of the Chinese.
One of the principal walnut centers of Chantung Province is 25 miles from the railroad, and we made quite an effort to reach it. An agricultural missionary, a Mr. Gordan, made the trip there with me, and we found it a badly infested section. We arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon and took about one hour going around to see the nuts. There were places within the wall where nuts had been assembled, and we made estimates as to the number of pounds. I think there were from 100 to 150 sacks of nuts in a pile.
Many of the women and children grow walnuts and these crops are inspected and sorted before being shipped to Peking. In the early summer, we saw quantities of apricot kernels being transported to the market and sold as almonds. We had understood that China was quite an important almond-producing country, but I doubt if there are any almonds in China. I did not see a tree, nor did I get an indication that there were any there.
One of the largest chestnut trees that I saw measured eight feet and would have been valuable for timber purposes. It was in one of the very attractive little orchards of chestnut trees in the north of Shansi and northeast of Tientsin. We understood that there were very large orchards to the north, but you might say that there is no such thing as a large orchard in China. We counted about 100 trees in such orchards, and we made notes as to their bearing habits. We found the chestnuts of pleasing quality, of a fair size, and not quite as large as European nuts but larger than the American. We did not see many of the trees which had been allowed to develop normally. They are not of special value in China, and consequently, the branches are removed as high as possible, and often the tops are cut out.
The Chinese have a species of native peanut which is very shrivelled and hard; but missionaries from this country have introduced there the American peanut, which is now grown so extensively that Chinese exports have disturbed our market conditions considerably.
The Chinese allow nothing to go to waste. When the peanuts are removed from the ground and cared for, the soil is sifted so that no peanuts will be lost. The American peanut grown there is served in little butterdishes on the hotel tables, as a delicacy.