William S. Linton, Saginaw, Michigan
For a number of years it has been a source of gratification and pleasure to me to be identified with the membership of the Northern Nut Growers' Association. True, "a long distance membership only," but nevertheless a connection that all must admit has borne fruit, or nuts, as you may prefer to state it.
To this association and its official journal must be given full credit for the pioneer work in a great and good movement that will sweep, not only over the United States, but over every clime and county in the world's Western hemisphere as well. Your seed sown in the peninsular state of Michigan, was the first to sprout in a substantial way in so far as public planting of nut trees by a sovereign state is concerned, and it was our good fortune to have as staunch supporters for the plan such able and persistent workers as my good friend, Senator Harvey A. Penney of Saginaw, Professor A. K. Chittenden of the Michigan Agricultural College, and last, but not least, Honorable Frank F. Rogers, Michigan's excellent State Highway Commissioner. Upon the latter will largely devolve the duty of carrying out the law's provisions, as provided in Senator Penney's bill passed at the last session of the Legislature, and that it will be well and practically done, goes without saying.
And now to my theme, "Should the Country Roadsides be Planted and Why." The present high cost of living, and in fact the cost of living at any time is a fruitful and serious problem. Our vast natural resources during the century gone, of forests, of game, and of grazing lands, have almost to the point of extinction been rapidly passing away, and it behooves us, who have profited thereby and now owe a duty to our race to artificially provide wherever and whenever we can for the future of humankind. In what better way can this be done than in utilizing the immense acreage of America's vast system of highways, (now absolutely wasted except for the sole purpose of travel), to reproduce the very finest of our country's magnificent trees, to again afford beauty, grateful shade, valuable timber and the choicest of food in great abundance for the generations to come.
Were this not a convention devoted to the advancement of nut growing alone, I would be glad to extol also for road planting fruit trees of every kind of adequate size and character, and free or nearly so, from the ravages of disease or insect pest, would be glad to praise the stately, hard maple, with its clear, sweet sap, producing the syrup and sugar that are the delight of childhood and age, and would be glad to recommend the useful basswood with its valuable lumber and its fragrant yellow flowers, producing that nectar from which our most delicious honey is made, and would be glad to recommend for our highways, certain other majestic trees needed by man and beautiful in the landscape.
But the object of this association and convention is a specialized one, as undoubtedly it should be, owing to the important field it covers, and therefore the nut trees and it alone for planting on highways and in public places should be the subject of this paper.
If we were to confine ourselves to one native variety or species for our Northern territory, the great majority of people would unhesitatingly say, let it be the Black Walnut (Juglans nigra). Attaining as it does a height of 100 feet and more, and a trunk of four feet and over in diameter, with a symmetrical top of splendid foliage, bearing the richest of nuts and its timber the most valuable in the country, with a natural range extending from Michigan to Mississippi and from Delaware to the Dakotas, it should be universally planted throughout the United States along thousands of miles of our great trunk line roads.
Its nearest American relative, the butternut (Juglans cinerea) preferring lower lands along river bottoms, attaining an average height of 60 feet with a trunk of 3 feet, its wood suitable for cabinet work, its bark with medicinal properties, and its nuts of splendid flavor, should be planted where soil conditions call for it.
For their rich, delicious nuts, alone, saying nothing about their clean, handsome foliage, their rough, strong wood—the best of any grown for many purposes—the hickories, among which are the Shagbark (Carya ovata) and the big shellbark (Carya laciniosa), should be planted in many places. They both frequently attain 100 feet in height with straight sturdy trunks averaging from three to four feet in diameter.
The other nut trees suitable for roadside planting, are not specially attractive to mankind for their fruits, as heretofore used or utilized, but may eventually become so under modern methods of cooking or proper treatment. In their raw state, however, all are edible and also palatable to most people, but their chief food value today, is to provide rich provender to domestic animals and birds, or the desirable wild life of the woodlands, all of which devour them eagerly, adding quickly to their weight and greatly to their quality and flavor of their flesh. I refer to the three magnificent oaks producing sweet acorns, viz., the White Oak (Quercus albaq), the Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) and the Swamp White Oak (Quercus plantanoides). They are all emblematic of great strength and grandeur, reaching the majestic height of 100 feet, with trunks four or five feet in diameter; the leaf coloring at times is indescribably beautiful and the timber owing to its great solidity and strength is of the utmost value.
Last, but not least, the American beech, with a three or four foot trunk and almost 100 feet in height, distinct and beautiful, will demand the attention of those who plant our highways. Its nuts, feasted upon by many forest denizens, may be classed with the sweet acorns heretofore referred to, but the tree has a grace and charm all its own and it thrives from the warm waters of the Gulf to the icy shores of Lake Superior.
At this time we cannot recommend what has been a noble, almost fascinating tree, 100 feet its usual height and sometimes spreading 100 feet almost in extent, with a trunk that in some cases reached a diameter of 10 feet, with clusters of golden catkins fragrant in midsummer, resulting in great quantities of delicious nuts in autumn. Such was the chestnut, Castanea dentata, of the past, the fate of which, and almost extinction, has been a tragedy in the ranks of our native trees that has brought bitter regrets to all lovers of this partician of the forest. Good news comes from the far East, however, to the effect that some specimens of this famous tree have escaped or proven immune to the blight, and if the latter, it means the saving of the species and its replanting in soil and territory where it may thrive as of yore.
Having now enumerated the varieties of trees that should be selected in the main for the planting of highways and in public places, the question now arises as to the best method of carrying on the work in a practical way throughout the country.
Individuals or small communities certainly can not be depended upon to do it, as the result would be of a patchwork character that would not be pleasing to the eye or beneficial in its results.
Only federal, state and municipal governments can take charge of this great work and carry it forward to completion.
The State of Michigan, now as you know, by legal enactment, causes state authorities to plant the trunk line, highways, the county to plant the roads of the county systems, and the cities and villages and townships those minor roads that are within their borders.
In case of individual effort, where an owner of land plants food-producing trees along the highways in front of his property, he is reimbursed by stated amounts covering each tree so planted, the returns coming to him by a reduction in the amount of his own taxation.
This so-called Michigan plan carried on throughout the entire country, would call for a supply of trees of the character named far beyond the ability of the commercial growers to supply, and in my opinion can be worked out only by seed or seedlings of the various varieties. And why not? The cost would be much less than of any other method, and only a few years would pass before substantial returns would commence to come. It has been stated and it is true, that the seeds of the trees named do not always produce superior nuts, but in a great majority only those of a common or inferior kind. However, choice specimens will appear also, and from these of the better class grafting may be done to enrich all.
Then again, it is a question as to whether the important tap roots of the important nut species should be disturbed or destroyed in transplanting. It would seem to be the proper plan, therefore, in order to avoid too great an expense, that the nuts or seed should be used in a great majority of highway planting, the trees to remain where first placed on approved roadside lines, and the proper distance apart.
It may be said that too great a time would elapse between the planting of the seed and the maturity of the tree, but as time goes nowadays, it would not be an unreasonable period, and there are those within the sound of my voice now, who will witness in their maturity the magnificent trees producing their valuable products and adding to the beauty of the landscape and to the welfare of mankind.
This Association has been the pioneer in this great movement, and it will be the credit to those connected therewith in the generations to come, in that they have all contributed in a very marked degree to the everlasting benefit of mankind.
President Reed: Is there any discussion?
Mr. C. A. Reed: I believe Senator Penney is to discuss a topic very closely affiliated with this one and perhaps it would be well to defer the discussion until we hear his address.
President Reed: We will be glad to have Senator Penney present his paper next, then. It is along the same lines—legislation in regard to tree planting.
Senator Penney: When my friend, Mr. Linton, started off to discuss his paper, he said he was a long distance member, and you can see the effect in the fruits he has borne or the nuts he has borne. Ever since I was taken sick up north, he has been trying to tell me I was a nut. I was taken sick up there in the deer hunting camp, and my friend, Mr. Linton, assisted in getting me out and rushing me to the nearest hospital, and it happened to be an insane asylum in northern Michigan.