Kosseev, Poland
(Read by Title)
Being eager to get on time to the walnut harvest in the Carpathian region and personally select walnuts for planting in Canada and the U.S.A. I borrowed $400 and—now I am here. On October 11 I sent to Toronto eight boxes of selected walnuts, about 50,000 in all, and I hope they will arrive in Toronto in time for the Royal Winter Fair. There are 43 varieties and amongst them some of very high quality are on the way to our Acadia. But it was no easy task to find out here good walnuts. I bought 1400 kilograms of different nuts before I picked out of them 600 kg. for Canada. Besides me three men were busy searching for the best walnuts in the orchards of Kosseev and Kooty. Inclosed please find a description of 45 walnut trees and their nuts. A collection of these nuts I am sending you separately.
I found here that:
1. Every walnut tree bears nuts of different variety. The nuts differ from nuts of other trees in shape, hardness of shell, size, texture and flavor of kernels.
2. On every tree walnuts are of three sizes, large, medium and small. It depends how much sunshine they receive. Those nearer to the trunk and on the northern side of the tree are the smallest.
3. According to flavor the walnut trees may be divided into three different groups. Those which bear nuts of sweet kernel are the best. Those nuts which have some bitter flavor are not bad, but those which are languid or tasteless are no good at all.
4. Giants have kernels smaller than the cavity of their shell. But I was told that in this country somewhere are Giants with sweet, hard kernels which fill up their paper-thin shell fully. Some gentleman pointed to the city of Tchernievtjee as a source of good Giants. It is not far from Kosseev, but on the other side of Rumanian frontier. It means that I should go to the province of Bookovina if we wish to find those perfect Giants. I sent to Canada some good Giants, but not perfect ones yet.
A physician who resides in Kooty told me that in the mountaineers villages of Rozhen (500 meters above sea level) there is a tree bearing awfully sweet walnuts. He ate those nuts but he does not know the name of the owner. Now it is my task to find those nuts. In the village of Twedeev (400 meters above sea level) is a tree bearing one year large nuts and next year small nuts. But those small nuts are awfully oily. I failed to secure nuts from that tree but I know its whereabouts. There in the mountains about 600 meters above the sea level comes the line beyond which no walnut tree grows. That line is stretched from the east to the west along the northern slope of the Carpathian region. I have seen some nuts from that colder belt. In shape they are rough, but one variety has papershell and sweet flavor. It seems to me that among these (as natives call them Hutzoolian walnuts) we could find some good variety for northern Ontario and maybe Manitoba. My nearest task will be to go along the cold line and select some walnut trees there.
Kooty and Kooseev district are really walnut country. This district produces papershell walnuts for other parts of Poland. But walnut trees could be found five degrees to the north. Too, I wish to investigate walnuts north of the Dniester River and then proceed farther north to find the northern limit beyond which no walnut grows. I am going to publish 3000 questionnaires, one for each walnut tree. I or my friends would examine these questionnaires when filled out. Maybe we'll come across some extra good walnut through this inquiry. But the easiest way to locate the best walnut is to organize a walnut contest as you did in Michigan, with the help of Mr. Kellogg. With the help of the local agricultural papers we could have such a contest and I am sure we'll have an amazing success. Do your best to get some funds for the prizes. Then please go to the Royal Winter Fair which starts this fall November 21 and inspect my walnuts I shipped there recently. Create a judging committee of Prof. Neilson, Mr. Corsan, Dr. Currelly and others. Open a couple nuts of each variety and judge which walnuts are the best. Then write me from what trees I should cut scions. You see, I am waiting now for winter to cut scions from trees bearing the best walnuts I found. Then after Xmas I'll ship to Canada a large box containing about 10,000 walnut scions. I expect to cut every scion personally and that way secure the best stuff for the spring grafting.
I am told that there are in Latvia filberts of very good type. Latvian filberts have grown eight inches thick in diameter. In that country the ground is frozen in October, like in Manitolia. It seems to me that the Latvian filbert will be ideal for the northern part of the North America. I wish to go there too while I am in Europe. I would bring the Latvian filbert to Canada and the U.S.A. if a small financial support could be given to me to accomplish this task.
To assure bringing of the best walnut into Canada and the U.S.A. I made an agreement with a local gardener to graft for us 500 walnut seedlings with the scions I would secure for him. Thus grafted seedlings could be brought to Canada the next fall. Furthermore, I have an idea to create the largest and the best walnut which ever grew on the globe. For this purpose I selected several walnut trees bearing Giant nuts and I wish to pollenize them next spring with pollen of a tree which yields the hardest and the sweetest kernel. Such a tree is in the city of Stanislav. And here in Kosseev is a tree bearing Giants which before they are dried weigh ten nuts to one kilogram (2.204 pounds). I hope that combination could give us a desirable type.
It is also desirable for me to stay in this country until the fall of 1935. Then I am sure that we'd have some desirable walnuts and filberts. I hope that my friends in Canada and the U.S.A. would come with financial help to give me a chance to accomplish my task. To assure the shipment of scions I need one hundred dollars. For my existence in this country I need $240 for next twelve months, and for traveling expenses about $100. All together I need $500. I hope that some Canadian or American would understand the importance of my expedition and will come with the help. Please put my case before some people who would back me in my enterprise.
Mr. Corsan:
Mr. Crath is a Presbyterian minister, he is out of a job and he is a man of extraordinary practical skill in agriculture. Now he informs me that, up in the Carpathian mountain region, in the valleys they don't have the English walnut, but the estates up in the mountains for hundreds of years have cultivated and selected it. The estates are being divided up and the trees cut down. He has gone up there to select these trees to have the nuts sent to him before the dealers get them and kill-dry to insure them against spoiling.
The Chestnut Situation in Illinois
By Dr. A. S. Colby, Illinois
Illinois claims prominence as a state where the commercial chestnut crop has been a profitable one for many years, beginning nearly three decades ago. Before chestnut blight, Endothia parasitica (Murrill), killed the trees in the East, tons of nuts were gathered there and a considerable quantity marketed; these, however, were chiefly of the smaller native species and little attention was paid to the trees, most of which were wild. During the past few years some consideration has been given chestnut culture in the far West; this development, however, is quite recent.
Two men stand out as pioneers in Illinois nut growing: the late George W. Endicott of Villa Ridge, who crossed the native American with the Giant Japanese chestnut in 1895, his work resulting in the origination of the Boone, Blair, and Riehl varieties, the fruit of which combines the size of the Japanese with the quality of the American parent; and the late E. A. Riehl of Godfrey, who for over 30 years, until his death in 1925, carried on experimental work in nut culture, originating, among others, the Fuller and Gibbens chestnuts, superior late and early varieties. Both Mr. Endicott and Mr. Riehl planted the better varieties in orchard form and found the undertaking a very profitable one.
The third large orchard planting in Illinois is located at Farina and owned by the Whitford family. Here the soil type is less favorable for chestnuts and the water drainage is not of the best, but in spite of these disadvantages, the trees are productive.
These orchards, with other smaller plantings in the state, came into full bearing at about the time of the gradual failure of the eastern crops and have made money for their owners, especially where attention was paid to sizing the nuts and to other advanced marketing practices.
During the past twenty years, interest in chestnut culture in Illinois has been increasing gradually. Many plantings of the improved varieties have been made in widely scattered localities. Through the co-operation of Mr. P. A. Glenn, of the State Nursery Inspection Service, a survey of Illinois has been begun to locate all the chestnut trees in the state. By the fall of 1934, with about one-third of the counties surveyed, a total of 7,601 chestnut trees has been found, approximately one-half of which are of bearing and one-half non-bearing age. This latter group includes nursery stock and newly planted young trees mostly of named varieties.
In a preliminary study of the approximately 3,700 trees of bearing age, a number of facts of interest were noted. Nearly all these chestnuts were of the named varieties, the plantings ranging in size from 1 to 800 individuals and in age from 5 to 40 years. Most of them were planted in orchard form and given some attention as to cultural needs. However, there were over 400 older trees averaging from 50 to 60 years with five, 80 years of age and three reported to be 130 years old.
These older trees are in poor condition as a rule, with many dead tops and branches and hollow trunks, but still struggling for life and producing some nuts. Very little care had been given them. They were found along the roadside, in pastures, in the yard about the home, in rows bordering an orchard. Some of these older trees were known to be seedlings from seeds brought in from the East; others had been planted, the trees coming from eastern sections. Very few of these trees are infected with blight. They indicate ages at which chestnut trees may be productive in Illinois if blight is controlled.
Satisfactory soil and climatic conditions for chestnut culture are found in most sections of Illinois, since plantings are reported from Pulaski County in the extreme south to Lee in the north, and in the central sections from Champaign west to Hancock County. As the survey progresses, it is probable that these limits will be extended.
One of the reasons for the state survey was to make a careful inspection of the trees found for evidence of chestnut blight and to have the necessary steps taken for its prompt eradication. Blight was found in Illinois in 1926, and efforts have been made since that time to eradicate it. Only a few infected trees were located prior to 1934. Most of them have been destroyed. In this year's (1934) survey, 123 diseased trees were found, and these are being handled in the most effective way to check further spread of the blight. These trees were found in nine counties, mostly scattered over the southern third of the state, with one infection center in central Illinois in Logan County.
Such is the present status of the chestnut in Illinois. What of the future? We believe that chestnut blight will continue to spread. The disease has been reported in several of the near-by states, including Michigan, Indiana and Iowa. With the scattered centers of infection in Illinois, it is probable that other diseased trees will continue to appear. Only the most determined efforts to check it, based upon a thorough understanding of the life cycle of its causal fungus, can be of any possible value in keeping it in control for any considerable time. Continuous inspection of the trees, with prompt removal of diseased material, such as cankers and infected branches, following methods recognized as sanitary, and immediate burning will be very helpful in checking the trouble. When the entire tree is infected, necessitating its removal, the stump should be treated by peeling back the bark and building a hot fire around the trunk in order that all bark tissues shall be destroyed. It is advisable, also, that all chestnut trees be given good care, especially as regards their needs for plant nutrients. Beginning with the young trees, newly planted, bark injuries of any kind should be guarded against. Extreme care is necessary in the training of the scaffold branches, as the tree grows, in order that the mature tree shall be well formed with as few large wounds as possible through the removal of large branches.
The application of fungicidal sprays, such as Bordeaux, at intervals throughout the growing season, may be helpful. The trunk and the main branches, especially, of young trees should be protected from sun scald. Borers and other insects must be kept out. Injury from tools used about the trees must be guarded against. Any break in the bark offers easy entrance to the fungus spores. Wrapping the trunk with burlap or paper may be very helpful in preventing such injuries. Probably the best time of year to make necessary pruning cuts is in early spring. Pruning should be followed by the painting of the wounds with shellac, later covering this with a good grade of paint. The tree should be well fed to aid in the growth of callus formation to cover the wound quickly.
Other methods of attack in solving the problem include the immunization of the chestnut against the blight and the breeding of resistant varieties. Experimental work along these lines is being carried on by individuals and Federal and State agencies, but the work has not as yet progressed sufficiently to give results of commercial value.
If careful cultural methods are followed in every locality, with special emphasis on the prompt and thorough disposal of diseased material, by removal and burning, we can look forward to a number of years of profitable chestnut production in Illinois.
Dr. Deming:
Is the Riehl orchard free from blight?
Dr. Colby:
One of the same gentlemen who visited Ithaca the other day, by authority, is making a very careful survey for disease of the nut trees in the eastern and northern United States. The Riehl orchard that we visited last year about this time had considerably over 100 trees badly diseased. We'll have to do the best we can with the old trees but watch the young ones carefully.
Dr. Deming:
Don't you think that one of the commonest causes of the blight of chestnut trees is through the wounds and the inoculations made by the claws of squirrels?
Dr. Colby:
Yes, and also woodpeckers. The old trees can be preserved for a longer or shorter time, depending on the care that is given to them. We found the disease down in the Endicott orchard, even in plantings of mature standing. There have been several trees located at Lincoln where the disease has been found. Any of those old trees where there are any injuries to the bark will be subject to the trouble.
Report on Commercial Cracking and Merchandising of Black Walnuts
By H. F. Stoke, Virginia
(Read by Title)
The 1933 black walnut crop of southwestern Virginia was light and exceedingly spotted. Some districts reported a complete failure, a most unusual condition.
The volume of shelled nuts offered on the local market was smaller than usual, due partly to scarcity of the nuts and partly because the mountain folk who produce most of the kernels were not so keen at cracking walnuts for a pittance when once they had tasted the sweets of 40 cents per hour on road work offered as part of the Federal recovery program. This, apparently, will become a factor in the development of commercial cracking plants.
The price was better than for several years past. Home-cracked nuts sold at an average price of 25 cents per pound to local consumers, who took most of the season's production. Sales to northern concerns were mostly at from 30 to 35 cents for hand-picked goods, ranging up to 38 cents per pound by midsummer. I do not know present prices.
The writer knows of no new development in mechanical cracking and separating processes. At the present time he is completing the construction of a power driven cracker of new design, but any report must await successful operation.
In the marketing of kernels five channels may be considered:
1. The local consumer market, which should be cultivated as far as possible.
2. Mail order consumer, usually reached by advertising. A two-pound carton lined with wax paper makes a most satisfactory unit for sales of this kind. This package has been selling generally at $1.25, postpaid.
3. Commercial consumers, who are usually manufacturers of food products, such as bakeries, ice cream manufacturers, confectioners, etc. Usually these people buy from wholesale supply houses.
In order to hold this trade the producer should be in a position to fill orders throughout the year. An "In-and-outer" cannot hope to hold this excellent class of customers.
4. Wholesale supply houses, who specialize on supplying commercial consumers and nut stores.
These people depend on buying their season's supply as cheaply as possible during the flush period and distributing later at a profit.
It is to their interest to demoralize the market early, so they can buy cheaply, and later proclaim a scarcity so the market will advance to profitable levels. They seem fully alive to their interests. At the opening of the past season one very prominent New York buyer was offering from 16 to 18 cents per pound for hand-picked kernels, though I knew of none selling at anywhere near that figure.
This class of customer is rather unsatisfactory, though they will pay fair prices late in the season if a real shortage exists, and they are out of supplies.
5. A good, honest broker or commission merchant is probably the most satisfactory channel for handling large quantities of kernels. He is acquainted with actual prices and market conditions, as well as a large list of possible customers. His customers are usually commercial consumers, though he also sells wholesale supply houses. His commission is usually 3 per cent.
As a note of warning, be sure your broker is honest, then stick to him. Some concerns masquerading as brokers or commission merchants are really wholesale buyers on their own account. They will charge the shipper a commission on sales to themselves at a low figure. The Baltimore market seems especially cursed with this sort of thing, though it is now, I believe, forbidden by a code. As a whole, Baltimore is not a very satisfactory market for black walnut kernels, though the largest in the East. I find Philadelphia and New York more satisfactory.
The outlook for the 1934 black walnut crop in this section is most promising. A dry spring was favorable to a good set of nuts, while plenty of rain during the summer guarantees good size. Prices will probably be satisfactory, due to the extreme drought in the West and the labor situation already referred to.
At this point I shall digress from the subject assigned me. The following matter may be left off the record, at your discretion.
a. In my 1932 report I made mention of several promising black walnut seedlings found in this locality. Samples of the nuts of the parent trees of the 1931 crop have been kept to the present time. All have deteriorated to a greater or lesser degree except the Stanley, which is as sweet and good as when gathered. The Stanley and Caldwell are precocious as grafted trees.
The Bowman seedling tree, which was reported as most precocious, is continuing its record of not having missed a crop since its third season from seed. It must be reported, however, that a two-year-old graft of this tree has not borne, as yet.
b. One thing of interest concerning the black walnut that has been observed is the scarcity of the walnut web worm this season, none having been observed by the writer up to September 1st. Is this a general or a local condition?
The year of the Geneva convention, 1931, was the worst ever observed by the writer in this respect. Do web worms occur in cycles, or do other conditions govern their appearance?
c. The injury caused by the melting of grafting and coating waxes by the hot sun is well known. Last spring an attempt was made to overcome the difficulty by painting the waxed surface with aluminum bronze paint. The experiment was a complete success, as even straight paraffine failed to melt beneath the aluminum coating during the hottest summer here on record. English walnut grafts so protected were more than usually successful. Reflection of the sun's rays by the bright surface undoubtedly lowered the temperature to below the melting point of the paraffine. This lowered temperature was also doubtless beneficial to the life processes of the graft union.
Direct coating of the trunks of newly set trees with the aluminum paint, without the use of wax, was also tried with satisfactory results. Applied direct to the dormant buds of the sweet cherry, however, it proved toxic, as the buds never developed. This was no doubt due to the bronzing liquid rather than to the aluminum.
The material is very easily applied, either with a brush or spray, and makes a silvery, impervious and very durable coating. It should be completely effective as a preventative of sun-burn of the bark of tender species, especially to cover the creosote applications sometimes used by tree surgeons. Such black coverings often defeat their purpose in the hot sun by killing the living tissues by the absorption of the sun's heat.
At the present time manufacturers are being corresponded with looking to the development of a bronzing liquid that shall be non-toxic to buds.
Now if some investigator will come forward with a non-toxic, water soluble coating material for the roots of nursery stock, Professor Neilson's dream will be fully realized.
Last year Mr. Homer Jacobs of the Davey Tree Expert Company gave us a very excellent report of his company's experiments with various coatings used in connection with the moving of large trees. It is to be hoped that they will add aluminum bronze paint to the list of materials tested, and give us the benefit of their findings at our next convention.
In the meantime, the private experiments mentioned will be continued.
d. A publicity stunt for the furtherance of nut culture is being tried in the way of vases filled with sprays of Oriental chestnut, with opening burrs, displayed in the windows of our leading department store, with a showing of fall goods. A card gives credit for the display.
Judging from the enthusiasm with which the store manager and the window dresser received the suggestion, it would appear that the idea could be used almost anywhere. If living sprays were not available, a display of nuts hardy to the locality could doubtless be used in the same manner. Cards identifying the nuts and stating they were grown (or could be grown) locally would add to the interest.
It is a matter of deepest personal regret that, due to a combination of New Deal, raw deal and general lack of a great deal, I am unable to be with you other than in spirit.
Nut Culture in Ontario
By George H. Corsan
Islington, Ontario
As most of you know, I was away from my place for six years, but in the meantime my nut trees grew and yielded. The past season has been most severe on nut trees and plants. Last winter the winds came straight across the land without any apparent obstruction, and it blew all winter long and we had no snow. Then a dry summer with a little moisture in the fall has created a situation that was never known before. Last year I gathered nine large baskets of filberts but this year I secured only about three baskets of filberts and these from bushes that were in a protected place. Most of the male catkins had frozen. The filberts in the unprotected places died. A Burlington Hican (purchased as a Marquardt) lived under circumstances that hardly any other tree could withstand. One Stanley shellbark lived and one died. It is strange how hardy the pecans are. Not a bud was killed last winter. It is seldom that the pecans mature a crop as the summer season is too short in Ontario, but they grow well and make a beautiful tree. We find that hickories grafted on pecan stocks do well, putting on two and one-half to three feet of new growth in a year. The butternut is so common around certain parts of Ontario and Quebec that the people do not even bring it to market, but they do appreciate it.
I am carrying on a program over the air as I am the "Nut" man of station CFRB and follow the farm report on prices at 1:45 o'clock each afternoon. We are trying to influence the farmers to plant nut trees along the lanes, around the barns and in the pastures and thus beautify the farms and bring the boys and girls back from the cities. None of the work that has been done in the research line of agriculture has approached the value of the work that Prof. Neilson has done here in Michigan in the last few years. The surface of the farms can be planted to grains and vegetables and yield practically nothing, but you can plant a nut tree and it will reach down into the sub-soil with its long roots and bring up the finest food in the form of nut meats.
Nut Growing on a Commercial Basis
By Amelia Riehl, Illinois
(Read by Title)
I have several times given figures stating the size of our chestnut crop and the income from year to year. To this I might add that the crop last year amounted to 6,423 pounds and was sold at wholesale for $1,082.76. Because we do a good part of the work ourselves, it is hard to figure the cost of harvesting. But the amount we paid out in cash comes away below $100.00. We still think it pays to grow chestnuts, though things look pretty bad around here now.
This was the third very dry season we have had in succession, and the very worst of all. We had no rain at all for over seventy days, and the heat was terrible. Everything suffered from drought. Even forest trees on the island below us died from lack of moisture. You can imagine what happened to the nut trees on the steep hillsides. All were more or less scorched, and many of them actually died. These are the old trees that father planted years ago. The young trees, which were planted after he was gone, on fairly level ground, are heavy with burrs, and I know will produce a fair crop of nuts as usual. For the first time in several years we will have no hazels. They bloomed very early this year and were caught by late frost. There are a few walnuts on some of the trees, but I doubt if they will be well filled.
For forty years father tried to grow English walnuts, but never succeeded in getting any of them to bear nuts. Finally gave it up in disgust. After he was gone we started out all over again, planting several varieties that were thought to be hardy. Now for the first time one of them has set eight nuts. It is the Alpine variety, scions of which were given me by Mr. J. F. Jones. Of course, it is yet to be seen whether or not there is anything in these nuts. But it is encouraging anyway.
We all send greetings to our many friends at the convention. Will be with you in thought and wish you all a happy time.
Some Notes on the Hardiness of the English Walnut in Michigan and Ontario
By J. A. Neilson, Michigan
In a study of the desirable characters of nut trees for planting in the northern part of the United States and in southern Canada, one is forced to place hardiness first. Rapid growth, high yield and excellent quality of nuts are of little value if hardiness is lacking. Hardiness, of course, is a relative term and may be applied to disease and insect resistance, adaptability to diverse soils and capacity to withstand extremes of winter and summer temperatures. In the present paper emphasis will be placed on resistance to winter cold and to unusual weather conditions, such as occurred during the autumn of 1933 and the winter of 1933 and 1934.
In order to properly understand the effect of the past winter on the English walnut, it will be necessary to devote some attention to the weather conditions that prevailed in the southern half of Michigan in the autumn of 1933. A perusal of the meteorological records shows that the average maximum and minimum temperatures in September and October were unusually high and that there was a heavy rainfall in these two months. The following table shows the precipitation and temperatures recorded at the Kellogg Farm where most of our nut cultural experiments are conducted.
September—The average maximum temperature, 79.1; average minimum temperature, 55.7; precipitation, 4.55 inches. October—The average maximum temperature, 60.1; average minimum temperature, 38.4; precipitation, 6.81 inches.
The unusually high temperatures and heavy rainfall caused growth to continue much later than normally and thus prevented the wood from ripening properly before winter set in.
English walnuts are found at several places throughout the lower peninsula and more particularly in the southern half of the state. In no place, however, are the trees numerous with the exception of a small area around Lexington, where there are approximately 100 trees. Inasmuch as this paper deals with the effect of low temperatures on the English walnut, the minimum temperatures of the weather station nearest to the places mentioned in the following text are given hereunder.
| Lowest | ||
| Place | Mo.-Date | Temp. |
| Allegan | Feb. 9 | -19 |
| Bay City | Feb. 9 | -20 |
| Caro | Feb. 9 | -30 |
| Croswell | Feb. 9 | -26 |
| Fennville | Feb. 9 | -20 |
| Flint | Feb. 9 | -15 |
| Grand Rapids | Feb. 9 | -16 |
| Gull Lake—Kellogg Farm | Feb. 9 | -18 |
| Hart | Feb. 9 | -22 |
| Lansing | Feb. 9 | -18 |
| Mount Pleasant | Feb. 9 | -21 |
| Muskegon | Feb. 9 | -16 |
| Owosso | Feb. 9 | -20 |
| Saranac | Feb. 20 | -25 |
| Sparta | Feb. 9 | [A]-22 |
| Leamington, Ont. | Feb. 9 | -18 |
| Guelph | Feb. 9 | -30 |
| Simcoe | Feb. 9 | -30 |
[A] Unofficial.
The extreme cold of the past winter following a warm, wet autumn caused a great deal of injury to English walnut trees in this state and elsewhere. The data presented herein were obtained by a careful examination of several plantations or individual trees scattered over the southern half of the lower peninsula in Michigan and in southwestern Ontario. To properly present this information it seems desirable to group the varieties or strains according to their place of origin.
Group 1. Cultivated Varieties from the Pacific Coast.
In this group we have Mayette, Franquette and Seeando. The Mayette has been considered one of the hardiest of the cultivated varieties and was therefore included in the plantings at the Kellogg Farm. More than twenty trees were planted and every one died last winter or in the preceding winter. Seeando, a new and supposedly hardy variety from Washington state, was planted in limited numbers in the spring of 1933, but every tree perished last winter. Franquette was not planted as a nursery tree, but was top-grafted on several large black walnuts at the Kellogg Farm and at East Lansing, Michigan. The grafts made a vigorous growth but only two out of eleven lived through the winter. In Simcoe, Ontario, where the minimum temperature was -30F, a six-year-old tree was so badly injured that it will likely die this winter, but should it not perish, the degree of injury is so severe that it will be of very little value. In the Niagara district the Franquette top-grafted in 1926 on black walnut came through in moderately good condition, but in this part of Ontario the minimum temperature was only 10 below zero F.
Group 2. New Varieties of Canadian Origin.
This group contains Broadview and McDermid. Broadview scions were secured from Mr. J. J. Gellatly of Westbank, B. C., who discovered the variety near Broadview, B. C. These scions were grafted on a medium-sized black walnut in 1931 and have since made a remarkable growth, but notwithstanding the vigorous growth there was no killing back during the past winter or in preceding winters. This variety was also grown as a top-graft by Mr. Carl Walker of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where the minimum temperature last winter was -26 degrees F. Some killing back was reported on this tree, but the injury was not severe enough to be serious. The Broadview is reported to have endured without injury -25 degrees F. in British Columbia and in Russia, where the parent tree originated, equally low temperatures are said to prevail. The McDermid was obtained from Mr. Peter McDermid of St. Catherines, Ontario. This tree is a third generation tree in Ontario and is descended from a tree brought out from Germany more than 100 years ago. The nuts are large with a moderately thick shell and contain a kernel of excellent quality. McDermid has been grown as a top graft at Simcoe, Ontario, East Lansing, the Kellogg Farm and Estate near Augusta and at South Haven, Michigan. All of the trees of this Variety grown in Michigan came through without injury, but the tree at Simcoe, Ontario, suffered somewhat by killing back of the past season's growth. The larger branches and trunk, however, were uninjured and have since made a rank growth. The McDermid top-grafted on a black walnut on Mr. G. Tolles' farm at South Haven proved hardy and was one of the few English walnut trees in Michigan to bear nuts this year.
At the Michigan State College where the temperature went to -18 degrees F. vigorous McDermid grafts on a thrifty black walnut were uninjured whereas all the Franquette grafts on the same tree were killed outright. Similar results were noted on several trees at the Kellogg Farm near Augusta, Michigan.
Group 3. Carpathian Walnuts.
This strain of Juglans regia was introduced into Canada by Rev. P. C. Crath of 48 Peterboro Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, from the Carpathian mountains in southeastern Poland. In this part of Europe the winter temperatures are reported to go to -20 degrees F., and occasionally lower. In the winter of 1928-29 a vast amount of injury was done to fruit trees and the less hardy English walnut trees in Poland, but a number of English walnuts came through without serious injury. Scion wood of some hardy selections was sent in 1932 to the writer by Mr. Crath, who was then in Poland. This material was grafted on vigorous growing black walnuts in the spring of 1932 and good results were secured with two varieties. These varieties made a vigorous growth, but notwithstanding this they showed not the slightest injury in the spring of 1934. The growth made during the summer of 1934 has been remarkable and if this unusually vigorous growth survives the coming winter it would seem as though we have an exceptionally hardy strain. The nut characters and productiveness of these varieties have not yet been determined in Michigan, but if they are equal to some of the trees of the same origin, then we will have very valuable trees. These strains have been named Crath and are distinguished by Nos. 2 and 5.
About 100 small seedlings of Polish origin were purchased from Mr. Landega of Toronto, Ontario, an associate of Mr. Crath, and planted at the Kellogg Farm in 1932. These trees have been subjected to trying conditions through drouth, competition with alfalfa, late growth and severe winter temperatures. As a result some have died, but a number are growing nicely, and it is expected that some of these will eventually become established. Seedlings of this lot suffered only slight injury near Sparta, Michigan, but grafts from these same seedling trees set on a vigorous young black walnut were very severely injured. Another tree from this group endured the severe cold at Madison, Wisconsin, during the past winter and made a rapid growth this season.
Scions from another fine tree of Polish origin growing at Mr. Crath's place in Toronto were set on several trees in this state in the spring of 1933 and in every case endured the lowest temperature without much injury to the new growth. A very unusual condition was noted, though on three young black walnut trees top-grafted to scions of this tree. On these trees the vigorous grafts appeared to be uninjured in the wood, but the bark at the point of union on both stock and scion was so severely injured that the grafts died. An examination showed evidences of bark splitting and this was undoubtedly caused by a severe and sudden cold spell following a very late and extremely vigorous growth. Scions of this strain were grafted on a medium sized black walnut at Caro, Michigan, and these endured -30 degrees F. without serious injury. A small black walnut tree at the Kellogg Farm top-grafted to scions of another Crath seedling showed bark injury on the lower half of the stock, but fortunately the extent of the injury was not great and the graft was saved. It also made a vigorous growth this season notwithstanding the hot dry weather and injury to the bark on the stock. Scions of this strain were grafted on a vigorous black walnut on the farm of F. Wilde at Wayland in 1933. These scions made an extraordinary growth that season and were subjected to a temperature of -20 degrees F. last winter. Some killing back occurred but no permanent injury was done as the grafts have made a good growth this season.
Pomeroy Seedlings
This strain of walnuts originated on the farm of Mr. Norman Pomeroy of Lockport, New York. Trees from this plantation, or seedlings of these trees, are grown at various places throughout Michigan with the heaviest concentration near Lexington. There are also a number of Pomeroy seedlings on the farm of Mr. Grant Fox at Leamington, Ontario. All of the trees in the Lexington district were more or less severely injured by killing back of the branches and occasionally by bark splitting or bark killing. At St. Louis one very fine tree was nearly girdled by bark injury and will undoubtedly die. Near Ithaca another tree showed moderate killing back and in the city two trees were killed to the ground and one other so severely injured as to be useless. The trees at Leamington, Ontario, were also severely injured, especially those that bore thin-shelled nuts. Some of the larger trees in this plantation which bore nuts with moderate thick shells were not as severely injured, and this would seem to indicate that there may be a relationship between thickness of shell and resistance to winter cold.
In this plantation it was also found on another occasion that the trees which bore thin-shelled nuts produced long vigorous succulent shoots with a large pith and loose, spongy buds. On the other trees that bore thick-shelled nuts the shoot growth was shorter and firmer than on the trees with thin-shelled nuts. In contrast to these trees the buds on the Crath trees Nos. 2 and 5 were short, rather broad and very solid. The wood also was very hard and well matured with a small pith even on vigorous shoots. This seems to indicate that there may be a relationship between density and maturity of wood and buds and winter hardiness.
Other Seedlings
At various places in Michigan there are English walnut trees that originated in England or which are seedlings of trees that came from England. An exceptionally good tree of English origin grows near Ionia and is called Larson after the owner of the farm on which it grew. The Larson tree is at least 50 years old and bears nuts of large size and excellent quality in favorable seasons. This variety was propagated for the college by the Michigan Nut Nursery and some of these trees were planted at the Kellogg Farm in 1933. Unfortunately the past winter killed all the young trees and so severely injured the parent tree that its recovery is doubtful. Beck is another good variety of English origin that grows near Allegan on the Monterey road. The original tree of this variety was very severely injured and much greater injury was noted on seven-year-old grafts of this variety which had been set on a black walnut. At Vassar there is a tree of English origin that yields very fine nuts, but this one was also severely injured. Near Conklin there is an old tree of German origin and this was likewise severely injured, but not so much as the trees from England.
Chinese Walnuts
The Chinese walnut is a geographic form of the so-called English walnut. It occurs over a large area of central and northern China, and it is believed that trees from the northernmost range of this species in China are somewhat hardier than the average English walnut from western Europe. The number of trees of this species under observation is very limited, but those that have been seen appear to be promising. The largest and best tree observed grows on the property of Mr. Geo. Corsan at Islington, Ontario. This tree was subjected to -26 degrees F. last winter and was somewhat injured. The growth this spring was delayed longer than normally and some killing back was noted. Eventually the tree started to grow and made a normal amount of growth. Scions from this tree were grafted on two black walnut trees at the Kellogg Farm in 1933 and a vigorous growth was made in that season. These grafts were carefully examined in the spring of 1934 and were found uninjured. Subsequently a very large graft on one medium sized black walnut tree died, but this was due to injury at the point of union rather than to the graft above. The remaining scions made a good growth this season. Seedling trees of another strain of Chinese walnut showed some variation in their hardiness. Some came through in good condition and made a vigorous growth but others were more or less injured. The limited number of trees under observation scarcely justifies definite conclusion, but it would seem as though this form of Juglans regia is worthy of a wider trial in southern Michigan.
Types of Winter Injury
The following forms of winter injury which have been referred to in the preceding notes are given special attention hereunder.
(1) Killing back of branches.
This type was found on every tree except the hardy varieties of Polish and Russian origin. In some cases the large branches were killed outright, but usually the injury was confined to small branches, and the degree of injury varied from slight to very severe killing. Branches so injured were attacked by fungus diseases and some were beginning to decay and fall off when examined in October. Killing back of the branches was also noted on one excellent heartnut at Scotland, Ontario. This tree was subjected to -30 degrees F. but was less severely injured than many of the English walnuts noted above, and when examined in September showed a vigorous new growth throughout most of the top. There were also several vigorous seedlings from this tree growing near by which were only slightly injured in the bark or which were uninjured. It was interesting to observe that the seedlings of the old heartnut tree that were apparently of hybrid origin were not injured in the least and bore good crops of nuts this year, but the seedlings that were pure heartnuts were injured slightly. This point suggests the desirability of crossing the finest heartnuts with the best butternuts to get a combination of the hardiness of the butternut with the good qualities of the heartnut.
Bark Killing
Bark injury is often found on fruit trees following a severe winter and is occasionally found on nut trees. It may be due to bark splitting or to desiccation or both. In severe cases of bark splitting the bark splits vertically and laterally from the ground up for several feet, but in milder cases the bark is only split away for a short distance. Where the bark is loosened for some distance around the tree or vertically it dies shortly thereafter, but where only a small amount of splitting occurs, the tree may recover if given attention. In such cases the bark should be cut back to the living tissue and all particles of dead or injured bark scraped off. The exposed area should then be coated with a good tree paint or asphaltic emulsion.
The severest case of bark splitting observed was on a vigorous young heartnut seedling at Guelph, Ontario. On this tree the bark was completely split away entirely around the trunk from the ground up for several feet and the injury was so great that the tree died early in the summer. Within a short distance of this tree was another tree of the same origin that was quite uninjured, but this tree, however, was a hybrid between the butternut and the heartnut. On this hardy tree there was a heavy crop of nuts that were intermediate in form between the heartnut and the butternut, this indicating its hybrid origin. Practically all of these hybrids escaped injury even though the temperature was -30 degrees F.
Bark injury was also noticed at the Kellogg Farm on several black walnut trees that had been grafted in the nursery and which were planted in 1932 and 1933. On these trees the scion variety was uninjured but the bark on the stock was more or less affected from the ground up to the point of union. All trees thus affected came out into leaf, but shortly afterward the leaves withered and the top died.
Bark injury from splitting or desiccation was more prevalent on young vigorous growing trees, and on older trees that had been stimulated into a strong growth by fertilizers or late cultivation.
Suggested Means of Control
Since it is impossible to control temperatures and precipitation, it is perhaps a vain hope to expect complete immunity from winter injury to the English walnut. It is possible, however, to lessen the degree of injury by certain measures of precaution. These are as follows:
(1) Plant only the hardiest varieties.
The past winter showed very clearly that the commercial varieties of English walnut or seedlings as grown in this state are not hardy enough to endure the severe cold that periodically occurs in Michigan. This limits the choice of varieties to those from central Europe or north China where rigorous climatic conditions prevail. As already pointed out, the varieties that endured the past winter were from the Carpathian region in Poland or western Russia and north China. These varieties have not been widely distributed in this state and it may be found that even these will have a limited range in Michigan. Their behavior, however, shows that they are somewhat hardier than varieties from western Europe or England. Unfortunately the supply of trees of these apparently hardy kinds is limited and it will take some time to work up a stock of the best strains. In the meantime, those who desire to plant the English walnut had better wait until a supply of the hardier kind is available or plant some other hardy species such as the black walnut.
(2) Thoroughly drain all soils intended for nut trees. Well drained soils favor good root development and seem to lessen late growth, thus reducing to a slight extent at least the severe killing back that is noticeable on such growth.
(3) Use nitrogenous fertilizers in moderation.
Fertilizers rich in nitrogen may stimulate the late growth and predispose the tree to killing back.
(4) Do not cultivate the soil around nut trees late in the summer.
Late cultivation stimulates late growth and prevents the trees from properly ripening their buds and wood. This late growth invariably suffers more severely from winter cold than growth that is well matured.
Nut Tree Prospects in the Tennessee Valley
By John W. Hershey
Tree Crop Specialist, Division of Forestry.
Tennessee Valley Authority.
This is a vital question to discuss in the economic welfare of any community, but the sooner the value of tree crops is recognized, the sooner will the agriculturists be on a more simple economic basis and I feel that the members of this association agree with me when I say that the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors should be complimented by this body for their foresight in making tree crops a part of their economic scheme. In my five months of work the points that I believe are of most interest to this body are that I have actually made a cursory tree crop survey of the whole Valley—fifteen hundred miles long and seventy-five miles wide. This is the first time this kind of work has ever been attempted in the world on an extensive scale. The results of this survey have been approximately the following:
(1) A keen interest by all the County Agents in the tree crops question.
(2) I was astonished at the surprising number of County Agents that had been advocating nut trees as a farm asset. It gave me considerable pleasure to note the number who had nuts sticking around their offices they had gathered up because of their interest in trying to find a good cracker of either hickory or walnut. As we all know it would be impossible for me to attempt to fine-tooth-comb an area as large as the Tennessee Valley basin for thin shelled nuts, but with the enthusiasm shown by the County Agents we will have excellent co-operation with them in getting publicity in local papers for the contests that we have run to date on all the tree crops. The announcement of this association's prize contest is going to have an outstanding influence in getting a lot of samples of nuts and you can easily see the stimulant to get two prizes in the place of one is going to make a lot of men and women and children scour the country for the nut that will possibly take the prize in both contests. I want to say that I feel that these nuts, from the few samples and reports I have at hand, are going to give the balance of the United States a run for their money in the contest.
My work, when developed along the lines as recommended, will not only comprise the development of nuts but of all tree crops in general. Not only in introducing selected tree crops to the farmers but in the breeding of superior crops. The tree crops idea like the Authority's power idea will have, in the words of Dr. Kellogg, in a recent letter to me, "It will not only influence the welfare of the farmers in the Valley but over the whole United States." First in showing the farmers on a worth while scale the value of tree crops and second in introducing this health food into the diet of the American people.
Some New Hicans and Pecans in Illinois
From J. G. Duis, Shattuc, Illinois
(Read by Title)
I am writing a short account of the new nuts I have discovered in this vicinity, all in the Kaskaskia River Valley and not one fifty miles away. The Duis, Swagler, Joffrey and Carlyle pecans. The Duis black walnut. The Gerardi and Nussbaumer hicans. And the Dintleman hybrid.
The Duis pecan grows about four miles up the river from Carlyle. I claim it as the largest northern pecan in existence, with the Swagler not far second in size. Both have been bearing the two years I have known them, the Duis rather prolifically. However, it was so severely whipped last fall, and the season so dry this year, that I do not expect a crop off either tree, though I have not visited them as they are rather inaccessible. Both graft fairly well, especially the Swagler.
The Joffrey pecan grows alone in a corn field south of Pelican Pouch, a glacial moraine south of Carlyle about six miles. It is the plumpest, thinnest shelled nut of northern variety, and above average size. Fair bearer to the best of my knowledge, but a severe hail storm and a season of severe walnut caterpillars ruined two years' prospects. The Carlyle pecan grows in the State Fish Hatchery and Park at Carlyle, and I have only the word of the "game warden" and caretaker for size and quality. The same hail and caterpillar pest hit that tree. The Duis black walnut is from a scrub tree on Shoal Creek, about five miles northwest of Carlyle and is about crowded out by other trees. My oldest grafted tree from it is about seven years old and has been bearing consistently since two years old. Even this year, after two severe dry seasons, and a late frost that nipped the early shoots, it has a fine crop even though other trees, grafted and seedlings, are mostly barren. The nuts are medium to rather large and readily crack out in halves comparable to the Stabler when properly prepared for cracking. There are so many new walnuts I know nothing about that I presume there are better ones.
I claim only secondary credit for "resurrecting" the Nussbaumer hican and the Dintleman hybrid, presumably king hickory and bitternut. The Nussbaumer is the hybrid mentioned in Fuller's Nut Culturist some fifty years ago. I thought of this for several months and corresponded regarding this nut and finally made a couple of trips down the river to Mascoutah and vicinity. I could hardly find a man old enough to know Mr. Nussbaumer, who was a druggist there. Later he removed to Okawville and from there to Texas, where he died a number of years ago. I was advised to see an old nurseryman by the name of Jacob Leibrock, now deceased. I was told he had two of the trees from seed. He had, but both bore bitternuts and he had cut them down. I did not think till later that they probably were not from the Nussbaumer tree and when I wrote for more information he had passed away. He advised me to see two men toward Fayetteville down the river. The first one did not know where the tree was. The second one did but was too busy to go to it, so I hired him to go as soon as possible and advise me and if possible send me some samples and I would return later. From what he told me I was sure I was off the track of the Nussbaumer, but on the trail of a new and better nut. He said the tree bore "sacks full" and the nuts were so thin shelled you could crack them in your hand. I went farther down the river to Fayetteville, not far from which place east the tree was located, but was there informed the tree was dead. However, the informer told me he had a seedling from it, but upon investigation found he had a fullblood pecan, probably planted by a jaybird from a number of bearing trees in close proximity, for I was satisfied by this time the nut was not even part pecan. The two original nuts probably never grew. The innkeeper advised me that Mr. Dintleman, a nurseryman of Belleville, Ill., had been much interested in the nuts and might have a tree. So I wrote him asking about it and also wrote Mr. C. A. Reed, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Mr. Dintleman wrote me that our well known Mr. J. F. Wilkinson, had a seven-year-old budded tree from buds he sent. And Mr. Reed advised me to write a farm advisor in Missouri. Through him I was informed a Mr. George Miller, near Bluffton, son of Judge Miller, mentioned in Fuller's book, had a tree thirty years old. In short, I found not only the one tree I was after but a second king hickory and bitternut cross with a shell so thin you could "crack it with your hands." Shall we call it a Hickbit? Mr. Wilkinson sent me graftwood and stated he expected we call it the Dintleman. The Nussbaumer, Mr. Miller informed me, is not a good bearer, but it may be due to location or lack of pollinization. I now have several trees of each from spring grafts.
All the above trees grow in overflow ground, sometimes in water for weeks, called slashes. The Stabler walnut also seems to like that, but the Thomas does not and is outgrown by the three-year-old Stablers. I will know more about that in a year or two. However, nearly all grow very well on the prairie land around here and some seem to bear better.
May I add another observation. Cultivation will produce bigger, better and more nuts, same as for corn.
Evening session.
Dr. Deming:
I'd like to speak for a moment about some old friends, one of whom we shall never see any more, Mr. Bixby. If you will take the trouble to go back through our annual reports and see the number of articles he has written and the diversity of subjects he has written on, and see what an important part he has taken in our discussions, you will get a good idea of the ability and broad-mindedness, the scientific knowledge and the honesty of Mr. Bixby. There is one thing that perhaps you don't all know, and that is that his collection of nuts has been sold to the United States Government. There is something fewer of you know and that is that this sale was brought about by the persistent energy, mental and physical, of Mr. Reed.
The other old friend, whom we shall perhaps never see again at a meeting, is Dr. Morris. I've seen him twice this summer, had several letters from him, and lunched with him once. He has with him his devoted wife and his little daughter and he appears to be fairly well. He doesn't look very different from what he has when he attended our meetings. He is up and around and he walked about the place for fifteen or twenty minutes with Mrs. Morris and me looking at his trees.
Some other old friends that I would like to call to your attention are our past reports. I suppose that I have read those reports more times than anybody else, since I have edited nearly all of them. I go back over them occasionally even now and I have been astonished to find the value of the papers and discussions that are contained there. I recommend to all of you who have these reports to make a review of them and see how many things were known during the early years of our association, as Mr. Walker has said, that we are now rehashing. When you go over the names of the men who made up the membership of the association in its early days, men whom many of you perhaps have never seen, or have seen very seldom, you can understand how these pioneers in nut growing would have had something interesting to say.
I've made a little list of names of these men, some of whom are gone, and the rest of whom we seldom see. Dr. Morris, Prof. Craig, Henry Hales, Prof. Close, Prof. Hutt, W. N. Roper, W. C. Reed, Prof. Collins, E. A. Riehl, Dr. Van Fleet, Prof. Van Deman, J. G. Rush, Mr. Jones, Mr. Littlepage, Mr. Bixby, Dr. Smith, Prof. E. R. Lake, S. W. Snyder, Mrs. Erlanger, Col. Sober, Prof. Drake and many others. I think it will pay you all to look back through those annual reports and see what the pioneer nut growers of this country have recorded.
Mr. Reed, I was saying that Mr. Bixby's collection of nut trees had been sold to the Government and that it was through your help that this sale was made. Now I'd like to ask you if there is any information that you could properly release to the meeting about the sale of those trees. I am sure everyone of us would be interested to know where they are going.
Mr. Reed:
The trees have been bought by the Interior Department with funds placed at their disposal for the purpose of planting trees for the national forests. Their attitude has been rather liberal in this case. They have felt that if they could get trees planted, regardless of whether they were planted on Interior Department land or not, it would be justified expense. When the matter was laid before them, they at once thought of the arboretum which is now being developed within the District of Columbia. The final purchase was made largely in order that the arboretum might be able to start off with the Bixby collection as a nucleus. A complete list of all varieties that are in the collection will go there. Another part of the purchase comes to the branch of the Agricultural Department which I represent, and practically all of the varieties in the Bixby collection which are not now in the plant at Beltsville will be sent there.
It was the original plan of the Interior Department that all of the trees which neither the arboretum nor the branch of the department which I represent needed, should go to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, and it was with that understanding that the deal was closed. After the deal was closed and a notice was sent to the authorities in charge at the park that a certain number of seedlings of different species and a certain number of grafted trees would be delivered there sometime this fall, the Shenandoah authorities took the strange attitude that they couldn't use grafted trees. In other words, they preferred mongrels to thoroughbreds. We chuckled in our sleeves. But nevertheless they threw back upon us several grafted trees to find some place for. We immediately took it up with the Forest Service. They have land in North Carolina where all of the trees can be planted fifty feet apart, not cultivated, but nursed and cared for, and available for study by our own department and the state of North Carolina and any individuals.
I have omitted mentioning that there are certain limitations on the ability of the Interior officials to buy trees for Interior Department planting. It is a definite policy of the Interior Department that in all national parks they plant only American species. That automatically eliminated many trees of the Bixby collection. But the arboretum wanted a good many of those trees and so did we.
There are still in the Bixby collection several fine Persian walnut trees. We haven't been able to trace their source, but it is my impression that they are of Chinese origin.
Dr. Deming:
He had a row of Pomeroy trees.
Prof. Slate:
He also had some trees from Chinese seed, because he sent some of them to Geneva.
Mr. Reed:
We have the Bixby correspondence. By the terms of the purchase Mrs. Bixby was to deliver to the Interior Department all of Mr. Bixby's records pertaining to those trees, and as far as she has been able to get things together they have been turned over to me.
Dr. Deming:
In addition to our annual reports I want to say a word about the reports of the National Pecan Growers' Association. Twenty-five years ago I took out a life membership in that association for $10.00, and I have been getting annual reports ever since. While they relate almost exclusively to the southern pecan they have also many scientific articles on the development of twigs, blossoms and fruit, on pruning and grafting and on fertilizing and cultivating, which are of importance to all nut growers.
I think perhaps I won't go into the subject which has been talked of so much today, the severe winter and summer we have had. But J. G. Rush in our third annual report has a paper which is entitled, "The Persian Walnut, Its Disaster, Etc.," which describes events twenty-two years ago very similar to those that have taken place in the last winter.
Nut Growing in Vermont
By Zenas H. Ellis, Fair Haven
In all my life of over seventy years I have never seen a time like the present. We have passed through the coldest winter and the dryest summer ever known.
I raise on my place in old Vermont every kind of tree that will grow there, and try many that will not, or only with more or less protection. I have apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches and figs, with berries of all kinds. I have nut trees of many different varieties, hickories, black and English walnuts, filberts, hazel-filberts, pecans, almonds and butternuts.
Which have stood the cold and drought the best? Strange as it may seem, my nut trees have stood the extreme temperatures the best. My hardiest apples like the Wealthy, Yellow Transparent, Wolf River, and Pewaukee have gone down to their death, or so near thereto that I never expect to see any fruit from them again. Whereas, on the other hand, my hickories, black walnuts, butternuts and hazel-filberts have not even lost a leaf. Wonderful to relate and almost unbelievable my large pecan tree, over forty feet in height, and a foot in diameter, is as hale and hearty as ever.
August 15th last I picked and cracked some of my improved butternuts and hazel-filberts, and found the kernels large, full grown and normal in every way. Whereas I have not an apple or pear fit to eat, no, not even a berry either.
I set out my butternut years ago in the position of honor in front of my house, and it has merited it ever since. The kernels came out in halves and often times whole. I have given away many of the nuts for planting, even as far away as Kew Gardens, England. Money could not buy the parent tree. I would not exchange it for the best cattle ranch in Colorado, the best wheat farm in Kansas, or the best cotton plantation in both the Carolinas. It is self-sustaining, does not require any subsidy from Uncle Sam, or any twenty-five thousand dollars a year official to regulate it. It is better than any dollar nowadays, always worth 100 per cent in gold instead of 61 cents, as is our government kind. The reason is, God rules it, instead of a mere man with any combination of the alphabet you can make.
It is the same with my improved hazel-filberts which grow tall and rank and bend down to the ground with their branches heavily laden with large, well-filled nuts.
My Thomas black walnuts are doing well, as also my Sier's hybrid hickories; both are perfectly hardy but not bearing this year as it is the off year for them. The butternut and hazel-filberts have never an off year but, like the "brook," go on forever. My English walnuts with some protection passed the winter in perfect safety. But the almonds, though protected as well, fared very poorly, showing that they are not near so hardy as the former.
The other kinds of nut trees that I have mentioned, even to the pecan, withstood the rigors of the winter with no protection whatever.
My true filberts fared rather poorly but are coming up lustily from below the snow line and will, I think, be as good as ever if the past winter does not repeat itself.
What does this all mean? It means that we should plant more nut trees instead of so many fruit trees, especially the apple, which has proven more liable to cold injury than even the pear, if we would have any of the delectable valuable products of the tree kind. Why, just think of it, a few nut trees planted around every home in the country would do more to relieve the present depression than all the other agencies and remedies put together. Frost does not impair their fruit. Nuts will keep through the year or longer. Insects do not injure them as they do the soft, unprotected fruits. Squirrels may take their toll but they are far easier to destroy than a bug. To hunt them is grand sport for young people, whereas to chase a bug is no fun at all.
The workman, the professional man, the merchant, should especially raise them as they would take no time from their business. Their children would think it no work at all to gather them, that is if they were like the children of my youth who looked forward to gathering nuts as one of the pleasantest pastimes of the year.
If all our city parks, public squares, playgrounds, roadsides, waste places and other like areas were planted with them, all children even to the poorest could have a sufficiency of the healthiest food that would build up their bodies into strong healthy adults who could go out into the country and build it up again as it was years ago, instead of the vast, desolate region it is now.
What makes children so puny and so unwilling to do any real work today? It is because emigration from nut-eating countries being shut off, and our native nut trees cut down or uncared for, there is nothing to keep up the supply of the best food for the body today. The remedy is to raise more nuts so the children and adults as well can again be fed on the most valuable, healthy and strength-giving food God ever made.
Then, too, crime would be greatly reduced, especially of the juvenile kind. The spare time of our youth would be taken up for about three months in a year with a clean, pure, pleasant, agreeable occupation instead of searching for mischief and quasi-vicious adventures. Have no juvenile crime and the adult crime is reduced to a minimum, or obliterated entirely.
God started man on a nut eating diet and kept him thereon for centuries. As long as he stuck to it he was all right. We do not hear much about that era, for happy is the nation that has no history. Then he had no diseases to speak of except extreme old age, no wars and hardly any troubles. But when, in the Garden of Eden, the Devil tempted him to switch off onto some other diet, he has been wrong ever since. So then, let us return to our old diet as far as possible and have something of an Eden again about us today.
Perhaps you people of Michigan would like to know what my town of Fair Haven is. It gave you James Witherell who, while congressman from Vermont, resigned to accept the supreme judgeship of the great territory of Michigan. In the war of 1812 he had command of the troops thereof and, when ordered by the cowardly General Hull to surrender them to the British, absolutely refused. After that war he laid out anew the war stricken city of Detroit.
His grandson, Thomas Witherell Palmer, the son of a native born Fair Haven girl, became your United States Senator, Minister to Spain and, in 1893, President of the World Fair commission at Chicago. He gave to Detroit that large and beautiful park named after him.
So you see Henry Ford is not the whole architect of that great city, as good Vermont blood had to relay its foundations and get it well under way for that great auto magnate to make it the fourth city in the Union.
A Roll Call of the Nuts
By Dr. W. C. Deming
Connecticut
In the report of the proceedings at the eighth annual meeting of this association, held at Stamford, Conn., September 5 and 6, 1917, is an address by the Vice President, Prof. W. N. Hutt of North Carolina, entitled "Reasons for Our Limited Knowledge as to What Varieties of Nut Trees to Plant." I quote from that address:
"In 1847 the American Pomological Society was formed as a national clearing house of horticultural ideas. The first work the society undertook was to determine the varieties of the different classes of fruits suitable for planting in different sections of the country. Patrick Barry of Rochester, one of the pioneers of American horticulture, was for years the chairman of the committee on varietal adaptation and did an immense amount of work on that line. At the meetings of the society he went alphabetically over the variety lists of fruits and called for reports on each one from growers all over the country. This practice was kept up for years and the resulting data were collected and compiled in the society's reports. A similar systematic roll call of classes and varieties of nuts grown by the members of this association would be of immense value to intending planters of nut trees. In northern nut growing, however, it may be questioned if we have yet arrived at the Patrick Barry stage."
These were the words of Prof. Hutt in 1917, seventeen years ago. I believe that nut growing has now arrived at the Patrick Barry stage. It seems right, therefore, that we should begin to have an annual roll call of the nuts. To this end I have prepared a list of nuts of the different genera, species and varieties grown in the northeastern United States. This list is long but by no means complete and this, by the nature of things, it can never be. It is evident that there will not be time enough to go over more than a small part of this list. It is, therefore, proposed to have the list mimeographed and sent to all members for their reports. Members are asked particularly to add to the list the names and performances of any varieties not listed of which they may have knowledge. In this way we shall soon be able to make our lists as nearly complete as possible.
In order to reduce bulk and expense it will be necessary to print the names in compact form. It is suggested that the lists be kept for reference and that any report be made on a separate sheet under the proper heading. I will go as far in it now as you want me to. As I call the names of the nuts on this list I will ask the members present to report, as briefly as possible, any knowledge they may have as to the performance of each nut, such as the earliness of its fruiting, size and regularity of crops, growth and vigor of tree and character of nuts.