Resolutions Committee,
| G. L. Slate, Chairman |
| C. A. Reed |
| A. S. Colby. |
Dr. Deming:
I think that the thanks of the association are especially due to our president, Mr. Frey, for having so successfully stepped into the breach for the completion of the arrangements for this meeting, and for the very excellent program which he completed. I think he should also be thanked for the separate notices which he sent out, directing the attention of the persons coming to and going from this meeting to the nut orchards and other things of interest that may be seen on the way.
The President:
I thank you. I might say that the suggestion for visiting interesting trees and nut plantings came from Mr. Reed. I want to call to your attention again that next year's meeting will be held at Rockport, Indiana, on September 9 and 10, 1935.
The dues of this association are now only $2.00, and action taken at this convention will result in your receiving without additional charge the American Fruit Grower Magazine, which has been adopted as our official journal and included with the dues. You also have the privilege of joining the American Horticultural Society for the fee of $2 instead of $3.00. We are affiliated with that society and they allow to their affiliated associations the privileges of the members. Secure a membership and get the quarterly journal for the price of $2.00. We certainly recommend this association. We think that you get your money's worth many times over and it does a great deal of good.
The only other item of business is a report from the nominating committee.
Dr. Deming:
Your nominating committee reports through the chairman the nomination of the following members as officers for the ensuing year:
President—Mr. Frank H. Frey, Chicago, Illinois.
Vice President—Dr. G. A. Zimmerman, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Secretary—Mr. George L. Slate, of Geneva, New York.
Treasurer—Mr. Carl F. Walker, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
For Members of the Executive Committee—Mr. Frank H. Frey, Dr. G. A. Zimmerman, Mr. George L. Slate, Mr. Carl F. Walker, Professor J. A. Neilson and Mr. D. C. Snyder.
As Dean of the Association—Dr. Robert T. Morris, of Connecticut.
As Field Secretary—Mr. Zenas H. Ellis, of Vermont.
I move that the secretary be authorized to cast one ballot for the election of the ticket nominated.
The motion was unanimously carried, and the officers nominated by the committee were elected for the ensuing year.
The President:
I might say that I won't, at least, have to sing a "swan song," and I'm not going to take the time to make any speech of acceptance. I appreciate your confidence in re-electing me and I am sure the other officers feel the same way. We'll all do what we can for your interest and what we are all interested in. Sometimes we may be a little slow in getting results but with your help I think we can make progress.
The twenty-fifth annual convention of the Northern Nut Growers' Association adjourned at 9:30 P. M. Tuesday, September 11, 1934.
Letter from J. U. Gellatly
British Columbia
I have just returned from a six weeks' trip to the B. C. Coast scouting for new nut trees and selling nut tree nursery stock. The outstanding discovery of the trip is the Rapier walnut tree. This young giant was planted 24 years ago by Mr. Rapier on Texada Isl. I estimate this tree to be 60 to 70 feet in height, the measured spread is 60 feet one way and 70 at widest point, and other measurements as follows: from ground to first limbs there is 8 feet of straight trunk with a girth of 7 feet one inch taken one foot above ground, and at 6 feet above ground girth is 69 inches. The tree has cropped regularly since it was about 6 years old. The largest crop to date was produced in 1931 totaling 500 pounds. The shape of nut is long oval, size medium. The flavor of those I tasted of the 1933 crop certainly was the sweetest I have tasted to date for this class of nut.
I have no definite information as to source of this tree, but judge it to be a Franquette seedling as that was the class of trees sold by the nursery from which the tree was purchased. I have made arrangements for sample nuts from this year's crop and will send you some later. This tree is well worth testing for hardiness as it is evidently self-fertile, there being no other nut trees of the same age near by.
Another discovery of interest from the nut breeding angle is the McDonald walnut. This is a hybrid English X. J. Sieboldiana, growing at West Vancouver, B. C. Nut large and heavy shell, but the best kernel cavity I have seen in any of these crosses. The tree is a nice tree and leaves show distinct crossing. This is the first year it has borne and it had 2 nuts. One shell I am sending you with other samples of new nuts.
The Watt English walnut at Penticton, B. C., is proving a regular cropper of uniform large round nuts of good flavor. This tree is a seedling from my own nursery. I do not know from what tree it grew, but it is worthy of testing for hardiness in districts north of present location as there is some evidence of hardiness. I know this tree to be a good cropper but have no definite record of any one year's crop as the tree is located where many persons help themselves to the nuts.
The Lindy walnut from the beaches at Kelowna, B. C., continues to make good tree growth and produce good crops of large round nuts with thin shells and well developed kernels of good flavor. This tree is a seedling grown from a nut brought from Kulu Hills, India, in 1912. This tree is also worthy of trial for hardiness in districts north of present locations. I do not know how this tree is as a self-pollenizer as there are two other trees near by of the same stock and planting. I do know that seedlings grown from this tree make a good growth and look alike in the nursery row and are very uniform as to color and growth of leaf, in striking contrast to seedlings from some other trees which vary a lot in every feature.
In heartnuts the newest I have of outstanding promise are from my own nursery. Two are now growing at Peachland, B. C. One, the MacKenzie, is a vigorous, well grown tree and bears regularly heavy crops of large, rough-shelled heartnuts that are easily cracked. The kernels are light in color and of good flavor.
The other, the Rover heartnut, is a young tree just carrying a record crop. Tree is in a poor location on the edge of wild timber competing for soil space. The nut is a big step in the elimination of the central division, so pronounced in most heartnuts. This is the outstanding feature of this nut. Cracking and other features are still undetermined but promising. I have a number of others that are promising. One is the Flavo Heart, a heartnut and butternut cross. This is a seedling of Callender heart and butternut. The outstanding features are the shape of nut, flavor of kernel and ease of extraction. This is its first crop.
From B. D. Wallace
Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
I will endeavor to give you a short account of our progress in the culture of butternuts and black walnuts.
Our success with butternuts has been due, very largely, to the method we adopted some twenty years ago and might be summed up in the following report. From one hundred pounds of butternut seed, which we secured in the fall of 1914, and which we planted the same season in October, we got in the following year a splendid stand of seedlings which gave great promise the first summer. During the winter of 1915 a great number of those seedlings were partially or altogether destroyed, through the climatic conditions of the country. But quite a number of them stood up in splendid condition. After about three years we eliminated everything that did not stand up 100 per cent and show a splendid growth. We had in the neighborhood of fifty trees and thus, through a survival of the fittest, the foundation of this industry became established. We distributed perhaps twenty or more trees to the Experimental Farm and other places. These have all stood up, as far as I can learn, with splendid success. This left about thirty of the original trees in our nurseries. These thirty have never shown any sign of frost killing nor are they in any other way affected.
Our trees commenced to bear in their sixth year, in 1920 and have increased in size and fruiting year by year, until today they are about thirty feet high with a spread of about thirty-six feet and are without question the most beautiful row of trees west of the Great Lakes. We have grown at least one hundred thousand trees from the nuts taken from these trees, which have been distributed over a very wide territory, reaching from the northern part of Ontario to the Rocky Mountains. Many of our customers have now their own trees bearing. In addition to our selling the trees, we offer to our customers one two-year-old butternut or horse chestnut with each ten dollar order sent in. We took this method to get our nut trees into the hands of a great number of the people.
We have followed practically the same line with black walnuts, but with less success than with butternuts, as a very much greater percentage of the black walnuts went down. Notwithstanding that we have a number of trees which have survived in splendid condition. One of these is bearing for its second year and one other is just bearing for the first time. However, we have a good deal of hardy wood, as our trees are growing bushy and we intend to use the butternut seedlings for stocks on which to graft the black walnut. By this method we will not have to wait so long to get a good supply of trees. There is no question whatever about the future success of the butternut, as we have this year the third generation of them bearing, which is ample proof that they have become entirely acclimated. The butternuts grow fully as large as in eastern Canada, as do also the black walnuts, and as far as I can see the quality is equal if not better.
In addition to the butternut and black walnut, we have made a complete success of the horse chestnut. Ours were planted in 1914, and commenced bearing about the same time as the butternut, and we have grown great crops of nuts continually from that date to the present. We are also trying out the heartnut, both from young trees and from seed. Out of three different plantings that is planted the same year but in different sections, one planting of six trees has stood up completely for the last three years, whereas the other two freeze back a little. In addition to these we are growing from seed the filbert, which seems to be hardy, but is not old enough to fruit yet. However, there is no question in my mind whatever that we shall succeed with all those different trees, following our own method of only using wood and seed from those trees which are proof against the most severe climatic conditions. We used this same method thirty-five years ago in laying the foundation for fruit growing. Out of twelve thousand of the hardiest fruit trees that we could buy from Dakota and Minnesota, after three years we eliminated all but fourteen trees. These were divided between standard apples, crab-apples, plums and plum hybrids. By using northern Russia plum seed and Siberian crab seed for roots, we have been able to lay a foundation for fruit growing in this western country that will live long after we are forgotten.