DISBURSEMENTS
| American Nut Journal, subscriptions | $ 101.75 |
| Hotel Pennsylvania, N. Y., rent for projector | 30.00 |
| Reporting New York meeting | 122.18 |
| Mimeographing | 11.45 |
| Stenographer, Secretary's office | 42.85 |
| Printing, Secretary's office | 51.38 |
| Expenses, Secretary's office | 24.78 |
| Printing, Treasurer's office, two years | 98.00 |
| Printing Annual Report | 428.88 |
| H. D. Spencer, expenses to New York meeting | 122.48 |
| Stamps | 3.00 |
| Expressage | 3.75 |
| Exchange, Canadian check | .15 |
| Curtailment on loan | 50.00 |
| Interest on loan | 10.40 |
| ——— | |
| Total expenses | $1,101.05 |
| Deficit | 73.28 |
| Balance due on loan | 275.00 |
NOTE—Although the expenses exceeded the receipts, no actual overdraft occurred because certain bills were not paid until funds from the next year came in. However, both overdraft and loan have been taken care of through contributions made during November and December, 1930.
Respectfully submitted,
KARL W. GREENE,
Treasurer.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING THE NATIVE NUT CROPS OF THE NORTH
By C. A. Reed, Associate Pomologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture
The native nut crops in the northern portion of the country, east of the Rocky Mountains, offer a possible source of considerable income, if gathered while in prime condition and properly prepared for market. Thousands of bushels of highly edible nuts annually go to waste in that portion of the country covered by the great Mississippi Valley, the Appalachian region and the Middle Atlantic seaboard. These are chiefly black walnuts, hickory nuts, and butternuts, although it is probable that several hundred tons of beechnuts which annually go ungathered should be included. These last are too small for human consumption in this country, under the existing relations between human labor and the quality of available food. Nevertheless, there are ways by which they can be put to profitable use.
The kernels of black walnuts and butternuts are in great demand. The potential supply of the former is usually abundant but the small number of butternut trees in the country automatically makes the possible supply of nuts of that kind very limited. The kernels of both these, walnuts and butternuts, and also of the best northern hickories, particularly the shagbarks and shellbarks, are highly palatable and nutritious. In these respects they compare favorably with any other kinds of nuts on the market. These northern species are singularly free from an impregnation of tannin in the pellicles which leaves a bitter after taste so familiar with certain of their chief competitors in the nut market.
Black walnut kernels in particular appear to be firmly entrenched in the markets of this country. They are in keen demand with many classes of manufacturers. This demand is on the increase with no apparent possibility of foreign competition, as the eastern black walnut, Juglans nigra, the finest of the American blacks, is grown nowhere outside of the United States except in certain districts of a narrow adjoining fringe of neighboring Canada.
The present year may be one of the best likely to occur soon in which to harvest and prepare these nuts for the market or home consumption on the farm. The drought has undoubtedly reduced the crop as a whole, although at this writing the yield appears considerably greater than that of 1929. At harvest time it will probably be found that many of the nuts are below normal size and that the kernels are imperfectly developed. The quantity of the finished product which it would be possible to place on the market would therefore appear likely to be small.
On its face, with a light crop of poor grade in prospect, it may be difficult to understand why this should be a propitious year to inaugurate a systematic harvesting and marketing campaign. However, in explanation of this, first, there are no carry-overs from last year. So short was the crop of 1929 that manufacturers found the supply exhausted before the end of last January. Many sent out urgent appeals hoping to find some source of supply. They offered the inviting price of 65 cents a pound for good grade kernels, f. o. b. the farmers' shipping point. Yet it was all in vain as the kernels were not forthcoming.
Second, as a result of the recent extreme drought and the consequent shortage of some of the more staple crops, there will likely be considerable slack time on many farms. Where this is the case and there are nut crops in the field it will likely be found in many cases that they may be gathered and sold to good financial advantage, assuming that right methods are employed in harvesting and preparing for market.
Third, where there are nuts in quantity too limited to justify gathering and preparing for market, they should still be gathered and as carefully prepared as though for the market and used on the home table. They will be found to be most excellent and pleasing food.
To obtain the highest prices for black walnuts or butternuts, certain fundamentals should be kept in mind.
1. They should be sold only in the shelled condition.
2. The kernels must be delivered early.
3. They should present an attractive appearance.
4. They should be in thoroughly sanitary condition.
The explanation as to why they should be sold in the shelled condition is simple. The weight of shell is too great to justify shipment in that condition. In the shell, walnuts and butternuts seldom bring more than $1.50 or $2.00 per bushel and the demand is exceedingly limited, especially after the earliest part of the season. Again, the shells are of no value except for fuel. Fuel of this kind by freight or express is exceedingly costly. Again, the nuts must be cracked somewhere and the kernels removed before they can be used, and farm labor is much cheaper than that of the city. Regardless of where the labor is from, the cost of cracking the nuts and picking out the kernels, or "shelling" as the operation is called in the trade, is charged back to the farmer. The shelling of these nuts is something in which the whole family on the farm can join.
Delivery should be early as it is then that prices are best. The use of shelled nuts is practically an all-year affair, yet, just as soon as the supply begins to bulk up in the hands of the wholesalers, prices promptly go lower.
The condition in which black walnut kernels reach the market is ordinarily very poor. Little attention appears to be paid to the matter of sanitation, and practically no thought is given to their appearance. As a rule, shipment is made in burlap bags of double thickness. Little thought is ever paid to separating the kernels according to shade of color and it is rare that the kernels are properly cured after being removed from the shells. Oil and moisture given off by the kernels are taken up by the burlap bags, and by the time delivery is made to the wholesaler, the kernels are in no sense attractive and are often unsanitary. Fortunately, the kernels are carefully gone over by employees of the wholesaler by whom all spoiled pieces are removed and, in the process of manufacture, the kernels are usually so heated as to dispel any danger from ill effects due to the unsanitary condition.
The successive steps essential to harvesting and preparing for market may be grouped as follows:
1. Harvest the nuts as soon as mature.
2. Remove the hulls promptly.
3. Cure the nuts somewhat.
4. Crack the shells and remove the kernels very soon.
5. In cracking, the kernels should be separated into five grades—Lights, darks, intermediates as to color, small pieces and crumbs.
6. Before packing for shipment the kernels must be artificially cured until they no longer feel moist to the hand when it is run through the container.
7. Barrels or boxes of wood, or strawboard lined with water-proof paper, should be used in packing for shipment. These should not be closed until immediately before shipment.
8. As soon as received by the buyer the containers should be opened and the kernels spread out in clean bins where they may receive frequent inspection.
Harvesting
The nuts should be picked from the ground within three or four days from the time they fall. If possible the limbs should be jarred so as to shake the nuts from the tree. Good nuts will usually be found to mature within a very few days and may readily be shaken down.
At this time the hulls will be perfectly sound and not objectionable, in so far as staining the hands is concerned. But if the hulls be broken open the juice which they emit will leave a lasting stain on the hands or garments. But the hulls need not be broken to any great extent.
Hulling
The ordinary corn sheller on the farm is undoubtedly the most practicable instrument for removing the hulls, generally available at this time. If the hulls are still green enough to be firm, the nuts may be placed in the machine by hand. Otherwise, some arrangement may be worked out by which the nuts may automatically be fed into the machine. After hulling by this method the nuts should be put into a tub or tank of water and thoroughly washed with a broom or stiff brush. When the nuts are hulled promptly and well washed it will be discovered that the natural color of walnuts is light or whitish and not black. The dark color is wholly due to stain from the green hulls. This stain, by the way, loses its effectiveness as soon as the hulls turn dark. Stains from nut hulls which have lost all trace of green color, so that the hulls are black, are readily washed from the hands.
After the nuts have come from the sheller they may be handled by shovels or by forks with tines close together. They should then be cured for a few days. For this purpose they should never be placed in piles or deep layers. Preferably they should be spread out in trays with bottoms of wire mesh or narrow cleats so as to be open. These should be put where there will be a free circulation of air all about. Where trays are not available the nuts may be spread on a barn floor and the doors left open during the day. If the weather is bright they may be spread on boards laid on the ground directly in the sun, although it is probable that they should be given partial shade during extremely hot days.
Various methods of hulling other than by the corn sheller are in use. Some involve merely stepping on the nuts with a forward movement of the foot, just as the hulls are softening. This is not particularly satisfactory as the nuts must still be picked out of the mashed hulls by hand. Besides leaving a very persistent stain on the hands this method is unsatisfactory for two reasons; it is not at all rapid and very far from perfect in the degree to which it removes the hulls.
Other methods involve the use of automobile wheels. Sometimes machines are driven over the nuts as they are thinly spread on the ground. Again a wheel is jacked up and set in motion in a tub of water in which the nuts have been placed. Both methods have their advocates. The writer has had experience with the former only, yet he can conceive of little to commend either method.
Still another method is that of pounding off the hulls by hand. Of all common methods this has the fewest conceivable advantages. It is slow, thoroughly inefficient, and extremely objectionable from the standpoint of the stain.
What is perhaps far the most satisfactory method of any yet used for removing the hulls, from every standpoint except that of expense, is one evolved by the Department of Agriculture in 1926. It consists merely of running the nuts through large-sized vegetable paring machines. These machines consist of metal containers, circular in form and having a capacity of approximately 1-1/2 bushels. The inner walls are lined with hard abrasive surfaces. A bushel of nuts is placed inside, the lid closed, a stream of water turned into the container, and the machine set in operation. By means of gears attached to the bottom of the container which is separate from the walls, plated and perforated, the bottom spins around several hundred times per minute. The nuts are made to beat violently against the rough walls with the result that, in from 2-1/2 to 5 minutes, depending upon the firmness of the hulls, the nuts are ready to be taken out. They are then perfectly hulled, thoroughly washed and light or whitish in color.
With a few days of drying, the nuts should be ready for cracking.
Cracking
As soon as fit for cracking, and before becoming so dry that the kernels break badly, the nuts should be shelled. The hammer and a solid block of wood, or a piece of metal with a shallow cupped depression in which to place the nuts while held for hitting, is the most common outfit in use. Various handpower machines are appearing on the market, and already designers are at work attempting to devise power machines. The former have been in use for several years. The latter are mostly quite new and untried. About all that can be said regarding such machines is that they are much needed and that it is not improbable that there will soon be several makes of efficient machines in the field.
Grading the Kernels
As soon as the shells have been cracked, the kernels should be extracted. All large pieces, including chiefly quarters and whatever halves there are, should be separated into three shades: lights, darks and intermediates, as previously mentioned. All sound, small pieces, regardless of shade, should be put into a fourth grade and all unsound kernels and particles too small to separate from minute particles of shell, should be put into a fifth grade and fed to poultry in moderate quantity at one time.
Unless given artificial heat before packing for shipment, the kernels are fairly certain to become moldy and even to cake together in a solid mass while in transit. To do this they should be placed in trays or pans and put above or back of a kitchen stove where they will not get hot enough to be injured. The hand should be run through the kernels not infrequently so as to detect any excessive heat and also to determine by experience the proper degree of dryness.
After being kept warm and being frequently stirred until the kernels seem properly dry they may be removed and allowed to become cool. They should then be re-examined with the hand so as to determine the apparent dryness. If they feel at all moist, they should be returned to the drying position and the operation repeated. The writer has had no personal experience in this matter and so cannot give precise directions. However, the farm wife can probably work out a very satisfactory system in her kitchen.
Packing and Shipping
Although previously discussed, the importance of clean, sanitary and attractive containers for shipment can scarcely be overstressed. Without such precaution no one need hope to work up a permanent business, for, regardless of how secure he may feel with the trade he will eventually find his customers turning to others who are willing to go to this trouble.
When the time comes for shipping the boxes may be closed up and delivered promptly to the transporting agency. The containers should again be opened as soon as the destination is reached and an examination made as to the moisture condition of the kernels.
Handling Other Nuts
So far as harvesting and hulling hickory nuts is concerned, the matter is not at all complicated. Good nuts drop with the first sharp frost. Those with good kernels inside become automatically separated from the hulls. Those which do not easily become separated from the hulls should be discarded as they are rarely of any value and should not become mixed with the good nuts. With a moderate amount of curing these nuts should be ready for market. They usually bring better prices in the shell than do walnuts; but on the other hand they are in less demand after being shelled. Perhaps this is because the trade has not been built up but it is a recognized fact that black walnut kernels are practically in a class by themselves among the nuts of the world, in the extent to which they retain an agreeable flavor in cooking. Hickory nut kernels should be given a much greater place than they now occupy in the cooking and baking for the farm table. A few finely chopped kernels mixed with breads, cakes, or cereals will be found highly acceptable to most palates.
Butternuts are generally too scarce to justify much attention. They could probably be hulled by vegetable paring machines quite as efficiently as are walnuts but, so far as known to the writer, this has not been tried.
Beechnuts make excellent food for poultry and certain kinds of livestock. To convert the crop into cash is largely a matter of using the land under the trees for the right sort of grazing. In European countries beechnuts are highly valued as a source of salad oil. Mr. Bixby of this association is taking steps to procure trees bearing as large sized nuts as possible with a view to subsequent breeding. So far as known to the writer beechnuts in this country are not gathered in quantity.
BEECHNUTS
By Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, N. Y.
Although the association has now been in existence 20 years there has so far been little progress, we might almost say no progress, made in getting an improved beechnut.
All have agreed that the flavor of the beechnut was excellent, that it had a shell so thin that it could be opened with a pocket knife, that it was an oily nut and would keep, like the thin shelled hickories, walnuts, etc., and not a starchy one, which would dry out like chestnuts and acorns, that it would grow and bear well in northern sections where the best nuts we have do not grow well, but also that it was so small as to practically nullify the above mentioned excellent qualities. If we ever get a beechnut the size of a chestnut we shall have a most needed addition to our nut bearing trees, but there has been so little hope of finding such that no one has paid much attention to the beech. As a matter of fact not within the last ten years have there been any prizes offered for beechnuts except those provided by the writer at his own expense, neither have there been at any time during the writer's recollection any varieties suggested excepting one or two by Omer R. Abraham, Martinsville, Ind., which nobody has growing, so far as known to the writer.
It was thought that there might be a large fruited species of beech growing in some part of the world as is the case with the chestnut, walnut, hickory and hazel, and that it would only be necessary to import it to get what was needed, or at least to make a good start in getting what was needed. Rehder in his wonderfully helpful "Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs" gives seven species of beech, one in America, Fagus grandiflora, one in Europe, F. sylvatica, two in Japan, F. sieboldii and F. japonica, two in China, F. longipetiolata and F. engleriana and one in Asia Minor, F. orientalis. These are growing in the Arnold Arboretum and leaves, buds and fruits are to be seen in the herbarium there. A day spent there, however, half in the arboretum and half in the herbarium, convinced the writer that there is at present no large fruited species of beech known to botanists. There is an incompletely known species of Chinese beech, F. lucida, whose fruit is not in the Arnold Arboretum. While it is of course possible that there may yet be a large fruited species somewhere in the world, still the relatively slight differences in the leaf, bud and fruit of the seven species already known makes this seem improbable and leads us to conclude that the genus "Fagus" is the most uniform in the species that make it up of any genus of nut bearing trees. This seemingly reduces us to the necessity of seeking variation in species already known.
Fagus sylvatica has been by all odds longest in cultivation and many varieties are known. Rehder lists 17 principal varieties with many other sub varieties. These have leaves varying in color, purple, copper color, pinkish, yellow and whitish spotted with green, beside the usual green, also in shapes of leaves, some very narrow almost linear, some very small and deeply toothed, others large and roundish up to 3 in. broad and 5 in. long. The varieties vary in bark from the smooth bark typical of the beech to bark like that of the oak. They also vary in habit of growth, being mostly erect but some pendulous and some dwarf with twisted contorted branches. But no one seems to have ever heard of a large fruited beech.
It is inconceivable however, that a tree can vary in every particular except in the fruit and it is believed that it only requires sufficient searching to find large fruited varieties. There are difficulties, however, in the way of finding unusual beeches which do not occur with walnuts, chestnuts and hickories, which are trees where the nuts have such merit that they are usually spared even if in the middle of a cultivated field, while the beech is usually a forest tree. A nut contest brings hundreds and thousands of walnuts and hickories but only very few beechnuts. Correspondence with the forestry departments of every state having such departments generally evinced interest in the search for a large fruited beech, but those replying universally disclaimed any knowledge of such.
While it is believed that there are such in America, perhaps as many or more than in Europe, and efforts should be made here to find such, there are many reasons for believing that a search in Europe will be more immediately productive of results than will the search here. The beech is much more esteemed in Europe than here and has been extensively planted in forests that for centuries have been operated for constant production of timber. It is believed that the contents of those forests are as a class better known to their keepers, at least the beeches there are better known than in the forests in the United States. The number of propagated ornamental varieties noted in the second paragraph gives evidence of this. The history of one or two of these varieties will make this clearer.
Three beeches with red or copper colored leaves as far back as 1680 were recorded as growing in a wood near Zurich, Switzerland. Most of the purple beeches now growing are believed to have been derived from a single tree discovered in the last century in a forest in Thuringia in Germany. There may be or may have been many such in America but they would not have appeared valuable to the woodmen who probably would be the only ones who would see them and then the leaves would not have been visible in the winter when trees are most frequently cut. That the Deming purple black walnut is in existence is due solely to the observation and action of Dr. Deming who gathered scions and got them growing before the original tree had been cut for the purpose of getting space for improving a road. That this tree could be seen from the road was how it came to the attention of Dr. Deming. Had it been in the midst of a large forest it might have been cut in winter for timber without the cutter knowing it was unusual.
That we have such a wealth of varieties of the beech valuable as ornamental trees and none valuable for the large nuts they bear, certainly suggests that the tree varies in every way except in the size of the nuts it bears, but this is not believed to be so. The growing of ornamental trees is an old industry. There are hundreds of nurserymen today growing ornamentals and only few in comparison growing nut trees. It is not so many years ago that there were none growing nut trees. A beech with purple leaves appeared valuable 100 years ago and was disseminated by nurserymen while one with nuts 10 times normal size would probably not have been propagated for there would not have been sale for it. It would have only been known locally as unusual and probably the tree would have been cut for timber when it reached the proper size.
The search for a large fruited beech is not going to be easy but it is believed that persistent work will eventually triumph, much as the 1929 contest brought more shellbark hickories of value to the attention of the association than all previous contests put together. The shellbark is a tree the best varieties of which it is difficult to learn about. Unlike the shagbark hickory it is not generally found growing near buildings or in fields or pastures. Its natural habitat is the bottom lands of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, lands that are overflowed part of the year. There will have to be a campaign, perhaps for several years, till people begin to look for large fruited beeches; then will come a harvest of them.
The relatively few beeches that have come in to the contests suggests that methods used heretofore should be somewhat modified in beechnut search. Probably a campaign of education among foresters might be more productive of results than among farmers, at least it should supplement it. The search for improved beechnuts evidently has more different kinds of difficulties than the search for any other nut and considerable thought on the matter leads me to suggest that a committee be appointed to study the nut and to seek large fruited specimens especially to look into methods for getting them and report to the association a year hence, said committee to finance itself.
This suggestion is made because it is believed that efforts made in Europe to find a large fruited beech will be more immediately productive of results than in America for the reasons noted above. Even if the committee consists of but one man correspondence abroad would be better carried on in the name of a committee of the association than in the name of an individual and it is believed would be more productive of results.
THE 1929 CONTEST
By Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, New York
This has at last been finished. It is a memorable achievement in many ways. It has taken much longer to award the prizes than at any previous contest, which is a matter of deep regret to me. But, if we except the shagbark hickories and the beechnuts, the value of the nuts is so far ahead of those received in any other contest as to make the results of all previous contests commonplace in comparison.
The highest award for black walnuts in the 1926 contest was for the Stambaugh 63 points, which recalculated using the present constants would be 62 points, while all the 10 prize winners in the 1929 contest were awarded more points than 62, the nut taking the tenth prize being awarded two points more or 64 and the nut taking first prize being awarded 19 points more or 81, the difference being largely in generally superior cracking quality of the 1929 nuts.
The highest awards for butternuts, in print and readily referred to, are in the 1919 report where the butternut taking first prize was awarded 67 points, which after recalculation with present constants would be 65 points, and there were nine prizes awarded this year where the score was higher than 65.
The shagbark hickories were disappointing, none equalling several of the best ones reported in the 1919 contest. This is laid to the general poor quality of the shagbark hickory nuts in 1929. One observing contestant sent in nuts from the 1928 crop, as well as nuts of the 1929 crop, to show us how much better they were normally than were those of the 1929 crop, and as a matter of fact the 1928 nuts sent in by him tested out several points higher than those of the 1929 crop. On the other hand, other hickories, Carya laciniosa and Carya ovalis, which never before were awarded prizes in a nut contest, this year came up into the winning class and we had some large laciniosas of real merit this year, a matter which is likely to be of great importance, as it is noted in considerable detail later on.
The chestnuts were few in number, yet some very good nuts were received, and as most were from trees which had been growing in sections where the blight has been present for many years, it is believed that they will be of value in getting a blight resistant chestnut of horticultural merit. This work now is really under way.
The beechnuts received were but 4 in number and were pretty good although too small to be of horticultural value. Considerable is noted later on the likelihood of getting larger beechnuts and a way is suggested to get them.
Under the headings black walnuts, hickories, chestnuts, butternuts and beechnuts will be found an abstract of the awards of prizes awarded each. It is believed that this will be all that there will be time to present to the convention. The results of each test in detail will be typed out for printing in the report for it is believed these are of permanent value. Results of tests on many of the well known nut varieties will also be given. Some of these appeared in the 1919 report but owing to the change in the constants necessitated by the discovery of new and better nuts these figures are somewhat out of date. Some of these also appeared in the 1927 report but there are serious typographical errors there and it is believed that it will be of value to have results of the tests on nuts of the 1929 contest appear in the 1930 report, in connection with tests on well known varieties.
The prizes to be awarded are as follows:
| Black Walnuts—10 Prizes—Amount | $100.00 |
| Hickories—25 Prizes—Amount | $120.00 |
| Butternuts—12 Prizes—Amount | $106.00 |
| Chestnuts—11 Prizes—Amount | $103.00 |
| Beechnuts—4 Prizes—Amount | $ 21.00 |
| ——— | |
| Total | $451.00 |
That there are more than ten prizes, when there were prizes offered but for ten, is due to our custom, when two or more nuts receive the same score and win a prize, to provide an additional prize of equal amount for each one.
There have yet to be awarded prizes for those chestnuts of the 1929 contest which show high resistance after being inoculated with blight spores. This cannot be done for two years at least for scions must be gotten growing and have reached a diameter of 3/8" to 1/2" before this can be properly done.
The writer intended, when the contest reached the stage just now reached to endeavor to get a meeting of those members best qualified to pass on characteristic "quality and flavor of kernel" of those nuts put down by him as prize winners. This is the only characteristic where personal opinion has not been replaced by the precise methods, but time did not permit.
The delay in completing the 1929 contest has been very unsatisfactory. It has been caused by a combination of circumstances which it is not believed will occur again. Instead of a contest limited to one nut, as the 1926 contest was, we had here, as well, butternuts and hickories in large numbers, the hickories in particular being more numerous than the black walnuts, and the nuts came in very late, all of which largely increased the nuts to be gone over and delayed Dr. Deming in the preliminary examination. The nuts did not reach me till the last of April, a time when spring work outside was pressing. It takes a person of some experience before even the weighing methods in force for measuring quantitatively nut characteristics can be properly done and while some work was done on the contest practically every day from April 24th on, only about an hour a day could be put on it, and it went so slowly that after about a month, I set about hiring someone who should devote his or her time to it. It took about six weeks before someone was obtained and properly trained, which brought us into July, since which time the work went on well but the number of nuts was large and I had to personally pass on the final award, which must be carefully done and necessarily a good deal of time was taken, far more than anticipated.
The experience of this year's contest has shown me how to better handle another if it falls to my lot to do so. I would get Dr. Deming to send in the nuts, which after the preliminary examination, he thought worthy of carefully testing, instead of waiting till the preliminary examination of all received had been completed. This would get them here in the winter when work is light for the man I have here, who is thoroughly trained for making these tests. Those rejected at first by Dr. Deming he could go over again later, as is his custom, and possibly pick out some good ones which did not show up well when first received.
Black Walnuts
The black walnuts sent into the 1926 contest were the best that had been seen up to that time, yet those received in the 1929 contest are so far ahead of those as to make us wonder if we shall again find a contest where the black walnuts received equal those received in 1929.
Most remarkable was the case of Mrs. E. W. Freel of Pleasantville, Iowa, who sent in black walnuts from four different trees, each one of which took a prize, No. 1 the first, No. 2 the second, No. 3 the eighth, and No. 4 the tenth, the first time in the history of the nut contests that anything approaching this record has occurred. This is also the first contest where a nut of any other black walnut species than Juglans nigra has come anywhere near the prize winners.
The score card used in the 1929 contest was the same as that used in the 1926 contest but with the constants recalculated as required because of nuts received in the meantime which made this necessary.
The prizes awarded are noted below:
| Name and Address | Species | Score | Prize | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut. No. 1 | nigra | 81 | 1 | $ 50.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut No. 2 | nigra | 74 | 2 | 15.00 |
| Mrs. J. A. Stillman, Mackeys, N. C. | nigra | 73 | 3 | 10.00 |
| Annie M. Wetzel, New Berlin, Pa. | nigra | 72 | 4 | 5.00 |
| John Rohwer, Grundy Center, Ia., The Iowa | nigra | 71 | 5 | 5.00 |
| Mrs. Irwin Haag, New Castle, Ind. | nigra | 70 | 6 | 3.00 |
| Dane Learn, % Harley Learn, Aylmer, Ont., R. R. No. 6 | nigra | 69 | 7 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut No. 3 | nigra | 68 | 8 | 3.00 |
| A. F. Weltner, Point Marion, Pa., R. F. D. 1 | nigra | 67 | 9 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut No. 4 | nigra | 64 | 10 | 3.00 |
| —— | ||||
| $100.00 |
There are some 32 other black walnuts worthy of honorable mention which were awarded from 55 points to 63 and which it is believed are worthy of experimental propagation. One of these is from A. E. Grobe, Chico, Cal., species, hindsii, total award 61 points, which is the only California black walnut of value sent in to the contests up to this time.
Nut notable for size were received from:
Mrs. R. F. Frye, Carthage, N. C., R. No. 1, Box 22, Wt, 38.0g, nigra, score 57.
C. T. Baker, Grandview, Ind., Wt. 31.8g, nigra, score 57.
A. P. Stockman, Lecompte, La., Wt. 36.7g, nigra, score 56.
Nuts notable for cracking quality were received from:
Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., CQC 100%, CQA 67.3%, total 38 points, nigra, 81 points total.
Mrs. J. A. Stillman, Mackeys, N. C., CQC 100%, CQA 65.3%, total 38 points, nigra, 81 points total.
J. U. Gellatly, Gellatly, B. C., Cold Stream No. 14, CQC 100%, CQA 40.0%, total 33 points, nigra, 55 points total.
Annie W. Wetzel, New Berlin, Pa., CQC 100%, CQA 37.8%, total 32 points, nigra, 72 points total.
A. F. Weltner, Point Marion, Pa., R. F. No. 1, CQC 100%, CQA 38.0%, total 32 points, nigra, 67 points total.
Mrs. A. Sim, Rodney, Ont., CQC 100%, CQA 39.3%, total 32 points, nigra, 55 points total.
Nut notable for high percentage of kernel:
Ferdinand Huber, Cochrane, Wis., 32.8% 12 points, species nigra, total award 49 points.
Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut. No. 1, 31.6% 11 points, species nigra, total award 81 points.
Attractive color of kernel:
While a number were awarded four points out of a possible 5, none of the black walnuts sent in were especially notable in this respect.
Hickories
This is the first lot of hickories that has come in for a contest conducted by the Association in a number of years. The last contest, that of 1926, was for black walnuts only. It is true that at the meeting of the judges who passed on the black walnuts entered in the 1926 contest there were a number of fine hickories shown which had been received in the contest conducted by the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, but so far as the writer is aware we have to go back to 1919 to reach the last contest at which prizes were awarded for hickories.
The 1926 contest marked a notable change in the method of awarding prizes. As noted at some length under black walnuts, that score card was made simpler, by the judges who passed on the nuts received in the 1926 contest, by awarding points previously given for characteristics that seemed of less importance to others, so the hickory score card was carefully gone over to see if a similar change could not be made to advantage.
As it is believed that hickory nuts will be sold in the shell, as are pecans, it was not possible to do this to the same extent as with black walnuts. However, the characteristic "form," which is difficult if not almost impossible to estimate with any kind of precision, it was thought for the present at least might be disregarded. Husking quality is important but it was impossible to properly award points for this characteristic in a nut contest, because the nuts are husked before being sent in. The points allowed for excellence in these qualities were added to others, which gave 10 points to Cracking Quality Absolute instead of 5, and 25 points to Quality and Flavor of Kernel instead of 20.
It has been generally considered that a nut which is awarded 55 points, even though it took no prize, was worthy of experimental propagation. There were 40 hickories in the 1929 contest which were awarded 55 points or more. Of those actually awarded prizes for a combination of good qualities, twenty-one in number, thirteen were thought to be shagbarks, or it might be more exact to state that we had not sufficient evidence to think them to be otherwise, although some are suspected not to be pure Carya ovata, four were thought to be Carya Dunbarii (Carya ovata x laciniosa), two were thought to be Carya ovalis, and two Carya laciniosa. In this contest the shagbarks showed up poorly, 68 being the highest score awarded, when from the number of entries one would have expected the highest to have been awarded 71 points or over. On the other hand this is the first contest where a prize has been awarded to a shellbark, Carya laciniosa. Among hickories awarded 54 points or over were five shellbarks, two of them large ones, one weighing 24.3g, 20 per lb. and one weighing 27.6g, 17 per lb.
The importance of this will be realized when we consider that, in the 1929 contest, out of 21 prize winning nuts four prizes were awarded to nuts believed to be Carya Dunbarii (Carya ovata x laciniosa) and there were two or three others that may prove to be. While natural hickory hybrids are not particularly rare yet they are far from common. At one time, while on the levees north of Burlington, Iowa, the number of pecan x shellbark hybrids seen impressed the writer, yet a careful count showed these hybrids to be only about 1 hybrid in 100 pure pecans. Considerable experience in making or attempting to make hickory hybrids leads the writer to believe that the proportion of hickory hybrids will be much less than this. If, however, we assume it to be 1 in 100 and the fact that among this years meritorious nuts hybrids are 4 out of 21 or 1 out of 5, we would calculate that the chances of getting meritorious nuts out of hybrids is about 20 times as great as out of pure species. We really have not sufficient data at present to attempt to make such calculations yet the glimpse they give us of the promise of wonderful results from the systematic production of hybrid varieties between selected parents is most alluring.
The number of prizes awarded to Carya Dunbarii (Carya ovata x laciniosa) shows a line of work of particular promise. We have plenty of good shagbarks, Carya ovata, and now that he have really good shellbarks, Carya laciniosa, of large size, fair cracking quality and good flavor which we never had before, we have selected material for the production of shagbark x shellbark hybrids, a class which has produced the Weiker hickory, four of the 1929 contest prize hickories and some other hickories of merit which have come to the attention of the writer during the past two or three years. As we have a number of good northern pecans we have also selected material for the production of pecan x shellbark hybrids, a class which has produced the McAllister pecan. If the 1929 contest does nothing more than to bring to light these fine shellbarks it is worth all it cost.
The contest also has shown some mockernuts of large size and better quality than ordinary but still not good enough to be in a class with the shellbarks noted above. The number of years that we have been testing hickories without getting good shellbarks leads us to hope that we will eventually get good mockernuts.
The prize winning hickories are noted below:
| Name and Address | Species | Points | Prize | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. C. Lake, New Haven, Ind. | ovata | 68 | 1 | $25.00 | |
| Ferdinand Huber, Cochrane, Wis. | ovata | 67 | 2 | 15.00 | |
| John D. Bontrager, Middlebury, Ind. | ovata | 65 | 3 | 10.00 | |
| John Roddy, Napoleon, Ohio | Dunbarii ? | 64 | 4 | 5.00 | |
| Steve Green, Battle Creek, Mich. | ovalis ? | 63 | 5 | 5.00 | |
| [A]Mrs. Hamill Goheen, Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa. | Dunbarii ? | 62 | 6 | 3.00 | |
| Menno Zurcher Nut No. 1, Apple Creek, Ohio | ovata | 62 | 6 | 3.00 | |
| Edgar Fluhr, Kiel, Wis. | ovata | 61 | 7 | 3.00 | |
| [A]Elmer T. Sande, Story City, Ia. | Dunbarii ? | 61 | 7 | 3.00 | |
| N. E. Comings, Amherst, Mass. | ovata | 60 | 8 | 3.00 | |
| Edward Renggenberg, Madison, Wis. | ovata | 60 | 8 | 3.00 | |
| C. D. Wright, Nut No. 1, Sumner, Mo. | laciniosa | 60 | 8 | 3.00 | |
| Mrs. John Brooks, Ottumwa, Ia. | ovata | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| Arlie W. Froman, Bacon, Ind. | ovata | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| [A]Mrs. C. E. Hagen, GuttenBerg, Clay Co., Ia. | Dunbarii ? | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| L. S. Huff, White Pigeon, Mich. | ovalis ? | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| J. K. Seaver, Harvard, Ill. | ovata | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| Joseph Sobelewski, Norwich, Conn. | ovata | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| Caleb Sprunger, Berne, Ind. | laciniosa | 59 | 9 | 3.00 | |
| Grace Peschke, Ripon, Wis. | ovata | 58 | 10 | 3.00 | |
| John Muriel Thomas, Henryville, Ind. | ovata | 58 | 10 | 3.00 | |
| [A] Means that these varieties were known to the Association before the 1929 contest. | |||||
There are nearly as many others which came within two or three points of being prize winners and which it is believed should be propagated experimentally. These will be noted on the complete report. There are also the following which are notable for unusual excellence in one characteristic and which it is believed should be propagated experimentally and are here given honorable mention.
| George S. Homan, Easton, Mo., laciniosa large, Wt. 24.3g, 56 H. M. | 3.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Shellbark, No. 1, laciniosa large, Wt. 27.6g, 54 H. M. | 3.00 |
| W. P. Ritchey, Marietta, Tex., alba large, Wt. 25.7g, 44 H. M. | 3.00 |
| J. Droska, Pierce City, Mo., alba large, Wt. 23.7g, 39 H. M. | 3.00 |
| —— | |
| $120.00 |
Butternuts
The last contest where prizes were offered for butternuts was that of 1919 and no nuts of value were entered. The 1929 contest has a number of unusually good ones.
The score card for butternuts was revised for this contest on the basis of the one adopted for the black walnut in the 1926 contest and the constants recalculated.
The prizes awarded are noted below:
| L. K. Irvine, Menominee, Wis. | cinerea | 83 | 1 | $ 50.00 |
| H. J. Thill, Bloomer, Wis., Box 109 | cinerea | 78 | 2 | 15.00 |
| C. F. Hostetter, Bird-In-Hand, Pa. | cinerea | 75 | 3 | 10.00 |
| John F. Kenworthy, Rockton, Wis. | cinerea | 74 | 4 | 5.00 |
| F. E. Devan, Rock Creek, Ohio | cinerea | 73 | 5 | 5.00 |
| E. J. Lingle, Pittsfield, Pa. | cinerea | 70 | 6 | 3.00 |
| John Hergert, St. Peter, Minn., Nut No. 1 | cinerea | 69 | 7 | 3.00 |
| Evert E. Van Der Poppen, Hamilton, Mich. | cinerea | 66 | 8 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. A. B. Simonson, Mondove, Wis. | cinerea | 66 | 8 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. E. Sherman, Montague City, Mass. | cinerea | 64 | 9 | 3.00 |
| W. A. Creitz, Cambridge City, Ind. | Bixbyi ? | 64 | 9 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. Abbie C. Bliss, Bradford, Vt. Nut No. 1 | cinerea | 61 | 10 | 3.00 |
At first it might be thought that but one species of nuts would be sent in as butternuts, and this was true up to 15 or 20 years ago. The chance hybrids of the Japan walnut and the butternut, named Juglans Bixbyi by Prof. C. S. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum, resemble the butternut so much that as time grows on it is increasingly probable that these will be sent in as butternuts. One came in to the 1919 contest and it is thought that the Creitz of this contest may possibly be such.
Chestnuts
The chestnuts received were relatively few in number but most of them were from sections where the blight had been present many years. Those that were from sections where this condition did not prevail were not allowed to enter. There were a few American chestnuts, some very good ones, from sections where the blight had not destroyed the native chestnut but these were not entered. As it happened all entered were of Japanese or Chinese species, which was somewhat of a disappointment to those who hope that a blight resistant American chestnut will yet be found. It certainly looks so far as if varieties of chestnuts for the blight area, of horticultural value, would be Japanese, Castanea crenata, or Chinese, Castanea mollissima.
The chestnuts were judged early and scions sent for in order to get a start on the second part of the chestnut problem, that of testing the resistance of these seemingly resistant varieties to the chestnut blight. The scions received were disappointing in quality and disappointing in the extent to which they were gotten started this year. The writer set scions on Chinese (mollissima) stock, Mr. Hershey set them on American (dentata) stock and the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture set them on Japanese (crenata) stock, but owing to the poor scions only part of them are growing. The writer got eight varieties out of twelve to start but it is questionable how they will do, for mollissima stock is thought to be good only for mollissima varieties and the varieties were all crenata, and so, while a start has been made on the problem of getting blight resistant chestnuts of horticultural value it is only a start and much work remains to be done.
The prizes awarded were as follows: