President Davidson: There are plenty of us who don't know much about grafting, and I did want you to hear Mr. Slate's method. It is certainly worth trying and would come at a pleasant time of the year, would be easy to do, and any of us could try it out.
We now should like to hear from Mr. Clarke on Nut Investigations at
Pennsylvania State College.
Nut Investigations at the Pennsylvania State College
WILLIAM S. CLARKE, JR., State College, Pennsylvania
Our present work in nut growing at the Pennsylvania State College was begun in 1946. Some work had been started many years ago, and a small number of trees were planted, mostly black walnut; but a site was selected which proved to be very cold and frosty, and most of the trees soon died. Further work had been planned at a later date, but the depression and lack of labor and land prevented us from getting under way then.
When the present project in nut growing was approved, the country was just beginning to recover from the recent war, and materials of most kinds, including nut trees, were very difficult to obtain. Therefore, in order to learn as much as possible about nut trees, we started at the beginning, with the seed. About two bushels of hulled black walnuts were collected from fence-row trees; some were planted out in the ground that autumn, and some were placed in soil in a box and kept over winter on the outdoor porch of the packing house. Some hickory and pecan nuts were bought and also stored in a similar box. The only nuts which grew were those planted out in the ground. They gave us a good germination, while not a single nut stored in the boxes grew.
At the present time we have about 200 black walnut seedlings in the nursery. When they are a year or two older, they will be grafted to several of the named varieties of black walnuts, and those that take will be planted out in a nut orchard. These seedling trees were transplanted after one year's growth. About four or five times as much of the walnut plant was underground in the root as grew above ground where we could see it.
Since the first year's work we have made a few purchases, and planted a few more nut seeds. At the present time we have planted five pairs of named varieties of filberts, four Chinese chestnuts, of which three survive, four Persian walnuts, three of which survive, and two Japanese walnuts. We also have a few seedlings of Turkish tree hazel obtained from nuts sent to us by one of our friends in the state of Washington and a few butternut seedlings grown from nuts of a tree on the college campus.
Future plans include an orchard with many of the named varieties of black walnuts and also, we hope, some of the new hardy strains and selections of the Persian walnut being introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture. Representative specimens of a wide range of nut species will be collected. Some further work on chestnuts and filberts may be attempted if they prove to be hardy here. Plans for the more distant future include studies in soil fertilization and in spraying for disease and insect control.
+Cold Injury in 1947-48+