+Organized Summer Tours+
For approximately 20 years prior to 1941, he served as secretary-treasurer of the Western Nut Growers Association. In this capacity he assisted in starting the summer tours which have been carried on continuously since. He helped guide the Association through its early years to a position of importance among the commodity groups of the state. In 1941, he was forced to relinquish his office as a result of the enactment of a federal regulation. At this time, he was given an honorary life membership in the Association.
In recent years, he devoted major attention to orchard management with emphasis on fertilization and general nutrition needs of nut trees. In this work he co-operated with Dr. R. E. Stephenson at Oregon State College. Their outstanding development was in the field Of boron deficiency in walnuts.
Walnut production of many orchards, they discovered, could be increased two and three fold by the addition of borax fertilizer. The presence of "snake heads" or sprouts in summer walnut growth and "die-back" or winter kill noticeable in some walnut trees during the winter months are now generally recognized as signs of boron deficiency.
+Wrote Many Nut Articles+
Other work in walnuts proved that fertilizer applications can and do pay. Prior to this work with resulting fertilizer recommendations, many walnut growers had not made heavy enough applications on certain soil types and felt that fertilizers were not worthwhile in walnut production.
Mr. Schuster was the author of many articles pertaining to nut culture.
In the 10 years he was on the staff of the college horticulture department before entering federal service, he made an outstanding record in teaching and research. With other scientists he worked in developing a successful pollination program for cherries. This work was carried on after it was determined that the three leading cherry varieties, Royal Ann, Bing, and Lambert, were all self-sterile and intersterile.
A native of Ohio, he came to Oregon in 1912 to attend Oregon State
College after having completed two years at Ohio Wesleyan. He received a
B.S. degree in agriculture in 1914 and two years later, 1916, received
his master's degree.
He joined the college staff three years later and remained until 1929, when he took the federal position he held until his death. He was a veteran of World War I, having served as an infantry second lieutenant. He was a member of Alpha Zeta Sigma Xi, and Gamma Sigma Delta honor societies and was a life-long member of the Evangelical church, which has since merged with the United Brethren church.