In the spring of 1923 I took the walnut seeds of the second shipment to the farm of my friend Mr. M. Kozak located a couple of miles north of the Scarboro Golf Club. There I soaked them in water in a tub for five days and then planted in rows 1-1/2 ft. apart, row from row, and the nuts 6 inches apart nut from nut and two inches deep. In a couple of weeks nearly every nut produced a sapling. I kept them well cultivated the whole summer, and in the Fall the seedlings were from six to eight inches tall. The nuts on the Kozak farm were of different varieties; some were small, some large, some were round, some oblong, some paper-thin-shelled, some hard shelled; some varieties had sweet kernels, some had a little slightly bitter taste, some were flat. According to their variety the bark of the seedlings, some of them at least, was shiny brown, while other varieties had their bark shiny dark green, light gray, light green.
Now I have known how to produce walnut seedlings. Then another worry came—could the seedlings stand the Ontario winter? They had stood the winter of 1925-28 very well. Only the tops of those were spoiled, which were injured by buffalo tree hoppers.
It seemed that the regular Ontario caterpillars did not like the sap of the English walnut foliage. But the worst enemies of the Carpathians was the bacterial disease. The leaves and young shoots curled, turned black, being infested by the disease. In such a case the spraying is needed.
Acquaintance with the Vineland Government Experimental Farm
Somehow, but very soon after I started my experiments with English Carpathian Walnuts in Ontario, Mr. James Neilson, the nut specialist in the Government Experimental Farm, Vineland, Ont. discovered me. By him I was introduced to the late Mr. G. H. Corsan of Islington, Ont. who was known as a prominent nut grower in Ontario. In the year 1924, when we met the first time, Mr. Corsan already was interested in the culture of black walnuts and butternuts, in hickories, pecans, hicans and filberts. Soon I transferred my English Carpathian walnut nursery to Corsan's place at Islington. Mr. Corsan, with a great deal of enthusiasm broadcasted my Carpathians all over the American continent, but under different names: English Walnuts, Persian, Russian, Carpathian, etc. Soon we were joined by a third walnut enthusiast Mr. L. K. Davitt, a teacher in a Toronto High School.
Prof. C. T. Currelly the Founder and at that time the Director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archeology in Toronto, also became interested in my walnut experiments. Then later on some other prominent Torontonians followed us and the Nut Growers Society of Ontario was organized.
Americans also became interested in the Carpathian walnuts. First among them was a graduate from Cornell University, a farmer near Ithaca, N. Y., Mr. Samuel Graham. Mr. George Slate of the Geneva Experiment Station was one of the first Americans who early got interested in the Carpathians.
There in the States is the Northern Nut Growers Association. Following
Mr. Corsan I also became a member of the Association.
My Research in English Walnuts in Ukraine
From the year 1924 until 1936 I spent most of my time as a Presbyterian missionary in Western Ukraine, which was then under Polish occupation. From time to time I used to come to Canada on furlough. Every time, coming from Ukraine, I brought also a box or more of Carpathian English Walnuts for planting.