These are the nut characters that we have been using in our contest! Some further method of evaluation is needed! Individual nut characters alone are not enough. A good farmer is concerned in quality of his produce but quantity is of more importance for financial success. The Elberta peach well illustrates this. There are many peaches of better quality, but the Elberta peach is a prolific producer and this is one reason more Elberta peaches are raised than any other variety. Quality without quantity means little.
With this in mind, the $50.00 sweepstakes prize was offered for the tree with the best five-year record. The judges interpreted this to mean the most pound of kernels produced that were recovered on first crack. Going back over the records, we find some trees have been much more productive than others.
At first it would seem unfair to compare the crop from trees of different size and age, but this time luck was with the judges. Take a look at Table No. 7 which gives the ages and sizes of the trees. There is not too much difference in size or age to make reasonable comparisons possible. However, it should be clearly understood that only trees of the same age growing in the same orchard and receiving the same care can be accurately compared. The trees we are dealing with were in different localities, with vast differences in soil conditions, air drainage, climate, etc.
Table No. 7 gives the total production for the five-year period for each tree, in bushels, the total amount of kernel as well as the amount of kernel recovered at first cracking. Only five trees had produced over four bushels of nuts each during the five year period.
The Oliver tree produced 1.8 bushels and 25 pounds more kernels than the Penn tree. The Kuhn tree, though producing four bushels less nuts than the Penn tree, did produce 4.1 pounds more kernels, with the same amount recovered on first cracking from the nuts of each tree—almost a photo finish for second place.
The sweepstakes award of $50.00 was therefore given to Mrs. Oliver
Shaffer, of Lucasville, Ohio, who sent in the Oliver entry.
Referring to the case histories of these trees as written up in 1947, you will find that the Oliver, Kuhn, Penn, and Orth trees were reported on favorable sites, while the Duke and Burson were on very unfavorable ones so that the above results are only what might have been expected. The Orth tree, however, is in a favorable location and better production could have been expected of it.
Table 1. Size, as Weight of Unshelled Walnuts (Approximate).
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Grams 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 Average[24]
per nut
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28 Orth
27 Duke
Duke
26 Penn
Oliver
Orth Duke Kuhn
25
Penn Orth Duke
Duke
Athens Penn
Williamson Penn Penn
23 Orth Williamson Oliver Oliver
Oliver Orth
Williamson Kuhn Duke
22 Oliver
Chamberlin
Burson Williamson
21 Oliver Penn
Athens Kuhn Burson Burson
Burson Burson, Athens Burson Kuhn
Athens
20 Athens
Chamberlin Williamson
19 Kuhn
18 Chamberlin
17
16
Kuhn
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Judges for the contest were C. W. Ellenwood and O. D. Diller of the Ohio
Experiment Station and L. Walter Sherman, then with the Department of
Agriculture, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.