DR. MACDANIEL: I have been talking with Mr. Devitt. He is interested in following up these Carpathian trees in Ontario and is willing to act as our agent in securing seed nuts from some of the better selected trees. As I understand it, this Association couldn't properly act as a sales agency for them, but I believe there are some of the members who would like to get these superior seed nuts of Ontario, and I would be willing to take the names of persons who are interested in them, either for their personal planting or for resale. Mr. Devitt thinks he can secure the nuts at about 60 cents a pound from the owners who have these good trees and deliver them to the United States at around a dollar a pound. Anyone who is interested in that, see me or Spencer Chase during the remainder of the meeting.
Panel Discussion: The Persian Walnut Situation
Moderator: S. B. CHASE; Panel Members: H. L. CRANE, GILBERT BECKER, J. C. MCDANIEL, H. F. STOKE.
MR. CHASE: To introduce the subject, Lynn Tuttle sent a paper, and in addition he sent a few slides. We won't give the paper, but we are going to run through a few slides very hurriedly, because he took the trouble to send them. I am going to read the captions off very quickly. (A series of slides of Persian Walnut were shown).
The moderator isn't going to do anything other than ask for any questions that you folks have on Carpathians at this time. I am going to ask Dr. Crane to comment on this question: Are we going overboard building up our varieties as we know them now? In other words, we have selected four or five varieties that won a contest and our judges selected them as best, and these are the only ones we are hearing about.
DR. CRANE: Mr. Moderator, I don't believe we are, provided that we maintain high standards in the varieties distributed and tested. I feel that when we select a variety we should select it because it is a good nut, not that it's a world beater, for big size and thick, rough, rugged shell that is not sealed, and which is of no value for human use or consumption, excepting for firewood or fuel. Those big nuts won't fill. The best nuts are of reasonably large size, well filled with a well sealed shell and with a kernel that is sweet. Don't figure on selling nuts that have bitter kernels to anybody else. We have nut varieties of the Carpathians that are not going to go over because of the faults that I have mentioned. I should say, too, that we do not know how widely a variety is going to be adapted to different climates. If we select rigidly for good, outstanding varieties that bear good nuts and good, vigorous trees, we won't get too many.
MR. CHASE: That was one point I wanted brought out, that we are now just in the preliminary stage of this Carpathian variety selection business. Of the selections made some have been made by default, because there weren't enough of other samples to compete with. On the other hand, the several we have we all consider outstanding in some respect, or other, and are of value as a beginning provided we bear in mind that we haven't scratched the surface on Carpathian walnuts yet.
MR. STOKE: And let's not confine ourselves to Carpathian walnuts, because Hanson is not Carpathian walnut, and that's an excellent nut.
MR. CHASE: Mr. Stoke, what is going to be NNGA's policy in trying to give recommendations for the planting of Carpathian or Persian walnuts? In other words, does it make any real difference whether it's a Carpathian or whether it is not, as long as it has proved hardy and of good quality?
MR. STOKE: We are dealing with Persian walnuts, and Carpathian happens to be one class of Persian, and Broadview happens to be a Persian that came from Russia, and Lancaster is one that came from somewhere in Europe and landed up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I would emphasize the name Persian as the over all name. The Carpathian is merely a Persian walnut which has been brought from the Carpathian mountains of Poland.