In this connection, it is interesting to note that the Barcelona variety had already become fairly well established in the Northwest when Mr. Quarnberg first introduced the Du Chilly to that section. The picture before you is of one of the oldest Barcelona trees that has come to my personal attention. It shows a tree in Portland measuring 45 inches in circumference one foot above ground. It is perhaps the largest filbert tree in the United States. When visited during the past September, the limbs were bending down with nuts and an estimate was made that it would have from 50 to 70 pounds of mature nuts.
The tree before us was another Barcelona of good size. In 1919 it matured a crop of 45 pounds of nuts. However, unfortunately it was caught by the cold spell already referred to and the tree about half killed. It stands in a low place in an orchard of some fifty trees and was one of the most seriously affected.
Returning to the East, we have before us a picture of an Italian Red filbert tree in the orchard of Messrs. Vollertsen and McGlennon north of Rochester, New York. It is a young tree not over two years old. Each terminal has a cluster of nuts. Mr. Vollertsen is observing it closely and thus far regards it favorably.
Mr. J. G. Rush of West Willow, Pennsylvania has brought out a native hazel which offers considerable promise to nut planters. It is a remarkably prolific variety and the nuts are both large and thin-shelled. This picture illustrates something of its heavy bearing tendency.
We come now to the black walnut. One of the first varieties propagated was the Thomas. This picture is one of several hundred grafted trees of that variety owned by Mr. E. A. Riehl of Godfrey, Illinois. As here shown, they are very prolific and these hundred trees grown mainly on hillsides and untillable lands are furnishing Mr. Riehl with a very fair income. On the whole, the Thomas is a good variety. It cracks much better than does the average black walnut but still there are some others which are a shade better in the matter of cracking quality. The picture before you shows the parent tree of the variety first known as Rush but later changed to Herman in order to avoid confusion of names with the Rush Persian walnut. This variety has been propagated to some extent but according to recent accounts, the parent tree has been cut down. The tree now before you is the parent of a well known variety, the Stabler. It is situated in Montgomery County, Maryland, some 20 miles from the city of Washington. Reports have it that this tree bore 30 bushels of nuts in one mythical year, but the present owner states that the maximum yield of any year since he has known the tree has been 10 or 11 bushels of hulled nuts. The variety is being propagated by several nurserymen and trees are available for planting.
Another variety now being propagated by the nurserymen is the Ohio, the parent tree of which is some 20 or 30 miles out of Toledo in the state after which it was named. This picture, (showing seven nuts) illustrates a remarkable tendency on the part of young grafted trees to bear at an early age. This tree in the nursery of Mr. Jones of Lancaster, Pa., was grafted in May and photographed in September one year following. Of course early bearing is not wholly desirable but in a way it will refute the common belief that black walnuts are necessarily tardy in coming into bearing.
Col. J. C. Cooper, McMinnville, Oregon, President of the Western Walnut Growers Association has on his home grounds two black walnut trees grown from nuts obtained in the East which were 6 years old when this picture was taken. Each of these trees which you will notice are from 20 to 30 feet high bore approximately a peck of nuts during the year when photographed.
The native butternut is a species which has been quite neglected by our horticulturists but through the efforts of Mr. Bixby, a few varieties have been brought out and are now being propagated by the nurserymen. In spite of its thick shell, the flavor of the butternut is preferred by many people to that of any other nut on the market. It is our most hardy species of nut tree. It grows as far north as Maine and Nova Scotia. Two or three recognized varieties are being propagated. Probably those which will soonest be available for dissemination to the public are the Aiken from New Hampshire and the Deming from Connecticut.
One of our most decorative native trees is the American beech. As fine a specimen as is often seen is this one not far from Easton, Maryland photographed during the past summer. It is an enormous tree and very productive. It is one of forty or fifty trees on the grounds of one of the numerous large estates of Eastern Maryland and was planted, so we are told, in 1830. The lady giving this information said that her mother had the trees dug up in the forest by slaves and hauled to their present location in ox carts. Now, ninety years later, they form a magnificent avenue of trees. Fine crops of nuts are borne each year. The nuts are small and most too tedious to extract from the shell to be useful for human consumption, but they go a long way in the finishing off of the turkeys and other poultry in the fall.
Another species of nut which is quite neglected is the Japanese walnut. It has been on trial in this country for perhaps fifty or seventy-five years. It has indicated its adaptability to a wide range of the country; it succeeds on a great variety of soils and it is both hardy and early to come into bearing. It has this disadvantage, however,—the nuts are small; but in flavor the kernals can hardly be distinguished from those of the butternut. Very often it forms a most attractive tree and it should be used to a much greater extent than it is on home lawns.