I should like to suggest that every farmer in the nut growing belt set aside at least ten acres of land for a nut orchard. It will give him a new interest in life and afford him more pleasure and relief from the ordinary monotony of farm work, I believe, than any other line of work he can pursue. If Ponce de Leon had planted a nut orchard in this country instead of wasting his time searching for the fountain of perpetual youth he could have spent his old days in interesting, profitable and fascinating work instead of in despair and disappointment.
But some of the practical questions asked are, "What is the cost of a nut orchard?" and, "How soon will it bear?" and "What will it be worth when it does bear?" No man can answer these questions with any degree of certainty, for everything that man attempts has its drawbacks and disadvantages. First-class budded nut trees cost from one to two dollars apiece. The balance of the cost depends largely upon the intelligence and efficiency of the labor applied in setting and cultivating. When will they bear? That depends altogether upon who owns them. If properly cared for they will begin setting some nuts in a few years and will increase the crop as the years go by. A pecan tree ought to bear successfully for fifty years—possibly longer, and ought to be bearing nicely in eight years if properly cared for. But, success depends upon the care and intelligence with which the original selection of trees and soil is made, and upon proper cultivation. I have set an orchard of northern varieties of pecans budded from the parent trees in the Evansville section on my farm in Maryland this spring. The land cost me sixty dollars per acre. When they are ten years old they ought to be worth at least five hundred dollars per acre. I do not know how much more this grove of nut trees will be worth in ten years, but I would not option them at the present time for that price. I have about the same confidence in the English walnut.
I have always been conservative on these matters and always expect to be because in conservatism lies safety. These figures I have given you are merely my personal opinion. I have seen pecan groves ten and fifteen years old for which I would not have given any more than the land was worth on which they were growing. If any one has a notion that he can make money in nut culture, without intelligent exertion, he had better go into some other line of business in which there are men having a fair degree of success with unintelligent effort. I know of no nut grove in the whole United States that is succeeding without intelligent application, and on the other hand I do not know of a single grove which with intelligent application is not succeeding. I am a "conservative-optimist." I have been talking nut culture for a number of years and expect to see every hope and estimate which I have expressed fulfilled, and after all has been said and considered my final advice is to Plant Nut Trees.
The President: The chair invites a very active discussion of this paper.
Professor Smith: It would be unkind to criticize so very instructive an address but there is one thing laid down in that paper I wish to speak about. I believe we were told we must cultivate our nut trees. I believe the fact is that in the greater portion of the United States, we can grow trees, even nut trees, without cultivation. If anybody doesn't believe that, go to Washington by the Chesapeake Railroad and you will see thousands of walnut trees along the way. I believe the human race can grow trees on a hillside without cultivation, and I want to suggest to persons putting out nut trees to put out a few in places where they don't have to be plowed, and see if they don't get good results. Cultivation is not a fundamental element of agriculture or plant life, but is the quick way to get results.
In many places in Ohio the state experimental work in horticulture, especially that carried on by F. H. Ballou, has done some wonderful things in waking up apple orchards that had not grown a quarter of an inch in years. Merely giving them food has caused them to wake up and bear. I have seen them, and know. The books say that while apples may grow without cultivation, peach trees must be cultivated in order to bear. I have peach trees that are three years old in a rocky piece of ground. I can't plow it but I have fed some of the peach trees and a few I did not, that is not much, and the ones that were fed as they should be are much the biggest and are bearing well. My point is this, keep the grass well scraped away to prevent trunk injury, and feed even a peach tree and it will do well. I think the same is true of the nut tree.
Whether a tree that is set out, liberally fed, and the grass kept away will do as well without cultivation, is a subject worthy of your consideration and experiment.
The President: The chair especially desires to call attention to Dr. Smith's remarks because he has made a very careful study of this question and his suggestions are worthy of very great consideration. I have talked these things over with him a great deal and I commend his remarks especially to the Association for discussion.
Dr. Morris: In connection with the matter of cultivation I would also like to have Mr. Reed discuss that. I want to say, however, that, in using fertilizers, you will often very easily overdo the matter. Sometimes in my experience professionally, I give a patient medicine enough to last a week, with directions that a teaspoonful be taken twice a day, and the patient may believe if she takes the entire bottle at one dose she will be well in an hour, and consequently suffer from an overdose. That same idea is sometimes carried out in the fertilization of trees by horticulturists. You don't intend to do it but sometimes you can kill with kindness and be too good in feeding your trees if you don't understand how much fertilization the tree needs. That is the idea, you have got to give your trees the ratio that they need. If you give them too much pie or pudding, your trees will have indigestion and will not thrive and may die. I have lost a great many good trees, and a great many nut trees, and have checked the growth of a great many by not realizing this. I wish Mr. Reed would speak to us about it.