As regards the late vegetating habit of some Of these varieties enabling them to escape late spring frosts, I see no advantage whatever, as Jack Frost is a privileged character and makes his appearance regardless of time or place.
With the limited efforts I have made thus far in the dissemination of the Persian walnut, I am absolutely confident that the work has just commenced. There will yet be varieties discovered which will compare favorably and may surpass those we have already listed. The best territory to work in I find is the German settlements. They always were noted for their seed distributions in the early history of Pennsylvania. In justice to these frugal people, the Persian walnut should be called The Dutch nut. But the English were the great importers of these nuts and hence the name English walnut. The Germans today as they visit their Fatherland invariably bring a few nuts or trees with them, which keeps up the supply. Of course not all these seedling trees are true to the variety desired. But they say they come from the Homeland, which gives them great contentment.
In the dissemination of these interesting nut-bearing trees I am safe in saying I have visited hundreds of them and mostly single trees of very little importance. The principal complaint is that when the nuts are as large as grapes they drop off from some unknown cause. This is all for the want of proper cross pollenization. The public in general is now getting educated to the importance of planting grafted or budded varieties of known merit, which is attested by the large plantings of the last several years.
My limited experience with grafting large nut trees is that it is not practicable, from the fact that the lower limbs outgrow the grafted ones and eventually smother them and cause them to die out, leaving the tree in a disfigured condition. The better way is to plant several trees of a good pollenizing variety near one another to get best results in bearing.
In this brief history of the nut industry of Pennsylvania and adjacent states, I have said nothing in regard to propagation and culture, knowing that some one else will take up that subject in detail.
Horace Greeley in his prime of life said: "Young man, go west."
The Northern Nut Growers Association says: "Young man, plant a nut tree."
A COMPARISON OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CONDITIONS IN THE PROPAGATION OF NUT TREES
J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.