[17] Gravatt, G. F., and Stout, Donald C. Diseases Affecting the Success of Tree Crop Plantings. Ann. Rept. Northern Nut Growers Assoc. 39: 60-68. 1948
WEDNESDAY MORNING SESSION
A Forester Looks at the Timber Value of Nut Trees
Charles S. Walters, Forestry Department, University of Illinois
What I am going to say will apply mostly to black walnut since it is one of our most valuable timber trees, but it also will apply to other species like hickory, pecan, persimmon. I've never seen papaw or hazel nut large enough for timber, but the Persian walnut has some value and the Chinese chestnut is a fair timber tree. All of these species should be commercially useful if there is sufficient quality and volume involved to warrant a sale.
What I have to say may not apply five years from now. Persimmon used to be the main source of material for golf club heads and shuttles for the textile industry. It no longer is.
Today golf club heads are being made of "Compreg," a wood which has been impregnated with phenolic resins and cured with heat. The resin is similar to Bakelite. Thin sheets of wood are glued together to build up the head, rather than using a single solid piece, and it makes a considerably better golf club head. The developments in wood use are progressing just as in many other fields. What the wood specialists are trying to do is to take low quality material and change it over to a form which is suitable for many uses for which high-quality expensive material is now used. The timber buyer now wants a tree of long, clean, bole with few knots, of large size,—at least 16 inches in diameter at breast height. In short, he wants high quality material.
What I am saying may not apply to nut growing. Foresters grow trees for the wood crop, with nuts as a by-product. The first 16 feet of trunk or the butt log is his main interest. It should be completely free of limbs, knots, and other defects for at least 16 feet. You can use the logs above the butt-cut but they usually produce lower grade material.
You have two courses to follow. You can grow wood either in natural stands or in plantations, and the end product is very little different. It is probably easier to grow a high quality tree in a plantation than in the wild. What can be easier than growing a timber tree in the woodlands? It eventually reaches merchantable size and is harvested. Well, nature can do better if you give her help. Your chances of growing a high quality tree to merchantable size are better in the plantation.