Attention should be called to an insect rather recently introduced into the New England States, which will probably attack nut crops, namely, the so-called leopard moth, already indicated in the list of titles on nut insects. This pest will prove a difficult one to control, as it infests the trunk and larger limbs.
The whole question of the control of nut insects is complicated by the often enormous size of the trees, so that operations, effective in the control of insects, say affecting the apple, are not entirely practical. It is a point to be determined whether it will be profitable to spray large nut trees, such as the pecan. In some instances we believe that it will be, and the Bureau of Entomology now has in Florida one of the large power spraying outfits, formerly in use in the gipsy moth spraying, to determine the cost and benefits of such work.
In concluding these brief remarks I wish again to reiterate my pleasure in having the opportunity of appearing before you, and to assure you of the interest of the Department in the insect problems confronting nut growers. Nut culture is bound to increase enormously and insect injuries will probably correspondingly increase. I believe, however, that these injuries will be found controllable, as has been determined to be true in the case of practically all important native or introduced crops.
The Chairman: We are glad that Professor Quaintance has told us about the different bulletins. The secretary will have a list of these. I am now going to call for Mr. Rhodes, who is an expert propagator of Persian walnuts, and he is going to give a demonstration on methods of propagating the walnut.
Mr. Rhodes: I am employed over at Arlington and I have been helping Professor Lake in his work there at the farm. Last year about the 15th of July we put in about seventy-five grafts using the cleft graft, and the side graft, and at the same time we put in some chip buds. Professor Lake has a little instrument which is known as a chip budder. We used an ordinary bandage, such as surgeons have, which we dipped in a mixture of about two parts wax, one part tallow and one part rosin. We put the bandage in when the solution was at a boil—that made it sticky enough to hold to the bud, and then we cut a hole large enough for the bud to come out. We found budding at that season, in August, more successful than grafting. The stocks were about two inches in diameter; we put in grafts anywhere from two to three feet above the ground, sometimes as many as three grafts. In a great many cases we lost all, and in some cases we lost two. I tried also bench or root grafting, and put in about fifty along about December, and when I took them out in the spring, the scion had covered up nicely, but we had a very dry spell, and through lack of attention, as much as anything else, we didn't get a graft to pull through. I am going to try the same thing this year. Along in July I took several cuttings and put in, and out of ten I got one to live. One proved successful in the soft wood and this coming year I hope to get some of the hard wood kinds to pull through.
In grafting I always try to get the cuts as smooth as possible and to make them in one cut, because if you make a second cut you are bound to make some unevenness in it. These cambium layers have to fit right up flush with the edge of the bark. Then we usually wrap them in raffia. We used also what Professor Lake called a bark graft.
We got about 10 per cent of those to live. We had better success with the cleft graft and the side graft. In cutting the scion for this side graft I usually cut one side a little longer than I do the other which makes the scion lie closer to the stock. We leave the top on. You can put several on each of those stocks.
We were pretty successful with that sort of a graft. For my own personal use, I like this graft for walnuts, and I think we will eventually have better success with that than with any other type.
We put the majority of the grafts in I think about the latter part of June or July.