NATIVE NUT TREE PLANTATIONS IN MICHIGAN
Professor A. K. Chittenden, Michigan Agricultural College East Lansing, Michigan
I am very glad of this opportunity to tell you what the Michigan Agricultural College is doing, and what it thinks, about nut tree plantations in this State. I want to say first, that there is a very general interest in nut trees among the farmers and land owners of the State. A considerable number of the letters that the Forestry Department of the College receives from farmers are about nut culture. They seem to be particularly interested in pecans, English walnuts, and chestnuts. A few years ago the State was flooded with literature urging people to plant these trees and we are still feeling the aftermath of this campaign. Much of this state is too far north for the successful growth of these particular trees and we therefore have advised waiting before investing heavily in young trees, until experiments have shown where they would succeed and what kinds it would be safe to plant. At the same time, we suggested the planting of one or two trees of certain varieties as an experiment. We have for the most part recommended only our native nut trees for planting on a large scale.
We have tried many varieties of nut trees, grafted on hardy stock, at the College, and only a few of them are alive today. All of the pecan trees have been lost and nearly all of the English walnuts. About two years ago, we got some of Burbank's Royal walnuts from California. All of these trees except one, were killed back of the graft the first winter. One of them, however, is doing well although growing very slowly. It will doubtless succeed now, as it has pulled through two winters, one an exceptionally cold one.
About three years ago, we bought some Sober Paragon chestnuts from an eastern nursery which had been advertising them widely in this State. They were all infected with the Chestnut Blight disease. Now this disease has at the present time not appeared in Michigan, except on imported nursery stock. We have a considerable number of chestnut plantations in the State, and if the disease can be kept out, there is no reason why chestnuts cannot be raised more profitably. But our experience has shown that the trees must be raised in this State and not brought in from outside. We have some very nice chestnut trees in our nursery at the College which are now thirteen years old and which have been bearing nuts for four years. This fall we are planting them all along the drives so as to open up the crowns and induce a greater production of nuts.
We also have some Japanese walnuts that are doing well indeed. One of these trees on the campus is 35 years old and produces a large quantity of nuts.
There are a number of English walnuts at various places along Lake Michigan in the fruit belt. Individual trees will often succeed, but the chances for success are not great enough to warrant a man putting very much money into a plantation. There are two Sober Paragon chestnuts near Niles which are now 12 years old and are growing and bearing well. At the College farm, near Grand Rapids, there are some pecan trees, but their history shows that they have been repeatedly frosted back.
I could mention a great many cases of success with individual imported trees, but I do not know of any extensive plantations that have so far succeeded.
There is, however, a different story to tell of our native nut trees of which there are many successful plantations. Our native edible nuts are black walnut, hickories and chestnut. They will grow anywhere in the southern part of the State and along Lake Michigan. Using these trees as a basis, I believe we can develop, if it has not already been done, a tree that will bear an improved quality of nuts and that will be perfectly hardy.
The black walnut is the tree that did perhaps more than any other tree to help win the war, and, while timber raising and nut culture do not perhaps go hand in hand, probably more black walnuts are being planted as individual trees than any other tree in the State. The black walnut was an invaluable tree for gun stocks and airplane propellers. The War Department scoured the country to find trees for these purposes and every black walnut that is now planted, may be of service to the country in the future. The College raises thousands of black walnuts and Japanese walnuts each year, and the demand for them is very great. When we have in planting, a choice between two trees, one choice being a tree suitable for shade only and the other a nut producing tree, I would say plant the nut tree. Our trees will have a double appeal if they furnish not only shade, but edible nuts as well. At the last session of the State Legislature, an act was passed providing for the planting of nut and shade trees along our highways. As a result of this act, we hope sometime to see the highways in the southern part of the State lined with walnut and other nut bearing trees. A tree that will serve a double purpose should be planted wherever possible.