Col. Sober: Yes, sir.
A Member: The point I wanted to make is that that is probably very much better than any cultivation that could be given.
The Chairman: The matter of cultivation is one we have got to settle in this country. I have been over the walnut orchards on the Pacific coast, in the East and in Europe, and I find three entirely separate and distinct methods of treatment. On the Pacific coast, the rule is to cultivate every year and irrigate where they can, but to cultivate, at any rate, whether they irrigate or not. In the East, where people are supposed to be very industrious, we have adopted the lazier way of letting the trees grow in sod; but that is not so bad if we follow the principle brought forward by Stringfellow of letting the leaves all decompose, and adding more fertilizer and more leaves and taking away nothing. In France and Germany and England, where the trees are cultivated, particularly in France, where they are best cultivated, we find two methods; first, keeping up clean cultivation and adding a little lime every year and, second, add lime without the cultivation. One great feature of the treatment of the tree in France, where the best walnuts come from, is the addition of a little lime every year, even if it's a limestone ground, and that may possibly account for the delicate character of the French walnuts and the reason why they have the first call in the market. I don't know that that is true, but it seems to me, at least, a collateral fact, and collateral facts often mean something.
Mr. Pomeroy: Judging from my own experience I think that that orchard would be producing now two or two and a half bushels per tree each year if put under cultivation and given the care of an ordinary peach orchard.
Mr. Reed: These are seedling trees, you understand, in that orchard we showed. This is a Persian walnut tree in Mr. Rush's front yard. I've forgotten the variety.
Mr. Rush: That is the Kaghazi.
Mr. Reed: Now we come to the original hickories. This is one of the earliest hickory nuts propagated, in fact, it's about the only one so far. That tree is owned by Mr. Henry Hales of Ridgewood, N. J.
Prof. Smith: Have they fertilized it?
Mr. Reed: No, not especially. It stands on good, fertile soil but I think no attention has ever been paid to it in the way of cultivation.
Prof. Smith: Have you its yielding record?