Discussion after Mr. Filman's paper.
Stoke: "Hobson is not as large as Abundance. Abundance is always larger than Hobson. Carr always produced better nuts than Hobson. Mr. Filman finds that Carr has very small nuts. I am surprised to see a reversal of performance between Ontario and Virginia."
McDaniel: "Mr. Bush now reports that his No. 3 chestnut has borne better crops recently. Abundance has not survived in TVA tests at Norris."
Report from Echo Valley, 1947
GEORGE HEBDEN CORSAN, Islington, Ontario
The Northern Nut Growers Association visited Echo Valley, Islington, Ontario, September 5th on the field trip following their annual convention at Guelph. Some 15 species of nuts and nearly 400 varieties are growing there. The filberts drew a lot of attention, as the most of them were seedlings and quite large, some larger than the largest Oregon varieties. The seeds planted were: Italian Red. Du Chilly, Giant de Halle, Brixnut, Bollwyller, Cosford, Daviana, and Jones No. 1 Hybrid. The policy followed has been not to discard a plant because it bears small nuts or no nuts at all, because such trees may bear hardy catkins that live through the winter. The female blossoms of filberts are very hardy but many male blossoms may be killed during cold winters.
Years ago the Dominion Department of Agriculture declared that filberts, chestnuts and Persian (English) walnuts could not be grown north of Lake Ontario. I would grant that they grow better south of the lake. However, the filbert crop this fall south of the lake was very poor and scanty, whereas mine was large and in fact the largest I ever had. My Winkler and Rush hazelnuts are crowded on the branches. And the same with the English walnuts. My crop on the larger trees could not be better. The Thomas black walnut, as well as other black walnuts, Jap heartnuts, hybrid butternut x Japanese heartnut cross, chestnuts and hickories are very large.
Hicans and northern pecans do not develop north of Lake Ontario. Down in the very southwest corner of Ontario, north of Lake Erie, some small pecans have cropped well on trees. As a curiosity pecan trees are quite hardy here, but we lack length of season to mature the nuts properly. No Weiker hickory hybrid crops and ripens well here. This nut is one of the very few crosses between shellbark and shagbark hickories, (Carya laciniosa) western and (Carya ovata) eastern, hickories.
I have some crosses between the Chinese and Japanese chestnuts that I am watching. I have one European x American cross chestnut, the Gibbons, and one native (Castanea dentata) that have escaped the blight. So far this year I have found only one blighted chestnut limb and I promptly cut it off and tarred the cut well.