Anyone who has studied propagation manuals from ancient to modern times cannot help but see how methods are carried down from older books to modern ones. However, in walnut grafting one suspects there were trade secrets not permitted publication. How different this was from friendly and helpful cultural and propagation directions given by Mr. J. F. Jones, Dr. W. C. Deming, Dr. Robert T. Morris, and others of the Northern Nut Growers' Association.
Beginning with Ancient Times
Greeks: Theophrastus mentions hazel nuts but nothing about walnuts.
Romans: Pliny, Cato, etc. have little to say about walnuts. Pliny refers to planting seeds of walnuts but no other method of propagation. However, he states oaks and walnuts are poisonous to soil, and walnuts are only used in a few cases for human remedies.
English: Loudon, Evelyn, Knight, etc. Loudon sticks to propagation of walnuts by seed. Knight[8] followed the French practice of grafting walnuts by approach up to the time of his discoveries in 1832, which were similar to Dr. Morris's "immediate" grafting.
French: The French used grafting by approach (inarching) early in the 19th century. Mortillet[11], 1863, states only one-third to one-half of walnut grafts are successful. These were probably Persian walnuts. We are not sure what other methods the French used. Mr. C. E. Parsons of the Felix Gillet Co. in 1940, sent us a picture showing Felix Gillet in his greenhouse at Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City, California. This picture he states was taken in 1900-1902. It shows one year grafted walnut trees, and bench grafted walnut trees covered by tumblers six inches high, grafted by the "Treyve" process.
Beginnings in the United States
The first grafting of black walnuts thus comes down to the beginning of the 20th century.
William P. Corsa[3] with the USDA gave much information from replies to a questionnaire sent out in 1890, on nut culture and grafting, including bench grafting, in 1896. Mr. G. W. Oliver[13] in 1901, describes a method followed by Corsa in bench grafting walnuts and hickories. He used an incubator. Mr. Jackson Dawson[15] previously, working with hickories, had success in the greenhouse.
Andrew S. Fuller[4] in his Nut Culturist, published in 1896, advises that the South had not yet perfected pecan grafting. This seems to have been a challenge to Mr. J. F. Jones[1 & 7], for we find he moved from Missouri to Monticello, Fla., about 1899, and specialized in pecan grafting. He developed the slanting cut he later advocated in walnut grafting. However, again showing "there is nothing new under the sun" the author's uncle, Owen Albright, is credited by Corsa[3] with suggesting it in 1894, and it is also suggested by Mortillet[11] in 1863.