The response was generous with 303 persons mailing in 423 samples of black walnuts. These came from all sections of the state, indicating a universal interest over the entire area. The first package of nuts arrived on September 25th and for the next six weeks few further sample lots were received. During the latter part of November and up to the date of close of the contest, December 15, the entries were mailed to the judges in quantity. This period coincided with inclement weather when outdoor farm work could not be carried on.
The growing season had been abnormal due to a lack of precipitation and it is believed that the nuts were not as large nor as well filled as could be expected in a normal season. Defoliation through caterpillar attack had been severe, especially in the northern third of the state, and this condition may also have affected the normal development. The kernels of many lots were shrunken and since these included some nuts which would otherwise be given a high score, the method of judging by points, partly mathematically determined, was used as a guide only, rather than an exact means of choosing prize winners. Shell structure, together with the shape and relative size of kernel cavity, was the determining factor in choosing the prize winners. No differential for kernel color was made, for it was recognized that this was dependent in part upon the method used in harvesting and in handling the nuts. The varieties that were poorly sealed were discarded.
All of the prize winners, on the basis of the merits of the nuts, are considered worthy of propagation for home or experimental orchard planting. The locations of the parent trees give a sufficiently general coverage for the entire state for the selection of a variety to propagate for almost all climatic and soil conditions in any part of the state. This, in itself, is considered the advantage and the justification of a contest confined to a single state or a limited region. Also, when residents of a state, through a contest, discover promising seedlings within their own state, it is believed that there is created in the sponsors more incentive to compile continuous data about the new kinds than would exist when the prize winners are chosen from regions quite removed. That so many examples were submitted was the result of excellent publicity by the Ohio Farmer.
The first prize was ten dollars, the second five dollars, the third three dollars and the remaining seven prizes were subscriptions to the Ohio Farmer of from five years to one year in length.
The prize winners were as follows:
First—Mrs. Willard Brown, Rock Bridge, O.
Second—Sam Tritten, Lisbon, O.
Third—B. A. Cowle, Defiance, O., Rt. 8.
Fourth—W. W. Janson, Jefferson, Ohio.
Fifth—Harmon Barnhart, Mt. Vernon, O., Rt. 6.
Sixth—R. E. Havice, Bellevue, Ohio, Rt. 1.
Seventh—C. H. Markey, Beallsville, Ohio.
Eighth—Kermit C. Hoover, Glenford, O.
Ninth—Ralph H. Miller, 300 Monroe St., Delta, O.
Tenth—F. C. Murphey, Sunbury, Ohio.
The final judging was done at the Ohio State Experimental Station by Dr. J. H. Gourley, Chief of Horticultural Department, Walter H. Lloyd, Editor of the Ohio Farmer, and Carl F. Walker, assisted by Homer L. Jacobs of the Davey Tree Expert Co., John T. Bregger, Editor of the American Fruit Grower, and Ray T. Kelsey of the Ohio Farmer.
The President:
That concludes the program. There is just a little business to handle now. Before we go on to that I would like to call attention to Dr. Deming's remarks about some of the old timers, which I thought very touching, interesting and instructive. There are two foreign members of the association whom I have never met. One is Mr. Spence, an Englishman, and the other Mr. Wang of China. Mr. Wang was a life member. The reports that I sent to him came back. All letters came back. I took it upon myself to write the Commissioner General of the United States at Shanghai, China, and call his attention to the fact that some twelve years ago Mr. Wang secured through this association some black walnuts, wanting to plant them along a certain highway in China. The Commissioner General answered, saying they could find nothing about him, and that the trees had not been planted where Mr. Wang had planned. I think Mr. Wang must have died or moved away.
There is one item of business I think we should have, and that is a brief report from Mr. Ellis who was our delegate to the horticultural exposition at Paris.