The walnuts endured these extremely dry conditions better than any fruit or nut bearing trees. Young seedlings made quite a satisfactory growth and year old seedlings lined out for future grafting made almost a perfect stand, as did the grafted trees which were unsold and lined out at the end of the selling season. The heavy loss in walnuts was in the grafts set in May. This will be mentioned later.
The shortage of moisture in 1933 apparently was responsible for considerable winter killing of young hickories which were in sod. There was no loss in cultivated ground. The hickories were like the apples this year in that they did not bloom much, and unlike them in that the apples ripened ahead of their normal season, while the hickories ripened later. Stratford nuts are usually ready to gather September 1 but this year are still clinging to the trees. Fairbanks is our most prolific kind. Nuts closely resembling Fairbanks, yet somewhat different from it, keep bobbing up on different sides of us when there is a good crop of hickory nuts. None of them have yet been superior to Fairbanks. Perhaps one should give each a good testing and keep up a search for one with better quality than Fairbanks. Certainly there is no reason for calling Stratford a hybrid. It is one of a group of shagbarks with smaller leaves and buds, and thinner husks than are found in what we would call a typical shagbark. The shagbarks might be divided into several species and be as distinct as some of the species of other trees, such as the ash for example. Vest and Hand represent another group with thin, wavy shells and thereby are quite distinct from the typical shagbarks.
On account of extremely hot weather coming so early the nut trees were grafted earlier than usual and in this order: chestnuts, bitternuts, hickory stocks, shagbark stocks and, after a few days, the walnuts and pecans. The grafting was successful in the order worked. Immediately after the walnuts and pecans were worked the temperature began mounting, reaching 114° F. in the shade at one time, and of course much more in the sun and just above the bare dry ground. The chestnuts and bitternuts had time to knit together before the extreme heat and gave a splendid stand. The shagbarks also made a good stand. But the walnuts and pecan stocks were near a total failure. Apparently what occurred was that the grafting wax and paraffin which was coated over the scion melted and penetrated the union, like that much kerosene or penetrating oil, and prevented callusing. The cions remained plump and green for a long time except for a thin layer at the cut surfaces. The usual resin, beeswax, linseed oil and lamp black grafting wax was used. Can anyone suggest a wax which will remain absolutely dry under the conditions described above? What happened, as near as I can tell, is that the extremely hot weather and the continuation of it melted the grafting wax and the paraffin. They fused and made a new combination which looked like grease and absolutely prevented any growth. The shagbark hickories gave a good stand, about as perfect a stand as you could expect in hickories. Last of all the pecan stocks were worked. They should have been the easiest to work but they were a total failure. That is because the hot weather set in less than a week after they were set, while the others had more time. The problem I would like to see solved is one of a wax which will remain absolutely dry during such times, and I think then we will have solved one of the big problems of propagation.
Prof. Neilson:
I've had more or less trouble with grafting waxes since I began to graft nut trees, and I have therefore been looking for a wax that would stand up under extremely hot weather and which could be applied cold and was not too costly. I think I have found one that comes nearest to the ideal. It is an asphalt tree emulsion made by the Flintkote Co. of New York City. This emulsion can be purchased in five gallon drums at 60c a gallon in Detroit. It can be diluted with water and applied in a thin or heavy coating. I used this wax last summer and I am better pleased with it than any other wax I have ever tried.
Mr. Weber:
I thought a few years ago that I had eliminated wax trouble, but finally I came to the conclusion that when you have a temperature that runs beyond the place that will melt ordinary paraffin the heat will kill the grafts.
Mr. Walker:
This question is an old one. Last winter and the winter before I did a little work on the old reports. You will find some mighty good winter reading there. I find things hashed and rehashed over and over again. The subject of grafting wax, of course, was discussed years ago. I might caution you on the asphalt. It will have to be the highest, purest grade.
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