"In the meantime, I have purchased, 450 miles north of here, a twenty; have fenced and planted it to a brand of permanent pasture grasses known as "Evergreen", furnished by a grass specialist, Dale Butler, of Fresno. Prior to the grass, black walnuts, grafted and ungrafted had gone in. A strip bordering the highway was reserved for trees, we hope pistachio. There are now thirty of that variety, bearing, in an interior block.
"We have for years purchased black walnut meats in the Chico area. That would be a paradise for a black walnut man. And years ago I visited Teharna, a deserted village from the storybook, a former pony express station—wonderful black walnuts! Upon placing my camera upon a stump of a tree that grew in the street-parking, which had been logged, I braced the camera with a chip of this four-foot stump and discovered that the tree had been a curly walnut. The trees there are not J. hindsii, but Missouri blacks planted by forty-niners.
"Concerning pistachio: I doubt, considering the percentage of members who would be interested, whether I should bring this up, but there is need for just such an organization as the N. N. G. A. behind this tree. It does not lend itself to common nursery practice. It should be raised from seed, potted or in cans, reared without babying for several years, a horticulturist brought in, and your pistachio vera male and female blossoms worked to P. atlantica or chinensis. Lots of work but it is worth the trouble. It is deciduous with a hickory-like foliage; clusters of nuts clothed in pink-cheeked hulls. Bailey reports best nuts come from Sicily. Perhaps knowledge of them will be more widely disseminated when the boys return."
Hickories. This species seems not to be of great interest to the south. The old varieties are not mentioned in the reports. Nugget is mentioned by Mr. W. D. Dockery, of Steele, Ala., as one of the best. It grows well, yields well, its kernels have a good size and their quality is unusually good.
Of heartnuts, only one is mentioned, the Lancaster, which leaves much to be desired in performance in the south.
Suggestions and Requests. In response to the questions, "Is there any service that N. N. G. A. could render you not now being met?" and "Have you any suggestions for future work?", a number of responses were received which are worth noting.
Dr. O. D. Diller, State Exper. Sta., Wooster, O., "We are thinking in terms of another state wide nut contest in the fall of 1944." It will be remembered that the last Ohio contest brought the Brown and Tritton trees to light. Both are making friends by good production of good nuts. This is a suggestion for promotion in other states.
Sylvester Shessler, Genoa, O.: "Planted 10 nuts from Tritton parent tree in 1935. One seedling bore a larger nut than the parent tree. Several others bore very small nuts but all well filled."
J. Russell Smith, Swarthmore, Pa., "Urge the members to run local contests for good nuts. It may bring members if not nuts, and you may find some good new neighbors you didn't know about." (One easily worked plan is to see the secretary of your county fair board, offer to pay half or all prize money for best nuts from a single tree in your own and surrounding counties. See that judging is done by someone who knows how or do it yourself.)
Alfred J. Frueh, W. Cornwall, Conn., "Have had quite a lot of winter injury on the south-west side of black walnut trunks grafted near the ground. Note that seedling walnuts have a ridged, corky bark on the trunk already the second year, whereas a grafted trunk maintains its smooth bark for 6 to 8 years. Am now grafting on seedling stock 5 to 6 feet above the ground and much of the winter injury is thus eliminated."