The writer intended, when the contest reached the stage just now reached to endeavor to get a meeting of those members best qualified to pass on characteristic "quality and flavor of kernel" of those nuts put down by him as prize winners. This is the only characteristic where personal opinion has not been replaced by the precise methods, but time did not permit.
The delay in completing the 1929 contest has been very unsatisfactory. It has been caused by a combination of circumstances which it is not believed will occur again. Instead of a contest limited to one nut, as the 1926 contest was, we had here, as well, butternuts and hickories in large numbers, the hickories in particular being more numerous than the black walnuts, and the nuts came in very late, all of which largely increased the nuts to be gone over and delayed Dr. Deming in the preliminary examination. The nuts did not reach me till the last of April, a time when spring work outside was pressing. It takes a person of some experience before even the weighing methods in force for measuring quantitatively nut characteristics can be properly done and while some work was done on the contest practically every day from April 24th on, only about an hour a day could be put on it, and it went so slowly that after about a month, I set about hiring someone who should devote his or her time to it. It took about six weeks before someone was obtained and properly trained, which brought us into July, since which time the work went on well but the number of nuts was large and I had to personally pass on the final award, which must be carefully done and necessarily a good deal of time was taken, far more than anticipated.
The experience of this year's contest has shown me how to better handle another if it falls to my lot to do so. I would get Dr. Deming to send in the nuts, which after the preliminary examination, he thought worthy of carefully testing, instead of waiting till the preliminary examination of all received had been completed. This would get them here in the winter when work is light for the man I have here, who is thoroughly trained for making these tests. Those rejected at first by Dr. Deming he could go over again later, as is his custom, and possibly pick out some good ones which did not show up well when first received.
Black Walnuts
The black walnuts sent into the 1926 contest were the best that had been seen up to that time, yet those received in the 1929 contest are so far ahead of those as to make us wonder if we shall again find a contest where the black walnuts received equal those received in 1929.
Most remarkable was the case of Mrs. E. W. Freel of Pleasantville, Iowa, who sent in black walnuts from four different trees, each one of which took a prize, No. 1 the first, No. 2 the second, No. 3 the eighth, and No. 4 the tenth, the first time in the history of the nut contests that anything approaching this record has occurred. This is also the first contest where a nut of any other black walnut species than Juglans nigra has come anywhere near the prize winners.
The score card used in the 1929 contest was the same as that used in the 1926 contest but with the constants recalculated as required because of nuts received in the meantime which made this necessary.
The prizes awarded are noted below:
| Name and Address | Species | Score | Prize | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut. No. 1 | nigra | 81 | 1 | $ 50.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut No. 2 | nigra | 74 | 2 | 15.00 |
| Mrs. J. A. Stillman, Mackeys, N. C. | nigra | 73 | 3 | 10.00 |
| Annie M. Wetzel, New Berlin, Pa. | nigra | 72 | 4 | 5.00 |
| John Rohwer, Grundy Center, Ia., The Iowa | nigra | 71 | 5 | 5.00 |
| Mrs. Irwin Haag, New Castle, Ind. | nigra | 70 | 6 | 3.00 |
| Dane Learn, % Harley Learn, Aylmer, Ont., R. R. No. 6 | nigra | 69 | 7 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut No. 3 | nigra | 68 | 8 | 3.00 |
| A. F. Weltner, Point Marion, Pa., R. F. D. 1 | nigra | 67 | 9 | 3.00 |
| Mrs. E. W. Freel, Pleasantville, Ia., Nut No. 4 | nigra | 64 | 10 | 3.00 |
| —— | ||||
| $100.00 |