you want to plant an acre of nut trees, and you buy an acre of land, and
you buy your trees and have them planted. Who is going to take care of
them? You hire a man who knows about the care of trees. You couldn't
afford to hire one who didn't, and you would expect him to put in part
of his time some other way. If he didn't your investment would amount up
to so much you couldn't make anything on the deal. I emphasize this fact
because I believe you should make your nut orchard propositions large
enough so that you could afford to hire the best men to handle them for
you. If you can't do this there is another way which has been practiced
a great deal in the South and which I hope to see practiced in this
section. I have worked out a solution of the problem, which I believe is
very promising, and it is this: Get enough men, for instance in the city
of Evansville, who want nut orchards, to go out a few miles and buy a
bunch of farms, and put those farms under the management of a man big
enough to make them a success, then plant your orchard, and use the land
for general farming operations as well. I could go on indefinitely along
this line because it is inexhaustible. I think it is the keynote to
success in growing nuts. You can't be successful without giving
attention also to the things I talked about this morning. You have to
analyze the root pasture and the soil. You have to observe from the time
the trees are bought and delivered, and it requires the most careful
attention. You can't hope to accomplish a thing like that until you do
give it your most careful attention. If you have money of your own, or
make your living in some other way while the trees are growing, and feel
that you must delegate it to somebody else, associate with yourself
other men and make the undertaking big enough so you can hire the very
best talent the country affords. In this section of the country land I
presume is worth a hundred to two hundred dollars an acre, and you have
got to make it pay interest. I want to talk about the figures. The
farmer or nut grower, who does not keep a set of books and can't tell
you at the end of the year whether he has made enough money to pay off
his bills and legitimate expenses, and allowing himself a compensation
for the time energy and experience put in the business, is not
successful, and I don't care to consider him, because he is not a farmer
as I see him. You must keep your figures and know how you stand. Before
I get to the photographs I want to go back to our convention at
Chattanooga. I don't know whether there is anybody here that was at that
meeting or not. I was third man on the program to respond to the address
of welcome by the mayor of the city, and I was new in the nut game and
new in the South. I went up there with this thought, "I will listen to
the other fellows, and take my cue from them, and make a little bluff at
doing the best I can under the circumstances." To make a long story
short, when the president called on the other two men to respond they
were not there and that left me with an audience of four or five hundred
people to talk to and nothing much to say. I apologized to them for
being unable to talk in a light way. I said, "I can't say anything
unless it is in earnest; I have got to talk about something I am
interested in." I went on to advocate this principle, and it is a
principle I wish every man or woman in America would grasp and retain
and put in execution today; that is that the calling of agriculture is
the most honorable calling a man can follow, and it is up to us to
inspire in the children of America the thought that such is the case,
and help them in every way to go out into the field of agriculture and
be successful farmers. That is what I want to say. I have no patience
with the men who farm and are not successful business men, because they
are the people that make life in the rural districts objectionable to
the children, and are responsible for the children of the best blood in
the country going into the turmoil of the city where it is largely lost.
You have to pay interest on the land you use, and you have got to pay
yourself a fair compensation for the brains and energy you use on it. I
want to call your attention to one other thing. This farm I bought nine
years ago from a man who had farmed it until it wasn't capable of
producing enough income to enable him to keep it, and I undertook to
build an orchard on that farm, and I have done it. Last October, where
these hogs are grazing in the picture, I planted a crop of oats and I
got forty bushels of oats to the acre the latter part of April. I then
turned around and broke the land up and planted it in sweet potatoes,
which are just maturing and the crop will run one hundred and fifty
bushels to the acre. Don't forget that that is two crops grown and
harvested in one year on the same land. I consider it the best treatment
for the land. I pastured the oats last winter with the hogs, so I got a
very material gain from the oats in that way, and as soon as my sweet
potatoes are harvested I will turn the hogs back in and let them glean
the field. It is a fact that we can make lots of pork on the gleanings
of a sweet potato field. And besides that these trees, each one of them,
will bring me four, to five, or six dollars' worth of nuts. That land
cost me sixteen dollars an acre, and there is a net income of several
dollars above the price of the land, and I presume there is an
individual growth on each tree that increases its value at least four or
five dollars worth of nuts. There you see I have several dollars' worth
of nuts, the sweet potatoes and the oats all grown on the same land,
besides the pasture for the hogs. Those things are possible to the man
who will go into the growing of a nut orchard in a business way. I have
other land adjoining this and I will also utilize it for these purposes
and grow such crops as I can grow in the orchard, because when the nut
crop is ready to gather, I must get the stock out. I keep my
organization employed the whole year. I have the best superintendent I
know of and I have to make his salary out of my business. I get the best
tree man I know of and he also receives his compensation from the money
I make in farming. Last year I extended my farming operations in order
to make it possible for me to keep my organization running full speed
three hundred days in the year. I am dwelling upon this line for this
purpose. Don't let any promoters ever get his hooks into you or tell you
things as we have had them told to us down there. Thousands and
thousands of acres of pecan orchards have been planted without a thought
of the things I am talking about. They have planted thousands of acres
in Georgia; they have not any organization and the man in charge is
inexperienced and they don't pay. Each year from the time I planted my
orchard, and got it to the point where I could count on an orchard crop,
it has increased in value, and today it is worth four or five dollars a
tree above what it cost me. It is a magnificent business proposition. I
am so in love with my work I could talk to you until the cows come home.
I want to impress on the people of the Northern Nut Growers Association
and their friends the one fact that in order to be successful in a
commercial way you must go into it right. There is no short cut.
THE PRESIDENT: The next on the program will be an article by Mr. Olcott.
THE FUNCTION OF THE CLASS JOURNAL
RALPH T. OLCOTT, _Editor "American Nut Journal"_
In the multiplicity of publications one must distinguish, for his use,
those which are for entertainment or general education and those which
specialize. Class publications differ from trade or professional
publications in that they are not confined in their appeal to the
members of a trade or profession. The class publication is for that
portion of the general public which is wholly, or to a certain degree,
interested in the particular object to which it is devoted.
What has been said with regard to class publications is probably
understood in a general way, but a brief consideration of its bearing
upon the nut industry may make the status of a nut journal clearer. Let
us suppose that an industry has no publication devoted especially to it.
It must then depend upon communications between individuals and upon
annual meetings and their printed proceedings for its interchange of
thought; for it is presumed that it will have a national or sectional
organization. A very efficient organization with the means at hand to
serve its members well can do a great deal to keep members in touch
with each other and to advance the interests of the industry.
Organization, of course, is essential; but without a periodical exponent
there is lacking the advantage to all readers of general timely
discussion, questions asked and answered, special articles,
illustrations and the news relating exclusively to the industry--all of
which makes the periodical a working tool, and its bound and indexed
files an almost indispensable adjunct to the literature and reference
storehouse of the field covered.
Not only to the individual, but also to the class association do these
characteristics appeal with special force. For, unlike the trade
journal, it goes out among the general public as a factor in the
education of those who seek information of the special kind. In this way
it is a means for extending the operation of the industry, and
consequently of increasing the membership and influence of the
association. And right here is a point which those who have been
operating in the industry for some time should consider. If any portion
of the general public is to receive through the class journal the
information desired, there must of necessity appear in the journal from
time to time statistical or other matter with which the experienced nut
grower is familiar. To a considerable extent the novice may be referred
to existing literature on a special subject; but not all of such
literature is readily available. For instance, the _American Nut
Journal_ has been carrying in each issue a summary of the figures
showing the progress of the American nut industry. These figures have
been seen repeatedly by experienced growers, but even for them they may
prove convenient for reference; and certainly to the newcomer they
should be interesting and valuable. Original matter, of course, must be
the basis upon which the contents of a class publication are built. But
an article, or a portion of an article, which has an important bearing
on the specialty under consideration may often be reproduced in the
class publication, even though it may have appeared elsewhere; for we
are all too busy to read many publications, and the chief purpose of the
class publication is to assemble from all sources that which
particularly relates to the subject. In theory at least the class
journal should be the storehouse to which in its bound and indexed form
the subscriber may go for information on any phase of the special
subject. That is a high and not altogether attainable ideal, but the
nearer the journal approaches to that aim the more valuable will it be
to its subscribers. It should at least record the sources of all
information on its special subject, even if it cannot present it all.
What has here been said in outline regarding the function of the class
journal will indicate to the nut grower the place the _American Nut
Journal_ should occupy in the development of nut culture. It is
unnecessary to say that co-operation between the editor and those in the
industry is essential, and for that reason all should feel free to
exchange views through this medium. Aside from the practical benefit it
may be to the individual, it is a constant source of publicity for the
organized effort represented in an association of nut growers--and it is
through publicity that an industry develops.
To deserve the co-operation of all in the industry the management of the
class publication representing it must determine what is the highest and
largest function of the field which it serves and then strive in every
legitimate way to promote that function.
To deserve the manifold advantages which such a publication affords it
is incumbent upon those in the industry, on their part, to make it
possible through their subscriptions and through their advertising to
maintain such a medium. It is probable that if there were no such
publication every loyal member of this association would gladly pledge
ten cents a month provided some one could be found who would expend the
time and effort to provide it. Just that opportunity has been presented,
and it is a pleasure to say that many have appreciated it.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: There is no one thing that would get results for you
better than a good periodical. The Department of Agriculture issues
bulletins but that department cannot go into the journal business, the
business of publishing my opinion or someone else's opinion. The
Department of Agriculture must confine itself to the summaries of facts,
and that leaves a gap that must be filled in by some good periodical
properly edited. It is with great pleasure that we see the _American
Nut Journal_ which Mr. Olcott is putting out and attempting to give us
the best he can get. The chair will be glad to hear any further
suggestions on this subject.
_W. C. Reed_: I think we are very fortunate in having a journal of this
kind, and having known Mr. Olcott for a number of years I know he is
giving the people a good journal. I think it is customary in most
instances for all trade organizations to have their journal, and I think
in this case the Northern Nut Growers Association ought to adopt _The
American Nut Journal_ as their official organ. I make that as a motion.
MR. MCCOY: I second the motion.
THE PRESIDENT: It has been moved and seconded that we adopt _The
American Nut Journal_ as the official organ of our association.
(Motion unanimously carried.)
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. W. C. Reed, you have something on the program and we
will be glad to hear from you now.
MR. REED: I had prepared a short paper on top working the black walnut
with the Persian or English walnut but I won't read the paper on account
of the limited time, for there are others here we would rather hear
from. Quite a number of you are going to Vincennes and you can ask
questions there and understand it better than I can tell you here.
However there may be some that can't go along, so any questions you want
to ask at this time I will be glad to answer.
MR. POTTER: It will be impossible for me to go to Vincennes on Saturday
as I have to go home tomorrow night. I would like to ask Mr. Reed if the
method of grafting the pecan is the same as top working the black
walnut?
MR. REED: Yes sir. Suppose this is a large tree twelve, eighteen or
twenty inches in diameter. We cut the limbs back to where they are four
or five inches in diameter and, supposing that we want to graft this
limb here, we will cut it up here one or two feet because it is hard to
cut limbs without their splitting. Sometimes they will split on both
sides. For that reason we cut them high and then again, later, back to
where we want to graft. We usually find it best to do the first cutting
back along the latter part of February or first of March, and when it
gets time to do our grafting we cut them off again about two inches so
that we shall have fresh wood. We saw them with a fine tooth saw. We
prefer to do our grafting from about the first to the tenth of May. We
keep scions in cold storage. I think that is quite an advantage although
I haven't tried the walnut in cold storage until this year and hadn't
thought very much about it until the last few years: but we find the
ones we were most successful with were the ones we had kept in cold
storage.
PROFESSOR SMITH: What time were they cut?
MR. REED: In February, I think, but I think it would be much better if
they were cut in November or early December, especially the walnut, and
I shall do that this year. With the pecans I don't think it will make
any difference.
PROFESSOR SMITH: What temperature in storage do you use?
[Illustration: W. C. REED
Vice-President of the Northern Nut Growers Association]
MR. REED: Ordinary apple storage, thirty-two to thirty-eight, or
freezing. This spring we grafted between the first and tenth of May;
some of the trees were in full leaf. The sap was flowing very readily
and they bled very freely, although the ones that had been cut back
early would not bleed like the ones you cut when you are ready to graft.
In grafting we used the wedge graft, splitting straight down and placing
three or four scions on each limb three or four inches in diameter.
However the method we like the best is the slip bark method, but we have
had fairly good results with both methods. Of the trees we grafted this
spring 60 to 75 per cent were grafted from cold storage scions. We used
some that had not been in cold storage, and we didn't get them to grow.
We wax the grafts thoroughly and cover them with paper sacks. We do not
use any tying on the large limbs as we don't find it necessary. However,
we have done more budding than grafting in top working large trees and I
think it is a little surer, but we have been fairly successful with
both. For budding we cut them back the same as if we were going to
graft. We let the sprouts grow until about the middle of July or first
or middle of August, and we have let them go as late as the first of
September. Then they are ready for budding. We follow about the same
method as has been demonstrated. In working large trees it is very
important that you keep all cuts waxed thoroughly with grafting wax.
MR. MCCOY: Have you had this experience, that English walnuts will
produce female blooms before they do the male blooms?
MR. REED: We haven't had them long enough to determine that clearly. We
have eight trees and four of them produced pistillate blooms and we had
to bring pollen to pollenize them.
MR. MCCOY: It is possible to have your sprouts almost where you want
them by taking the sharp end of an old file and dressing the bark
carefully. The buds are more apt to come there than anywhere.
MR. REED: We sometimes lose a good many shoots from storms. One tree was
budded about three weeks ago and that storm about ten days ago broke
every one of them.
MR. POMEROY: What time did you say to bud the black walnut?
MR. REED: About the first of August, from the middle of July to the
middle of August, as a rule. We are budding some yet. That depends on
the wood; do it when the wood is ripe enough. We are holding back on
some now to get the wood ripe enough, and as fast as they get ripe
enough we bud them. You can bud them late if you cut them back freely in
the spring, smooth with the ground. Then your buds will take much more
rapidly because you have the sap.
MR. MCCOY: Have you had the best success when you cut your trees back in
the pruning season? In slip bark grafting there are two ways, you know.
One is to wait until you are ready to graft and then cut back. Which do
you think is the best?
MR. REED: In top working the large trees we had the best success cutting
back early, that is in the nursery. We have never cut back any at the
time we were ready to do the work.
MR. MCCOY: In other words you head off the sap flow?
MR. REED: Yes sir, we hold it back.
J. F. WILKINSON: Do you find it any advantage to cut your leaflets off
before you bud?
MR. REED: I haven't tried that enough to know. When you were at our
place some of them had been trimmed in full leaf and had dropped the
leaf stalk, and some had been cut off three weeks and still didn't let
loose. We can tell more next spring as I kept a record of that.
MR. POMEROY: How do you know when it is ripe enough?
MR. REED: I don't think a man lives who knows exactly. You have to use
your own judgment. For instance, when bud wood colors up like this I
would feel sure it was ripe enough. When it is green I am more afraid of
it, although we have some good success with the green wood, but cold
storage wood is still better.
DR. MORRIS: Professor Van Deman said the other day that in cutting bud
wood at this time of year it is good to give the bud rest for two or
three days. He cuts the scions and puts them in the ice house. That
gives them rest and the buds start better and are firmer. Has anyone had
experience with that way?
MR. DORR: There is another question I want to ask. If we want to
experiment with the processes that have been suggested here, shouldn't
Evansville have a place where we can store scions? We should have an ice
house. Some of us who don't have shoes, haven't any ice house. I worked
in South Carolina one time and made this discovery, and it almost made
me weak. The great majority of farmers in South Carolina are men who
make fifty dollars a year; they cultivate three acres and own a mule in
partnership with two or three other men. Suppose some enthusiast like
this man plants an orchard there. What inducement has he for that kind
of work? The dream I have had here for Evansville, which is my home, is
to bring some of that kind of work into the high schools.
MR. WHITE: In regard to the point brought out by Dr. Morris about cold
storage bud wood, I believe that it is better for being chilled. We have
found it hastens the callous. The same theory has been borne out by the
work of the Department of Agriculture in propagating the blueberry.
They found it would not callous and form roots unless they chilled it.
Isn't that right, Mr. Close?
PROFFESSOR CLOSE: I don't remember that.
MR. WHITE: I think all wood must be frozen or chilled, or put in cold
storage, before it will take well. I found that by putting scions in
cold storage they callous much more readily. Where the temperature is
near the freezing point walnut and pecan wood will callous more readily.
On some that I took out on the 31st of July I had written the names, and
the callous had formed until we could scarcely read the names. In a week
or ten days the callous was around them. On new wood, it would take
twice as long.
PROFESSOR SMITH: If they had calloused in cold storage was it because
they had been too warm?
MR. WHITE: No sir. If you will take a tree that you want to set out and
cover the roots until you can set it out, you will find the callous
forming no matter if the ground is frozen hard.
PROFESSOR SMITH: You mean a tree planted in the fall?
MR. WHITE: Yes sir.
MR. POMEROY: Where one had no cold storage what would he do?
THE PRESIDENT: If you haven't cold storage, such as Evansville affords,
and have an ice house you can use that. It is very important to pack the
scions in excelsior and sawdust and be sure there is very slight
moisture, and to paper line your boxes. Colonel Sober keeps chestnut
scions by standing them on end in cans. He fills in with a thin layer of
sawdust, punches holes for them to breathe, puts a lid on and sets them
in the ice house and says they keep splendidly.
PROFESSOR SMITH: In an ordinary ice house?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes sir.
COLONEL SOBER: I have kept them that way for two years.
MR. WHITE: Dr. Morris will tell you the next best thing if you haven't
cold storage.
DR. MORRIS: We use a method I got from Professor Craig, the way he kept
his for many years. His plan was to set a plain wooden box very smoothly
on the ground, smooth off the ground so the box would set evenly on all
sides, then pack in a layer of perhaps half an inch of fine leaves like
black locust leaves, and on that he would put a single layer of scions,
then, more leaves and scions.
MR. MOSELEY: If you have an ordinary ice box, would that be cold enough
to put the buds in?
DR. MORRIS: I think that would be plenty cold enough. I know of a man
in Maryland that has been using that for a number of years.
THE SECRETARY: Do you wax the ends?
DR. MORRIS: Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't.
THE PRESIDENT: You couldn't keep your scions all the time in an ice box,
could you?
DR. MORRIS: No, not for any length of time, but just for a few days you
could, in an ordinary refrigerator.
THE PRESIDENT: When you cut your scions in the winter for future use,
you should keep them down pretty close to freezing. I used scions in
Maryland this spring cut last February in this locality. We put them in
cold storage and kept them there until April. Then they were taken out
and shipped to me in Washington. They arrived in perfect condition and I
took them to a big green house across the street and put them in a long
box and set them up in the big refrigerator where they kept their buds.
I had these within two inches of a thousand pounds of ice and the Green
River proceeded to grow within two weeks. You have to keep them in cold
storage. It is so cheap, however, in Evansville that there is no excuse
not to keep them in perfect condition. These cold storage people here,
Holt & Brandon, are very fine people. We have kept very large amounts of
bud wood there and their charges have been very small.
Before we get through I want to call your attention to the rest of the
program. Immediately after adjournment there will be automobiles waiting
to take all who want to go sight seeing in Evansville. This is by the
courtesy of the Evansville Business Association. I want especially again
to call your attention to the lecture tonight by Mr. C. A. Reed, and for
fear that those here may have an idea that it will be strictly technical
I wish to say that he will avoid technicalities as far as possible. He
has one of the finest collections of lantern slides I have ever seen. He
will take you to the walnut regions of California and to nut regions all
over the United States. Any questions asked him will be cheerfully
answered but I would suggest that unless there is something extremely
important, you reserve your questions until the conclusion of his talk
and not interrupt unnecessarily because there are a great many slides to
get through with. Those of you who are here, come tonight and bring your
friends, bring the ladies and children and everybody else, because it
will be interesting and educative generally. Do not forget that we leave
in the morning at 7:15, not 16, nor 26; that car will leave at 7:15 and
if you will be there on time we can got together on the car. We will
now adjourn until 8 o'clock.
* * * * *
Meeting re-convened at 8:00 P. M.
THE PRESIDENT: The first thing on the program will be an invitation to
join the association. For the purposes of our organization we need
members, and we especially need anyone who has any interest whatever in
nut culture. The membership of persons joining now will expire on the
31st day of December, 1914; the membership dues are $2 per year, which
includes a copy of the annual report. By joining now you get this report
and the three preceding ones.
PROFESSOR CLOSE: Mr. Chairman, may I say something regarding the annual
report?
THE PRESIDENT: We will be glad to hear you, Professor Close.
PROFESSOR CLOSE: It seems to me that those who pay dues for 1914 ought
to receive the report of the meeting for 1914 no matter when it is
printed, even if it is not for three or four months after the end of the
calendar year. In that way the reports will match the calendar year;
that is they are the reports for the year that the meeting was held and
the papers and discussions took place, and this one should be known as
the report for 1914. That is the way we run them in the other societies
and it seems to me there would be no confusion at all if it were managed
in that way.
THE PRESIDENT: The chair very heartily agrees with that suggestion and
thinks that should be the practice of the society. The chair would be
very glad to entertain a motion to make that the rule.
PROFESSOR CLOSE: I should be glad to make the motion that the
proceedings of the meeting of each calendar year be reported as of that
calendar year and distributed to the members who pay dues for that
calendar year.
(Seconded and carried unanimously.)
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any other candidates for admission to this
society? If so, hold up your hands and our distinguished secretary will
visit you immediately. Are there any committee reports?
W. C. REED: The committee on nomenclature desires to report as follows:
Voted on the Smith and Potter resolution to recommend changing the
name of the Busseron pecan to Vincennes; Posey pecan to Wabash;
Buttrick pecan to Illinois. It was the opinion of the committee
that the other names of pecans had been established by the
Department of Agriculture by printing in the year book, and that it
was not advisable to change them.
We recommend, as advisable for members introducing new varieties,
to confer with the committee on nomenclature before listing new
names.
Signed. W. C. REED,
W. C. DEMING,
R. L. MCCOY,
R. T. MORRIS,
C. A. REED.
A MEMBER: I move the adoption of this report.
A MEMBER: I second the motion.
THE PRESIDENT: It has been moved and seconded that the report of the
committee on nomenclature be adopted. Are you ready for the question?
All in favor of the motion make it known in the usual way. It is
unanimously carried that we adopt this report. Are there any other
committee reports?
PROFESSOR CLOSE: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: The committee on
exhibits has not had a very arduous duty, because we can't have at this
time of year very extensive exhibits. But what we have are very
interesting. Mr. W. C. Reed has an exhibit of English walnuts, hickory
nuts and hardy almonds. You have all noticed the exhibits he has in the
glass case. That is very instructive and is put up in such a way that it
can be carried from place to place. He also has some photographs of
trees. Mr. Wilkinson has an exhibit of fruiting limbs of shagbark
hickory and pecans, and various seedlings. To some of us some of those
things are almost new. Colonel Sober has an exhibit of grafted chestnut
trees. He also has the burrs and in glass jars he has the nuts. Then
there is quite an exhibit of the native varieties made by our president,
which is very fine. There are also some persimmons. I think, everything
considered, the society is to be congratulated upon the quality of the
exhibits even though the quantity is not so very great.
THE PRESIDENT: If there is no objection the report of the committee on
exhibits will be adopted. The report is adopted. Are there any further
committee reports?
MR. POTTER: The committee on resolutions reports as follows:
_Resolved_, That we extend our thanks to the Mayor and the Citizens
of Evansville, Indiana, for the courteous entertainment they have
favored us with, and for the excellent facilities that they have
placed at our disposal.
_Second_--That we extend to the Evansville Business Association,
and to the members thereof, our deep appreciation of their
entertainment and courteous treatment that they have extended to
our association.
_Third_--That we extend our deep appreciation and gratitude to Hon.
T. P. Littlepage, our president, and Dr. W. C. Deming, our
secretary, for their untiring and valuable services in behalf of
this association.
_Fourth_--That we express the thanks of the association to its
members and others who have attended this meeting, and helped to
make it a success.