It is amazing the volume of business tha_Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Forty-Second Annual Meeting Urbana, Illinois, August 28, 29 and 30, 1951

instance the above firm does a million dollars gross business

annually, and many others do a big business. All would be glad to

catalog grafted chestnuts, and the chestnut movement would grow by

leaps and bounds. True, they would have to be sold to them at

wholesale prices, but they want small sizes, parcel post sizes

preferred, which can be produced the second year from seed. Plant

the seed in March, the next March graft them, and by fall the

grafts will range from three to seven feet as shown by the enclosed

photos.

I had the same experience with the above firm with Carpathians,

sold them 500, which were sold out long before the season ended and

I could not get them any more. They have ordered 2500 for this

coming season. Unfortunately we had a poor take on grafts this

spring due to cutting scion wood after a November freeze, which

killed all other English walnuts. Carpathian wood was not hurt

except where used for scions. Where left on the trees they forced

out as usual and are producing a good crop of nuts.

I must close. I know you will have a wonderful meeting and I wish I

could be with you. I will be with you in spirit, and in the

meantime will be doing all I can to promote interest in nut

growing.--Very truly yours, A. G. Hirschi.

MR. GERARDI: I don't yet have the greenhouse. I depend on field

grafting. I produce my own seedlings. I just use seed from those three

best trees. They run pretty uniform as far as growth is concerned. I

bark graft in the field, when the buds begin to swell nicely and from

there on. You can get a growth like that. [Indicating four to 5 feet.]

MEMBER: He has the same thing. Just as soon as the buds swelled.

Sometimes I do go to the trouble if I am covering more ground, to cut

them off as soon as they start to swell. A chestnut will peel again in

four days. I start in after about four days and set these grafts and I

use this bark graft. I have a sample of the method here. This is the

plain bark graft which is efficient and fast for the production of

chestnuts in quantity. I have to get into bigger production. I am trying

to make speed and I am using this method. To start, the first week of

April, when the buds start. If I get it done, it's the first week or the

second of April.

MR. GERARDI: Four days on chestnuts. In my personal opinion after a few

years observation I don't believe it is absolutely essential to cut

back. Sometimes weather conditions will be a big factor. Sometimes the

temperature is around forty and remains that way four or five days. The

weather has taken the place of your cut back. That doesn't always

happen, but weather conditions sometimes favor this.

MEMBER: What percent of failures do you expect on a hundred?

MR. GERARDI: Well, it is better to take a thousand trees. Out of a

thousand you miss 35 or 40. The percent that takes is high. This is an

important factor; you must have good wood. You are running just a little

on the small size. From a quarter of an inch up to--. I never set a

scion over about 9/16. That is just getting into the rough ... It's hard

on the tool and rootstocks.

MEMBER: Do you wax the graft?

MEMBER: By all means you use the proper wax.

MEMBER: Did you ever try not to?

MR. GERARDI: Yes, if favorable weather permits. I use this Acme

compound. Last season, it was a little stiff and I mixed a little oil

and it cut my rubber bands too quick. That brush wax is about as good as

you can get, but customers come in and I am called away and someone is

always interfering with the work. I was trying to get a wax that I could

just drop and it would be ready when I picked it up again. It is

beginning to be an assembly line production. You can go faster if you

have a helper or two to do the tying and waxing.

MEMBER: I have a rather crude scion storage method. I have dug out in a

hill a reservoir that I keep ice in. If you could keep it at 32 to 40

degrees from the time it is cut in February, or the first part of March

and then store it in this until the grafting time, it will keep readily.

MEMBER: In California I built a little house and there was room enough

to put in at least 40 bushel boxes, 900 pounds of ice and I packed

grafting wood in boxes and kept it until July.

MEMBER: The ice keeps up the humidity.

MEMBER: There are a lot of successful methods. It is what is available

for you.

MR. WILKINSON: I have had very little experience in propagation of

chestnuts. Mine has been limited. I shoulder my scions. I like to

shoulder. My percentage of take varies with the conditions, sometimes

it's fairly good and sometimes not so good. I have a specimen union of

two inches in diameter and you can see what a nice union it makes.

Ordinarily I have had very good success with chestnut grafting.

DR. McKAY: We have done some work on budding chestnuts but it hasn't

been successful. We have had indefinite results. As Mr. Stoke says,

grafting is so much more simple. We realize more work should be done on

budding. We simply do our propagating the way it is easiest. Until the

time comes that we have got more information on budding we will go along

as we do now. One of the difficulties is that the wood is fluted and it

is hard to get a good bud fit. It doesn't make for a good fit. We

carried out a little experiment on one year old seedling at the crown.

There is a smooth area on the stem as it enters into the root condition.

It is a perfectly smooth area and we tried putting sealed buds at that

point. We have had good success in putting those kinds of buds in at the

time when you would ordinarily bud fruits, in the fall, where growth

conditions are still good. Another year we did that same work and we

didn't succeed so well. So we don't know exactly what we did wrong. In

order to keep a set from those buds we don't know just what the

conditions should be.

MR. O'ROURKE: To summarize then, the two successful methods are the

greenhouse method and the field method used by Mr. Gerardi.

MR. STOKE: I mostly use a plain splice. The cut is about four times as

long as scion diameter, if it is on a stock of the same size. It is the

best method. I use also a modified cleft graft with a little trimming.

Mr. Jones brought out that modified cleft graft and I have made a little

change. Here is the stock, and a modified cleft graft is a side graft

with the stock top cut off. You cut in at an angle far enough and you

put your scion in here and there is your modified cleft graft. You get

contact on all four lines. It takes experience and judgment. You cut

your scion wedge and then make your understock cut and you will seldom

make a mistake after you get experience. That is a side graft and a

modified cleft graft. That makes a flexible portion here and you get a

fit on both sides. But with the ordinary cleft graft, if you go to the

end of your stock you still have a split and not a perfect fit.

MEMBER: Would you explain that? If your scion is not the same size it

might over lap or ... how do you handle that?

MR. STOKE: If the scion is undersized, you don't cut so deep. Sometimes

the stock is a little oversize. You simply cut less deep in your stock.

If you have a large stock and small scion I'd make a bark graft.

MEMBER: I should like to bring up one point. That is produce more nut

trees and do it cheaper. It seems to lie between Mr. Gerardi and Mr.

Bernath. Mr. Gerardi can set between six and seven hundred per day, and

tie them himself, and Mr. Bernath will graft between seven hundred and

a thousand a day with someone else doing the tying.

MR. CHASE: We have tried all these grafting methods with varying degrees

of success. Our propagation experiments at Norris have been directed at

the development of more economic methods.

Conifer grafts are often placed in a grafting case for rapid callusing.

This year we tried some black walnut grafts and found that they callused

in 10 to 14 days when placed in a grafting case. These were bench

grafted on piece roots, using modified cleft and side grafts. Later we

tried chestnut with excellent results. Then we made more chestnut

grafts, wrapped them in damp moss and placed them in a lab oven with a

temperature of approximately 75 degrees. These callused rapidly and were

planted immediately in the nursery. They made good growth.

We think that some adaptation of this method has possibilities in our

region. Often our chestnut grafts are damaged by late spring frosts. If

we can bench graft, callus, and then hold the grafts until favorable

weather, frost damage will be eliminated. It may be possible to handle

black walnut in some similar fashion. Then we would be dealing only with

successful grafts. A cold frame provided with heating cable should be

adequate.

Factors Affecting Nut Tree Propagation

F. L. O'ROURKE, _Department of Horticulture, Michigan State College_

Propagation of nut trees is primarily involved with the problems

affecting the perpetuation of selected clones by vegetative means. It

has been indicated by Morris (14), Reed (18), and others that trees

produced from seed are of inferior value for nut production. Seed

propagation, however, must be practiced to produce the necessary

rootstocks upon which the selected varieties are budded or grafted.

Seed Propagation

Barton (1) indicated that while some few seedlings may be produced

without prior seed stratification, after-ripening of the seed for 2 to 4

months at 35° to 50° F. markedly increased seedling production with

hickory and walnut. Chase (4) found that black walnut seed sown in

November yielded more and larger seedlings than when planted at a later

date. Chase (5) also reported that nuts containing larger kernels

produced larger seedlings, and that planting 1 to 2 inches beneath the

surface yielded larger seedlings than deeper placement. There have

apparently been little or no observations made on the performance of

seedlings for rootstock purposes between different parental strains

except for Chinese chestnut as reported by McKay (12).

Clonal Rootstock Propagation

The difficulty of propagating any selection of nut trees by vegetative

means has discouraged selections for rootstock purposes. Only filberts

offer such an opportunity for selection on somewhat the same basis as

the East Malling clones of apple rootstocks which produce different

sized scion varieties after grafting. Unfortunately, no non-suckering

desirable clones of filberts have yet been reported and even the

non-suckering Turkish tree hazel is grown from seed when such rootstocks

are used (16).

Propagation by Cuttings

Gellatly (7) quoted the success of the East Malling Research Station in

England in rooting cuttings of walnuts grown in the greenhouse and

reported on his own experience in producing short roots on dormant

cuttings of heartnut and Persian walnut. The writer (15) has

occasionally produced roots on softwood cuttings of pecan and hickory

set in a mist humidified greenhouse but the cuttings did not survive.

Mist humidification has been a distinct aid in retaining foliage on

softwood cuttings of filbert and Chinese chestnut until roots were

formed but unless the axillary buds were developed sufficiently to make

new growth immediately thereafter, little or no survival was secured.

Apparently when the cuttings were succulent enough to form roots the

buds were too immature to put out new shoots. If one waited until the

buds were developed the tissue at the base of the cutting was too highly

lignified for root formation. The use of synthetic plant hormones on

cuttings of nut-tree species has been of questionable value.

Propagation by Layers

Mound layers are used quite successfully for the propagation of filbert

varieties but have not proven of value with other nut-tree species.

Chinese chestnut has been reported to layer easily but experiments with

both mound and trench layers of selected varieties of this species at

the Glenn Dale, Maryland Station of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

gave negative results. The writer (15) has occasionally rooted pecan,

hickory, and Chinese chestnut by aerial layering. A marcot box

containing sphagnum moss kept moist by a glass wick immersed in water

from a bottle at the lower end was employed. The time and labor involved

were so great that the experiments were discontinued.

Propagation by Grafting

Bench grafting of walnuts and hickories has been adequately described by

Bernath (3), Hardy (8), Lounsberry (10), Slate (24), and others. This

method has been tested on a commercial basis and apparently should be

considered as one of the most efficient ways to produce nut trees

quickly and cheaply in large quantities. Greenhouse and storage

facilities are required and keen expert attention must be given the

newly-made grafts to assure success.

Reports on top-working and field grafting are both numerous and

voluminous. Morris (13), MacDaniels (11), Wilkinson (29), and others

have demonstrated the value of cutting back the stock a week or more

before setting the scion in order to avoid injury from excess flow of

sap. Reed (17), Stoke (27), Morris (14), Shessler (21), Sitton (23), and

others have described methods of preparing and setting scions in the

stock. All writers agree that greater success is secured when dormant

scions are set relatively late in the season. Becker (2) stated that

greater success was secured when scions were set from time leaves were

full-grown until catkins fell. Protection of the scion by waxes, paper

bags, and shading has been advocated by Morris (14), MacDaniels (11),

Shelton (20), Shessler (21), and others.

Propagation by Budding

The shield or T bud has not been considered suitable for thick-barked

trees such as hickory and walnut due to the difficulty of preventing

"air-pockets" beneath the bark. Shaving the edges of the bark at the

side of the shield may eliminate this difficulty. Joley (9), reported

variable success in shield budding of walnut in California. Patch

budding, either by the annular method or with the Jones patch-budding

tool was described by Reed (17), and is reported by Chase (6), Zarger

(30), and others to be the most practical method of propagation with

walnuts. Pecans and hickories are commonly patch-budded in summer in

commercial nurseries. The thin-barked Chinese chestnut is usually budded

by the shield-or T-bud method as reported by Hardy (8) and McKay (12).

Scion and Budstick Handling

Sitton (22) reported that two-year wood of black walnut was superior to

either older or younger wood. MacDaniels (11) advocated the base of the

scion to be in the two-year wood and the tip in the one-year wood.

Shelton (19) reported that scions could be kept moist until used by

storing in a closed container with a small amount of sodium sulphate,

commonly known as "Glauber's salt". The usual method of scion storage is

to pack in moist but not wet peat or sphagnum moss and place in a

refrigerator at about 35° F. Waxes and resins have been used

successfully to prevent undue loss from the plant tissues while in

storage.

Waxes and Dressings

Propagators seldom agree in their choice of a wax and wound dressing. In

a series of carefully controlled tests, Sitton (23), found that a rosin

and beeswax mixture with a filler gave results with pecans superior to

the so-called "cold waxes" or asphalt emulsions. Paraffin and polyvinyl

resin are often used for scion covering and to protect newly set buds.

Shelton (20) has indicated certain qualities of a satisfactory wax.

The Rootstock Problem

In the Pacific Northwest Painter (16) stated that some Persian walnut

varieties on _Juglans hindsi_ (the northern California black walnut)

develop a fatal graft blight due to delayed incompatibility at about 20

years of age. This is the so-called black-line disease. McKay (12) found

great differences in survival of buds of Chinese chestnut placed on five

seedling strains and Hardy (8) suggested that more attention should be

paid to the parental relationship of stock and scion in the chestnut.

Weschcke (28) reported that black walnuts grafted on butternuts yielded

poor crops and that bitternut was a satisfactory stock for shagbark

varieties and shagbark hybrids. Smith (25) advocated shagbark stocks

for shagbark varieties but found bitternut to be practically as good.

Stoke (26), and Smith (25) found eastern black walnut to be the best

stock for all walnut species, including heartnuts and butternuts.

Nursery Practices

Commercial nurseries have adopted various methods to discourage the

normal tap-rooting habit of nut trees and stimulate lateral and fibrous

root production. Planting seed over screen wire, undercutting the

seedling each year in the nursery row, frequent transplanting, and root

pruning are methods commonly used. Attention must be given to the

production of an adequate root system to help the grafted tree withstand

the shock of transplanting to its permanent location.

Summary

The chief obstacle to the large scale growing of selected nut varieties

is the difficulty in propagation. Careful workers with a background of

knowledge and experience and skilled in craftmanship are successful in a

limited way. Quantity production is apparently dependent upon

specialized facilities and efficient labor programs. The need for

extensive rootstock research is keenly felt by growers of walnut,

hickory and chestnut.

Literature Cited

1. Barton, Lela V.--Seedling Production in _Carya ovata_, _Juglans

cinerea_, and _Juglans nigra_. Cont. Boyce Thompson Inst. _8_:1-5. 1936

2. Becker, Gilbert--Notes from Southwestern Michigan. Rept. North. Nut

Grow. Assoc. _28_:135. 1937

3. Bernath, Stephen--Propagating Nut Trees under Glass. Rept. North. Nut

Grow. Assoc. _37_:90. 1946

4. Chase, Spencer B.--Black Walnut Nursery Studies. Rept. North. Nut

Grow. Assoc. _37_:40-41. 1946

5. Chase, Spencer B.--Eastern Black Walnut Germination and Seedbed

Studies. Jour. For. =45=:661-668. 1947

6. Chase, Spencer B.--Budding and Grafting Eastern Black Walnut. Proc.

Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. _38_:175-180. 1947

7. Gellatly, J. U.--Notes on Nuts and New Combinations of Old

Principles. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _29_:115-120. 1938

8. Hardy, Max B.--The Propagation of Chinese Chestnuts. Rept. North. Nut

Grow. Assoc. _40_:121-126. 1949

9. Joley, Lloyd E.--Personal Correspondence. July, 1951

10. Lounsberry, C. C.--Bench Grafting of Black Walnuts. Rept. North. Nut

Grow. Assoc. _28_:60. 1937

11 MacDaniels, L. H.--Some Experiences in Nut Tree Grafting at Ithaca,

New York. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _28_:52. 1937

12. McKay, J. W.--Results of a Chinese Chestnut Rootstock Experiment.

Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _38_:83-84. 1947

13. Morris, R. T.--Top Working Hickories--Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc.

_11_:105. 1920

14. Morris, R. T.--Nut Growing. 1931. Macmillan, New York

15. O'Rourke, F. L.--Unpublished data. 1940-1945

16. Painter, John H.--Personal Correspondence. July-August, 1951

17. Reed, C. A.--Nut-Tree Propagation. U.S. Dept. of Agr. Farmers' Bul.

1501. 1926

18. Reed, C. A.--Seedling Chestnut Trees versus Grafted Varieties. Rept.

North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _32_:79. 1941

19. Shelton, E. M.--Glauber's Salt for Humidity Control in Scion

Storage. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _28_:70-71 1937

20. Shelton, E. J.--A Laboratory Experience in Testing Wax Mixtures for

Use in Plant Propagation. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _28_:72-75. 1937

21. Shessler, Sylvester--Grafting Walnuts in Ohio. Rept. North. Nut

Grow. Assoc. _39_:145. 1948

22. Sitton, B. G.--Vegetative Propagation of the Black Walnut. Mich.

Agr. Expt. Sta. Tech. Bul. 119. 1931

23. Sitton, B. G.--Pecan Grafting Methods and Waxes. U. S. Dept. Agr.

Circ. 545. 1940

24. Slate, George L.--Grafting Walnuts in the Greenhouse. Rept. North

Nut Grow. Assoc. _39_:146-147. 1948

25. Smith, Gilbert L.--Our Experience with Rootstocks. Rept. North Nut

Grow. Assoc. _40_:62-64. 1949

26. Stoke, H. F.--Nut Nursery Notes--Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc.

_34_:96. 1943

27. Stoke, H. G.--Grafting Methods Adapted to Nut Trees. Rept. North.

Nut Grow. Assoc. _37_:99-102. 1946

28. Weschcke, Carl--The Importance of Stock and Scion Relationship in

Hickory and Walnut. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. _39_:190-195. 1948

29. Wilkinson, J. F--Preparation of Stocks for Propagation. Rept. North.

Nut Grow. Assoc. _28_:65-66. 1937

30. Zarger, Thomas G.--Nut-testing, Propagation, and Planting Experience

of 90 Black Walnut Selections. Rept. Nut Grow. Assoc. _36_:23-30. 1945

Nut Rootstock Material in Western Michigan

Harry P. Burgart, _Union City, Michigan_

It is only natural that those who propagate by budding and grafting are

always hoping to find a rootstock that will accept their scions with the

highest percentage of takes and impart vigorous growth to the scion

variety. Sometimes in our eagerness to adopt a new rootstock we are

likely to neglect a vital point, namely--Future Performance of the

root-top combination we are about to use.

It would take years of observation in a test planting to prove whether

or not a new rootstock material is safe to use. A rootstock can affect

the tree it supports in various ways. Sometimes the rootstock will force

to the top too much growth, which is likely to bring about

unfruitfulness. In other cases, the rootstock may cause a dwarfing habit

in the future tree, with the resulting top being a scant producer of

nuts. Then there is the combination where rootstock and top vary too

much in their growth rate, thus making an unsightly tree. The ideal

rootstock is one that attains a diameter nearly equal to the diameter of

its partner, and is capable of producing a moderate amount of top

growth, together with the production of heavy crops of nuts. Such a

rootstock should also accept buds or grafts readily, and be compatible

with the scion throughout the life of the tree.

My first experience with rootstocks for grafting came about in 1926 when

I was working at the J. F. Jones Nursery then at Lancaster,

Pennsylvania. Mr. Jones used both bitternut and pecan seedling stocks

for grafting shagbark hickories. Pecans and hicans were also grafted on

hardy northern pecan seedlings, and Japanese walnut stocks were used for

butternuts and heartnuts. Black and Persian walnut scions were set on

eastern black walnut seedlings.

When I returned to Michigan I brought back enough of Mr. Jones' trees

for a small test planting here at Union City. These trees were planted

in a heavy quack grass sod and some were lost, but those surviving show

good compatibility between the top and root.

In the intervening years I have made but slight changes in the rootstock

material used in my own nursery. I do not approve of the performance of

our butternut varieties on the Japanese walnut _root_, as it results in

a weak and dwarfed tree. The use of butternut rootstocks is also

unsatisfactory, for they tend to produce trees of low vitality that in a

few years fall victim to blight and then perish. I tried our Michigan

black walnut seedlings as a rootstock and found that they are very much

better rootstock material. The growth at the union is about equal. Top

growth is good, and the butternut tops bear early and heavily, with no

signs of blight during the ten years I have had them under test.

After years of test I have decided to use the northern pecan seedlings

as rootstocks for my shagbarks, pecans, and hicans because they are a

fast growing stock tree. They accept the grafts readily, and make good

unions more quickly than the bitternut stocks I have tried. Mr.

Wilkinson, from whom I obtain my seed, has never failed to send me seed

with good viability, just about every seed germinating. The northern

pecan seedlings have shown no winter injury here in Southern Michigan

during the 20 years I have watched them growing.

An example of the superiority of the black walnut over the Persian

walnut as a rootstock is a seedling of the variety Wiltz Mayette growing

near a Broadview grafted on black walnut. Both trees are the same age,

but the Broadview on black walnut is just about twice the size of its

own-rooted neighbor.

Hudson Valley Experience with Nut Tree Understocks

Gilbert L. Smith, _Millerton, N. Y._

This report is not based on any planned or well conducted experiments,

but is based simply on our observations of results of our grafting work

over the years since 1934.

Our first work was with hickories, so I will start with them.

Our first year's grafting was done in a plot of practically pure pignut

stocks. This was the seven leaflet pignut, which I believe to be _Carya

glabra_. I have never been sure of the identification of the two species

of pignuts. We secured a fairly good percentage of living grafts, which

grew well the first summer. The next spring all of the grafts failed to

leaf out and later were found to be dead. A few grafts which were put on

bitternut stocks (_Carya cordiformis_) grew well, and are still growing

well after more than fifteen years. Several different varieties of

shagbark hickory scions were used in this grafting.

The second year, we again grafted as many or more stocks in this same

area. The results were exactly the same, except that we used some scions

of Davis and Fox. (These varieties were brought to light through the

contests of the previous winter). The grafts of Davis grew on pignut

stocks, are still alive and doing fairly well. They have been bearing

for several years, although the squirrels have stolen all of the nuts.

Grafts of all other varieties which were on the pignut stocks died the

next spring. One graft of Fox on mockernut lived and has continued to

grow fairly well. That same year we started our test orchard of shagbark

stocks (_Carya ovata_) in a different area. Grafts on these stocks have

grown very well.

I believe that for some reason grafts of shagbark on pignut stocks

cannot stand cold weather. Certainly, incompatibility is very marked.

Our experience with hickory stocks to date is as follows:

PIGNUT (_Carya glabra_ or possibly _Carya ovalis_). This species is

worthless as a stock for shagbark, shellbark, and hybrids of these

species. If nut growers have some pignut stocks growing where they

especially wish to have some good hickory trees, they can graft them to

Davis. We have also heard that Brooks will grow on pignut stocks.

MOCKERNUT (_Carya alba_). This species is also nearly worthless as a

stock for shagbark, shell bark, and hybrids, although many more

varieties will live on it than will on pignut stocks.

SHAGBARK (_Carya ovata_). This species makes the most dependable stock

of any we have tried so far, for shagbark, shell bark, and the hybrids.

Its greatest drawback is the long time it takes to grow seedlings to a

size large enough to graft.

SHELLBARK (_Carya laciniosa_). We have never had an opportunity to use

this species as a stock. I think that it would make a good one and

possibly be faster growing than shagbark.

BITTERNUT (_Carya cordiformis_). We have found that this species makes a

very satisfactory stock for shagbark and hybrid grafts. We have not

tried shellbark on it, except Berger which grows well on it. Seedlings

of this species are much faster growing than are shagbark seedlings, and

thus are large enough to graft sooner. We have grafts growing on

bitternut stocks since 1935, they are growing and producing well. We

consider this species as good or nearly as good as shagbark as a stock.

We have received contrary reports from farther south. These may be due

to stock being blamed for something they did not cause or it may be that

bitternut stocks grown from seed of more southern origin may not be as

good as our northern stock.[18]

PECAN (_Carya pecan_). Our experience with this species as a stock is

very limited and has been confined to grafts of only one variety of

shagbark (Wilcox). Results were very disappointing, but we have been

told by others that it makes a good stock. It is much faster growing

than is shagbark.

Walnut

In walnut grafting, we have found that the eastern black walnut

stocks are so much superior to any others we have been able to find,

that we have discarded all others.

BUTTERNUT (_Juglans cinerea_). We have found that it is much harder to

secure living grafts on this stock than on black walnut. It also

attracts butternut curculio to the nursery.

JAPANESE WALNUT (_Juglans sieboldiana_ and variety _cordiformis_). We

have found that seedlings grown from either of these species are a great

attraction to the butternut curculio. They are more difficult to secure

living grafts on, and grafts on these stocks are very definitely less

hardy than similar grafts on black walnut growing side by side. We have

proved this repeatedly.

PERSIAN WALNUT (_Juglans regia_). We have never used this species as a

stock, and in view of the fact that grafts of it grow so well on black

walnut stocks, I can see no use in even trying it.

EASTERN BLACK WALNUT (_Juglans nigra_). As stated above, we have found

this to be the ideal stock for all walnut grafting. It is more free from

insects than any of the other walnuts. Grafts grow well on it and are

more hardy than grafts on some of the others.

We have not had enough experience in grafting chestnuts and filberts

even to offer any comment as to stocks for them.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 18: The planting location perhaps has more influence than the

seed source. At any rate, the poorest growing pecan in the University of

Illinois orchard is on a Wisconsin bitternut understock.--J. C. McD.]

The 1950 Persian Walnut Contest

Spencer B. Chase, _Contest Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority, Norris,

Tennessee_

The nationwide Persian Walnut Contest conducted by NNGA in 1950

attracted 33 entries from 11 states. The contest was judged by H. L.

Crane, L. H. MacDaniels, and H. F. Stoke, assisted by S. B. Chase.

The entries were first evaluated independently by the judges. Then each

judge made a second evaluation with the knowledge of the findings of the

other two judges. The Chairman then arbitrated the differences of

opinion among the three judges. This action amounted only to the placing

of four entries after the first prize had been unanimously agreed upon.

The following table shows the results of the contest:

Results of 1950 Persian Walnut Contest

___________________________________________________________________________

Prize Entry Submitted By Nut Kernel Kernel

Weight Weight Percentage

===========================================================================

1 030 Mrs. W. H. Metcalfe, 11.9 6.5 54.5

Webster, New York

2 011 (Hansen) S. Shessler, Genoa, Ohio 9.8 5.8 58.5

3 002 (McKinster) Roy McKinster, Columbus, Ohio 12.5 6.4 51.2

4 012 (Jacobs) S. Shessler, Genoa, Ohio 12.9 6.0 47.0

5 006 Lewis Weng, Dayton, Ohio 12.4 6.4 51.9

_Honorable Mention_

001 Mrs. Gale Harrison, 14.7 6.2 42.2

Pemberton, New Jersey

008 A. C. Orth, Dayton, Ohio 14.7 6.7 45.8

014 (Burtner) Fayette Etter, Lemasters, 10.4 4.6 44.4

Pennsylvania

016 (S-66) G. L. Smith, Millerton, 15.1 6.8 44.9

New York

025 P. F. Countryman, Ontario, 13.9 6.3 45.3

031 (Colby[19]) A. S. Colby, Urbana, Illinois 10.8 5.9 54.1

032 (S-M-9) Royal Oakes, Bluffs, Illinois 15.8 6.6 41.5

033 S. Elwell, Homer, Michigan 19.2 8.3 43.2

A brief history of the prize-winning trees follows:

_Entry 030:_ A Carpathian originally obtained through the Wisconsin

Horticultural Society in 1936 (Rev. Crath's selections). In 1950 this

tree was 14 years old, 22 feet high, with a trunk circumference of 23

inches. It has withstood 18 degrees below zero without damage. The tree

began bearing a few nuts in 1947, 4 quarts in 1948; 1 peck in 1949; and

1/2 bushel in 1950.

_Entry 011:_ This is the Hansen variety which was given second place in

the 1949 contest. The origin of this tree is uncertain. It is estimated

to be 50 years old and 25 feet high. It has withstood 15 degrees below

zero without damage. Just when this tree began bearing is unknown, but

it produced 2 bushels in 1947; 3 pecks in 1948; 1 bushel in 1949; and 3

bushels in 1950.

_Entry 002:_ This is the McKinster variety which was judged the best

entry in the 1949 contest. It is a Carpathian originally obtained

through the Wisconsin Horticultural Society in 1939 (Rev. Crath's

selections), and was 11 years old in 1950. It is 29 feet high with a

circumference of 22 inches. It has withstood 17 degrees below zero

without injury. This tree began bearing in 1943. In 1947 it produced 1/2

bushel; 1 bushel in 1948; 3 pecks in 1949; and 3 pecks in 1950.

_Entry 012:_ This is the Jacobs variety which placed third in the 1949

contest. The nut which produced this tree originally came from Germany

some 70 years ago. It has withstood 15 degrees below zero without

injury. This is a large tree which has been bearing since 1915. It

produced 300 pounds in 1947; 100 pounds in 1948; 200 pounds in 1949; and

200 pounds in 1950.

_Entry 006:_ A Carpathian originally obtained through the Wisconsin

Horticultural Society in 1936 (Rev. Crath's selections). In 1950 it was

14 years old, 25 feet high, with a circumference of 30 inches. It has

withstood 10 degrees below zero without injury. This tree began bearing

in 1949; in 1950 it produced 15 pounds of nuts.

It should be emphasized that this contest was based entirely on nut

characteristics. In another year the placing of the same entries might

be considerably different, because of seasonal variation. However, it is

significant that the McKinster, Hansen, and Jacob varieties which were

among the prize-winners in the 1949 contest were also among the

prize-winners in 1950.

Contests such as this are valuable as a first step in the selection and

development of improved varieties. The prize-winners and those given

honorable mention are all very promising hardy Persian walnuts. The next

step will be to test these selections to determine their adaptability to

our varying conditions.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 19: Named since the close of the contest.--Ed.]

Colby, a Hardy Persian Walnut for the Central States

J. C. McDaniel, _Extension Horticulturist, University of Illinois_

When the Reverend Paul C. Crath of Toronto imported walnut seeds and

scions from his native Ukraine region and adjacent areas of Poland in

the 1920s, he started a chain of propagation and selection which

promises to establish the Persian walnut (_Juglans regia_) as a commonly

grown nut in southern Ontario and the north central states. The best of

his importations, and seedlings from them, are fruiting in such states

as Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, showing in many cases a

degree of hardiness which must reverse the conclusion of an older

generation of pomologists that Persian or "English" walnuts were too

tender for successful cultivation in most of the middle west.

The time has now arrived when there are enough fruiting trees of the

"Crath Carpathian" walnut seedlings in many states that comparisons can

be made and the more promising ones named and disseminated for

propagation. The nuts which the Reverend Mr. Crath imported in greatest

quantity during the middle 1930s came from more than 100 different

seedling trees selected in Poland. Their seedlings exhibit much

variability in characters of trees and nuts. Some are much less hardy

than others under our conditions. Not all are as large fruited as their

seed parents (and some of the parent trees bore small nuts). Though many

have smoother shells than Mayette or Franquette, there is also much

variation in shape, thickness, and color of shells. Color and flavor of

kernel vary from tree to tree. The season of nut maturity, though

variable, is generally early enough in locations where the trees are

winter hardy. The parents were selected for good filling of kernels,

and this character generally has carried over to the seedlings fruited

in America. As with other walnuts, some of the Carpathian seedlings are

apparently more susceptible than others to fruit damage by the husk

maggot. Walnut blight has infected them in some localities.

The COLBY Persian walnut, named in August 1951, and released to nut

nurserymen for propagation early in 1952, is the best to date of

thirteen Carpathian seedlings (each from a different parent tree)

planted at the University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station

from 1937 to 1939. It is the first Persian walnut variety to be named at

this station.

The name, Colby, honors Dr. Arthur S. Colby of the Department of

Horticulture at the University of Illinois, who has been in charge of

nut investigations here since 1919. It was given to this variety, with

his permission, by members of the Northern Nut Growers Association

during their 42nd Annual Meeting, held at Urbana in August, 1951. Dr.

Colby is a former president of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

Colby is a seedling of the tree designated as Crath No. 10. The seed was

collected in 1934 from the parent tree near Cosseev, in the Carpathian

mountain region of southern Poland as then constituted, planted in the

nursery of S. H. Graham, Ithaca, New York, and the seedling transplanted

to Urbana, Illinois at the age of two years. It has been fruiting

annually here since 1942, with crops of up to 1-1/4 bushels in recent

years. The accompanying cut shows nuts of the 1951 crop, a little less

than 2/3 natural size. They are thin shelled, like the parent Crath No.

10, well filled with kernels of rich flavor, and are medium in size for

varieties of this species.

[Illustration: Colby walnuts of 1951 crop, showing thin shells and

plump, bright kernels.]

The Colby tree is rather upright in growth, with strong branches, being

the most vigorous among the four hardiest Carpathian seedlings at

Urbana. It was one of two trees on which most catkins survived the

winter of 1950-51, when temperatures at Urbana fell to -19° F. It is

among the earliest Persian walnuts to start growth in spring, blossoming

at Urbana normally in the first half of May. Flowering is protandrous

(male flowers first) but with enough overlap of staminate and pistillate

blossoms to secure a large degree of self-pollination from the abundant

large catkins. Fruit set might be improved, however, by planting nearby

another variety with later staminate catkins.[20] The nuts mature from

the middle to the last of September and have not been seriously affected

by walnut husk maggot or walnut blight at Urbana. The tree is relatively

early in wood maturity, shedding its foliage usually before November, a

characteristic shared by the other hardiest Carpathian seedlings in

Illinois.

Prior to 1952, scions of the Colby walnut (previously designated

Illinois No. 10) were propagated for test by top working on native

eastern walnut (_Juglans nigra_) at two widely separated locations. It

fruited in 1951 at Greensboro, North Carolina, where the early growth

sometimes is injured by spring freezes. (This is common with Carpathian

walnuts in the southeast.) It has survived three winters at Sabula, Iowa

with no cold injury and made unusually vigorous growth there. At both

Urbana and Sabula, it has been compared with Broadview Persian walnut, a

British Columbia origination considered a hardy variety. Broadview has

often suffered winter injury at both locations, and in 1950-51 was

killed to the understock at Urbana.

The suggested test regions for the Colby Persian walnut include those

with a climate similar to central Illinois, and where spring freezes are

not generally a problem. The suggested understock is black walnut (_J.

nigra_) though established hardy Carpathian and other Persian walnuts

may be satisfactory for top working.

Additional wood for propagation of the Colby will be available in small

quantities next August to nut nurserymen and other experiment stations.

(Walnut scions cannot be sent from Illinois to California.) Trees of

Colby should be available from several cooperating nurseries in the fall

of 1953.--Reprinted from _Fruit Varieties and Horticultural Digest_,

6(4):72-75. 1952.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 20: According to U.S.D.A. workers in walnut breeding, pollen

of other _Juglans_ species is not to be depended upon for securing a set

of fruit on this species. Several hardy Persian varieties of good

quality which have won awards in recent contests are being propagated

but have not been grown at Urbana. These include the Lake, McKinster,

and Metcalfe among others of Carpathian parentage, and two

non-Carpathian varieties, Hansen and Jacobs, which have been fruitful in

northwestern Ohio. Before one or more of these can be recommended as a

pollinator for the Colby walnut, however it will be necessary to have

them flowering in the same orchard for a period of several years.

Among the other Carpathian walnuts which have flowered in the orchard

containing the original Colby tree, there is one very hardy seedling, R

5 T 27, which in 1951 and 1952 produced abundant pollen at the proper

time to pollinate the Colby. Tree R 5 T 27 an open pollinated seedling

of Crath No. 23, is protandrous, but later flowering than the Colby with

respect to pistils as well as catkins, and consequently most of its

pistillate flowers fail to set fruit in years like 1951 when there was

no later Persian walnut pollen available. The R 5 T 27 tree produces an

attractive, smooth shelled nut slightly smaller than that of Colby, not

quite as sweet in flavor, and slightly earlier in maturity. Because of

its hardiness and apparent value as a pollinator for Colby, propagating

wood from this R 5 T 27 walnut tree will be available to experimenters,

but we do not plan to name it at present.]

Resolutions

Mr. President and members of the Northern Nut Growers Association. The

Northern Nut Growers' Association, assembled in its forty-second annual

meeting here at Urbana, Illinois, on this the 29th day of August, 1951,

desires to express its appreciation and thanks to Dr. George D.

Stoddard, President of the University of Illinois, and to Dr. H. P.

Rusk, Dean of the Agricultural College, to Dr. C. J. Birkeland, Dr. A.

S. Colby, Professor J. C. McDaniel, and other members of the Department

of Horticulture, as well as to other members of the staff of the

University for the excellent accommodations provided for the

entertainment of the members attending and for the meeting place

provided, and to Mrs. A. S. Colby and other for their entertainment of

the ladies and for the refreshments furnished. Therefore, be it resolved

that the Secretary spread this resolution upon the minutes of the

Association and send copies to President Stoddard, Dr. Birkeland, and

Dr. and Mrs. A. S. Colby.

In the passing of Harry R. Weber, who was a nut culturist, one of the

oldest members of the Association, and a past president, we have lost

not only a real leader and worker in this Association, but also a very

dear friend. This Association is greatly indebted to him and he has been

deeply missed at this meeting. Therefore, be it resolved that the

Secretary of this Association spread upon the record of this meeting

this resolution and send a copy to Mrs. Weber

Signed, Members of Resolutions Committee

(s) H. L. Crane, _Chairman_

(s) F. L. O'Rourke

(s) Spencer Chase