When I get away from home they ask me if I am a Kentucky Colonel. That's

one of the first things I hear, and I tell them that I am. And they want

to know why they put that honor upon a small fellow like me, and I tell

them it was on account of scientific research that I had done, that I

had developed a new way of making egg-nog. I feed the chickens the

whiskey mash and they lay bourbon-flavored eggs, and all you have to do

is drop one in a glass of milk.

They always ask about the Kentucky Derby, and I tell them that the last

I heard Mint Julep was coming in on the home stretch strong.

I am not qualified with all of these experts to get up here and talk

about nuts. They say an expert is a fellow that learns more and more

about less and less until he knows practically everything about nothing

at all; and that's kind of my shape, sir.

Now, seriously, I have had this hobby of trying to grow nuts for a

number of years. I grafted a golf club on a croquet post, and I got some

wonderful golf balls. Before the war I ordered some Chinese chestnuts. I

got in touch with Sakata and Company in Yokahama, and they finally came

in. I didn't have any experience, and about all I had was some

imagination, and I planted them out in the fall of the year like I

planted any other nuts. I went out in the spring and investigated. There

wasn't a darn one come up. The rats had beat me to them and eaten them

all up.

I was a persistent cuss and ordered some the next year, and I put them

up in fruit jars and figured I would plant them in the spring, and when

the spring came they all had the dry rot.

So I ordered them the third year, and I made sacks out of fly screen

wire and put those nuts outside, and in the spring they came up and I

had a lot of nice sprouts about this high and put them in a seed bed

with a board all the way around. My father is blind in one eye, couldn't

tell a chestnut from a weed, and he pulled up the weeds and he pulled

all the chestnuts up except one.

The fourth year I had better success, and I raised that year

400-and-some-odd chestnut seedlings, and I did more or less the Johnny

Appleseed stuff with those. I gave those away in the community. I am,

among other things, a banker, and I figured those would be as good as

calendars, and I have not been able to follow the history of them.

However, there is one of them I think is exceptional. It's a

self-pollinator and is bearing heavy crops, and I intend to follow that

particular tree up.

A genius, he is no better than any of the rest of us. All a genius is is

a fellow that's got good digestion so he can eat enough to work long

hours and good eyesight so he don't get tired.

So I was reading in a magazine about the Crath English walnut. They sent

the Reverend Mr. Crath over to Poland before the war, and I got four

pounds of those nuts he collected, and planted them. And every spring a

cold spell would come along and get them before I could cut any grafts

off of them. And I planted a Nebraska pecan and got some grafts from it,

and my wife said that tree never did have a chance because I kept

cutting the prunes off so they couldn't grow. I got several to growing,

and then they didn't fill out the nuts.

I was talking to a good doctor here from Baltimore last night. We ate

dinner, at the same table here, and I told him I didn't see but one

thing wrong with this Northern Nut Growers Association: It needed a lot

of young people in it, because if it didn't they were going to have to

hold a reunion over at the cemetery.

I have done a lot of grafting, and I am not going into the details of

that. I am going to say that I am glad to be here, I give you greetings

from Kentucky, and I hope that I will meet you all again.

* * * * *

President Davidson: That certainly was refreshing, Dr. Moss. We enjoyed

it.

Next on the program is Dr. Aubrey Richards, Whiteville, Tennessee, who

is not here. Nuts for West Tennessee is the subject of that paper, and

Secretary MacDaniel will read it for us.

Nut Trees for West Tennessee

AUBREY RICHARDS, M.D., Whiteville, Tennessee

At the present time I am attempting to grow 14 grafted varieties of

Chinese and Japanese chestnuts, plus numerous hybrids and seedlings,

eight varieties of black walnut, 5 named Persian and 18 unnamed

Carpathians, 5 heartnuts, 5 hickory and hickory hybrids, 12 pecans, and

7 hazels and filberts. The total number of trees, including all

varieties, is well over three hundred. A few of the trees have been

under my observation for 11 years on down to some that I have just

acquired.

I shall not bore you with a list of unsatisfactory varieties nor with

the ones that have not had sufficient observation in this section, but

shall confine my remarks to less than two dozen varieties.

Pecans I shall touch only lightly, as they are a highly specialized crop

only a little farther south. Stuart and Success are favorites here.

Schley and Mahan are good if scab can be controlled. Sun scald on newly

planted trees is our greatest problem, which I control by a paper wrap

made by cutting two inch sections from a 36 inch roll of cheap felt-base

wall paper. It gradually weathers away during the second summer. I wrap

from the top down in a spiral, and when I reach the bottom, I place a

hand full of earth on the end of the paper. No tying is required. In

this way I have reduced the mortality rate of young nut trees greatly.

I am also a strong believer in cover crops and mulching, for Tennessee

weather is very temperamental.

Although we get ample rainfall per annum, it is often not well

distributed, especially during mid-summer. During the winter we have

several days of balmy spring weather with a drop to possibly below zero

occuring overnight.

Thomas black walnut grows well here, but tends to over-bear, with many

poorly filled nuts on alternate years. I counted an average of 8 nuts

per lineal foot of bearing wood on one tree this season.

Snyder and Stambaugh are excellent nuts, setting about all they can

mature.

Elmer Myers is a beautiful thin shelled nut, but so far a little shy in

bearing. I believe this can be corrected if I can find another walnut

that will shed pollen late enough to catch the Myers pistils. Homeland

may be the one to do it. I have set some grafts of it with the Myers to

see.

Carpathian D, and a variety of unknown origin from Haywood County are

the only Persian walnuts I have fruited. This tree of unknown origin

grows alone, is at least 50 years old, is three feet in diameter, has a

spread of 40 feet, and is about the same in height. Some years it

produces a heavy crop, others, nothing. To my knowledge, it has received

no care in the past 20 years.

My 18 Carpathians are all growing with varying vigor and resistance to

leaf spot. None has shown winter injury.

Of all the heartnuts, Rhodes is my favorite. The nut does not appear to

be as large as some, but the kernel is just as heavy, due to its compact

shape which causes it to fall out when the nut is cracked. It is

self-pollenizing and also a good pollenizer for all my other varieties,

shedding pollen over a long period of time, although it is the latest of

all in producing its pistils. It grows vigorously on black walnut stock.

Rush seems to be the best filbert for this section. Its catkins are

usually hardy here.

Chestnut trees, like gray ghosts, still reach their naked arms high on

many West Tennessee hillsides, and occasionally one finds a farmer

splitting posts from their remains, for chestnut is an enduring wood. A

few of these tenacious individuals are still sending up sprouts that may

reach considerable size before they are again struck down.

I have had no serious trouble with blight in any of the named chestnut

varieties, either Chinese or Japanese. I have lost some trees by its

entrance into the seedling stock, but not many. My greatest headache has

been sun-scald and winter killing, or to be more exact, "early spring"

killing.

One of the juvenile characteristics of oriental chestnuts is the

retention of their leaves all winter. They also grow in a rather

sprangling way. This is a protective mechanism, and when we prune them

to an upright form, or graft, this wood having lost its juvenile

characteristics, we are inviting trouble unless we protect the trunk in

some other way. I prefer to use a paper wrap as described under Pecans,

as it is quickly done and is inexpensive. This also gives protection to

immature callus cells at bud or graft union.

Of the older Chinese chestnut varieties in my hands, Hobson has

excelled, with large chestnuts (34 to the pound in 1948.) Zimmerman also

produces a good nut. Colossal (Hybrid) is very productive and produces

the largest nuts of any chestnut that I have seen grown in Tennessee,

but the quality of the raw nut is not equal to Hobson. It refuses to

grow on Chinese stock, but thrives on Japanese. It is pollen sterile. I

have several newer varieties under observation and although they are

growing vigorously I have not had time to form an opinion on them.

* * * * *

President Davidson: The Reverend Bernard Taylor of Alpine, Tennessee,

will next read a paper on The Marketing of Black Walnuts as a Community

Project. Mr. Taylor.

Marketing Black Walnuts as a Community Project

THE REV. BERNARD TAYLOR, Alpine, Tennessee

The Rev. Mr. Taylor: I suppose that every community where black walnuts

grow wild has a marketing of some kind, some kind of a plan of

marketing, maybe just what every boy or every man who has some spare

time or some of the womenfolks may do to make something out of the

walnuts that are lying around.

In the community of Alpine, which is in Overton County, people used to

go out on the ridge with wagons and bring home wagonloads of walnuts,

and they would sell them either in the shell or they would crack them

and sell them in pretty poor condition, however they could sell them.

When we first began selling walnut kernels in Alpine we got 19 cents a

pound for the kernels, and that was more than they were worth, I

believe, because they were dirty, greasy, and they had mildew gobs in

the bunches of kernels. So I don't know how the rolling stores that came

around that way could make anything out of them trading them in at that

price.

Then we began to study the Government bulletins on how to produce good

walnut kernels, and there is a good bulletin on that; all of you are

acquainted with it, probably. When we began to harvest those nuts and

hull them as quickly as we could and wash them and dry them out

thoroughly and then crack them before they got too dry, we organized

what was called the Walnut Club. This Walnut Club mostly was composed of

some of the women of the community who lived up in one little cove where

the limestone outcroppings seem to favor the walnut and the air drainage

or whatever it was seemed to favor the crop yields rather regularly. We

don't have an every-year good walnut crop.

Well, these women got finally so that they could get 35 cents a pound

for their walnut kernels, then 45 cents a pound. Then we found a good

friend in Pennsylvania who would take those kernels, all we could send

her, and put them up in little pound packages and sell them for whatever

she could get and send us all the money. That's altogether contrary to

Hoyle I guess.

You merchants, if there are some of you here, who are dealers in walnut

kernels know that our people were just getting spoiled. Anytime now that

a merchant says, "I will give you such-and-such a price for the walnuts

and then I will sell them for such-and-such a price," he looks to them

like a robber. They want to sell them for what the people pay who eat

them. That isn't quite fair, maybe, but we got $1.39 a pound last year

for all the kernels we could produce, and the year before it was $1.40,

I believe, and it stays about that price.

That is about the story of the community project. It is a direct contact

by way of a benevolent friend between people in the mountains in

Tennessee and people in Pennsylvania who say that these kernels taste

better than black walnut kernels in Pennsylvania taste. I don't know

whether any Pennsylvanians here agree with that or not. I think they are

wonderfully mild-flavored, a good many of them very light-colored

kernels. Though Mr. Chase has made some beautiful exhibits of how the

color changes depending on how long a time you leave them in the hull,

we still have some that stay lighter than others. Some of them have

rather gray-colored kernels.

There is one of those trees that Mrs. Ledbetter has, on her husband's

farm. He was about to sell that tree for a log and a stump. They come

along and grub the stumps out and sell the stumps and all for

veneerwood. But she wouldn't let him sell it, and over the course of the

last few years they sold enough kernels more than to pay for that walnut

tree and it is still going to yield a good many years, probably better

and better as time goes on.

I think that possibly the community angle of this is a little bit

misrepresenting. It's not the entire community, but it is a little group

of the community who are interested in the wild black walnut.

Last spring we were very fortunate in having some help in grafting some

of the seedlings. This Mrs. Ledbetter's husband got interested in

walnuts, and he planted a whole pasture with walnuts spaced every so

often, and this spring we went there with the help of God and were able

to graft those to Thomas black walnuts. They were just little seedlings,

so we hope to go into the named black walnuts as time goes on.

* * * * *

President Davidson: May I ask, Mr. Taylor, the people, of course, now

comply with the Government regulations on pasteurization and so on?

Mr. Taylor: Never heard of it. You will have to tell me about that after

a while, if you will, please.

President Davidson: Mr. Shadow, the County Agent of Decatur, Meigs

County, Tennessee, will tell his experiences with tree crops in that

county.

Experiences with Tree Crops in Meigs County, Tennessee

W. A. SHADOW, Meigs County Agent, Decatur, Tennessee

Mr. Shadow: Mr. Chairman and members of the Nut Growers Association: As

President Davidson announced, I am an agricultural agent. About twelve

years ago I thought it would be good to have a hobby, and since I was

born and reared in the nursery world propagating fruit trees and

ornamentals, and due to the fact that John Hershey came by one day and

talked to me about the tree crops in the Tennessee Valley, it struck me

just right, and I have made that my hobby.

You know, every man who has a job gets fed up on his job and needs to

get out and play with himself, or something else, to forget his

troubles. So I find in propagating nut trees, top-working them, if you

will, top-working trees where I find them to named varieties, is very

interesting to me.

John Hershey taught me the technique of grafting nut trees. I had

grafted and budded in all kinds of ornamentals and fruits, but I needed

training in nut trees. So in the spring of 1935, I guess, I grafted

about a hundred Thomas black walnut on trees where I found them in the

woodland. At the same time I grafted maybe a hundred Japanese persimmon

of possibly a dozen varieties on the common native persimmon. I

purchased three, four, maybe five Japanese persimmons and planted these

trees in the spring of 1935. All these persimmons, maybe 60 or 70 of

them, grew nicely. The Thomas grew very well, and the winter of 1939 or

1940, I don't recall just which, was rather severe. We had below-zero

weather, and all of my persimmons were killed--I thought. The next year

I found a persimmon tree up in the woods with maybe a peck of great big

nice persimmons and later I found that that was a Fuyugaki persimmon.

All the rest of mine were winter killed. Those that I purchased were

winter killed the first year. I don't know why. I grafted the persimmon

about 5 feet high. Those that were grafted at the ground I noticed

winter killed the first year, and these that are grafted up about

shoulder high seemed to live three or four years before they winter

killed, and the one variety that survived as Mr. Kline and Mr. Chase, or

someone, has told, is Fuyugaki, I believe. I have a Tamopan persimmon, a

great big, nice persimmon about so big, but bitter as the dickens, and

about the only thing I think it is good for is to look at. It is pretty.

But the Fuyugaki is never bitter. It is very tasty even partially green,

and as it ripens my lady thinks it is very good, and I think it is good,

myself.

I have about two or three varieties of mulberries. I got them from Glen

St. Mary Nurseries in Florida. They make awfully good pig feed and bird

feed, and I don't mind eating them myself.

There are some honeylocust, Millwood and Calhoun. I purchased several

seedlings of thornless honeylocust from some northwestern nursery and

grafted them to Millwood and Calhoun. I also have four trees that are

ten years old and they have never borne. Last year there was one tree of

that hundred that bore heavily, and the rest of them are barren. It must

be lack of pollenization, or something. I am not getting fruit from my

honeylocust.

Someone asked me what I am going to do with all this stuff, and I said,

"Well, the squirrels and I will have lots of fun anyhow, and the cows

will eat the honeylocust if they ever bear."

I have two pecan trees that are bearing nicely. One is a Posey and the

other is a Greenriver, bearing very nicely. They are about ten years

old. I have some Schley and Delmas and Mahan, and they are not bearing.

I don't know why. We are out of the realm of the southern pecan and too

far south for the northern pecan, I am afraid.

My Persian walnut, heartnut and Japanese walnut think it is spring too

quick, and every year they burst out and grow about so long, and then

they fall down and die from freezing, and then they grow out, and this

time of the year you look at them and you say, "That's a beautiful

tree," But they freeze just enough to get the fruit each year.

Mr. McDaniel came by last spring a year ago and left with me a little

scion of a Carpathian walnut, the Bayer selection. I wasn't present,

but he left it with my lady and suggested to my lady that I would know

what to do with it. I put it on a common black walnut grafted about so

high, and it is ten feet high now growing nicely, but this spring I

noticed that it, too, thought the spring was here before it was here. I

don't know how it is going to bear. I may have to take it out on top of

the hill and re-graft it on a high place where it has more air drainage.

Of the Chinese chestnut, I planted about a hundred, but I planted them

in a cut-over woodland that was full of native chestnut sprouts. You

know how the chestnut sprouts will do. They grow up and blight out and

die down, and another sprout comes from the stump. They have been doing

that for 30 years over in my part of the country. I planted these

chestnuts purposely in that grove where there was lots of blight. Out of

that hundred I have eight trees that are alive. The rest of them have

died from blight. They are bearing very nicely, but I haven't learned

how to care for those fruits so that they are good a long period of

time. Someone just told me that you had someone on the program this

morning who would tell us that. It is a very interesting subject for me.

And the Thomas walnut is a nice black walnut. The trees are a little bit

peculiar about their bearing; sometimes they bear heavily and again they

forget to bear. The Stabler doesn't bear at all for me. I just know they

are Stablers because someone told me so. I have them labeled. I have

Creitz black walnut. I got five from TVA four or five years ago, and

they just literally bear themselves to death. They're about so high and

bear every year, very nice nuts. I will have to pull the walnuts off

long enough to make them grow up and make real trees. I think they are

going to be all right.

Mr. Chairman, I am not an expert. I use my hobby to keep from bothering

about the troubles that I have with other things, and when I get mad at

a neighbor I go to playing on my trees, and it gets me well. I recommend

it as a very soothing hobby.

Now, some day we will make a business out of tree crops when we in

Tennessee get the bugs out of it and get them so we will have the right

varieties to produce. I am not satisfied with the Thomas. Someone

suggested it was a wonderful nut. I am not satisfied with it. We need a

better walnut than the Thomas. But it's the best I have.

There is a native walnut I found in the valley near Watts Bar Dam. I

named it Pineland. It is just a seedling. It is a most wonderful nut if

it wasn't for its hard shell. It's hard as the dickens. It is a

wonderful bearer, has borne every year for nine years. It happens to be

in unusually good soil. But I have grafted a few up away from the river,

and the grafted trees are bearing nicely. The trouble is it is hard, but

it is a wonderful good kernel and it is a big nut.

Groups like this working with tree crops and nuts over a period of time

will develop the right varieties, and if we can get some youngsters

interested--and I am in my county getting some youngsters interested in

grafting--and tell them not to expect too much but get a whole lot of

satisfaction out of the fun of producing something, I think this will be

the beginning. Or rather, you have been going a long time. This is a

means of progress in tree crops that I am well pleased to take a part

in. Mr. Chairman, I think that's about all that I have.

* * * * *

President Davidson: I know we all wish we had more county agents like

that, interested in trees and interested in young folks. Those two

things should go together. I wish you would just sort of propagate that

idea when you meet other county agents, won't you, Mr. Shadow?

Now, then, Mr. Frye of Pleasant Dale, West Virginia, will tell us

something about Nut Hobbying in Eastern West Virginia.

Nut Hobbying in Eastern West Virginia

WILBERT M. FRYE, Pleasant Dale, West Virginia

Mr. Frye: After hearing such wonderful speeches as we have had, with

your reading, Mr. McDaniel, I wish I could be all of us, but as it is, I

am just myself. I don't know how many know where Pleasant Dale is, but

anyhow, you know where Washington, D. C. is; I live just along U. S. 50

and my section is 103 miles west of Washington, D. C. That will locate

where we are.

This section of the country is composed of a lot of long ridges with

steep hills, narrow valleys, some of them very fertile. These valleys

form bases where you will get the draft off these hills down into the

valleys. You must keep all the fruit and most of the nut trees out of

those places, or you have these frost spots that I have been telling

some of you about.

As far back as people can remember that country has been covered with

all kinds of nuts except the European (Persian or "English") walnuts,

and the early people coming in there used these nuts for food, and the

chestnut was their main one. Whenever a person clearing the land found a

nice tree he would save it. Then he would show much pride in having a

good tree, and it kept on going until there became a rivalry as to who

had the best chestnut tree. Some had an orchard of them.

When the blight hit the country I had an orchard of chestnut trees. When

I saw the first blight in the top of a tree I didn't like the looks. I

kept noticing that. It kept on coming down the tree, and it killed the

base. The total result was everybody lost their hobby trees, and then

soon they changed to something else.

Now, when the blight took the chestnut out of the country the people

began to pride themselves on the walnut, who had the best walnut, who

had the best shagbark in the country.

Some distance from where I am is a two-acre grove, a wonderful grove of

our larger nuts. Some places it is called kingnut and some places they

call it under the name of this big one in the show room, shellbark.

Anyhow, there were two acres there and real moist meadows, and every

once in a while the frost would kill those nuts, and the next year they

would have a wonderful crop. So the climate determines whether we have

an annual crop or an intermittent crop on these trees.

Then I always liked to mess around with hobbies with nature. I became

interested, got to wondering who did have the best of the best. Then I

began to go out and visit all of these farms and ask them for a certain

number of the best, and I began to send them around to Mr. Reed and Mr.

Zarger and other people to take their word on it. And, of course, I have

located some that cracked very well. But every once in a while somebody

tells me they have got a better one yet, and the other day I ran across

a fellow a hundred miles away--he happened to hear about me, and I have

a neighbor who knows him--who has a black walnut that looks like a

Persian walnut. So you see, I have a trip of a hundred miles to make to

see what he's got. I wrote to him just before I left. I wrote to him to

send me at least 20 of those nuts, and just as soon as this fellow sends

me the nuts I would come up and see him and later on would try to get

some grafting wood and send down to Mr. Zarger of the TVA group.

My job is not to keep them to myself but to put out the best. So we have

those different nuts, and now it is time to consolidate the best in what

we have and get them in the hands of the nut growers groups and those

who will put them out and really make use of them. But first we want to

see these best trees all over the country. Some of them are not as good

for timber as the others, but I like to incorporate the timber with the

nut production.

We talked about the black walnut earlier today. The speaker was not

saying much about flavor. That's one thing we want to do in all of our

nut work, get as good a flavor as we can. So why not get the best and go

putting it out to give it to everybody. Why keep anything within

ourselves? That's the main thing we can do.

A brother was talking a while ago about this nut job, a community nut

job. Now, two years ago--I will have to use my dad, who is 82 years old,

as a little reference--my dad cracked 83 pounds of black walnuts from

just the best of them, you might say. Sold them at a price of $1.49 a

pound. So that wasn't bad, was it? I thought that was right good.

Last year we didn't have a nut in there because we had a freeze on the

31st of May of around 26 deg. to 28 deg., depending on where you were and the

location. But then in the fall on the 23rd of September we had another

drop just when everything was in full growth, due to a dry spell and

then a rain. But in the fall on the 23rd of September we had a drop down

to 20, so that was what happened to all the remaining nuts in that

country. They were just frozen like black mummies.

I had what they call the Texas Thinshell black walnut. I have one tree

that is about eight or nine feet high, maybe ten feet high, had 45 nuts

on it, nice big ones, and they just looked like mummies, and it made me

heartsick, of course. I went out there and looked at the things, and

they fell off the tree. I thought, "Well, I might just as well

experiment. I will dig me a little trench here along the garden, I will

put these in and see what happens." To my surprise 20 of them came up

after being frozen. So that might be a question: Will things sprout or

germinate without reaching maturity?[17] I don't know how much maturity

they had. They certainly weren't in full growth when they were frozen.

That's one thing we want to see.

My main aim is just to grow things, for hobby purposes and see just what

will grow. Last year we had such a hectic year from that late spring

freeze and early fall freeze it discouraged me here where I am, in this

frost pocket at an elevation of 1,050 feet. And I said, "Now, on the

hill about 4 miles away and 300 feet higher they have a wonderful place

for peaches." I have a friend who lives up there, and he has so many

peach trees missing in his old orchard. I said, "How about setting out

some nut trees in your peach orchard?" Ho said, "Go to it." I set out a

nut tree wherever there is a peach tree out. So that gave me a chance to

see what they would do. Last spring I started that too late, but I set

out 45 or 50 trees, filberts, Persian walnuts, pecans, chestnuts and

persimmons, and I will just see what they will do.

And today my kind friend who gave a talk on the nut trees from down in

Alabama gave me seed to plant. I expect to put a row of those out and

see what they will do. The land I am planting them on at one time was

just a great mass of chestnuts, and this friend there on one of those

sections, of about three acres, had cut 35,000 feet of this dead timber

after the chestnut blight killed them.

That blight was a terrible shock to us. One thing I did note when it

came on, prior to the chestnut blight in that country there were these

little chipmunks, which, everybody knows, eat chestnuts. You couldn't

hear yourself think for the little chipmunks chipping all over the

country. You know, they carried off all the nuts. You had to be smart to

beat them to them. When the chestnuts disappeared, the chipmunks

disappeared, and there were eight or ten years when you were lucky if

you got to hear one. In the meantime those little fellows have changed.

They died, a lot of them, but now they have learned to eat something

else, and now they are coming back.

That little chipmunk always amused me, because I loved to go out and

play with the squirrels and things like that. Anyhow, it's just pure

hobby work, and as Mr. Shadow says you can get over a mad spell and get

out close to nature, because in this nut work you can't get any closer

to God's work than to get out and get something better. I think that's

all I have to say.

[Footnote 17: Some other members have reported similar behavior of

frost-bitten and poorly filled black walnuts.--Ed.]

* * * * *

President Davidson: Those of you who know Mr. Frye know that he works as

well as he talks, and that's pretty good.

Is Mr. Tatum here? (No response.) In that case I am told that Dr.

Rohrbacher will read a paper by Mr. Tatum of Lebanon, Kentucky on "A

Look, Backward and Forward, Into Nut Growing in Kentucky." Dr

Rohrbacher.

A Look "Backward and Forward" into Nut Growing in Kentucky

W. G. TATUM, Route 4, Lebanon, Kentucky

The lumberman's ax, the chestnut blight, forest fires, and the "new

ground" hill farmer, together, have destroyed many thousands of our

beautiful Kentucky forest acres. Much of this one time "nature lover's

paradise" is now ugly, barren, and eroded, and too poor to give a living

to either man or beast. Wanton destruction of God-given treasure and

beauty is a sin and a shame. Thanks to the men of vision and foresight

of the U.S.D.A., state agricultural colleges, and our own fraternity of

nut tree lovers, this slaughter is coming to a halt at last. Our fellow

citizens are being awakened to the real value of their woodlands. Much

reforestation of these steep barren wastes is already under way.

We, of THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INC., can look back to many

mistakes we have made in the selection of varieties for our respective

climates and soils. Our dates and methods of grafting, budding, and

transplanting have not always been right. We have gotten hold of

scionwood that we were most sure would not grow when we used it, but we

did use it, hoping, and most of it did fail, as we expected.

In our Association, we have a large group of wise experimenters on

varieties and methods, well placed all over the U. S. and I have every

confidence that, in time, many commercially profitable varieties, and

better methods will reward their research. But in the meantime, we

should all keep ever on the alert for a new and better idea, or variety.

Here in Central Kentucky, of the many black walnuts I have under test,

only Thomas, Victoria, and Eureka have the tendency toward young and

heavy bearing. These three do show great promise in my section as young

and heavy croppers. And they are all top-bracket nuts, according to

tests made by expert testers. There may be newer ones better than these,

and we hope there will be yet better ones turn up continually in the

future.

There are at least a few Persian walnuts that show promise in my

location. Of varieties I have of bearing age, only four are worthy of

mention. These are Broadview, Elmore, "Crath-Dunstan No. I" and

"Crath-Edmunds No. 3." All of the above have borne well on two year old

grafts on large black walnut stocks. Their nuts are in my opinion

excellent.

Wright and Walters heartnuts seem well adapted here, and are doing

equally well for me on Japanese, butternut, and black rootstocks. These

are the only two I have old enough to bear, and they are bearing their

first few nuts each this season. I would like to add here, that the wild

nut crop in general in my section, is very light, and these nut trees

that I mention as bearing this season, are the more to be noticed for

their crops in this year of bad nut crops. I am trying "buartnuts" and

butternuts, which are growing satisfactorily, but not large enough for a

crop.

This is wonderful natural chestnut territory. All of the many Chinese

seedlings I have, and the few grafted ones, are growing nicely, and

quite a number have burs on them when only about belt high to an average

man. I am anxious to get graftwood of superior individuals as they come

out, for propagation here in my own planting. I believe this to be a

good home for any good chestnut. No blight is showing to date in either

my seedlings or grafted ones.

I live on rather deep, fertile upland, and am quite hopeful of good

results from many of the Northern pecan varieties that I am trying. The

oldest trees I have are only five years old, on small seedling stocks

and hardly old enough to yield a crop for at least another five years.

Major, Greenriver, Busseron, and Fisher are my oldest, and are making

rapid growth. Stuart, of the Southern group, is bearing quite well for

my friend, Lewis Edmunds, a few miles southwest of me, and he says it

matures its nuts well before frost, but insects cause a goodly part of

the crop to fall prematurely.

I have quite a collection of the better known grafted shagbarks on my

woodland. These are mostly on wild shagbark stocks. They are all growing

well, but I have had no nuts from them as yet. Grainger is the fastest

grower of the lot.

To make my nut tree project complete, I have quite a long row of

filberts and hazels, set hedge row fashion, which include quite a list

of varieties. Those that bear quite regular and heavy crops include four

"Jones Hybrids," Winkler hazel, two un-named hazels, and Barcelona

filbert.

I have persimmons, too, both American and Chinese named varieties. My

Chinese are young and not bearing yet, but doing well. Kansas and

Josephine are my choice of the natives.

I am trying Millwood and Shessler honeylocusts for the first time this

year. They are beautiful grafts, and I am looking forward to the

pleasure and profit of adding them to my hill cow pasture in a year or

two.

* * * * *

President Davidson: Thank you, very much, Dr. Rohrbacher. We have 15

minutes before the next order comes on the program. Suppose you take a

recess right now.

(A recess was taken.)

(Mr. William J. Wilson from Georgia showed moving pictures of his pecan

orchard.)

President Davidson: The next order of business, we will now hear a

report of the Committee on Black Walnut Standards and Judging by Dr. L.

H. MacDaniels.

Round Table Discussion on Judging Schedule for Black Walnuts

DR. L. H. MacDANIELS, Chairman

Dr. MacDaniels: During the year your committee has worked on the problem

of setting up a judging schedule for black walnuts, mainly through

correspondence. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to get together

for discussion. Had we done so, I'm sure we could have achieved close

agreement upon essentials. As it is, there are several phases of the

problem upon which we would like the judgment of the association

members. As far as this group here is concerned, I am quite sure that we

can't profitably go into a discussion of the various details and

ramifications of a judging schedule. I do think, however, that we might

discuss the problem of whether our point of view in developing such a

schedule should be that of the value of a variety for the commercial

buyer or for home use. As far as the committee is concerned, Mr. Chase

favors the home use angle. Clarence Reed and Mr. Stoke have not

expressed themselves definitely one way or the other. Mr. Stoke is here,

and I expect that he will say something about it.

I would like to open discussion on this question at this time, unless

you want to go back to the consideration of whether it is desirable or

possible, to have any such schedule, at all. May we assume that this is

desirable?

Mr. Weber: Could we have a double standard, one for the commercial

grower and one for the home grower?

Dr. MacDaniels: In my judgment it would be better to try one at a time.

Another schedule can be developed later.

Mr. Weber: Have you any particular preference, Dr. MacDaniels?

Dr. MacDaniels: I personally feel that the new and improved varieties

will find their best use as a home proposition rather than in the

commercial orchard, because apparently with a modern cracker the common

wild nuts can be cracked in pieces that are satisfactory for the

commercial trade, and crackability is of little moment.

Have you any comments as to which point of view the committee should

take?

Dr. Crane: I would like to inquire as to the purpose for which this

numerical score or method of evaluating these nuts is to be used. Is it

to be used for show purposes, or is it for determining the value of a

variety of nut to grow?

Dr. MacDaniels: The purpose of setting up a schedule is to provide a

standard by which we can determine differences between samples in

contests, and to give a basis for comparison in determining the value of

a variety for growing in various climatic zones and of different

varieties grown in the same place. For instance, the variety, Thomas, in

one zone would be a very good nut and have a score of, say, 89. In

another it might have a score of only 45, and in another a score of 55.

The score would be directly related to the adaptability of this variety

to a climatic zone or to a system of cultivation or to variation in any

other environmental condition.

Mr. Weber: How do the other members of the committee feel about it? What

is their preference? It seems to me that if you are unanimous, all we

have to do is approve your report and leave out the discussion.

Dr. MacDaniels: We are not unanimous. Mr. Reed, who I regret is not

here, rather doubts that any kind of schedule is either possible or

desirable. Would you think that is a fair statement, Mr. Stoke?

Mr. Stoke: Yes.

Dr. MacDaniels: Mr. Chase believes that a schedule is both possible and

desirable and that we should work along the general ideas advanced in

the paper on judging schedules published in the last volume of the

report. As I understand Mr. Stoke's position, he would go along with

that in general with possibly the addition of the factors of taste and

color. Is that right?

Mr. Stoke: Yes, taste and color for domestic use.

Dr. MacDaniels: I have already stated my position. I feel that unless we

confine the schedule to characteristics that can be weighed or measured

successfully its value and usefulness will be little.

A Member: Dr. MacDaniels, if a man has a $20,000 machine for cracking

walnuts and he has a choice between the Thomas walnut and a good wild

one, he will pay a little bit more for Thomas walnuts, will he not?

Dr. MacDaniels: The question raised is that if a cracking plant which

cracks thousands of pounds can get more kernels out of a hundred pounds

of Thomas nuts or any other grafted variety, would the operators pay

something more for them? I think undoubtedly they would, but would they

pay enough of a differential over the wild nuts to make it worthwhile to

the grower? I don't know.

Dr. Crane: If you take pecans which are our best example, 95 per cent of

all nuts produced in the United States are marketed as shelled kernels,

and there is a very substantial price differential between seedlings and

budded pecans, and the crackers will pay the difference based on the

yield of kernels. That is their only interest. The thickness of shell,

how well it cracks, or any other factor is of no importance. If the

kernels are there, they will get them out.

Dr. MacDaniels: That is the crux of this whole matter. Are we interested

in developing varieties for cracking in which we care little about the

size of the pieces recovered or about the ease of extraction, or do we

want nuts for home use that will give a high yield of large pieces?

These machines, as I understand it, will crack the walnuts and get the

kernels out in small pieces regardless of how they crack in a Hershey

cracker.

Mr. Weber: As I understood Mr. Mullins, he favored having a lot of

Thomas if he could get them.

Dr. MacDaniels: Would he pay the difference? I don't know. Dr. Crane

says he would.

President Davidson: When I talked to him--we passed through there and

saw the plant--he said he thinks well enough of the better nuts to come

here for the purpose of learning where and how to manage a plantation of

his own of Thomas and the other budded varieties for his own cracking

plant. In his own cracking plant the yield for the amount of labor

expended is so much better on the improved varieties that he wants to

make a planting of his own. He will pay more, but just how much more, I

don't know.

That brings up another matter. As I have said before, our state

authorities should be urged again and again and again to buy _good_ seed

nuts for distribution to the public so that we can get these better

quality nuts into the woods. Some of them are agreeing to that. Some of

them are doing it. But so far not very much has been done.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think that before your committee goes ahead we must

get a decision on this point, for the approaches are quite different. If

you are developing a schedule for home use, the size of the nuts is of

importance. In general, the bigger the nut the easier it is to handle,

the easier it is to shuck and crack. The percentage of kernel is

relatively less important than it is in the commercial cracking. The

size of the particles recovered is more important for home use. If they

come out easily and in large pieces, they are much more desirable.

On the other hand, in commercial cracking the percentage of kernel is

important. The commercial buyer wants to know how many pounds of kernels

can be expected from a hundred pounds of nuts. He is not much interested

in the size of the nuts or the size of pieces that are recovered. This

is an entirely different approach to the problem. We have got to decide

between the two before the committee goes further.

Dr. Crane: There is another angle to the problem. A lot of the black

walnuts today are used in the bakery trade and in the ice cream trade.

But I visualize a market for black walnut kernels to be eaten out of

hand. There are many people in the United States that like the flavor of

black walnut kernels to eat in this way. I know I am one of them, and I

don't want to eat crumbs. I don't want to eat small pieces. I like to

have at least quarters.

I think that if we were to gather from the status of our other native

nut industry that there is going to be a premium paid for the larger

pieces, then cracking quality _would_ enter into the matter. Our pecans

are sold on count of whole kernels per pound or per ounce. Almonds are

sold the same way. Walnuts the same way--that is, Persian or English

walnuts. The number of kernels or pieces per pound is an important

matter, notwithstanding the situation as it exists in the black walnuts

today. So I do think that we can't take the present status of the

industry as one which will prevail generally and in the future.

Mr. Weber: Would the majority report favor the side of the home consumer

rather than the commercial buyer?

Dr. MacDaniels: I think it depends on what Mr. Stoke would think about

the majority. We didn't get a chance to get together, because Mr. Stoke

was so busy with exhibits.

Mr. Weber: We might end by moving the adoption of the majority report

and let it get at that.

Mr. Stoke: I know I brought up that matter of whether we should judge by

standards acceptable to the commercial buyer or to the ultimate

consumer. The confectioner doesn't care about the size or color at all.

When they are put up in candy or in chocolate cookies, color doesn't

mean anything. It's a black walnut, and it doesn't have to depend on

anything else. So I think those two points of view are pertinent.

I never expressed any preference, and I don't know that I have any. I

think it might be just as well to leave that up to this body. But the

producer, or those anticipating producing must be considered. Mr.

Hirschi can give us the word on marketing kernels.

Mr. Hirschi: I do not market kernels. I just crack the nuts and sell

them by the pound cracked.

Dr. MacDaniels: Shell and all?

Mr. Hirschi: Shells and all. I sold about a ton and a half each winter

for the last four or five winters. They are Thomas walnuts. I get 35

cents a pound with the horse shoe nail in the package.

Mr. Stoke: That man wants good color, good flavor, kernels easy to pick

out, and of good size. That goes with the retail buyer. If the

commercial buyer gets 30 per cent kernels from good nuts compared with

15 per cent from run-of-mine nuts, he doubtless will be willing to pay a

considerable premium for the better nuts if he can get them. But unless

the good nuts are in considerable quantity they go right in with the

others and no more will be paid for them. That's my point of view. I

don't want to express my particular opinion, because I have no

particular opinion. But you might consider both, the commercial nut, and

the home nut.

I think we might vote and determine what action, to take tonight as to

setting up a standard, or if you want to set up a double standard.

Mr. Weber: Mr. Mullins does get a better price for a larger kernel. He

separates them and treats them differently than the general run of small

pieces. It's been my observation that the cracking machines do a

remarkably good job with the ordinary run of seedling nuts. Kenneth Dick

gets the kernels out in rather large pieces, and from what we saw up at

Mullins' place he gets the same thing. He sifts out the larger pieces

and gets a better price for them. So the preference is for the larger

pieces. It's like buying hamburger; you prefer your hamburger ground up

out of larger pieces rather than odds and ends that the butcher has

around the shop and grinds it up and hands it to you.

Mr. Stoke: But isn't it true that he sells the kernels in two separate

classes?

Mr. Weber: But the preference still seems to be, after we see them, for

the larger pieces. They have better kernels; otherwise, they would break

up in small pieces.

Mr. Korn: I believe that as long as there are very few commercial

orchards, we should approach it from the angle of the people who have

just a few pet nut trees around their yards, because I don't think the

commercial orchards of the improved grafted black walnuts are going to

be large enough to color the picture very much for a few years to come.

As long as they haven't been too profitable, I think it is going to be

some time before we have to worry much about commercial orchards.

Therefore, we are interested in getting a superior product in kernel; it

has to be large, has to be of good color and good flavor. It seems to me

that would be one of the first things to consider. Then, if orchards get

more plentiful and profitable, we can take up the other angle.

Mr. Chase: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a few remarks on this business

of commercial cracking and large pieces that I hear mentioned by my good

friend, Mr. Weber. I had hoped to have the two largest shellers in the

country present at these meetings, but was unable to get them here. In

this area the commercial walnut cracking industry is related directly to

the type of machinery necessary to recover the kernels. For example, the

two or three cracking plants in Nashville handle an estimated ten

million pounds of nuts each year and turn out roughly 1.2 million pounds

of kernels. These kernels go directly to confectionary syrup and ice

cream plants. Therefore, they are not interested in size of pieces. In

fact, if they are too large, the commercial users have to chop them up.

So what we are doing here, ladies and gentlemen, is confusing what we

want to do in the way of judging nuts, it appears to me. There is little

reason to assume that the Thomas, if they could get 10 million pounds of

Thomas, would be more valuable to the commercial crackers. But that

doesn't necessarily interfere with our judging system that we are trying

to design to tell which nut is the best to grow.

I specifically asked these buyers of millions of pounds of nuts: "If I

came in with some Thomas nuts would I get some more money for them?"

Their reply was, "No, sir. We pay a flat rate per hundred pounds of

nuts. We know that some of them are going to be excellent; we know some

of them are going to be poor, but we intend to get from 12 to 15 per

cent kernel recovery out of them."

In 1940 we brought quantities of improved varieties to the cracking

plant in Knoxville and ran them through Mr. Smalley's machine. He was

amazed. He didn't believe it; didn't believe his eyes. They came out in

large pieces. But under present conditions they'd be chopped up. None of

these kernels moving out of Nashville vicinity go to retail trade,

except a few that go to confectionary stores in 25-pound boxes and are

sold a pound at a time for cooking purposes, not for eating out of the

hand.

People like Mr. Korn and Mr. Hirschi, who are interested in selling

kernels at a much higher price than the commercial crackers, have to

have large pieces, attractive kernels, properly cared for, properly

colored, and of mild flavor. Is it this group we are trying to assist by

this judging system or the commercial cracker?

The number of acres planted with Thomas sufficient to yield enough nuts

to operate one of these machines would be tremendous. There are several

examples of where the machine has been purchased to be used on Thomas

but hasn't been used. It has been stored away. They prefer to crack the

Thomas nuts by hand.

So my point is this: It appears to me that we are interested in the

grower of several trees around the farmstead. At least, in this section

we are. Everyone here gathers and cracks walnuts. Our idea of

acquainting them with the Thomas variety is to make their job easier in

cracking and picking them out. It seems to me that's also the problem

that we have as a group elsewhere, and I believe that in order for us to

make headway on this judging schedule, which I think is necessary and

desirable, we must view it from the home viewpoint at this time. That

does not shut out the commercial viewpoint for later years. But now we

are primarily interested in the home raising of nuts, unless I am in the

wrong group. Thank you.

Mr. Weber: Mr. Chairman, I agree heartily with what Mr. Chase has to

say, or otherwise we might as well quit now and raise seedling nuts to

the best of our ability and sell them to the commercial crackers and let

it go at that. But, if we do that, what's the use of searching out

better varieties?

Dr. Cross: Mr. Chairman: I believe that if a nut acceptable to the home

consumer, one which extracts easily and is attractive and palatable and

is productive--if that type of nut is scored and comes to the attention

of a sufficient number of growers, then I think the commercial people

_will_ utilize it. So I don't believe there is anything to this

argument. I believe if you go ahead on the basis of the home consumer

and develop a nut that will be desirable for his purpose, and if in

addition to these factors that have been discussed it is adaptable and

productive, then it is going to be eventually the nut that the

commercial man will utilize, because, after all, what we are growing

nuts for is the kernel.

Mr. Weber: To bring it to a head, I move that we adopt that part of the

report that favors the home consumer as against the commercial consumer,

or we will be here all night talking about it.

Dr. Rohrbacher: I second the motion.

Dr. MacDaniels: You have heard the motion, which was seconded. Any

remarks?

(Vote taken on the motion, carried unanimously.)

Dr. MacDaniels: That will be the basis on which the committee will work.

There are several other points to be considered. I would suggest the

committee be asked to make further tests with the schedule as proposed

in order to get additional data to determine if it is a usable schedule

and can be used by different people with reasonably similar results, and

if it does differentiate the things that we want to have a schedule

differentiate in a test.

This last year we had hoped to do this, but there weren't enough samples

of nuts available to be worth testing. I spent about $10 personally

buying nuts from this source and that, and there wasn't a good sample in

the lot, except one, which Sterling Smith gave me.

I think that if we have another season to work the schedule that has

been proposed, we at least can demonstrate whether or not it is

differentiating between varieties in a manner which is satisfactory.

I believe a motion is in order to bring this matter to a decision and

end this discussion. Have you any further comment, Mr. Chase?

Mr. Chase: If it is not out of order, I move that we adopt for further

trial, the scoring schedule proposed in the paper by Dr. Atwood and Dr.

MacDaniels in the 1947 Report of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

President Davidson: I second the motion.

Mr. Stoke: May I make one remark? Does not that schedule ignore the

factors of color and taste?

Dr. MacDaniels: It does, as not being objective characters.

Mr. Stoke: In other words, this motion approves something from the

commercial slant rather than from the personal use slant.

Dr. MacDaniels: I wouldn't say that; it simply limits the judging

schedule to those characteristics which can be objectively handled and

are not a matter of opinion or judgment. That's the point here, I think.

Mr. Chase: Mr. Stoke and I don't quite agree--I don't think we are the

only two--on flavor and color. However, in our exchange of

correspondence we fully appreciate the advantage of light-colored,

mild-flavored kernels. But I don't see any method by which we can place

a numerical value on the color and flavor. Can we not describe the color

and flavor along with the rating that describes the kernel and still

have you on our side?

Mr. Stoke: Personally, I think we are splitting hairs. When we can't

agree as to which color class a sample belongs, it must be somewhere

near the border-line. Ordinarily the average human being will agree

pretty well as to a blonde or a brunette or one that's neutral. And I

think in the judging of walnuts, there can be no exact value based on

the color. If you consider color and make a scientific test, your test

wouldn't be the same as my test. But if it is a dark kernel, you can

recognize it, and so can I, if we have any common sense.

Also in the matter of flavor, you and I can tell what we like and what

we don't like. And I think there are those two limitations. We can't do

this scientifically, because the human factor is here. But after all,

it's humans that eat them and produce them for eating! And I rather, in

the schedules last year, brought up objections to it. I didn't say I

objected, and, of course, I don't now.

Mr. Chase: I'd like to just say this, and I am going to call on my good

friend, J. C. McDaniel here, for agreement. A long time ago we prepared,

did we not, various judging systems?

Mr. McDaniel: Yes.

Mr. Chase: We found that--you can correct me if this is wrong--by

manipulating five points for flavor and five points given for color we

could change the position of a variety of a list a great deal, and we

also found that the points given for color were not related to

inherently bad color but simply the result of poor handling, which also

affects flavor. This is my reason for eliminating color and flavor from

the schedule: it is _not_ to get away from the mild-flavored,

pretty-colored kernels.

President Davidson: Mr. Chairman, I must say that I am inclined to agree

with Mr. Stoke, for this reason: Even though color and flavor are very

frequently the result of poor handling, we all know that we will say

that the Stabler has the characteristic that is distinctive of quickly

coloring up and quickly becoming rancid as distinguished from the

Thomas, which does not. Now, those things are inherent in the two

varieties, I think, and I don't think this committee should ignore

altogether the matter of color and flavor, although I do think, perhaps,

not so much weight might be given to those two qualities as had been

given to them in the past. But they certainly decidedly influence the

marketability for kernels from the point of view of home consumption. I

think there is no question about that. I should be inclined to agree

with Mr. Stoke, that those two qualities should not be ignored by the

committee.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think the point would be to ignore them in their

simply not being objective; you can't weigh or measure them. There is a

motion properly seconded before the house. Are there further remarks?

Mr. Weber: Wouldn't there be just a certain amount of trial and error

connected with it, and as you go along you will either add to or take

off, and then you will get a correct system of judging? You have to

start out with one system and if it is wrong, change it.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think it's a matter of doing something rather than

nothing, for a schedule is always subject to improvement.

Mr. Stoke: I wish to point out we have made some tests together, and

your personal tests and my personal tests ran very close together.

Dr. MacDaniels: That is right.

Mr. Stoke: And one member of the committee is always very conservative

and his tests never run as high on any series as the others. I make a

test and he makes a test, and his are always lower. Maybe, he doesn't

recover as much; perhaps he isn't as expert a cracker. (Vote taken on

the motion; carried.)

President Davidson: Let us adjourn until 8:30 tomorrow morning.

* * * * *

+A Picture from Our Most "Northern" Member+

John Davidson wrote in our 1943 report: "If any man deserves a bright

NNGA medal, it is A. L. Young, of Brooks, Alberta." By planting his

trees near enough to irrigation ditches in his "desert, cactus country,"

and protecting them from livestock, Mr. Young is able to get nuts on the

hardier trees, but he reported that the nuts, "while of fair size, do

not have fleshy kernels ... Butternuts are very sweet with fair size

kernels ... Giant hickory from Ontario seems hardy but particular about

the kind of soil ... Carpathian walnuts killed back quite a lot, so did

most of my hybrid walnuts ... Some Manchurian walnuts ... got a setback

with spring frosts ... Heartnuts got a rough deal last winter

[1942-43.]" Mr. Young wrote to Dr. J. Russell Smith in 1948: "I have

been using pollen of Broadview and Carpathian [Persian walnuts] on my

blacks and while there are a lot of hybrid seedlings, none have fruited

yet. On Peace River hazel [far Northern] I have been using Barcelona, Du

Chilly and Gellatly pollen. Some of these hybrids look good, hardy, and

produce good nuts ... A few varieties of oak are promising and

fruiting."

At his location, Mr. Young expects winter temperature of -45 deg., and the

lowest known [before 1940] was -62 deg.F. Summer temperatures go above

100 deg.F.

[Illustration: Fruiting black walnut grown at Brooks, Alberta, Canada,

by member A. L. Young. The seed came from Ontario.]

+Tuesday Morning Session+

President Davidson: The only way to get started is to start. We are

going to be given a look at the honeylocust situation in the South by

Professor Moore of the Department of Horticulture of the Alabama

Polytechnic Institute of Auburn. Mr. Moore.

The Present Outlook for Honeylocust in the South

J. C. MOORE, Department of Horticulture, Alabama Polytechnic Institute,

Auburn, Alabama

Mr. Moore: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: Before I start this

discussion, just in case some of you are not familiar with honeylocust,

its habit of growth, the size of the pods and the possibility of its

yield, I'd like to take time out just to show a few slides, then I will

go ahead with the discussion and give you some data on that honeylocust

production. I believe if you would look at these slides before we start

the discussion it would give you a good idea what the tree looks like,

how it grows, the age at which it starts bearing and something about its

general habits; it will help you a lot to understand what I have to say

about it.

(Slides shown.)

This is the Millwood honeylocust. The pods will vary in size from about

12 inches to 14 inches in length, from one and a half to one and

three-quarters inches in width, and the back part of the pod, something

that I can't show on this particular type of picture, is very thick, and

this back part of the pod, the thick part of it, is very rich in

carbohydrates. We have the Calhoun and Millwood selections that have run

as high, the Millwood a little over 36 per cent sugar and the Calhoun a

little over 38 per cent sugar. The Millwood is a much higher yielding

tree than the Calhoun. I will bring that out in a few minutes' time.

This is a borrowed slide and I don't know the history of these trees,

but I judge that the tree is about three years old. We have had good

yields on three-year-old trees at Auburn.

Here is a group of trees growing with a ground cover, and again I am not

familiar with the ground cover, but just judging from the general

appearance it looks like a picture that came from our files. If that is

true then I know the story. The tree in the background is a Calhoun tree

and the tree in the foreground is a Millwood growing in _Lespedeza

sericea_ and I will bring out some points in a few minutes in the

general discussion on the value of these two plants growing together as

a combination.

I believe this is another tree that grew on my farm, and the year this

picture was made this particular tree, eight years of age, bore 250

pounds of those luscious pods.

A close-up again, giving you the general size of the pod, how they are

produced in masses, and you get quite a bit of weight in some of those

thick-backed pods that you don't get from the thin pods that grow

normally on seedling trees. The TVA has done quite a bit of work in

selecting and developing the honeylocust, and I believe we give that

particular organization credit for the development of both the Millwood

and the Calhoun.

I thought it would be very valuable to give you just a glimpse of the

habit of growth of those trees before I start with my general discussion

so that you would understand something about what I am talking about.

Mr. Weber: Are these thornless?

Mr. Moore: These are thornless honeylocusts. The original parent trees

of the Millwood and Calhoun had thorns. By vegetative propagation--they

went out and cut scionwood on the limbs above the thorns and propagated

the thornless twigs on thornless root stock--we now have a thornless

honeylocust.

There has been quite a bit of disturbance in Alabama, especially in the

northern part of the state, caused by native honeylocust. We have two or

three characteristics that I think ought to be brought out about

honeylocust. Some of out trees in the northern part of the state of

Alabama have triple thorns. It is known as _G. triacanthos_ and the

"tri-" part of that particular word, of course, gives us an idea of

three thorns, and I have seen thorns at least 12 inches long that you

could catch in your hand and use for a dagger, and it would be very

dangerous. Now, some of those trees growing in the northern part of the

state are very serious pests in pastures. Cows and horses and hogs are

very fond of those lucious pods, and they will go around the trees and

pick up every pod that falls, and occasionally a horse or cow will get

close enough to the trunk of the tree and get speared with those thorns,

and when the thorn pierces the skin there is a little tip on the end

that breaks off and is left inside. When the usual infection that it

carries get started from the part of the thorn that is left in the

flesh, you get pus and, of course, later on the amputation of the leg,

if it happens to be in the leg, of the horse. With the thornless type

that is completely eliminated.

Then this other thing that I think ought to be brought out, the

thornless or near-thornless type as a general rule has a better quality

of pods than the ones with the long thorns. Now, it is true that the

parent seedling trees of the Calhoun and the Millwood both had a small

quantity of thorns when they were growing wild. After they were

propagated vegetatively the thorns, of course, were eliminated by taking

scion wood from above the thorns. But in general in our state, the

thornless trees--and we do have a lot of thornless trees growing

wild--have a higher sugar content in the pods than do the trees with

thorns.

I just wanted to give you a general idea of what we have done with

honeylocust in Alabama. In 1938 the TVA sent down some Millwood and

Calhoun for test planting. We put those trees in two different types of

planting. We had an integrated planting where we were trying to select

at that time some good pasture plants, and, of course, we had something

like a hundred different species in the one planting. The trees were

planted relatively thick, but the larger trees were planted longer

distances apart, and the intermediate trees intermediate distances

apart, and then we had shrubs coming in under those. It was supposed to

have been a three-story type of planting, black walnut in the upper

story, honeylocust as an intermediate and shrubs for the ground. We were

using different types of plums for the understory; then on the ground we

had _Lespedeza sericea_. But from that we did get several different

plant materials that did look promising, and we put the Calhoun

honeylocust and the Millwood honeylocust in with that planting for

trial, and they did so well that we expanded the honeylocust into

another planting. I am very sorry that this latter planting had to be

taken out.

Hillculture research went under in June of 1947, and the Horticulture

Department took this work over, and they thought they could not support

the honeylocust pasture program in Horticulture, and the plot, of

course, was pulled out and planted in peaches.

Anyway, we do have some information I'd like to give you. The Dairy

Department of the Alabama Experiment Station carried out quite an

extensive feeding test over a two-year period to find out the value of

these pods in the dairy ration. They substituted the honeylocust pods

ground. Professor Eaton of the Dairy Department assures me that none of

the seeds in those pods were cracked. They ground the pods with corn in

order to take up some of the excess honey that is in the back of these

pods so that they'd grind well, and they ground them in a hammermill,

and the burrs were running far enough apart so that he assures me that

very few of the seeds, if any, were ever cracked.

That has been somewhat of a discussion, among feed producers especially,

recently, as to whether or not it would be profitable to grind those

seeds in order to get the protein and fats that the seed has. There

isn't a very high percentage of food in the seed itself, but you do get

a little more protein and a little more fat if you grind the seed

itself.

We have found in storage that weevils get in these seeds, but the weevil

doesn't destroy the carbohydrates, and the weevil will only pierce the

seed and make a hole in it. Then the intestinal juices of a cow will go

in through this hole and they can digest the seed. That is something

that comes along with storage.

I'd like to give you just something briefly on what the Dairy Department

of Alabama Polytechnic found out about the general value of these pods.

They found that honeylocust pods could be substituted in a dairy ration

for oats, pound for pound. Now, that means that if you can get a high

yield of honeylocust pods and substitute it in a dairy ration for oats

that you just about have half of the grain problem solved.

I'd like then to follow that up to give you the average yields. Before I

give you these average yields I'd also like to bring out this fact about

the Calhoun and the Millwood honeylocust. Those trees are very peculiar

in their habits of bearing. One year they will bear a heavy crop. The

next year they will bear scarcely anything. They are definitely

alternate bearing, and I think that alternate bearing has a

physiological background behind it. How We can eliminate that

physiological reaction is something else. But the years that the trees

are heavily loaded with the fruit the amount of carbohydrates that it

draws from the tree is so great that the tree doesn't have enough

carbohydrates left to produce fruit the next year. I think it is the

carbon-nitrogen ratio from the physiological standpoint, and, of course,

if that is the case, then there is a possibility that you could

eliminate or correct that carbon-nitrogen ratio by thinning during the

blooming period. But when you see these results I think that you will

agree that honeylocust has a place, even if they do bear only every

other year.

In our planting we have some trees that will bear this year. Next year

they won't bear, but their sister trees will bear. So we have pods every

year from some of the trees. Over a period of five years, during which

these trees were planted (the oldest trees that we have in 1938, and in

1942) the average production of the Millwood was 58.3 pounds per tree.

In 1943 there were no pods produced on the Millwood variety. We had a

cold spell in the spring that completely eradicated all of the fruit in

that year. In 1944 the average yield--and that is taking the average

yield of 10 trees of the oldest ones that were put in--the average yield

was 146 pounds of pods per tree.

Mr. McDaniel: That's for both varieties?

Mr. Moore: That's just for Millwood. I will give you the Calhoun in a

minute.

Then in 1945 the average yield was 39.5 pounds per tree. In 1946 we had

an average of 180 pounds per tree. In 1947 we had an average of 12

pounds. Now, note the break there in averages from year to year: 58,

none, 146, 39, 180, 12. You get from that that we have almost definitely

alternate bearing in those trees.

Now, this other thing is interesting. If you take the five-year average

from 1942 through 1946 inclusive, and convert that to 35 trees--this is

10 trees--but when you convert that to an average of 35 trees per acre

you get the equivalent of 92 bushels of oats per acre. Now, understand,

with this yield of pods we were cutting two and a half tons of hay from

the _Lespedeza sericea_ each year. So we were getting our hay crop and

our grain crop from the same source.

Now, to give you just briefly what the Calhoun variety did during those

years, in 1942 the Calhoun trees--the same age planted under the same

conditions on the same soil--averaged 26.4 pounds of pods per tree. In

1943 the Calhoun followed closely with the Millwood; on account of a

freeze they didn't produce anything. In 1944 they produced 32.4 pounds

of pods per tree. In 1945 they produced 63.8 pounds of pods per tree. In

1946 they produced 22 pounds of pods per tree, and in 1947 they produced

46 pounds of pods per tree.

Now, if you will take the average of those, contrast it with the average

for the Millwood, you will find that the Millwood tree over a period of

five years produced almost three times as many pods as the Calhoun. The

Calhoun variety has a little more carbohydrates, and it always averages

a little more sugar per pound than the Millwood, but the additional

yield of the Millwood variety makes it very worthwhile.

I have done quite a bit of work on the blooming habits or the fruiting

habits of the honeylocust over a number of years, and I find that there

is quite a variation there in the individual trees. Some trees are

typically males. They never bear anything, but they have staminate

catkins. Others are typically females, never bearing anything but the

pistillate flowers. Then we have an integration there of perfect trees.

I know of one tree in Blount County, Alabama that for nine years never

missed a crop. It had perfect flowers, or rather, both pistillate and

staminate flowers on the same tree. However, the flowers were borne on

separate catkins, the pistillate flowers, catkins, coming out on the

same node with the male and producing the pod. So you do have a large

variation in the fruiting habits, and we have found those variations on

Millwood selections and on Calhoun selections, even though they were

vegetatively propagated.

The reason why we can take a bud off a female Millwood and put it onto a

root stock and get a male tree I can't figure out, but they seem to act

that way in that respect. I have had a Millwood tree that never bore

anything but male flowers.[18] That is something for someone else to

figure out. I can't explain it.

Just briefly I'd like to give you the observational work that we have

done with honeylocust. For mules in a feeding test we fed a team of

mules for 30 days nothing but honeylocust and hay, and these mules were

in fine shape when they came out at the end of the feeding test. You say

that's an awfully short feeding test. It is, but we had very few pods.

Then for cows I have gone into it more extensively. I have a cow myself,

and I have fed that cow honeylocust pods and that was all the grain she

had through the winter months, and got excellent milk production. You

get excellent milk flavor from these pods and an increase in milk

production.

A very interesting thing happened. I went out in the community to gather

pods from the wild trees for a feeding test, and there was a lady who

owned a farm pretty close to our project. I went over and talked with

her about getting the pods from her trees to feed to my cows for feeding

tests, and it was O. K. But when I left she got to thinking the thing

over, and she decided that if honeylocust pods were good for my cow they

would be good for her cow! So I went back in a few days' time--the pods

weren't mature when I went the first time. I went back in a few days and

I didn't ask the lady if I could get the pods, I just stopped on the

side of the road and we put a darky up in the tree to shake the pods

off. And we saw a little darky coming across the field, just a streak.

He said, "Missus says come over to the house." I went over there, and

she was just a little bit embarrassed, but she said, "Mr. Moore, I have

decided if honeylocust was good for the goose it was good for the

gander, so I have been feeding honeylocust to my cows." And she went on

with that story and said that she had been selling milk to a fraternity

over in town, and the boys at the fraternity, after she had fed the cows

honeylocust for a week or two, asked her what had happened to her milk,

and she told them--she said honestly she was afraid she was going to

lose the trade, she thought something bad was wrong with it. She told

them, that so far as she knew there wasn't anything. They said, "Have

you done anything to it?" "No, we haven't." They said, "Well, it's the

best milk we have ever had, and we can tell the difference in the

taste." And then she told them what she had done. She wouldn't tell them

before.

Now, we have had story after story coming to us to corroborate that.

Now, I have never seen with my cow any difference in milk flavor, either

good or bad, but my wife can definitely tell, and she is very particular

about her butter, because she likes to sell that. I can quit feeding

honeylocust a few days, and my wife will say, "How come you quit feeding

honeylocust to the cow?" It is that definite.

There are two things I want to mention: The value of a combination of a

perennial ground cover with your honeylocust tree, and then I want to

mention the fact that honeylocust _planted_ in a pasture will give no

benefit whatsoever. You are going to have to grow your honeylocust on

the outside, harvest the pods and feed them just like you would corn, or

you are going to have to plant your honeylocust on a barren hillside

someplace that doesn't grow anything else--and I think honeylocust will

grow with a little fertilizer on about the poorest soil you have, the

most eroded soil you have, with a little care--then pasture it after

your trees are large enough so that the cow won't eat the limbs. There

is something about the tree itself that a cow loves. They will chew the

bark and chew the limbs right down to the main trunk.

We have tried planting those trees at four years of age, even, in

pastures, and we just can't get them to survive. In fact, the cows and

the mules in our pasture ate the trees down to the stumps in the

wintertime before they ever started putting out leaves in the spring. So

it has been a problem. (See Dr. Diller's pasture tree-guard paper in

this report.--Ed.)

This value that you can get from growing honeylocust and _Lespedeza

sericea_ on the same soil is the same as with honeylocust and alfalfa if

you are in the alfalfa belt, or something like that with other perennial

legumes. These are the benefits that I think you can get from a

combination: In the first place, the soil is completely protected. In

the second place, a concentrate and hay can be grown on the same

acreage. Third, a good grazing and feeding out program can be

maintained. If you plant your honeylocust on a hillside someplace and

let the trees get large enough so that the cows won't eat them up, have

your ground cover established, by the time that you are ready to pasture

it you can put your cattle in. We had this combination, and I think it

would have worked out very well if it had not been destroyed. We had our

_Lespedeza sericea_ for our summer grazing crop; then we had winter

annuals planted in the _Lespedeza sericea_ for our winter grazing, and

the honeylocust was the fattening crop or finishing-off crop.

What we had planned to do was turn the cattle in on this last plot about

January 1st, let them graze crimson clover, or bur clover, or any other

winter ground cover that grows in your section until the _Lespedeza

sericea_ came on in the early summer. Then they'd graze the _Lespedeza

sericea_ till the honeylocust pods started falling in the fall, and

they'd fatten off on the honeylocust, and you'd put them on the market

just before the Christmas holidays.

Then fourth, the management cost is very low. Fifth, the weed problems

in your pasture are controlled. Sixth, you get maximum production from

the soil. You get your grain and your hay from the same piece of land.

Now, that's all that I plan to give on this subject. There may be some

questions come up that we can discuss later.

A Member: What is the sugar content?

Mr. Moore: The sugar content of the Calhoun pods is around 38 per cent,

in the Millwood about 36 per cent.

A Member: Is it different in the two varieties?

Mr. Moore: Not very much, only about 2 per cent different.

A Member: What spacing do you use in planting?

Mr. Moore: 35 by 35 feet is about the correct spacing.

Mr. Fisher: What is your labor problem? You say this is equal to oats.

Can you run a combine over the field and harvest in one operation?

Mr. Moore: This one you don't harvest at all. The cow picks them up off

the ground.

A Member: If you had a few hundred trees, would these pods all come on

at one time, or you mentioned having somebody shake them off. Can you

pick them all up at one time?

Mr. Moore: Yes, you can shake them all off at one time, rake them all up

with the rake, take a pitchfork rake, carry them to the barn and throw

them in storage in a dry place. You don't have to worry about weevils.

A Member: Store them like hay?

Mr. Moore: Hay or corn. I have some that have been stored for three

years, and the weevil gets into the seed, but it doesn't seem to affect

it. My cattle like three-year-old pods as well as the new ones--well,

they like them better.

Mr. Weber: Do the pods heat up?

Mr. Moore: They won't heat up, if they aren't green.

A Member: What about the protein content?

Mr. Moore: I will give you the analysis for that, the complete analysis

of ground honeylocust pods. That might be interesting. Moisture content,

12.47. Ash, 3.14. Crude protein, 8.58. Now, the crude protein has run as

high as 14 per cent. I want to bring that out. This was pods collected

in the wild, and this was a sample that the State Chemist ran for us on

that. Fats 2.12. Fiber, 17.73. Carbohydrates total 55.96.

President Davidson: I am afraid we will have to close this if we are to

get on at all. That's the most authoritative information we have ever

had, I think, in this Association about honeylocust. I am sure we have

been enjoying it and have been benefited by it immensely.

On the possibilities of filbert growing in Virginia, Dr. Overholser will

now give you a talk.

[Footnote 18: According to botanical authorities, the honey locust is

polygamo-dioecious; that is, it generally has most of its male flowers

on one tree and most of the female flowers on another tree, but the

trees are not 100 per cent pure in this sex division. In my personal

observations of flowers on grafted trees, including Millwood and Calhoun

and scores of seedlings, both "male" and "female," I never found any

pollen produced in flowers of the "female" trees, but nearly all "male"

trees in the Tennessee Valley will have occasional catkins with one or

more perfect flowers near their terminal ends (the basal flowers being

staminate on the same catkin.) The functionally perfect flowers on such

"male" trees have been observed to set from one to many pods in certain

years, but such pods are generally small as compared with those borne on

"female" trees in the same locality, and I have never observed a heavy

pod crop on any "male" tree. Grafted trees of Millwood and Calhoun

selections in Tennessee were observed to set pistillate flowers, but no

pods (or very few) matured on them unless there was a "male" tree in

flower within insect-flight distance from them. (At Auburn, Alabama,

there were wild honeylocusts, including "male" trees, within a half-mile

of the Hillculture planting of grafted honeylocusts when I saw it in

1943.)

I do not argue that no pollen is ever produced by Millwood or Calhoun

flowers some probably is (though its demonstration might require almost

microscopic examination, in contrast with the easy finding of pods on

"male" trees.) But, in the practical culture of fruiting honeylocusts,

and in our present scope of knowledge of their pollination requirements,

our plantings should include a handful of seedling (thornless) trees or

else some grafted trees of a thornless "male" selection such as the

Smith, in a ratio of about 1 Smith to 10, say, of Millwood.

It is unfortunate that the presumed male mutants of the fruiting

varieties, reported above by Mr. Moore, were destroyed when the

Hillculture plots at Auburn were discontinued. Perhaps similar ones will

show up elsewhere, and they will be worth looking for. Meanwhile, the

Smith variety (originally propagated through a mixup in scionwood

collection), has been demonstrated to be a satisfactory pollinator for

Millwood and Calhoun, and it, as grafted, is also a thornless tree.

Perhaps any thornless male seedling honeylocust tree, if its flowering

period coincides with that of the fruiting variety, might serve equally

well.--Note by J. C. McDaniel.]

Possibilities of Filbert Growing in Virginia

E. L. OVERHOLSER, Head, Department of Horticulture, V. P. I.,

Blacksburg, Virginia

More than four-fifths of the United States filberts are grown in Oregon

and nearly all the rest are produced in the State of Washington. Prior

to 1933, total filbert production in these two states did not exceed 500

tons, but production has since increased steadily and in 1945 it

amounted to 5,320 tons. The value of filbert production in the U. S. in

1945 was about 3 million dollars.[1]

As a wild hazel is native of Virginia and as filberts have been

profitably grown, especially in Oregon and Washington the question is

often raised as to whether hazelnuts or filberts could not be grown

commercially in Virginia. It has been suggested that if varieties now

available are not successfull in Virginia, perhaps new varieties may be

originated by crossing, including inter-specific crosses.

+American Species+

AMERICAN HAZEL. As mentioned, one species, _Corylus americana_ Walt., is

native to much of Virginia. Its distribution is from the northeastern

states and Canada to Saskatchewan and the Dakotas and south to Florida

and the Gulf of Mexico. Its adaptation is much wider than that of the

beaked hazels (_C. cornuta_ Marsh or _C. roxtrata_ Ait. and the far

western _C. californica_) the two other Corylus species native to the

United States and Canada. This native _americana_, species appears at

least to have value from the point of view of soil conservation, as food

for wild life, and for breeding purposes.

The American hazel is a large thicket-forming shrub, which sprouts very

freely after cutting, and the foliage is generally dense. It is found

growing on dry, well-drained sites, in both sun and shade. It, however,

seldom bears fruit in the shade. The shrub is relatively hardy,

withstanding mid-winter temperatures of -40 deg. to -30 deg.F. and is easily

transplanted.

The nuts are available in the wild from July through September and

occasionally persistent on the plant until December or even February.

The nuts average about 250 per pound, with a germination of about 80

percent, producing about 60 usable plants per pound of seed.

Three of the best known varieties of _C. americana_ are the Rush from

Pennsylvania, the Littlepage from Indiana, and the Winkler (most hardy)

from Iowa. [See footnote following.--Ed.][19]

Incidentally, Thomas Jefferson in his list of plants native to Virginia,

as published in his _Notes on the State of Virginia_, which was written

in 1781, and published in 1782, in 1784-1785, and in 1787, lists among

other plants the "Hazelnut (_Corylus Avellana_)", which apparently

should have been called _Corylus americana_ Walters.

_Breeding Filberts in the East._ This brings up the question of filbert

breeding in the East. Crane and Wood (1937) have fully reviewed the

breeding program with filberts, and the breeding of filberts, for the

East may be briefly referred to here. Tho pollen from _C. californica_

and _C. americana_ apparently does not function on the pistillate

flowers of European varieties, (_Corylus avellana_ L. and _C. maxima_).

Since however, _C. americana_ is useful as a pistillate parent, it is

possible that _C. californica_ may be similarly used.

The workers of the United States Bureau of Plant Industry are primarily

testing first-generation hybrids resulting from crosses with the

pistillate parents Rush,[20] Littlepage, and Winkler of _C. americana_

and pollen from varieties of _C. avellana_ native of Europe, northern

Africa, and western Asia, and of _C. maxima_, the filbert of

southeastern Europe and western Asia. Other pollen parents were _C.

colurna_, (Turkish hazel, native of southeastern Europe and western

Asia) and _C. heterophylla_ Fisch., (various leaved hazel from eastern

Asia.)

Crane and Wood (1937) suggest that varieties of high merit should be

developed for home plantings over much of the region from lower New

England and Great Lakes on the north, and to the Potomac and Arkansas

Rivers on the south, and that much of Wisconsin, southern Minnesota,

South Dakota, and Nebraska might also be included.

Dr. Crane writes, by letter dated July 27, 1948, that he has as a result

of breeding work, which was started many years ago, two new varieties

that have been placed in the hands of nurserymen for multiplication.

These varieties are at the present time carried under the numbers of

1667 and 2336, These are hybrids between the European filbert (_Corylus

avellana_ L.) and the native American hazelnut (_C. americana._) At the

Plant Industry Station at Beltsville, Maryland, these two varieties have

been outstanding in their yielding ability, hardiness, and quality of

nuts produced. Dr. Crane does not think, however, that these varieties

may very materially change the situation as regards commercial filbert

growing in the East and in the South.

Because of the conditions prevailing during the last war, nurserymen

have not made as much progress, in propagating these new varieties as

had been originally hoped. Dr. Crane plans to release these varieties

for extensive plantings just as soon as there are sufficient plants in

the hands of the nurserymen to warrant their being called to the

attention of the general public.

HILLCULTURE PROJECT. The Department of Horticulture of V.P.I, has what

is called a Hillculture project, with Professor R. C. Moore in charge.

Among the materials planted in connection with these studies are filbert

varieties to determine their possible value on hill farms in the

mountainous regions of Southwest Virginia as a source of additional food

and supplemental income for such families. The Forestry Division of TVA

has co-operated in supplying not only propagated plants of filberts, but

also of walnuts and seedlings of chestnuts.

Among the filberts now being grown are six German-named varieties from

the Hillculture Division of the Soil Conservation Service, Glenn Dale,

Maryland, planted as rooted cuttings in 1941. The German varieties, are

as follows: (1) Barr's Spanische; (2) Neue Riesennuss; (3) Fruhe von

Fruendorff; (4) Schliesserin; (5) Eckige Barelloner; and (6) Vollkugel.

In addition five varieties, including two of the Jones numbered

seedlings from crosses between the American hazel and the European

filbert, purchased from the J. F. Jones Nursery[21] of Lancaster, Pa.,

were planted in 1947. These are the following: (1) Jones 185; (2) Bixby

(a Jones hybrid), (3) Cosford, (4) Italian Red; (5) Large Globe and (6)

Medium Long.

Seedlings of the American hazel have also been planted. Dr. Crane may be

able to send the V. P. I. Department of Horticulture a few plants of his

seedlings 1667 and 2336 to include among the variety plantings.

+Some Limitations of Filbert Growing in Virginia+

DISEASES. Possibly the present most serious limitation to commercial

production of filberts in Virginia is the Filbert Blight or Black Knot

(_Cryptosporella anomala._ (PK) Sacc.). While this fungus results in

little damage to native species (_C. americana_) it does spread rapidly

and with serious results to European varieties in the State. Possibly

the seriousness of the disease has been lessened by the eradication of

native hazel plants on roadsides, fence rows, and in the wild nearby,

which serve as hosts for the disease.

It is present on the American hazel, but does little damage to the

plant. The disease, however, as mentioned, is a serious menace to either

European varieties or to the present hybrids resulting from _C.

americana_ x _C. avellana_. The control to date is to prune off and burn

affected parts. Mr. George Slate has mentioned that Mr. S. H. Graham of

Ithaca, New York, has a number of hybrids between _C. americana_ and _C.

avellana_ that have been subjected to severe attacks of Filbert Blight

and a few of these have to date escaped, although the others have been

destroyed by blight.

The bacterial blight present on the Pacific Coast apparently does not

occur in the East.

INSECTS. A second limitation is the problem of the attacks of insects.

Dodge and Rickett (1948) report that _Corylus_ may be affected by a

leaf-damage from the feeding of leaf-hoppers (_Phepsins ishida_; _P.

tinctorius_), which may involve less than half the leaf or may extend to

the entire leaf. The first leaves to be infested are those next to the

ground, which are affected early in July. Most of the damage ceases by

the first week of August. Control is by spraying with nicotine sulphate

and soap on the undersides of the leaves in late June or early July,

repeating at the end of a week.

Certain nut weevils (_Balaninus spp._) attack the native hazels, but

Slate (1930) reports they do not attack the European filbert (_C.

avellana_). Mr. Slate reports that in Geneva where nuts are carefully

picked up they do not have much of a problem with weevils.

Dr. Crane reports that the Japanese beetle severely damages the filbert.

While the Japanese beetle has not yet become widely established in

Virginia, it undoubtedly will eventually become a problem throughout

this state. The Japanese beetle can be destroyed by using four pounds of

50% wettable DDT or two pounds of actual DDT per 100 gallons. Such

sprays should be applied as the Japanese beetles begin to cause injury,

and usually two applications may be sufficient.

Mr. G. F. Gravatt has reported that his filbert plantings, surrounded on

three sides by woods, are badly attacked by stink bugs that sting the

nuts. DDT as suggested for Japanese beetles may also be used for stink

bugs.

Another serious insect pest on hazelnut is the curculio. Clean

cultivation has been reported as a supplementary measure for curculio

control, as they depend, upon unbroken soil in the fall for their

metamorphosis. Some hybrids are reported as being relatively immune to

the attacks of curculio (Weschcke, 1946). Benezene hexachloride has

shown promise with other plants in curculio control and may have

possibilities on the filbert.

LACK OF HARDINESS. A third limitation has been lack of hardiness in the

case of European varieties. With the European varieties the staminate or

the pistillate flowers or both are likely to be killed by winter

temperatures. In fact, occasional unduly low winter temperatures may

kill the tree tops or even the tree trunks to the ground. The Winkler

variety (_C. americana_) has been reported as more hardy in New York

State than the Barcelona (_C. avellana_) or the Jones hybrids (_C.

americana_ x. _C. avellana_) (Ross Pier Wright, 1944).

Under western New York conditions, Slate (1930) reported that the

blooming period starts about March 20 to 25 at Geneva, and lasts about a

month. In central Virginia this may well be several weeks earlier. Slate

(1930) also reports that the flowers in bloom will withstand

considerable frost, and that even with temperatures of 16 deg.F. during the

blooming season, neither female nor male flowers, may be injured.

Nevertheless, with filberts coming into bloom in late February to early

March, they would be subjected to temperatures that might result in

injury especially to the catkins.

Some of the more hardy varieties as reported by Slate (1930) include the

following: (a) White Lambert (not of value) (_C. maxima_); (b) Red

Lambert (_C. maxima_); (c) Cosford; (d) Purple Aveline (_C. avellana_);

and (e) Early Globe (of little value).

Some of the varieties upon which both the staminate and pistillate

flowers tend to bloom relatively late are (a) Althaldensleber, (b)

Kentish Cob, (c) Red Aveline, (d) Purple Aveline, and (e) Bolwiller.

Late blooming, however, does not necessarily insure escaping injury from

low spring temperatures. The Cosford, Italian Red, and Medium Long are

considered by Slate as good for New York. The Bixby and Buchanan are the

result of crossing _C. americana_ x _C. avellana_, and appear to be of

promise for home plantings in the East. Mr. H. F. Stoke is growing the

Italian Red and Du Chilly (Kentish Cob) with Daviana for pollination

purposes in the Roanoke area.

CROSS-POLLINATION. A fourth limitation is the fact that varieties are

nearly entirely if not fully dependent upon cross-pollinization by other

inter-fertile varieties that bloom at about the same time in order to

insure a set of nuts. This limitation may be overcome by the proper

planning of hardy varieties are inter-fertile. Colby (1944) has reported

that the Winkler variety is self-fertile.

SUCKERS. A sixth limitation is the tendency of the _C. avellana_ or _C.

maxima_ to sprout about the base and the labor and expense of keeping

these sprouts pruned out. It is possible that this factor may be

overcome by using Turkish hazel (_C. colurna_ L.) as an understock and

grafting or budding thereon the varieties that sprout when on their own

roots. The Turkish hazel does not sprout as badly as the two other

species.

Note by Editor: An Oregon nursery, which formerly propagated European

filberts on the Turkish understock, now has abandoned its use. The

grafted filbert tops did not seem to survive and bear as consistently as

those on their own roots, after a period of several years in orchards.

PLANTING IN VIRGINIA. In a letter dated May 17, 1948, addressed to R.

C. Moore, Assistant Horticulturist, V.P.I., H. J. Pettit, Assistant

Secretary of the Planters Peanut Company, Suffolk, Virginia, reported

that some years ago they planted several thousand trees of filberts,

which they obtained from the states of New York and Oregon. From their

experience it appears that late spring frosts destroyed the flower

parts, which developed early, with the result that the yields were too

low to be profitable. Hence, the filberts were removed and the land

otherwise utilized. Mr. H. F. Stoke, however, in the Roanoke area has

not found lack of hardiness as serious as the problems of diseases and

insects of filberts.

An important nursery in Maryland has provided information to the effect

that during this past 1947-48 season it sold for planting in Virginia a

total of 34 filbert plants in lots of from one to ten. Its 1947-48

catalogue lists varieties of filberts for sale as follows: Barcelona,

Daviana, Du Chilly, and American hazel.

Dr. H. L. Crane, Principal Horticulturist of the USDA, writes in a

letter dated July 27, 1948, that he knows of no substantial plantings

being made anywhere in Virginia. He has observed a few bushes or trees

scattered about the homesteads, particularly in the northern or more

mountainous part of the state. In most cases the performance of these

filberts has not been entirely satisfactory because of leaf scorch

during the summer, due apparently to high temperatures or unfavorable

moisture conditions or to the winter killing of the catkins, or in some

cases winter injury of the shoots. The largest plantings in Virginia

that have yet come to the attention of the V.P.I. Department of

Horticulture are those of Mr. Stoke in the Roanoke area.

Dr. Crane has observed the planting of a few bushes of the American

hazelnut in Virginia. Their performance has been somewhat better than

has been that of the European filbert, especially as to hardiness, and

these American hazelnuts have borne more satisfactory crops of nuts than

have the European filberts. The nuts produced by the native varieties,

however, are small in size, thick shelled, and the kernels are small and

lack quality. Observations by Dr. Crane, which have been made in the

State of Virginia, lead him to believe that with the material that is at

present available from nurserymen, there is not much hope of successful

commercial filbert culture in the State of Virginia. When, however,

seedlings 1667 and 2336 may become available, two varieties that are

hardy and productive of fairly high quality nuts may provide material

for home plantings or for local markets.

_Ornamental Value._ The filbert, however, also has possible value for

ornamental plantings with its attractive foliage, or as a hedge, as well

as for nut production, providing the home owner will control insects and

diseases and maintain favorable growing conditions for our best known

varieties.

_Future Outlook in Virginia._ With a further breeding program to combine

the hardiness of the American hazel and its tolerance to Filbert Blight

with some of the better qualities of the European and other species to

obtain self-fertile varieties better adapted to Virginia conditions and

with the better insecticides and fungicides now becoming available for

insect and disease control, it may be that filbert growing in Virginia

has a brighter future outlook than now appears to be true.

[Footnote 19: Tree Nuts, Acreage, Production, Farm Disposition, Value,

and Utilization of Sales, 1909-45. USDA Bureau of Agr. Eco. Crop Rept.

Brd.: 1-25 Oct. 1947.]

[Footnote 20: Rush, itself, is now considered a natural hybrid of

American and European filberts. Many of the European varieties are

derived from hybrids between +C. avellana+, +C. maxima+, and possibly other

Eurasian species.--Ed.]

[Footnote 21: Now located at Erie, Ill.--Ed.]

* * * * *

President Davidson: Thank you, Dr. Overholser. We have a paper from Mr.

Elliott. Mr. Elliott is not here, but we are already behind our program,

so I am afraid you are going to have to have that in printed form later

on.

Filberts for Food and Looks in Kentucky

N. R. ELLIOTT, Extension Landscape Specialist,

Department of Horticulture,

University of Kentucky

Those of us interested in the landscape phase are always thinking of as

many different kinds of plants as possible that may be used to create

pleasing effects. Perhaps we might be criticized for overlooking several

plants that would not only assist in creating pleasing effects but at

the same time produce edible fruits of good quality. In my own

experience I have often recommended the use of grape vines on a trellis

to create a screen and at the same time produce fruit. Also in border

plantings, like the shrub border, the gooseberries and currants make

attractive shrubs and in addition supply fruits. In making these

suggestions for plantings one needs to depart somewhat from the usual

run of plants and in most instances the homeowner has never thought of

using plants for effects as well as fruits.

+Filberts Good Dual Purpose Plants+

Filberts are certainly outstanding dual purpose plants, and I feel that

they have not been used nearly as much as they should be. If we think of

landscape from the broad point of view, we realize that screen or border

plantings make up one of the most important parts of the set-up,

especially in rural parts. Practically every farm home has some

unattractive view near by that needs to be screened out, either

partially or entirely. This view may be caused by a lot where farm

animals are kept, an old, unattractive barn, or even a gullied field.

Lots where animals are kept and the barn are necessary parts of the farm

operations, and the gullied field may result from neglect, but

regardless of the cause for the undesirable view it can and should be

screened from view from the home.

In making a screen planting, two plans are possible--one, the shrub

border, and the other the hedge row, and filberts are excellent to use

in either planting. Where space is at a premium, the hedge offers the

best form of screen. Filberts planted two and a half feet apart and

pruned in such a way as to make them have a shrub appearance will make

an ideal hedge and produce lots of nuts of good quality. This hedge can

be counted on to be effective up to twelve feet in height.

In the shrub border filberts are allowed to produce many stems and to

grow into small trees. This is done by pruning and by using groups of

two or three plants in a place, planted some five or six feet apart.

Different varieties may be used for different groups, thereby producing

a variation of foliage. The filberts will take their places with the

well known small trees like the dogwood and the redbud, when used in

this way.

Still another use for filberts in landscape work is to use them for

small trees as lawn specimen plants. They have a size, shape, and

foliage that makes them attractive when used in this way.

+Cross Pollination Necessary+

Our experience has been that there is need for cross pollination to get

maximum yields of fruit; therefore, we suggest that different varieties

be used in a planting. Barcelona, DuChilly, and the Jones Hybrids seem

to us well suited for this. Of course, there are others, but our

experience with varieties is limited.

When it comes to the soil for filberts, we find that a fairly rich soil

that has plenty of moisture is the best. Of course, the soil must drain

well because the roots of filberts seem to be very susceptible to poorly

drained soil conditions. If there is a lot of sand in the soil, give the

filberts more moisture and food because they are rapid growers.

So far, we have not had many complaints about filberts suffering from

winter injury. This may be due to the fact that so far Kentucky is not

using great quantities of these plants, or it may be due to the fact

that the varieties used have been reasonably hardy. The little winter

injury seen so far has been in the terminal twig growth, and removal of

these twigs in the spring has not meant altering the normal shape of the

plant.

I do not know whether there is any significance to it but the filberts

that have been fed by using well rotted manure applied in the fall and

spaded into the top four inches of soil next spring have made the best

growth and produced the most fruit.

So far the filberts that we have had experience with have been free from

insects and diseases. One never knows how long that condition will last.

Now, when it comes to discussing filberts as a food, all that I want to

say is that at Christmas time when you buy mixed nuts you usually get a

few of the filberts in the mixture. These nuts are good eating, and when

the plants are grown on the home grounds everyone who has them says they

are much enjoyed by all members of the family. Our experience has been

that filberts yield annually and, if given reasonable care, in good

amounts.

In conclusion we would like to say we feel there is not only a place for

filberts in landscape work, but there is an absolute need for greater

use of these plants especially in rural plantings. At present, the

professional landscape artists are not inclined to recommend them as

often as they could, simply because they have not been trained to think

of dual purpose plants. Greater publicity as to the value of these

plants would undoubtedly mean greater use of them.

* * * * *

President Davidson: We also have a paper from Mr. Reed, which is of

quite a good deal of importance historically on the work of Mr. Jones. I

wish you could have that. Probably you will have to read that, too.

J. F. Jones, Introducer of Many Nut Varieties

CLARENCE A. REED, Collaborator[22]

The name of J. F. Jones was once one of the best known and most highly

respected in eastern nut culture. It was from Mountain Grove, Wright

County, Mo., that he was first heard from in 1900, when he discovered

and introduced the Rockville hican, which he named after the nearest

town. It never proved of value, but that fact did not detract from the

importance of being first, a habit which remained with him till his

death. In 1902 he moved to Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida; five

years later he moved to Jeanerette, Iberia Parish, Louisiana; and in

1912, he moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he died in January,

1928.

[Illustration]

In 1903, while at Monticello, he successfully graft-propagated the Rush

Persian (English) walnut and the Weiker hickory, an intermediate form

between shagbark and shellbark. Both were from Lancaster County, and he

used scions sent him by J. G. Rush, of West Willow, south of Lancaster.

Mr. Rush is credited with introducing the walnut bearing his name, while

credit went to Mr. Jones for the Weiker hickory. Some years later, on

two occasions, Mr. Jones took a visitor to the Weiker parent tree when

the branches were laden with nuts so that they hung down in a manner

suggestive of plums. For some reason, never explained, no other tree of

the variety, so far as is known, ever bore as much as a quart of nuts,

although the trees frequently flowered profusely. The variety was,

however, markedly dichogamous. The parent tree, which stood in the yard

of Mr. Christ LeFever of Lampeter, about two miles east of the Jones

home, was blown over in a heavy gale many years ago.

Mr. Jones graft-propagated a considerable number of Hales shagbark while

at Monticello, with scions that came from the original tree near

Ridgewood, New Jersey. However, this variety was first propagated by

Henry Hales of Ridgewood, in 1879. He also had Kirtland from Yalesville,

Connecticut, but like many others since that time, both it and Hales

proved to be light bearers. Other hickories may have been propagated by

Mr. Jones while at Monticello but these are the only ones of which there

is record. The Kirtland was first propagated in 1897.

[Footnote 22: U.S.D.A. Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural

Engineering, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.]

+First Carload of Grafted Pecan Trees+

When he went to Florida, there were few pecan trees of bearing age in

either that State or Georgia and none to speak of in the Carolinas. The

"fast" trains went no more than 30 or 35 miles an hour, and a minimum of

three days was required to see even an occasional planting or a single

tree. Within the next few years, nurserymen everywhere propagated their

own varieties and listed them in their catalogs. Mr. Jones was

discriminating and propagated only varieties that then had the best

reputation, such as Schley and Stuart, and some others that have not

stood the test of time. In one way, he was distinctively first; he

shipped the first carload of pecan trees ever to go to one address. This

was in January of 1906, when 10,000 trees were shipped to Professor H.

E. Van Deman who was then establishing a 900-acre orchard near Ferriday,

La. A picture of the car appeared in the American Nut Journal, published

by W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va., Vol. III, No. 50, March 1906, (Van

Deman had been the first Pomologist in the Department of Agriculture,

1886 to 1892).

Mr. Ray Simpson of Vincennes, Ind., went to Mr. Jones to learn how to

graft pecan trees. He offered to work without pay if Mr. Jones would

teach him the art. He had graduated at Cornell in 1905, and had been

inspired by John Craig, Professor of Horticulture there. Craig himself

later invested somewhat heavily in pecan orchards both near Monticello

and at Albany, Georgia. Mr. Simpson was taken on and proved as good a

propagator as the best hand and received the same pay.

While at Monticello Mr. Jones began to feel that the region might not be

the best place for pecans. Perhaps he had made a mistake. It was 300

miles to middle western Alabama, where there were the nearest native

trees. A disease was appearing among many of the trees planted in the

East, which was then poorly understood (rosette). Pecan wood for budding

and grafting was scarce and Mr. Jones would trust no one to cut it for

him. He went to the trees himself.

One man who then had an abundance of wood and who could be relied upon

was B. M. Young of Morgan City, La., and Mr. Jones went to him for wood

several times. Once he became confused as to the trees from which he had

cut a couple of bundles, so both were thrown in the river and he went

back for more. Mr. Young was greatly impressed, so much so that he

remembered the incident, as we shall see.

+The Move to Louisiana+

Back in Florida Ray Simpson wished to buy and Mr. Jones wished to sell,

so a deal was soon made. Mr. Jones went to Louisiana where the pecan is

native and there were many large trees, probably as many as could be

found in any one place in the entire South. Mr. Young knew of a group

from St. Paul, Minnesota, who were about to buy and plant a thousand

acres near Jeanerette and who were looking for an experienced man to

take charge. Mr. Jones was recommended and was soon at work. For another

five years, he worked harder than almost any other white man in the

State. Great odds were against him. Being from the North, he did not

associate exclusively with whites, and presently the southern white

people left him severely alone. That was not all; he could not raise as

good nursery trees as he had in Florida. The trees grew slowly in the

cold, heavy soil of Louisiana, and the fibrous root system failed to

materialize. The excellent reputation he and his trees had enjoyed in

Monticello began to deteriorate. He worked harder than ever and waited

for a break. When it came, he did not hesitate.

+Jones Shifts to Pennsylvania+

The St. Paul crowd fell into a squabble and divided into two factions,

each wishing control. A man went south to see if Mr. Jones would sell

his stock. Would he? He knew when to keep his mouth shut and he meekly

made a deal. He was probably never more glad over anything in his life.

He came north, lock, stock, and barrel. But he was far from being

without a place to land. Since his Monticello days, he and Mr. Rush had

been good friends. Mr. Rush knew a farm of 20 acres with buildings,

which could be had for $8,000. It was four miles south of Lancaster, and

at a point where two main highways leading into the city came together.

It sloped eastward enough so that it did not get the full force of west

winds. It was two miles from Mr. Rush's home, with the town of Willow

Street between.

Mr. Jones then began eight or 10 years of lean hard work. He modernized

buildings, planted an orchard of nut varieties most of which were

purchased from W. C. Reed of Vincennes, Ind., and W. N. Roper of

Petersburg, Va. From Roper he bought both seedling and grafted trees.

Some of the "seedlings" had been budded and then not cut back to force

the buds. The latter were still dormant and when the trees were properly

cut back, the buds pushed forth. T. P. Littlepage, of Washington, and

Prof. W. N. Hutt, of Raleigh, N. C., had a good laugh at Roper, but as

the trees bore no labels, they were no more valuable than seedlings and

were treated as such. All three men are now deceased.