little attention in any part of the country was paid to the native nuts.
However, in the southeastern part of the United States there existed a
large portion of the country to which no choice species of nut trees
were either indigenous or had been introduced. Necessity, curious
interest, and, more probably intelligent purpose, prompted sea captains,
plying from West to East Gulf Coast ports, Easterners returning home
from visits in the West, Westerners visiting in the East, and no doubt
nomadic bands of Indians, to carry pecans from the Mississippi River and
beyond, to the coast of Mississippi, to Alabama and the South Atlantic
States, where they were planted as seed. For fully a century the species
gradually spread over the plains sections of the eastern Gulf and South
Atlantic States. In 1846, according to Taylor (William A.) in the
Yearbook (Department of Agriculture) of 1904, a Louisiana slave
succeeded in grafting a number of pecan trees. So far as can now be
learned, really intelligent interest in pecan culture began with that
date, although history records no further successful propagation of the
species until about 1882 when William Nelson began to propagate this
variety in his nursery near New Orleans. Soon afterwards, C. E. Pabst of
Ocean Springs, Miss., and E. E. Risien of San Saba, Texas, joined in the
pioneer work. The late Col. W. R. Stuart of Ocean Springs soon took part
by giving publicity to the early varieties. Gradually, but steadily,
choice varieties developed, were propagated and were disseminated.
Orchard planting followed, but did not assume great importance until
since about 1905. The orchards, therefore, were still too young at the
time the last census was taken to have been in bearing to any extent.
However, the crop of pecans from the native forests and from single
trees left standing in the open space where the forests had been cleared
is shown by the census reports to have been the second most valuable of
American nut crops in 1909.
In quantity, the production of cultivated pecans is still slight in
comparison with that of the wild product or with cultivated walnuts and
almonds of the Pacific Coast. Just now, however, a great many of the
orchards, planted this century, are beginning to bear and not improbably
the production of cultivated pecans will soon eclipse that of the forest
product, and before long will overhaul the lead now held by the Persian
walnut.
Thus, briefly, has been the separate history of the principal nuts of
this country. Collectively, the history of American nut culture has been
as follows: Nuts from foreign countries which have been under
cultivation for centuries have been more inviting than have the native
and undeveloped species, and so have received the major portion of
attention in America. Then too, human nature has shown itself in the
greater interest taken by nut planters in foreign nuts instead of those
near at hand. It is in sections remote from their place of origin that
many of the leading nuts have attained their greatest degree of
perfection. Thus, the average pecan of the Atlantic Coast is distinctly
superior to that of the western Gulf; the Persian walnut scarcely known
in Persia is best known in France and in southern California.
Progress has been slow and not concerted. Seedling trees have been
planted under the firm conviction that they would come true, or because
methods of propagation other than by seedage were not understood.
The Persian walnut orchards of California from which today the bulk of
the production is being realized, are of seedling trees. However, the
Californians have learned their lesson and today are replacing their
orchards with budded stock as rapidly as possible. They have found that
while the Persian walnut, which for centuries has been grown from seed,
will reproduce itself fairly true to type, it does not repeat true to
variety. Every tree, no matter how carefully its parentage may have been
guarded, is unlike any other. The seedlings differ in traits of vigor,
hardiness, susceptibility to disease, time of beginning to bear,
productiveness, and longevity, and the nuts vary in size, form,
thickness of shell, ease of cracking, and in kernel characteristics.
The people of California have also found that in many ways, Persian
walnut trees on their own roots are less desirable than are those budded
or grafted on the roots of some black walnut.
The earliest pecan planters likewise set seedling trees, partly because
no others were available, but more largely because of a supposition that
such seedlings would come true. Later on, planters chose grafted trees
of large varieties, irrespective of others' merits or demerits. Today,
the orchards of both seedling trees and illy-selected varieties are
being topworked at great expense of time, labor, and money.
In the northern and eastern part of the United States, the situation
until very recently has been one of practical standstill. Efforts with
foreign nuts have resulted in our being but little ahead of the starting
point of a couple of centuries ago.
The great majority of the Persian walnut, chestnut, and hazel trees
which have been tried have failed us; some have even brought fatal or
near-fatal diseases to us.
At first thought, we would feel compelled to abandon all further efforts
with the foreign nuts; but not all that have been tried are guilty of
offence or failure. Here and there, from New England to Michigan and
from Maryland to Missouri, we are finding occasional nut trees either in
groups or standing singly, which because of their age, vigor,
productiveness, and quantity and quality of nuts, appear to be fit
foundation stock for the varieties so much needed in this part of the
country. A number of such are being propagated by the nurserymen and, as
the members here present know, are being disseminated.
The present great need is for knowledge regarding the location of other
such trees, not only of the foreign species, but of the natives as well.
The Northern Nut Growers' Association and the Federal Department of
Agriculture at Washington together are seeking to find Persian,
Japanese, or black walnut, Asiatic, European or American chestnut,
European or American hazel, and native butternut, hickory, pecan,
chinquapin and beech trees of more than ordinary merit. Upon the
locating of, and the propagation from such trees, as new varieties,
apparently depends the future of nut growing east of the Mississippi and
north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers.
The appeal therefore is made to the owners of hardy nut trees that they
drop a postal to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C.,
stating that they desire a mailing box and frank for sending in a few
specimens of the nuts which they believe to be of more than average
merit. The only expense necessary to incur will be in the price of the
card, and in the trouble of collecting and packing the nuts. Before
mailing, the package should be plainly marked with the name and address
of the sender, and a note should be inclosed giving information
regarding the location, ownership, bearing habits, etc., of the tree
from which the nuts were obtained.
If more convenient, the nuts may be sent to this association, which in
any case will be apprised by the Department of all new varieties of
apparent merit which may be brought to light.
However, no one should anticipate a great fortune as the result of any
nut tree of which he may find himself the owner. It is not possible for
a variety to be of especial value, no matter how promising the parent
tree may appear to be, until it has established proof of its
adaptability and merit in other sections remote from that of its origin.
Except in rare cases it has been only after a variety of any kind of
fruit has become well known by many who have tested it and spoken for it
that it has become popular or in great demand.
Therefore, all there will be "in it" for you, if you chance to be the
owner of a nut tree of merit will be the thanks of this Association and
posterity and the probability of having the variety named in your honor.
* * * * *
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I should like to drop a word about the
_American Nut Journal_ published here at Rochester, N. Y. I would like
to ask all the members of the Association to make as much effort as they
possibly can to get new subscribers to the _Journal_. I don't own any
stock in it, but I am talking purely in the interests of nut culture.
Without a magazine nine tenths of our work would be entirely useless
because it would be lost to the public. One of the duties of the members
should be the support of the organ which puts forth the information for
which this organization stands.
THE PRESIDENT: Methods of propagating pecans, hickories and
walnuts have been discovered and used, at times, for a century. I know
of a man who grafted them twenty years ago in New Jersey, but he left no
records of his methods. The _Journal_ helps us to keep these records.
This association has a great variety of contributors. We have with us
men who work on the exceedingly practical end of propagation. W. C. Reed
is a combination of the student and the propagator.
HISTORY, DIMENSIONS AND CROP RECORDS OF PARENT NORTHERN PECAN TREES, AND
NOTES ON THE OBSERVATION OF PROPAGATED TREES
W. C. REED, VINCENNES, INDIANA
_Varieties_
In considering varieties of the northern pecan, there are many points to
be estimated, such as size, thinness of shell, cracking quality, quality
of kernel, growth of trees in nursery and bearing records. The latter is
perhaps most important. What we want are trees that will give us a fair
crop annually; next would be the cracking qualities. If they crack
easily and come out of the shell with a large percentage of whole meats
the size does not make so much difference, for ultimately the value of a
variety will be gauged largely by the number of pounds of whole meats a
bushel, or a given number of pounds, will produce. I would therefore
place prolific bearing and cracking qualities as the two most important
points to be considered in selecting a variety worthy of planting.
_Crop Records_
In considering crop records of the different northern varieties; we have
no grafted or budded trees old enough as yet from which to make
comparisons, and in considering the crops of the original trees it is
well to keep in mind that many of these trees are located in the native
forest without cultivation, without proper sunlight and with a poor
chance for the full development of the tree; also it is well to remember
that scarcely two trees have the same surroundings and conditions, and
that it is not often that the owner is able to secure the entire crop
from any one tree, being located in the forest where a large part of the
crop is carried off by others. With these conditions it is often
impossible to tell what a certain tree may yield, except by comparison
with former crops. In giving you these yields I am giving my own
knowledge so far as I can, and then information and estimates from the
most reliable sources at my command.
_Indiana_
This variety is perhaps the best known (owing largely to its name), and
has not failed to produce at least a partial crop annually for the past
fifteen years. Since it has been under close observation, which has
been about seven to eight years, it has usually borne from 100 to 300
pounds. Often a large part of the crop has been stolen. Crop 1912 about
200 pounds; 1913, 250 pounds; 1914, I am confident would have been 300
pounds. The owner secured 125 pounds; balance carried off by others.
This year, 1915, is almost a failure; just a light sprinkling of nuts;
was full of blooms but owing to heavy cold rain, failed to pollenize.
The tree is located in a cultivated field, circumference of tree is 5
feet, height about 60 feet, spread 50 to 60 feet.
_Busseron_
This is almost identical with Indiana, and the owner tells me has borne
as many as seven bushels to twelve bushels at a single crop. The tree
being very tall, the entire top was cut out of it a few years ago and it
is just now commencing to bear again. The lower limbs, however, of older
wood that were left, have borne annual crops. In the nursery this
variety has shown a tendency to very early bearing; most one year trees,
spring 1914, set full of catkins, and one tree produced 16
well-developed nuts. These, however, dropped during the extreme drouth
of August. The past spring most Busseron trees in the nursery again set
full of catkins and at the present time we have one tree, coming two
years old from bud, bearing one nut that is full grown and looks as
though it would mature during the next thirty days.
Several other varieties have set full of catkins in the nursery row but
have not developed any pistillate blossoms. The Busseron has furnished
much propagating wood and at the present time there are, perhaps, more
trees growing in the nurseries of this than of any other northern
variety. Crop of 1915 promises to be fairly good.
_Niblack_
Crop of 1912, 100 pounds; crop 1913, about 50 pounds; crop 1914, 225
pounds; crop 1915, I would estimate at 100 pounds. This tree is very
deceiving; the top is rather open and the nuts are usually scattered all
through. The crop of 1914 was not considered heavy until after it was
gathered. The past spring this tree bloomed very full, but owing to wet,
cold weather when in full bloom did not set well. Size of tree 18 to 20
inches in diameter; 50 to 60 feet high with 40 feet spread, and is
located in a cultivated field.
_Posey_
Crop of 1914 was 125 pounds saved; this tree is about the same size as
the Niblack, located in the edge of a cornfield near heavy timber,
being far from any house. A large part of the crop is often stolen; the
crops of 1911 and 1912 were not so heavy, perhaps 50 to 75 pounds. It
usually bears a fair crop, however, but I do not consider it a heavy
cropper like the Indiana or Niblack. Its large size and splendid
cracking qualities, however, will make it a popular variety and it may
prove to bear much better on budded trees under cultivation.
_Butterick_
This giant tree stands out in the open field, measures 14 feet in
circumference, 90 feet spread and perhaps 100 feet high, and usually
bears from 5 to 7 bushels. The owner tells me he has owned this tree for
forty-four years and that it has not missed more than two or three crops
during that time and that the former owner told him he owned the tree
for fifty years and that it was a good sized tree when he bought the
farm and bearing regular crops.
_Major_
Crop 1912, 160 pounds saved, and from what information I can get this
tree usually bears 100 pounds or more; tree about 3 feet in diameter,
120 feet high and 60 feet to first limb. Owing to its height and size it
is very hard to get much of an estimate in regard to the crop it may
carry until after it is gathered. Being located in the dense forest a
large part of the crop is often carried off.
_Greenriver_
Tree is located in the same grove with the Major, is about 3 feet in
diameter, 35 feet to first limb, crop 1912 reported 260 pounds and has
not missed a crop in twelve years. Have had no report for 1915.
_Kentucky_
Crop 1912, 41/2 bushels; since that has borne good crops, but do not
know the exact amount, but fair crop this year. The owner says it has
only missed two crops in twenty years.
_Warrick_
This tree bears very regularly, but owing to the fact that it has been
cut so severely for propagating wood has not made any heavy yields the
past few years. The old wood has heavy crop this season.
This practically covers the named list of varieties for the Indiana
pecan belt. I might say, however, that most of the native trees are
bearing a very good crop of pecans this season in our country.
_Observations on Propagated Trees_
The Busseron has shown a stronger tendency to early bearing than any
other variety. The Major and Greenriver seem to be the best growers in
the nursery, with very heavy foliage. The Posey makes a very stocky tree
but seems to be one of the most difficult to propagate.
_Southern Varieties_
The summer of 1914 we had the Stuart, Delmas and Schley. The first
killing frost was a severe cold snap; mercury dropped to 10 above zero,
November 22d. Foliage on these perfectly green as well as the nuts. The
Stuart seemed to have about matured fruit although foliage was green.
Husk on nuts had burst open ready to drop. The fruit which looked to be
ripe, however, when cracked, the kernel looked plump, but when cut open
was found pithy and more like a piece of cork.
Stuart tree bearing this season nuts at present, September 1st, only
half grown, while Busseron alongside in nursery row is full size. The
northern varieties usually mature ready to gather October 1st; the
Indianas in the jar on the table were gathered September 28th last year.
_High Land versus Low Land. Pecans in High Land_
There have been a number of articles written by men well posted claiming
that the pecan will not bear or thrive except on the cultivated bottom
lands of our valleys and streams. The writer wishes to disprove this
erroneous idea. It is not borne out by facts. On the farm of W. J. Coan
of Bruceville, Knox County, Ind., there are a number of pecans planted
from ten to fifteen years ago. Part of these trees are on bottom land
and part on high land. This high land is heavy clay underlaid with
considerable hardpan. The writer visited these trees two weeks ago and
has photographs showing four trees in a group that were planted fifteen
years ago that have borne for the past six years, each crop getting
better. At the present time I would judge they are bearing at least one
bushel to the tree. A single tree in the barnyard has not made the
growth owing to the compact soil around it. However, it has borne quite
heavily, commenced bearing at nine years of age from seed. The trees on
the bottom land are not as large and have not borne half as many nuts as
the ones planted on high land. This is Mr. Coan's report and he says
that were he planting again he would plant entirely on high ground. The
trees shown in these photographs are located on perhaps the highest
elevation in Knox County, Ind. There are a number of other trees near
the writer's home planted on high land 150 feet above the river, back
from three to six miles, that are large trees, measuring 18 to 24 inches
in diameter and bearing regular crops. Heavy clay land seems to push a
stronger and more vigorous growth than does the more loamy, darker soil.
I submit here a number of photographs taken August 10 of pecan trees in
the nursery row, budded one year ago, showing a growth of from 4 to 6
feet, many of them 5 to 7 feet and some 8 feet high and still growing
rapidly. These were budded on four-year-old pecans.
_Propagation_
We have tried all known methods of propagating the pecan with varied
results; one of the methods you do not want to try is the Edwards
method. While it may be a success in Texas, where it originated, it is a
miserable failure in the North. Grafting above ground is done after the
sap is well up, and gives fair results. However, best results have been
obtained by the patch bud method on seedlings three to four years old.
Good strong seedlings, well-ripened buds cut from the scion orchard or
from trees two years old in the nursery have given best results--in some
cases, as high as 85 per cent stand the past season.
* * * * *
MR. JONES: Mr. Rush had a Stuart bearing last year in
south-eastern Pennsylvania. The nuts were not very large but they
matured fairly well. I am more encouraged than ever that the Indiana
variety will be safe for use in Pennsylvania.
MR. REED: I think that if the Stuart bloomed as early as the
others it would be all right, but it is about two weeks later.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I don't believe in the Stuart very much: I have
better pecans myself, hardy in the north.
THE PRESIDENT: I wish to corroborate Mr. Reed's point about the
success of the pecan on high land. One man is, I believe, responsible
for that widely circulated statement that the pecan will grow only on
alluvial land. I have travelled a thousand miles in investigating that
fact, and found it a fallacy. Some of the biggest pecan trees I have
ever seen were growing at 900 feet elevation down in Georgia. This was
on clay hills. I have seen the same thing in Raleigh. That alluvial soil
business is a hoax.
This ends the intellectual side of our program.
Business meeting.
Meeting adjourned _sine die_ at 10 P. M.
WALNUT OBSERVATIONS IN CALIFORNIA[3]
L. D. BATCHELOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, CITRUS EXPERIMENT
STATION, RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA.
The walnut industry of California is just entering a transition period
from the planting of seedling groves to the established plantings of
grafted trees. Just as other seedling fruit trees, such as the orange,
apple, peach, almond, etc., have been eliminated, so too, the seedling
walnut groves of California seem doomed to be replaced by clonal
varieties. In many ways this industry is as much in its infancy as the
apple industry of New York was sixty-five years ago, when varieties
first began to be propagated in a commercial way by grafting and
budding. This readjustment in the walnut industry is well started, and,
although it is likely to be gradual in its evolution, and wisely so, the
change seems nevertheless certain. There are but a very few seedling
trees for sale at the present time by the progressive nurseries, and, in
fact, only a very few such trees have been set out in groves during the
past four or five years. The demand for grafted trees has been brought
about largely by the wide range of variation in walnut seedlings as
regards their productivity, commercial value of the nuts, season of
harvest and ability of the trees to resist the walnut blight.
In view of the very recent propagation of the walnut by grafting, which
has extended over only about ten to twelve years, it is reasonable to
expect that the majority of the varieties thus propagated so early in
the development of the industry are only partially suited to the needs
of the walnut grower. The nuts from many of these grafted varieties fall
considerably short of the commercial standard for high-grade walnuts.
Some of the heaviest-bearing sorts, such as the Chase, Prolific and El
Monte, produce nuts that cannot be sold in the very best grade of the
commercial product. On the other hand, the Placentia, which produces one
of the most nearly ideal commercial nuts, is not a heavy-producing
variety, especially in the northern walnut sections, and is quite as
susceptible to walnut blight as the average seedling tree. Again, the
Eureka variety, which seems to successfully avoid the walnut blight
during many seasons by its lateness in coming into bloom, is a very
moderately yielding variety in the southern sections. The above
examples are only a few of many that might be cited to show the
short-comings of most of the varieties of walnuts now being propagated.
The wide range of climatic and soil conditions makes the eventual
propagation of quite a large number of varieties inevitable. While the
coast regions are bathed in fog nearly every morning during the growing
season, the inland valleys experience an extremely dry climate with high
maximum temperatures. Walnuts are being grown at the present time on
soil types varying from the extremes of sand to heavy clay loams. Many
of the future varieties must be especially adapted to some one of these
particular environments if they are to stand the test of time.
Many of the present seedling groves are of uncertain origin and
represent greatly varying values. No doubt some of these groves are the
progeny of especially selected trees known to have considerable merit.
On the other hand, it is very apparent that many of them are the result
of a great demand for seedling trees when the industry was in its
infancy twenty or thirty years ago. At that time without doubt, great
quantities of walnuts were planted without due regard for their
parentage. Again, there is a wide range of variability among the
individual trees of any grove, as variations in type of tree, blooming
season, character of foliage, resistance to disease, productivity and
character of the nuts.
_Type of Tree_
The tree types vary from the upright, sturdy individual to the more or
less spreading, weeping types which droop nearly to the ground under the
burden of the crop. The upright, vigorous growing type is well
exemplified in the Eureka. On the other hand, such varieties as the
Prolific have a spreading, bushy habit and an almost semi-dwarfness
characterizes their growth.
_Blooming Season_
It is not unusual to find the blooming season in an ordinary seedling
grove extending over a period of from a month to six weeks. A few
individual trees leaf out and blossom with the first signs of spring.
Then the great majority of the trees in the grove come out in full leaf.
But there are frequently trees still leafless after the nuts on the
early individuals are of the size of a marble. This variation in the
blooming season has considerable economic importance in relation to the
harvesting and marketing of the nuts as well as the avoidance of
diseases and frost which may be more prevalent during certain periods in
the spring.
_Foliage Characteristics_
The character of the foliage varies from the broad-leaved types, whose
foliage somewhat resembles that of the horse-chestnut, to the
narrow-leaved varieties whose leaves have a tendency to curl up like the
foliage of the Winesap apple. The broad-leaved types are much more
densely foliated and this factor has considerable bearing on the
problems of sun-scald on the twigs and trunks of the tree and the
exposure of the nuts to this injury. For this reason, the densely
foliated varieties may prove best adapted to the inland valleys, where
the difficulties of sun-scald are most prevalent. The more sparsely
foliated types often appear to have less blight on the nuts and leaves
because of their exposure to the sunshine.
_Disease Resistance_