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|The articles published in the Annual Reports of the Northern Nut Growers|
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NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON, D. C.
NOVEMBER 18 AND 19
1913
NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING
WASHINGTON, D. C.
NOVEMBER 18 AND 19, 1913
CONCORD, N. H.
THE RUMFORD PRESS
1914
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Officers and Committees of the Association 4
Members of the Association 5
Constitution and Rules of the Association 10
Proceedings of the Meeting held at Washington, D. C.,
November 18 and 19, 1913 11
Experiences and Experiments with the Persian Walnut,
A. C. Pomeroy, New York 11
Forage Nuts and the Chestnut and Walnut in Europe,
J. Russell Smith, Virginia 20
Present State of the Chestnut Blight, J. Franklin Collins,
Washington, D. C. 25
Top-Working Seedling Pecan Trees, W. N. Hutt, North Carolina 32
Unusual Methods of Propagating Nut Trees, Dr. Robert T. Morris,
New York City 43
The Possibilities of Nut Culture in Utah, Leon D. Batchelor, Utah 48
The Diseases of Nut Trees, M. B. Waite, Washington, D. C. 50
Insects Injurious to Nut Trees, A. L. Quaintance, Washington, D. C. 62
Demonstrations of Methods of Propagating Nut Trees 64
Appendix:
Report of the Secretary-Treasurer 69
Resolution Concerning Nurserymen Adopted at the Annual
Meeting of the Association, November 18 and 19, 1913 71
Present at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut
Growers Association 72
Exhibits 73
George W. Endicott--The Boone Chestnut, E. A. Riehl,
Alton, Ill. 74
Letters from Members 75
The Late Henry Hales as a Nut Culturist, H. W. Hales,
New Jersey 77
The Filbert Blight. Abstract of Paper by Humphrey 78
The Truth about Tree Planting with Dynamite 79
Correspondents and Others Interested in Nut Culture 81
Authorities and Special Correspondents 89
The Chestnut Blight and Immune Hybrids. Recent Publications 92
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
_President_ T. P. LITTLEPAGE Indiana
_Vice-President_ W. N. ROPER Virginia
_Secretary and Treasurer_ W. C. DEMING Georgetown, Conn.
COMMITTEES
_Executive_
ROBERT T. MORRIS
C. A. REED
AND THE OFFICERS
_Membership_
W. C. DEMING
G. H. CORSAN
W. N. ROPER
_Promising Seedlings_
T. P. LITTLEPAGE
C. A. REED
W. C. DEMING
_Nomenclature_
W. C. REED
R. T. MORRIS
W. C. DEMING
_Hybrids_
R. T. MORRIS
J. R. SMITH
C. P. CLOSE
_Press and Publication_
W. N. ROPER
T. P. LITTLEPAGE
W. C. DEMING
STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS
Canada Dr. D. S. Sager Brantford
Colorado Lloyd H. Decker Greeley, R. 5 Box 11
Connecticut Charles H. Plump West Redding
Delaware H. P. Layton Georgetown
Florida H. Harold Hume Glen Saint Mary
Georgia I. B. Wight Cairo
Illinois Norman W. Casper New Burnside
Indiana R. L. McCoy Lake
Iowa Alson Secor Des Moines
Ireland Dr. Augustine Henry 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin
Kansas L. L. Powers Dodge City
Kentucky A. L. Moseley Calhoun
Maryland C. P. Close Pomologist, Department of
Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Massachusetts Bernard Hoffman Stockbridge
Michigan Miss Maud M. Jessup Grand Rapids
Minnesota C. A. Van Duzee Minneapolis
Missouri C. C. Cummings 317 Joplin St., Joplin
New Hampshire Henry N. Gowing Dublin
New Jersey C. S. Ridgway Lumberton
New York A. C. Pomeroy Lockport
North Carolina W. N. Hutt Raleigh
State Horticulturist
Ohio J. H. Dayton Painesville
Oregon G. M. Magruder Medical Building, Portland
Pennsylvania J. G. Rush West Willow
Utah Leon D. Batchelor Logan
Horticulturist, State Agricultural College
Virginia J. Russell Smith Roundhill
West Virginia B. F. Hartzell Shepherdstown
Wisconsin Alfred E. Johnson Iola
MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
CANADA
Arnott, Dr. H. G., 26 Emerald St. South, Hamilton
Corsan, G. H., University of Toronto Gymnasium, Toronto
Dufresne, Dr. A. A., 217 St. Christopher St., Montreal
Fisk, Dr. George, 101 Union Ave., Montreal
Sager, Dr. D. S., Brantford, Ontario
Saunders, W. E., 352 Clarence St., London, Ontario
Stuart, Henderson, Victoria, British Columbia, P. O. Box 77
COLORADO
Decker, Loyd H., Greeley, R. 5, Box 11
CONNECTICUT
Barnes, John R., Yalesville
Browne, Louis L., Bodsbeck Farm, New Canaan
Deming, Dr. W. C, Georgetown
Deming, Imogen Hawthorne, Georgetown
Fisher, Prof. Irving, 460 Prospect St., New Haven
Hale, Mrs. George H., Glastonbury
Hungerford, Newman, 45 Prospect St., Hartford
Ives, Ernest M., Sterling Orchards, Meriden
Miller, Mrs. Charles, 32 Hillside Ave., Waterbury
Morris, Dr. Robert T., Stamford
Nichols, Mrs. F. Gillette, E. Haddam
Plump, Charles H., West Redding
DELAWARE
Layton, H. P., Georgetown
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Close, Prof. C. P., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington
Lake, Prof. E. R. Assistant Pomologist, Department of Agriculture,
Washington
Reed, C. A., In Charge of Nut Culture Investigations, Department of
Agriculture, Washington
Stabler, Albert, 613 Bond Building, Washington
+Van Deman, Prof. H. E., Washington
FLORIDA
Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary
Prange, Mrs. N. M. G., Jacksonville
GEORGIA
Crocker, Dr. F. S., Albany
White, H. C., DeWitt
Wight, J. B., Cairo
ILLINOIS
Casper, Norman W., Fairlawn, New Burnside
Heely, Dr. O. J., St. Libory
Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion
Riehl, E. A., Alton
Spencer, Henry D., Room 1, Opera House Block, Decatur
INDIANA
Beardsley, A. H., Elkhart
Burton, Joe A., Mitchell
[+]Littlepage, T. P., Boonville
McCoy, R. L., Lake
Niblack, Mason J., Vincennes
Reed, W. C., of Vincennes Nurseries, Vincennes
Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport
IOWA
Secor, Alson, Editor _Successful Farming_, Des Moines
IRELAND
Henry, Dr. Augustine, 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin
KANSAS
Powers, L. L., Dodge City
KENTUCKY
Mathews, Prof. C. W., Horticulturist, State Agricultural Experiment
Station, Lexington
Moseley, A. L., Bank of Calhoun, Calhoun
MARYLAND
Harrison, J. G., representing Harrison's Nurseries, Berlin
Holmes, F. S., M. S., Agricultural Exp. Sta., College Park
MASSACHUSETTS
[+]Bowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Building, Boston
Hoffmann, Bernhard, Overbrook Orchard, Stockbridge
Keely, Royal R., Walpole, Box 485
Markham, Dr. E. W., Lee
Rich, William P., Secretary State Horticultural Society, Horticultural
Hall, 300 Massachusetts Ave., Boston
Vaughan, Horace A., Peacehaven, Assonet
White, Warren, Holliston
MICHIGAN
Jessup, Miss Maud M., 440 Thomas St., Grand Rapids
Murphy, P. J., Wayne and Congress Sts., Detroit
MINNESOTA
Smith, E. K., 213 Phoenix Building, Minneapolis
Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul
Wyman, Willis L., Park Rapids
MISSOURI
Cummings, Dr. C. C., 317 Joplin St., Joplin
Mosher, H. G., Schell City
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Durgin, Alfred C., Newmarket
Gowing, Henry N., Dublin
NEW JERSEY
Coleman, H. H., Federal Guarantee Company, Newark
Dietrick, Thomas S., 12 West Washington Ave., Washington
Foster, Samuel F., Secretary North Jersey Society for the Promotion of
Agriculture, 100 Broadway, New York City
Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly St., Jersey City Heights
Marston, Edwin S., Florham Park, Box 72
Mergler, C. W., Hackensack Road and Mount Vernon St., Ridgefield Park
Putnam, G. H., Vineland
Ridgway, C. S., "Floralia," Lumberton
Roberts, Horace, Moorestown
Walter, Dr. Harry, Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City
NEW YORK
Abbott, Frederick B., 419 Ninth St., Brooklyn
Armstrong, A. H., General Electric Company, Schenectady
Brown, Ronald K., 320 Broadway, New York City
Clendenin, Rev. F. M., Westchester, New York City
Ellison, Elmer T., 1272 Jefferson Ave., Brooklyn
Ellwanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester
Fullerton, H. B., Director Long Island Railroad Agricultural Experiment
Station, Medford
Glover, J. Wheeler, Great Kills
Hans, Amedee, Superintendent Hodenpyl Estate, Locust Valley, L. I.
Haywood, Albert, Flushing
Hickox, Ralph, 3832 White Plains Ave., New York City
Hicks, Henry, Westbury Station, L. I.
Holden, E. B., Hilton
[+]Huntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., New York City
James, Dr. Walter B., 17 W. 54th St., New York City
Koch, Alphonse, 510 E. 77th St., New York City
Loomis, Charles B., East Greenbush, R. D. 1
Miller, Mrs. Seaman, care of Mr. Seaman Miller, 2 Rector St.,
New York City
McKoon, Morgan L., Long Eddy
Pomeroy, A. C, Lockport
Pomeroy, E. C, Bayside
Reynolds, H. L., 2579 Main St., Buffalo
Rice, Mrs. Lilian McKee, Barnes Cottage, Carmel
Storrs, A. P., 117 Front St., Oswego
Teele, A. W., 30 Broad St., New York City
Teter, Walter C, 10 Wall St., New York City
Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City
Turner, K. M., 1265 Broadway, New York City
Ulman, Dr. Ira., 213 W. 147th St., New York City
Wile, Th. E., 1012 Park Ave., Rochester
Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., New York City
[+]Wissmann, Mrs. F. DeR., 707 Fifth Ave., New York City
NORTH CAROLINA
Barret, Harvey P., 1902 E. 7th St., Charlotte
Hutt, Prof. W. N., State Horticulturist, Raleigh
Van Lindley, J., J. Van Lindley Nursery Company, Pomona
OHIO
Dayton, J. H., representing Storrs and Harrison Company, Painesville
Fickes, W. R., Wooster, R. 6
Ferd, Horatio, South Euclid, Cuyahoga County
Johnson, I. B., Cincinnati, Station K
Miller, H. A., Gypsum
Rector, Dr. J. M., Columbus
Weber, Harry R., 601-4 Gerke Building, 123 E. 6th St., Cincinnati
Yunck, E. G., 710 Central Ave., Sandusky
OREGON
Magruder, G. M., Medical Building, Portland
PENNSYLVANIA
Butler, Henry L., Gwynedd Valley
Chalmers, W. J., Vanport
Doan, J. L., School of Horticulture, Ambler
Druekemiller, W. C, Sunbury
Fagan, Prof. F. N., Department of Horticulture, State College
Hall, L. C., Avonia
Hildebrand, F. B., Duquesne
Hoopes, Wilmer W., of Hoopes Brothers and Thomas Company, Westchester
[+]Jones, J. F., Lancaster
Kinsell, Miss Ida J., Locust Spring Farm, Rochester Mills,
Indiana County, Route 2
Knipe, Irwin P., Norristown
Leas, F. C, Bala
Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks County
Meehan, S. Mendelson, of Thomas Meehan & Sons, Germantown
McSparren, W. F., Furnice
Moss, James, Johnsville, Bucks County
Preslar, C. F., 524 Grandview Ave., Pittsburgh
Rush, J. G., West Willow
Shoemaker, Seth W., Agricultural Editor, International Correspondence
Schools, Scranton
Smitten, H. W., Borough Hall, Avalon
Twaddell, E. W., Evergreen Nurseries, Westtown
UTAH
Batchelor, Leon D., Horticulturist, Utah Agricultural College, Logan
Pendleton, M. A., 3 Mozart Apartments, Salt Lake City
VIRGINIA
Crockett, E. B., Lynchburg
Parrish, John S., Eastham, Albemarle County
Roper, W. N., of Arrowfield Nurseries, Petersburg
Shackford, Theodore B., Lynehburg, care of Adams Brothers Paynes Company
Smith, Prof. J. Russell, Roundhill
Von Ammon, S., Fontella
WEST VIRGINIA
Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown
WISCONSIN
Johnson, Alfred E., Iola
[Footnote +: Life member.] [Footnote +: Life member.]
CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
_Name._ The society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS
ASSOCIATION.
_Object._ The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their
products and their culture.
_Membership._ Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who
desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence
or nationality, subject to the approval of the committee on membership.
_Officers._ There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a
secretary-treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which
the president, vice-president and secretary shall be members; and a
state vice-president from each state represented in the membership of
the association.
_Election of Officers._ A committee of five members shall be elected at
the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the
subsequent year.
_Meetings._ The place and time of the annual meeting shall be selected
by the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made
at this time, the executive committee shall choose the place and time
for the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may
seem desirable may be called by the president and executive committee.
_Fees._ The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former
shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars.
_Discipline._ The committee on membership may make recommendations to
the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.
_Committees._ The association shall appoint standing committees of three
members each to consider and report on the following topics at each
annual meeting: first, on promising seedlings; second, on nomenclature;
third, on hybrids; fourth, on membership; fifth, on press and
publication.
Northern Nut Growers Association
FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING
NOVEMBER 18 AND 19, 1913
AT WASHINGTON, D. C.
The fourth annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association was
held, in conjunction with the meetings of the American Pomological
Society, the Society for Horticultural Science, and the Eastern Fruit
Growers Association, in the new National Museum building at Washington,
D. C, during "Fruit Week," November 17 to 22, 1913, the meeting of the
Association being on the 18th and 19th.
The first session was called to order at 11 A. M. in Room 3. In the
absence of the President the chair was occupied by Professor W. N. Hutt
of North Carolina.
THE CHAIRMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen: If you will come to order, we will
begin the meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association. It is
unfortunate that our president is called away on important business. He
has asked me to take his place and we will do the best we can. I will
ask the secretary to read a communication.
THE SECRETARY: I have this telegram from Mr. Littlepage, our president:
"Please express to the Northern Nut Growers Association my profound
regrets that I cannot be with them. No organization has ever been formed
that contained finer and more sincere men than ours. I invite the
Association to come to Indiana next year. I will take you along the
banks of the Wabash, the Ohio and Green River, where the pecan trees
grow so big that the sun has to go around. I send best wishes for a
successful meeting."
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Pomeroy has kindly consented to give us a talk on
walnuts.
EXPERIENCES AND EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PERSIAN WALNUT
A. C. POMEROY, NEW YORK
When our secretary asked me to prepare a paper on this subject, I
thought it would be very simple, but after making a beginning I found
that about all I knew on nut culture was my own experiences--successes
and failures--covering a period of about twenty-five years.
During the past year better data have been kept of the behavior of the
Persian walnut trees under my observation, than in former years.
Hereafter it is my intention to keep a more detailed record of the time
of the appearance of the nutlet blossoms of each tree, which is of the
utmost importance to those interested in the growing of the Persian
walnut in the North and East.
In order to keep a better record of each tree I have numbered the old
original trees, planted by my father, from 1 to 7.
Nuts from each tree are here in jars numbered to correspond with the
trees from which they were gathered and may be compared for variation in
size, shape, thinness of shell and flavor.
It would be impossible to keep an exact record in pounds of the yield of
any one tree per year. One thing against any such record, is that many
visitors come to our farm every year to see the walnut trees and the
pockets of some of them look suspiciously bulky on leaving. (An ordinary
coat pocket will hold a quart, an overcoat pocket more than that and
there are only thirty-two quarts in a bushel.)
The new orchard is just coming into bearing. At one end of it there is
an old black walnut tree, and the young Persians that were planted near
this tree began to bear first. Near the center of this eight-acre
orchard we planted a butternut tree. This will, I think, help to
fertilize the pistillate or nutlet blossoms on many of the trees.
Of the original trees five stand where they can have care and good
cultivation. The other two were put in the lawn very close to some old
shade trees where they can not be cultivated and are kept pretty well in
the shade. The five cultivated trees produced this fall over
twenty-three bushels. The nuts were measured on November 10 when there
were twenty and a half bushels. The snow was so deep the other few
bushels could not be gathered.
Besides the walnut trees mentioned there are perhaps twenty-five more
planted in small plots about the farm. Nuts from some of these young
trees are here and comparisons may be made with the nuts from the old
trees.
To get an idea of how the English walnut has done in some parts of
western New York the following replies to enquiries are quoted.
Wilson, one tree thirteen years old, one and one half bushels.
Sybrandt, has twenty-five or more trees thirteen years old, some trees a
bushel, others over a bushel and a half. Eighme, one tree fifteen or
sixteen years old, one bushel. Trippency, one tree fifteen or sixteen
years old, two bushels.
Nuts from some of the old and young trees were weighed. The results were
somewhat surprising to me.
Tree No. 1 S. R. Long, well-filled nut, 48 to the pound.
Tree No. 1 N. R. Nut slightly pointed, well filled, 40 to the pound.
Tree No. 2 N. R. Nut nearly round, well filled, 37 to the pound.
Tree No. 5. Annual bearer, 64 to the pound.
The weighing was done on a druggist's scales about two weeks after
gathering.
Those of you who have not seen a Persian walnut tree in full foliage,
have something to live for. Imagine a tree, that was a nut in the spring
of 1877, its branches now spreading full fifty feet, its topmost bough
fully that far from the ground, its trunk measuring seventy-six inches
around, well above the earth.
Imagine such a tree in its foliage of dense, dark glossy green, its
branches loaded with fruit, sometimes actually touching the ground.
The question is sometimes asked what is such a tree worth for cabinet
use? I don't know, and I don't care. What I do know is that those five
trees produced well upward of forty dollars each this year.
Our markets in western New York are good. The folks that use nuts as a
daily food have increased greatly in the past few years. Niagara County
has three cities, Erie County, adjoining, also has three cities. The
population of Buffalo is about 450,000; improved highways and gasolene
trucks have put us within an hour and a half of all these six cities.
While there are hundreds of young Persian walnut trees, just coming into
bearing, in some of the counties of western New York, the supply of
home-grown nuts will probably never fill the demand.
Professor Lake paid the farm a short visit this past summer and told of
his grafting. I think he said he had a loss of 90 per cent. We beat that
a little as our loss was 100 per cent.
The failure in grafting was due, I think, to the scions not being cut
early enough.
Budding in August was done by budders expert with fruit trees. A Jones
budding tool was used. Nearly all the buds took.
We do not have much trouble with disease or insects.
We have had no trouble to speak of with worms. About ten years ago a few
nests of the tent caterpillar were cut off and burned.
Some 18 or 20 years ago all, or nearly all, of the nuts dropped in June.
I do not know what was the matter.
In 1906 the ends of some of the branches on the older trees turned brown
and died back a few inches.
These were cut off and burned. We had but few nuts that year.
In fertilizing have used barnyard manure. When it was used it was at
times applied too freely, perhaps, as some of the young trees put forth
a growth of six feet in one season. I do not think it well to force them
too much. The fertilizing should be done in the winter or early spring.
Trimming may be done at any time a branch appears that needs removing.
There is one pretty good sized tree on the farm with black walnut stem
and Persian walnut top. Some horticulturists seem to think that this
kind of a tree is hardier. My observations are that there is not a bit
of difference. This tree and another on a near-by farm are the only two
I know of with a black walnut stem and a Persian top, in my section.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin "Soil Survey
of Niagara County, N. Y." By referring to this, I find that the soils
that have produced thrifty, and prolific Persian walnut trees are,
Dunkirk loam, Dunkirk sandy loam, Dunkirk silt loam, Clyde sandy loam
and clay loam.
The winters of western New York are frequently quite severe. The winter
of 1911-12 was a very severe one, zero weather prevailing most of the
time and frequently it was way below zero for days. No injury was done
to the Persian walnut trees and a good crop of nuts was harvested in the
fall of 1912.
In May, 1913, on the nights of the 11th and 12th it was so cold that ice
formed an eighth of an inch, or more, in thickness. The staminate
catkins on the Persian walnut trees were fairly well developed and it
was thought the nuts were gone for this year surely, but the last of May
the pistillate blossoms came out, the staminates matured and the results
have already been told you.
I think that Persian walnut trees pay better than apples, and that there
is no danger of an oversupply.
The cost for labor in caring for the trees and in harvesting the crop is
very much less than for any other fruit crop. No spraying and no picking
are necessary.
The cost of production is slight, yet the demand and prices for this nut
have been steadily increasing for several years.
* * * * *
THE CHAIRMAN: I would like to have a good discussion of this paper,
because it seems to me that in all the activities of the Northern Nut
Growers Association the Persian walnut offers the highest possibilities.
The Pacific coast people and southern people have always thought that
only the hickory or black walnut could be raised in the northern parts
of the country, and now we find that the Persian walnut also does well
there. The Secretary has sent out a letter recently asking for
information about the Persian walnut trees in the vicinity of each
person addressed. This letter was gotten out for the reason that in the
culture of the Persian walnut the Pacific coast people have distanced
us, and it is probable that we have not learned the possibilities of
these splendid nuts in the East. We have a few very fine varieties of
these eastern nuts, and it looks as if, by use of these varieties, the
eastern part of this country can produce these nuts in as large
quantities as the western. Mr. Pomeroy originated the walnut bearing his
name, and we have another nut that offers very good promise, and I
believe the originator is here this morning. Mr. Rush we would like to
hear from you.
MR. RUSH: I am satisfied that Persian walnut culture can be made just as
profitable on the Atlantic coast as on the Pacific and in France. We
have varieties that have stood a temperature of twenty-three degrees
below zero.
I have discovered another variety in Lancaster. This tree was brought in
from Germany about thirty-five years ago and it has turned out to be an
extremely valuable variety. I have seen these nuts selling in the open
market at fifty cents a pound. As regards propagation of the Persian
walnut, of course the black walnut is the most common variety on which
to propagate. Another stock is the Japan walnut, in a sense better than
the black for grafting. It has a better lateral root system and is not
so fierce in going down to the center of the earth. Its root system is
magnificent. Several trees budded on this stock a year ago last August
and transplanted in November the same year, had a growth this summer of
over six feet from the bud, showing that there must certainly be
remarkable vitality in the Japanese roots. I have a young tree thirteen
years old budded on black walnut that produced twenty-one nuts this
summer. I have a seedling about ten years old which didn't have one
catkin bloom. But a tree of the Rush variety, so named for me by Mr.
Jones, the first propagator, stood about forty feet away from the first,
and at the end of the season this seedling tree produced sixty finely
developed nuts. This seedling tree, however, had a great many pistillate
blossoms, which received pollen from the neighboring variety that was
prolific in staminate bloom. It would seem to be an advantage for a
seedling Persian walnut to have a good pollenizer in its company.
PROFESSOR SMITH: I was struck by Mr. Pomeroy's statement that after
apparent killing of the staminate bloom by frost the pistillate blossoms
appeared and he had a crop. Evidently he got fertilization from some
outside source. The Persian walnut in the eastern part of the United
States is like many other trees in that its trouble does not arise from
susceptibility to winter cold, for when it is dormant it appears to
stand great cold. The trouble with the Persian walnut is its tendency to
start growing at the first approach of warm weather and if the cold
comes later it may kill the tree. Mr. Pomeroy's farm there near the
shores of the lake has an immunity from sudden changes of temperature
and therefore his trees are not likely to make growth which will be
caught by late fall or early spring frosts. Unquestionably he can grow
Persian walnuts better there than can be done five hundred to a thousand
miles further south. It is also a well-known fact that one of the best
of peach and apple regions is along this lake shore. There are many
other Persian walnut trees growing in different localities east of the
Mississippi, but nobody seems to think them worth propagating because
they winter kill at times. Yet seedlings of the hardiest trees often do
it. A new variety of the tree has been discovered which is wonderful in
that, whereas the ordinary Persian walnut tree comes into leaf rather
early, this tree comes into leaf in June when cherries are ripe. I have
seen similar trees in France. I have no doubt there are ten or fifteen
different varieties of this tree growing unappreciated in this part of
the country. These particular trees we do know about happen to belong to
gentlemen who are propagating them for our benefit and we owe them our
thanks; but I have no doubt there are many other trees equally as
valuable growing in the Eastern States. I have no doubt that the
experience of Mr. Rush could be duplicated, in discovering right near
him in his own town something better than he had ever known before. We
need reports on all these trees.
MR. RUSH: In connection with Mr. Smith's remarks as to late vegetating
varieties, it may be that this feature is not altogether desirable. I
have been in correspondence with a gentleman in Colfax, Washington, who
has some late vegetating varieties and he tells me that he lost his
whole crop. They were caught by a frost at the end of the season before
they had fully matured.
MR. DAVIS: Mr. C. A. Sober has, on his farm in central Pennsylvania,
about five hundred Persian walnut trees and has had them for ten years.
He has not been able to get a nut. Every year they freeze back. The
trees live but they freeze back. I don't know whether this is because
they start too early or not.
PROFESSOR SMITH: I do not know that there is any better nut than these
which we are now propagating, but I think the chances are ninety-nine to
one against our having found the best walnut trees for this region.
THE CHAIRMAN: I think Professor Smith's point is well taken. We are just
starting in this business. I want to get the experiences of men from
different parts of the country. Is Mr. Stabler here?
MR. STABLER: Thirty years ago three trees, probably seedlings were
planted in our neighborhood. One is on my father's farm, one is on my
uncle's farm, and one is on our farm. The one on our farm, I think, has
never borne a nut. My uncle's has borne many times, although an apple
tree and a cedar tree are very near it. This walnut tree comes out so
very late in the spring that no spring frost catches it. It is in
Montgomery County and we often have late spring frosts there. The nuts
are all ripe in the fall too before the frost comes.
PROFESSOR SMITH: Mr. Stabler told me that this is the fifteenth
successive crop from this tree.
THE CHAIRMAN: This is certainly a very important point--the maturity of
these trees. It is the general impression that the Persian walnut will
not mature in certain sections of the country, but as a fact there are
certain varieties that will mature anywhere in the country. We have
similar evidence in the experience of the pecan growers. The Indiana
pecan is dormant later than the southern varieties. This is true of the
hardy peach also which comes out later in the spring and is ripe sooner
in the fall than the southern varieties. These seem to have accommodated
themselves to the climate.
PROFESSOR MCHATTON: In Georgia we are prone to be hurt by the late
spring frosts--that is our great trouble. The other day there was sent
into the office a number of specimens of the Persian walnut, said to be
from a seedling grown at Sharp, Georgia, in the apple country just below
Chattanooga, at an elevation of eight hundred to a thousand feet, and it
gets cold up there--they have heavy freezing every winter. This tree
began bearing at seven or eight years, the owner said, and has borne a
crop every year for the past seven or eight years, and he had several
losses of fruit crops from late spring frosts during that period. The
nut was very well filled and of fair size. If any one is interested
sufficiently and will write to me as soon as I get back to the college I
will send the name of the grower. I do not recommend it as I have never
seen more than a dozen of the nuts. This was of interest to me, because
I have not been recommending the Persian walnut there on account of the
late spring frosts, but now it looks as if there was a chance of our
getting into the walnut game ourselves.
MR. POMEROY: A prominent expert who came to the farm once said to me
that the Persian or English walnut came to this country through two
routes: one through Greece, Italy and Spain, and taken by the Spaniards
to Mexico and southern California, and the other route through Germany
and England into the United States from the north. He said he would
rather have his walnut trees come from the northern route trees than the
southern.
PROFESSOR SMITH: Any one who has a good tree ought to write to our
secretary. I hope everybody will report these trees. The information
will be published in bulletin form and sent out to every member of the
Association. I fully believe that this information gathered and
disseminated will greatly assist in developing the walnut industry in
the eastern part of the United States.
MR. FROST: Mr. Pomeroy said that the pruning might be done at any time
of the year. I pruned a walnut tree one spring and it very nearly bled
to death.
MR. POMEROY: It seems to me that I have always pruned at any time. It
might be that when the sap is just nicely started--just before the tree
starts and the buds swell--it might not be wise to do that. I suppose
that the nut trees might bleed then the same as grape vines and certain
other plants and trees. I thought it never did any harm.
MR. FROST: It very nearly killed mine. They were big trees, too.
THE CHAIRMAN: I had just such an experience as that with grape vines. We
found that if grapes are pruned at a certain time in the spring they
will bleed profusely, and sometimes actually bleed to death. I never had
any experience with walnuts, but with vines we prune in the fall just as
soon as they are dormant. At that time the energies of the plant are at
a minimum and you can prune more safely than at any other time. As we go
on toward spring the moisture becomes greater and the sap starts, so if
you prune late in the spring there is great danger of injury to all
plants. If you prune in the fall you have no trouble.
MR. WILE: I would like to know if any one has had experience with
California varieties here in the East.
PROFESSOR VAN DEMAN: Professor Close has had more than any one else. I
have also heard of some in Florida.
PROFESSOR LAKE: We have had three years' experience; we have had also
the experience of others who have had them a longer time than that. Some
three years ago we grafted a number of California varieties on the
eastern black. In view of the eastern conditions, these are all making
splendid growth--some of them made a three-foot growth last year, some a
five and one-half foot growth this year. They went through last winter
splendidly; they are holding back finely in the spring and we had no
trouble with spring frosts on the grafted portions, even though many of
the seedlings were injured.
THE CHAIRMAN: Will the Persian walnut fertilize itself under eastern
conditions?
PROFESSOR SMITH: I think we will have to trust to outside fertilization
by the black walnut or butternut. They all bloom at the same time. One
fertilizing tree will do, but it is better to have more than one because
sometimes it might turn out that the staminate catkins came a few days
too early or too late to fertilize the nut. The more trees you have, the
better the chances; the more trees in a group the better. The reason a
five or six-year-old Persian walnut tree does not bear many walnuts is
that there are no staminate catkins. It takes old wood to produce them.
There is not enough old wood.
MR. STABLER: The Stabler walnut which I have just mentioned, bloomed
from the tenth to the twenty-fifth of June. The black walnuts of that
neighborhood all came out from a month to six weeks earlier than that,
and not a single black walnut tree had blossoms on in that neighborhood,
nor a single Persian walnut at the time the Stabler tree blossomed. I
believe I am fairly well acquainted there and there was not a single
other tree had catkins on at that time, and yet that tree bore a good
crop of catkins and a large number of pistillate blossoms and later a
good crop of nuts which is fairly good evidence that it must have
fertilized itself.
THE CHAIRMAN: We would like to continue this discussion, but we have
another paper that bears on the subject, and I think it will bring out
some points in connection with it.
FORAGE NUTS AND THE CHESTNUT AND WALNUT IN EUROPE
J. RUSSELL SMITH, VIRGINIA
The great task of American agriculture is to feed our beasts.
Approximately nine tenths of the proceeds of American agriculture goes
to nourish the quadruped, and man eats the remaining one tenth;
therefore, if we want to get clear of the possibility of a crop being
overproduced, let us grow something the beast can eat. To say that we
will never overproduce food crops for man is ridiculous. It is quite
possible, for instance, that we may produce too many Persian walnuts for
man's food, but the tree that will produce nuts to feed the beasts is on
a firm basis. Pigs are going up and they are going to stay up. If we can
get something that will suit Brother Pig we are on a perfectly safe
basis, and that is the basis of the chestnut industry in Europe. In
large sections of France, from Switzerland to the Atlantic, there are
thousands of acres of chestnut trees--a great forage crop. In a few
districts is[**typo ] looks like a forested country, on account of the
heavy chestnut tree groves. The tenant who takes a farm has certain
restrictions placed upon him in the removal and use of the crop. He is
not allowed to remove the chestnuts in France. The tenant who takes the
farm, signs a contract that he will not sell the chestnuts but will feed
them to the pigs so the soil may not be exhausted. They gather them
carefully and use them in a number of ways. They make the main bread
supply of the people. I have eaten chestnut cake. It is not bad. They
treat it exactly as we do corn cake. When they can afford something
better, they do so.
At harvest time the chestnuts are put in drying houses, a fire is built
under them and after they are thoroughly dried they will keep
indefinitely. We find them on the market as dried chestnuts; and I have
seen people eating them raw in June of the year after. Chestnut meal is
a standard article of consumption and the price is regulated by the
price of cornmeal.
I have seen considerable areas planted out regularly in rows of young
trees, and alongside of that older ones. They plant on perfectly fine,
level ground hundreds of acres of chestnut groves and we find these
groves anywhere from twenty-five to one hundred years old. They are very
valuable property for the reason that when old there are many cords of
wood to the acre, and chestnut wood is valuable.
They have a disease over there called inky root consequently new
plantings have largely ceased, though there are some going on. A great
reason for planting is that timber means an increase in the value of
land. A man who has an old chestnut orchard has land that is worth two
hundred dollars an acre for wood alone and the temptation is very strong
to sell off the timber and get the money, which process is going on
faster than the setting of new orchards. These orchards are on high
class agricultural land.
It is quite different in Corsica; the country there is very broken and
rough. Some of the hills range up to 6,000 feet, and for a belt of 2,000
feet the chestnut forests are continuous and villages numerous. This
island supports a dense population. The principal industry consists of
gathering the chestnuts, and for a few weeks the people are very busy
putting them away for the year's supply and sending them to market. I
stopped at the home of the mayor of a little town and he went back in
the barn where he had a bin full of dried chestnuts. He fed some of them
to my horse. It is their one crop. Many people have nothing but twenty
or thirty or forty acres of chestnuts and a little garden--a little
garden made by retaining walls making a terrace that must be tilled by
hand. That is the whole sustenance of the people. The value of the land
is usually estimated on a tree basis, and very seldom put on a land
basis. The value of land covered with trees is from two hundred to three
hundred dollars an acre, and land along side of this without trees may
be worth but ten dollars. The value of the chestnut trees for wood forms
a large part of the sale value. There is some good pasture under these
trees.
The renewing of these groves is perfectly systematic. The old trees,
having attained their full size, meet overhead and right alongside of
them are planted new trees, which under such circumstances make a very
poor growth. The young tree may get as high as this room in ten or
fifteen years, and the old tree being worth ten or fifteen dollars, is
then cut down (in that country if you want money cut down a chestnut
tree). The young tree takes the place very soon, and once established a
chestnut orchard lasts indefinitely. Sometimes they plant the young tree
beside the old one, ten or fifteen years before the old tree is to be
cut down.
The contrast between the populous villages of Corsica and like portions
of the Appalachian hillsides is striking. The inhabitants of the latter
cut down everything, plant corn and in two or three seasons the rain
simply carries the earth away and the farm has to be abandoned. In
contrast to that the orchards of Corsica have been there for many
centuries. I asked one man how long this thing had been going on. He
said "two hundred, three hundred, five hundred, one thousand years,
always." Nobody knows when they began to grow chestnuts. How the land
continues to grow them is more than I can understand. As an example of
permanent agriculture, that has everything I have ever heard of beaten
out. Those people had not fertilized the trees, as it would be a
physical impossibility to carry anything up those slopes; everything
comes down. They have been taking off wood and nuts always, nothing has
gone back. I have not been present at harvest time but I have consulted
with the representatives of the Department of Agriculture in France and
they tell me this land produces a ton to three thousand pounds to the
acre, with the big years doubling that and the little years halving it.
This without taking anything away from the land apparently. The land is
as good as when they began, and is supporting a dense population and has
for centuries.
Another forage nut which struck me as even more important than the
chestnut, because of its much wider possibility in America, is the
acorn. I have been through considerable areas in Portugal where they
didn't care whether they had a cork tree or an oak. Land with such trees
is worth from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.
They assured me that the acorn oak forest was as valuable as the cork
forest. Some of this land is wheat land. They will let an oak tree stand
right in the middle of a field where the cultivation of the ground
improves the tree. After the wheat harvest the hogs fatten on the
acorns.
The evergreen oak of southern Europe is highly prized for its acorns. I
have seen large areas of bearing trees. I have been told time and again
that they bear at a comparatively early age. The oak is capable of
grafting, about as easily as the chestnut. I have seen them grafted, all
the way from those of this spring up to three hundred years old. The
number of trees grafted is small, but that in no way affects the
possibilities. Certain varieties are prized as much as chestnuts, or
even more, and the price of acorns is set by the price of chestnuts,
just as the price of cornmeal sets the price for chestnut meal. I never
got crop records for a solid acre of oak trees, but the performance of
individual trees gives rise to the belief that the acorn crop in Europe
and America is worthy of careful study. I saw a tree--a single
tree--that I was assured bore more than twelve hundred quarts in a
single year, thirty-seven bushels. It is hard to get the yield in a
large forest, but this tree was alone. Its sweep was seventeen yards,
its yearly production seemed to average over twenty bushels, which was
worth as much as an acre of corn in any of our states. Wherever I found
an isolated tree, I found its production to be surprisingly large, and I
got my information from a variety of sources. It seemed to be one of the
most important forage trees.
As to the Persian walnut, it is reported to be a small nut of almost no
value in its wild state. It grows around the world between the belt of
the orange and the belt of the white pine. It is unknown as a crop in
large areas in Europe, where it might be grown successfully. In Italy
there is only an occasional tree, and it is not grown much in Portugal
or Spain.
It has centers in Europe as crops have in the United States and for the
same reason--someone started the industry. The activities of Mr. Pomeroy
have stimulated its growth in his immediate locality. When any one
succeeds in a certain line, we find people about him taking up the same
line and they conclude that this product can only be produced in that
particular locality. This is usually not so at all. The thing that
happened was that some one showed them that this soil would produce this
thing. Near Naples there is a walnut boom. The value of the walnut as a
crop is shown by the fact that market gardens producing three crops a
year under irrigation are being planted to English walnuts. I have been
told time and again that this is a very profitable crop. In this walnut
district they have planted whole hillsides to olives and walnuts
alternately, sometimes mixed up, sometimes twenty acres solid. In some
places they can only be cultivated with the hoe, a very distinctly
un-American job, and yet the English walnut seems to pay the people
under those conditions of labor. It is spreading over that peninsula and
you find it spreading in the lowlands. They trim the tree up to
twenty-five feet, so that teams can drive below.
There are two important walnut areas in France; at one place an old
crank named Mayette about two hundred years ago found a good walnut and
he grafted some and planted out an acre or two, and his neighbors
planted some, especially when his acre or two began to grow, with the
result that the territory around that old man's planting is the center
of the production of the Grenoble walnut. A little strip, on the
foothills of the Alps and along the Isère river is sprinkled with walnut
trees. They are now planting these trees in the midst of the best
vineyards. In a field of wheat often-times you will find rows of little
walnut trees. There are some orchards of Persian walnuts in this
locality but I think no orchard has over five acres. They have come to
grief along a line that is common to most people, that of overcrowding.
It takes a great deal of nerve to plant a nut tree sixty or seventy feet
from the next--it looks as if it were wasting the land--and they have
planted them so close that the tops of the trees and the foliage form a
flat level green surface, and the sun shines on a very small part of
each tree instead of all round and over it as it should.
The other walnut district is one more suggestive to me. I doubt if even
those who have trees to sell are justified in advising the farmers to
plant solid fields of walnuts, but we can recommend a row of them around
fence rows and round the barn. I traveled a good many miles through the
western part of France, from Lyons to Bordeaux, and I have seen
thousands of trees, but I have not seen any orchards. They put one tree
by itself and they raise wheat close up to it. The fertilization and
cultivation help the walnut and make it produce a better crop. Those
well-fed trees with plenty of sun, air and plant food are distinctly
superior to the other trees. A good walnut tree rents for as much as an
acre of ground. It is the product that is received without labor that
appeals to me, and as the trees produce well, there is sometimes seven
or eight dollars worth of profit to each tree, and the landlord is in
the position to command most of the seven or eight dollars because he
furnishes the trees. If a 50-acre farm with fifty nut trees stood on one
side of the road and one of equal area without any trees on the other
side, the one with the trees would rent for twice as much. A good tree
will occasionally produce three or four hundred pounds of nuts,
especially a fine tree out by itself. Once in a while we find a grove of
them but more often there are six, seven, eight or more trees scattered
round the house. The combined result of that industry produces millions
of dollars worth of nuts.
If there are any questions, I shall be glad to answer.
* * * * *
MR. EVANS: Can the pecan be used as a forage crop for pigs?
PROFESSOR SMITH: I don't think we are willing to let him have them.
MR. EVANS: Would a pig eat them?
PROFESSOR SMITH: Observations show that the pig will eat them if you
give him a chance; he will eat with great gusto the hickory nuts and a
grown hog will also crack black walnuts; the pecan he simply grinds up.
I suggested the pig as a way out of the problem of overproduction; the
pig wants the products when we don't.
MR. STORRS: I come from a country where we grow the pig on corn, and it
is hard for me to believe that he will get fat on acorns and chestnuts.