grafted hickories from February until September. Very early grafting is
largely a failure because of incomplete repair of the wound in the stock
and scion. Late summer grafting is not practical because the scions
which make a start do not lignify their new shoots sufficiently to
withstand the winter cold. In late April or early May when the sap is
running very freely we also have a considerable loss of scions because
an excess of water causes the scion shoots to grow too rapidly before
wound repair has taken place to the point necessary for conducting
nutrition for the growing shoots. Grafting after the leaves are pretty
well out on the tree has given me best success. Grafting from then up to
the last week in July has been found to be practical. Scions for
topworking hickories have been employed for what I call "mediate" and
"immediate" grafting. By mediate grafting is meant the employment of
scions which have been cut while they were dormant and which have been
stored in any appropriate way. Immediate grafting means the transference
of scions cut from one tree and used upon another in the same hour or
day. Mediate grafting is the sort which belongs to all history of the
subject and immediate grafting relates more particularly to my recent
experimental work.
* * * * *
MR. BECHTEL: What kind of wax did you use if any besides paraffin?
DR. MORRIS: I have given up everything but that. The paraffin has a
number of special advantages. In the first place, it seals any wound
against infection from bacteria or fungi. It prevents moisture from rain
carrying bacteria into the wound. It prevents evaporation from the cut
surfaces.
MR. BECHTEL: Doesn't it melt too much in the sun?
DR. MORRIS: It might with you and you might need to use a harder
paraffin. There are a great many kinds of paraffin. The paraffin series
is a large one in chemistry. The one I find best for our locality is the
common parowax that you can find in any grocery store. I use just the
pure straight thing but in your country you are further south and may
need a different one. It does melt some in the middle of a hot day and
will be nearly fluid sometimes but it hardens up when the sun goes down.
MR. FOSTER: Were the grafts kept in cold storage?
DR. MORRIS: I have used two ways of keeping grafts for top working. Some
have been kept in cold storage, others have been kept in the ice house.
I have been in the habit of kicking up the sawdust and dropping scions
in the hole not very far above the ice. Last year I could not get any
ice and two years ago I could not get any but the scions kept just as
well in the sawdust near the ground. Then I have kept them packed in
leaves with two feet of leaves on top of the scions. I have also kept
some as Mr. Jones has but the difficulty is in keeping them at the right
degree of moisture. The enzymes go to work the minute the cells of the
scion have a full charge of water despite low temperature unless it is
actually below freezing. Scions of another kind are the ones that I cut
off from one tree and put on the next tree the same hour or day. That
has only been possible by this method that I now employ. Almost any time
in the summer we can do that without keeping the scions in storage at
all. I gave some of them a resting period experimentally for a day or
two but to no advantage.
PROF. CLOSE: Don't you have to be pretty careful with the melted
paraffin so as not to injure the tissue?
DR. MORRIS: Yes we need special apparatus. I took a lantern, cut out the
top and sunk a spun cup down in the lantern. On a cold day I turn the
alcohol flame higher than in a warm day. I have been trying to have this
lantern made so that it could be got on the market. There is nothing
else to my knowledge that will allow the grafter to regulate the
temperature of melted wax according to the weather. I am going to get it
manufactured so you can each have one.
MR. BIXBY: There is a series of paraffines pure paraffines which are
known only in chemical laboratories and also a number which can be
obtained without much difficulty. The common parowax I think is the
grade that is known in the trade as 120. That is it melts at 120 degrees
F. but paraffin can be obtained without much difficulty that melts at
125°, 128° and 130°, so if the parowax is too soft for Mr. Bechtel's
district I am sure he can get something that will be all right. He
might have to send to New York to get it but it is readily obtained
there.
MR. BECHTEL: I have used bees wax and find that that melts at a higher
temperature.
DR. MORRIS: I want complete transparency.
MR. FOSTER: Would it be out of order for a beginner to ask what type of
grafting Dr. Morris uses in his work on these trees.
DR. MORRIS: I think that somebody who was not a beginner might ask that
quite as well. I have tried almost all the methods employed by the
experts and have gotten down to very simple principles. If I am going to
get fifty, sixty, eighty or ninety per cent of catches in hickory as we
sometimes do I have to use methods that are very simple. For limbs that
are small not larger than one's finger the plain cleft graft is good
enough and I like as far as possible to choose a branch that is about
the diameter of the scion. If the limb is larger in diameter than the
scion I make my cleft to one side so that the cambium line of stock and
scion will correspond. It is important to have cambium layers together.
By all means the best feature of all in my grafting work is what I call
the bark slot. This bark slot consists in making two parallel lines in
the stock bark the width of the scion. I turn down that tongue of bark
and stick in the scion. I turn back the bark again and bind all with
raffia. That is the bark slot graft. The bark slot is by all means the
most successful method that I have ever employed. What are the
objections to it? Not so firm a hold on the stock as you will get in a
cleft. What are you going to do about it? Put on good strong braces for
the growing stock. I find it does not do much harm to drive galvanized
nails right into the tree to hold the brace, three or four nails right
into the limb, and then tie the rapidly growing shoot to the brace. If I
do not do that the new shoot blows out very readily when I use the bark
slot. In other words you will catch more by this method and lose more
unless you give the grafts a good deal of attention.
PROF. CLOSE: How do you trim the scion?
DR. MORRIS: I trim it mostly with one good long cut on one side and
sometimes turn it over and make a little nick on the other, but one good
long cut is usually all that it needs.
PROF. CLOSE: Supposing the bark does not peel?
DR. MORRIS: If it does not I think the chances are against its catching
your graft. I have done all my grafting until this year at times when
the bark peeled but this year I carried it up into September after the
bark had set and I am trying to see if I can get a catch then. In that
case I take a chisel and chisel off the bark where it is hide-bound. The
experiment may be a failure but I have had so many failures that they
are sort of a pleasant experience.
MR. FOSTER: In the cutting back I understand that you prefer to do so
when the tree is dormant. Then in the spring when you start your
grafting do you leave that cut just as it is or do you cut it off again?
DR. MORRIS: These are very important questions that are coming out. When
you have sawed off the limb trim the end neatly with a sharp knife. An
employee will almost always leave the cut end ragged but if you do it
yourself and have smooth ends and cover them with paraffin you can graft
right squarely on that end. Turn down your bark for a slot and stick in
the scion at any time. If the cut end was made by someone who was not
careful make a cut down through any living bark with a chisel or a knife
until you get down to the wood, then make parallel lines from that point
and turn down the tongue of bark. I have put in scions where I had to
use a heavy chisel and mallet to turn down the tongue. It was not
necessary to put on any binding there where the tongue of bark was so
thick.
PROF. CLOSE: I understand you to say that if the end has become dried
you go down below the dried part?
DR. MORRIS: When I find the end of the stub dry I go below that point to
get live bark for grafting purposes. After my scion is well under way a
year or so then I saw off any projecting stub beyond the graft and put
paraffin over the cut end. That form of graft works very well except
that it makes more work.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I have been very much interested in what Dr. Morris
said. I found it no trouble whatever to get a hickory from four to six
or eight inches to grow a great big graft, but I have never seen one
live three years. I have my woods full of dead ones. I have one in front
of my house now which I slip-bark grafted about the diameter of two
inches and it is still growing but I expect an invitation to its funeral
next spring. I have never seen a hickory tree successfully grafted over
five inches in diameter. I found in my woods that the trees would
sometimes die down to the ground. If they lived they would drag along
for two or three years. If those of you who were out there yesterday had
had a little more time I could have shown you those dead hickories. I
would like to know what your experience is in grafting hickories over an
inch in diameter.
DR. MORRIS: That is an important point and it relates to the matter of
cutting back to such an extent that it causes too much shock to the
tree. In very large hickories I have cut them hack to short stubs and
have had a number of them die. On the other hand where I have cut back
so that the largest limbs cut were not more than three inches in
diameter those trees would do very well. I have living shag bark grafts
now on trees that are from five inches to more than fifteen inches in
diameter.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: Do you cut these back in the winter or spring?
DR. MORRIS: I do not remember about all. Some, were cut back in both
seasons. Winter is probably better. Autumn better yet.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I cut mine in the spring.
DR. MORRIS: That has a lot to do with it if the trees bleed too much.
MR. FOSTER: Are your pignuts native?
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I think most of them are worse than that.
MR. FOSTER: They are familiarly known in my state as pig nuts.
PROF. CLOSE: You could top-work them.
THE PRESIDENT: We will proceed with the next number. We are honored in
having with us the President of the National Nut Growers Association who
has come to us all the way from the southland to tell us about selection
and propagation for the improvement of the pecan. I now have the honor
of presenting to you Mr. Theodore Bechtel, President of the National
Association.
MR. BECHTEL: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: After having listened
to so many good papers and addresses it seems to me that as far as
imparting any knowledge to this audience my trip may have been in vain.
However I assure you as this is my first visit to Washington it lacks a
whole lot of being in vain from what I have already seen and enjoyed. I
may be able to add a few points to what has already been said.
SELECTION AND PROPAGATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF PECANS
THEODORE BECHTEL, OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is indeed a great pleasure to
meet you all here in the interest of Horticulture, one of the greatest,
and, by the way, the oldest industries of which we have any record,
since Adam and Eve were engaged in it, and in the interest of one of the
greatest branches of that industry, Nut Culture, and this in the
greatest city on Earth, because it is the seat of Government of the
greatest nation on Earth. We are all here, primarily, in the interest of
Nut Culture and I venture to say that these meetings will not be in
vain, as a congregation of such intelligence, interest and determination
as I see displayed here is certain to accomplish much in the course of
time. The very fact that there are many problems in Nut Culture to be
worked out makes the industry the more interesting for those who are not
looking for an easy get-rich-quick scheme. We have accomplished some
things in the line of propagation of pecans which were said to be
impossible only a few years ago, and they now seem easy. The problems
you will have to work out in the Northern pecan section, as it appears
to me, are selection and development of suitable varieties for your
climate. This will no doubt be done by using the best hardy varieties
you already have, some of which are showing good results, and crossing
these just as is being done in the South now by our Government officials
and by several private individuals. This great Government of ours has an
Agricultural Department which is capable of performing tasks in the way
of experimental work in this line on an extensive scale, which would be
too great an undertaking for an individual, and we should use every
effort to induce this work to be extended to the Northern sections, if
it has not already been begun.
The results obtained by Mr. C. Forkert, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi,
who was one of the first to take up the work, are highly interesting and
give satisfactory evidence of what can be done by way of combining the
good qualities of two varieties by a systematic scientific method of
cross pollenizing and the work of Dr. Van Fleet, whose place we visited
yesterday certainly was convincing of the great possibilities along this
line of work. The fact that you have not the best now does not indicate
that you will not in time surpass in results some of the sections where
pecans now abound. Jackson County, Mississippi, had no native pecan
forest to start with and yet we now have some of the best and most
profitable orchards in the world, and it is the place where most of the
standard high class varieties have originated.
In the selection of varieties upon which to build up your pecan industry
be careful to choose varieties showing as many of the following
qualities as possible: Productiveness, hardiness, early maturity,
plumpness of kernel, good flavor and cracking qualities. The varieties
selected for cross pollenization should combine as many of the desirable
qualities as possible. By grafting from the young hybrids into the top
of old bearing trees you may have samples of nuts in a very few years.
The propagation of pecans in the Northern nurseries seems to be well
under way and will no doubt be stimulated as orchard planting increases.
I might add as a suggestion that seedlings to graft upon be raised from
seed obtained as near by and as nearly in the same latitude as possible
as these will usually be found best adapted to local conditions of that
section.
Whether grafting or budding is the best method of propagation will
likely depend upon local conditions. We find in the far South that
budding succeeds best in some localities while grafting is best in
others. Ultimate results of the two methods in the orchards are equal.
In sections where there are native pecans growing in suitable places
these should be top worked to the best hardy varieties possible for
quick results. The best method to do this work will also depend upon
local conditions and seasons. The slip mark method of grafting as early
in the spring as the bark will slip, will no doubt be one of the most
expeditious, as it is quickly done, and in many sections is very
successful, providing the scions are kept perfectly dormant and the
waxing and tying are carefully done.
As commercial orcharding is still in the experimental stage in the
Northern section of our country it will be well to sound a note of
warning to prospective planters that they may avoid some of the mistakes
that we in the Southern pecan belt made at one time. Next to the
neglect, which some of the planters allowed their orchards to undergo,
probably the selection of the wrong kind of land has been the cause of
more disappointment than any other one source. A fertile soil deep,
mellow, well drained sandy or gravelly clay subsoil should be ideal for
pecans anywhere in the latitude in which they are hardy. However, many
other types of soil are producing pecans, and if your home happens to be
located where the soil is not ideal, you can still grow them by
furnishing the elements which nature has failed to provide, if your soil
is well drained and free from hard pan. The planting and cultivation, to
be sure, must be carefully and thoroughly done to insure success
anywhere.
I will say in conclusion that I believe there are wonderful
possibilities in Nut Culture in this country of ours. We know it is an
established fact that nuts are entered into the dietary of our upwards
of one hundred and ten million inhabitants of the United States of
America more and more from day to day. We have evidence of this in our
importations of nuts, which have increased from year to year until they
have nearly reached the enormous value of $57,000,000 for the year 1919
as stated by the American Nut Journal. Then, too, there certainly can be
no more fascinating branch of horticulture combined at the same time
with financial reward.
Now, let me thank you for your attention and say that I only wish that
every one of you might join us in our big meeting of the National
Association at Austin, Texas, next week.
* * * * *
MR. FOSTER: A thought occurs to me in connection with Dr. Morris' idea
of paraffin for use in warm climates. I happen to know as a patent
attorney that in the manufacture of candles in order to give paraffin
heat resisting qualities they introduce stearic acid. I have no doubt
that it would be just as successfully employed in paraffin for the
purpose of grafting. I think in candle making they add something like
ten or fifteen per cent to the ordinary paraffin.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I think we are very fortunate to have with us Mr.
Bechtel and Mr. Perry from down South who are really in the nut
business. The problem before us is varieties. If you want to plant black
walnuts what walnut do you want to plant? Just because I happen to say
that Stabler is a first-class walnut does not make it so. If you want to
plant English walnuts what variety? I said to Dr. Van Dazce a few years
ago, "I wish I knew more about that variety." He said: "Don't bother
about that. You will be top working them all in a few years."
(Applause.) I have found a bigger pecan down in Indiana than the Major.
It is a big type and I wish we knew more about it. I wish the Department
of Agriculture would make an investigation and find out. What nuts to
plant and what soil to plant them on and what varieties to plant it
seems to me ought to be the trend of our talk here at these meetings,
and I am glad that Mr. Bechtel has taken up that question.
MR. OLCOTT: I think the members of the association would be interested
in hearing a brief account from Mr. Bixby of the only commercial nut
planting proposition in the North at present,--a very successful one. He
has visited it within a week and I think he could tell us what varieties
they have planted.
THE SECRETARY: About a week ago I was at Alton, Illinois, at the place
of Mr. E. A. Riehl. He has been a pioneer in many things, in fruit
culture and what interests us more today in nut culture. He is outside
the native chestnut belt and many years ago he planted some native
American chestnuts. When the Rochester chestnut came out he planted it
and he obtained from the late J. R. Parry of Parry, N. J., his best
Japan chestnuts including the Reliance. He also obtained Boone trees
from the originator the late Geo. W. Endicott, Villa Ridge, Ill. He has
raised many seedling trees from the above varieties and planted a small
hillside to them. Out of those he has selected the best and is
propagating from them. He has chestnuts there that I wish I might show
here, some that are fifty per cent larger than Paragon and with a better
flavor. Furthermore they will drop out of the husks so that it is not
necessary to pick up an unopened burr and heat it or pound it to get the
nuts out. He has now between one and two thousand chestnut trees. Most
of his chestnut trees however are seedling trees which do not bear
nearly as well as his best trees. The greater part of his trees are in
land that has never been cultivated. Many of his trees are not yet in
bearing. Some of his trees however are now 25 to 28 feet spread and
bearing heavily. He is certain that the yield of his orchard could be
greatly increased by top working the poor bearers and that he is doing.
Still he told me be obtained not less than 35¢ per pound for any of the
crop and for some as high as 40¢ and 50¢ wholesale. In 1920 he produced
over 4000 pounds.
In this connection a short history of the Boone tree will be of
interest. In the spring of 1895 Mr. Endicott fertilized blossoms of
Parry's Japan Giant chestnut with pollen of a native American chestnut
and planted the nuts. This cross was made with difficulty for the
American and Japan chestnuts do not bloom at the same time and it was
several years after he had made up his mind to make the cross before he
was able to do it. In the fall of 1897 one of the trees produced six
burrs filled with nuts and was named the Boone. Since then it has borne
as follows: 1898, 1 lb.; 1899, 3 lbs.; 1900, 5 lbs.; 1901, 6
lbs.; 1902, 8 lbs.; 1903, 12 lbs.; 1904, 17 lbs.; 1905, 25 lbs.; 1906,
31 lbs.; 1907, 43 lbs.; 1908, 50 lbs.; 1909, 56 lbs.; 1910, 5 lbs.
(small crop due to hard freeze in April); 1911, 80 lbs.; 1912, 76 lbs.;
1913, 140 lbs.; 1920, 153 lbs. I am not informed as to the crops in 1914
to 1919 inclusive. Two other trees of the same parentage planted at the
same time bore 128 lbs. and 168 lbs. respectively in 1920. If we
consider that chestnut trees are set 40 feet apart each way, which means
27 trees to the acre, and estimated the crop at a fraction of that borne
by the Boone tree we shall still have figures sufficient to show the
wonderful possibilities of the chestnut in those sections outside of the
native chestnut area of the country where it will succeed.
Mr. Riehl also has black Walnuts. He procured a Thomas black walnut from
Joseph W. Thomas & Son, King of Prussia, Pa., fifteen or sixteen years
ago. From that original Thomas tree he has top worked a lot of seedling
black walnut trees and he has I should think between one and two hundred
in bearing at the present time many of them bearing heavy crops. It is
very evident that Mr. Riehl has in his chestnuts and in his black
walnuts gotten northern nut culture down to the point where it pays. I
wanted to get Mr. Olcott to go there on his trip and get some facts from
Mr. Riehl to present at this meeting. When I was there I had another
mission in mind and I spent the time in getting what I went for.
Consequently I did not get all the practical details and results in
dollars and cents which we ought to have to demonstrate that it has been
a commercial success. But I am satisfied that it is because he is
constantly increasing his plantings.
MR. JONES: Two years ago he favored black walnuts.
MR. BECHTEL: What has he done with pecans?
THE SECRETARY: The pecan is native with him but he is probably pretty
near its northern limit even though I have found it bearing good crops
further north. The pecans I have seen at Alton do not seem to be bearing
much. He has one or two northern varieties top worked on native pecans
one eight years old and another one five neither one of which is
bearing.
MR. BECHTEL: He had a very small choice nut that he prized very highly
and sent me some scions to propagate for him I think about 12 or 14
years ago. I grew them on our native stock shipped them to him. I never
followed it up to see what results he had. I think probably those roots
may have frozen out if he had severe winters.
THE SECRETARY: What he showed me were two of the standard northern
varieties, I think Busseron and Indiana, which he had grafted on young
trees. In southern Indiana they are doing much better. Grafted varieties
are bearing but with Mr. Riehl it is the black walnut and the chestnut
with which he is making a success.
THE PRESIDENT: The next speaker has for his subject the southern pecan
and how its commercial development came about. He comes from the one
state in the Union of which I may be somewhat jealous. It is the only
state east of the Mississippi River with a larger area than Michigan.
(Applause). I take pleasure in presenting Mr. A. S. Perry, of Cuthbert,
Georgia, Secretary of the National Nut Growers' Association.
GEORGIA'S PECAN INDUSTRY
A. S. PERRY, CUTHBERT, GEORGIA
My heart thrills with pride and pleasure as I stand in the Capital City
of our great nation and bring greetings to the Northern Nut Growers
Association from the fertile fields of the far South.