kindly act that I know will please you all. Yesterday while we were
having our pictured taken I lost this package of papers. Today it has
been returned to me by two boy scouts. From what I know of that
organization I do not believe that there is anything doing the boy any
more good than their training. I am interested in a forty-acre piece of
land on Lawton Lake, Michigan, on which this year we permitted the boy
scouts to camp. I followed their training somewhat to ascertain what it
was. I was in camp with them two or three days and learned that it is a
training that is doing the boys of the country a lot of good. Their
motto as I understand it is to do good or to be of service to others.
These two lads that brought this package to me refused to receive any
compensation whatever. They are the two who have tramped from New York
City to San Francisco and are now on their way back. If these boys or
their organization ever get interested in our movement in the planting
of nuts throughout the country we will be glad to help them.
PROF. CLOSE: There is one committee whose report has not been called for
and for the sake of the record I presume it might better be offered.
That is the auditing committee. The committee was composed of Messrs.
Reed and Close and we desire to say that the report of the treasurer has
been scrutinized very carefully and we are not able to detect any
mistakes. The balance in the treasury is $75.26; total receipts
including the amount on hand at the beginning of the year $666.48; total
expenditures $591.22, leaving a balance in the treasury of $75.26.
THE TREASURER: I want to offer a resolution that Article III of the
by-laws on _Membership_ which now reads, "All annual memberships shall
begin with the first day of the calendar quarter following the date of
the association" be amended to read, "That all annual memberships shall
begin with the first day of such calendar month as shall be agreed
upon."
Now I will tell you why I ask that. Most of the memberships are combined
with the subscription to the American Nut Journal. In many instances the
new members have requested that their subscription to the journal be
dated back one or two months for the sake of getting one or twp numbers
of the journal. In some instances they are already subscribers to the
journal and they want to change it to make it come the same time. I
offer that amendment to the by-laws.
MR. REED: I move that the change be made.
DR. MORRIS: I second the motion.
The motion was carried.
THE TREASURER: Here is another thing I think is a matter of a good deal
of importance. There has been spoken of two or three times during the
day the great progress which is likely to be made in systematic
hybridization of nuts. It has come to my knowledge recently that the
Arnold Arboretum is seeking to establish a regular plant breeding
department. They have growing on their grounds the greatest collection
of trees and shrubs that will grow in that section that can be found
anywhere in the country. I want to offer a resolution as follows:
WHEREAS it is the firm belief of the Association that one of the
most hopeful sources of obtaining nuts better than we now have is
by carefully planned and executed work of hybridization, and
WHEREAS such work, particularly in the case of the slower
developing nuts, such for example as the hickories, will require
the uninterrupted carrying out of carefully planned work for a long
series of years, and
WHEREAS the Arnold Arboretum, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., has on its
grounds a greater collection of the trees and shrubs from all parts
of the world that will grow in that location than can be found
anywhere else in the country, including a large number of hickories
of various species in bearing, and
WHEREAS the Arnold Arboretum is now assembling on its grounds the
various propagated nut trees, and has expressed its intention of
continuing this work and of including all varieties that it may be
able to obtain of those hickory trees notable for any one quality
and which may promise to be valuable for hybridizing purposes, and
WHEREAS the Arnold Arboretum is desirous of establishing a regular
plant breeding department where nut trees, particularly hickories,
as well as trees valuable for timber purposes, flowers, etc., may
be bred, and, in order to provide for the uninterrupted carrying
out of this work is seeking to raise an endowment, be it hereby
RESOLVED: That the Northern Nut Growers Association assembled in
the City of Washington, D. C., this 8th day of October in the year
1920 heartily endorses this purpose of the Arnold Arboretum as one
likely to promote the acquisition of finer nuts than we now have,
and urges all persons able to do so to aid in any way possible.
DR. MORRIS: I move that we adopt that resolution.
MR. REED: I second the motion.
The motion was carried unanimously.
THE PRESIDENT: If there is nothing before the body at this time I will
declare the eleventh annual session closed.
APPENDIX
From C. K. Sober, Lewisburg, Pa.:
My bearing chestnut trees, most of them, have gone out but in the 40
acres of chestnut nursery stock I find there are thousands of trees that
seem to be immune from the blight up to this time. While they stand
right beside trees in the nursery that have died from blight yet there
is not a spot on them.
From W. O. Potter, Marion, Illinois:
I am putting forth every effort to develop a nut orchard here in
southern Illinois the like of which will not be excelled in this state.
My pecans are doing nicely. I have five acres already set to budded
trees and fifteen acres planted to seedlings which I hope to bud next
year. I have budded chestnuts, black walnuts and almost all varieties of
nuts that will grow here in the North. I am using filberts for fillers
among my pecans.
I have just harvested my first crop of filberts from my experimental
garden here in town and my bushes at Halcyon Frunut Gardens (this is the
name of my nut farm) are growing nicely and some have catkins for next
year's crop. The filberts that I have just harvested were borne from
three Cosford bushes of the French strain. I have some German strain
that I received from Mr. McGlennon that are full of catkins for next
year.
I had some pecans to bloom last spring, but they failed to set any nuts.
I have about a peck from two budded Thomas black walnut trees that are
four and five years old. I have one Stabler that has two nuts on it now
only three years from transplant. My Rush seedling chinquapin that bore
last year has only about six nuts on it this year but they have not yet
matured.
I hope some day to have a nut orchard that will be the show place of
southern Illinois and then I will invite the association to have an
annual meeting here and at my farm.
From G. H. Corsan, Toronto, Canada:
This time I can say that my trees never looked so well. All passed
through last winter and the terrible winter of three years ago. My list
consists of the following: Constantinople hazelnuts, Kent filberts,
Manchurian juglans regia, Jap heart nuts, Pomeroy juglans regia,
Canadian seed juglans regia, common native chestnuts, Col. Sober's
paragon chestnuts, castanea crenata.
The chestnuts grow a foot more from all terminal branches, not a twig
winter-killed. Constantinople hazelnuts grew two feet from all terminal
branches and not a bud winter-killed. Kent filberts killed back some
branches, others did not, grew well this summer from 1-1/2 feet to a
yard.
There is a huge crop of Pomeroy paragon chestnuts on my trees this year.
No blight near me, as thank heaven the farmers around me are too stupid
to plant chestnut trees and in fact no farmer ever planted a nut tree
with two exceptions within 20 miles of me. But one farmer by name of
Anderson planted a mile of black walnuts along the roadside 75 years
ago. These trees are loaded with nuts and boys just now and they reach
away up higher than the tallest phone wire (that is the lowest branches
do).
All juglans regias grew a yard from each terminal bud. My Pomeroys after
killing back for several years have at last got a real good start and
are going to live and bear. When I see a bluish tinge to the leaf of
juglans regia, together with a smooth glossy leaf, not too long--having
7 and not 17 leaves to the stalk--and having a very white grey bark,
then I know that the nut will be EXTRA good, and though that type of
tree is a bit tender and requires water in the early and mid-dry summer,
as well as hard wood ashes, lime and chicken manure in the late fall,
this is the tree that on the north aide of Lake Ontario where I am now
some day will bear and ripen real nuts.
My grapes and peaches ripen well this fall, though we as all others had
a late spring and my Indiana and Iowa pecans actually grew 2 feet from
terminal buds.
Were I an old man of 80 I would plant nut trees to the exclusion of
every other work. First, I would be growing a crop of food 150 years
after my death. Second, I believe that every man who has vitality to
live over 80 has been a bad man in his youth and he owes it to the
world. Third, it is a healthy occupation, stooping down and digging and
takes the rust and poisons out of the system. Fourth, there is a joy
seeing the leaves and branches grow the next summer and in old age one
must feed and take joy from the eye and ear more and more and less and
less from the mouth and stomach. Fifth, it is not at all an unreasonable
supposition that as a boy again I may be climbing the same trees that I
planted. And if I know for certain that I would not be then some other
boy will take my place.
The salvation of the future is more and more food from trees and less
and less from animal sources. The day is fast passing when the farm
consists of a tobacco barn, a pig pen, a cow stable and a hennery. From
living upon a badly selected type of food we fear the flu and other
diseases. No disease will ever come out of a nut tree. But we are a lot
of fools and blame the absolutely innocent cucumber for what a vile
mixture of salt and vinegar does to us and thus these same asses will
say, "that nuts are unhealthy" and we pay a billion dollars out every
three months to have the dentists fix our teeth that never receive any
nut grinding exercise!
From J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.:
I expect as you do that there will be no need of much room for the
convention. The fact is that without any commercial nut planting in the
territory covered by the Northern Nut Growers Association it is
remarkable that there has been as much interest as there is. I happen to
know that the southern pecan (National) Association was kept going by
the nurseries down there for a good many years, or largely by them, and
without the commercial planting of the pecan there I do not think the
Association would have kept going very long even if it had been founded.
I believe eventually there will be some interest in commercial planting
north but it will go pretty slow and be after our time I judge. In
commercial planting I mean plantings of not less than ten acres. I
occasionally sell orders of 50 and even 100 trees, but they are usually
scattered as to kinds and varieties of nuts and evidently designed to
test out on a fair scale the merits of the different nuts. A man was
here a few days ago and gave me an order for nearly a hundred black
walnut trees. He has been planting for several years, starting with a
half dozen trees three or four years ago and reports the trees doing
fine. I presume you could call his planting this year a small commercial
planting as that is what he has in mind.
The boom in planting fruit trees has taken some interest away from nut
planting and this will continue as long as fruit is selling well.
From T. C. Tucker, Sail Francisco, Ca.:
Your program for the approaching meeting of the Northern Nut Growers
Association, which has just reached me, is a most interesting one. It is
with regret that I find I shall not be able to be with you. This is
shipping season for the California Almond Industry and my presence here
at this time is imperative.
While through the California Almond Growers Exchange I have for some
time been a member of the Northern Nut Growers Association, I have not
as yet had the pleasure of meeting with you, but I want to extend you a
cordial invitation to visit California and I hope that at some future
date a convention of the Northern Nut Growers Association will be held
in this state. Here, as nut growers, you will find much of interest.
This is the only state in the Union producing almonds commercially. Our
1919 crop was worth approximately $4,000,000.00 and represented 7000
tons of nuts. Here in this state we also produce the California Walnuts
which in 1919 brought a return of approximately $20,000,000.00. Both of
these industries are in their infancy, particularly is this true of the
almond. It is estimated that there are 100,000 acres in California
planted to almonds, the major portion of which is non-bearing.
We are now preparing for the future through an energetic sales campaign
and by making plans for manufacturing by using almonds in new and
attractive preparations. In 1919, the California Almond Growers
Exchange, a non-profit association of 3800 farmers, spent approximately
$208,000.00 for National Advertising and the expenditure in 1910 will
exceed a quarter of a million dollars. This is done not only to sell the
crops of 1919 and 1920 advantageously, but to educate the consumer up to
the high food value of the almond and incidentally to lay a substantial
foundation for future business.
We believe that the outlook for the California Almond is promising, but
it is only as promising as the growers co-operate to that end. We
believe that by a strong association of growers, quality and grades can
be improved, distribution widened and the public made acquainted with
the value of our product through the medium of our advertising.
We are also taking up at this time the cultural question endeavoring to
eliminate the undesirable varieties and improve those which are
commercially profitable.
We have some eighty odd varieties of almonds in this state, many of
which are not known commercially. You will thus see that we have quite a
problem in cultural lines.
The principal object of the Northern Nut Growers Association, I believe,
is the diffusion of knowledge on cultural questions, but a word of
co-operative marketing may not be amiss.
Our investigations have shown that for twenty-five years before the war
Nonpareil Almonds (our highest priced variety) retailed at about 30c per
pound. The grower received from 7c to 10c per pound, the average being
close to 8c. This was before the association was formed. After the
association was organized, the grower received, through co-operative
marketing and by the elimination of speculation and waste in
distribution, a range of from 14c to 20c for Nonpareils with an average
of approximately 16c while the price to the consumer remained about 35c.
During the past two years, the price to the consumer has of course
advanced to meet the increase in cost of transportation, cost of doing
business and of production. As a matter of fact, the increase in price
to the consumer has not kept pace with the big increase in the cost of
production. The point I wish to make, however, is that co-operative
marketing has on the average, by the elimination of speculation and, as
before said, by minimizing waste in distribution, secured for the almond
grower a living price.
We do not believe that the marketing problems of the farmer will ever be
satisfactorily solved until he takes them up through co-operative
methods and solves them himself.
My work for the past eleven years has been in connection with the sale
of almonds and I am happy to say that while our country is going through
a period of trying re-adjustment at the present time, the association
has meant to the almond growers of California a wonderful insurance
against loss. The consumer, too, has been benefited as this association
has been able to lay down almonds in the markets of the United States at
a lower distribution cost than would otherwise have been possible.
However, assuming that this convention is interested mostly in cultural
questions, I shall refrain from further discussing the marketing
problem. Let us not however, lose sight of the fact that it matters not
what may be the quality of our product if we cannot dispose of it at a
profit.
A satisfactory margin of profit means improved varieties, better
culture, increased yields and better satisfied producers. Scientific
yields and better satisfied producers. Scientific cultural effort, to
achieve its highest possibilities must inevitably be linked with
commercial success.
ATTENDANCE
Dr. J. E. Cannaday, Charleston, W. Va.
Conrad Vollertsen, Rochester, N. Y.
J. P. Beck, Saginaw, Michigan
Prof. C. P. Close, Maryland
B. C. Foster, Washington, D. C.
J. W. Ritchit, Yonkers, N. Y.
Dr. G. J. Buist, Brooklyn, N. Y.
T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C.
C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C.
Mrs. C. A. Reed
William S. Linton, Saginaw, Michigan
W. C. Bixby, Baldwin, N. Y.
Mrs. Bixby
A. S. Perry, Cuthbert, Ga.
Dr. W. C. Deming, Wilton, Conn.
R. T. Olcott, Rochester, N. Y.
W. R. Fickes, Wooster, Ohio
A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, N. Y.
Elam G. Hess, Mannheim, Pa.
F. E. Brooks, French Creek, W. Va.
W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va.
Mrs. Roper
Dr. R. T. Morris, New York City.
Dr. J. H. Kellogg, Battle Creek, Michigan
J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Miss Jones
Dr. J. B. Curtis, Orange Heights, Fla.
Mrs. Curtis
Dr. John F. Keenen, Brentwood, Maryland.
J. S. McGlennon, Rochester, N. Y.
H. C. Best, Bridgeport, Conn.
J. E. Brown, Elmer, N. J.
E. E. Reynolds, Washington, D. C.
J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
D. F. Clark, Harrisburg, Pa.
Theodore Bechtel, Ocean Springs, Miss.
Mrs. Bechtel
Miss W. M. Daish, Washington, D. C.
EXHIBITS
Morris hybrid chinquapin No. 1--From graft set spring 1910 on bush
chinquapin stock. A scientific cross or hybrid made by Dr. Robert T.
Morris New York City. Very resistant to blight is not blight proof. Has
the fruiting habit of the chestnut and bears on very small bushes or
trees. Grown by J. P. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Morris hybrid chinquapin No. 2--From grafts set on stocks of the bush
chinquapin spring 1919. Similar to No. 1.
Chinese pine nuts, Pinus armandi, from the mountains of North China. The
Chinese pine nuts, P. armandi and P. bungeana, although not equal to
some of our own pine nuts from the southeastern states, are considered
the best and most reliable for eastern and northern planting in this
country. Sent in by J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Bush chinquapin Castanea pumila, grown by J. F. Jones. Branches of
ordinary wild nuts.
24 plates hazels or filberts grown by Carl Vollertsen, Rochester, N. Y.
Nine varieties J. regia, peanuts, hazels and Weicker shellbarks, grown
by J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
23 plates and varieties of the southern pecan, sent by A. S. Perry,
Cuthbert, Ga. Also collection of photographs.
Specimens of the Beam, Beaver, Clark, Manahan, Stanley, Swaim and
Weicker hickories by W. G. Bixby, New York.
Miscellaneous nuts by W. C. Deming, Wilton, Conn.
Large table map of the United States with the different nuts grown
therein so placed as to show their native habitats. By C. A. Reed, Nut
Culturist, Dept, of Agriculture.
Specimens of Corylus avellana, Montebello Bysance and other nuts by Dr.
David Fairchild, Washington, D. C.
By Prof. C. P. Close, College Park, Md., plates of seedling J. regia
from J. W. Smith, Centerville, Md. Five seedling J. regia probably
Mayette from S. H. Derby, Woodside, Del. Japanese seedling chestnut from
J. W. Killen, Felton, Del. The tree on which they grew has never
blighted. J. Sieboldiana from tree set by Prof. Close in 1910, first
crop 1920.
Native chinquapins and two varieties of Dr. Van Fleet's hybrid
chinquapins. Major pecans borne in 1919 on three year graft set by Prof.
Close at College Park. A hazel seedling from New Jersey grown on four
year old graft. Large and good.
By Dr. R. T. Morris of New York, plate of pistache nuts, 6 varieties of
hazels, 1 of black walnuts and one of butternuts.
Nut cracker for pecans of different sizes.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
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[Illustration]