in a while a story does flit across my mental horizon. I want to tell
you how the word "nut" may have a very humorous interpretation. Once
upon a time in Michigan a man died. After he died the local minister
went around to console the widow. When he came of course the lady was
grieving. This clergyman was a very young man and he attempted to
console her thus: "Now, my dear Mrs. Smith; that which you see is just
the husk, the nut has gone to heaven." Another time I addressed the
Women's Canadian Club. I was invited to address this group on nut
culture and the President in introducing me told a story about a
minister too. In this case the minister got up in his pulpit and made an
announcement: "My dear friends, my sermon is on liars. I am glad to see
so many present." This lady said, "Of course, Mr. Neilson cannot say 'I
am going to talk today on nuts, I am glad to see so many present'." I
would like to give you an outline of the progress made during the past
year. In writing this I had to inject into it a great deal of my own
activities. I simply couldn't get out of it. I ask you to overlook the
frequent references of a personal nature.
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS
_Prof. J. A. Neilson, East Lansing, Mich._
This is our twenty-first meeting and the first one to be held in the
state of Iowa where tall corn grows, where good nuts thrive and good
people live. We are glad to come to the midwest and meet some of its
people, and see what our friends the Snyder Brothers and others are
doing to extend the culture of nut trees in Iowa and other midwest
states.
In looking over the records of the past year we find the usual
experiences common to the lot of man. We find loss and gain, sorrow and
joy. Our sense of loss and sorrow is heightened when we think of the
passing of our good friend and efficient secretary Mr. Henry D. Spencer
of Decatur, Ill. His sudden death was a shock to us all and we feel that
his passing is a distinct loss not only to our association but to his
city and state. It is also a loss to us as individuals in the severance
of those helpful friendships which do so much to cheer us on our way and
make life worth while.
In association matters, Mr. Spencer was most active and efficient. He
was zealous, original and energetic, and did a lot to create interest in
nut culture in his state and other midwest areas. Of him, as of others
who have labored faithfully for an ideal and passed to their reward, may
it be truly said, "The just die in their turn, but falling as the
flowers, they leave on earth their fruit that outlives them."
While we have lost a capable secretary and good friend we have been
fortunate in securing the services of Dr. A. S. Colby as a successor to
Mr. Spencer. The news of Mr. Spencer's passing came just before your
president left Lansing to address the Illinois State Horticulture
Society on nut culture. In casting about for a new secretary, it
occurred to me that Dr. Colby was the logical man for the position.
While at Urbana where the Horticultural Society met I broached the
matter to Dr. Colby. At first he was unwilling but after some discussion
he finally consented to take the position provided the university
authorities at Urbana would agree to his taking on new duties. Dr.
Blair, head of the Horticultural Department at Urbana, was then
approached on the matter and graciously consented to allow Dr. Colby to
assume the secretaryship for the balance of the year. Dr. Colby has
fulfilled his position in a very capable manner and I am sure the other
executives and members are grateful to Dr. Colby and Dr. Blair for their
cordial cooperation and help in our time of need.
As president I am also deeply grateful to our good and faithful friend
Dr. W. C. Deming for taking over the duties of secretary while Dr. Colby
was in England attending the World's Horticultural Congress in London,
and enjoying a well deserved holiday. I trust Dr. Colby has returned to
his duties with renewed zeal and increased knowledge and I hope he will
be able to share some of that knowledge with those of us who were not
fortunate enough to attend that great congress of horticulturists.
At our last meeting our late Secretary, Mr. Spencer, outlined the worthy
scheme of staging a nut exhibit at the Chicago Garden and Flower Show,
held in the stadium at Chicago. Considerable work was done by Mr.
Spencer before he died, and afterward by Dr. Colby when he took over the
secretaryship. Your president was able to assist Dr. Colby in various
ways, such as staging the exhibit, in helping financially, and in
personally attending the exhibit for five days. This exhibit of nuts was
made up of entries from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Ontario
and British Columbia. It attracted a great deal of attention and I am
sure was the means of creating interest and disseminating a lot of
useful information on nut culture. We were ably assisted in this project
by Mr. J. W. Wilkinson of Rockport, Indiana, and Mr. Frank Frey of the
Rock Island Railway, Chicago. Both of these gentlemen contributed
valuable exhibits and gave generously of their time during the progress
of the exhibition. Our past president, Mr. Snyder, also sent very useful
exhibits.
In the carrying out of his duties as Specialist in Nut Culture for the
Michigan State College, your President feels that some progress has been
made since April, 1929. During that period arrangements have been
definitely made, or are about to be made, by that princely public
benefactor, Mr. W. K. Kellogg, which will set aside several hundred
acres for nut culture. About thirty acres of this area have already been
planted to seedlings and grafted walnuts, chestnuts, hickories,
heartnuts, hazels, and filberts. These trees have done as well as could
be expected under the hot, dry weather of these past two summers.
Arrangements are actively under way for planting 55 acres next spring
and a much larger area in the following spring. We expect to assemble a
first class collection of the best hardy varieties of native and
introduced nut trees and hope as the years roll on that definite
progress will be made.
In September 1929, a nut contest was drawn up and announced to the
public of Michigan and adjoining states. This contest created a great
deal of interest and many entries were received. Cash prizes of $50.00
each were offered for walnuts and hickories and awards of merit were
given for other species. There were 451 plates composed as follows:
black walnuts 313, English walnuts 11, butternuts 7, heartnuts 7,
Japanese walnuts 13, hybrid walnuts 4, hickories 85, chestnuts 10,
hazels 1.
These entries were used in staging what is said to be the largest
exhibit of nuts ever displayed in the northern United States. From these
numerous entries several selections of value were made. From these
selections, six black walnuts, two heartnuts, three hickories and four
chestnuts were chosen for propagation. Some of these have been
propagated and plans are made to propagate a greater number next year.
The writer spent one week in Ontario during March for the purpose of
introducing scionwood and trees of promising varieties of English
walnuts, heartnuts and hybrid walnuts. Thirty trees of the Carpathian
strain of the Persian walnut were introduced and all are now alive on
our grounds at Lansing. These Carpathian walnuts have endured several
winters at Toronto and Montreal and so far have not shown any winter
injury. If further trials show that this strain is hardy it will be a
decided improvement over any other Persian strain in the northern states
or Canada.
Good varieties of heartnuts and filberts were brought in from British
Columbia and are now growing nicely at the Kellogg Farm.
Grafting demonstrations were given at nine different places throughout
the state during the month of May. These demonstrations were attended by
fair sized audiences and much interest was shown in the operation.
In addition to the address before the Illinois Horticultural Society,
your president gave an address on nut culture to the Michigan State
Horticultural Society at Grand Rapids in December last, and also had on
display a large collection of Michigan nuts. The address on nut culture
and the display of nuts created considerable interest. He was also
invited to address the Iowa State Horticultural Society on nut culture
and the Iowa State Nurserymen's Association on the paraffin treatment of
nursery stock, but could not do so because of a previous engagement.
Arrangements have been made however to give these addresses at the
meeting of the above associations at Shenandoah, Iowa, in November next.
The ancient parable of the sower who went forth to sow and who scattered
seed on stony ground, by the wayside and on good soil, had a successful
manifestation in the president's experience this last year. In March,
1929, I gave an address on nut culture to a small but influential
audience in St. Thomas, Ontario. This meeting was due to the enterprise
of Dr. C. C. Lumley, the capable secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in
St. Thomas and one of our valued members. At this meeting I displayed a
collection of Canadian grown nuts and suggested the use of nut trees for
roadside and ornamental planting as well as for other purposes. These
suggestions fell on rich soil, figuratively speaking, and bore fruit in
an astonishing manner. In a short time an Elgin County Nut Tree Growers'
Association was organized and a definite plan of operations outlined.
One of the projects consisted in planting the Kings Highway, No. 3 in
Elgin county, with walnut trees. With the cooperation of horticultural
societies, service clubs, schools, etc., over 7000 nut trees were
planted in one day last spring, and besides that more than 4000 other
nut trees were planted on the home grounds of the people in this county.
The encouraging feature of this project was the statement by Dr. Lumley
that your president was the inspiration of all this planting. Without a
sympathetic and energetic audience I could not possibly have done much
by myself, and I am sure Dr. Lumley and his associates deserve great
credit for their vision and energy. May their numbers be multiplied and
their shadow never grow less. "And some seed fell on rich soil and
brought forth a hundred fold."
You will very likely be pleased to learn that your president is
interested in an advisory capacity in a project having for its object
the gift of a good nut tree to every member of the Women's Institute of
Ontario. This organization is composed almost entirely of rural women
and is one of the most active and helpful societies in the country. The
institute gave me hearty support in my efforts to promote the culture of
nut trees in Ontario, and on several occasions passed resolutions asking
the government to adequately support my work. There are over 40,000
women in this organization and it will take time and money to accomplish
the objective, but no worthwhile movement ever progressed without a
vision and a plan.
In conclusion I would like to read a beautiful little selection entitled
"Save the Trees in Portugal." In reading this I am going to ask you to
transpose the title to "Save the Trees in the Mid-West," and to think in
terms of nut trees.
SAVE THE TREES IN PORTUGAL
Travellers in Portugal report that in many places where timber trees are
to be found, in woods, parks and gardens, one sees the following
inscription headed, "To the Wayfarer":
"Ye who pass by and would raise your hand against me, hearken ere you
harm me.
"I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter night, the friendly
shade screening you from the summer sun, and my fruits are refreshing
draughts, quenching your thirst as you journey on.
"I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on
which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.
"I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of
your cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
"I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
"Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer; harm me not."
A practical application of this beautiful message would add to the
beauty and productive capacity of this country and would give pleasure
and profit to its people.
Dr. J. Russell Smith was here called upon and gave entertaining and
amusing accounts of his early struggles with nut culture and of some of
his travels in foreign lands.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: I would just like to add to what I have said
that the Rev. Paul Krath of the United Church of Canada is now about to
leave for a five year absence in central Europe. He tells me he would
like to sell the balance of those hardy Carpathian walnuts. I have faith
in them. I think they are worth the price he asks for them for an
experimental purpose alone.
DR. SMITH: Do you know where the seed was procured?
THE PRESIDENT: On the high slopes of the Carpathian mountains.
The winter temperatures go down rather low. In fact lower than in
Toronto.
MR. HERSHEY: Juglan regia?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. In early September the buds were quite
matured, wood was ripened up and favorable for enduring the winter
temperatures of Toronto. I have an impression that it gets 15 to 18
below zero. The trees have come through the winter at Montreal where
they have even lower temperatures.
MEMBER: How would we get them in? Get a permit from Washington?
THE PRESIDENT: It can be done.
DR. SMITH: An application for the lot can be made.
The President then asked for the report of the Secretary.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY
The year 1929-30 has been one of growing interest on the part of the
public, laying the foundation for a more rapidly increasing membership
and wider influence on the part of the association.
Following the untimely death of Secretary H. D. Spencer, of Decatur,
Illinois, we were asked by your president, Professor Neilson, to carry
on the work of the office for the remainder of the year, in view of our
previous experience. This we were glad to do because of our interest in
the work. The great loss of the association in the death of Mr. Spencer
should be here recorded. Mr. Spencer was keenly interested in nut
growing in the North. He believed in its future and because of his
retirement from active professional work could give his attention to the
many details connected with the development of our program. His loss is
keenly felt among the membership.
Your secretary has attempted to make the public, only more or less awake
to the possibilities of our work so far, more nut culture minded. The
burden of correspondence has become increasingly heavy. Hundreds of
inquiries have been received, many from those mildly curious, but a
large share from people anxious to learn of the possibilities of
northern nut culture both for pleasure and profit. We have noted an
increasing interest among those able to take up our new enterprise and
have done what we could to make it an intelligent interest through
radio, newspaper, and magazine publicity, speaking engagements at
horticultural society and farmers' institute meetings and classroom
instruction. The enthusiastic support of officials of these and similar
organizations should be noted here. Space has been freely offered for
use in fruit growing magazines and state horticultural society
publications to supplement the columns of our official organ to spread
the information regarding our activities, thus reaching a wider circle
of potential members. We are glad to report some membership gains the
past season.
In these activities we are handicapped by lack of funds. We have been
particularly fortunate these past few months in having the co-operation
of the University of Illinois in that your secretary has been able to
handle hundreds of letters through the Department of Horticulture
channels free of cost to the association except for the stationery and
postage.
One outstanding event of the season in the line of publicity sponsored
by the association was the exhibit at the Central States Garden and
Flower Show held in the Chicago Stadium April 5-13, 1930. Preliminary
arrangements had been made by Mr. Spencer with the manager, Mr. John
Servas, insuring us free space. Mr. Servas cooperated with us to the
fullest extent and the appreciation of the association was expressed to
him by your secretary at the close of the show. We spent considerable
time both in the preliminary arrangements and on the ground, being in
attendance throughout the week except when President Neilson, Mr.
Wilkinson, and Mr. Frey were in charge. To these gentlemen, as well as
to Dr. Robert T. Morris, Dr. J. R. Smith, and Mr. S. W. Snyder, who with
President Neilson contributed the $30.00 necessary for rental of the
glass show case, and to many of our members in the Middle West who sent
samples of nuts, we owe a debt of gratitude. Our exhibit also included
books and magazines on nut culture, nut-cracking machinery, grafting
tools and waxes, and other material of interest to the prospective
grower, all contributed by members or others interested in our work. The
exhibit attracted much interest as a part of the magnificent show. We
were busy from morning until night answering questions, most of them
intelligent, and made many friends among a group of people whose
intelligence level is high. Two hundred people asked for further
information relative to some particular subject and a mimeographed sheet
was prepared in the secretary's office after our return which went out
to them.
We have had the cooperation of the Illinois State Department of
Agriculture more than ever this past year, as evidenced by their support
of our exhibit at Chicago, through providing funds for the preparation
of a case of nut varieties suitable for planting in Illinois and,
secondly, through the cooperation of the State Forestry Department. An
immense tract of land has been acquired for reforestation in southern
Illinois and money was available this past spring for the purchase of
nut trees for planting there. Your secretary has been working with R. B.
Miller, of the state department, in the selection and planting of the
better named varieties of nuts. Additional plantings will be made there
and it is believed that a fine beginning has been made toward the
establishment of a nut arboretum in that section.
There are many new things of interest developing in our field and those
relating to it which need further study as a means of developing our
usefulness.
The plant patent law, new methods of propagation, the variety question,
the disease factor, new methods of harvesting, grading and marketing, to
mention a few problems, are bringing about a new era in northern nut
growing and need our combined efforts in their solution. We believe that
the time is fast approaching for the appointment of a paid secretary who
can devote more time to the development of our work. We will leave to
you the working out of the details.
Dr. Colby supplemented his report with a talk about his trip to Europe
during the summer where he went primarily to attend the World
Horticultural conference in London. After some further informal
discussion the meeting adjourned.
FIELD TRIPS
The second day, September 18, 1930, was given over to a visit to the
Snyder Fruit and Nut Orchards at Center Point in the morning, where the
group inspected the varieties being grown with great interest, an
excellent lunch at noon under the trees, prepared and served by the
Snyder brothers and Miss Snyder, their sister, and an afternoon spent in
the Snyder nursery where the various nut trees which can be grown in
Iowa were observed.
BUSINESS SESSION AT SNYDER FARM
Meeting called to order by President Neilson. A vote of thanks was
extended to Miss Snyder and the Snyder brothers for their hospitality.
S. W. Snyder responded briefly.
The meeting place for next year was then discussed. Invitations were
extended from Rochester, New York, Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Geneva,
New York, and other places. It was finally voted to meet in Geneva, New
York, in September 1931 during the week of the annual meeting of the
New York Fruit Testing Association. The selection of the date was left
in the hands of the executive committee.
The report of the nominating committee was then called for. The
association re-elected Professor J. A. Neilson as president, C. F.
Walker as vice-president, and Karl Green as treasurer for the ensuing
year. Professor A. S. Colby was unable to continue as secretary and that
office was held open. The president and board of directors were
instructed to appoint a new secretary.[A]
The financial status of the association was next discussed at length. It
was voted that a letter be prepared and sent to the membership asking
for contributions.
The report of the nut survey was then briefly presented by C. F. Walker,
chairman of the committee, as a progress report. He stated that 1600 nut
trees of various varieties had been recorded and data concerning tree
performance and adaptation were being collected.
Frank H. Frey reported that he did not feel it advisable at this time to
affiliate with the American Fruit & Vegetable Shippers' Association
because of the expense to be incurred.
The secretary extended greetings of Mr. Ellis of Vermont whom he met at
the meetings of the International Horticultural Congress in England last
summer, and of Mr. Howard Spence of England to the association. It was a
pleasure to report that Mr. Spence had been instrumental in having
experimental work with nuts initiated in England.
The third day was devoted to a tour of the country round about
Burlington where Mr. Snyder and Mr. John Witte showed us many of the
most valuable parent trees found in that section. Some of these trees
included the Witte and Elmer pecans, the two varieties recommended by
Mr. Snyder for planting in that section; the Hill and Iowa shellbark
hickories, the two best so far found in Iowa; the Burlington, Tama
Queen, and Eureka hickories, the Oberman and Campbell pecans, and the
Swartz black walnut.
[Footnote A: NOTE: Mr. W. G. Bixby was appointed and accepted the
office.]
TREASURER'S REPORT
RECEIPTS
Balance, Sept. 1st, 1929:
In bank in Washington, D. C. $194.41
Litchfield Savings Society 15.94
_______ $ 210.35
84 paid in advance memberships @ $3.50 294.00
9 back memberships @ $3.00 27.00
Sub. to American Nut Journal 100.50
Contributions and sale of Annual Reports 70.92
Loan, Merchants Bank and Trust Co., Washington, D. C. 325.00
_________
Total to be accounted for $1,027.77
DISBURSEMENTS
American Nut Journal, subscriptions $ 101.75
Hotel Pennsylvania, N. Y., rent for projector 30.00
Reporting New York meeting 122.18
Mimeographing 11.45
Stenographer, Secretary's office 42.85
Printing, Secretary's office 51.38
Expenses, Secretary's office 24.78
Printing, Treasurer's office, two years 98.00
Printing Annual Report 428.88
H. D. Spencer, expenses to New York meeting 122.48
Stamps 3.00
Expressage 3.75
Exchange, Canadian check .15
Curtailment on loan 50.00
Interest on loan 10.40
_________
Total expenses $1,101.05
Deficit 73.28
Balance due on loan 275.00
NOTE--Although the expenses exceeded the receipts, no actual overdraft
occurred because certain bills were not paid until funds from the next
year came in. However, both overdraft and loan have been taken care of
through contributions made during November and December, 1930.
Respectfully submitted,
KARL W. GREENE,
Treasurer.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING THE NATIVE NUT CROPS OF THE NORTH
_By C. A. Reed, Associate Pomologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture_
The native nut crops in the northern portion of the country, east of the
Rocky Mountains, offer a possible source of considerable income, if
gathered while in prime condition and properly prepared for market.
Thousands of bushels of highly edible nuts annually go to waste in that
portion of the country covered by the great Mississippi Valley, the
Appalachian region and the Middle Atlantic seaboard. These are chiefly
black walnuts, hickory nuts, and butternuts, although it is probable
that several hundred tons of beechnuts which annually go ungathered
should be included. These last are too small for human consumption in
this country, under the existing relations between human labor and the
quality of available food. Nevertheless, there are ways by which they
can be put to profitable use.