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|DISCLAIMER |
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|The articles published in the Annual Reports of the Northern Nut Growers|
|Association are the findings and thoughts solely of the authors and are |
|not to be construed as an endorsement by the Northern Nut Growers |
|Association, its board of directors, or its members. No endorsement is |
|intended for products mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not|
|mentioned. The laws and recommendations for pesticide application may |
|have changed since the articles were written. It is always the pesticide|
|applicator's responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current |
|label directions for the specific pesticide being used. The discussion |
|of specific nut tree cultivars and of specific techniques to grow nut |
|trees that might have been successful in one area and at a particular |
|time is not a guarantee that similar results will occur elsewhere. |
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NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING
LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA DECEMBER 18 and 19, 1912
THE CAYUGA PRESS ITHACA, N. Y.
1913
[Illustration: PROFESSOR JOHN CRAIG
A FOUNDER OF THE ASSOCIATION
_Died 1912_]
* * * * *
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Officers and Committees of the Association 3
Members of the Association 4
Constitution and Rules of the Association 8
Proceedings of the Meeting held at Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
December 18 and 19, 1912 9
Address of Welcome by the Mayor of Lancaster 9
Response by Mr. Littlepage 11
President's Address. The Practical Aspects of Hybridizing Nut Trees.
Robert T. Morris, New York 12
Fraudulent and Uninformed Promoters. T. P. Littlepage, Indiana 22
Recent Work on the Chestnut Blight. Keller E. Rockey, Pennsylvania 37
Some Problems in the Treatment of Diseased Chestnut Trees. Roy G.
Pierce, Pennsylvania 44
Nut Growing and Tree Breeding and their Relation to Conservation. J.
Russell Smith, Pennsylvania 59
Beginning with Nuts. W. C. Deming, New York 64
The Persian Walnut, Its Disaster and Lessons for 1912. J. G. Rush,
Pennsylvania 85
A 1912 Review of the Nut Situation in the North. C. A. Reed,
Washington, D. C 91
Demonstration in Grafting. J. F. Jones, Pennsylvania 105
Some Persian Walnut Observations, Experiments and Results for 1912.
E. R. Lake, Washington, D. C 110
The Indiana Pecans. R. L. McCoy, Indiana 113
Appendix:
Report of Secretary and Treasurer 116
Report of Committee on Resolutions 117
Report of Committee on the Death of Professor John Craig 119
Report of Committee on Exhibits 120
The Hickory Bark Borer 122
Miscellaneous Notes:
Members Present 124
List of Correspondents and Others Interested in Nut Culture 124
Extracts from Letters from State Vice-Presidents and Others 138
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
President T. P. Littlepage Indiana
Secretary and Treasurer W. C. Deming Georgetown, Conn.
COMMITTEES
_Executive_
Robert T. Morris
W. N. Roper
And the Officers
_Promising Seedlings_
T. P. Littlepage
C. A. Reed
W. C. Deming
_Hybrids_
R. T. Morris
J. R. Smith
C. P. Close
_Membership_
W. C. Deming
G. H. Corsan
W. N. Roper
_Nomenclature_
W. C. Reed
R. T. Morris
W. C. Deming
_Press and Publication_
W. N. Roper
T. P. Littlepage
W. C. Deming
STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS
Canada Goldwin Smith Highland Creek
Colorado Dr. Frank L. Dennis Colorado Springs
Connecticut Charles H. Plump West Redding
Delaware H. P. Layton Georgetown
Florida H. Harold Hume Glen St. Mary
Georgia G. C. Schempp, Jr. Albany
Illinois Dr. F. S. Crocker Chicago
Indiana R. L. McCoy Lake
Iowa Alson Secor Des Moines
Kentucky A. L. Moseley Calhoun
Louisiana J. F. Jones Jeanerette
Maryland C. P. Close Washington, D. C.
Massachusetts Bernhard Hoffmann Stockbridge
Michigan Miss Maud M. Jessup Grand Rapids
Minnesota C. A. Van Duzee St. Paul
New Hampshire Henry N. Gowing Dublin
New Jersey Henry Hales Ridgewood
New York A. C. Pomeroy Lockport
North Carolina W. N. Hutt Raleigh
Ohio J. H. Dayton Painesville
Oklahoma Mrs. E. B. Miller Enid
Oregon F. A. Wiggins Toppenish
Panama B. F. Womack Canal Zone
Pennsylvania J. G. Rush West Willow
Texas C. T. Hogan Ennis
Vermont Clarence J. Ferguson Burlington
Virginia W. N. Roper Petersburg
West Virginia B. F. Hartzell Shepherdstown
MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Abbott, Frederick B., 419 9th St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Armstrong, A. H., General Electric Co., Schenectady, N. Y.
Arnott, Dr. H. G., 26 Emerald St., South, Hamilton, Canada.
Barron, Leonard, Editor The Garden Magazine, Garden City, L. I.
Barry, W. C., Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y.
Benner, Charles, 100 Broadway, N. Y. City.
**Bowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Bldg., Boston, Mass.
Button, Herbert, Bonnie Brook Farm, Cazenovia, N. Y.
Browne, Louis L., Bodsbeck Farm, New Canaan, Conn.
Butler, Henry L., Gwynedd Valley, Pa.
Casper, Norman W., Fairlawn, New Burnside, Ill.
Chalmers, W. J., Vanport, Pa.
Chamberlain, W. O., 300 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, Minn.
Clendenin, Rev. Dr. F. M., Westchester, N. Y. City.
Close, Prof. C. P., Expert in Fruit Identification, U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Cole, Dr. Chas. K., 32 Rose St., Chelsea-on-Hudson, N. Y.
Coleman, H. H., The Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co., Newark, N. J.
Corsan, G. H., University Gymnasium, Univ. of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Crocker, Dr. F. S., Columbus Memorial Bldg., Chicago, Ill.
Dayton, J. H., Painesville, Ohio. Rep. Storrs & Harrison Co.
Decker, Loyd H., Greeley, Col., R. 5, Box 11.
Deming, Dr. N. L., Litchfield, Conn.
Deming, Dr. W. C. Georgetown, Conn.
Deming, Mrs. W. C. Georgetown, Conn.
Dennis, Dr. Frank L., The Colchester, Colorado Springs, Col.
Ellwanger, W. D., 510 E. Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
Ferguson, Clarence J., Rep. Eastern Fruit & Nut Orchard Co.,
144 College St., Burlington, Vt.
Fischer, J., Rep. Keystone Wood Co., Williamsport, Pa.
Fullerton, H. B., Medford, L. I.
Gowing, Henry N., Dublin, N. H.
Gschwind, Geo. W., 282 Humboldt St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Haberstroh, Arthur L., Sharon, Mass.
Hale, Mrs. Geo. H., Glastonbury, Conn.
Hall, L. C. Avonia, Pa.
*Hales, Henry, Ridgewood, N. J.
Hans, Amedee, Supt. Hodenpyl Est., Locust Valley, L. I., N. Y.
Harrison, J. G., Rep. Harrison's Nurseries, Berlin, Md.
Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown, W. Va.
Haywood, Albert, Flushing, N. Y.
Hicks, Henry, Westbury Station, L. I., N. Y.
Hildebrand, F. B., 5551 Monroe Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Hoffman, Bernhard, Stockbridge, Mass.
Hogan, C. T., Ennis, Texas.
Holden, E. B., Hilton, N. Y.
Holmes, J. A., 127 Eddy St., Ithaca, N. Y.
Hopper, I. B., Chemical National Bank, N. Y. City.
Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary, Fla.
Hungerford, Newman, 45 Prospect St., Hartford, Conn.
**Huntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., N. Y. City.
Hutt, W. N., Raleigh, N. C.
James, Dr. W. B., 17 W. 54th St., N. Y. City.
Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly St., Jersey City Heights, N. J.
**Jones, J. F., Jeanerette, La., & Willow St., Pa.
Jessup, Miss Maud M., 440 Thomas St., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Keely, Royal R., 1702 Mt. Vernon St., Philadelphia, Pa. Walpole,
Mass., Box 485.
Koch, Alphonse, 510 E. 77th St., N. Y. City.
Lake, Prof. E. R., Asst. Pomologist, Dept. of Agriculture,
Washington, D. C.
Layton, H. P., Georgetown, Del.
Leas, F. C, 400 So. 40th St., Philadelphia, Pa., and Bala, Pa.
Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Bldg., Washington, D. C, and
Boonville, Ind.
Loomis, Charles B., E. Greenbush, N. Y. R. D. 1.
Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks Co., Pa.
Malcomson, A. B., 132 Nassau St., N. Y. City.
Mayo, E. S., Rochester, N. Y. Rep. Glen Brothers.
McCoy, R. L., Ohio Valley Forest Nursery, Lake, Spencer Co., Ind.
Meehan, S. Mendelson, Germantown, Phila., Pa. Rep. Thos. Meehan & Sons.
Miller, Mrs. E. B., Enid, Oklahoma, R. Box 47 1-2.
Miller, Mrs. Seaman, Care of Mr. Seaman Miller, 2 Rector St., N. Y.
McSparren, W. F., Furnice, Pa.
Magruder, G. M., Medical Bldg., Portland, Oregon.
Morris, Dr. Robert T., 616 Madison Ave., N. Y. City.
Moseley, A. L., Bank of Calhoun, Calhoun, Ky.
Moses, Theodore W., Harvard Club, 27 W. 44th St., N. Y. City.
Niblack, Mason J., Vincennes, Ind.
Nichols, Mrs. F. Gillette, 129 E. 76th St., N. Y. City, and
E. Haddam, Conn.
Patterson & Taylor, 343 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.
Pierson, Miss A. Elizabeth, Cromwell, Conn.
Plump, Chas. H., West Redding, Conn.
Pomeroy, A. C., Lockport, N. Y.
Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion, Ill.
Reed, C. A., Div. of Pomology, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture,
Washington, D. C.
Reed, W. C., Vincennes, Ind.
Rice, Mrs. Lilian McKee, Barnes Cottage, Carmel, N. Y.
Rich, William P., Sec'y Mass Horticultural Society, 300 Mass. Ave.,
Boston.
Ridgway, C. S., "Floralia," Lumberton, N. J.
Riehl, E. A., Alton, Ill.
Roper, Wm. N., Arrowfield Nursery Co., Petersburg, Va.
Rose, Wm. J., 413 Market St., Harrisburg, Pa.
Rush, J. G., West Willow, Pa.
Schempp, G. C., Jr., Albany, Ga. Route 3.
Secor, Alson, Editor Successful Farming, Des Moines, Iowa.
Sensenig, Wayne, State College, Center Co., Pa.
Shellenberger, H. H., 610 Broadhead St., Easton, Pa.
Shoemaker, Seth W., Agric. Ed. Int. Corresp. Schools, Scranton, Pa.
Smith, E. K., 213 Phoenix Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn.
Smith, Goldwin, Highland Creek, Ontario, Canada.
Smith, J. Russell, Roundhill, Va.
Smith, Percival P., 108 S. LaSalle St., Chicago, Ill.
Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., N. Y. City.
Turner, K. M., 1265 Broadway, N. Y. City.
Ulman, Dr. Ira, 213 W. 147th St., N. Y. City. Farm, So. Monsey, Rockland
Co., P. O., Address, Spring Valley, N. Y.
Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul, Minn, and Viking, Fla.
Walter, Dr. Harry, Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City, N. J.
Wentink, Frank, 75 Grove St., Passaic, N. J.
White, H. C., DeWitt, Ga.
Wiggins, F. A., Rep. Washington Nursery Co., Toppenish, Wash.
Wile, Th. E., 1012 Park Avenue, Rochester, N. Y.
Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., N. Y. City, and
Stonington, Conn.
Williams, Harrison, Gen. Land & Tax Agt., Erie R. R. Co., 50 Church St.,
N. Y. City.
**Wissmann, Mrs. F. DeR., 707 Fifth Ave., N. Y. City.
Womack, B. F., Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama.
Wyman, Willis L., Park Rapids, Minn.
* Honorary Member.
** 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
THIRD ANNUAL MEETING
DECEMBER 18 AND 19, 1912
AT LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA
The third annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association was
held in the Court House at Lancaster, Pa., beginning December 18, 1912,
at 10 A. M.; President Morris presiding.
The Chairman: The meeting will be called to order. We have first an
address by the Mayor of Lancaster, Mayor McClean. (Applause.)
Mayor McClean: Ladies and gentlemen of the Northern Nut Growers
Association:
The Mayor of a city of the size of this, in which conventions meet so
frequently, is so often called upon to make a speech that the prospect
of having to do so causes him some disturbance of mind, not only on the
day of the delivery of the speech but for many days preceding; but I
confess that the invitation to come here today has had no such effect on
me. I am very glad to meet and mix up with the members of this
organization. The evolutionists tell us where we came from; the
theologians, where we are going to; but no matter how much we may differ
as to the theories of these respective leaders of thought, upon one
thing we can all agree and that is that we are here. You ladies and
gentlemen representing the Northern Nut Growers Association are here to
interchange opinions and discuss questions which have to do with the
greater success of the very useful industry, the youthful and useful
industry, in which you are engaged. I am here as the Mayor of this
goodly town to tell you that you are not looked upon as intruders; that
we will be blind when you help yourselves to our wine flasks, but that
we will not be deaf should you ask for more. I am thoroughly in sympathy
with the purpose of this organization, understanding it to be the
encouragement of the planting of nut bearing trees in order that an
addition to our present food supply may be provided; and that much waste
land, now profitless, may be taken up and converted to practical and
profitable uses; and further that through the medium of such tree
planting and tree care as you propose, landscape embellishment in
greater degree than that which now exists may be provided. We hear very
much about conservation these days and it seems to me that the
proposition which you advance is conservation in a very worthy and very
high degree. The soil and climate of Lancaster County seem to be
peculiarly adapted to the growing of trees bearing nuts and fruits, and
I am sure that the result of this convention will be to stimulate
locally a very great interest in this worthy undertaking. You have
chosen wisely in selecting Lancaster as the place for this meeting,
because we feel and we are satisfied that you will agree, after you have
been here a few days, that this was the town that Kipling had in mind
when he wrote of the town that was born lucky. (Laughter.) Here you will
find all the creature comforts, everything that makes for the pleasure
of existence, good food and good water, and if there be any of you who
have a liking for beverages other than water, it may be some consolation
to you to know that in this vicinity the mint beds are not used for
pasture, the punch bowls are not permanently filled with carnations, the
cock-tail glasses show no signs of disuse and the corkscrew hangs within
reach of your shortest member. (Laughter.) We are a great people over
this way. Perhaps you are not aware of that, but we bear prosperity with
meekness and adversity with patience. We feel that we can say to you,
without boasting, if you seek a pleasant country, look about you. You
may not know it, but it is a fact and the United States census reports
ever since census reports have been made will prove it, that the annual
valuation of the agricultural products of the county in which you now
sit exceeds that of any other county in all this great nation.
(Applause.) Another bit of local history may surprise you when I tell
you that the combined deposits of the banks of Lancaster County
approximate the enormous amount of fifty million dollars, that they are
larger than the total deposits of any one of seven states in the Union
that I can name and that they exceed the combined deposits of two of
those seven states. But I don't want to take up your time with a
recitation of local history, because I feel that your Lancaster
colleagues will give you all the information, and I don't want to spoil
their pleasure in giving it by anticipating them. I congratulate you
upon the success of this convention. I applaud the purpose for which you
are united. I felicitate you upon your achievements up to this time, and
predict for you a greater measure of usefulness and advantage in the
time to come, which usefulness and advantage, let me suggest, can be
made yours more promptly, certainly more surely, by your proceeding upon
the principle that whatever is of benefit to the organization as a whole
must be of benefit to each of its members, either directly or
indirectly. I trust that you will go on with this good work and
stimulate enthusiasm in your purpose in a nation wide way, working
together with one common object, proceeding under the motto of the Three
Guardsmen of France, "One For All and All For One." I now extend to you
the freedom of the city. Roam where you will. Just one bit of advice I
have to give. Contrary, perhaps, to general report, this is not a slow
town and therefore you are in more danger of being run down than run in.
(Laughter.) I will not follow the time honored practice of handing you
the keys of the city, for the reason that when I heard you were on the
way, I had the old gates taken off the hinges in order that your
incoming might be in no way impeded. (Laughter.) And now, in the name of
the city of Lancaster, its heart filled with the sunny warmth of July, I
bid you welcome and promise that we will try to extend to you a
hospitality as generous as golden October. (Applause.)
The Chairman: Will Mr. Littlepage please respond to the Mayor's kindly
address of welcome?
Hon. T. P. Littlepage: Mr. President: On behalf of the members of the
Northern Nut Growers Association, I desire to thank the Mayor very
cordially for his delightful words of welcome to this city. We feel that
the words haven't any strings to them, such as were indicated in a
little poem I noticed the other day, which said that a young man took
his girl to an ice cream parlor and she ate and she ate and she ate
until at last she gave him her heart to make room for another plate.
(Laughter.) There apparently isn't anything of that in the cordial
welcome which we have received here to this great County of Lancaster. I
know now after hearing the Mayor's discourse upon the great resources of
this county, why it was that a young fellow who had rambled out into the
West and happened to drop into an old fashioned protracted meeting, when
asked to come up to the mourners' bench, objected somewhat, and finally
when they said, "Well, young man, you've got to be born again;" replied,
"No, it isn't necessary, I was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania."
(Laughter and applause.) I understand now why the young man was so
sanguine, why it wasn't necessary to be born again, even under the
auspices of the Great Spirit. It is very gratifying indeed to be in the
midst of a great county of this kind that has made one of the great
basic industries so successful. It takes three things to make a really
great nation; it takes great natural resources, it takes great policies
and it takes great people. We have nations in this world where the
resources, the possibilities of agriculture and all lines of human
endeavor are as unlimited, almost, as ours, but they haven't the people
and in the cases where they have people of the right kind, they haven't
adopted the policies. It takes those three things for any county, any
state or any nation to be really great, and it is indeed gratifying to
those of us who believe in the highest development, the best for
humanity, to come into a county where the people, through their
industry, their policies of advancement, have made that county one of
the best farmed agricultural counties in the United States; and that is
saying a great deal when you consider the greatness of this nation and
her immense wealth and resources. It is indeed gratifying to all of us
who are spending some time and some effort to further somewhat the
advancement of the country along horticultural lines, to be met with a
cordial welcome and to come into this community that has so highly
developed her various resources: so, on behalf of this Association and
all its members, even the members that are not here, those of them who
might, if they desired, take advantage of the Mayor's corkscrew and
carnation bowl, I thank the Mayor and thank the citizens of this County
and say that we are delighted to be among you. (Applause.)
The Chairman: We will now proceed with the regular order of business. As
my paper happens to be placed first on the list, through the methods of
the Secretary, I will ask Mr. Littlepage to kindly take the chair while
I present notes on the subject of hybridizing nut trees.
THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF HYBRIDIZING NUT TREES
DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS, NEW YORK
[Illustration: DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS OF NEW YORK
_First President of the Association, 1911 and 1912_]
In the experimental work of hybridizing nut trees, we soon come to learn
that a number of practical points need to be acquired before successful
hybridizing can be done. This is a special field in which few have taken
part as yet, and consequently any notes upon the subject will add to
the sum total of the knowledge which we wish to acquire as rapidly as
possible. First, in collecting pollen; it is important to shake our
pollen into dry paper boxes. If we try to preserve the pollen in glass
or in metal, it is attacked by various mould fungi and is rapidly
destroyed. We have to remember that pollen consists of live cells which
have quite as active a place in the organic world as a red squirrel, and
the pollen grains need to breathe quite as much as a red squirrel needs
to breathe. Therefore they must not be placed in glass or metal or
tightly sealed. Further, the pollen grains need to be kept cool in order
to avoid attacks from the greatest enemy of all organic life, the
microbes or the lower fungi. Probably we may keep pollen for a longer
time than it could ordinarily be kept, if it is placed in cold storage,
but practically I have tried the experiment on only one occasion. Last
year I wished to cross the chinkapin with the white oak. The white oak
blossoms more than a month in advance of the chinkapin in Connecticut,
and the question was how we could keep the white oak pollen. Some of it
was placed in paper boxes in cold storage; some in paper boxes in the
cellar in a dry place. Pollen which had been kept in the cellar and
pollen which had been kept in cold storage were about equally viable. It
is quite remarkable to know that pollen can be kept for more than a
month under any circumstances. Hybridization occurred in my chinkapins
from this white oak pollen. Sometimes, where the flowering time of such
trees is far apart, it is important to know how we may secure pollen of
one kind for the female flowers of the other. Two methods are possible.
In the first place, we may secure pollen from the northern or southern
range of a species for application upon pistillate flowers at the other
end of the range of that species. Another way is to collect branches
carrying male flowers before the flowers have developed, place them in
the ice house or in a dark, cold room without light until the proper
time for forcing the flowers, and if these branches are then placed in
water, the water changed frequently as when we are keeping flowers
carefully, the catkins or other male flowers will develop pollen
satisfactorily a long time after their natural time of furnishing
pollen, when they are brought out into the light. In protecting
pistillate flowers from the pollen of their own trees, with the nut tree
group where pollen is wind-borne rather than insect borne, I find that
the better way is to cover the pistillate flowers with paper bags, the
thinner the better, the kind that we get at the grocery store. It is
best to pull off the undeveloped male flowers if they happen to be on
the same branch with the female flowers, and then place the bags over
the female flowers at about the time when they blossom, in advance of
pollination of the male flowers. It is not safe to depend upon pulling
off the male flowers of an isolated tree and leaving the female flowers
without bags to protect them from pollen of the same species or of
allied species, for the reason that wind may carry pollen to a great
distance. One of Mr. Burbank's critics--I am sorry he has so many, for
they are not all honest or serious--one of his critics, in relation to
the crossing of walnuts, said that it was due to no particular skill on
the part of Mr. Burbank, for, whenever the wind blew from the east, he
regretted to say that his entire orchard of Persian walnuts became
pollinized from the California black walnuts nearly half a mile away.
This is an exaggeration, because the chances are that most of the
Persian walnuts were pollenized from their own pollen, but in the case
of some Persian walnuts blossoming early, and developing female flowers
in advance of male flowers, pollen might be carried to them from half a
mile away in a high wind from California black walnut trees. Black
walnut pollen would then fertilize pistillate flowers of the Persian
walnut. I have found this a real danger, this danger of wind-pollination
at a distance, much to my surprise. Last year I pollinized one or two
lower branches of female flowers of a butternut tree which had no other
butternut tree within a distance of a good many rods, so far away that I
had no idea that the pollen would be carried from the tree with male
flowers to the one which happened to have female flowers only that year;
consequently I placed pecan pollen on the female flowers of the lower
branches of this butternut tree without protecting them with bags, and
left the rest of the tree unguarded. There were no male flowers on that
butternut tree that year. Much to my surprise, not only my pollinized
flowers but the whole tree bore a good crop of butternuts. This year, on
account of the drought, many of the hickory trees bore female flowers
only. I do not know that it was on account of the drought, but I have
noted that after seasons of drought, trees are apt to bear flowers of
one sex or the other, trees which normally bear flowers of both sexes.
This year a number of hickory trees bore flowers of one sex only, and I
noted that some shagbark trees which had no male flowers had fairly good
crops of nuts from pollen blown from a distance from other trees. I had
one pignut tree (H. Glabra) full of female flowers which contained only
one male flower, so far as I could discover and which I removed. On one
side of this tree was a bitternut; on the other side a shagbark. This
tree bore a full crop of pignuts, (Hicoria glabra) evidently pollinized
on one side by the bitternut and on the other side by the shagbark These
points are made for the purpose of showing the necessity of covering the
female flowers with bags in our nut tree hybridizations. We must
sprinkle Persian insect powder inside the bags or insects will increase
under protection. When we have placed bags over female flowers, it is
necessary to mark the limb; otherwise, other nuts borne on neighboring
limbs will be mistaken for the hybridized nuts unless we carefully place
a mark about the limb. Copper wire twisted loosely is, I find, the best.
Copper wire carrying a copper tag with the names of the trees which are
crossed is best. If I mark the limb with string or with strong cord I
find there are many ways for its disappearance. Early in the spring the
birds like it so well that they will untie square knots in order to put
it into their nests. Later in the season the squirrels will bite off
these marks made with cords for no other purpose, so far as I know,
except satisfying a love of mischief. Now I am not psychologist enough
to state that this is the reason for the action of the red squirrel, and
can only remember that when I was a boy I used to do things that the red
squirrel now does. (Laughter.) Consequently, on that basis, I traced the
psychology back to plain pure mischief. Red squirrels and white footed
mice must be looked after with great care in our hybridized trees. If
the squirrels cannot get at a nut that is surrounded by wire cloth, they
will cut off the branch and allow it to fall to the ground and then
manage to get it out. White footed mice will make their way through
wire, and mice and squirrels will both manage to bite through wire cloth
unless it is very strong in order to get at the nut. The mere fact of
nuts being protected by wire cloth or in other ways seems to attract the
attention of squirrels. One of my men, a Russian, said, in rather broken
English, "Me try remember which nuts pollinized; no put on wire, no put
on tag, no put on nothing; squirrel see that, see right straight, bite
off one where you put sign for him." (Laughter.) The best way for
keeping squirrels and white footed mice from ascending a tree, I find is
by tacking common tin, slippery smooth tin, around the trunk of the tree
and this may be left on only during the time when squirrels are likely
to ascend the tree. They will begin long before the nuts are ripe. In
the case of hazel nuts, I have surrounded the bushes with a wire fence
or wire mesh, leaving a little opening on one side, and have placed
steel traps in the opening. Now here enters a danger which one does not
learn about excepting from practical experience. I went out one morning
shortly after having thought of this bright idea and found two gray
squirrels in the traps. They had followed their natural instinct of
climbing when they got into the steel traps, and climbing wildly had
broken off every single branch from those hazels which carried
hybridized nuts. There wasn't one left, because the squirrels when
caught had climbed into the trees and had so violently torn about with
trap and chain that they had broken off every single branch with a nut
on it. So many things happen in our experiments that appeal to one's
sense of the ludicrous, if he has a sense of humor, that I assure you
nut raising is a source of great delight to those who are fond of the
drama.
The field of hybridizing nut trees offers enormous prospects. We are
only just upon the margin of this field, just beginning to look into the
vista. It has been done only in a limited way, so far, by crossing
pollen and flowers under quite normal conditions. We may look forward to
extending the range now of pollinization from knowledge based upon the
experiments of Loeb and his followers in biology. They have succeeded in
developing embryos from the eggs of the sea urchin, of the nereis, and
of mollusks, without spermatozoa. Their work has shown that each egg is
a single cell with a cell membrane and it is only necessary to destroy
this cell membrane according to a definite plan to start that egg to
growing. Life may be started from the egg in certain species without the
presence of the other sex. This may lead us into a tremendous new field
in our horticultural work. We may be able to treat germ cells with acids
or other substances which destroy the cell membrane so as to allow
crossing between very widely separated species and genera. Loeb, by
destroying the cell membrane of the sea urchin, was enabled to cross the
sea urchin with the star fish, and no one knows but we may be able,
following this line of experimentation, eventually to cross the shagbark
hickory with a pumpkin and get a shagbark hickory nut half the size of
the pumpkin. That is all! (Applause.)
* * * * *
(President Morris then took the chair.)
The Chairman: Please let me add that the hickory pumpkin idea is not to
be taken seriously. That is a highly speculative proposition. I have
found some times that, in a very scientific audience, men who were
trained in methods of science, had very little selvage of humor,--little
margin for any pleasantry, but this highly speculative suggestion,
curiously enough, is not in fact more speculative than would have been
the idea twelve years ago that you could hatch an egg, start an egg to
development--without fertilization.
Mr. Hutt: I would like to ask how widely you have been able to cross
species?
The Chairman: It has been possible to cross species of hazels freely
with the four species that I have used, the American hazel, Corylus
Americana; the beak hazel, Corylus rostrata; the Asiatic, Corylus
colurna, and Corylus pontica. These apparently cross readily back and
forth. With the hickories I think rather free hybridization occurs back
and forth among all, but particularly in relation to groups. The
open-bud hickories, comprising the pecan, the bitternut, the water
hickory, and the nutmeg hickory, apparently, from my experiments, cross
much more readily among each other than they cross with the scale-bud
hickories. The scale-bud hickories appear to cross much more freely
among each other than they cross with the open-bud hickories; not only
species but genera may be crossed, and I find that the walnuts
apparently cross freely with the open-bud hickories and the open-bud
hickories cross with the walnuts. I have thirty-two crosses between the
bitternut hickory and our common butternut, growing. All of the walnuts
apparently cross rather freely back and forth with each other. I have
not secured fertile nuts between the oaks and chestnuts, but I believe
that we may get fertile nuts eventually. The nuts fill well upon these
two trees fertilized with each others' pollen respectively, but I have
not as yet secured fertile ones. We shall find some fertile crosses I
think between oaks and chestnuts, when enough species have been tried.
Mr. Hutt: Do you notice any difference in the shapes of any of those
hybrids, the nuts, when you get them matured and harvested? Do they look
any different from the other nuts on the tree?
The Chairman: There isn't very much difference, but I seem to think that
sometimes the pollen has exercised an influence upon the nuts of the
year. Theoretically it should not do so, but I noticed one case
apparently in which I crossed a chinkapin with a Chinese chestnut, and
the nuts of that year seemed to me to present some of the Chinese
chestnuts' characteristics.
Mr. Hutt: This year I crossed a number of varieties of pecans and in
nearly all those crosses there was to me quite an evident difference in
the nuts. For instance those gathered off certain parts of a pecan tree
of certain varieties, Schley or Curtis or Frotscher, would be typical
nuts, but those hybrids or crosses that I produced were distorted, more
or less misshapen and seemed to have peculiarities; so that when we came
to look over the colony we were in doubt whether they were hand
pollinated hybrids or had been pollinated before we got the blossoms
covered. Many of them evidenced a great number of distortions, and one
of them I remember particularly whose shell was so thin it was just like
a piece of brown paper; and there were several peculiarities that were
quite noticeable in those hand pollinated nuts.
The Chairman: That is a very interesting point. When we come to consider
deformities of nuts we shall find very many cases due to the character
of the pollinization. I crossed the Persian walnut with the shagbark
hickory and had nuts that year of just the sort of which Mr. Hunt
speaks, with shells as thin as paper. One could crush them with the very
slightest pressure of the finger. The shells were not well developed.
Unfortunately the mice happened to get at all of those nuts. I don't
know if they were fertile or not. The kernels were only about half
developed. I should look for deformity in these nuts rather than a
taking on of the type of one parent over the other, the idea being based
on theoretical biological considerations. We had last year a photograph
of a tree in California which apparently was a cross, a very odd
cross--does any one remember about that California tree?
Mr. Wilcox: It was a cross between Juglans Californica and the live oak.
The Chairman: Both the foliage and the nuts were very remarkable and
pertained to characters of these two trees. Such a cross to my mind
would be wholly unexplainable excepting on the ground recently brought
out by Loeb and his followers in crossing the lower forms of animal life
and finding that the cell membrane of the egg, if destroyed, will allow
of very wide fertilization subsequently with other species. It occurs to
me now--I had no explanation last year, but it occurs to me now,
knowing of Loeb's experiments--that it is possible that one of the
parents, the parent California oak tree carrying the female flowers,
might have had its sex cells subjected to some peculiar influence like
acid, sulphurous acid, for instance, from some nearby chimney.
Sulphurous acid perhaps from someone merely lighting a match to light a
cigar under the tree; he might have so sensitized a few female flowers,
may have so injured the cell membrane of a few female germ cells that
cross pollinization then took place from a walnut tree. It is only on
some such ground as the findings of Loeb that we can explain such a very
unusual hybridization as that, which appeared to me a valid one, of a
cross between an oak and a walnut.
(Secretary Deming then called attention to hybrids in the various
exhibits.)
Professor Smith: I should like to ask why, if this free hybridization
takes place in nature among the hickories, you do not have a perfect
complex of trees showing all possible variations in the forest.
The Chairman: In answer to Professor Smith's question I will start from
his premises and remark that we do have such complexities. The hickories
are so crossed at the present time, like our apples, that even crossing
the pollen of various hickory trees of any one species does not promise
interesting results unless we cross an enormous number. They are already
so widely crossed that it is very difficult sometimes to determine if a
certain tree is shagbark or pignut or shellbark or mockernut. For the
most part the various species and varieties of hickories retain their
identity because their own pollen is handiest, and different species do
not all flower at the same time. Their own pollen from the male flowers
is apt to fall at the time when their own female flowers are ripe and
under these circumstances the chances are very much in favor of the tree
pollinizing its female flowers with its own pollen. On the other hand,
there is hardly one chance in many hundred thousand for any crossed nut
to grow, for the reason that most nuts are destroyed by mice, squirrels,
rats and boys. If you have a hickory nut tree growing in a lot, and
which has produced a bushel of hickory nuts year after year, do you know
of one single nut from that tree which has grown? In this plan of
Nature, this plan of enormous waste of Nature in order to get one seed
to grow, the chance for a hybridized hickory nut to grow under normal
conditions, is so small that we should have relatively few crossed
trees growing wild in Nature, though we do find quite a good many of
them.
Professor Smith: If I am not taking up too much time, I would like to
put some more questions to you.
The Chairman: That's what we are here for.
Professor Smith: Have you ever tried the plan of serving collations to
squirrels? Why wouldn't it pay to give them portions of wheat and corn?
Second, what percentage of the oak pollen kept in cold storage a month
was alive? Third, what is the range of time that the hybridizer has to
make the pollinization? Must we go on the dot or have we two days or
four days or a week, in the case of hickories and walnuts?
The Chairman: I think possibly as these are three direct questions, I
might answer them now. No, I think it would be better to have all
questions bearing on this subject brought out and then I will answer all
together. So if you will kindly ask all the questions, I will then
endeavor to answer them.
Mr. Corsan: The squirrels bothered me last year. I've got forty acres of
land for experimental purposes only and I started planting and the
little beggars would dig down exactly where I planted the nuts, so I
went into town and got a rat trap with a double section so I could catch
them alive; and I caught so many by feeding them cheap pignuts, the
sweet pignuts from Michigan, that I brought them in and my boys sold
them for twenty-five cents apiece. Since then we have never been
bothered with red squirrels. For the white footed mice I laid down large
doors over some hay or long grass and they gathered underneath and then
I lifted the doors up every day and with a stick I smashed hundreds of
them. I have posted a notice to leave the skunk and mink alone; I don't
want anybody on the place shooting them.
The Chairman: I will first answer Professor Smith's questions. This
matter of serving collations for squirrels had best be done as
collations are served at political meetings--with a trap attached. You
don't know how many squirrels there are in the vicinity or how many
white footed mice. You will be surprised at the numbers of the little
rascals, and not only that, but the field mice, the common field mouse
and pine mouse run in mole holes under the ground and can smell a nut a
long way off. They are extremely destructive. What percentage of pollen
grains of the white oak were alive? I do not know. Enough to fertilize
a number of flowers. The sooner pollen is used the better. I cannot
answer the question exactly because I did not make an experiment in the
laboratory to know what part of the pollen was viable. I put on a good
deal of it and there were at least some viable grains in the lot. That,
however, is a matter which can be subjected to exact laboratory tests
without any difficulty. I am so busy with so many things that I can only
follow the plan of the guinea hen that lays forty eggs and sits in the
middle of the nest and hatches out all she can. Now the range of time
for pollinizing is a thing of very great importance and we have to learn
about it. We must all furnish notes on this question. With some species
I presume the duration of life of pollen, even under the best
conditions, might be only a few days. Under other conditions it may be
several weeks; but we have to remember that, in dealing with pollen, we
are dealing with a living, breathing organism.
The Secretary: I believe the experiment has been carried to completion
of fruiting a thousand trees from nuts grown on one pecan tree without
two of the resulting nuts being like one another or like the parent nut.
Is that true, Mr. Reed.
Mr. Reed: Yes, you might say ten thousand.
The Secretary: We have an illustration of the variability of the progeny
of a nut in this collection of chestnuts by Mr. Riehl out in Illinois.
This is a parent nut, the Rochester, and these others are seedlings from
the Rochester, except where marked otherwise, some showing a tendency to
revert to the parent, and some promising to be improvements on the
parents.
The Chairman: Mr. Secretary, I think we'd better confine ourselves to
the hybrid question at the present time.
The Secretary: Are not those all hybrids?
The Chairman: I don't believe any man can tell, unless you get the
flowers, because you have the American and European types merging
together so perfectly. Some of them show distinctly the European type;
others show distinctly the American type. That is what I would expect,
however. The practical point is the question of quality. Which one keeps
the American quality and which one retains the coarseness of the
European type?
Mr. Harris: Speaking of variations of nuts I think it is well known that
there is quite a variation in the nuts of the oak. I noticed in one
species, michauxii, which is an oak in the South, that its nuts varied
a great deal. It is something of the type of the chestnut, the white oak
or the rock oaks and it varies a great deal.
I found one on my father's range in New Jersey and also one on the
Potomac. The variations extend to the trees as well as the nuts.
The Chairman: The oak tree properly belongs in another tree group and
some of the acorns are not only edible, but first-rate. In China there
are at least three species found in the markets to be eaten out of hand
or roasted. Our white oaks here, some of them, bear very good fruit,
from the standpoint of the boy and the pig, anyway, and it seems to me
that we may properly include the oaks in our discussion. There would be
great range in variation of type from hybridization between oak trees
and I have seen a number of oak trees that were evidently hybrids, where
the parentage could be traced on both sides, that were held at very high
prices by the nurserymen. I asked one nurseryman, who wanted an enormous
price for one hybrid oak, why he didn't make ten thousand of those for
himself next year? It hadn't occurred to him.
If there is no further discussion in connection with my paper we will
have Mr. Littlepage's paper on Nut Promotions.
Mr. Littlepage: Dr. Deming said that he thought it might be time that we
have something just a little lighter--that either he should read a paper
or I. (Laughter.) Inasmuch as he included himself, I took no offense
whatever. The subject I have written on, roughly and hurriedly, is
Fraudulent and Uninformed Promoters.
FRAUDULENT AND UNINFORMED PROMOTERS
T. P. LITTLEPAGE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
[Illustration: MR. T. P. LITTLEPAGE
OF INDIANA
_President of the Association_]
In the beginning, let me assert my confidence and interest in
agriculture in general. This is one of the basic industries, upon the
proper understanding and growth of which depends the food supply of the
nation. It is admitted by scientists that, other conditions being equal,
an adequacy or inadequacy in the supply of proper food makes the
difference between great people and undesirable people. This being true,
the various operations of agriculture must always be of the greatest
concern to those who are interested in the nation's welfare.
The "back-to-the-farm" movement is being discussed today in various
periodicals, but back of the "back-to-the-farm" movement is a philosophy
that has not been generally understood. It is not proper here to take
time to discuss the reasons why the man in the "steenth" story of some
magnificent office building, with telephones, electric lights,
elevators, and all modern conveniences, longs for the time when he can
roam again amidst the green fields in the sunshine and fresh air, but
suffice it to say that in my judgment a majority of the professional
men, and men in other walks of life, would, if they could, abandon their
various employments and turn again to the soil. The boy on the farm
dreams of the days when he can be the president of a bank, have a home
in the city, own an automobile, smoke good cigars and go to the show
every night. The bank president dreams of the day when he can turn again
to the farm and walk in the green fields, where he can shun the various
artificial activities of life, drink buttermilk and retire with the
chickens.
It may be asked what connection these statements have with the subject,
and the answer is this--that in the minds of many thousands of people
there is this supreme desire to some day own a portion of God's
footstool to which they can retire from artificial and vainglorious
environments to those under which they can be their real selves and
follow pursuits to their liking. It is this that makes it possible for
the promoter of various horticultural enterprises to succeed in
interesting in his schemes the clerk, the merchant, the doctor, the
lawyer, the school teacher, the preacher, and all others whose
occupations confine them within the limits of the great cities.