Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting / Rochester, N.Y. August 31 and September 1, 1953

On the uplands in this same territory, the black walnut is found almost everywhere.Thousands of pecan and walnut are of suitable size for top-working and could be made valuable by being grafted over to these fine varieties.These may be found in any quantity from a single tree to a native grove (especially pecan) of thousands of trees.

One of the largest pecan groves is in Gallatin county, Illinois along the Wabash river where it has been estimated there are as many as twenty thousand pecan trees of bearing size in one locality.

Other sections where large native groves may be found are in Henderson county, Kentucky near the mouth of Green River, along the Mississippi river in western Kentucky, across the river in southern Illinois, along the Illinois river in central Illinois, along the Missouri river in central Missouri, in eastern Kansas, along the Neosho and Spring rivers, and in Bates county Missouri along the Osage river, in southwestern Missouri.

It has been my pleasure to visit one or more times each of the above places as well as every other section of note where the northern pecan grows naturally.

One of the most interesting places that I have seen is in Bates county, Missouri.I was there in May to top-work trees for Mr. Wesley Heuser, where he has a tract of land along the Osage river on which there is a large native pecan grove making it a profitable possession.Mr. Heuser is increasing its value by planting budded, or grafted trees in the open land and top-working the small native seedlings.

Adjoining this place is one owned by Mr. Fred Marquardt who recently bought it from the estate of the late J.F.Tiedke who had spent years of work there cleaning up the native grove, and top-working the small seedlings to the better varieties.Mr. Marquardt told me there was an estimated four thousand bearing size native trees, and two thousand top-worked trees most of which are of bearing size and many of them top-worked as long as twenty years ago.Mr. Marquardt is taking splendid care of this place making it a profitable as well as a most beautiful nut orchard.

Mr. Tiedke in topworking these small trees, selected those as nearly as possible in rows giving it the appearance in places of a planted orchard.

Along the Illinois river in central Illinois is a great pecan section.It is there that Mr. R.B.Best is located, and he probably has more grafted and top-worked trees than any other person in the midwest.The late Charles Stephens of Columbus, Kansas, had topworked several hundred trees in southeastern Kansas and Stanley Walberts planted a 35 acre pecan orchard there at Columbus that at the last time I visited it was a beautiful and well kept orchard.

Mr. W.F.Thielenhaus of Buffalo, Kansas is doing a lot of work there both in planting and top-working trees.

In western Kentucky, Professors W.W.Magill, and W.D.Armstrong of the University of Kentucky with county agent John B.Watts of Hickman, Kentucky cooperating, interested Mr. Roscoe Stone, who had a large acreage of land in developing the young seedling pecan trees by top-working them to better varieties.Mr. Sly and I went there the first time in the spring of 1948 and each spring since then we have worked trees on this land, and for others around Hickman to the number of possibly 500 trees.

Last year a number of the trees that were worked in the spring of 1948 produced quite a few nuts.I was there in May at which time there was a splendid crop of nuts on these trees.On August 3, I had a letter from Mr. Watts stating "I feel that many of these trees will bear a good crop of nuts this year, and although we are having a drought here, the trees on the Stone farm are not suffering much.

The largest planting of nut trees that I know in the midwest is that planted by the late Harry R.Weber near Rockport which consists of about 70 acres mostly walnuts, with some pecans, hybrids, hickories, and filberts.

Many smaller plantings of nut trees have been made throughout the midwest and thousands of seedling trees having been top-worked.

Most of the native walnut trees through this section have been cut for timber and the native chestnut has been killed by the blight, making a shortage that should be replaced with the better varieties of walnut and the Chinese chestnut.

The earlier plantings of the Persian walnut from France and England were not hardy in the midwest but the Carpathian walnut from Poland seems to be doing well.

Some parts of this territory are suitable for almost any kind of nut trees.There is a vast field in the Midwest awaiting development in nut culture.

Some Aspects of the Problem of Producing Curly-Grained Walnut

L. H. MACDANIELS, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

About 15 years ago a tree of the Lamb Curly Walnut was planted at Ithaca, N.Y.After the tree had grown to a height of about 12 feet, it was topworked about 8 feet from the ground to scions of the Cornell variety of Black Walnut with the idea that it would be possible to grow a trunk of curly walnut and a top of a named variety.The tree grew rapidly and in the fall of 1952 had a trunk 10 inches in diameter at the base.Sometime in 1952 the tree became infected with bunchy-top disease and was cut in an attempt to eliminate this disease from the premises.It was expected that the trunk would show figured curly grain and plans were made to have at least a part of the log cut into veneer.On cutting the tree, however, and examining the wood, there was no evidence of curly grain detectable either by casual personal observation or from samples sent to the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin.This, of course, was a disappointment because J.F.Wilkinson had shown samples of walnut grown from scions of the Lamb Walnut obtained from the late W.B.Bixby which showed evidence of curly grain.A photograph of the wood secured from Mr. Wilkinson is shown in figure 1.Wood samples from a tree growing at Beltsville, Maryland, which was also secured from Mr. Bixby by C.A.Reed, does not show evidence of curly grain.

The simplest explanation of the failure of the tree in Ithaca to show curly grain would be that somehow the tree was not properly labelled or that scions were mixed in propagation and that the trunk was not derived from the original Lamb Curly Walnut.However, the fact that only a few trees were concerned makes it improbable that trees were mislabelled in the Ithaca planting and there is no good reason to believe that the tree planted at Beltsville was not authentic.

[Illustration: Fig.1.Radial face of wood of grafted Lamb black walnut grown by J.F.Wilkinson.Wavy or curly grain is apparent on right side which is the outer part of the log (about natural size).]

Another possibility is that the original Lamb Walnut was a chimera.Such a tree would have mixed tissues in its growing points, some having the curly grain character and others not.In such a tree some scions would produce curliness and others straight grain.It may be that these were mixed in the original collection.

A third possibility is that curliness is produced by the interaction of several factors, one a tendency to curliness inherent in the Lamb tree and the others environmental such as growth rate, nutrient supply, the nature of the soil or other such conditions.

Theoretically curly grain in walnut or any other tree is related to the nature of the growth of the cambium layer.In normal growth the cells of this layer are much elongated as seen in tangential section and are relatively straight.The nature of these cambium cells is shown in figure 2.

[Illustration: Fig.2.The cambium of a straight-grained black walnut tree as seen in tangential section.The nature and regularity of these cells determines the nature and regularity of the cells of adjacent wood and bark (× 150).]

It is well known from studies of cambial growth that irregularities in the growth of the cambium are reflected in the irregularities in the shape and position of the wood fibers and vessels, which it forms. Ordinarily, if the cambium is wounded, the first cells formed are irregular in shape and orientation but after a wound is healed over the cambium cells resume their normal position.In parts of trees in which the grain is irregular or confused such as in the inner angle of crotches the shape of the cambium cells determines the nature of the grain beneath as shown in figure 3 (Ref.1).This has been established also in the study of the nature of spiral-grained Douglas Fir and in various experimental work where it has been possible to change the direction or extent of the cambium cells through various experimental means.(Ref.2)

[Illustration: Fig.3.Section through cambium and underlying wood in a crotch of an apple tree where the grain of the wood is not straight.The shape and direction of the wood fibers or grain of the wood, and bark is determined by the shape and direction of the cambium cells that form them (X 100).]

There seems to be no doubt, therefore, that curly grain in walnut is directly related to the curly condition to be found in the cambium, which produces such curly grain.The basic question to be resolved is what makes the cambium of a curly-grain tree assume the curly or wavy character.As indicated above, one hypothesis is that several factors may be operating.For example, a tree might have the inherent capacity to produce wavy grain but would only do so under special environmental conditions.These environmental conditions might be related to rapidity of growth, water and nutrient supply, or various other habitat characteristics, which affect the nature of growth.The fact that the tree in question at Ithaca was growing rapidly might have been responsible for the failure of the curly grain to develop.There is evidence that trees with figured grain grow slowly.(Ref.3, 4) On the other hand the specimens from the tree at Beltsville, Maryland, were from a slowly growing plant and did not show curly grain.

Another hypothesis is that development of the curly grain is dependent upon the foliage of the tree.This has been demonstrated to be true in instances where the foliage of fruit plants determines the characteristics of the growth of the trunk and roots and of the fruit itself.(Ref.5, 6) It might be, therefore, that the failure of this particular trunk to show curly grain is related to the fact that the top of the tree at Ithaca was of another variety than the original Lamb.Possibly the foliage of the original variety producing the curly character is necessary to produce the curly grain.An argument against this interpretation is that the tree at Beltsville, Maryland, is not topworked.

It would be valuable at the present time to survey all the trees of the Lamb walnut, which are growing in various parts of the country, to see under what circumstances they may be showing the curly characteristic of the original tree.Dr. M.Y.Pillow of the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin, in an unpublished report, has pointed out that it is possible to determine the curly nature of the grain by shaving off the outer bark, exposing the inner bark just outside of the cambium.Inasmuch as the same cambium cells form fiber cells both on the inside to make the wood and towards the outside to make the bark, the direction and nature of the fibers in the bark are a direct indication of the direction of the fibers underneath the cambium in the wood.

The appearance of the normal straight grained wood and bark and wood and bark of a curly grained tree are shown in figures 4 and 5.Shaving off the outer bark in this manner will not harm the trees, if it is done carefully so it would be possible to make this survey without injury to the trees.Examining a number of trees of the Lamb walnut in this way and finding that some were curly, might give evidence as to the conditions under which the Lamb walnut will produce curly grain.

Dr. Pillow of the Forest Products Laboratory, kindly furnished me with his file on curly and birdseye grained wood.In this file is a very interesting group of manuscripts and letters including a report from Mr. Willard G.Bixby reporting a trip to New Hampshire to study the occurrence of birdseye maple and also his early experiments with the Lamb walnut.The Lamb walnut trees at that time were too young to give any indication of curly grain.Other letters of interest on the subject were from Mr. J.F.Wilkinson, A.S.Colby and C.A.Reed.These letters mention the desirability of propagating figured walnut but aside from indicating that trees of the Lamb had been propagated there was no indication that curliness had developed.The first definite indication that curliness would develop in a grafted tree was reported by Mr. Wilkinson (Ref.7) at the Norris meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association.At that time the wood photographed in figure 1 was shown.

In the literature somewhat conflicting reports are found as to whether or not curliness will show up early in the growth of a tree or late.Apparently it was possible to trace curly grain into the twigs a few years old in the original Lamb walnut (unpublished letters).Various statements, however, indicate that curliness may not develop until the trees are 20 years old or more.It would seem that with the propagation and introduction of the Lamb walnut in 1926-27 and distribution soon thereafter it ought to be possible to locate and examine these trees which are now more than 20 years old.

[Illustration: Fig.4.Slightly enlarged photograph of black walnut with straight grain in the wood (light-colored area) and also in the bark (dark-colored area).U.S.Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory Photo.]

In the various literature and other material available on the subject of birdseye and curliness, it appears that the birdseye grain is different in its origin from curliness although both may be related to the functioning of the cambium and definitely seem to be related to slow growth.(Ref.8)

[Illustration: Fig.5.Slightly enlarged photograph of black walnut with curly grain in the wood (light-colored area, upper left) and also in the bark (dark-colored area).U.S.Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory Photo.]

Curliness is reported in other kinds of trees.Curly grained white poplar has been propagated from hybrid trees by growing cuttings of shoots from the roots of the curly trees (Ref.9).In Sweden it has been possible to grow figured birch, much of which has the curly type grain.In birch, seedling strains producing curly grain have been developed and are being grown.It is of interest to note that with these birches, the trees with curly grain grow only about half as fast as the normal trees and have to be staked during their early growth years in order to make straight trunks or to stand erect (Ref.4).

The original Lamb walnut tree was curly throughout.Other trees, particularly maples and birches may be curly only in part of their trunks and sometimes only in restricted segments.Trees frequently have curly grain at the base where the trunk joins the roots but not elsewhere.Such curliness may be related to the shortening of the curve where the root joins the trunk, thus causing distortion.W.G.Bixby states (Ref.3) that a birdseye maple tree 170 years old was only about a quarter as large in diameter as normal trees of the same age.I know of no comparison of curly walnut with other types of walnut.The original Lamb walnut tree was apparently a very large one.

In conclusion, it is obvious that our knowledge of the possibility of producing curly grained walnut logs by grafting is as yet incomplete.Much more information is needed and at the present time undoubtedly much can be gained by examining the Lamb walnut trees, which are growing in various parts of the country.This can be done without seriously injuring the trees as described earlier in this paper.Those in the Northern Nut Grower's Association, who have Lamb trees are urged to examine them to find out if we can gain further useful information regarding this rather important subject.Obviously, if it is possible to grow curly walnut through vegetative propagation, we should know under what conditions a grower can expect to successfully produce a curly grained log.

References

   1.   MacDaniels, L.   H.   The apple tree crotch, histological studies and
       practical considerations.        Cornell Univ.        Agr.        Exp.        Sta.        Bul.        419:
       1-22.        1923.

   2.   —— and Otis F.   Curtis.   The effect of spiral ringing on solute
       translocation on the structure of the regenerated tissue of the
       apple.        Cornell Univ.        Agr.        Exp.        Sta.        Memoir 133:1-32.        1930.

   3.   Bixby, W.   G.   Field work at Warren, New Hampshire.   Unpublished
       Report.        1932.        (On file with U.        S.        Forest Products Laboratory,
       Madison, Wisconsin.)

   4.   Heinkinheimo, O.   Om odling ar masurbjork (The cultivation of
       figured birch).        Skogen 27:165-167.        1940.        (Translation in U.        S.
       Forest Products Laboratory.)

5. Heinicke, A. J. Influence of scion leaves on the quality of apples borne by the stock. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 24:143-146. 1927.

6. Swarbrick, Thomas and R. H. Roberts. The relation of scion variety to character of root growth in apple trees. Wisconsin Univ. Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. Bul. 78:1-24. 1927.

   7.   Wilkinson, J.   F.   The grafted curly walnut as a timber tree.   Northern
       Nut Growers Ass'n.        Proc.        39:139-142.        1948.

   8.   Pillow, M.   Y.   Dormant buds are not the cause of bird's eyes in
       maple.        Wood Working Industries 5:26-27.        Sept.        1929.

   9.   Grober, Samuel.   Science shows the way.   Chemurgic Digest 5:152.
       1946.

DR. CRANE: Dr. MacDaniels, the idea prevails on the part of some I know that this curliness would show up more at the base or crown of the tree than it would be likely to show on the trunk, and at the base of large limbs we tend to have curliness.Of course, the Lamb walnut was supposed to be curly throughout, but in the case of other trees I wonder if that's true.You have emphasized the change in the direction of the grain at the crown between the root and trunk and in the crotches.I wonder just where would be the best place to scrape this bark or pare it down in examination to determine whether it was curly or not.Would that be, in your opinion, more likely to show up on the trunk of the tree or base of some limb or near down to the crown?

DR. MACDANIELS: I'd be inclined to take it where you can work at it most easily; down towards the base.If the grain is curly only in restricted areas the log is not very valuable.

A MEMBER: I have been told by a sawmill man that he could tell by the convolutions of the bark.Instead of being straight, they would be fluted.

DR. MACDANIELS: That might be.I was told during the First World War when they wanted straight-grained spruce for airplanes they found they could tell a straight-grained spruce from a spiral, so they wouldn't waste their time getting logs with spiral grain.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION

PRESIDENT BEST: The first item on the program is the life story of the Late Reverend Crath and the Crath Carpathian walnut in Ontario.We are going to have Mr. L.K.Devitt of Toronto, Canada, get into this subject for us.Mr. Devitt did know Reverend Crath since 1934.Mr. Devitt supported his expedition to the Ukraine in 1934.He has a few slides for us and then he is going to talk to us about a number of features.

Mr. Devitt is in the school system in Toronto, and he is a graduate of the University of Toronto, and so without further introduction, take over and give us your story.

MR. DEVITT: Thank you.Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, when I wrote a letter to the secretary of the Association about Reverend Crath, I thought it was also fitting that at the next meeting I should come here and say a little more about the life and work of the Reverend Crath and the Crath Carpathian walnut in Ontario and the progress for the last 20 years.

Late Rev.Paul C.Crath

L. K. DEVITT, Toronto, Ontario

Rev.Crath was born near Kiev in Greater Ukraine, Poland, in 1883.He was the son of an Agricultural College Professor.It is assumed that he enjoyed the life of the upper class, being a graduate of two universities; and speaking fluently at least six languages of Central and Western Europe, and having travelled almost everywhere in Europe.He possessed a wide knowledge of the peoples, the history and the culture of all the Central European Countries.

He migrated to Canada in 1908 and settled in Western Canada.He was employed at various, clerical occupations before entering the Theological College of the University of Manitoba from where he graduated as a Presbyterian minister in 1922.

He was the minister of a Ukranian Presbyterian Church in Toronto for two years.From 1924 to 1936 he served as a Presbyterian missionary in Poland, organizing some thirty missions in Galicia and Volynia.For some years before the war, he spent considerable time on a farm near Welcome, Ontario, building up a European Nursery and in the winters he served with the Home Missions mostly in Western Canada.During the last ten years of his life he had to curtail his activities more and more, owing to poor health and a heart condition.

I met Rev.Crath when he was on furlough in 1934.

I went to the National Exhibition and among the various exhibits I came across a rather unique exhibit of nuts, grown by the late Geo.H.Corsan, Echo Valley, Islington.

In the course of our conversation along came the late Prof. Jas.Neilson and we continued to talk about nut-growing.Prof. Neilson was interesting indeed.I could see he was a sincere man and most enthusiastic about the subject.He told me there was a Presbyterian Ukranian missionary in town who had brought out some hardy English walnuts from the Carpathian Mountains—a variety which he was sure would survive in Ontario and the Northern States and that it had great possibilities.The missionary was returning to Europe to bring out a shipment but needed, backing for the expedition.I met Prof. Neilson the following day.The sum required was $400.00 and he agreed to guarantee the sale of $400.00 worth in the U.S.at least.The next day I met Rev.Crath at the Exhibition display.We met off and on for two or three days.I could see no flaw in the project, so I raised the $400.00 by a bank-note.The banker thought I was crazy—and the missionary was on his way by the end of the week.

He arrived by mid-September and having had so many charges in the Ukraine, he knew where to go and just when the crop was being harvested.The walnuts were selected, dried, boxed and shipped by the middle of October.The shipment arrived in Toronto the first week of November—nearly two tons of them.I received with them, a bill of lading with port charges, export duties and freight.I was out another $100.00.

In two weeks, the Winter Fair opened and Mr. Corsan was invited to put on his nut exhibit as an attraction.In the meantime he was on the radio once a week to talk on health, food and various subjects, always getting around to nuts as a food—and this new discovery, the Carpathian walnut.The radio broadcasts brought interested people right to his exhibit.He gave an hourly talk on nuts and a pamphlet was given out.The Winter Fair sales grossed $300.00 and there was another $100.00 on follow-up sales by Christmas.The situation was at least easier.

Prof. Neilson before Christmas had taken ill and passed away in February.However into the picture came another man, H.J.Rahmlow, secretary of the Wisconsin Horticultural Association with about 600 affiliated societies.He wrote an article in the Country Gentleman and circularized the expedition of Rev.Crath to the Carpathian Mountains.We sent four shipments to Mr. Rahmlow in 25 and 50 lb.lots.Sales came in from all over Canada and the United States until spring.By spring we had cleared all expenses and had about $200.00 on hand, but the next problem was, what to do with the rest of the walnut seeds?

On Mr. Corsan's Echo Valley, there were two fields, one in the valley and one over the road.We broke up out of sod an acre in each field and planted about 40,000 seeds.Rev.Crath took to a farm near Welcome, Ont.about another 20,000.Our plantation required a good deal of attention, work and expense during the growing season.However 90% of the walnuts germinated and grew to trees about 6 inches high.Over 30,000 trees survived the next cold winter.

The following year we could scuffle them between the rows.Our nursery required less care and expense.During the summer they grew about a foot higher (15 in.average) but developed a very thick carrot-like tap root with numerous root hairs.By autumn 1936 it was evident we had to transplant.The seeds were planted originally 8 inches apart.So we divided up the lot by each taking one out of every three trees, thus leaving the trees in Echo Valley now 2 ft.apart.Rev.Crath took his trees to the farm at Welcome, 80 miles east of Toronto.They were planted on a slope below a thick woods from where melting snow and spring rains kept the field cold and wet until mid-summer.Rev.Crath's trees were practically a failure; in fact the area seemed to be unsuitable for walnut seedlings.Mr. Corsan's trees continued to grow, but even here the soil did not seem to be the most suitable.

I took mine to a sandy garden soil that had been under sod for 20 years.The sod was broken and thoroughly disced.The spring was wet and very favourable for transplanting.The trees on this soil grew very well without any fertilizer at all; nor did they require any spraying.The trees continued to grow deep and do better each succeeding year.

In the spring of 1939 I started to sell trees wholesale to the Dominion Nursery, Georgetown, Ont.Mr. Bradley, the president, carried more novelty items in his catalogue than any other nurseryman in Canada.I continued to plant more seeds until 1939.—The war stopped further importations, and I sold out all the trees by the spring of 1943.

So from my nursery probably went out some 10,000 trees; the weaker seedling always perished during the winter.From Mr. Corsan's nursery, another 10,000 trees—about half of these went to his son, Hebden Corsan in Michigan.Rev.Crath's nursery yielded not more than 5000.He imported a number of cherries, plums, grapes and others fruits, all of which did not do too well either.

During the period before the war, orders came in from everywhere—from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, even Newfoundland, besides nurseries in the United States.Orders from the prairie provinces were dissuaded but some customers insisted on a trial basis.Walnut seed, the first two years went mostly to Western Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.By 1939 the seedling nursery business that I had apparently fallen into, looked good.Rev.Crath and I talked the situation over.We decided to go to the country, lease some land.I would select the land and continue to grow seedlings and besides, import selected grafts to develop in Canada a hardy high quality grafted walnut tree.

In September we prepared to make another expedition.My banker was most agreeable this time.Rev.Crath got as far as New York where, awaiting the S.S.Batory to sail, the war broke out.The S.S.Pilsudski was sunk just out of Gdynia the next day.The S.S.Batory never did sail back to Poland.When he arrived home we went to the bank on a Saturday morning.The travellers' cheques were cancelled.

Rev.Crath in the 1936 expedition brought out a shipment of walnuts selected from the most northerly port of the Ukraine for Mr. Weschcke, St.Paul, Minn.I am not familiar with this part of his work.

Rev.Crath was a cheerful soul, an interesting and pleasant individual to talk to.He loved people and, especially, meeting people.He possessed a great love for humanity; he bore malice toward no one and charity to all except the Bolsheviks.He was a restless man—"always on the go".One could see he preferred to be missionary rather than a resident minister.Although he was away a good part of the time he was dearly loved by his family.

Shortly after his death, as an appreciation of his services as a minister among Ukranian families, special memorial services were held in Toronto, Oshawa and Detroit.I was invited to attend the Toronto service.

On a visit one day last August, 1952, to places where his Carpathian walnut trees were coming into bearing, he examined them and gazed at them with a look of joy and sadness.On the way home he was somewhat upset, he looked at me and said "Mr. Devitt, my good friend, at last our experiment is a success.Promise me two things; continue our work and go to the convention and tell our American friends to continue the work."

* * * * *

This is the story of the introduction of hardy Carpathian walnuts (Juglans regia) into Canada and the United States by the late Rev.Crath.

Looking back on the whole adventure (now twenty years ago) it would be only fair that I mention the names of three other men for the work they did to make the expedition a success.The late Professor James Neilson whose research in nut growing in Ontario and the United States was already well known should be mentioned.It was he who really "sparked" the expedition.To the late George H.Corsan whose nut growing experiment at Echo Valley was something unique in Ontario, credit is due for his enthusiasm and support of the late Reverend Crath.The American nut growers who were fortunate to obtain walnut seeds at the time through Wisconsin Horticultural Society can thank Mr. H.J.Rhamlow, then secretary.He took over the task of distributing the walnut seeds through the affiliated societies.He insisted that the seeds be tested for germination, kept in proper storage, and did everything possible to ensure success.However none of these men as I knew them then, and including myself, would want any credit, but we give full recognition to Reverend Crath for his work.

During the years spent in Poland Reverend Crath must have given the idea of growing hardy walnuts in Ontario and the Northern States considerable thought.He examined trees and nuts wherever he went; and continued gathering information each year.When I first met him I could see he had given walnut growing a great deal of study.He had great faith in his idea, and when leaving on his expedition 1934 he felt he was on a great mission.It should be remembered he made this arduous trip without pay and that he made very little money from the sale of walnut seeds or trees.No one did for that matter.It is also significant that in bringing these Carpathian walnuts out of Poland at that time, 1934, he did something that could never be done again.The trees he saw then probably went into rifle butts for use in World War II.The introduction of these walnuts into Ontario, met with varied success.Many bought them on a trial basis and were eventually rewarded; some looked on with skepticism and ridicule and a few thought that the growing of walnuts in Ontario was impossible.The intervening years, however, have brought forth a different picture.These seedling walnut trees are now bearing in Ontario and as late Reverend Crath predicted more than half of them are producing fair to good quality nuts.This is also true in the United States.In Ontario they grow well in the commercial apple districts and with variations mature nuts fully in 90 to 120 days (between Sept.15 to October 15.)All of the best varieties should now be propagated by grafting to produce hundreds of hardy Crath Carpathian walnut trees.This project should always be one of the foremost with the members of the Northern Nut Growers Association.Twenty years from now and later, the number of hardy walnut trees producing nuts (Crath strain) should make a living monument to this obscure missionary—Rev.Paul C.Crath.

PRESIDENT BEST: Thank you very much, Mr. Devitt, for this very intriguing story.Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.And we want to keep in touch with you, and we want to keep hearing from you, because you have got a big job to do yet.

MR. DEVITT: There is only one thing, ladies and gentlemen: I don't want to run into 5,000 letters to answer.Keep my name out of this.That is my walking-out request now.That's the story.I am going to continue to keep collecting samples.I hope some day to have a number myself of the best, and I might come back again sometime.I can't say every year; circumstances may be that I can't come.However, it's been a great pleasure for me to be here.I have wanted to come for 20 years, and I thought this year that I should come, because I am on this special mission of Reverend Crath's.Now you know what's going on in Ontario.

MR. SLATE: Mr. Chairman, I think the Association will answer the 5,000 letters, if he will ask.

MR. DEVITT: I didn't ask.Are there any questions?

DR. MCKAY: I'd like to ask a question.Was any scion wood ever brought over?

MR. DEVITT: There was some scion wood brought over by the Reverend Crath in the spring of 1935, and it was brought over on the boat.I remember in those years only one that grew on a tree belonging to Mr. Corsan.I don't think the other scion wood proved any good at all.

MR. STOKE: I got a little of that scion wood, and it had been waxed.The bark was nice and green, but the buds were dead.

MR. CALDWELL: Do you have a plantation of young, producing trees?

MR. DEVITT: No.My place, where I had those trees is now $3 million worth of buildings on 15 acres.You'd be looking down a street.They moved in in 1944, and built up 15 acres where I had one acre in the 15.

The Eastern Black Walnut as a Farm Timber Tree

JOHN DAVIDSON, Xenia, Ohio

Most people instinctively love trees.Perhaps this is an inherited result of arboreal ancestry.Even so, very few of us realize what an astonishingly close tie exists between the survival of trees and the well-being of the human race.Probably even fewer realize the very great importance, in the economy of animal life, of trees which bear nuts.Not alone for the sake of their nuts are they important, valuable as nuts are, but also for the sake of the unmatched timber which some of them produce, as well as for the sake of their service as soil conservers and builders, as beautifiers, and as silent, persistent builders of capital values.

In view of these outstanding qualities, it is strange that nut trees are today unfortunately and shamefully neglected in the north.Especially, I claim, is this true of the Eastern Black walnut.Here is a mystery.Why do not northern planters of trees plant more Eastern Black walnuts for their exceedingly valuable timber?

"Backward" Burma could give us lessons in intelligent forestry.It is said that the Burmese are permitted to clear their thickets and tropical woodlands for agricultural use only after they agree to plant a definite amount of that land in teak, perhaps the most valuable of all woods.It is said that, due to the effectiveness of this system, some 35,000 acres have now been stocked with this valuable timber.

There are two or three main reasons why the planting of Eastern Black walnut for timber is thus far not very common in America.(1).The native and favorable area of this tree is limited to a comparatively small section.(2), The tree grows well only in deep, fertile soil where quick-money crops have had the first call.Strip-mine planting is better than none at all, but such soil as is left after a strip-mine operation is hardly the best.(3) We are in too great a hurry.(4) Most farmers must have annual incomes, or they must quit farming.

What, then, are the offsetting reasons why this kind of planting should have an appeal to far-seeing people who are favorably located?In the first place, the Eastern Black walnut yields wood of unique quality.Pattern makers, who must work within tolerances of thousandths of an inch, prefer it.Walter Page, a well known sports writer has this to say: "Few woods come as close as walnut to fulfilling all the demands of a good gunstock: beauty of grain, workableness with cutting tools, resistance to warpage, weight or density in proportion to strength."

Another example of the many-sided versatility of this wood can be found in those timbered regions of America where termites are a problem for home owners.Termites seem to leave black walnut wood very much alone.It probably has a taste which termites cannot stomach.This is one reason why so many of the old rail fences of our ancestors in the walnut area were made of black walnut.The "ground-chunks," in particular, which were laid upon the ground under the corners of the worm-fences were often either of rock, or of walnut.

Just this year I watched the demolition of part of an old log cabin which was being riddled by termites.Many of the ordinary logs were in ruins but the walnut boards which had served as weather-boarding over the ends of some of the termite-infested logs were as sound and as beautifully preserved as they had been when they were placed there.

Is it any wonder that so many of the pioneers who had lived long enough in the termite area to see what could happen to other lumber, chose walnut, whenever they could get it, for structural work and for weatherboard protection?

Safety of operation is still another matter for consideration.If I wish to create an estate for my family or for my last years, how can I go about it with the best chance for success?Shall I go prospecting for precious metals?Thousands have failed at that job where but few have succeeded.Shall it be manufacturing?Count up the failures.For each success, at least ten go broke.Wall Street?The Wall Street journals themselves give the statistics.More than 90 percent of all persistent Wall Street gamblers lose money in the end.Farming?Much safer, but most farmers who have made much money in the past have accomplished it by way of an increase in the value of their land rather than through their farming operations.This is the result of fluctuating prices.Bad years often eat up the savings of good years.Then, too, the good farmer is a busy man.The better the year the busier he is.Very little time remains for side issues, such as the planting of trees.

As a matter of fact, as erosion of the soil progresses, as good, productive land becomes more scarce, and as farm labor becomes more and more difficult to employ, the attention of informed farm owners and operators has been turning more and more to soil-building, perennial, permanent and labor-saving crops.Of these, grass and tree crops are, far and away, the most promising today.

In view of what I have found out during the last 20 years, I am quite sure that, if I were starting now, I should expect to make farming a major element in my estate building, but it would be mostly tree and grass farming, not grain farming.I should need livestock, of course, to make use of the grass.And I like livestock.

This is what I ask of life: First of all, I must enjoy my work.I do not care to spend all my days in getting ready to live.My job must lie along the road I like to travel.I do not care to work at a task so burdensome, so time-consuming that I have no heart for the enjoyment of living.At the same time, a big part of the plan must be to find a good, safe way to build an estate.It must be feasible, practical, enjoyable.

I believe, in the light of my own recent experience, that if one is properly situated, there is much to be said for the idea of undertaking the practice of forestry upon a rather liberal scale using Eastern Black walnut trees as a foundation.

In the first place, I ask, what living thing upon one's farm will cause less labor than a forest tree?I know of none.This fulfills the first requirement.A forest tree calls for a minimum of attention as compared with other crops.This is especially true if one permits livestock to keep down weeds and brush.And here I am likely to be called a heretic.The authorities say, "No grazing in a forest".However, in this field of forestry there are some traditional maxims which, to say the least, are not capable of universal application.The authorities, too, have been known to rely upon what other authorities tell them—without investigating the facts for themselves.It is not well to rely too implicitly or trustfully upon the "authorities", either ecclesiastical or scientific."No grazing" is a valid enough rule to follow in the ordinary forest, but I have found that after the trees are well grown we can graze the land under a deep-rooted walnut tree which is planted in deep, rich soil as we would graze any meadow land—in reason and in moderation.The practice is profitable for annual income and it keeps down the fire hazard.One bad fire in an ungrazed or unmown piece of brush-covered undergrowth can destroy in an hour 50 years of timber growth.If we plant deep-rooted nut trees in deep, rich soil, and if we fertilize that soil as any valuable permanent pasture land is fertilized, we can graze that land without injury to the trees or the land.

One other reason which is given for the prohibition of grazing is the desire to save young tree growth.This is justified in ordinary forestry practice by the need to get annual income through successive cuttings.The young growth must be encouraged to come on.Even so, it must be thinned as it comes.However, a forest of black walnut trees yields its annual income in another way—through its nuts and its livestock.

Trees in such a forest should be planted close enough together to cause them to reach straight up as they grow.They will not all reach straight up, of course, but enough will do so to produce as many saw-logs as will normally grow in a forest; that is, if they have been properly planted in the first place.

In my own modified forest-type planting, the black walnut trees stand 8 feet apart in rows 20 feet apart.The 20-foot spacing between rows was planned to provide more sunlight for nut production during the early years.No one ever planted a forest in that way, so far as I know.The trees are now 17 years old, about 3250 of them in all.In the best soil of this 20 acres I can count about 1000 forest-type, straight, well-grown trees.There are about 1500 lesser trees, low-limbed trees which will eventually be used, perhaps, for posts or some such purpose.There are, I regret to say, about 750 trees that will never be worth anything.An eroded slope and a hidden clay bed explain these misbegotten dwarfs.

The variable growth of these trees proves that the first care in making a planting of walnut for timber should be to plant in good soil, deep and well drained.Bottom land, even some that is occasionally overflown with flood-water, and therefore not the best wheat land, should be excellent for Eastern Black walnuts if the drainage is good.Rule two:—Select your seed or seedlings from large, straight-growing, healthy parents.This rule needs explanation.

In last October's NUTSHELL, an organ of the Northern Nut Growers' Association, Spencer Chase, its editor, called attention to a showing of Carpathian Persian walnuts by Mr. H.F.Stoke which illustrated what was called "the variability of seedling trees."The progenitor of these seedlings was a Lancaster Carpathian Persian walnut tree.Differences in size, appearance and quality of nuts from these seedlings were said to have been remarkable.Such differences, we know, are greater with some species than with others.A variable ancestry often results in a variable progeny.On the other hand, I know that my Eastern American black walnuts do tend to reproduce the characteristics of their parents.I have long rows of seedling trees, all from one parent tree, standing alongside long rows of seedlings from another parent.The similarity of the tree growth and nut production of the trees in their own rows, and their contrast in growth of trees and nuts to those in adjoining rows is striking and to me conclusive.A photograph taken by Dr. O.D.Diller, of Ohio State University, in 1946, shows trees in a right-hand row grown from seed of a tree on the Kinsey farm, while on the left are seedlings of a tree on the McCoy farm.The circumference of trunks of Kinsey seedlings averages more than twice that of McCoy trees.Same soil, same age (11 years), same treatment.

Those same trees, now 17 years old, still show these striking characteristics.It is true that each tree in a row of seedlings is an individual in its own right.No others are exactly like it.Nevertheless, the family resemblances in that row are very like those in human families.They are especially noticeable in the nuts—with, for example, rough shells in one row and smooth shells in another; mainly large nuts in one and mainly small nuts in an adjoining family.Also, some rows have mostly straight-growing trees, others are predominantly branchy, like the Thomas.

It should be said in this connection that practically all of the parent trees of these seedlings stood in isolated positions and little subject to pollination from other trees.

So much for the Eastern Black walnut's evidence of hereditary influence.
So, let us take inventory.

Today, I figure that the thousand well-grown trees in this planting are each adding a dollar per year to the value of the 20 acres upon which they stand.$1000 per year in all.This estimate, which of course seems optimistic, is based upon the statement of a walnut tree buyer—a sawmill man—who tells me that a well grown, deep-soil, 50-year-old Eastern Black walnut tree should average about $50 in value.Thus far, my 17-year-old youngsters, some of them nearly 3 feet in girth (9-1/2 to 11 or more inches in diameter at breast height) look promising.

In addition to the potential added value of $1000 per year, this 20 acres has produced about two tons of in-hull nuts from selected trees only, in each of the past two years, (with more than that in prospect this year), while the land beneath the trees grows good pasture and helps to support a small herd of cattle and calves.

Once the trees were thoroughly established, the labor investment has been very small.Nature, for the most part, has done her own pruning, and has done it better than I deserve.Since the first half-dozen years, there has been no cultivation.The trees have been practically trouble-free.Winds have damaged a few and one wet spot has killed three trees.There are a few black locust trees among the walnuts.I can see no evidence that the walnuts have made either better or poorer growth because of the proximity of these nitrogen storers.Perhaps the evidence will show up later.We shall see.

The last item in this inventory, added value to the estate, is still potential, but the potential is surprising.If my walnut timber buyer's estimate is trustworthy, in 17 years the best 1000 trees have added 17,000 potential dollars to the value of that 20 acres.And they have done it with safety, with little labor on my part and, lately, with annual dividends of excellent nuts and good pasture.No other kind of forestry that I know of can do that.

It would, of course, be foolish to claim that the kind of management here described would be wise or workable with other forest species.Wise forest management requires, first of all, that the choice of species shall be adapted to the soil and climate favored by that species.It requires a proper density of stand.Finally, good management demands that a choice be made of the most valuable type of timber that can be produced upon your land.If you can grow walnut successfully, it would be foolish to grow Willow or Box Elder.

One necessary thing I must do, a thing that I should advise others similarly situated to do, namely, place a tight legal fence around this twenty acres in order to assure the trees' survival until 50 years have proved or disproved my faith.For, after all, these trees are guinea pigs—pioneering.They break some traditional rules.The land they stand on is grazed.They are not set the traditional 80 feet apart.Their nut crops may dwindle away.One never sees walnut trees growing in pure stands—always with other species which scatter their seeds and push in.They are not monopolists—like the pines.

Very well, we shall see.My own small experiment in unorthodox ways has the temerity to suggest a new treatment for a species of timber tree which I personally regard as America's very best gift of its kind to the world.For 17 years my modified forest-type planting of black walnut trees has not disappointed me.That is why I now believe that the farmer in the Eastern black walnut's native habitat who fails to set out these nut trees wherever he can is losing a good opportunity.

The McKinster Persian Walnut

P. E. MACHOVINA, Columbus, Ohio

The McKinster Persian walnut first attracted public attention when it received first place in the preliminary Persian walnut contest conducted by the Northern Nut Growers Association in 1949.In the follow-up contest of 1950, the variety was granted third place.The McKinster tree resulted from Crath Carpathian seed secured through the Wisconsin Horticultural Society by Mr. Ray McKinster of Columbus, Ohio.The seed was obtained and planted in the spring of 1938, hence the tree is now 15 years of age.Probably this seed was secured by Rev.Crath during his last trip when, presumably, he made some of his most careful selections.

Altogether, Mr. McKinster planted eleven Crath nuts in the back yard of his small city lot, nine of which germinated.All but two of the resulting seedlings were distributed to friends and relatives living in the countryside.Many of these trees have disappeared due to accidents and lack of care; a few, however, have produced nuts which apparently are not exceptional.One such nut examined was of medium size with a fairly thick shell; the kernel was of good flavor but somewhat bitter.Of the two trees retained by Mr. McKinster, both were permitted to grow where the seed was planted, however one died of an unknown cause when five years of age.Nuts produced by this tree were inferior to those produced by the survivor which later became known as the McKinster variety.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The McKinster tree may be viewed in the accompanying illustrations which show it without foliage and with foliage.The pictures were taken in March and August, respectively, 1953.Since it is a very beautiful and relatively clean tree, the McKinster would be desirable in any yard.From the pictures, it will be noted that the site is unfortunate being restricted by two garages, an alley, and with numerous overhead utility wires.Some effort was made two years ago to keep the tree out of the wires by cutting back top growth.The trimming stimulated the usual vigorous, annual growth to produce terminals as great as 10 feet in one year.Ordinarily, annual growths of 6 feet of husky wood are not unusual.New wood and buds are hardy in appearance and assume a rich brown color upon maturing.With such growth, cutting 1000 feet of scion wood annually would be no problem.The tree is now about 35 feet in height with a like spread.

The bearing record of the McKinster Persian has been excellent.Its first crop of five or six nuts was borne at five years of age and large crops have been consistently set each year since with but one exception.Crop records have been impossible to maintain since the tree is located in a section of the city where squirrels abound.Any nuts saved must be protected by screen-wire cages.The hunger of the squirrels for the nuts is amazing.For example, in 1951, they descended upon the tree during the first week of July and destroyed all nuts of the large crop within two weeks.These nuts could not possibly have been filled and, consequently, could have been of little nutrient value.In their voracity, the squirrels frequently work on the cages and sometimes manage to break through.To facilitate this endeavor, limbs up to one inch in diameter carrying cages are sometimes cut off so the squirrels can attack more conveniently from the ground.

[Illustration]

It could be that nuts saved by caging are sometimes inferior.The cages used are made by folding window screen into a doubled, 4 to 6 inch square, producing an "envelope" with wire sewn edges.Crowding from one to three nuts into a cage may result in inhibited development, especially since considerable leaf surface must be removed when installing a cage.Because Mr. McKinster has been ill for several years, it has been difficult to accomplish the caging; consequently, but few nuts are saved.For example, in 1950, there were insufficient nuts to meet the 25 nut sample required by the contest judges.All available nuts, some probably inferior, were entered, and it is a matter of conjecture whether the nuts might have been judged higher under different circumstances.Also conjectural are the questions of crop size and regularity of bearing in the event the tree was permitted to mature its nuts.

The McKinster nuts, which were the principal consideration in the contests rather than the tree itself, are excellent in nearly all aspects.They are of medium size, averaging around 35 to the pound, with about 52 per cent kernel.The shell is moderately thin, light in color, well sealed, of a satisfactory shape (see illustration), and with excellent cracking qualities.The kernel is light, plump, of excellent flavor, and in the words of one authority, "probably rank with the best in freedom from bitterness."The nuts are matured by the middle of September and, later, drop, free of the husk.

Blooming of the parent tree usually occurs during the first week of May.In 1951, the staminate flowers were first observed April 29 and the pistillate flowers May 2.The narrator visited the tree on May 4 at which time some catkins had fallen; it was estimated that one-half to two-thirds of the pollen had been shed.The pistillate flowers appeared to be either receptive or slightly past at this stage.Mr. McKinster commented that the blooming period of 1951 was from a few days to a week earlier than usual.In 1952, the shedding of pollen started on April 29.From the foregoing, it may be noted that the McKinster Persian is entirely or largely self-pollinating.No other Persian walnut trees which might assist in pollination occur in the vicinity and all known seedlings raised from nuts of the parent McKinster tree have appeared to be pure Persian.Leafing out starts about a week before the bloom appears.In the fall, leaves are colored a beautiful bronze and are brought down in a great shower by the first frost.

A sample of the soil in which the McKinster tree is growing, taken at a depth of 6 inches, was tested in July 1950.The results specify that the soil is mostly silt with an average amount of organic matter and that evidence indicates it to contain ashes.The acidity is specified as "neutral", potash "high", and phosphate "low".No mention is made of available nitrogen; however, the dark green color of the leaves and vigorousness of growth would indicate a satisfactory supply.Fertilizer in small amount was applied once or twice during the early life of the tree; also, during this period, Mr. McKinster "spaded in" garbage, etc., to increase the humus content of the soil.In 1951, the narrator checked the pH of the soil near the surface and obtained a value of 6.5.

Only one instance of damage due to climatic conditions and none whatsoever from insects and diseases has ever been observed with the parent McKinster tree.Undoubtedly, the city location offers some protection from frost, but may also be detrimental, on occasion, through heat reflected from the many surrounding white-painted buildings.For example, an unseasonable warm spell occurred in Columbus during the latter part of the first week in April of the current year.The heat, lasting for several days, reached a high of 80.4 degrees and, as a result, the McKinster tree started vegetating.Leaf growths of from one-half to one inch had been reached when normal conditions returned.Two weeks later, a cold spell with snow and temperatures of 22 degrees killed the new growth but did not injure the wood.Following this, leafing re-occurred, but at a slower rate and somewhat later than normal.The size ultimately attained by the leaves is about one-half their usual size, and, consequently, the accompanying illustration, taken this summer, does not exhibit the usual luxuriant appearance of the tree.A large part of the bloom was damaged by the cold, hence the tree set a lighter crop of nuts than usual.

In connection with early vegetating, it may be remarked that Mr. McKinster, several years ago, presented two small grafted trees of his variety to a relative living in eastern Kentucky.These trees were planted on low ground and were killed the first year by late spring frosts after leafing out twice.Thus it seems evident that the McKinster tree has the fault, common in Carpathians, of leafing out too early and being injured by late spring frosts, especially when planted too far south.Three other trees, grafted by Mr. McKinster and now about four years from the graft, are situated in the countryside several miles south of Columbus, Ohio, where they are doing excellently, having never been damaged.

The writer has several three year old McKinster grafts at his property in southeastern Ohio which were deliberately set on stocks located in a bad frost pocket.The grafts, which are adjacent to a woods, have made fair growth each spring but are injured during the summer by an insect laying eggs in the succulent growth.The portion of terminal above the point of sting invariably dies the following winter and has the appearance produced by winter killing.This damage has not been unique with the McKinster, having also occurred with the McDermid, Watt, Burtner, and other Persian varieties growing nearby; some of the latter were killed outright the first winter after grafting.

A one-year McKinster grafted tree with three feet of growth above the graft was cut back and transplanted by the writer to the yard of his Columbus, Ohio, home during the winter of 1952.Growth the following spring was about two feet and obtained in rather poor soil.After a long absence during the summer which was attended by a prolonged drouth, the tree was found in a dying condition, having lost all its leaves.Hurried watering resulted in a complete new coat of leaves and a small amount of additional terminal growth.The tree matured its growth and withstood the winter nicely, but suffered, similar to the parent, from the April, 1953, unseasonable weather.Growth this summer from adventitious buds has been poor.

Unfortunately, the McKinster variety saw but little testing in other parts of the country prior to its recognition in 1949.So that this report might be as complete as possible, requests were sent to several dozen experimenters who are known to have grafted the McKinster, asking for their experiences and opinions of the variety.The requests went to people scattered generally throughout the northeastern portion of the country, a very few of which had received scion wood in 1950, a larger portion in 1951, and the bulk in 1952.For the most part, replies indicate satisfaction and even enthusiasm; very few report failure.Definite conclusions cannot be drawn because of the short time of trial; however, a general description of experiences will provide indications.

Few experimenters report failure in grafting, most stating the variety to be "easy to graft."Any who mention the characteristic, state that "grafts are vigorous," or that "it is a fairly rapid grower."For the experimenters, the McKinster seems to be about "average" in its time of leafing out.Many report a set of nuts the second year after grafting.As to time of maturing new growth, the reply of Mr. Stephen Bernath of New York, "New growth matures about the end of September," is fairly typical, as is the reply of Dr. R.T.Dunstan of North Carolina, "It appears to harden wood well ahead of frost."Most reports indicate no winter injury but are tempered by cautious observations that temperatures had not been low.Mr. H.F.Stoke of Virginia, who grafted the McKinster in the spring of 1950, reports: "Pistillate buds developed during the summer of 1951 were killed by a frost catching new growth in the spring of 1952."Mr. John Howe of Missouri was the sole reporter of catastrophe when he stated: "My McKinster graft was killed by the November, 1951, cold while the Lake and McDermid varieties close by were not hurt."Mr. Sylvester Shessler of northern Ohio reports: "The McKinster withstood, without injury, the 1951 winter which killed 4 hybrids and a Crath, and injured several others."Mr. Harry P.Burgart of Michigan reports the variety as doing extra well for him.The only reply mentioning disease came from Dr. Dunstan who says: "It has been fairly clean in foliage so far, less susceptible to leaf spot than some."Mr. John Gerstenmaier of Massillon, Ohio, grafted the McKinster in 1951 and reports excellent growth with a diameter of 2 inches at the graft after two years.He reports temperatures of 16 degrees very early in November which caused no harm, and pistillate bloom from May 8 to 16, 1952, which materialized into a crop of two nuts; pollen was supplied by adjacent Carpathians.Leafing out ordinarily starts about a week prior to the bloom for Mr. Gerstenmaier; but, in April, 1953, the unseasonable weather conditions also occurring in his vicinity caused early vegetating and killing, while at nearby Orrville, the variety was undamaged.

Mr. Gilbert Becker of Michigan, who is enthusiastic about the McKinster variety, believes the qualities of the nut to be superb and the characteristics of the tree satisfactory.He is of the opinion that the too-short dormancy of the variety is not a serious objection, particularly with climatic conditions such as those experienced in Michigan.Even in central Ohio, where peach and apple crops are frequently lost due to spring frosts, the McKinster has not been injured when located in the countryside and injured but once during its 15 years, with a resultant smaller than usual crop, when located in the city.

In closing, it might be well to comment on the fact that nuts of the McKinster, Hansen and Jacobs varieties alone placed high in both the 1949 and 1950 N.N.G.A.contests and that different panels of judges served in the two events.Certainly the nuts of these varieties are of a superior quality, and it would seem important to determine those parts of the country where these varieties are sufficiently hardy to be of commercial value.Certainly these varieties should be given every opportunity to prove themselves.

Carpathian Walnuts in the Columbia River Basin

LYNN TUTTLE, Clarkston, Wash

Mr. Chairman and friends of the nut culture, I regret that I cannot meet with you at this time, but fate seems to have decreed otherwise.The pleasant memory of the meeting at Guelph is still with me and I must admit a feeling of humility as I prepare this paper for a group of sincere and devoted people united in a common interest.

The Pacific Northwest extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.This area is divided by the Cascade Mountains which run north and south.Between the Cascades and the Pacific we have a coastal area wherein winters are generally mild, summers cool, and rainfall abundant.Under these, conditions many plants do not attain a high degree of dormancy.Zero weather in Seattle will damage walnuts as much as will twenty-five degrees below zero in the more continental climate east of the Cascades.Carpathian walnuts have proved their value under both coastal and interior conditions.This hardiness is at least partially due to their tendency to mature their buds and harden their growth earlier in the fall than do other types of English walnuts.

Between the Cascades and the Rockies is a vast area part plateau and part mountains.It is scarred with deep canyons and crossed by swift streams fed from springs and mountain snows.Roughly the elevation of farm lands varies from five hundred to over forty-five hundred feet.Depending largely on slope and elevation, rainfall varies from about eight to twenty-five inches.In general, summer days are bright, dry, and fairly hot.Nights are clear and cool.Winters are unpredictable but always vary much according to location and elevation.Infrequently temperatures may drop to more than twenty below zero at Clarkston.Other areas of similar elevation may be five to ten degrees colder.

For the sake of clarity and to reduce the territory covered, we will confine ourselves largely to that part of the Columbia Basin irrigated and to be irrigated in Central Washington.The application is general, however.

Grand Coulee Dam has made feasible the irrigation of about 1-1/4 million acres of sage brush, bunch grass, and marginal wheat lands.Irrigation is already practised over other vast acreages.This land is level to rolling, and is of sandy loam nature.It is deeply under-laid by layers of lava rock—in places thousands of feet thick.As in most arid climates the soil is rich in minerals but low in nitrogen and organic matter.Under irrigation production is amazing.The growing season is sufficiently long for Carpathian walnuts anywhere in the irrigated area.

Walnuts originally from Southern Europe have proved unsatisfactory because they killed at 20 to 25 below zero.It was discouraging to have a ten or fifteen year old tree killed outright by an unusual winter.But it was just these conditions that led to the discovery of the Schafer walnut.This tree survived the winters of 1936 and 1937 in a part of the Yakima valley where all other varieties similarly located were killed.So far as I know, none of these were Carpathians.

Many Carpathians are now being planted, mostly for yard trees, but promise to eventually become one of the big commercial crops of the area.However, skepticism on the part of the public and scarcity of nursery stock has delayed commercial planting.A fair portion of good growers are now convinced that commercial growing is profitable and stock, our own and others, is becoming more plentiful.

Our experience has been confined largely to the Schafer walnut and it is, aside from some promising seedlings, so far as we know, the only proven Carpathian in this area.We do not wish to discredit possibilities of any other variety, but must speak out of our own observations.There are numerous small, commercial plantings now producing, the nuts being sold locally.Accurate production figures are not available and if available would vary greatly due to the care given the trees.The Schafer, and this will undoubtedly hold true of some other Carpathians, bears more at five years than a Franquette does at ten.I have seen apple boxes (about one bushel) of nuts harvested from five and six years old trees.Production increases rapidly with age.

As with fruit trees good air drainage and good soil drainage are desirable for the walnut orchard.The Schafer starts fairly early in the spring and new leaves are easily nipped by late frosts.A severe late freeze might also injure new growth although I do not recall a crop having been lost due to this cause.Although pollinizers have not been used, we think that on young trees and in some years they might insure a better crop.We are now propagating two pollinizing varieties the catkins of which come out later than the Schafer.

Trees planted sixty feet apart permit inter-planting to row and other crops for several years.Columbia Basin lands under irrigation produce enormous crops of potatoes, beans, sugar beets, rutabagas, green peas, clover or alfalfa seed, peppermint oil, and fruit.Average potato—20 tons, alfalfa hay—7 tons (three cuttings), alfalfa seed—800 pounds, dry beans—2,500 pounds, wheat—70 to 100 bushels.In some areas peach or apricot trees make good fillers.

Carpathians also fit into the picture as yard trees, for border plantings,—either to utilize run-off water or to use water wasted along ditches and pipe lines and for wind breaks.This open country is naturally windy and trees greatly reduce the ground velocity of wind.

Nut production in this area appears to be much heavier than on the coast or in California with varieties now being grown there.So far we are pest-free.The potentials of good Carpathian walnuts in this area are unlimited.

Walnuts and Filberts in Southern Wisconsin

C. F. LADWIG, Beloit, Wisc.

My farm is located a few blocks north of the Illinois-Wisconsin line on a rise overlooking the city of Beloit, whose western limits are almost adjacent to my land.Temperature in this section ranges from 100 degrees above to 30 degrees below zero; rarely reaching either extreme—with an average frost free period of 173 days.Rainfall averages approximately 35 inches.Walnut, butternut, bitternut, hazel and hickory are native, but just about non-existent in my vicinity except on my place in the young state.

The land on my place has been tobaccoed and corned out for over 100 years and its once rich clay loam with sandy streaks was unable to grow ragweed over 2 inches high when I bought it.Trying to grow nut trees in this soil presents problems as you well know.My problem was not to get them to grow vigorously but to get them to grow at all.However, by using fertile spots, formerly barnyard and around the house, I got several walnuts and filberts started.

I have an eight year old Crath #1, two Myers black walnuts, about the same age, Cochrane and Thomas, 6 years, all obtained from Mr. Berhow, and a fine assortment of Jones hybrid filberts from Mrs. Langdoc, a Rush filbert from Mr. Burgart, two European filberts from the New York State Fruit Testing Association, some hybrid seedlings, some native hazels from seed, some bitternut seedlings from Mr. Weschcke, a few native hickory seedlings, an American chestnut seedling from Scarff, 2 butternut seedlings, 2 nice Chinese tree hazels from Mr. Shessler, several Jacobs walnut seedlings, and regia & hindsii hybrids from seed of Mr. Pozzi, some Crath seedlings and a number of Thomas black walnut seedlings—also native walnut seedlings.

Mr. Shessler and Prof. J.C.McDaniel have been a source of help, advice, and inspiration to me and I am deeply indebted to them, as well as to many other members of the N.N.G.A.who have shared their experiences with me.

How have the trees done?The Crath #1 is bearing a few nuts this year.It had no catkins, but the Cochrane was loaded with staminate bloom at the right time.I got busy with the Cochrane pollen and a brush and went to work on the Crath pistillate bloom.Very pleased with this cross I looked the Crath over a few days later to check on progress.I picked the little nutlets off the ground and inspected them carefully, then threw them into the chickens to see if they would eat them.Back in my mind was the feeling that Mother Nature thought I was getting too big for my britches and decided to teach me a lesson.However she generously allowed a few air pollinated nutlets to grow, and so there will be a small crop of the round and plump smooth green balls.

The Crath #1 is not perfectly hardy as it freezes back an inch or two in the cold winters.Two years ago the warm wet fall left it unprepared for the sudden onslaught of winter and several whole branches died and the trunk split open, the split sounding like a rifle shot one cold, crisp evening.I happened to be standing by it at the time.

The Myers black walnuts are splendid trees and just about hardy.They bore a few nuts and second and third year from planting, which sapped their vitality.They then bore nothing for about three years, which happened to be unfavorable years for walnuts anyway, and began to bear again this year with a moderate crop.It looks like the plum curculio, my arch insect enemy, is trying the nuts for size.I saved some Cochrane pollen and went to work on the Myers, with you know what results.However three of the nutlets stayed on the tree; so that I may have effected a cross between Myers and Cochrane.

Thomas has acted peculiarly for me.It went thru the devastating winters of 1950 and 1951 in fine shape, then froze back last winter when the temperatures never went below 5 degrees below zero.The very dry fall should have ripened all branches to perfection.My mule, Zombie, took a liking to the branches and leaves of this tree, so it is now trimmed up like an umbrella.The small nut crop must have also gone down Zombie's gullet.He is more destructive to walnut and plum than the curculio.(Tie him up.Ed.)Thomas does not seem to have a great future up here.

Now Cochrane is different.If that little tree has as many nuts on it as it had catkins this year, I'm going to have to move the corn out of the crib and put the walnuts in there.It is not a fast growing tree, but this may be the fault of the spot it is in, judging by the color of the leaves.I never got around to fertilizing it.

Now that I told you about the Cochrane, I'll have to tell you about the "Wayne" black walnut.It is eight years old, stands about eight feet high and is hardy.My Black Walnut seedlings stand from six inches to six feet high.They go back to six inches every other year when I cut them down to graft them.Nobody in the nut tree field can call me a grafter.I'll make him prove it!

The hickory, butternut, bitternut, and chestnut are step children and fend for themselves on less desirable soil.All are small.The regia-hindsii hybrids are small and young and are being given special care, but may not be perfectly hardy.They grow well.

The Jones hybrid filberts stand from six to eight feet high, except those planted recently.This year they have a fair crop.The catkins came thru the winter in good shape for the most part.My two European filberts, which have lost their identity, but are either Italian Red, Cosford, or Medium Long, (one of the three perished) usually suffer the loss of their catkins and occasionally lose a branch or two to winter's icy fingers.

To me, the filberts are fascinating at all times of the year.When the snow is deep and the cold bites deep, their tight little catkins always hold forth the comfortable promise of spring.When spring does come the thrill of the tiny red blossoms and lumbering catkins is as real and enduring as the promise of a crop of the shiny nuts is fickle.Then, of course, after the last tiny blossom has faded and the last catkin has withered, the leaves push forth.To me, these tiny leaves are a sight comparable to the opening and unfurling of the various varieties of the grape.Then enters the element of suspense, between the time of leafing out and the time when the little nut clusters appear.

My bushes are all growing together on a rise of ground near an old barn foundation.The ground is rich and they love it.Each bush is individual and distinctive as are their nuts—some tucked far in the husk, some bulging out in a precarious fashion, some fat and round, others long and narrow.They're interesting.I can let the butternuts, bitternuts and hickories pass, the heartnuts, chestnuts, and pecans can wait until I am sure they will bear here.The walnut will grow up along with the other trees—blending into the landscape, but the filberts, like Zombie, call attention to themselves every day of the year.

Somebody said recently that the emphasis in England is in being, and in our country in becoming.I imagine our land stopped being with the disappearance of the Indian and the primeval forest and is now in the process of becoming something else.What that something else is we don't know, and each generation carries a new set of values, but we all know that to become something better, trees must and will figure in the plans of all generations—better and more useful and more disease resistant trees.It is significant that nut trees lead in these requirements.

Biology, Distribution and Control of the Walnut Husk Maggot

DR. F. L. GAMBRELL, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station,
Geneva, N. Y.

DR. GAMBRELL: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, some 22 years ago, I believe it was, I attended one of your meetings at the Experiment Station in Geneva, and at that time I gave a little talk on the walnut husk maggot.Perhaps some of you are old enough to have been there and remembered something about it, or maybe you are old enough so that you have forgotten as much as I have, so it would be worth talking over again.At any rate, when the chairman of your program committee wrote Dr. Chapman, asking him if he might talk, he came to me and said, "Would you be willing to do this?"I said I'd be willing but I didn't know whether I'd be able.But finally, the pressure was so great that I said yes, and I am here.

After I accepted the invitation, I made up my mind that I would like to bring myself up to date as much as possible on recent developments on walnuts, so I took the liberty of writing to a lot of our entomological colleagues and talking to one of your members, Mr. Slate, in the hope that I might get some more recent information on the maggots, or, particularly, the control of this walnut husk maggot.I wrote to some 10 or 15 entomologists in 15 states, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington and to our neighbors on the north in Ottawa.I must say that I have had a very fine response from everybody.They were all very willing to help, but practically all of them had the same answer: while they knew there was such a bug, they didn't know too much about it as an economic pest.So that left us all right in the same boat, with about two exceptions, as when we began.Our friends to the north in Canada sent some very nice information.We also had some information from the U.S.Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, Washington, D.C., together with some illustrated material.Also our good friend, Dr. Boyce, at the Citrus Experiment Station, in Riverside, California, with whom I have discussed the walnut husk maggot problem quite a few years ago, had a very nice bit of information and illustrative material which he provided.Incidentally, he is the man who has been mainly responsible for the development of the walnut husk fly control program for the nut industry in California.I would certainly like to take this opportunity to acknowledge any contributions he or the other people have made towards this discussion.

In New York State we have in our official list of insects about 30 species of fruit flies that are catalogued, but only about five of these can be classified as of economic importance.Two of these occur on the cherries, both sweets and sours, and are called the cherry maggots.Another one on apples, known as apple maggot, and a related form on blueberry.And then, of course, the walnut husk maggot, and one other which occasionally occurs on currants, but this one, of course, is of less importance than the others.

The fruit industry, of course, in New York is quite large, both apples and cherries, so that there is a considerable problem there as far as control is concerned.The growers spend thousands of dollars every year in combatting the various species of fruit flies.The interesting thing in this connection is that throughout the last 25 years with which I am familiar with the cherry fruit flies—in fact, that was one of the first projects I worked on in cooperation with Dr. Hugh Glasgow when I came to the Experiment Station in 1925—the control measures which we developed in 1925 to 1927 are essentially the ones which we are still using today; that is, for the most part.There have been various attempts to change the control program through the introduction of these newer insecticides, and some progress has been made, but in every case they have been wrought with some difficulties.At the present time the official state recommendations for the control of apple maggot and cherry maggot still include the use of arsenate of lead under some conditions.I mention that at this point because it is of some significance in the overall control.I am going to discuss that later on.

As far as the host plants and distribution of the walnut husk maggot is concerned, according to the original description which was published almost a hundred years ago, it was listed as occurring in and to the Middle States. That is a little bit indefinite, but at least it occurs all over the Eastern United States and as far west as Kansas. Then the one which occurs in California, which has since been called Rhagoletis completus (?) looks very similar to the one that we have here, but there are slight taxonomic differences, so at least it is considered a different species. At any rate, it is very similar to the one we have here, and this whole group of fruit flies that we have been talking about have a lot of similarity in their wing patterns and things of that sort.

And the fact that I mentioned the control as generally as I did is of significance in that all of these flies of the various species are apparently susceptible to the same type of control measure.

As far as the host plants are concerned, I have personally observed injury on all of our common Juglans species that I have run across in New York State and in some of the states to the south of us, including butternut, Japanese walnut, English walnut and black walnut. I have seen reports of infestations which were recorded in hickory, but I personally have not seen them.

I'd just like to have a show of hands.How many in the audience here have had experience with the walnut husk maggot or had injury on the fruit?(Showing of hands.)I see the majority of you certainly know what it is, but just as a brief reminder, the type of injury, of course, varies somewhat depending possibly on the variety and time of year at which the fruits first become infested.We know, of course, that the flies do not begin to puncture the husk until they attain a certain degree of softness.Early in the season they are not able, apparently, to penetrate the husk with the ovipositor, and that, of course, varies not only with hardness but with varieties.The flies, of course, may be seen on the fruit even though they are not able to penetrate the husk and deposit their eggs.These husks, of course, many of them, become dry and hard after they have been tunnelled out, and it is almost impossible to clean the shells.Occasionally you have nuts in which you have a separation of the suture, and in those cases you very frequently get the exudate from the husk penetrating through the suture in the shell onto the kernels themselves, and in those cases molds may grow on the kernels so that those fruits are no good.

In connection with this injury I am going to show you some slides in a few minutes, but the preceding speaker made reference to a type of injury which occurred on the terminal growth of a walnut tree and that is one that we have had a lot of inquiries at the Experiment Station about, injury to the new terminal growth fairly early in the season.That probably, in most cases, is caused by the butternut or the walnut curculio.Early in the season these adults begin feeding on the new terminal growth, and they even puncture the new growth and lay their eggs there before the nuts are large enough for them to attack and very often considerable killing back of the terminal growth occurs.I have seen it on English walnut seedlings in nursery rows where there would be very large kill-back from the walnut curculio.Superficially the injury on the fruit is quite similar to that of the husk maggot.

(First slide.)This first slide is just to give you some idea of the general areas of fruit growing and distribution in New York State.The eastern section, right-hand side, Champlain Valley and Hudson Valley, are primarily apple maggot regions.Some walnut husk fly probably occurs there, but they are predominantly apple-growing areas.In the central part of the state, northern, particularly, we have fruit, and as far as I know, there are no plantings of walnuts there, though you people may know of some.In The Ontario Plains section south of Lake Ontario is one of our big fruit belts in the State.Some walnuts are also grown here.Consequently this area has in it apple, walnut and cherry maggot flies, and, of course, they will be lapping over in all those areas into surrounding territories.But this gives you an idea, in a general way, of the distribution of the host plants and the flies about which I have been speaking.

(Next slide.)Those flies get pretty big when you get them up there.They are not that easy to see in the field.The ones on the top are the species found on cherries.The one on the lower left is the apple maggot, the one on the lower right is walnut husk maggot.The only difference you can see here is in the wing pattern but in nature they differ in color.They all have a little different wing pattern.Also, there is a little difference in size, the walnut husk maggot being the biggest of the four species shown here.

(Next slide.)I have shown here the emergence date of the various species, including the cherry fruit flies, the apple maggot and the walnut husk fly.And you notice that beginning over about the first week in June you have emergence of the cherry fruit flies, and you have a continuance of emergence of some of these species up until at least the first or second week in August.These points going up and down just show the number of flies that were taken on given dates, and there is a very definite correlation between the proportion of flies that emerge on any given day with the temperature or moisture condition.Some years, when you have very hot, dry weather, there is considerable mortality of these flies as they just do not seem to be able to emerge from the soil, which is a good thing.

(Next slide.)This photograph is one that I wasn't sure I was going to get back in time for the meeting, but it is a Kodachrome of a pair of flies mating on an English walnut.This happened to occur on some of our own trees at the station, so that we are not immune from attack by this bug.

(Next slide.)That is a close-up of an egg puncture, just a very tiny little hole in the husk, and once in a while they lay an egg even on the surface.Those eggs are quite small, about a millimeter in length and about two-tenths of a millimeter in width, but the next slide will show you that what they normally do is to put them inside that puncture in groups.They vary quite a bit, but the average number of eggs is about 20 in each puncture.But that doesn't mean you won't have maybe four or five different punctures on a given nut, so you may end up with at least a hundred or more maggots in a shuck.

(Next slide.)And the next picture is a photograph of the same English walnut taken about six or seven days later, showing the young maggots that have just hatched out.What they will do, they will begin boring in, and they will just radiate out in all directions into the shuck.When they have gotten that far along, of course, there is no hope for control.

(Next slide.)This slide is one taken when the maggots were almost mature, showing the type of damage that you get.

(Next slide.)This is the resting stage, or the pupa, the one which spends the winter in the soil and from which the flies emerge in New York, at least in our section, beginning about July 15th and going through up until August 15th.

(Next slide.)The one at the top is normal fruit.I mentioned a while ago that this butternut curculio causes quite a bit of concern and also spoke about its being in terminals.If you look carefully you see a very definite hole here in the husk.That is where the adult punctured the husk.It may have been a feeding puncture first and later an egg was laid inside, and then you get the maggot or the grub of the curculio developing in there, so that superficially that discoloration looks very much like the walnut husk maggot.But in this case you may not find over one or two maggots in a nut.And the other difference is that these fruits which are attacked usually fall during July and August, whereas the ones that have maggots in, many of them stick right on the trees and don't come off at all.

(Next slide.)I have two or three slides just showing the variations in the degree of injury on English walnuts from the point where you'd have an egg puncture.The puncture was made on the other side of the nut, on top here, and this is just the exudate running down around the nut which dries and becomes black.But these walnuts up above show just a lot of dark spots where the maggots are beginning to find their way through the husk.I have with me some injured nuts similar to those shown on the screen if you'd like to see them when I have finished my talk.They will give you a little idea what maggot injury looks like.

(Next slide.)This is the same type of injury on butternut.Maybe you'd have one egg puncture and as many as a hundred or 120 maggots inside the shuck.

(Next slide.)This is a picture of maggot injury on black walnut.They don't seem to like the black walnuts as well as they do the Persian walnut and butternut.

(Next slide.)This is one of the hybrid English walnuts that is located on the grounds at the Geneva Experiment Station.It's quite a large tree.I don't know the name of it.Maybe you do, George.

MR. SLATE: It has no name.

DR. GAMBRELL: It's not very fruitful, anyway, is it?But it is also susceptible to injury.

(Next slide.)This photograph was made quite a few years ago, and that explains some of the lines around it, but at any rate, this pile of nuts shows the damaged ones that came from one tree, and also the ones that were not infested.In other words, about two-thirds of the nuts on that particular tree had been infested with maggots.

(Next slide.)That's a close-up view and is the type of thing I was trying to describe to you earlier where the shucks dry up and stick to the nut so that you cannot remove them.Those on the left, of course, would be absolutely no good for commercial purposes.

(Next slide.)Now, I suppose you are all interested in this matter of control.Unfortunately, I must admit that I have not worked on the walnut husk maggots very much in the last 15 or 20 years.You may recall that we had a severe freeze back in 1933 or 1934, which took out quite a lot of our Persian walnuts in Western New York, and only the hardier trees remained.But prior to that time we had been getting numerous complaints, from growers about injury from walnut husk maggots, and we did some work at that time and also worked with the Farm Bureau people in the counties where walnuts were grown fairly commonly.In many cases these Persian walnuts were grown on fruit farms where they also have apples and other fruits.So that in those cases it was not a difficult problem to obtain control.We worked out a program whereby, say, beginning about July the 20th to the 25th, at which time quite a few of the flies would have emerged, if the orchardist, when he was going through with his regular spray operation on his fruit trees, would give his walnuts at least two applications at about two weeks intervals, he'd cease to have a maggot problem.That pretty well solved it, as far as they were concerned.But there were also these other plantings where you'd have just a few trees, or possibly one tree in a back yard, something of that sort, which is a little bit more difficult to control.

Dr. Glasgow and I found that on cherry maggot in the city, while a material like lead arsenate is very effective in a commercial orchard, it's very ineffective for just one little tree in your own back yard, providing your neighbors have some trees and they don't spray them.The reason is very obvious: the flies don't necessarily stay on the same tree.They visit around from tree to tree, they feed on the surface of the leaves or fruit.Therefore, it's possible for them to be over on someone else's unsprayed tree and still come over and lay eggs in the nuts of a sprayed walnut tree before being killed.So you can see that such activity may create somewhat of a problem.

At any rate, the lead arsenate spray of three pounds to a hundred gallons, with or without fungicides, has given good control in the past.That No.3 combination of lime sulphur and lead arsenate was used west of Rochester here around Hilton where this grower had a commercial fruit planting, but he also had a number of English walnuts.The year prior to the time these trees were sprayed he had about 40 per cent of the nuts infested, and the year these were sprayed the infestation dropped they came down to about one percent.Notice the comment at the foot of the table which states that the trees that were not treated the following year went back up to 20 per cent of the nuts infested.There were about 20 per cent of the trees that had infestation.Of course, the flies moved around enough that the trees became reinfested.It simply brings out the point that unless you have a pretty good-sized planting, you are going to have to spray pretty thoroughly in order to get control, and also, if you only have one or two trees and you have a lot of surrounding shrubbery and a lot of trees, it would be very wise to also spray those, unless they are plums or peaches, which are quite susceptible to arsenical injury.But most things would stand the arsenate of lead, and it would be very desirable, wherever you can, to spray surrounding trees and shrubs close to the walnuts themselves, and in so doing you would get pretty effective control.It is quite possible to use this control method and obtain over 80 per cent reduction in infestation.

I am sorry to say I don't have any information on these newer materials, like DDT, methoxychlor and parathion.You have probably read about all of those in the magazines.Some of the men in our department have done quite a bit of work with these insecticides on the apple maggot in the Hudson Valley and in Western New York and they find, as I mentioned earlier, while it's possible to obtain control of apple maggot, say, with DDT, it requires much more frequent application.In that case, if any of you are orchardists or follow the apple-growing insect problems at all, the first application of the walnut maggot spray should go on at about the time the last cover spray for the coddling moth goes on for the first brood.That sounds a little involved, but from the calendar point of view it would be about July 25th in Central or Western New York.Normally, with us here the cherries are being harvested by about July 15th, sometimes a little earlier, but at any rate, that's the time the flies usually begin to emerge.

We have what we call a pre-oviposition period of about two weeks, during which time the flies are not laying any eggs in the shucks and are moving around feeding.Of course, that is the time you have to get this spray material on, before they have punctured the nuts and deposited eggs inside.

I think, unless there are questions, that's all I have to say.

A MEMBER: You recommend No.3 to be used?

DR. GAMBRELL: Lead arsenate at 3 lbs./100 gallons and 2 gal.of lime sulphur would be an effective insecticide-fungicide mixture.I have used both the wettable sulphur and lime sulphur, as shown here, without any injury to foliage.Sometimes, as you know, if it's real hot, like today, sulphur could cause you a lot of foliage injury.Dr. MacDaniels will certainly bear me out on that.

PRESIDENT BEST: Now I think Joe McDaniel has a little idea here he wants to introduce at this time.

DR. MACDANIEL: I have been talking with Mr. Devitt.He is interested in following up these Carpathian trees in Ontario and is willing to act as our agent in securing seed nuts from some of the better selected trees.As I understand it, this Association couldn't properly act as a sales agency for them, but I believe there are some of the members who would like to get these superior seed nuts of Ontario, and I would be willing to take the names of persons who are interested in them, either for their personal planting or for resale.Mr. Devitt thinks he can secure the nuts at about 60 cents a pound from the owners who have these good trees and deliver them to the United States at around a dollar a pound.Anyone who is interested in that, see me or Spencer Chase during the remainder of the meeting.

Panel Discussion: The Persian Walnut Situation

Moderator: S. B. CHASE; Panel Members: H.L.CRANE, GILBERT BECKER, J.C.MCDANIEL, H.F.STOKE.

MR. CHASE: To introduce the subject, Lynn Tuttle sent a paper, and in addition he sent a few slides.We won't give the paper, but we are going to run through a few slides very hurriedly, because he took the trouble to send them.I am going to read the captions off very quickly.(A series of slides of Persian Walnut were shown).

The moderator isn't going to do anything other than ask for any questions that you folks have on Carpathians at this time.I am going to ask Dr. Crane to comment on this question: Are we going overboard building up our varieties as we know them now?In other words, we have selected four or five varieties that won a contest and our judges selected them as best, and these are the only ones we are hearing about.

DR. CRANE: Mr. Moderator, I don't believe we are, provided that we maintain high standards in the varieties distributed and tested.I feel that when we select a variety we should select it because it is a good nut, not that it's a world beater, for big size and thick, rough, rugged shell that is not sealed, and which is of no value for human use or consumption, excepting for firewood or fuel.Those big nuts won't fill.The best nuts are of reasonably large size, well filled with a well sealed shell and with a kernel that is sweet.Don't figure on selling nuts that have bitter kernels to anybody else.We have nut varieties of the Carpathians that are not going to go over because of the faults that I have mentioned.I should say, too, that we do not know how widely a variety is going to be adapted to different climates.If we select rigidly for good, outstanding varieties that bear good nuts and good, vigorous trees, we won't get too many.

MR. CHASE: That was one point I wanted brought out, that we are now just in the preliminary stage of this Carpathian variety selection business.Of the selections made some have been made by default, because there weren't enough of other samples to compete with.On the other hand, the several we have we all consider outstanding in some respect, or other, and are of value as a beginning provided we bear in mind that we haven't scratched the surface on Carpathian walnuts yet.

MR. STOKE: And let's not confine ourselves to Carpathian walnuts, because Hanson is not Carpathian walnut, and that's an excellent nut.

MR. CHASE: Mr. Stoke, what is going to be NNGA's policy in trying to give recommendations for the planting of Carpathian or Persian walnuts?In other words, does it make any real difference whether it's a Carpathian or whether it is not, as long as it has proved hardy and of good quality?

MR. STOKE: We are dealing with Persian walnuts, and Carpathian happens to be one class of Persian, and Broadview happens to be a Persian that came from Russia, and Lancaster is one that came from somewhere in Europe and landed up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.I would emphasize the name Persian as the over all name.The Carpathian is merely a Persian walnut which has been brought from the Carpathian mountains of Poland.

MR. BECKER: Last summer a group of nut growers went to Lee Sommers', which is in the central part of Michigan.In the invitation to our nut growers I said, "This is the only pure Carpathian orchard we know in Michigan."That didn't set well with some of them and they took issue with me.In answering this issue, I said that Mr. Sommers had planted Carpathian Persian walnut seed that came from Poland direct.Many of us have a mixture.Even Mr. Shessler has the Hanson and Jacobs and a number of others.If he sells you seed, you are going to get it mixed.In a few years we will have a job keeping pure Carpathian.

DR. MACDANIELS: Isn't it a matter of straight terminology? Juglans Regia is the Persian walnut. Carpathians are a regional strain of Juglans Regia

MR. CHASE: I think we all understand that.

MR. MACHOVINA: Can we speak of a Carpathian strain.Crath himself said there were many.He even found walnuts growing in clusters like grapes.

DR. MACDANIELS: It would be a regional group of clones with a certain origin not a strain in the genetic sense.

MR. STOKE: They are just Persian walnuts that happened to come from the
Carpathian region.

DR. CRANE: There is a little difference. I believe that in the northern countries we have had more or less inbreeding and we could consider them more nearly a line, not a strain, because of that. When the original seed was introduced by Reverend Crath, probably each one of those lots of nuts come from different trees, as a line, but, now this second generation stuff that's coming along, it's just Juglans RegiaIt's a hardy Persian walnut.

MR. STOKE: I think I can offer a word of explanation of those growing in clusters.I have no doubt that when the barbarians swept over the wall centuries ago they brought Asiatic walnuts with them from as far as Manchuria.They grew in clusters there like butternuts and heartnuts.No doubt some of them reached Europe, and some of them may have hybridized with the Persian, and I think really that's the answer.

DR. MACDANIELS: The same situation existed with peaches 20 years ago.We had five geographical races of peaches that were more or less distinct.With the exception of one, the Peento, they have all lost their identity now because there has been no attempt to keep them distinct.

DR. CRANE: That's right.

MR. CHASE: Then we end up, there is no such thing as a Carpathian, it's just a name for a hardy walnut that came from a certain region, that distinguishes it from others.

MR. KEPLINGER: In my parents' old home in Eastern Germany in the Bohemian mountains there is an English walnut tree that's 300 years old and bears a hundred bushels of walnuts a year.They stand 40 below zero there, too, and the nut cracks and hulls well.It has a record on standing the cold, but there hasn't been any of them brought out here and planted in this country, but they are there.I know they are there, because they are on our estate.

DR. CRANE: Mr. Moderator, there is one remark that I want to make.Here we are, the Northern Nut Growers Association, and yet we still use the term, "English walnut," when we are talking about Carpathian walnut and Persian walnut.This "English walnut" is the worst form of terminology that can be used.England doesn't have any walnuts; they have never grown any Persian walnuts or English walnuts, they haven't in the past and they aren't today.They have a few trees but are in the same fix that we are in the Northern Nut Growers Association; they are trying to find a variety of Persian walnut that they can grow in England, and yet here we call them English walnuts.They should be Persian walnuts, or Chinese walnuts.We don't know where they came from.The best authorities seem to think that they originated in Persia; others think they originated in China, but the abundance of evidence is on Persia.

We want to get this thing kind of straight. They are all the same thing, Juglans Regia

MR. CLARKE: I'd like to make a suggestion. I don't know as you have any authority or power to change, but the term Juglans Regia means "royal walnut." Why not work for the adoption of a name like that, and it will include all of them.

DR. MACDANIEL: That's what they call them in France.This country has a little complication; there is another Royal walnut, one of the hybrids between the California black and the Eastern black.

DR. GRAVATT:-While we are talking about bringing English walnuts, Persian walnuts, whatever you want to call them, from Europe, I want to give a warning about a disease that is killing thousands of trees in Southern France.Just recently I saw quite a few of them in France and the edge of Italy.I don't know whether it's virus or what it is, but it is certainly killing out the English walnuts there at a very rapid rate, and I advise very strongly against introducing walnut seed, scions and such, from those areas in France and Switzerland or other areas in southern Europe where this disease is prevalent.We will know more later about it, because quite a team of pathologists is working on it in Europe.

MR. CHASE: Has anybody else got any comments about Juglans Regia?I am afraid to say anything else.

DR. MACDANIEL: I will say that this Carpathian strain, of Juglans Regia is the first walnut of the Persian type that we have had for Illinois. The Pomeroy, other Eastern strains and California varieties have not survived very long in the climate of the state of Illinois. We do know now that some of the Carpathian seedlings have been fruiting for 10 or 12 years and do show considerable promise there. I don't know whether it will ever develop into a commercial industry but they are worth growing.

MR. CHASE: Thank you.I'd like to ask George Slate what he knows about the Northern Star Persian walnut.Very hardy, and so forth?I think maybe the members might be interested in that.

MR. SLATE: Spencer asked me to find out about the North Star Juglans Regia, which was advertised in the Flower Grower. I called up the local nursery that was selling them, and they said they got their seeds from some Pomeroy trees in the western part of the state. I guess they are just Juglans Regia

MR. STOKE: Down in Virginia we have Virginia Thin Shell purchased sometimes one place and sometimes another.

MR. CHASE: The secretary's office had an inquiry from the executive secretary of the American Nurserymen's Association wanting to know if those claims could be substantiated.I couldn't say on the basis of what information I had, and I so told him.Apparently they, through their organization, have stopped further advertising of that strain under the claims that they made for it.

MR. KORN: We find our public at large, not only our members, seem to be fascinated by the fact that the Persian walnut can be grown in this latitude.So in speaking to them about it, when I am speaking to our members, I try to say Persian walnut, but when speaking to the public at large, they don't know what I am talking about so I come out flatly and say English walnut.I tell them that we can't expect to grow the California type, but we have a hardier type coming from the Carpathian mountains or Germany or Russia or Holland, that can be grown successfully in this part of the country.

MR. CHASE: I think that's the only approach you can use.

MR. KORN: That's the one I use, and I think it quickly helps people to understand what you are talking about, and doesn't get them confused.If you talked to them about Persian walnuts, they wouldn't know what you were talking about, but if you say English walnuts, immediately they understand, or should, at least.

MR. CHASE: I believe Dr. Crane meant that in our inner sanctum he would prefer Juglans Regia

DR. CRANE: I would like to ask if there are any growers here who have propagated the Persian walnut on Eastern black walnut, that is, experienced any trouble with graft union failure on them.

MR. STOKE: I haven't.

DR. MACDANIEL: Mr. Oakes?

MR. OAKES: I haven't.

MR. CHASE: No graft union failure on Regia and Nigra

MR. STOKE: And my experience is they come in much quicker than on their own roots as seedlings.

DR. CRANE: How old are your oldest grafts?

MR. OAKES: Put on in 1938?

DR. CRANE: That's 15 years.

MR. STOKE: I have them at least 20 years.

MR. BECKER: Mine are twenty.

DR. MACDANIEL: Mr. Moderator, I have in my brief case a translation of the French book on walnut culture, and there is a section on root stocks. This was a publication issued about 1941, and according to that book, Juglans Nigra is the best stock they have for general use in France. They have reported no difficulty on this. A second one they were trying of the American walnuts, with some promise, was Juglans major, the Arizona black walnut.

DR. CRANE: The reason why I asked, as I reported in previous meetings—they are having very serious difficulty in Oregon and in parts of Washington with graft union trouble which is known as "black line." All or practically all of the walnuts in both Oregon and California and also what few are grown in Washington have been propagated on the Northern California black walnut, Juglans HindsiiNo graft union trouble evidence shows up before the tree has been grafted about 8 years, and then such cases are very rare.But after the trees or the grafts attain an age of 15 years or more, graft union failures are numerous.For three years now we have been making surveys in the State of Oregon, and we have surveyed tree by tree, year after year, the same orchards, the same trees, and our observations now go into the thousands, and we find that this black line is a terrifically serious thing.In some orchards 22 per cent of the trees will develop black line in one year's time.So, you see, at that rate it would only take you five or six years with a good bearing orchard until you wouldn't have any.

DR. MACDANIEL: Is that always with the Franquettes?

DR. CRANE: That is not only true with Franquettes but also with other varieties in California, even in Contra Costa County.

MR. STOKE: Where those trees are so grafted, does it tend to overgrow, or just the opposite?

DR. CRANE: No, it appears much like our Crenata-mollissima chestnut graft union failure.

MR. STOKE: Is there a tendency for the top to be more vigorous, to have more growth, or vice versa or is growth uniform?

DR. CRANE: It may be uniform.Depends somewhat on the varieties and the seedlings.There may be some overgrowth or some outgrowth, but there is only one test for it, and that is at the graft union.With an axe or knife and you cut out a strip of bark across the union.It may look absolutely perfect, but if there is a black line developed there that is just like a lead pencil line between the stock and the scion, the tree is on the way out.It's just a matter of time.Ultimately the bark between the stock and scion will split, and you get infolding, just like on the chestnut.

One of the reasons that they have propagated their trees on Northern California black walnut was that they had the idea that the Northern California produced a stronger, more vigorous seedling and that they grew much faster than seedlings of the Persian walnut.And, furthermore, somebody at some time circulated the idea that Northern California walnuts were immune to infection by the mushroom root rot fungus.We have surveyed thousands of trees of Persian on Persian roots, and we have never found a single case of black line developing or graft union failure as long as it's a Persian on Persian, and we find the same percentage of infection from mushroom root rot fungus on Persian as on Northern California black.

MR. CHASE: In other words, we should watch our stocks and perhaps try out some Regia on Regia?

DR. CRANE: That's right.

MR. CHASE: Now, folks, we could talk for a long time, but let me make one request before we close our panel: I would be interested in receiving from any member pictures, good, glossy photographs of the newer Carpathian varieties so that we can perhaps publish them in the newsletter and give some folks an opportunity to see what these nuts look like.Some of the folks who never come to a meeting never see a sample and just read about it.It's much better if we can show them a picture now and then.So if you have some good pictures, or plan to take some good pictures, remember, I'd like to have a copy.

TUESDAY EVENING BANQUET SESSION

PRESIDENT BEST: We will now hear from the Resolutions Committee, Mr.
Davidson.

MR. DAVIDSON: Before reading any resolutions, I have been asked to read a letter that came to Mr. Chase dated August 16th of this year, from Dr. W.C.Deming:

"Mr. Spencer B. Chase, Secretary, NNGA.

"My Dear Child and Grandchildren:" What a beautiful greeting, that.

"This is to let you know that your father and grandfather still holds a house at this hospital and rejoices in your vitality and in your coming convention but especially in the energy and ability of your secretary who gets out those wonderful Nutshell letters which are so stimulating to all nut growers.

"More than 20 years ago I planted an Italian chestnut tree on the grounds of this hospital. The main trunk was killed by blight, but many shoots have come and now it appears to be flourishing because there are no other chestnut trees near. About that time I grafted nut trees commercially in Westchester County, New York at the Westchester Country Club, asking and getting $50 a day for my services and material and never a kick. But I have forgotten the results and the name of the beneficiaries. From my home in Litchfield, Connecticut, my sister, aged 85, saved for me—that is, saved from the squirrels—a double handful of nice chestnuts—no other chestnut tree nearby—and three green walnuts, Carpathians. Both were from my grafts.

"I shall never forget the NNGA and your splendid services. Ever faithfully devoted, Dr. W. C. Deming."

A beautiful letter.

Now, then, the Resolutions Committee recommends that we send this letter;

"Dear Dr. Deming:

"Once more we are happy to greet you and to wish you well. Today the representatives of more than a thousand members of your thought child, the Northern Nut Growers Association, are here gathered in Rochester, New York, to carry on the work in which you had so large a part in starting. It must be a source of great satisfaction to you to be able to see so important a project which you helped to start continuing and expanding fruitfully. We envy you.

     "May your tribe increase.     Affectionately, the Northern Nut Growers
     Association."

Now, shall I go on with the rest of the resolutions, and perhaps you can act on them all at once.

"Be it Resolved: That we hereby acknowledge our longstanding indebtedness to the men of the United States Department of Agriculture and of similar departments of the various states who have so faithfully and efficiently upheld the work of this Association.Without their loyal help, doubtless our efforts would languish or suffer severely.It is such a spirit as theirs that continues to make America the great pioneer it has always been."

"Be it Resolved: That the members of this Association acknowledge with deep appreciation the outstanding' hospitality of the City of Rochester at the hands of its representative Park Commissioner Wilbur Wright, Dr. Roy B.Anthony, Mr. Harkness, and their helpers who have done so much to make the visit of this organization not only welcome but extremely enjoyable and informative.We shall always remember Rochester's exceptional hospitality and its generously free provision of so beautiful a meeting place.This is sincerely appreciated."

"Be it Resolved: That this Association extends to Mr. George Salzer, Mr. Victor Brook its thanks for their work which has resulted in so pleasant and profitable a meeting here in Rochester; also to many others due our thanks, to Dr. McKay for organizing a splendid program, to Mrs. Negus for organizing the registration, to Mrs. Gibbs and finally to our outstandingly efficient officers who have so skillfully organized our work and the Association's expansion."

"In order to correct a tendency toward increasing confusion arising from the too great multiplicity of names and nut varieties, the Resolutions Committee offers the following motion: We move that the President be authorized to appoint a self-perpetuating Northern Nut Growers Association Committee on Variety Nomenclature, and we recommend to our members that they refer to this committee for its official approval any new nut discoveries they may wish to name and to propagate." That is in the form of a motion, which, I believe, requires a second and some action.

PRESIDENT BEST: I think we had better act first on this motion of Mr. Davidson's about this committee for naming of nuts, and then we can have another motion to accept the resolutions.Is there a second to that motion that we have a committee on nomenclature of nuts?

DR. MACDANIEL: Mr. President, I second that motion.

PRESIDENT BEST: Is there any discussion?

DR. CRANE: I wanted to suggest that the motion should provide that the committee use the rules of nomenclature approved by the American Pomological Society.

DR. MACDANIEL: I will accept that amendment, Mr. President.

(A vote was taken on the amendment, and was passed.)

MR. MACHOVINA: Is that a proposal to amend the by-laws of this organization?It would, if it's a self-perpetuating committee.

MR. DAVIDSON: May I suggest you withdraw the word "self-perpetuating."
The idea, Mr. Best, was to make this a permanent committee, if possible.
That was the reason for putting that word in there, but if it is an
abridgment of the constitution, we don't want to do it, of course.

MR. KINTZEL: I'd like to know what the rules of nomenclature of the
American Pomological Society are.

DR. MACDANIEL: The rules cover about two pages.I can give you the gist of it, I think.One provision is that the discoverer or introducer of a new variety has the privilege of selecting a name for it.Another rule is that it shall not duplicate a name given previously for a variety of the same class of fruit or nut.The name should preferably be one word or, at most, two words, without hyphens, without possessives.That a nut not be named for a person without his permission during his lifetime.That covers the meat of it.

MR. CHASE: Such a committee would give official status and recognition to your discovery.I believe it would prevent, on a large scale, such things as this Morning Star hardy English walnut.In other words, we'd have a committee to examine a nut sample from your tree, anybody's tree, pass on it and see that the name that you select meets the requirements of this American Pomological Society's rules of nomenclature, which are quite reasonable.I think it is an excellent step that we should take at this time.

MR. CALDWELL: Mr. President.The variety we are using is not a variety, it's a clone.Maybe we had better get together with taxonomists and botanists.That's all they are, selections, they are not varieties, in the botanical sense, even though the term has been badly misused by the nut growers.I don't see why we should continue with mis-application of a term just because somebody set up rules for application of names.

DR. CRANE: Mr. President, I want to get this straight.This Association is talking about horticultural varieties, not botanical varieties.A correct term for a horticultural variety is a clone.

The American Pomological Society is over a hundred years old, and they have followed all types of experiences and usages, and they are up to date, and we can't follow any better pattern than what the American Pomological Society has done all down through the years.The Northern Nut Growers Association would be the laughing stock of the world who are in the know if they don't adopt the rules of nomenclature as set forth by the American Pomological Society.

MR. SLATE: Mr. President, we already have a committee on Varieties and Standards.I don't see why that committee can't be revived.If we set up another committee by resolution, we are duplicating the work of that committee, or overlapping.I'd like to see this matter referred to the Committee on Varieties or Judging Standards and possibly report another year.I am not in favor of setting up this committee at the present time.

I would like to amend that motion to refer this matter to the present
Committee on Varieties and Judging Standards.

DR. MCKAY: Second that amendment.

DR. MACDANIELS: There is one other angle to this.The International Committee on Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants, has during the past year published a report.I think it would be only wise for us to delay our action on this matter until our committee at least gets the opportunity to study the suitability of this international code for nomenclature of cultivated plants and see how it applies to our situation.In other words, I am complete in accord with Mr. Slate's motion.

MR. DAVIDSON: I would suggest that we refer it to that committee and think about it for another year.

(A vote was taken on the amendment, and it was passed.)

PRESIDENT BEST: The motion of the Resolutions Committee is now referred to the Committee on Varieties and Judging Standards.

MR. STOKE: I move we proceed with the adoption of the resolutions that were presented before the motion.

(Motion seconded and passed.)

PRESIDENT BEST: We'd like to hear from the Nominating Committee.

MR. SLATE: For president the Nominating Committee proposed R.B.Best.I think he is about one of the best presidents we have ever had.For vice-president Gilbert Becker of Michigan.For treasurer W.S.Clarke of Pennsylvania, and for secretary, our very efficient and very effective Spencer Chase of Tennessee.

PRESIDENT BEST: Are there further nominations?

A MEMBER: I move nominations be closed.

A MEMBER: Second the motion.(Motion passed.)

DR. CRANE: Mr. President, I move that the Secretary of the Association be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for the nominations made by the Nominating Committee.Seconded and passed.

PRESIDENT BEST: Is there any further business to come before the group?
Spencer Chase here has an item.

MR. CHASE: Now, for the feature of the evening, that honor which is bestowed upon the most deserving member of the organization, I will call on Mr. Wilkinson for the comments about the Big Nut.Mr. Wilkinson.

MR. WILKINSON: Four years ago at Beltsville, Maryland, Dr. Crane made a suggestion that someone ought to be the King Nut of the Association.If I remember, Mr. Stoke immediately took the floor and nominated Dr. Crane, and he was unanimously elected the Big Nut.One year later he bestowed that honor on Spencer B.Chase.The next year Mr. Chase passed it on to Dr. Colby.One year ago Dr. Colby passed it on to me.Now it's my duty to pass this on to someone else tonight.

Well, I didn't know just exactly how to do it, so I fell back on my friend, Mrs. Negus for her suggestion.She suggested that the King Nut should wear a crown, so I said, "Now, that's your suggestion; I will leave it up to you."So here is the crown she made, with an ornament from the Chief pecan, which in my opinion today is the king nut of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

I don't know whose head she measured to make the crown, she didn't tell me, but it looks to me like it would just about fit George Salzer.(Applause.)George, it's a pleasure that I pass that on to you as I received it, and I hope you will wear it for a year or longer (putting crown on Mr. Salzer's head).

MR. SALZER: Well, they can't say I am big-headed.Why, honestly, folks, my very good friends of the Association, honestly, I don't know what to say.This is the greatest honor that I ever thought would come to me.I always refer to myself as one of the buck privates in the rear rank, and here I am the King Nut.I will assure you, every one of you that I really appreciate this, I honestly do, right from the bottom of my heart.

Ever since I have been a member of this organization and attended the meetings, I have had the finest times, most pleasant associations and the closest friends I ever had in my entire life right here among you people.Thanks a million.

MR. CHASE: Now I think we are entitled to a few words from our new and best president, Mr. Best.

PRESIDENT BEST: Ladies and gentlemen, it is quite a responsibility to take this job on again.It's the first time that I have ever questioned your judgment about anything, but I think there are other people here that could have done the job better than I could.

When I was asked if I would accept if I were elected, I turned to my wife, and I said, "Are you willing to do the work again for another year?"and she said, "Yes, I suppose I'll have to."And I said, "Well, then, I will accept."There is a lot more truth in that than there is poetry.Honestly, we just don't give these officers that work for us enough recognition.There is a whole page of them, as you know, about 11 committees, and all those folks have all done a fine job, at the expense of their work at home.I am not talking about myself, because I don't do any of it, I have it done, as I explained.But Carl Prell made a great sacrifice when he handled the Northern Nut Growers business in a very, very fine, thorough, business-like way.

I ought to give you a good example of what salesmanship really means and how it operates.This morning Carl was going down to the museum in a taxi.The taxi man professed an interest in nuts.Well, what did Carl do?Did he say, "Well, that's all right, but I can't get into that?"No, he said, "Man, you ought to belong to the Nut Growers Association.The fact that you don't know anything about it, that's nothing.Come right into the museum here, and I will show you the exhibits," and he took the taxi man in, and I don't know whether he sold him a membership, but he passed him on to the next man.He's got him going out to see Irondequoit, and we, are going to get a sale there.That's the spirit that it's going to take to get this job done.

I am reminded of a little story in Kipling.You know the story about the sergeant in India.He was a sergeant in the cavalry.They had been out in the hills, and the weather was hot, and they had an awful, awful time.Well, when the men came in and lined up, this sergeant got off his horse and he said, "Well, boys, I realize it's been hot, I know you sweat.But," he said, "from here on in this campaign we are not going to sweat, we are going to lather."That's what it's going to take to get this 2,000 members that we have set for our goal.It's going to take a lot of hard work, and our job is not to peer into the dim future, but to attack those problems which are right with us every day and ask some of our friends to join the Nut Growers Association.We are all widely separated in different walks of life, and each in his own world is just apt to see things a whole lot like the goldfish in a bowl.That is, he will see it twisted and distorted.So when all is said and done, it's up to us to support these committee heads and help get this job done.

A preacher had in his congregation an old lady who was ill.On one of his visits to her she appeared to be growing weaker all the time, and fearing the worst he said as he left her, "Well, sister, I suppose that we will meet Up There."And she looked at him and she said,

"Well, Parson, it's up to you."So from here on out now it's up to you.
Thank you. (Applause.)

MR. CHASE: Now I think we ought to have just a brief word from Gilbert
Becker, our new vice-president. Mr. Becker.

MR. BECKER: This was really a great surprise to me.It is humbly I tell you this, because I was on the Nominating Committee myself, and that is a very embarrassing position to be in, to find that I, as a member of Nominating Committee, appear as an officer.But it was a pleasant surprise, and in doing vice-president work I shall try my best, and I shall surely spend much time and much thought to it.Thank you.(Applause.)

MR. CHASE: Now, Bill Clark, will you come up here for a few words?Bill will succeed Carl Prell as Treasurer and handle your finances during the coming year.

MR. CLARK: Friends, I thank you for this honor and that you should have enough confidence in me to trust me with your funds for the coming year.I will do the best I can, and thank you very much.

MR. CHASE: There will be a joint meeting of the new officers and old officers immediately after we adjourn.

George Salzer says the last time we met in Rochester was 1922, and we figure the next time we will be here is 1984.

(Whereupon, the meeting was adjourned.)

Walnuts in Lubec, Maine

RADCLIFFE B. PIKE, University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H.

In the 1930's, when the Wisconsin Horticultural Society distributed seeds of the Carpathian Walnut from Poland, my brother secured some and we planted them.From these nuts we now have four trees, one of which has been bearing for the last four years.

Lubec, Maine is located at the extreme eastern tip of the United States just a few miles south of the 45th parallel.The site where the trees are planted is on a peninsula extending out into the Bay of Fundy which gives very low summer temperatures and moderate winter temperatures.The night temperature in the summer is usually in the 50°s F.with day temperatures rarely reaching 80° F.Winter temperatures seldom go to -10° F.and only lower than this about once in ten years.During the early summer, fogs are usually heavy and continuous.Day length is, of course, longer in the summer than in most of the United States but it is similar to that of the Northern tier of States from the Great Lakes West.

The trees have grown well being about 18 feet tall and even more in spread.They are multiple trunked having never been pruned.The foliage is remarkably clean and glossy and has not been bothered by insects or disease and it ripens and turns yellow in the late fall before killing frosts at the end of October.Excessive late terminal growth is usually winter-killed but this sort of growth has not been as great since bearing started.The staminate flower buds are more likely to be winter killed than the pistillate but the whole of them have never been entirely killed.

The trees do not leaf out until mid-June, after the danger of killing frosts is over.They have not been frost injured at any time in the spring.The nuts ripen and are shed from the husks in late September and early October while the tree is in full foliage.The nuts are shed perfectly clean with husk either falling separately or remaining on the tree.The nuts will germinate and seedlings have been raised.In 1953, one tree bore 315 nuts.This number represents just a fraction of the pistillate bloom, for while this tree is self fertile, the catkins bloom for a much shorter period than the pistillate blossoms, the latter extending over nearly a month.

In the same year that the above Carpathian variety of Juglans regia was planted, my brother and I also planted some Juglans mandshurica secured from F. L. Skinner of Dropmore, Manitoba which had originated in Harbin, Manchuria. The resulting trees agree well with many of the specimens in the Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum at Boston labelled Juglans mandshuricaThese trees have done remarkably well in Lubec, the trunks being 8-9 inches in diameter, while the height is 15 feet or more and the spread 20 feet.They have borne annually since 1939.They are planted less than 1000 feet from the ocean exposed to the summer storms, winter gales and salt spray.These trees leaf-out a month earlier than the Carpathians yet the foliage has only been partially frost injured once.Wind whipping sometimes injures the leaves in early summer while they are still tender but this sort of injury has never been serious.

The nuts are borne in clusters of up to six and the shells are hard and thick. The flavor of the kernels is excellent having more character than the butternut yet not as strong as the black walnut. Cracking is easy with the Hershey nut cracker. The kernels resemble our American butternut in shape which may account for the fact that J.mandshurica is sometimes called the Oriental butternut.

The nuts germinate well and make trees quickly.In one case, I had mature nuts five years after planting the seed.This particular tree was unusually vigorous having leaves 36 inches long and 23 inches wide.

In my experience, J.regia and J.mandshurica do not hybridize easily if at all, at least with the individuals and under the conditions with which I have been working. After several attempts I now have two progenies of reciprocal crosses of which a few seedlings seem to show hybridity in the vegetative parts. However, there is such a range of characters in the herbarium specimens labelled J.mandshurica that there will be a doubt in my mind until I see the mature trees, or it may be possible that some of the herbarium specimens may have been collected from naturally occurring hybrids, as the two species overlap in their distribution in Manchuria. If the best vegetative and fruiting characters from these two species can be combined the result should be good for our northern sections.

My Thirty Years Experience With Nut Trees

CARL WESCHCKE, St.Paul, Minn.

From time to time I have submitted articles for our annual report, as well as other publications, which had to do more or less specifically with certain species of nut trees, but since there are so many species, and since most nut growers are interested in at least two or more, it might be well to bring the story up to date of how a nut orchard might be viewed or evaluated after twenty years.

Thirty years ago we did not have knowledge which has been gained by the experimenters in the nut growing industry in the interim.Therefore no one could foresee what the future would be.We hopeful ones of that era planted trees and experimented with seeds from all over the world because we thought nut trees deserved a place not only in the orchard but in the dietary needs of the human being as well.Many of the wisest and most respected experimenters of this era have passed beyond this life; however, their lives were made much more interesting because of their horticultural activities.

Here in the midwest in the 45th parallel we have established probably what would be considered the practical northern limits of nut tree cultivation.When I purchased trees it was by the hundreds, and sometimes thousands, because I knew from reading Luther Burbank's works that this work had to be done on a rather large scale in order to make any kind of an adequate test.

Let us start by taking the most obvious species, the black walnut, which, because of its native hardiness, and public popularity might have succeeded the best in a commercial way if everything had gone right.I have planted at least five hundred black walnut trees altogether; these included the Thomas, Ohio, Ten Eyck and Stabler, and later on the Patterson, Rohwer, Pearl, the Throp, Adams and others were added.The Ohio probably produced the first nuts, with the Thomas a close second.For a few years I was able to make good reports on the Stabler and its behavior but since that, our severe test winters of recent years have wiped them out and have substantially proved that the only one of the older varieties which can be trusted in this territory is the Ohio, and although derogatory things have been said of the Ohio because of its hull, I am inclined to put it high on the list because of its fine cracking quality and excellent flavor, also it has been a prolific variety, bearing good crops most of the years.

The Thomas grew faster, and the nuts were considered a better commercial product when hulled, but, alas, it could not take our winters nearly so well, and today the Thomas has a poor physical appearance although it shows tremendous power of recovery and seldom a tree will die entirely.

The Ten Eyck was a negligible experiment, and the Stabler as mentioned before, is much too tender for this climate.The Rohwer and the Patterson from Iowa did much better and even in an off year, like this one, some of these trees had fairly good crops.I like the Patterson the best of these—it is a roundish nut that cracks quite well and the kernels are on the sweet side.

The Throp was a curiosity and we did not have any of our grafted Throp trees bear.

Pearl has borne several crops of good nuts; they are large but are inclined not to ripen in time.

Vandersloot was considered the largest nut of any variety at one time.It has a very rough appearance but aside from its size it is of no particular interest as compared to others.

Adams, a long narrow type of nut similar to the Ohio, but still more elongated, was one of the best crackers I have ever seen, but did not seem to be prolific although it has lived and demonstrated its hardiness.

I am patenting a new walnut at this time which I consider the best for our locality.Some day it may produce well in orchard form if trees become available.One thing is certain about it—it is very hardy and is reasonably easy to propagate.

And so we can conclude the walnut chapter by saying that at least we have some giants in the orchard to show for our trouble and expense, which bear nice edible walnuts in favorable seasons.When comparing this with the wild butternut crop from butternuts in the adjacent woods, which has consistently failed each year for the last ten years, it is quite encouraging.

It was my hard luck to have an uncongenial soil for my experiments in chestnuts, and the knowledge of this came so late that I thought the chestnut was not meant to succeed in our territory.So I put my efforts on hickory nuts and filberts.Both of these succeeded to a degree and with my present knowledge and experience on hickory nuts I would not be a bit afraid to start an orchard on good deep clay or other satisfactory soil which hickories like, using grafted trees of Bridgewater and Weschcke.

A few Kirtland and Deveaux No.2 would be planted for extra pollination and the extra variety in nuts.There are of course many other varieties of hickories that have succeeded in this territory but those above mentioned, have possibilities of commercial success in orchard formation.

The hickory is a difficult tree to transplant and I would advise that grafted trees be dug with a ball of dirt for shipping, similar to an evergreen, as I have found that, with the greatest of care and experience, the hickory is very slow to re-establish itself unless handled that way.

The hybrid hazels are perhaps the hardiest and certainly bear the earliest of any of the nut trees.My own hybrids show great possibilities for commercial enterprise, but as yet no nurserymen are carrying these varieties and I have not found help enough to promote them myself.

I am convinced that had I spent as much time with the chestnuts on favorable soil as I did with hickories that they would probably head the list of successful nut trees growing.Recently I have purchased an adjoining piece of property which has the necessary well-drained, sandy or gravelly soil, which chestnuts seem to like, and I have started my chestnut orchard there along with a sprinkling of hickory and walnut trees, merely as a matter of test.

This year the chestnuts are again putting on a fair crop for the number and the size of the trees involved.As yet, in order to get a reasonable number of nuts for planting, I have to cross-pollinize them by hand, and I was surprised and pleased this year to find one Chinese chestnut tree with staminate bloom, allowing me to make a cross pollinization with an American sweet chestnut and a Chinquapin type chestnut, which grows to be a tall tree.These crosses ought to insure trees with a great degree of hardiness, and should the blight ever strike this territory in the future they should be highly resistant as well.A few of my chestnut trees produce nuts that may be the size of the best Chinese chestnuts, but I am just as fond of the smaller and sweeter chestnuts of the several Chinquapin type trees which seem to be consistent bearers and certainly are prolific.There are three trees in a close group which are strains of the European chestnut combined with American chestnut.These bear rather large nuts and usually every year have a few and of high quality.It is conceivable that by crossing this hybrid with Chinese pollen that something unusual could be produced.

The pure Chinese strain has not proved hardy in this territory and I have never matured a pure variety.However, there are dozens of seedlings that are not old enough to prove whether there might be a hardy specimen among them that may at some time in the future be relied upon for this species of chestnut.

One other species of nut requires a little space here since it has shown that it can bear crops and is hardy enough to be included among the hardy nuts.It is the Gellatly heartnut.It is very subject to the butternut curculio, but in spite of that it continues to grow quite well when grafted on black walnut,—a difficult piece of propagation, however.A tree in St.Paul, on the boulevard, thrives next to a large butternut, and bears nuts practically every year which the squirrels delight in cutting down while still green.This tree is not bothered by the curculio since the curculio does not infest the large butternut near it.

In summing up the whole situation, I would say that my experiments over thirty years quite adequately prove that the walnuts, hickories, hybrid hazels and chestnuts can most certainly be set out in orchard form and in favorable locations.However, pecan, hiccan, English walnuts and almonds have not proved hardy enough to indicate that they can be relied upon for steady crops of nuts although in some instances varieties show a great hardiness such as the Rockville hiccan.Of course the native butternut is perfectly hardy and prolific but until such time as the butternut curculio ceases to be a major pest we cannot expect to have good crops of them.

Growing American Chestnuts and Their Hybrids Under Blight Conditions

ALFRED SZEGO, Jackson Heights, N.Y.

An interesting group of young American chestnut trees growing on my land near Pine Plains, N.Y.has been under observation since 1946.As they are growing closely together which suggests a common parental origin, we have named this group the "Dutchess Clone" for reference purposes.This name was chosen merely because Pine Plains is situated in Dutchess County.

Their reaction to the deadly chestnut blight was studied at great length and at different seasons.Sometimes branches were inoculated with the fungus to test resistance more precisely.It was learned that blight resistance, in this group of trees, was at an apparently low ebb from March until May.After this period the fungus seemed to make almost no progress at all.This might suggest that the resistant substance was manufactured by the leaves.Of course, such conclusions cannot be accepted in a scientific sense without an involved system of checks and measurements.

Pollination problems are exactly the same as with our Chinese Chestnuts that we are more familiar with today.Unlike the latter, in the American, species the bloom is concentrated near the top of the tree.

The burs are so high up as to create difficulties if we intend to anticipate nature and harvest our crop prematurely.The burs open during the month of October with or without frost.High temperatures in 1953 did not interfere with the harvest.The best method of harvesting is to use a long slender pole with a metal hook at the extreme end, and by gently pulling and twisting, remove the burs from the tree.

Unless this is done promptly before the nuts fall, the rodents will get almost every nut.

Tree growth is about 2 to 3 feet per year in height.At present some are nearly 40 feet tall.Bearing starts at about 12 years of age.The nuts, three in a bur are somewhat wedge shaped and average 5/8 of an inch in diameter.One tree has nuts almost an inch in diameter.This is definitely worth propagating and I will gladly furnish scions in the spring free to anyone who is interested.These are probably incompatible with Chinese understocks, but may be grafted on European and some Japanese seedlings.

As we are listed as cooperators with the U.S.D.A., Division of Forest Pathology, Beltsville, Md., we prepare semi-annual reports for Dr. Frederick H.Berry and also send a portion of our American chestnut seed to him.In this way we insure the continuation of the "Dutchess" clone after our lifetimes.

The American chestnut is not as sweet as Chinese chestnut but is much finer in texture and richer in subtle pleasing flavor. We would say that the quality is higher. Castanea dentata has the most uniformly delicious nuts. It is excelled, however, by many individuals of C.pumilaIn our opinion these possess the highest quality nuts in the entire genus.

Our American chestnuts hybrids, especially those with C.Sequinii, are very interesting.The latter make a dwarf tree that bears incredible amounts of small chestnuts.They have pollination problems to be solved and the nuts are seldom filled.Pollen sterility is a common feature with them.They are also everbearing.

Some Northern strains of Chinese chestnut seem barely hardy but promise to survive.Of the grafted varieties we have, Abundance is the most vigorous."Nanking" has winter-killed here and it has been replanted this year.These are very blight resistant, and rarely lose a branch to this disease after winter injury.The Japanese behave in much the same way.

We have many obscure chestnut species and hybrids growing here.They are grown for study, hybridizing purposes, and as a source of supply to interested members.When mature, we hope to obtain some cash crops from our Chinese and Japanese Chestnut trees.Blight in Europe will no doubt, in about 5 years more, reduce imports of chestnuts thus creating higher prices and a more favorable market.

Chinese chestnuts do not keep well when stored using standard commercial practices.European chestnuts are shipped in barrels and kept in open fruit boxes for weeks at a time in front of fruit and vegetable stores in New York City.Storekeepers never moisten these believing that rot would result.These are viable even in January and sometimes as late as March.Will our present Chinese chestnuts keep as well under these conditions?We think not.American Chestnuts can be kept in bulk only.

We are continually striving to obtain by selection and subsequent hybridization, the best chestnuts that can be grown in our severe climate.The Chinese chestnut has performed miracles in the Southeast, but we regret that it is not the answer to our problems. Only a long period of seed selection will turn up better trees of this species.

Prolonged heat and drought caused us much concern this year. Some one year old seedlings died outright but older trees only suffered varying degrees of defoliation. In some areas, the subsoil was reported powder dry to a depth of six feet. Even the native forest trees dropped much foliage and went into premature dormancy. Oddly enough, the American and Japanese chestnuts suffered much less defoliation than the common Allegheny chinkapin, C.pumila. C.henryi, a rare species, a native of China, and the several chinkapins native to the Gulf Coast seemed inherently adjusted to drought and heat, and thrived without apparent damage.The Ozark tree chinkapins did well also.

Hybrid hazels and choice native seedlings have been set out here in the last few years.We are adding a few every year and planting them between chestnuts to prevent the latter from forming extensive root grafts.This is done in anticipation of oak wilt, which has not yet made its appearance here.

Experiences and Observations on Nut Growing in Central Texas

KAUFMAN FLORIDA, Rotan, Texas

In view of my membership in the Association for some twelve or fourteen years it would be quite reasonable to expect of me more observations in connection with nut growing in my area than I'm able to make.Though I've followed the proceedings of NNGA with great interest, the difficulty of earning a living (from farming) and putting a little something aside has caused me to neglect and put off from year to year the planting of the kind of experimental orchard I've long hoped for.I have lately acquired a reasonably well situated plot of land and, barring a continuation of the drouth of the past two or three years, plan to put out a few young trees next year.

My original interest in nut trees sprang from the hope that a tree combining beauty, utility and long-life might be found to replace the Chinese elm—a "weed tree" if there ever was one.In spite of many shortcomings the Chinese elm (along with two or three other equally undesirable trees) is to be found in most homestead plantings in my area.

Here, in my locality of north-west central Texas, the total rainfall ranges from a low of about twelve inches in some years to a high of about forty-two inches in others, and the annual average is about twenty-one inches.Our principal limiting conditions in nut tree growing is want of sufficient rainfall, though late spring frosts following a period of balmy weather would be a hazard in some instances.It appears to me that if a nut tree planting in this part of the country is to live, every drop of water that falls must be conserved; if it is to thrive, additional water falling on adjacent uplands and carried down in flash floods must be diverted to it.Terraces and retainer dams are usually essential.Cultivation and weed control are necessary.The addition of a mulch helps.

I have tried the Chinese chestnut here.The plants arrived in good condition and had excellent care with what I believe was adequate water and fertile soil.They put out in April and grew off most encouragingly until about July, and then, in an interval of about a week, every tree withered and died as though from heat and drouth.But until other evidence to the contrary comes in, I shall strongly suspect that the real trouble was that the Chinese chestnut demands an acid soil and is highly allergic to even a slight alkalinity.My impression is that the soil here has a reading of about pH 7-7-1/2.

Experience and observation here on the western fringe of the native pecan belt lead me to believe the pecan, black and Persian walnuts do well when they can be irrigated, or when they are planted on a site where a first class water conservation system can be devised and properly constructed.

The black walnut has not been damaged by any insect, disease or mineral deficiency of the soil that I know of.A very limited and inconclusive experience with Clark, Thomas, Myers, Mintle, Sifford, Snyder and Sparrow varieties led to the suggestion that the Thomas might be a slightly more thrifty tree.

The pecan (both nut and tree) seems more subject to insect damage than the walnut.It is also sensitive to a zinc deficiency in some soils.But a proper mineral and insecticide spray usually serves to control these problems when they occur.

I have observed only one named variety of Persian walnut—a Mayette.The tree was a vigorous grower and precocious in putting on nutlets, but to my knowledge never bore staminate blooms and over a period of several years matured only one nut.No other Persian walnuts grew in the locality and I assumed the matured nut must have been pollinized by a black walnut.The tree never seemed damaged by late spring frosts or other cause.

A few members of NNGA have manifested an interest in the honey locust and the Chinese jujube.Both of these trees grow well in this region with a minimum of care.The Oriental persimmon, like the nut trees, requires more than casual attention and ordinary growing conditions.

The Chinese jujube, a little known but hardy and attractive tree may deserve more attention in the southwest.I have trees of the Li and Lang varieties which bear annually and have never been bothered by insects or disease.I am not overly enthusiastic about the fruit but understand it "compares favorably with the fig and date in food value.Dried jujubes carry more protein than dried figs or dates and more (50%) sugar than figs."—T.A.E.S.Bulletin no.41.But the jujube has the disagreeable habit of sending up root sprouts which are a nuisance to destroy and, because the tree is grafted, the sprouts are worthless seedlings.It has occurred to me that this bad feature of the jujube might be partly offset if cuttings of the improved varieties could be made to grow by means of some of the root inducing chemicals.

Propagation of the Hickories[1]

F. L. O'ROURKE, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State College

The genus Carya comprises all the hickories and pecans found in the United States. The eighth edition of Gray's Manual of Botany lists the following species as being native to the United States:

[1] The survey of literature pertaining to this review was completed in August, 1952.

Carya aquatica—Water hickory, Bitter Pecan Carya cordiformis—Bitternut, Swamp Hickory Carya glabra—Pignut Carya illinoensis—Pecan Carya laciniosa—Shellbark, Kingnut Carya ovalis—Sweet Pignut, False Shagbark, Red Hickory Carya ovata—Shagbark Carya pallida—Pale Hickory Carya texana—Black Hickory Carya tormentosa (C. alba)—Mockernut

Nut growers are interested primarily in the pecan and the shagbark, although a few selections have been made of the shellbark species.The bitternut is quite often used for rootstocks for the shagbark and shagbark hybrids.

Hickories, like other nut and tree species, do not come true from seed, so superior selected clones are propagated by budding and grafting on other trees known as rootstocks.These rootstocks are produced from seed.

Seed Propagation

Investigations by Barton(1) showed that some seedlings were produced when the nuts were planted immediately in a warm greenhouse without pretreatment, but that germination was markedly increased when the nuts were held in a cool moist environment from one to four months before bringing into the greenhouse.She also found that fall planting of hickory nuts resulted in a good stand of seedlings the following spring if the soil was mulched, but that the freezing and thawing of unprotected ground resulted in an exceedingly poor stand of seedlings.

Burkett(6) advocated stratifying pecan seed over winter in moist sand and planting in moist soil in the very early spring.He observed that thin-shelled nuts germinate more quickly than thick-shelled ones, and warned against "damping-off" fungi which often killed young seedlings.

Brison(5) stated that some nurserymen prefer seed of certain pecan varieties as Riverside and Burkett for rootstock purposes as these produce strong vigorous seedlings.He reported that while the pecan seed does not have a rest period, germination is increased by stratifying in moist sand for 2 to 3 weeks or soaking in water, changed daily, for 4 to 5 days previous to planting.

Propagation by Layering

No records are available in regard to any hickory species or variety other than pecan having been propagated by any method of either soil or air layering.The writer(14) while experimenting with aerial layering in 1945 found one instance of root production on a hickory where the branch was girdled at the base of the one-year wood.This method offers possibilities, especially now that polythene plastic is available for retaining moisture in the moss about the girdle or wound on the layered branch.

Gossard(9) reported success in producing roots from the tops of small grafted and budded pecan trees by trench layering and from older trees by aerial layering with marcot boxes.He indicated that a favorable combination of etiolation, moisture, rooting medium, and a root-inducing chemical was desirable for successful rooting.

Propagation by Cuttings

Hardwood cuttings of pecan were rooted by Stoutemyer and O'Rourke(23) in 1938 by first callusing the bases of the cuttings in warm moist peat moss, and then treating with an aqueous solution of indole butyric acid before planting.Both roots and shoots grew well for three to four weeks and then the shoots wilted and died.It was observed that the roots were thickened and presented an abnormal appearance.Trials during succeeding years gave no better results and the experiments were discontinued.Cuttings taken from native hickories during these same years failed to produce roots.

Romberg(17) reported a small measure of success in rooting hardwood stem cuttings to which young seedlings had been grafted by the inarch method.The influence of the seedling on the nourishment of the cutting was gradually diminished by girdling caused by a copper wire which was tied about the seedling stem.

Apparently root cuttings of pecans and other hickories have never been tried.In 1896 Corsa(7) observed that "when the lateral roots of the pecan are broken by the plow, the ends of these roots frequently send up thrifty shoots."Such a response would indicate that adventitious shoots may arise from roots and that root cuttings may be successful.

Propagation by Grafting

A search of the literature failed to reveal a discussion of any method of bench grafting with hickories, although presumably it must have been tried.Propagators may have been discouraged in using bench graft methods by the sparse roots usually found on two-year seedlings.It is suggested that undercutting and root pruning the seedlings several times while in the nursery row should produce a more adequate root system which would transplant well after grafting.Brison(5) remarked that bench grafting is not used in the propagation of pecans in Texas on account of transplanting difficulties.

Commercial nurserymen now prefer to bud hickories and pecans rather than to graft, but formerly Reed(15) reported the whip-and-tongue method was used on thrifty one-year seedlings in the nursery row.It is conceivable that the cleft graft could be used at this stage when the diameter of stock and scion are quite similar but no record of its use is available.

Top-working or grafting in the branches is commonly practiced on seedling trees and sometimes used to change varieties in the orchard.Reed(15), Sitton(19), Rosborough et al(18), MacDaniels(11), and Stoke(22) have described various methods that have proven successful.Practically all agree that the bark graft or a modification thereof is best.Morris(12), Benton(3), MacDaniels(11), Wilkinson(25), and others have shown that a greater per cent of survival is secured when the stocks are cut 10 days to 2 weeks before grafting.During this time the stubs heal somewhat and excess bleeding is decreased.It has been reported by Becker(2) that the success of walnut grafting is greater when the grafts are set just after the leaves are full grown but no such data is available for hickories.The use of paper bags or other shading device over the scion is advocated by Morris(13), MacDaniels(11), Shelton(20) and others.

Propagation by Budding

Patch budding is now almost universally used by commercial nurserymen in the propagation of hickories and pecans.Patches are usually cut with a double-bladed knife although some use the rectangular Jones patch-budding tool.The "plate" or "skin" bud is also used to some extent.The thick bark of hickories and pecans discourages the use of the shield or "T" bud.

Budding is usually done in late summer with mature buds of the season growth which remain dormant until the following spring.Occasionally dormant budwood taken in winter is held in cold storage until the bark of the stock slips in the spring.These spring-set buds are forced the same season by cutting the stocks back shortly after setting.Patch-budding is described by Reed(15) and by Rosborough et al(18).Reed(15) mentioned that it may be advisable to make the cuts in the stock from one to three weeks before the bark is removed so that the healing process may be under way at the time the bud patch is inserted.

Storage and Handling of Scions and Budwood.

Shelton(20) reported an easy and unique method of keeping scions moist by storing in a closed container with a small amount of sodium sulphate (Glauber's salt).Slightly moist peat moss is an excellent packing material.Brison(4) reported that a temperature of 32° F to 38° F in storage is satisfactory for keeping the buds dormant, and that a few days from 80° F to 85° F will stimulate cambial activity so that the patches will "slip" easily when cut.Scionwood is sometimes dipped in wax, paraffin, or plastic resin before storing in order to prevent loss of moisture and guard against pathogenic organisms.

Waxes and Wound Dressings

Sitton(19) used a large number of variously formulated waxes on pecan and found that the most successful from the standpoint of graft survival was one composed of 10 parts rosin, 2 parts beeswax, and 1 part filler such as kieselguhr, talc, or aluminum powder.Under Louisiana conditions a light-colored wax was preferable to dark colored one.Asphalt emulsions were not satisfactory.

Rootstocks and Interstocks for Hickories

Reed(16) summarized the rootstock studies at Beltsville, Maryland, by stating that pecans were best on pecan seedlings and that shagbarks were successful on either shagbark or pecan rootstocks.He reported a lack of congeniality between shagbark and bitternut hickory.Smith(21), however, found that pecan stocks were unsuccessful for shagbarks as few scions lived and growth of those which survived was poor.He also reported that bitternut was practically as good as shagbark for shagbark varieties.He stated that pignut was absolutely useless as a stock for shagbark.Weschcke(24) reported that shagbark varieties grew well on bitternut but also indicated that a slow growing variety would be stimulated in growth by working on pecan stocks which are more vigorous in growth than the other hickories.Dunstan(8) reported that pecan provides a perfectly satisfactory rootstock for shagbark, shagbark hybrid, and hican varieties.A number of varieties have been tested over a period of several years with favorable results as shown by lasting unions and better than average yields.

The Fairbanks hybrid has often been used as an intermediate stock between bitternut and some shagbark varieties and Last(10) has stated that the variety Rockville is useful for interstock purposes on account of its exceptional vigor.

Nursery Problems

Hickories and pecans have long tap-roots with few branches and hence do not transplant well.Some few have grown the seedlings for one year in beds underlain with wire screen netting or have undercut the seedlings to promote branching of the roots.The stocks must grow two years from seed to attain a diameter permitting of patch budding and must remain one or two years more to allow the scion to form a tree.The resulting plant is large in both root and stem and requires careful handling in digging, shipping, and planting in the permanent location.The vicissitudes which befall the production of the northern hickories are often so great as to discourage nurserymen who otherwise would grow them.This is an unfortunate fact but a real one, as the would-be purchaser often learns when he attempts to buy named varieties of hickories.The situation with the pecan is much better, due perhaps to the greater demand for such trees but also to the greater ease of propagation in general nursery practice.

Conclusions

Good varieties of hickories bear good nuts and more people should plant good trees which should be produced by nurseries with well-branched fibrous root systems so that they will transplant easily.Research is needed to determine practical methods of propagation which will permit of inexpensive quantity production of superior named varieties of shagbark and shagbark hybrid hickories.

Literature Cited

1. Barton, Lela V. Seedling production in Carya ovata, Juglans cinerea, and Juglans nigraCont.Boyce Thompson Institute 8:1-5.1936.

    2.    Becker, Gilbert.    Notes from Southwestern Michigan.    Rpt.    North.
    Nut Grow.     Assoc.     28:135-136.     1937.

    3.    Benton, Wm.    A.    Report on propagation of nut trees.    Rpt.    North.
    Nut Grow.     Assoc.     29:90-92.     1938.

    4.    Brison, Fred R.    The storage and seasoning of pecan budwood.    Texas
    Agric.     Expt.     Sta.     Bul.     478.     1933.

5. ——. Personal correspondence. 1952.

6. Burkett, J. H. The pecan in Texas. Texas Dept. of Agric. Bul. 111. 1932.

    7.    Corsa, W.    P.    Nut culture in the United States.    U.    S.    Dept.    Agric.
    Div.     of Pomology.     1896.

8. Dunstan, R. T. Personal correspondence. 1952.

9. Gossard, A. C. Rooting pecan stem tissue by layering. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 38:213-214. 1941.

10. Last, Herman. Personal correspondence. 1952.

    11.    MacDaniels, L.    H.    Some experiences in nut tree grafting at
    Ithaca, N.     Y.     Rpt.     North.     Nut Grow.     Assoc.     28:52-55.     1937.

    12.    Morris, R.    T.    Top working hickories.    Rpt.    North.    Nut Grow.
    Assoc.     11:105.     1920.

13. —— Nut growing. 1931. Macmillan, New York.

14. O'Rourke, F. L. Unpublished data. 1945.

15. Reed, C. A. Nut-tree propagation. U. S. Dept. Agric. For. Bul. 1501. 1926.

16. ——. Hickory species and stock studies at the Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md. Rpt. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 35:88-121. 1944.

17. Romberg, L. D. Use of nurse seedlings in propagating the pecan from stem cuttings. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 40:298-300. 1942.

18. Rosborough, J. F. , F. R. Brison, C. L. Smith, and L. D. Romberg. Propagation of pecans by budding and grafting. Texas Ext. Ser. Bul. B-166. 1949.

    19.    Sitton, B.    G.    Pecan grafting methods and waxes.    U.    S.    Dept.
    Agric.     Circ.     545.     1940.

    20.    Shelton, E.    M.    Glauber's salt for humidity control in scion
    storage.     Rpt.     North.     Nut Grow.     Assoc.     28:70.     1937.

    21.    Smith, Gilbert L.    Our experience with root stocks.    Rpt.    North.
    Nut Grow.     Assoc.     40:62-64.     1949.

    22.    Stoke, H.    F.    Grafting methods adapted to nut trees.    Rpt.    North.
    Nut Grow.     Assoc.     37:99-102.     1946.

    23.    Stoutemyer, V.    T.    and F.    L.    O'Rourke.    Unpublished data.
    1938-1940.

24. Weschcke, Carl. The importance of stock and scion relationship in hickory and walnut. Rpt. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 39:190-195. 1948.

25. Wilkinson, J. Ford. Preparation of stocks for propagation. Rpt. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:65-66. 1937.

A Root Disease of Persian Walnut

G. FLIPPO GRAVATT, U.S.Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.

On three recent trips to southern Europe I noted large numbers of dying Persian (English) walnuts, Juglans regia, in France and Switzerland and scattered trees in other countries.Dying of Persian walnuts from a root disease of undetermined cause has been reported from various European countries for many years.The extensive dying of mature Persian walnut in a number of areas in southern France is very serious.Farmers and orchardists are discouraged from planting the Persian walnut even though it is a very profitable tree when not attacked by the root disease.In area after area I noted that the farmers had scattered their Persian walnut trees, separating them as much as possible or planting them along the boundary of fields instead of in orchard plantings.They had found too frequently that solid plantings of walnut die from the root disease.The total number of Persian walnuts in southern France has decreased alarmingly in the last sixty years.In Tessin Province in Switzerland many unhealthy Persian walnuts were noted this past summer showing the same symptoms as in southern France.

Studies By French and Italian pathologists have indicated that the fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi is the most likely cause of this dying of walnuts. I was informed that it is worse on soils inclined to be wet or poorly drained at certain times of the year, conditions favorable for attack of many hosts of this Phytophthora. The work reported by B. S. Crandall and me in Phytopathology, March 1945, showed there was a rather direct relation between soil conditions and Phytophthora cinnamomi damage to black and Persian walnut seedlings. Long periods of heavy rainfall were very favorable for an epidemic outbreak of this fungus on walnut and other nursery stock. Another species of Phytophthora, P.cactorum, has also attacked black walnuts in nurseries in eastern United States; this fungus has also been reported on Persian walnuts.

We are interested in receiving reports of the dying of Persian or black walnuts in orchards or rows of trees in the Eastern half of the United States.Persian walnuts suffer from winter injury in many areas and sometimes this injury is confused with the root disease.However, where there are indications of continuing dying of walnuts year after year with a progression from one part to another of the planting, we would like to receive a report.

Some root diseases are difficult to diagnose, especially when the small roots are the parts affected.

The symptoms of the root disease of the Persian walnut in Europe are in many ways very similar to those of the Phytophthora root disease of chestnut and chinkapin in this country as described in the report by Gravatt and Crandall in the Northern Nut Growers Association Proceedings for 1944.In some cases Persian walnuts die slowly and in others death is rapid, with the entire tree browning in summer.Some trees will show less green color than normal during the summer and gradually die over a year or two.Trees in different stages of dying can be seen in the same planting.

Persian walnuts in the Western States in recent years have been dying from a disease of undetermined cause. Dr. Paul W. Miller and others have reported on the black line graft union failure, Armillaria mellea and dying of roots from undetermined causes. As Phytophthora cinnamomi, an imported fungus, is a comparative recent invader of many parts of the west, Dr. Miller is giving the fungus some attention as a possible parasite.On some hosts, this fungus attacks primarily the very smallest roots at certain favorable times of the year, which makes determination of its role as a parasite rather difficult.

Factors That Influence Nut Production

W. B. WARD, Extension Horticulturist, Purdue University, Lafayette,
Ind.

The profitable production of fruit on nut trees under cultivation has no doubt been influenced by several factors.Assuming that the present-day seedlings and propagated varieties are winter hardy and the tree of bearing age, 10 to 15 years old, one may expect a reasonable harvest.It is somewhat disappointing to the owner of a single nut tree or for the grower on a semi or commercial basis to find that the tree or several trees have failed to set fruit.

The commercial fruit grower of apples learned, many years ago, that certain varieties when planted in solid blocks failed to set satisfactory crops.Rather than lose several years of growth and expense, the better growers top-worked the trees with a good pollinizer.The result was a profitable harvest of red and yellow apples, or varieties of different maturity.The peach grower liked the looks of a very fine peach and after a short trial found that the variety was not hardy enough to withstand the winter and early spring temperatures.The experiences of the commercial fruit growers could be well used by the nut grower.Only trees adapted to local conditions should be planted regardless of the recommendations of the nurseryman.Hardiness of wood and bud, ample production of pollen, reasonable climate during the growing season, and the control of insects or diseases determine, for the most part, the success of the harvest.

Soils and Fertility

The nut trees require good drainage and a good supply of moisture.A reasonably fertile soil should be selected for a planting site but through mulches, manures, and commercial mineral fertilizers any soil may be built up to a high state of fertility.A weak tree has little chance and may come into bearing too late to be of value for the present owner.The annual growth should be checked each year and, unless 10 to 12 inches of growth has been made the previous year, some means of stimulating more growth should be employed.The hickory, pecan and black walnut, as a rule, make little new annual growth while the Persian or Carpathian walnut, heartnut and chestnut ordinarily produce good annual growth and an abundance of good foliage grown where it counts the most, on the new wood.

Those who have observed the growth habits of nut trees know that the catkins are found on last year's growth, or two year old wood, and the fruiting flowers at the end of the present season's growth.There are times when the new growth developed in a matter of a few days to sometimes as long as two weeks.During the period of prolongation of the new growth and the formation and receptiveness of the pistillate flower much can happen.The catkins shed pollen when the temperature and atmospheric conditions are normal.Many times the pollen is dispersed before the pistillate flowers are formed.

Cross vs Self-Pollination

There is no assurance that a nut tree which fruits on the average of eight out of ten years will continue to do so in the future.Occasionally trees take on an alternate year bearing habit that could be caused from injury, insect or disease damage, or the relocation of plant food.The nut trees on their own roots should do better than when grafted or budded.The compatability of stock and scion is yet to be worked out and any constriction at the union may alter the fruiting habits.

The possible sources of pollen for hickory and pecan are from self-fertile trees, seedlings, and various natural crosses that may or may not produce edible fruit.The walnut family, which includes the black and Persian or Carpathian walnut; butternut and Asiatic nut (heartnut) have been used as pollinizers on the Persian walnut with some success.The butternut is the first to shed pollen in Indiana with the catkins dropping, in some years, by late April and the first week in May.Some years the black walnut has produced the peak pollen from May 5th to 12th but during the spring of 1953 the Thomas, Stabler, Rowher, Ohio and Stambaugh dropped the pollen from May 18th to 22nd.The Asiatic walnuts were in full bloom on May 14th and 15th.The above dates do not correspond to observations of other years, except for the butternut.The pistillate flowers on the Persian walnuts were fully opened by May 16th.The catkins of the Persian trees had dried by May 12th.Catkins from the Asiatic walnuts were kept fresh and distributed throughout two Persian walnut trees and by mid-afternoon a heavy rain came.On May 18th a few catkins were again removed from the Asiatic walnut and only enough for one Persian walnut tree were found and hung in the tree.The first tree has no fruit while the second tree has a fair crop in the making.

A letter from H.F.Stoke, Chairman of the Survey Committee on the blossoming dates of the Persian walnut said: "Payne, Lancaster and Broadview staminate flowers were out on April 9, 10 and 11.The pistillate flowers of McKinster, Caesar and Crath #1 were receptive on April 11, 10 and 10."The above dates were over a month before spring came to Indiana.Whether or not the Stoke varieties in Virginia would do the same in Indiana or elsewhere is still the problem.

The black walnut varieties mentioned previously set very few fruits at
Lafayette this year while a promising new variety, Sol, from Ferd
Bolten, Linton, Indiana, has a full crop, and has been a consistent
producer for the past several years.

How Many Pounds per Tree

Throughout the Middle West the elm, native chestnut and some of the oaks are dying from disease troubles.The homemaker wants to plant a tree that will provide shade, fit well in the landscaping of the home, be a clean tree and yet be fruitful and bear early.

The age of the tree and the growth has much to do with production.Some pecan varieties have produced several hundred pounds per tree and the same for black walnuts with hickory, butternut and chestnut in smaller quantities.There are four Persian walnut trees growing in Franklin, Indiana, that are 20 years old and have fruited continuously for the past 10 years.The trees were seedlings, two of which are very promising for distribution.Tree #1 produces an average of 10 pounds; tree #2, 15 pounds; #3, about 40 pounds and #4, 100 pounds.Good pollination under common growing conditions of the Midwest and a good variety acclimated for general planting will no doubt make a host of good friends and a wonderful contribution from the members of the N.N.G.A.

Rootstocks for the Walnut in France[2]

J.C.MCDANIEL

[2]This is a translation, by Dr. R. T. Dunstan, of the section on "Rootstocks" in Chapter XI of Les Noyers, by two Doctors of Pharmacy, P.Peyre and E.Lancosme.This 447 page book with 140 figures was published in 1942 by Jouve et Cie, 15, rue Racine, Paris, and is a very complete treatise on the subject of walnuts.

The French experience with the eastern black walnut and the related Arizona walnut as rootstocks is interesting, as is the discussion of one method of propagation, where dormant whole-root grafts are started in pots under glass.This differs somewhat from the indoor grafting procedures described in our recent Reports by Mr. Stephen Bernath and Dr. Philip Brierley.(Incidentally, Dr. Brierley tells me that he got uniformly good grafts—96 to 100% growing—in his 1953 experiment.The use of growth substance powder did not significantly increase the "take".The controlling factors seem to be the use of healthy scions and rootstocks, followed by high enough temperature and humidity to promote rapid callusing of the grafts.)

The "old Royal Walnut" of the French is, of course, what we call Persian (or English) walnut, and not Luther Burbank's "Royal Hybrid", the unfortunately named cross of two black walnuts, J.nigra x J.hindsii. J.torreyi is a synonym for J.major, the Arizona walnut.

Rootstocks fulfilling two essential conditions should be chosen, those capable of adapting themselves to soil and climate where they are to be planted and of resisting diseases that may attack them under unsanitary conditions or under too intense cultivation. Among the numerous varieties tested, two deserve attention as choice rootstocks, one native, the other American = J.regia and J.nigra

J.regia, our old Royal Walnut, so common in France, is excellent when planted in new, light and fertile soils, preferably clay-lime or clay-silicon.

But as the roots are very spreading it is important to stir the soil well but slightly and avoid deep plowing, for it is well known that through accidental injury to the roots the various "armillaria" enter the trees to develop the "pourridié" or "pus disease", or "circle disease".It is better, then, to use a rootstock immune to this malady so wide-spread among our native walnuts.

J.nigra enjoys this happy advantage of offering no foothold to this parasite, so harmful to its sister species. It accommodates itself well in many soils in which J.regia will grow, even dry and gravelly, but prefers soils which are fresh, open, rich, and especially, deep. Its roots are long and vertical and their development stops in contact with an impermeable layer of soil.

It produces specimens magnificent in height and rapidity of growth.
Color of bark differs, though diameter of tree is more or less the same.
This slight objection may be easily avoided by grafting regia on nigra
at ground-level when wood is well matured and in mild weather.

Proof that this species of walnut is resistant to "pourridié" was given in a report to members of the Congress of Grenoble in 1936 by Mr. Bourne of Saint Marcelin. "At Blache de Vinay, we are told, some black walnuts, planted more than thirty years ago in an infested field, have shown full resistance. One tree, grafted at ground-level and planted too deep, was infected many years ago by the "pus" above the graft on the J.regia part. The diseased part was treated as was the custom then, with sulphuric acid, etc. The wound healed and the rootstock remained absolutely clean. A photo by Mr. Roy, Director of Agricultural Services at Isère, establishes this absolute proof.

Other varieties of walnut have been tested as rootstocks—cinerea, cordiformis, and Siebòdiana, but only the first seems to have given any satisfactory results.

Reporter Bourne concludes, "The primary purpose of our research on rootstocks will be to obtain a hybrid of regia x nigra that will combine the resistance of nigra to the "pourridié" and regia's habit of vegetating late in spring.

By virtue of the ability of the female element to transmit its rusticity and vegetative form it seems, à priori, that we shall get a good rootstock by crossing nigra as mother by Franquette (sic) and then if need be, by backcrossing to Franquette in the second generation.

There exists a 4th type of walnut graft, dating from 1880, which if done intelligently, permits the rapid multiplication of the walnut—the root graft.

In a short but very interesting report to the Nut Congress of Grenoble in October, 1936 by Mr. Léon Treyves, and very kindly sent on to us, the author says, "This procedure, devised by my family around 1880, consists of grafting on one year old roots, branches from selected, vigorous trees, either by cleft or English grafts, whichever gives best fit of scion (which is generally smaller than root) and stock.Graft is then tied with raffia and waxed to avoid all contact with air and placed in a moderately heated frame.After a month of this treatment the graft has taken.Then it is gradually accustomed to open air and the frame is removed.In the fall or the following spring the graft may be planted in its permanent location or in nursery row.

This system presents numerous advantages:

1. Rapidity, since the plants can be grafted after one year, instead of three or four.

2. Economy of time and expense, since considerable numbers of grafts can be made rapidly and in limited space.

3. More rapid development of growth and fruiting. Saplings of 1 to 2 meters planted in winter of '28-'29 measured in October '36 25-27 cm. in circumference at one meter from ground. Trees two and three years old, still in nursery, are bearing one to two normally developed fruits.

The author indicates that he uses nigra for stocks, "since that is the only one that has proved its adaptation to grafting and its resistance to the "pus disease"."

At the time he gave his paper in '36 Mr. Treyves announced that he was continuing his grafting experiments on J.Sieboldiana, cordiformis and torreyi.[J.torreyi = J.major—J.C.McDaniel.]

Mr. Treyves, whom we cannot thank too much for his favor, was kind enough to set forth the preliminary techniques of his method of root-grafting.We give a resume of them here.

1.Preparation.Plant nuts well-spaced in rows in good soil, convenient to irrigation, if needed.Clean nuts of good quality, previously stratified, should be planted in winter.Plants are lifted before the following spring and heeled in.For scions wood of 7-8 cm.is cut from young, healthy and vigorous trees and passed to the grafter at the same time as the roots, which have been previously lifted, washed and cut off at the crown or a little below.Scion, bevelled, is set either in English or cleft graft, tied with raffia or with a numbered wool strip, waxed and potted in rich but light soil, moderately firmed around roots.Pots are then set in some homogeneous material (waste tan-bark or sawdust) and left in a moderately heated bed.

2.Care.Watering.Temperature of beds should be kept constant around grafts and they should be watered every other day.Of course, grass and mold should be prevented.

As soon as grafts begin to grow (usually around 15 days) the pots are gradually removed from sawdust, and when plants have made 15-20 cm.of growth (after 30-40 days) they are slowly hardened to air and sun, replanted in well-shaded beds, properly watered and cared for until they are set in nursery row.

3.Planting in nursery.The following spring they are set 60 cm.apart in nursery rows 1 m.apart in well-manured and well-prepared plots.Usual care during growth.With the 2nd year plants attain 1-1/4-1-1/2 m.and it is not uncommon to discover a nut.The 3rd year they make 2-1/2 m.at least with 8-12 cm.of girth and are ready for transplanting to permanent site.

4.Soils and situations.Mr. Treyves tells us that the walnut plantings in "lower Grésivuaudan" are on old alluvium of the Isère Valley and in limy marl soils of the upper slopes.A little farther away in Savoy, the walnut is vigorous in Jurassic or clay limestone soils.The same is true in Dordogne, in Corrèze, and in the Lot, where soils are of similar origin.

Walnuts are found at an average altitude of 600 m.but grow up to 1200 m.in Savoy, and particularly in Switzerland.

The best exposures are SW, W, and SE, sunny slopes, well protected from the north wind and late frosts.

Mr. Treyves has personally some plantings of walnut in Sologne, (where calcareous soils are lacking) and in Champagne, where the soils lack lime.He has noted that these trees grow and fruit normally.

Cultivation.It is important to keep soil around isolated trees well stirred and to increase the area of cultivation as the rootspread increases.

5.Rootstocks.For the present the plants chosen for stocks have come from nigra, the only one that has proved itself in the matter of "take".It does well in moist soils.

Mr. Treyves has personally tried to graft Mayette and Franquette on TorreyiHe has found the "take" and the union perfect.But even though vegetation is promising we must wait 22 years for a full test.

He proposes to lest all the "rootstocks placed at his disposal in order to acclimatize the good French varieties to all the soils which suit these stocks. Grafting on J.Torreyi will be useful to a [sera utile a un] stock that grows in dry soil, like nigra

"But that is a matter we shall have to examine again in ten years, first as regards vegetation and then in 20 years as concerns fruit production."

Since these experiments date from '36 at the time of the Grenoble Congress we have only 13 years to wait to learn what sort of fruit these trees will bear and only 5 to see how they behave vegetatively.

It remains, then, only to wish "good luck" to our kind and devoted correspondent and to thank him for his valuable documentation.

Pictorial Record of Grafting at Climax, Michigan

W. M. BECKERT, Jackson, Mich.

Top-working black walnuts to Persian Walnuts has long been practiced by various members of this organization.It is hoped by this series of Kodachrome slides that a record of such top-working by one of our members would be of interest and also show the details of just how the work is done under actual field conditions.

Mr. Gilbert Becker, of Climax, Michigan, has been quite successful in top-working black walnuts.Needless to say, these pictures were taken to show how an expert goes about grafting black walnuts.Mr. Becker was contacted as to when he would do his grafting and he mentioned that on May 80, 1953, he would be top-working his stock.Plans were made to be present on that date and we were fortunate in having bright weather for taking the pictures.

The first two slides show Mr. Becker removing the scionwood from his storage pit, selecting the scions and preparing to go out to do the grafting.On the way to the trees that were to be grafted, the pictures for the next two slides were taken to show the stage of leaf development and the length of the catkins of the Thomas Black Walnut, so members in other sections of the country can see how far out in leaf the Thomas variety was when the grafting was done.

The following series of slides show how Mr. Becker top-works the black walnuts.

First, removing that portion of the stock, note he used a pruning saw, makes a cut at the point where he wants to graft.He uses the bark slit method.The scion is shaped by one stroke of the grafting knife; a long slanting cut is made and the scion inserted in the stock.Just prior to placing the scion, the bark of the stock is slit, two cuts with the point of the knife, approximate width of the scion and down along the bark to the length the scion is to be inserted, then the scion is placed.The next step is to cut off the little sliver of bark which is pushed out, at the point where it does not contact the scion.In this tree, two scions were placed, the scions being wrapped tightly with waxed muslin which was prepared beforehand, using strips about one-half inch wide.Enough was used to firmly bind the scions to the stock.Please note that a small piece of wax muslin was placed on the inside of the scion to prevent the wax from going down between the scion and stock.The final step is waxing the scion and brushing with hot wax, in order to prevent the scion from drying out; to provide shade, Mr. Becker, in this case, used grass and made a hood over the scion, tying it with string.

The following slides show the same procedure of grafting other trees.You will note in one case he has climbed up into the branches of the tree.To shade the scions, he used aluminum foil, folded around the scion and tied with a rubber grafting strip.In all these pictures the scions used were Colby.

Mr. Becker is very adept, quick, and does the grafting so that it actually seems effortless.His technique is so fast, there is very little chance of the scion drying out before it is placed.

On July 26th, I returned to Climax and the grafts were successful, as you can see by the following series.The one failure was the first tree that was grafted, and which had the grass for shading of the scion.

Rock Phosphate for Nut Trees

HARRY P. BURGART, Union City, Mich.

My soil is of the sandy type and I have to watch the mineral content rather closely for nitrogen and phosphate deficiencies.Winter-killing of one year black walnut and pecan seedlings is serious during seasons when our winters are less severe than usual and during winters when we had had plenty of snow cover for protection.This worried me a great deal and I decided there must be a deficiency.Soil tests repeatedly showed a lack of phosphate.

I applied ground rock phosphate to my larger bearing English walnut trees and there has not been the least sign of winter injury since.

Many of my smaller nut trees have been bearing earlier for me since I have been using the phosphate.Customers who come here often remark at the way some of my little grafted trees are bearing crops and I tell them that I believe in keeping plenty of phosphate in the soil for root growth and nut production.

I am writing this brief article thinking that it might help solve the problems of other nut growers who have repeatedly been having trouble with winter-killing of their Carpathian, or English walnut trees.Phosphate seems to prevent a late sappy-condition from causing winter injury.

I prefer to apply the phosphate and nitrogen early in April or early May.Fall applications of any kind of fertilizer are apt to cause winter injury.I usually scatter the rock phosphate around the trees using about four handfuls around a first year tree.Then I turn over the sod bottom with a shovel, which puts the phosphate down where the roots can get it.I use the phosphate around all the young trees we set out and seldom lose a tree as the phosphate encourages the starting of new feeder roots on the nut trees.

A Report From Southern Minnesota

R. E. HODGSON, University of Minnesota, Southern School and Experiment
Station, Waseca, Minn.

We have 20 odd Carpathian walnut trees growing from nuts planted about 1931.So far, I have never seen a flower on any of them.They grow up 6 or 8 feet in a year and that seems to be their difficulty.They do not stop growing in time to harden off before cold weather comes.I think a lot of the winter killing is also due to sun scald which would indicate an inability to retain dormancy during a January thaw.Some of the trees have lived through two winters with only minor damage and then when the right conditions come along, they are killed to the ground.Wrapping the trunks with aluminum foil has not solved the problem.I have purchased one or two grafted trees which were recommended as more hardy but so far they have had the same experience as the one I grew from nuts.

Black walnut and hickory do well here and I have a hiccan perhaps 20 feet tall but it has never borne any nuts.Chinese chestnuts are not entirely hardy and grow very slowly.This year I set out about 20 American chestnuts from Minnesota grown seed and I hope that we are far enough from other trees of this variety to escape the blight.Tree growing is just a hobby and lately there has been very little time for hobbies.

Chestnut Breeding

Report for 1953

ARTHUR HARMOUNT GRAVES and HANS NIENSTAEDT, The Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut

The chief aim of this breeding work, which has been carried on now without interruption since 1930, is to develop a tall timber type of chestnut by breeding the American species with the blight resistant but comparatively low-growing Japanese and Chinese chestnuts, Castanea crenata and C.mollissima, respectively. Practically all trees of our valuable American chestnut of any appreciable size have now been killed to the ground by the blight fungus, Endothia parasiticaShoots arising from the base of the old stumps often live long enough to bear pollen, and this we have lately been forced to use in our breeding work with the disadvantage that we can not know definitely the nature of the genotype of the pollen parent.American pollen from a good phenotype near Washington, D.C., was kindly furnished us in the early 30's by the then Office of Forest Pathology of the U.S.D.A., and this stock is now incorporated with our older Japanese-American and Chinese-American hybrids.

As indicated in the following pages, we are not neglecting the nut-bearing potentialities of the chestnut tree.

Weather Conditions in 1953

The disastrous ice storm of the 9th and 10th of January caused slight damage to some of the Chinese trees.Their numerous, more or less horizontal branches and characteristically brittle wood make them prone to damage of this sort; nevertheless, only a few branches were lost.After a comparatively warm February, the warmest since 1925, March brought us more rain than for any March in the 81 years records have been kept[3]—a total of 10.78 inches.This was all to the good, as later events proved.Because of the preceding warm February the ground was for the most part unfrozen, so that, instead of running off, the water was largely absorbed in the soil, and thus added to the water table.The precipitation of April was again heavy—5.6 inches—the normal per month for this area being about 3-1/2 inches.After an unusually good growing season in May, June and July, about the middle of August a long drought of nearly 10 weeks duration commenced.The conditions were similar to those in 1952, except that in that year the drought began later, in October.However, the large amount of water in the soil from the spring rains prevented serious consequences, just as in 1952 the heavy rainfall in August and the normal one in September mitigated any serious results from the later drought of that year.

[3] Weather records are taken from the monthly reports of the municipal airport at New Haven, Conn., and are compared with the New York City records for the same period, kept by the U.S.Weather Bureau at 17 Battery Place, New York City.

Hybrids of 1953

As in former years we continued the formation of hybrids of the combination C×J×A[4] which has to date given the most resistant individuals and the best timber form.277 hybrid nuts of this combination were obtained by crossing JA with C, and C with JA.JA×J crossed with C yielded 25 nuts.CJA crossed with pollen from the Roxbury Americans gave 20 nuts.The Chinese-American hybrids are also promising both in form and in blight resistance.By crossing these with American pollen from Thomaston, Conn., and from Clinton Corners, N.Y., we secured 48 nuts.CA crossed with a good native American in Thomaston, Conn., resulted in 30 nuts, and the same combination using an American in Newfoundland, N.J., produced 9 nuts.The total number of nuts derived from all crosses was 504, a much smaller figure than that for the two preceding years.The reason for this is that considerable time was consumed in experiments designed to determine the length of the receptive period in the pistils.

[4] C = Chinese, J = Japanese, A = American chestnut.

The 1953 nut production (Table I) compared well with last year's.The total yields were as good as, or better than, the 1952 crop and the average weight per nut was not significantly lower than in 1952.Apparently the late summer and fall drought had no effect on nut yields and average weights.Obviously we have the warm winter and abundant early rains to thank for this situation.

Table I. Natural Yield of Nuts (open pollinations) From Sample Trees.

 ——————————————————————————————————————
                                   Total yield Av.                                    weight per Approximate
 Age in Species Location in lbs.  nut in grams no.  of nuts
 years 1952 1953 1952 1953 per lb.  [A]
 ——————————————————————————————————————
  23 C.crenta 13-2 27.5 43.3 14.5 14.0 32
  27 C.mollissima 1-3 22.2 20.8 10.6 10.5 43
  27 C.mollissima 1-9 28.2 26.2 9.9 9.7 46
  27 C.mollissima 1-15 6.8[B] 20.6 12.9 11.7 39
 ——————————————————————————————————————
 A.  based on the 1953 weights
 B.  a considerable part of crop lost before it was collected

Fig 1.gives a fair idea of the extremes in size of the Japanese chestnut.Since the smaller size is probably close to that of the wild chestnut in Japan, the figure illustrates what has been done by the centuries of selection and cultivation that the chestnut has undergone in Japan.

[Illustration: Fig 1. Nuts of C.crenata, Japanese chestnut, showing approximately the limits of size in the species.Left: from a tree on Long Island, N.Y, owned by Mr. John Vertichio.Right: from one of our forest type Japanese trees given to us by the Office of Forest Pathology in 1930 and now growing at the Sleeping Giant Plantation, Hamden, Conn.The tree is probably representative of the wild type of nuts in Japan—a little larger than the native American chestnut.However, it is probable that smaller nuts of the Japanese species exist.About 1/2 natural size.Photo by B.W.McFarland, Conn.Agric.Expt.Sta., Nov.27, 1953.]

Anent the large nuts in the photograph, which weigh about an ounce apiece or about 28 g. (compare figures in table I), Mr. Ferguson, Instructor at the Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute, through whom we received the nuts, states that "the nuts of the seedlings from the tree do not average better than half the size of those of the parent tree." This illustrates the fact, now well known, that the chestnut tree is self sterile. Nuts are always (with exceptions) a result of fertilization of the flowers with the pollen from another tree.

We should like to reproduce this tree in our plantations, but the only way it can be done is by grafting scions of it on to some other, preferably Japanese, stock, or by rooting cuttings from it—a method which we still have not been able to accomplish readily.

Moll-Seg, or Chinese Prolific

In the report of the senior writer for 1934 (Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record 24:62) it was stated: "In our form of the Chinese chestnut only one, if any, bur appears at the base of the flowering branch. The dwarf species, C.seguini, from eastern and central China, on the other hand, is most prolific; and in addition, blooms from June to October. It will be seen that crosses of these two species may produce valuable breeding stock." As a result of this cross, made in 1934, we obtained seven nuts, and from these nuts we have today, nineteen years later, four trees, three of which have shown marked blight resistance. One of these three is much larger, partaking more in its stature and form of the character of its Chinese parent, and in contrast to the latter, bears burs and nuts in profusion, usually clustered at the ends of the branches. (Fig. 2). The nuts are small but of good flavor. It is a good nut tree, not suitable for timber. However, as we stated in our 1951-2 report, it is subject to considerable twig blight, caused by the attacks of the weak parasite, Cryptodiaporthe castanea (Tul.) Wehmeyer, and this is due apparently to the influence of its tender parent, the Seguin chestnut, which habitually dies back in the winter. The parasite easily enters the dying ends of the twigs. We should like to see this tree tried out in a warmer climate—Georgia, Florida, Alabama, etc. Possibly it might prove adaptable to a southern European environment. [5]

[5] Systematic descriptions of this and other valuable chestnut hybrids are being prepared for publication.

Pollen Receptivity of Female Flowers

Chestnut is monecious.The flowers are borne on the present year's growth in long catkins.These are of two distinct types; near the base of the flowering branch they consist of male flowers only.The catkins near the apex, on the other hand, are bisexual; pistillate flowers are found, solitary or in clusters of two or three, near the base of this type of catkin.The remainder of the catkin bears male flowers similar to those on the all-male catkins.

The unisexual male catkins are the first to start flowering and not until two to three weeks later will the male flowers of the bisexual catkins be in full bloom.Normally, the pistillate flowers will reach full development sometime between these two periods of pollen shedding.

The Length of the Receptivity Period.—During the summer of 1953 an experiment was conducted to determine more definitely when the pistils became receptive and how long they remain in this condition.Two Chinese, two Japanese and two hybrid chestnuts of the combination (Jap.x C.pumila) x Jap., the so-called S8xJ, were used as the females in the study.Emasculation and bagging was done at the beginning of anthesis, that is, when the first unisexual male catkins began to shed pollen.Three different pollen sources were used on each female parent; they were of the same species or hybrid combination as the female.The following diagram shows the pollination schedule used.

Pollen source Time of pollination in days No. after beginning of anthesis 5 9 13 17 22 ———————————————————————- 1 X X X 2 X X X 3 X X X

For example, the Chinese female trees were pollinated with pollen from three other Chinese trees (in the diagram "Pollen source No.1, 2 and 3), which open their anthers on successively later dates.This pollination schedule was used to avoid prolonged storing of the pollen.

[Illustration: Fig. 2. Showing, above, C.mollissima, Chinese chestnut, left, and C.seguini, seguin chestnut, right, parents of mollissima × seguini hybrid below. Note clustered burs in hybrid—more than twice the number appearing in the mollissima parent. Leaves and habit of tree resemble more the mollissima parent. About 1/6 natural size. Photo by B. W. McFarland, Conn. Agric. Expt. Sta. , Sept. 25, 1953.]

To carry on pollination the bags are removed and the pollen-bearing catkins are brushed lightly over the stigmas several times, one or more fresh catkins being used in each bag.These catkins are left in the bag.The bags are then replaced and permanently removed when danger of outcrossing is eliminated, in this case 10-14 days after the last pollination.

The number of nuts collected at the time of harvesting compared with the number of female flowers pollinated was taken as a measure of how successful the pollinations were.

The results showed that five days after the commencement of anthesis a high proportion of the female flowers is receptive.The Japanese and hybrid trees have a definite peak of the period of receptivity between 9 and 17 days after anthesis begins; thereafter, receptivity drops off sharply.The data from the Chinese trees indicated that the period of maximum receptivity is longer than in the Japanese and hybrid chestnuts tested.They maintained full receptivity on the 22nd day after the beginning of anthesis.

It is commonly believed that bagging as well as emasculation may seriously affect the yield from controlled pollination.This is not always the case.One of the Japanese trees and one hybrid tree (S8 × J) yielded fully as many nuts from controlled (under best conditions) as from open pollination.On all other trees the effect of bagging was more or less adverse.

The Effect of Emasculation on Nut Yield

Emasculation involves the removal of the unisexual male catkins and the male part of the bisexual catkins.In the course of the controlled pollination work it has often been found that the female flowers drop off in the bag before the burs start to develop.This has especially been encountered in Japanese × American hybrids and back-crosses.It was thought that this perhaps was due to injuries resulting from emasculation.The following small experiment was carried out in order to determine if this was actually true.

A Japanese × American and a Japanese × (Japanese × American) hybrid were used as the female parents.On these trees some flowering branches were bagged which had been emasculated normally, on other branches only the unisexual catkins were removed, while the bisexual catkins were left intact.Some branches were bagged without any emasculation, and some flowering branches were just tagged.The number of female flowers was counted in all cases.Pollinations were performed 3 times, that is, were repeated on the third and fifth day after the first pollination.This is the procedure ordinarily used for our controlled pollinations.Chinese pollen was used on both trees.Nut set expressed as per cent of the number of pollinated flowers, times three, (because ordinarily there are 3 nuts in every bur) was taken as a measure of how successful the pollinations had been.The results are shown in Table 2.