IS THERE A FUTURE FOR JUGLANS REGIA AND HICORIA PECAN IN NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND?

John Craig, Ithaca, N. Y.

[Read by title.]

It is common knowledge that there have been frequent instances of the successful fruitage of Persian walnuts throughout the entire Northeast. The evidence is forthcoming in attractive samples of nuts. Specimens have been received during the past two years from New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the lake region of New York, as well as the Hudson River section. So far as I am aware, however, Hicoria pecan has not fruited to any extent further north and east than southern Indiana.

Is it not remarkable that so little effort has been made to extend the natural range of this superb native nut northward?

The fruiting habits of Juglans regia may be regarded as fickle, depending in some cases upon pollination, in others upon climatic conditions at the blooming time. One of its defects is its decided proterandrous habit, which seriously affects pollination and fruit setting. In general, the Persian walnut is capable of cultivation in all safe peach growing sections. Yet in the Gulf States the complaint is made that it is too readily susceptible to stimulating influences of warm weather in the spring. Again, the roots in that section are affected by fungi and insects. Notwithstanding these charges, there should be a future in the North, as well as in the South, for this fine nut. It is hardly to be expected that success is to be attained in all sections of the country by using exclusively the material, by this I mean the strains and races, we have at the present time. For instance, in the South the root trouble is peculiar to that section, and it is probable that the root difficulties spoken of may be overcome by using native stocks in grafting and budding. The blooming habits, however, can only be modified by the relatively slow process of breeding.

In the North, nature has already provided us with foundation material for the improvement of Juglans regia. We have many promising varieties that have appeared more or less fortuitously here and there over the country. It is conceded that all of these do not possess the full range of desirable qualities, but they are sufficiently attractive certainly to challenge the best efforts of the plant breeder. We are encouraged too by such experiences as has come to us in the crossing of regia with allied species. A number of crosses of regia and nigra are recorded from the Pacific Coast. Burbank, Payne, and others have made notable progress in this line. It is a question, however, whether this line offers as certain reward as breeding in narrower lines, using the best individuals of Juglans regia which have come to us more or less by chance. The latter appears to me as the best field to operate.

Among the requirements in the Northeast, it may be said that we need hardiness of tree, coupled with a determinate habit of blooming, more than any other characteristics. Of course it goes without saying that we need thin shells, well filled with palatable meat. The work of Messrs. Pomeroy of Lockport, N. Y., J. G. Rush of West Willow, Pa., and other individuals in the Northeast is worthy of all encouragement. Wherever Persian walnuts are producing good nuts here in the Northeast, the best specimens of the best individual trees should be planted in the strong hope of improving the strain. There should be a first rate promise of success in this field, for many of our walnuts are fruiting as individual trees, standing alone and isolated, and therefore, are probably self-fertilized, a circumstance which may assist in shortening the process of improvement by breeding.

Hicoria Pecan. This is undoubtedly the best of all the native nuts, and the most worth while improving. The great popularity which this form of hickory enjoys in the South is undoubtedly due in considerable measure to the fact that it is adapted to a considerable range of territory. This adaptation is the natural acquirement of many years' evolution.

At this time of the year, one sees in fruiterers' shops in New York and other cities appetizing looking baskets, containing cracked shagbarks and pecans. These nuts are enjoying a large share of popularity at the hands of the consumers. As these two forms are exhibited together, the observer may note the essential good qualities of each, and he may make a mental picture of the possibilities of a union which would eliminate the undesirable features and combine the desirable. The lack of hardiness of the pecan would be strengthened by the hardy northern form, while the breeder would aim to retain the excellent flavors of each, the good qualities of meat, but enclosed by a covering of paper shell texture. We want the hardiness and adaptability of the shellbark, combined with the thin shell, the excellent cracking qualities, and the pleasant flavors of the pecan. Here is a truly attractive field. The fact that returns may be rather slow in maturing should not deter the plant breeder, for sometimes prizes come quickly. Of course the field is one which appeals more strongly to the institution of indefinite life tenure than to the individual whose years of activity are relatively brief.

What nature has done in the way of extending the range of the pecan northward has been clearly set forth in the excellent paper presented by Mr. Littlepage. This indigenous movement from the natural zone of the pecan towards the North and East has undoubtedly been infinitely slow. The important fact has been established, however, that not only has nature extended the natural range in the directions indicated, but Mr. Littlepage has shown that here and there a variety of exceptional merit has appeared, fortuitously and without assistance or guidance from man. These superior varieties are being placed under observation by interested nut enthusiasts like Messrs. Littlepage, Niblack, and McCoy, and others, who are not only studying the nut in its native haunts, but are experimenting with methods of propagation so that we may confidently look forward to a stable supply of these natural selections in the years near at hand.

Here, then, we have the material for founding new races of northern nuts by combining them with our best hardy hickories. Who will gainsay the prophecy that not far distant is the day when we may expect new hybrid strains of great economical importance arising from the union of our northern hickories with the most northerly forms of the pecan? Shall we designate these hybrids as "shellcans," "shagcans," or "hickcans," after the nomenclatural methods of present day plant breeders? The splendid work of our President in the interbreeding of northern types of nuts gives us strong hope to expect results of this nature.

In the matter of propagation we have learned certain essential fundamentals. First and most important is the firmly established fact that southern, pecan stocks are unsafe and generally unreliable in the region of the northern hickory. We must grow our own stocks from northern nuts. We must propagate by using home grown material exclusively, and as to methods of propagation, it is probable that we can follow in general the practice of the southern nurseryman, but unquestionably modifications in procedure will arise out of the sum of our experience which will tend each year to bring a larger measure of success.

This Association will perform an invaluable service in collecting these various experiences, winnowing the sound from the unsound, and disseminating safe deductions and reliable principles to the rapidly increasing band of nut culturists throughout the region of its activities. Our second session has been an unqualified success. May this meeting be surpassed in respect to enthusiasm manifested, experience and knowledge disseminated, by each of the annual conferences to be held in the years to come.

President Morris: Discussion as to the next place of meeting is in order.

Mr. Rush: I would certainly be very glad to entertain the Northern Nut Growers' Association at Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, and will assure you in advance that I will give you the best hospitality that the country can afford. We have now associated with the walnut interests in Lancaster County Mr. Jones of Jeanerette, Louisiana, who has been through that section and is pleased with the work that is being done there. I think it may be policy for the Association to meet there. We can have our night session, and be absent several hours in the morning and look over some of the work. Mr. Jones contemplates topgrafting hickory trees at his new home, and we can have the opportunity of seeing with what success he meets.

The Association voted to accept Mr. Rush's invitation.

President Morris: We will hear the report of the Committee on Resolutions.