BY-LAWS (continued 3)

Summary

Soil factors for tree growth are physical, chemical and biological. To control the organisms of soils and plants is probably the most difficult problem in microbiology. It is not wise to alternate neglect with feverish attention when blights or other pests become epidemic or threatening. They may be of a nutritional, preventable rather than curable nature. Pathology and tree nutrition may as well become a constant part of your activities.

References to the Literature

1. BEESON, K. C. The Mineral Composition of Crops U.S.D.A. Bulletin No. 369. March, 1941

2. FEARON, W. R. A Classification of the Biological Elements Sci. Proc. Royal Dublin Soc. Vol. 20 No. 35. February, 1933

3. WISCHHUSEN, J. F. Minerals in Agricultural and in Animal Husbandry Manganese Research & Development Foundation Cleveland 10, Ohio

4. RODALE, J. I. The Organic Forest—Editorial Organic Gardening, Emmaus, Pa. April, 1945, pp. 4-9

5. SCARSETH, GEORGE D. Growing Bananas on Acid SoilsAgriculture in the Americas, Vol. IV. October, 1944, No. 10

6. RAYNER, M. C. and NEILSON-JONES, W. Problems of Tree Nutrition Faber and Faber, Lt. London

7. ROACH, W. A. Soil Fertility and Trace Elements Soil Conservation, Washington. October, 1945 Condensed in Farmer's Digest, Ambler, Pa. January, 1946

8. CAMP, A. F. The Minor Elements in Citrus Fertilization Commercial Fertilizer, Atlanta, Ga. January, 1945

9. CHAPMAN, H. D.; BROWN, S. M.; and RAYNER, D. S. Nutrient Deficiencies in Citrus California Citrograph, May, 1945

10. McLEAN, F. T. Feeding Plants Manganese through the Stomata Science 66 (1927). Exp. Sta. Rec No. 58

11. SPRAY AND DUST SCHEDULES, Published Annually Florida Citrus Commission, Lakeland, Fla.

12. BRAUCHER, O. L. and SOUTHWICK, B. W. Correction of Manganese Deficiency Symptoms of Walnut Trees Proc. Horticultural Science 39. 133—6. 1941

13. McCOLLUM, E. V. ORENT-KEILES The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition. Fifth Edition The MacMillan Company, pp. 661-2

14. HOAGLAND, D. R. Inorganic Nutrition of Plants Chronic Botanica, 1944, pp. 32-3

15. HUNGER SIGNS OF CROPS—A Symposium National Fertilizer Assn. Washington, D. C. 1941 Judd & Detwiler, Baltimore, Md.

16. BLACKMON, G. H. Variety and Stock Tests of Pecan and Walnut Trees Florida Agr. Exp. Sta. Annual Report 1936, 75 (1937)

17. BLACKMON, G. H. Pecan Variety Response to Different Soil Types, Localities: Zinc Treatments Florida Agr. Exp. Sta. Ann. Rep. 1935, 74-5, (1936)

18. ARK, P. A. Little Leaf or Rosette of Fruit Trees VII. Soil Microflora and Little Leaf or Rosette Disease Proc. Amer. Soc. of Horticultural Sci. 34, 218-21. 1937

19. ROHRBAUGH, P. W. Mineral Nutrient Deficiencies in California Citrus Trees and their Causes California Citrograph, April-May, 1946

20. WHITE, CLARENCE Decorative Rock Mulches Organic Gardening, November, 1945—Emmaus, Pa.

21. RIOU, PAUL and DELORME, JOACHIM Manganese in Maple and Cane Sugars Comptes Rendues 200 1132-3 (1935) C.A. 294617

22. DELORME, JOACHIM Manganese in Maple and Cane Sugars Contrib. Lab. del'Ecole Hautes Etudes Comm. Montreal No. 7, page 32 1937

23. BAUDISCH, OSKAR Biological Functions of Minor Elements Soil Sci. Vol. 60 No. 2 August, 1945

24. ELLIS, CARLETON; SWANEY, MILLER. W. Soilless Growth of Plants Reinhold Publishing Co. 1938

24. WILLIS, L. G. and PILAND, J. R. Minor Elements and Major Soil Problems Jour. Amer. Soc. Agronomy. 30—385—874 (1938)

26. HAAS, A. R. C. Walnut Yellow in Relation to Ash Composition, Manganese, Iron and Ash Constituents Bot. Gazette 94 (1933) E.S.R. 69, 511

27. WISCHHUSEN, J. F. Recommendations for Feeding Manganese Manganese Research & Development Foundation, Cleveland 10, Ohio

Nut Tree Propagation As a Hobby for a Chemist

By Dr. E. M. Shelton, Cleveland, Ohio

Not so long ago we saw a movie by the title of "Cluny Brown." The heroine was possessed with a passion for repairing plumbing, but was continually inhibited by well-meaning relatives who told her that she "didn't know her place." A scene early in the story shows Cluny on the floor under a stopped-up kitchen sink explaining her problem to a sympathetic professor who states a philosophy something like this. "To be happy, one should not have to be bound by what is appropriate. If it is customary to throw nuts to the squirrels and you prefer to throw squirrels to the nuts, it should be all right to throw squirrels to the nuts."

It is obviously not always advisable to be so unconventional, but it seems to me that in matters pertaining to one's hobby it should be permissable to throw "squirrels to the nuts."

A hobby, like a shadow, is necessarily a very personal thing. Without the person with which it is associated it could not exist. Therefore, I feel that it is appropriate to present throughout this paper a liberal use of the pronoun in the first person.

Years ago, as a boy on an Ohio farm, I tried repeatedly, without success, to graft on small hickory trees along the river bank scions from one especially good tree that stood out in a cultivated field. Time that followed was too crowded for further attempts at nut tree propagation until about fifteen years ago, when, living in Connecticut, I bought a grafted walnut, a Thomas, and set out to produce more like it. Before we left Connecticut, I had been able to present grafted walnut trees to many of my neighbors who had persisted, hitherto, in calling hickory-nuts "walnuts." They would listen with some show of interest while I expounded on my enthusiasm for black walnuts, but sooner or later would inevitably ask, "Do you mean the shagbark kind?"

Last summer we drove back to Connecticut for a brief visit, and, on calling at the home of one of these friends, we found that the first nut borne on their Thomas tree had been carefully saved. Forthwith there was a solemn nut-cracking ceremony, and all present tasted the meat and pronounced it good. We hope that that tree and many others will thrive for years to come to add to the bonds of friendship with these neighbors we have known.

Lately I have arranged my work so that we may once again live in Ohio not too far from my boyhood home. Last year I tried once again to graft along the hillside scions from that prized hickory, and this time six out of seven grafts have grown.

My field of work has been that of a chemist, engaged in industrial problems related to animal and plant products. Hence, my hobby and my day's work are productive of mutually helpful ideas. The literature which I review frequently contains suggestions applicable to the various phases of tree propagation. Though a few references are quoted in the bibliography at the end of this paper, these are for illustration only and comprise a very small number of those which have appeared.

My experiments in nut tree propagation have been reported from time to time in the yearbooks of the N.N.G.A. and I intend in the remainder of this paper only to outline problems under a number of general headings in which I am particularly interested, and give some indication of procedures which seem worth while investigating.

An important phase of nut growing to which I have given little attention is the search for new varieties. I find my interest in this aspect growing as I associate with the group of nut growers in Ohio, who through prize contests and active personal work are trying to discover superior nut trees in nature, yet I do not find in this the opportunity I seek for experimentation unless it may be in the matter of hybridization.

Rootstock Propagation

Rootstocks for walnuts and hickories are very easily grown from seed. Chestnuts are grown with variable success, and it would seem that particular care in drainage of the seed bed, and possibly the use of one of the seed fungicides, should improve chestnut germination.

The present trend in the propagation of fruit trees is toward selection of particularly suitable rootstocks. Do some nut tree seedlings accept grafts more readily than others? We do not know. Numerous writers have discussed the idea of varying degrees of compatibility of rootstocks with scions and Jones[1] has brought together considerable evidence to relate incompatibility among plants with something parallel to allergy in animals. Initial growth of the scion leads to a flow of foreign bodies into the stock. The theory is advanced that the stock develops antitoxins to these foreign bodies which succeed in killing the scion a few weeks later.

If a particular strain of nut tree stock is some day found to be of particular value for grafting, or for propagation of a disease resistant type, as in the chestnut, the propagation of such stock vegetatively would be essential. A present illustration is the series of Malling apple rootstocks which are grown from cuttings.

I have tried many times to grow chestnuts from cuttings with no success. A few experiments now in progress are limited to Malling IX apple stocks which I assume are not especially difficult to root. I am trying several modifications of a principle of making the cuttings at some time after girdling the stem. The hope is that in this way there will be accumulated at the base of the cutting more than the usual reserve of nutritive elements together with whatever plant wound hormones and plant growth substances the twig is capable of synthesizing.

Scion Storage

In earlier papers I described the use of sodium sulfate crystals (Glauber's salt) for controlling the humidity in scion storage. This season I have adapted the practice to the shipping of fresh walnut bud sticks. A sack of Glauber's salt in the bottom of the mailing tube keeps the cuttings moist, and if, in addition, the container is kept in a refrigerator when not actually in transit, the buds have been kept in condition for use up to twenty-five days.

A low temperature is essential in storage of any scions. Variations in this factor may have been the cause of some of the objections which have been raised to the practice of coating scions with wax when they go into storage. If wax is to be applied over a scion, it can be done more uniformly and in a thinner coating by immersion of the scion in melted wax. The scion so coated seems to be in better condition than an uncoated scion when it comes out of storage provided the storage temperature has been low. However, if the wood has not been kept dormant by low temperature, gases are evolved which form blisters under the wax and injure the scion. It is quite probable that a wax coating then aggravates this damage.

Grafting and Budding

Until this year I had not tried budding, and have gotten into it first of all to learn whether an ordinary laboratory cork borer is not a usable substitute for a patch bud cutter. It seems to do very well. The patches are small, but as an aid in tieing them in I prepared short strips of painter's masking tape with a thin coat of a plastic grafting wax on one side. In the center of each piece of tape is a hole just large enough for the bud to show through. The tape is pressed on over the bud patch, after which the usual binding with rubber strips is applied.

The whole technic of budding is fascinating and I plan to experiment as extensively next season as time and stock permit.

Wax and Tape

In 1937, Shear[2] published a report on a number of wound dressings for trees in which he observed that lanolin exerts a marked action in stimulating cambial growth. This led me to try various wax combinations in which lanolin was incorporated, and a mixture of equal parts of lanolin and beeswax has become the base for most of my experimental grafting wax mixtures. I have commented already on the importance of incorporating an opaque ingredient to exclude light. Experiments in progress this season have had to do with introduction of green vs. red dye and with the incorporation of a wax soluble pyrridyl mercuric stearate[3] as a fungicide.

I have recommended painter's masking tape for tying in scions in all cases in which moderate tension is sufficient. A winding of such a tape of course excludes the grafting wax from contact with the line of cambial contact, so any favorable action which any ingredient in the wax might have must be largely interfered with. If a tape is prepared with a thin coating of plastic grafting wax on one side to serve as the adhesive, it should be possible to bring the wax into contact with the cut cambial surface without, however, introducing such a mass of wax as would make its way between stock and scion and interfere with contact.

Nutrition

My own field of work has recently changed to nutrition, infant feeding, and I shall undoubtedly come to have more of an understanding of plant nutrition as well as of babies as I study longer on this subject.

Our recollections of the "good old days" are often mistaken, but I think there is no doubt that the nut trees bore more and better nuts when I was a boy than we can find now. Can it be a matter of nutritional failure?

The first consideration in plant nutrition seems to be the water supply, and perhaps in many localities the water table has fallen sufficiently to threaten our trees with malnutrition.

The supply of the common mineral elements may or may not be adequate. These elements should not be difficult to supply. The matter of the trace elements and their significance catches our fancy at present and many of us will undoubtedly begin to explore the effect of this or that panacea for restoring a favorite old tree to a second youth.

Medication

It is only a step from the consideration of nutrition of a plant or animal to that of medication. Remedial agents are readily introduced into plants, either through the roots, or by spray on the foliage, or by direct injection into the trees. Going a little further, such methods become means of killing trees.

A few years ago, I became interested in killing trees in a way which would prevent sprouting and also protect the wood to some extent from insect attack and decay organisms. More recently my interest has turned toward the use of hygroscopic chemicals injected in the living tree for the purpose, not only of killing the tree, but of preventing the wood from cracking radially or drying. A number of government publications[4-10] have contributed information along this line.

To inject enough chemical to accomplish this purpose it seems necessary to introduce the chemical solution through a cut the depth of the sap wood and extending entirely around the tree. A collar of water-proof paper cemented to the tree provides a means of supplying the chemical solution to the cut. All this is described in the literature cited. The only contribution I have made is the use of urea in the solutions.

Many salts are more soluble in a water solution of urea than in water alone, and many such mixtures are very hygroscopic. Moreover, it seems that in the presence of urea higher concentrations of salt may be introduced into the sap stream of trees, though I do not as yet have experimental data to confirm this statement quantitatively.

An example of a solution injected into a small ash tree is as follows:

90 grams urea

120 grams copper sulfate crystals

300 cubic centimeters water

I hope in another year to cure a number of varieties of woods on the stump and later to compare their qualities in the shop with lumber cured in the usual way.

By-Products

Any object as juicy and colorful as a black walnut hull may well become a subject for search in recovery of by-products. The thermally active carbon made from the shells has actuated laboratory thermostats for me for several years.

But more real and immediate by-products have been the personal associations which have arisen from this hobby. Physicians, engineers, teachers, farmers, persons from every calling are among those whom I have met through a common interest in nut tree propagation. I can recommend this hobby to anyone mature enough to take an interest in the future, and to chemists in particular.

Bibliography

1. W. NEILSON JONES Plant Chimaeras and Graft Hybrids Methuen and Company, London

2. SHEAR-LANOLIN As a Wound Dressing for Trees Proc. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 34, 286-8 (1937)

3. HORNER, KOPPA and HERBST—Mercurial Fungicide Wax Problems Ind. Eng. Chem, 37 1069-73 (1945)

4. U. S. BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE—E-409—June 1937. A method for preventing insect injury to material used for posts, poles, and rustic construction.

5. E-434—May 1938, An efficient method for introducing liquid chemicals into living trees.

6. E-467—February 1939, Chemicals and methods used in treatments of trees by injections, with annotated bibliography.

7. Conn. Agr. Expt. Sta.—Cir. No. 123—July, 1938 The use of water soluble preservatives in preventing decay in fence posts and similar materials.

8. U. S. D. A.—Cir. No. 605—June, 1941 The internal application of chemicals to kill elm trees and prevent bark-beetle attack.

9. FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY—November, 1938 A primer on the chemical seasoning of Douglas fir.

10. REPRINT FROM JOURNAL OF FORESTRY—Vol. 35—March, 1937 (Procured from Forest Products Laboratory) Seasoning transverse tree sections without checking.

Notes on Propagation and Transplanting in Western Tennessee

By Joseph C. McDaniel, State Horticulturist

Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Nashville 3, Tennessee

These observations are presented as a preliminary report of the results obtained by three enterprising amateurs of nut growing in the western counties of Tennessee, whose work points the way toward overcoming some of the weaknesses previously encountered in nut culture in the northern part of the cotton belt states. These growers are the "three R's" of our Association in west Tennessee: Dr. Aubrey Richards of Whiteville, Mr. George Rhodes of Covington, and Mr. W. F. Roark of Malesus. I am giving this brief account of some of their experiences, with the hope that it will stimulate others to try their methods under various conditions, and to report their results at later N.N.G.A. meetings. We do not expect these methods to work equally well in all parts of the United States and Canada represented here today, but they are giving promising results in the mid-South territory, and perhaps will have value in a wider area. As Mr. Davidson has so ably done at this meeting in the case of his Ohio plantings, we expect to give you a follow-up report on this work in west Tennessee at the Toronto meeting or later.

"Twin-T" Budding in Chestnut Propagation

Of the nut trees grown in this area, the chestnut has been the most difficult to propagate by budding. Nurseries in the upper South have propagated their pecan and walnut trees mostly by patch-budding or the similar ring-budding method, with very good success. When applied to chestnuts, patch-buds have seldom grown. The common T-bud, likewise, has been a general failure on chestnuts in America, though reported successful in Japan. Chip-buds have not been much-better.

Several years ago, Dr. Max B. Hardy told me that the inlay bark-graft had been used successfully with Chinese chestnuts at the U.S.D.A, laboratory in Albany, Ga., following Dr. B. G. Sitton's use of this method with pecans in Louisiana. (It is described in a bulletin from Michigan State College, East Lansing, Mich.) I tried it in a small way, and had some success using it on chestnuts in July and August. This spring I suggested it to Mr. Roark and Dr. Richards, both of whom tried it out, using Castanea mollissima stocks and various scion varieties.

Mr. Roark used the inlay bark-graft in the spring, topworking a C. mollissima seedling with scions of the Colossal, a hybrid variety from California. About 50 per cent of these have grown this year. Dr. Richards tried it during July, on C. mollissima seedlings from a different source. None of the Colossal would grow on his trees, but he was partially successful with scions of the C. mollissima varieties, Hobson, Carr and Zimmerman. He then devised a variation in the method which was highly successful with C. mollissima varieties. This I shall call the Richards "Twin-T" bud.

In "Twin-T" budding, a vertical slit is made in the bark of the stock. Then horizontal cuts are made through the bark at both top and bottom of the vertical cut. The bud piece is cut from the well matured part of a current season's twig, leaving a rather thick slice of wood beneath the bud. (It may be as thick as half the diameter of the twig.) The bud is inserted in the stock as in ordinary T-budding, then wrapped with a large sized rubber budding strip. (Westinghouse electrician's tape and Curity adhesive tape have also been used. Some other brands poisoned the buds.) The "take" of Chinese chestnut buds by this method has run from 60 to 90 per cent on Dr. Richards' trees of various sizes this year. In a short nursery row, buds were placed under first or second year bark, while larger trees were topworked by placing the buds mostly under the bark of second year limbs.

The Colossal failed again on Dr. Richards' trees when budded by the "Twin-T" method, but Carr and other Chinese varieties were budded successfully. The graft-compatibility problem in chestnuts is one of considerable complexity. Thus Carr, which has presented incompatibility with certain stocks of C. mollissima at other places, grew on these trees, and Colossal, compatible on another C. mollissima tree, failed on trees which are apparently compatible with Carr. The Chinese chestnut species varies in its graft-compatibilities possibly as much as in other characteristics (growth, productivity, size and quality of nuts, etc.) so that nut nurserymen should begin to select their seed for chestnut understocks with a view toward getting strains with a greater degree of compatibility to the leading scion varieties.

Mr. Roark has been able to propagate the Colossal upon its own roots by layering a small tree in his orchard. Two limbs pegged into the ground in the spring of 1945 had produced roots a year later, and were then detached from the parent tree. This is a slow but sure method of propagating nut tree varieties that are not congenial with the stocks available for grafting or budding. He has also layered sweet cherries and prune trees by this method which is described in U.S.D.A. Farmers Bulletin 1501 with reference to filberts.

A Heartnut Variety Compatible with Black Walnut Stocks

Seedling black walnuts are common on farms of west Tennessee. Dr. Richards and Mr. Rhodes have been most active in showing that these can be topworked readily to improved black walnut varieties under the conditions prevailing there. Mr. Rhodes has also fruited such older Persian walnut varieties as Lancaster, Mayette, and Franquette on black walnut stocks, but finds them generally unproductive in his climate. Newer varieties, including some selections of the Carpathian strains are now being tried and should be of fruiting age soon. Mr. Rhodes has also found, at Covington, a heartnut that is vigorous and productive under west Tennessee conditions. He finds that it buds readily on the native black walnut. Some budded trees of it are over a dozen years old. They have medium sized nuts, smooth shelled (with fairly thick shells for a heartnut) and kernels of good flavor, coming out whole when the nuts are cracked carefully. I am giving this variety the name Rhodes, and suggesting it for use in west Tennessee because of its adaptability and the fact that it can be budded upon black walnut. Others have reported Japanese walnut (including heartnut) varieties incompatible with black walnut at other locations. Dr. Richards has propagated some other heartnut varieties on black walnut, but finds them more variable than the Rhodes, in obtaining a good union.

Paper Wrap Gives Summer-Long Protection to Transplanted Trees

Too commonly, transplanted nut trees suffer from sunscald injury on their southwest sides during the first summer in the orchard. This injury is particularly common on pecans, which suffer a severe shock from transplanting and are slow in re-establishing vigorous growth. In west Tennessee, as one grower puts it, "A pecan is doing well if it holds one green leaf its first year." Pecans have been known to remain dormant in their tops until the second spring after planting, and then start growth. During this initial period of establishment in the orchard, it is beneficial to give some kind of shade to the tree trunk, to keep the bark from "cooking" and dying on part of the most exposed side. Waxing of the trunks before planting helps reduce drying out of the tops before the roots are partially regenerated and top growth begins, but waxing alone, under our conditions, is not sufficient to prevent the frequent occurrence of a dead area starting on the southwest side of the trunk during the summer following tree setting.

Dr. Richards has found that a heavy wallpaper of a cheap grade, cut in strips and wrapped spirally to cover the tree trunk from the ground up, lasts through the season and eliminates nearly all of the sunscald injury on pecans which he has moved from his farm nursery row to the orchard. With trees that are shipped long distances, and allowed to dry out too much before resetting, the results are not so uniform. We are still in favor of the use of wax coatings on trees that must be shipped, but would recommend that they be given additional protection by some means, to shade the trunks throughout the first growing season. This paper wrap of Dr. Richards seems as efficient as any method, and is the most economical I have observed. It should be beneficial on most species of nut trees under summer conditions in the mid-south region.

Propagating Nut Trees Under Glass

By Stephen Bernath, Poughkeepsie, New York

About ten years ago I decided to try a few nut grafts in my small propagating house. The results were so satisfactory that since that time I have grafted from a few hundred to several thousand each year.

I found by experiment that I could not graft nut trees exactly as I did ornamental trees and shrubs, due to their extra sap content. Nut trees bleed excessively and I had to overcome this or my losses were heavy. I use no wax on grafts. My method is as follows: I take a strong light string and wax it with beeswax and parafin mixed fifty-fifty. I use a modified side graft, tying with this waxed string.

Late in December or early in January, I pot the understock, using black walnut seedlings for four varieties (Persian walnut, butternut, black walnut and heartnut). I make sure the understock has had its rest period by not digging and storing them until they have been really hit by frost and left for a period, to be sure the wood has matured for the season. The mature understock is then stored in moist sand in a cool cellar.

In late-December, as I have stated, I place the understock in benches using 3-1/2 to 4 inch pots, wetting them thoroughly after imbedding them in peat moss. Keep the moss damp and at a temperature of 55 degrees at night. After two or three weeks examine the roots by knocking several loose from the pots. If root action has started, the roots will show white thread-like fibers and are ready for grafting. This is important, because if grafting is done too soon the loss is heavy. If delayed too long the top starts growing. So I caution, do grafting when the understock is ready.

Place newly made grafts on their side, imbedded in moss, and refrain from watering until the union has formed. Open grafting case after third day and daily thereafter, until union is complete. Each day wipe glass off with cloth to prevent moisture from dripping on grafts. Increase bottom heat after grafts are laid in benches from 68 to 75 degrees. In about three to four weeks, if union has formed, place grafts in up right position, then watering is resumed and heat is reduced to around 60 degrees at night. When graft shows two inches or more growth, cut understock off close above the union, and then give house plenty of ventilation to avoid soft growth.

I find nut trees very tender subjects and delay planting these under-glass grown grafts out in nursery rows until every vestige of frost has passed. Also be sure to sever the waxed string as this is tougher than the green graft.

If this method sounds like a great deal of work and trouble generally, remember the reward will be heavy rooted, easy to transplant, healthy, named varieties of nut trees. Who can say that, at the present, there is an abundance of such trees in this country.

The Economic, Ecological and Horticultural Aspects of Intercropping Nut Plantings

By F. L. O'Rourke Michigan State College, East Lansing, Michigan

Mature nut trees are usually large trees, and large trees demand space. Young nut trees, therefore, must be planted relatively far apart from each other and for the first few years, at least, there is an abundance of unused land between the trees, which may be used for intercropping. The choice of just what crop or plants to use is often perplexing and should be considered for several aspects.

The economic factors are of prime importance. The cost of growing the crop, the specialized farm machinery and equipment needed, the availability of labor, the distribution of the seasonal labor demand, the time of the critical cultural practices or of harvesting, the potential market, and the expected price of the saleable product must all be considered.

The staple farm crops of the region are often preferable to specialty crops, particularly from the labor standpoint. Corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, and legumes can all be grown with a minimum of labor and the use of power machinery. There is less risk involved with farm crops than with specialities, both in securing an adequate crop and in the price received for the product. Fruit, vegetables and ornamentals often have very critical requirements. They must be sprayed, harvested, and shipped at exactly the right time or all the proceeds will be lost. Staple crops are not so demanding in either culture or harvesting.

The labor distribution throughout the season or even throughout the year must be considered and well planned in advance. No two crops should require exact and demanding attention at the same time. They should be chosen and planted so that a regular, even distribution of labor can be maintained with as little of a rush period as possible and yet with a minimum of idle time.

The general agricultural pattern of the region must be considered. In a sparsely settled grain and livestock region it would be quite inadvisable to grow strawberries or other crops which require a maximum of hand labor during a very brief period. Berries, however, may be perfectly well suited to sections where either transient workers or city children can be secured with little effort.

The crop should suit from the ecological viewpoint. It must not compete with the young, growing trees for mineral food and water, particularly during spring and early summer when the trees make most of their annual growth. On the other hand, if planted too close to the trees, some intercrops may be shaded too severely to produce a normal yield.

Success in intercropping is usually found between plants which are quite dissimilar in form and habit. Black walnuts and pasture grasses furnish a typical example. The long taproots of the walnuts penetrate deeply into the soil, while the grass roots are shallow and fibrous and feed in the soil surface layer. The aerial portions of these plants are likewise quite different, the walnuts tower high in the air, while the grasses form their crowns on the very surface of the ground. The light shade cast by the walnuts does not interfere with the photosynthetic activity of the grasses, but it is sufficient to discourage growth of broad-leaved weeds which have a higher light requirement than that of grass. This light shade also tends to provide a greater supply of available moisture for the grass, in that it reduces temperature and, consequently, water loss from the grass and soil by keeping down both transpiration and evaporation.

Experiments in both Tennessee and Ohio have shown that the quantity of grass produced from beneath walnut trees is greater than on equal areas in the open and that the quality, as represented by a larger protein content, is also higher. For this reason, one may well consider livestock as the income-producing portion of a walnut-pasture planting. Over one fourth of the agricultural land of the United States is devoted to pasture and much of the land is suitable for interplanting to walnuts, butternuts, and other pasture trees, as honey locusts and black locusts, all of which are known to improve the pasture grasses to some extent. The potential income which may be derived from such plantings over this vast acreage is enormous and is the more striking in that these pasture trees occupy a plane that is now idle and unproductive, that is, the area lying above the grass tops. The nuts produced on this "upper story" will represent almost all "clear profit" in that very little care need be given these walnut trees after they have been properly planted. Livestock guards will need to be placed about the trees at planting time and kept there until the trees have grown to the point where they may no longer be harmed by straddling and browsing.

Pastures are excellent sites from another angle. The closely grazed sod furnishes an ideal place to rake the nuts together at harvest time. Anyone who has hunted for nuts in a dense ground cover will appreciate this factor.

While the walnut responds best to the deep, fertile soil of the river bottoms and flood plains, it will grow well on the lower portions of slopes if water is available and the site is not too exposed to the force of drying winds. Contour strips should be prepared by plowing several furrows downhill, each a little less in depth than the preceding, and the walnuts planted thereon. The walnut is a spreading tree and plenty of space should be allowed. Perhaps it may be wise to plant the walnuts at extended intervals and fill up the contour row with black locusts, for post wood, and honey locusts to produce succulent pods for cattle feed. In any event, it is better to allow too much, rather than too little space, as walnuts are long-lived trees and will thrive best where there is least competition. In Iowa, black walnuts are responding well to "basin culture" in sites which were prepared by "scalping" the sod from the upper portion of a slope and depositing it on a lower portion in order to catch and retain more water.

Nut trees are like all other trees in that they react favorably to good horticultural practice. Fertilizer, particularly nitrogen, is usually always helpful. The addition of lime when the soil is acid and of organic matter when humus becomes depleted will aid in better soil aeration and an increased moisture supply. This, in turn, will be reflected in more vigorous tree growth and greater nut production. Occasional spraying may be necessary to control the Datana caterpillar in the summer.

Chinese chestnuts seem to be admirably adapted for interplanting with mulberries, cherries, pears, and the like in poultry runs and hog lots where the pigs and chickens will control the weevils by gleaning the prematurely dropped and overlooked chestnuts which contain the grubs of the weevil. The fruit portion of the integrated planting will maintain a high carbohydrate ration during the season for the use of the livestock. Here, again, plenty of space should be allowed between trees to allow each its full measure of water, food, air and sunlight.

Careful and thorough research is needed to determine the full requirements of nut trees and to work out the interplanting relationships. In view of the vast potentialities for their use, investigational programs may soon be under way and much more definite information be made available to the farmer and landowner.

References

AIKMAN, J. M.—A Basin Method of Nut Tree Culture. Proc. Iowa. Acad. Sci. 50:241-246. 1943

NEEL, L. R.—The Effect of Shade on Pasture. Tenn. Exp. Sta. Cir. 65, 1939

SMITH, R. M.—Some Effects of Black Locusts and Black Walnuts on Southeastern Ohio Pastures Soil Sci. 53:385-398, 1942

Nut Work At the Mahoning County Experiment Farm, Canfield, Ohio

By L. Walter Sherman, Superintendent

My interest in nuts dates back to the turn of the century when, as a boy in high school, I delighted in gathering wild nuts for my own use. I knew of several black walnut trees bearing very fine nuts and also one excellent hickory. These were near my home in northern Ohio.

After my school days were over, I married and went to Oklahoma, where I found the most miserable wild nuts imaginable. However, I stayed but a short time and returned to my native state where the wild nuts were reasonably good. In 1935, I made a trip to California and visited the Persian walnut orchards at harvest time. As if that were not enough to convince me that it would be worth my while to do what I could in behalf of the nut industry, the Agricultural press of the time published several intriguing accounts of Persian walnuts growing in and near Toronto, Ontario which had been brought there by Rev. Paul C. Crath from the Carpathian Mountains of Poland.

My constant talk about hardy strains of Persian walnut prompted friends to tell me of several plantings already growing in northern Ohio with more or less success. I promptly obtained scions and undertook to graft a number of these, but I had the usual ill-success of a beginner. I failed in attempts to top work trees and had no better results with bench grafting although I began early in the season and continued my efforts till the time arrived for planting the trees. I stored the grafted material in a cool apple storage house from the time they were grafted until they were planted. Then somehow I learned that walnut wounds would not callous over except at relatively high temperatures. Accordingly, I placed my next bench-grafted trees in a warm greenhouse, where growth started at once. This marked my first successful grafting of black walnut. Later, Mr. W. R. Fickes of Wooster, explained to me his technique of "boxing off" or "bleeding." By following his instructions, I was able successfully to top work some of the seedlings I had grown for the purpose. My next steps were to procure some of the nuts from Rev. Crath which he had brought from Poland and to make a personal importation of seed from an experiment station in Russia. With these two lots I started out to raise Persian walnut seedlings.

The first grafted trees set out at the Farm were obtained from Homer C. Jacobs of Kent, Ohio, in 1937. That year we began planting a three-acre tract. The trees were grown with scions cut from prize winning seedlings brought out as a result of the Ohio nut contest held in 1934. The trees were set 25 feet each way in order to conserve room. This distance allowed for but 69 trees to the acre and available space was quickly occupied. By 1944, it became necessary to add two more acres. The new land was from an abandoned berry ground. It was plowed, limed heavily and fertilized. The alternate rows were used for peach trees as fillers. The main rows were mostly filled with new varieties of Persian walnut from northern Ohio which had been grafted on black walnut stocks. Some of the room was used for growing black walnut seedlings for use in grafting with scions of prize winners in the next Ohio contest, plans for which were already under way.

In 1944, four plantings of Persian walnut trees located some distance from each other in northern Ohio, all had good crops and all produced superior nuts. A half bushel of the nuts were planted at the Farm during the following spring. All lots grew remarkably well. The resulting seedlings, together with grafted trees, which by then were growing in the Farm nursery, made it necessary to further add to the orchard room. The increase this time was eight acres, of which five were planted to trees during the spring of 1946. In all plantings, the distance between trees has remained the same as at first, not that 25 feet is enough for bearing trees but because it is expected to do a large amount of thinning out as bearing begins and many trees prove their inferiority.

The problem of propagating desirable varieties has been our greatest difficulty. The kinds we wanted were not to be had from nursery sources as they were entirely new. Commercial nurserymen would not even undertake the task of grafting. We were forced to rely upon our own ingenuity. Not only did we have to master the art of grafting but we had to drive hundreds of miles in order to obtain scions of the various kinds. We still know too little about grafting. We often raise the question as to how it happens that surgeons can do almost anything they wish in the way of cutting and splicing parts of the human body, yet with nut trees, 75 per cent of success is rarely attained.

Last spring I began a rather elaborate comparison of paraffin with beeswax—lanolin for use in grafting. Dr. Shelton had demonstrated that the latter was a good dressing for wounds and I assumed that in grafting, it would promote callousing. My experiment was partially frustrated by the loss of my melting pot which burned at about the time the work was half done. The grafting had to be finished without wax of any kind. Out of 60 grafts so set, only five grew. The five survivors had been merely "boxed off" or "bled," none grew which had been treated with hot wax of any kind.

Research with nuts has but barely begun at the Farm. We feel, however, much encouraged and that the worst is over. We have a total of 725 trees in the planting, many of which have already borne a few nuts. Production should increase rapidly and we will soon have considerable quantities of nuts and other material with which to work. We have the following genera, species, varieties, and hybrid forms: Butternut—Craxezy and Vincamp; Chestnut—Carr, Hobson, Yankee (Syn., Connecticut Yankee), and Zimmerman; Hickory, including hybrids—Bixby, Bogne, Boor Nos. 1 and 2, Bowen, Cranz Nos. 1 and 2, Fairbanks, Frank, Haskell, Leach, Lozsdon, McConkey, Nething, Reynolds, Ridiker, Russell, Stratford, Weschcke, and Wright; Pecan—Busseron, Greenriver, and Posey; Black Walnut—Barnhart, Brown, Cowle, Fulton (Syn. Miller of Ohio), Hare, Havice, Horton, Jansen, Krause, Lisbon, Mintle, Mohican, Murphey, Ohio, Rohwer, Snyder, Sparrow, Stabler, Stambaugh, Thomas, Tritten, Twin Lakes, and Wanda; Persian Walnut—Alliance, Baxter, Blosser, Broadview, Diller, Elmore, Gligor Nos. 1 and 2, Graber, Hall, Lieber, Lopeman, Oehn, and Schafer; Heartnut—Bellevue, Canoka, Fish, and Keck. In addition there are 55 black walnut seedlings of Brown and Lisbon varieties; 65 seedling black walnuts of unknown parentage; 280 Persian walnut seedlings of known percentage; 37 heartnut seedlings; 30 Chinese chestnut seedlings; and 22 seedling filberts.

The Ohio Black Walnut Contest of 1946

The contest was sponsored by the Ohio chapter of the N.N.G.A., Inc., and was publicised through the cooperation of the Ohio Forestry Association and the Ohio Farmer magazine. There were 692 separate black walnut entries, showing the great interest aroused.

The nuts that won first place were grown by Mr. Duke Hughes, of Coal Run, Noble County, O. He states the tree is about 50 years old and stands in well-limed permanent pasture near the crest of a ridge, in Muskingum silt loam.

The system of judging was that set up by the TVA at Norris, Tenn. The judges were Oliver D. Diller, Secretary of the Ohio Forestry Association; L. Walter Sherman, Superintendent of the Mahoning County Experiment Farm; and C. W. Ellenwood, Associate Horticulturist at the Wooster Experiment Station. They were assisted by William H. Cummings, Spencer B. Chase and Thomas G. Zarger, all of T.V.A., and several members of the Ohio chapter of NNGA. The prize winners are listed in order of awards.

[Illustration: Mr. Duke Hughes, Coal Run, Washington County, Ohio, and the tree producing the first prize—Duke black walnut.]

Name Weight, First Final Percent Applied Grams Pick, Pick, of Grams Grams Kernel

1. Duke Hughes, Coal Run, Duke 27.2 6.8 6.9 25.3 Washington County, Ohio

2. J. C. Burson, Rt. 5, Athens, Burson 21.5 4.9 6.2 28.8 Athens County, Ohio

3. Mrs. C. E. Campbell, Lowellsville, Kuhn 19.0 5.5 5.8 30.5 Mahoning County Ohio

4. Ed. Smith, Rt. 3, Athens, Athens 23.5 4.9 6.5 27.6 Athens County, Ohio

5. Mrs. O. Shaffer, Lucasville, Oliver 22.6 5.3 5.8 25.5 Scioto County, Ohio

6. Wm. J. Davidson, Xenia, Davidson 13.5 4.6 4.8 35.5 Green County, Ohio

7. A. C. Orth, Rt. 5, Dayton, Orth Montgomery County, Ohio

8. H. C. Williamson, Southside, Williamson Mason County, West Virginia

9. Herbert Penn, Otway, Penn Scioto County, Ohio

10. Mrs. A. L. Jackson, Little Jackson Hocking, Washington County, Ohio

[Illustration: The Judges At Work]

1946 Iowa Black Walnut Contest

By C. C. Lounsberry, Secretary I.N.G.A.

The 1946 black walnut contest sponsored by the Iowa Nut Growers' Association was held at the Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, Iowa, on November 14 and 15, 1946. The judges were Prof. H. E. Nichols, Dr. H. H. Plagge, and Dr. J. M. Aikman.

Following the policy set in the 1942 contest, the Iowa State Horticultural Society put up cash and ribbons with special reference to standard and previously shown varieties, while the Iowa Nut Growers' Association was interested in new varieties. The following are the premiums awarded:

Standard Varieties:

Prize Name Variety

1 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Thomas 2 Russell Krouse, Toddville Krouse 3 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Stambaugh 4 E. F. Huen, Eldora Thomas 5 Seward Berhow, Huxley Ohio 6 Seward Berhow, Huxley Myers 7 R. S. Herrick, Prole Thomas 8 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Hepler 9 E. F. Huen, Eldora Ohio 10 E. F. Huen, Eldora Rohwer

New Varieties:

Prize Name Variety

1 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Schlagenbusch 2 F. J. Wagner, Danville Wagner 3 Tom Bandfield, Shell Rock Shepard 4 Roy A. Wood, Castana Wood 5 Mrs. Minnie Waldo, Grand Junction Waldo 6 E. F. Huen, Eldora Huen 7 Ira M. Kyhl, Sabula Tinker 8 Schlagenbusch Bros., Ft. Madison Kramer 9 Sam Moncrief, Center Junction Acme 10 C. E. Brockway, Grundy Center Birchwood

There were only 22 entries in standard varieties and 22 entries in new varieties so we did not make much of a showing as compared with the 1946 Ohio contest. However, very good walnuts came in. They were all sampled with a mechanical cracker. An interesting development to me was the fact that machine cracking left the center of several of the best varieties of walnuts looking much like the core of an apple, instead of being broken in two as in hand cracking.

Grafting Methods Adapted to Nut Trees

By H. F. Stoke, Virginia

(The notes I contributed to the 1945 Report under the title "Experiences With Nut Grafting" were so fragmentary as to be of little value. In an effort to correct the error I am offering the following supplementary notes in the hope that amateurs like myself may find them of some practical use.)

My best success with the propagation of nut trees has been with the following methods. For budding, I use the plate bud exclusively. For grafting on stocks up to one inch I use either the splice graft or the modified cleft graft. For larger stocks I use either the simple bark graft or the slot bark graft. Each will be discussed in order.

In making the plate bud, it is cut from the scion or bud stick the same as for the familiar T bud. Usually a bit of wood is cut away with the bud, which should not be removed. A bud, or a bit of bark, should similarly be cut from the stock at the desired point, and discarded. The area of exposed cambium on the stock should correspond as closely as possible with the cambium area exposed on the bud. The bud is then laid on the exposed cambium of the stock, and bound in place, preferably with rubber budding strips. The point of the bud should be left exposed.

[Illustration: SIMPLE BARK GRAFT Useful with thin-barked species.]

Choice of time when conditions are right is quite as necessary for success as the proper procedure. There are two separate periods when the plate bud may be used on walnut with the greatest success. The first period, in Virginia, is the latter half of May, when the black walnut stock is in almost full leaf. If done earlier the bud is likely to be drowned by the excessive bleeding of this species. Dormant buds cut the previous winter are used.

The follow-up care is vitally important. The stock should be cut off above the bud within five to seven days after budding. If successful, the bud will start into growth within another week or ten days, and may be a foot long within 30 days.

[Illustration: 1. Slot bark graft; useful in top-working.

2. Splice graft; unexcelled when scion and stock are of equal diameter.

3. Modified cleft graft; for all general purposes.

4. Plate bud; for small and medium stocks.]

The tying material should be cut and removed within a few days after the bud starts, to prevent strangulation of the tender shoot. Be sure to keep native growth of the stock trimmed off until midsummer to force growth of the bud.

The second period for successful plate budding of the walnut centers around August first, varying somewhat with the weather conditions. Buds of the current season's growth are used. The time must be late enough for these buds to be well matured, and early enough so that the stock is still growing and the bark slipping. If the buds are immature, or the bark tight, the operation will be a failure.

The buds remain dormant during the following winter, and are forced into growth by cutting off the stock above the bud early in the spring. The tying material, if durable, should be removed about 30 days after budding.

If conditions are right and the work is properly done, a high percentage of "takes" may be expected. In summer I preferably place the bud on the shady side of the stock, or shade it with a little skirt of white paper tied just above the bud.

Chestnuts can be budded by the same method, but the spring budding should be done earlier, while the stocks are in bud, and the summer budding should be done two or three weeks later than with the walnut.

I have not tried the plate bud on hickory or pecan, but it is the only budding method I use on walnut and chestnut, and I have tried them all.

When it comes to grafting, the simple splice graft, as illustrated, is very successful, but it should only be used when scion and stock are of the same size. It works splendidly on chestnut, filbert and hickory, and can also be used on walnut; however, I prefer the modified cleft graft for the latter, because of the bleeding problem.

In making the splice graft, the diagonal cut should be about four times as long as the diameter of the scion, to prevent slippage in tying.

For the modified cleft graft I cut the stock off at the selected point at an angle of from 45 to 60 degrees. This greatly facilitates the healing of the entire wound.

The cleft is made not by splitting, but by making a cut with a sharp knife, beginning at the apex of the stock and cutting diagonally downward and inward toward the center of the stock.

Before making the cut, the scion should be selected, and the wedge cut, with one face slightly longer than the other. This enables one to properly judge the depth and angle of the cleft, thus securing a fit on all four cambial lines. The longer face goes toward the main body of the stock, and is left slightly above the top of the stock. The apex of the stock is squared off slightly before the cleft is cut, and the knife is set very slightly on the wood at the starting point, rather than between the bark and the wood. Care at this point guarantees very rapid healing, with no dead tissues or "heel" on the stock, sometimes called "dieback."

Remember to watch all ties in grafting to prevent strangulation of the tender new growth. This, with removal of sprouts or suckers from the stock below the graft are two very important features of after-care, and neglect can nullify the most expert work in the grafting operation.

In grafting the black walnut I prefer to use the side graft because of the bleeding problem. This is precisely the same as the modified cleft graft except that the cleft is made about three-fourths of an inch below the apex of the stock. By making the graft a little below the top of the stock one can tie and wax it, without waxing the top of the stock, which is permitted to bleed at will. This freedom to bleed relieves the pressure of the sap at the graft, where healing takes place without flooding.

For stocks under an inch in diameter, I use the splice and modified cleft grafts exclusively. For larger stocks, such as are encountered in top working, other methods are preferred.

One can cut the main stock off just above a small limb, and graft one or more of the limbs. Again, one may cut the large stock off a year in advance, and bud or graft one or more of the suckers that are thrown out.

If neither of the above methods are applicable, one can use either the simple bark graft, or the slot bark graft.

In making the simple bark graft, I cut the stock off at a 45 degree angle as for the modified cleft graft. The scion is prepared by making one long wedge face, and on the other side make two short faces so that the point is triangular.

To insert the scion make a cut through the bark downward from the apex of the stock. Insert the scion between the bark and the stock, with the long face next to the wood, and force gently down until just a little of the face of the wedge shows above the top of the scion. It is well, in case the stock is large, to place three or four scions around the stock, removing all but the strongest after a year of two.

This graft is satisfactory for thin-barked species, but for the hickory, the slot bark graft is preferable.

For this graft, the scion should be trimmed as a wedge, with one face about twice as long as the other. Two parallel cuts are made through the bark at the top of the stock a distance apart equal to the width of the scion wedge. This strip of bark, or "tongue" is loosened at the top, and the wedge is forced between it and the wood, with the long face next to the stock, as in the simple bark graft.

Secure tying and waxing should be practiced in all grafting. Small nails or tacks driven into the top of the stock will help in anchoring the tying material to the sloping surface.

Inexperienced propagators should get it clearly in mind that union takes place only in the new growth. This new growth builds up from the cambium layer, which is the outside layer of wood cells that lies just beneath and in contact with the bark.

This is why it is so vitally necessary that the lines between the bark and cambium be placed in parallel contact as closely as possible, in the splice and cleft grafts. Never mind if the outside of the bark of scion and do not match perfectly, due to differences in the thickness of the bark. It is the inside line of the bark that must match.

Actual union takes place along this cambial line. The old wood of the wedge and cleft cannot, and never does, unite.

A word about scions. I seldom use a scion with more than two buds. The best scion wood is of the previous season's growth, if it is of good diameter and well ripened. Thin, slender twigs give poor results. On old, slow-growing, bearing trees it is sometimes not possible to get good scion wood one year old. In this case it is best to take some of the older wood in cutting the scion. When used, the wedge should be cut from the two-year wood, just below the one-year wood, with the top of the scion carrying two or three buds on the new wood. The tip of the scion should be waxed, if cut.

Scions should be cut when perfectly dormant and kept in cold storage until used. If kept too warm and wet the buds may swell, making the scions worthless.

It is quite possible to cut the scions about three weeks before the buds begin to swell and get good results by grafting immediately. The chief danger from this practice is that late frosts may nip the buds after starting, which is fatal to the new scion.

Waxing all cut surfaces, including the tip of the scion, should be practiced except as explained when the side graft is used for walnuts. Some advocate waxing the entire scion, also. If this is done I think it better to leave the buds unwaxed.

Have your knife very sharp. A broad blade is desirable in a grafting knife, as it helps in making smooth, flat surfaces in wedges and clefts. For budding, use a knife with a narrow blade, but also very sharp. Develop skill in making the scion wedge, and in cutting the cleft just the right depth and width for the scion selected. Experiment on worthless material until you get the knack. If you are a good, natural-born whittler you will find it a greater asset than a college degree.

Beginnings in Walnut Grafting

By C. C. Lounsberry, Iowa

Anyone who has studied propagation manuals from ancient to modern times cannot help but see how methods are carried down from older books to modern ones. However, in walnut grafting one suspects there were trade secrets not permitted publication. How different this was from friendly and helpful cultural and propagation directions given by Mr. J. F. Jones, Dr. W. C. Deming, Dr. Robert T. Morris, and others of the Northern Nut Growers' Association.

Beginning with Ancient Times

Greeks: Theophrastus mentions hazel nuts but nothing about walnuts.

Romans: Pliny, Cato, etc. have little to say about walnuts. Pliny refers to planting seeds of walnuts but no other method of propagation. However, he states oaks and walnuts are poisonous to soil, and walnuts are only used in a few cases for human remedies.

English: Loudon, Evelyn, Knight, etc. Loudon sticks to propagation of walnuts by seed. Knight[8] followed the French practice of grafting walnuts by approach up to the time of his discoveries in 1832, which were similar to Dr. Morris's "immediate" grafting.

French: The French used grafting by approach (inarching) early in the 19th century. Mortillet[11], 1863, states only one-third to one-half of walnut grafts are successful. These were probably Persian walnuts. We are not sure what other methods the French used. Mr. C. E. Parsons of the Felix Gillet Co. in 1940, sent us a picture showing Felix Gillet in his greenhouse at Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City, California. This picture he states was taken in 1900-1902. It shows one year grafted walnut trees, and bench grafted walnut trees covered by tumblers six inches high, grafted by the "Treyve" process.

Beginnings in the United States

The first grafting of black walnuts thus comes down to the beginning of the 20th century.

William P. Corsa[3] with the USDA gave much information from replies to a questionnaire sent out in 1890, on nut culture and grafting, including bench grafting, in 1896. Mr. G. W. Oliver[13] in 1901, describes a method followed by Corsa in bench grafting walnuts and hickories. He used an incubator. Mr. Jackson Dawson[15] previously, working with hickories, had success in the greenhouse.

Andrew S. Fuller[4] in his Nut Culturist, published in 1896, advises that the South had not yet perfected pecan grafting. This seems to have been a challenge to Mr. J. F. Jones[1 & 7], for we find he moved from Missouri to Monticello, Fla., about 1899, and specialized in pecan grafting. He developed the slanting cut he later advocated in walnut grafting. However, again showing "there is nothing new under the sun" the author's uncle, Owen Albright, is credited by Corsa[3] with suggesting it in 1894, and it is also suggested by Mortillet[11] in 1863.

Grafting Wax

The necessity to protect graft unions by excluding air and moisture from cut plant tissue led to the use of balls of mud in ancient times. Later, various kinds of waxes were used.

In 1879, Prof. J. L. Budd[2], head of the Horticultural Department at Iowa State College, using resin and linseed oil, side grafted 150 varieties of Russian apples received from the interior of Russia in the winter of 1878. A boy swabbed hot wax on the grafts, using a lantern heater not too different from those used nowadays.

Mr. F. O. Harrington and Mr. S. W. Snyder, Iowa nurserymen were teaching grafting to members of the Iowa Horticultural Society in 1900, 1901 and 1902, at their annual meetings. Mr. J. B. McLaughlin[9], College Springs, Iowa, speaks of successfully grafting walnuts in 1900 in a discussion of the horticultural society led by Van Houton, Edwards, etc.

In 1909, Mr. E. A. Riehl[14] gave a talk before the Iowa State Horticultural Society in which he advocated covering the whole walnut scion, buds and all, with liquid wax. His first Thomas grafted tree is in a ravine back at his barn at Godfrey, Illinois. It was planted about 1902[12].

In 1910, the Northern Nut Growers' Association was organized by Prof. John Craig of Cornell University, Dr. Robert T. Morris, Dr. W. C. Deming, Mr. T. P. Littlepage and others. Craig had previously been at Iowa State College where he and Budd had shown much interest in nut trees.

In 1912, Mr. J. F. Jones [1][7], came up from the South where he had been successful in pecan grafting and started a black walnut nursery at Lancaster, Penna. He had been in Florida up to 1907. While in Florida he became acquainted with Mr. John G. Rush, of Willow Run, Penna., and did some walnut grafting for him. It was Mr. Rush who advised him to go to Lancaster and start a nursery for northern black walnuts. Jones patented his patch budder in 1912, and using the hot wax method developed by Mr. E. A. Riehl was very successful in walnut grafting.

In 1914, Dr. W. C. Deming and President T. P. Littlepage of the N.N.G.A. and Messrs. C. A. Reed and C. P. Close of the USDA had a conference in Washington which resulted in the publication of the American Nut Journal.

Paraffin In Grafting

Dr. Robert T. Morris[10], writing in the American Nut Journal in 1929, advocates the use of paraffin to cover walnut grafts instead of wax. Both he and Dr. J. Russell Smith[15] credit Mr. J. Ford Wilkinson with first using paraffin instead of wax on walnut grafts. Mr. Wilkinson wrote that he got the idea from seeing a careless workman splash paraffin on the buds as well as on the union in fruit tree grafting at the McCoy Nursery about 1914. The author bought apple and plum grafts about 1922 from the Gurney Nursery which were all covered with paraffin. It was at conventions of the Northern Nut Growers' Association that new methods like this were passed along to members.

Bench Grafting

In 1932, on account of the difficulties in outdoor grafting of the walnut, the author became interested in bench grafting of walnuts in the greenhouse as a means of supplementing outdoor grafting. However, like many other so-called new methods, it was discovered when we looked up the literature in 1937 that William P. Corsa[3] had used methods that were similar about 1896. He cut off the seedling above the crown instead of below the crown as we did. The completed graft was packed in layers of sphagnum and placed in an incubator instead of using a greenhouse.

Notwithstanding all that has been done in black walnut grafting, the straight grained and brittle wood, the heavy sap flow, the almost instant oxidation of cut tissues, the liability to frost injury in the North in short seasons lowering vitality of scions, all combine to make walnut grafting with best methods available, a seasonal gamble.

Literature Cited

1. AMERICAN NUT JOURNAL Life of J. F. Jones. Am. Nut Jour. 28:35, 1928

2. BUDD, J. L. Hot Waxing of Apple Grafts. Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc. 14:421. 1879

3. CORSA, WILLIAM P. USDA, Div. of Pom., Nut Culture of the United States. pp. 13-16, 58. 1896

4. FULLER, ANDREW S. Nut Culturist. 1896

5. HERSHEY, JOHN W. Life of J. F. Jones. The Nut Grower. 4:22, 1928

6. INSTITUT FUR OBSTBAU, BERLIN Die Walnusz verediung. (Vegetative Propagation of Walnuts.) Merkbl. Inst. Obstb. Berlin 5, pp. 15, 1936

7. JONES, J. F. Propagation of Nut Trees. About 1927

8. KNIGHT, THOMAS ANDREW New methods of Grafting Walnuts. Trans. Hort. Soc. of London. 2nd series. Vol. I, 1831-1835. pp 214-216

9. McLAUGHLIN, J. B. Grafting Black Walnuts. Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc. 35:534, 1900

10. MORRIS, DR. ROBERT T. Paraffin Coating Solves Difficult Grafting. Am. Nut Jour. 30:70,85. 1929

11. MORTILLET, PAUL D. Le Noyer sa Culture ses Varieties. (Propagation of the Walnut.) Rev. Hort. 136:499. 1863

12. NNGA CONVENTION, St. Louis Trip to Riehl Nut Orchard. Am. Nut Journ. 23:59, 1925

13. OLIVER, G. W. Grafting Walnuts and Hickories. Amer. Gard. 22:307-308. 1901

14. RIEHL, E. A. Nut Growing for Pleasure and Profit. Trans. Iowa State Hort. Soc. 44:84, 1909

15. SMITH, J. RUSSELL Tree Crops. 1929

16. STANDARD CYC. OF HORT. Hickory Propagation, p. 1489, 1925

17. WITT, A. W. and HOWARD SPENCE Vegetative Propagation of Walnuts. Ann. Rep. East Malling Res. Sta. 1926-7, Supl. A 10, 1928, pp. 60-64

Forest Background

By John Davidson, Xenia, Ohio

(Read at the Ohio Nut Growers Annual Meeting, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, August 16, 1946.)

Where did the Persian, or so-called "English" walnut come from? Why is it a good commercial nut? The Pecan? How far can it be carried north beyond its natural, or original, environment? The Pawpaw? Why is it not a good commercial fruit? Why don't most people like it? What is the matter with the mulberry in America? In China and Japan it has a score of uses and great popularity.

These questions need an answer, and the answer almost invariably is that the poorer varieties and species have had but little attention and development by human beings while the better ones, Persian walnuts, grapes, melons, apples, dates, figs—all have had much attention and painstaking selection—in some cases for centuries. Upon the other hand, to cite a contrasting case the black walnut has no such history. It is the baby among nuts—a pure American baby—waiting for some nursemaid—for many nursemaids—to tend and develop it as a prince among trees should be developed.

Let us look back into the story behind a few—a very few—of our better known fruits and nuts and see, if we can, how they happened.

In America once lived a man nicknamed "Johnny Appleseed." His neighbors called him a "crackpate." He had a mania for planting tree seeds wherever he went. As a rule they were haphazardly selected seeds, but usually appleseeds.

What started him upon this crazy journey through the wilderness? Whatever it was, it would be worth while to isolate the germ and with it inoculate our present-day soil wasters.

But he was not the first one of his kind. Hundreds of pre-historic planters had gone before him. For years, now, explorers have been searching out and sending back to America certain valuable discoveries. Tremendously interesting, all of them. As one reads, it becomes increasingly evident that a considerable amount of scientific plant and animal breeding, selection, perhaps even grafting and artificial cross fertilization, budding and slip propagating may have been practiced by pre-historic, intelligent, forgotten men long before our modern times.

We usually find, today, that the best plants and animals have had their start in some center of old civilization. China, Manchuria, Japan, Indo-China, India, Persia, Asia Minor, Central America, Oceania—these places, the nurseries of all existing races of men are today the bonanza spots for these explorers. Such a coincidence could hardly have been due to chance. It must surely occur to the mind of anyone who cares to put two and two together that, in each of these centers, other ancient gatherers and planters had been busy in their day, just as our own explorers and experiment station scientists are carrying on today—our modern, scientific Johnny Appleseeds.

It is hardly possible, here, to follow to the ends of the earth all of the trails of the tribe of Johnny Appleseed. One little section will do well enough for purposes of illustration. Let us consider Iran, or, as our fathers knew it, Persia. Here is a field that, possibly because of previous plunderings, is not now the most fruitful of our sources of plant and animal discovery, yet it is an eye-opener, and will do very well as a type of similar test-plots throughout the world.

Here is a short list of only a few of the plants which have been developed for centuries, and were reported in the last century as growing in Persia—many, no doubt, descended from stocks which once grew in the famous hanging gardens of Babylon: apples, pears, filberts muskmelons, watermelons, grapes, peaches, plums, nectarines. And of flowers, these: marigold, chrysanthemum, hollyhock, narcissus, tulip, tuberose, aster, wallflower, dalia, white lily, hyacinth, violet, larkspur, pink and finally, the famous rose of Persia, from whence comes the attar of roses for which Persia is still famous. It would seem that someone must have possessed a knowledge of plant propagation in Persia centuries ago.

Several of these products have had their influence upon the history and poetry of the world. It will be remembered by most high school students that when the Caesars and big shots of Rome and Greece wished to create a big splash in the social ponds of their day, they sent, at enormous expense, for melons and dates from Persia. Melons, in particular, seemed to be the high spot in those Lucullan feasts, and, in this connection it is well to remember that Lucullus, himself, as commanding general of a Roman legion, had long lived in Persia and had, no doubt, acquired a taste for Persian delicacies. His princely estates near Rome, no doubt, grew rare plants from Asia Minor and were very likely tended by the skilled Aryan, early Accadian or Semitic gardeners of Persia. These slaves were probably descended from and were heir to the trade secrets of some of the very builders of that seventh wonder of the world, the hanging gardens of Babylon. Except for those forgotten workers from Persia, one may well wonder whether, today, our Rocky Ford, Ohio Sugar, or Hearts-of-Gold muskmelon delicacies would exist at all.

An interesting side-light may be found in the history of the peach. Originally this fruit was in all probability a poisonous variety of almond. What wizard, or succession of wizards, was it who created a peach from a pest—an asset from a liability? Persian, probably. Whoever did it, it constitutes one of the outstanding miracles of plant breeding, whether natural or artificial. The poison was sealed within the seed (where it remains to this day) and the nectar of the gods was bred into the pulp around it.

Consider also the Persian walnut, now, for some strange reason, popularly called "English" walnut. This delicacy, too, was unlikely to have happened merely by chance. It was, no doubt, bred by a race of men trained in observation and experiment such as the Persians preeminently were. Having first been nomads, domesticators and breeders of animals; they eventually became husbandmen, breeders of trees and plants, and they undoubtedly found that the principles which were so usefully employed in producing animal variations could also be used in producing and fixing plant varieties. The pollen or germ of an outstanding good male individual, when brought into contact with the pistil or ovum of an outstanding female individual of the same species will produce a scion that is more likely than any other to have good qualities. Here was the secret of most of the progress which has been made in both animal and plant breeding, a secret of immense value—so valuable, in fact, that it was guarded for generation after generation by a close-mouthed priesthood.

Just as, in the middle ages, the monasteries of Europe and Asia kept alive the tiny flame of Greek and Roman culture throughout the foggy ignorance of the Dark Ages, so did the priests of Baal, of Ashtoreth, of Marduk and of Ormuzd pass on the torch of their day to their successors who were Greeks and Romans. The Eleusinian mysteries, which at a later time were associated with a considerable amount of sensual, closely guarded ritual, were, in the Greek period, celebrated in the temple of Ceres in Eleusis. The origin of these sacred mysteries is lost in the shadow of profound antiquity. We know, only, that they were in the safekeeping of many generations of priests who jealously guarded them from thieving and ignorant conquerors. These mysteries were probably, at bottom, a body of scientific truths. They undoubtedly had to do with a store of information, painfully gleaned for generations, about those facts of reproduction, selection and beneficient fertility which are so close to the Holy of Holies of creation itself. Probably these precious mysteries could be simmered down to a few fundamentals and such as are now generally practiced by all plant and animal breeders. And they are not fully understood today, any more than they were fully understood three thousand years ago.

By the practice of these simple arts, hedged in with taboos and religious inhibitions, Persia, Assyria, and all Mesopotamia became the garden spot of the world where things seemed to grow as they grew no place else. Here, in fact, was said to have been located the only genuine and original Garden of Eden, pointed out to this day by the faithful as the veritable spot where the father and mother of the race lived in a laborless, exhaustless Paradise.

Mention has been made of the probability that the Persians, who originally were nomadic and therefore were chiefly interested in the domestication of animals—which means, really, selective breeding—used this knowledge in plant breeding when they finally settled down. The big leap from nomadic to settled life must have caused the old timers of that day plenty of headaches. It was a new deal to top all New Deals. Was it, perhaps, some Johnny Appleseed who engineered the New Deal of that day?

Let us guess at the method he used. As the nomad tribe passed from place to place with its goats, its sheep, its camels, Johnny with his sons and grandsons would take to prettying up the camp sites a bit. He particularly like the dates from one palm that grew upon an oasis far down the desert. He carried the seeds from this tree and planted them at various stopping places. He did the same thing with some especially sweet nuts from a walnut tree which he had found, let us say, in the Caucasus Mountains. He set out many bright-blossomed desert weeds in order to attract the wild honey bees. Bees! Wherever there were bees, he had found flowers that reproduced themselves, trees that bore fruit. Some of these bees he found to be good workers and others he found lazy, quarrelsome and inefficient. He killed out the quarrelsome colonies and built hiding places for the better ones. In short, he did so much to make the camping places cozy, comfortable and in every way desirable that finally it became more and more difficult for the tribe to tear itself away on moving day. By reason of the small irrigation arrangements which Johnny had found desirable for his plantings and his bees, grass became more abundant and the flocks did not need to be moved so often. In time, the whole tribe wakened to the fact that a revolution had taken place. They did not need to move at all, ever! There was plenty of grumbling from the die-hards, but here the tribe stuck. It refused to budge.

In time, a certain phrase, current throughout that part of the world, was used to describe this pleasant country: "A land flowing with milk and honey!"

Unfortunately, it was a land, also, which could not fail, in the flower of its wealth and luxury, to attract the attention of those savage northerners who lived beyond this favored land. They came, they saw, and eventually they conquered. When Rome had definitely destroyed the flower of Asia Minor's civilization, the Roman proconsuls and merchants "rescued" and carried back to Italy many of the rarest of Mesopotamia's possessions. Among these, perhaps, were those indispensable wonder-workers among the flowers, the better bees of Persia. And this may be the reason why, these many centuries later, our bee experts still recommend that, if we wish to increase the strength and productivity of a backward hive of bees, we buy and introduce into the hive an Italian queen. Her ancient and still prepotent virility can almost invariable be relied upon to transfuse the colony with new and fruitful vigor. An "Italian" queen, is it? We wonder, as we think of that venerable land of Eden which once flowed with milk and honey, whether this so-called Italian queen might not more correctly be named Persian.

You see, in this story we are traveling backwards into history like Ally Oop in his time machine. But beyond Persia one can go only in imagination. For the Persians, too, were a conquering nation and, no doubt, gathered their booty of gold and sheep and camels, of flowers and bees, from all the then known world which was subject to them. So perhaps Persia, too, has no more right to label her treasures Persian than has Italy with her presumably mislabeled Italian bees, nor England with her undoubtedly mislabeled English walnuts. However, the work of Johnny Appleseed has always belonged, not to his tribe nor to his locality, but to the world. These same Persian walnuts take rank among the better clues by which migrations of the Aryans may be traced over the face of the earth. For instance, not only do they take root easily in the mild, friendly climate of California, but much hardier strains are found to have climbed the Carpathians and the steppes of Russia almost to the very doors of Moscow. Scions of these hardier strains have very recently been made to grow and yield their nuts in America as far north as Toronto and are being set out in numbers in the northern part of the United States. How well they will prosper in this new, more variable and chilly climate remains to be seen, but the start is made. No doubt it will be by Johnny's old method of patient and repeated selection, first for hardiness then for quality, that the planned result will be accomplished.

The contributions of Persia and the plantings of its forgotten scientists have here merely been touched on. Nothing, for instance, has been said about her great groves of mulberry trees, which led to silk-worms, which led to silk, which led to the production of jewel-bright vegetable dyes, which led to the development of a decorative art in fabrics that is rivaled by China, alone, in all the world. And of course, Aryan Persia is only one of the many treasure centers of ancient civilization. In scores of racial settlements elsewhere our lives today are being changed and enriched in innumerable ways by the hands of those old miracle-workers whose names were writ in water and whose works are immortal. The accomplishments of China are of such magnitude that even now we are only beginning to discover our debt to her. India, Indo-China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Japan—all have similar backgrounds. Even in the United States, young as it is, the migrations of pre-historic races have left their trails in the gardens and forests around us. Pecans from the South, for example, have been carried North and are gradually developing hardy strains that survived in Indiana and Illinois groves.

Enough has been said to blaze the way to the end at which I have been driving. It may begin to look as though modern plant explorers have now followed the plant-spoor of human migrations to their final limits. It may look, too, as though the ends of these converging trails will find civilization at last firmly established. Or will they?

The future race, let us admit, may eventually be able, by means of an almost unthinkable development of food, clothing, building and medical supplies of a synthetic or semi-synthetic nature, to dispense with some of the agriculture we know. This is the prediction of some scientists. Let it stand. What then is to be done with the land upon which our food crops had formerly been raised? Manifestly, it must again be covered with hurricane-control, flood-control, and erosion-control vegetation, chiefly trees, perhaps. Trees for safety's sake, trees for beauty's sake, for recreation's sake, trees for food's—yes, food's sake, for flavor and health, trees and vegetation as sources for the very synthetic that are supposed to supplant them; and last but not least, trees and vegetation for the protection and perpetuation of animal life, of bird life, and insect life. All these are inseparably bound up with human life.

Come what may at the hands of a short-sighted human race, no matter what surface changes may come about in human eating habits, housing styles, farming or factory practice, still the winds will sweep the earth in hurricanes where there is nothing to impede them; the waters and ice of the heavens will still tear apart and level the hills, will gash the valleys and will carry off the earth and dump it into the sea. Following this, the sun will burn the unprotected earth into a cinder. Nothing can change these facts. From the beginning of life upon the earth, trees and vegetation have been the chief means by which a balance has been maintained between the antagonistically destructive and creative natures of the elements.

Do we realize fully, I wonder, how important is the work of this group and the parent NNGA? The interest of its members is chiefly in "wild" trees that produce food crops—mainly, but not exclusively, nut crops. And they are interested not merely in planting and testing names and known varieties, but in finding and testing the best individuals among the wild trees, planting selected seed, enjoying the exciting gamble which is always sealed up in the magic, unknown potentialities of a hybrid.

As, centuries ago, the Persian walnut was rescued from the forest and developed into the splendid nut we know today, so the American black walnut can be rescued; its nut can be improved and developed by selection and cross-breeding. It is a grand mahogany-like timber tree which is becoming far too scarce. Each war takes its toll for gun stocks. Its nuts are the only nuts within my knowledge, not even excepting our lost American chestnuts, that retain their full distinctive flavor through cooking. Nothing can replace its flavor in candy or cake making. The tree is indigenous to America and, in contrast to the Persian, has only decades, rather than centuries of selective breeding behind it. No one can tell what even one short century of intelligent selection may make of this great tree.

We Americans, in fact, have barely started on the Appleseed trail, a trail which tends toward the development of a permanent perennial, rather than annual, type of agriculture, with trees, shrubs, vines and perennial grasses its chief interest. For, no matter what chemistry has in store for us in the way of plastics for construction and of synthetics for foods and drugs, the good earth is still our sole source of supply. The chestnut, the mulberry, persimmon, pawpaw, pecan, hickory, wild cherry, the grape, the elderberry in fact the whole tribe of fruits and nuts with flavors found nowhere else on earth—all are growing along this ancient trail. They offer an infinite variety of opportunity for exploration and discovery. To work with them gives one a sense of sharing in the work of creation.

Graft the Persian Walnut High in Michigan

By Gilbert Becker, Climax, Michigan

The rule to plant the Persian walnut where peaches and sweet cherries do well is a good one; but not infallible and certainly can't be too closely relied upon here in southwestern Michigan. Since 1933, I have placed several hundred grafts of the Persian walnut upon black stocks. Many of these are top worked trees, but there were 68 grafted seedlings in nursery rows, grafted in 1936. These were planted out two years later. Some are now about ten feet tall with a well branched head. Of this lot I have only harvested one ripe nut and that was four years ago. Two of these same trees were planted near some buildings and shrubbery at a neighbor's home, and they are now bearing well.

Before going further I must say that Persian walnut trees and peach trees are quite different. First, the Persian walnut cannot stand having its female flowers frosted when they are out or nearly so. Second, the peach can stand frost at, or shortly after, full bloom, and they will set a bumper crop of peaches. We have had two years of late spring frosts at the time nut trees were in bloom, and we have had bumper crops of peaches each year. Apples were badly hit, so many have failed to bear. Lilac blossoms failed to come out and be showy because of these severe frosts. However, I know of a peach tree heavily loaded right now growing between two Persian walnuts that haven't had a single nut either year, though they have borne nuts previously. Thus, peaches will bear in frosty springs when Persian walnuts are damaged. Further, good-air drainage, such as a high hill, with a deep valley below will save the Persian nut crop in a frosty spring. I have a small Persian walnut grafted in such a location, and it is the heaviest loaded nut tree I have. It has so many large nuts on its limbs that its lower limbs are actually resting upon the ground. This was grafted upon an established black seedling four years ago.

What I have so far told would lead one to think that there is no nut crop on my Persian grafts this year. This is not so, for I have one of the largest crops in the 13 years I have had grafted Persian walnuts. These are on top-worked trees high above the ground! Most of the top-worked trees are over 12 feet at the graft, or higher, and it is best to have them this high, because almost all lower limbs are simply minus nuts, due to our unfavorable spring. As for proof, I noticed that the lower limbs had blackened leaves, while the entire tops were undamaged a few days after the frosty weather. The lower branches leaved out the second time in late May. It seems as if the Persian walnut produces two nuts to every one that a grafted black walnut will on a top of equal size. We are troubled with walnut curculio as well as considerably by squirrels, and by a leaf disorder that often blackens the leaves and causes them to fall in early September, followed by premature dropping of the nuts. Even then, there should be a good crop this year.

Now, comes the question, should we graft the Persian walnut high, here in Michigan? It certainly saves time, because a middle-aged walnut tree produces, in terms of pecks and bushels, in eight to 15 years. Being well established it saves patience and disappointment. And I know it is far more profitable.

This writing of my experience is not intended to hurt the established nut tree nurseryman in any way. Any of you who may live in Michigan are certainly devoted to your hobby and have doubtless learned the skills and pleasures of top-working a good sized seedling black walnut. You will surely find it profitable. First, purchase the grafted Persian tree from your nurseryman, and later, from this, work your established seedling blacks at your convenience. Graft them at least 12 feet up and see if what I say isn't quite true.

Pecan Growing in Western Illinois

By R. B. Best, Eldred, Illinois

We need a consistent philosophy in this troubled world of ours. Working with nature and especially with nut trees helps us to develop this philosophy and to realize that there are no panaceas for our present day problems except as we work them out ourselves. After all our wishful thinking with panaceas and doctrines, we come back to the same conclusion. Those people with the best foundations built on reason and truth are those who are nearest the soil and growing things. Those who work with trees and other living things in nature possess the philosophy which acts as a breastwork against the forces which would destroy our society.

We started our propagation of nut trees in 1930 under the guiding hand of Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Sawyer and Professor Ray Marsh of the University of Illinois, and later have had help from Dr. Colby of the University. We have at present about 2500 grafted pecan trees, a few varieties of hickories, black walnuts, chestnuts, filberts, persimmons, butternuts, heartnuts, pawpaws, etc. When people ask me what we expect from our trees, I tell them that the trees have already paid me in satisfaction if not in filling my purse. I do expect our nut tree project to give us a good financial return. The pecan is our leader in Western Illinois as a popular nut. Much of our Illinois river bottom land, if deserted by man, would immediately pass back to nature and exist as pecan groves. I have been working with pecan trees since 1930 and today find myself with more questions than answers. We are growing at present about 37 varieties of pecans. We are reaching certain notions which we hope are right. The hybrids are fine and make wonderful trees but I doubt if they are the answer to our problem. With these remarks I dispose of further discussion of the Burlington, Rockville, McCallister and Gerardi varieties.

The Major and Greenriver are excellent performers but are a little late maturing for us. The Posey nut is slightly earlier and makes an excellent quality but is not to be compared with Major and Greenriver for bearing. Our Butterick trees are excellent growers but bear few nuts. This variety is the poorest bearer that we have. Our earliest pecans of the better known varieties are Indiana and Busseron, of the newer varieties, Stephens and Gildig No. 2.

The Giles pecan which Mr. Wilkinson discovered in Kansas is our outstanding nut for yield, size and early bearing but it should also be earlier maturing. Although the Giles has been late when grafted on some of our native trees, it has been early on others. In 1945, which will always be known by the Illinois weather man as the year without a summer, we found a great difference in our Major, Greenriver, and Giles nuts from tree to tree as to size and maturity. This question of compatibility between stock and scion is of the utmost importance and it impedes investigational work, complicating comparisons we are trying to make. Some of our new varieties which we are trying out might be checked immediately if we knew the effect of the under stocks of our trees.

Our farms are about 50 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Our first problem with pecans is maturity. The old named varieties are a little late for us. I personally feel that we should get grafts from no farther north than New Haven, Ill., or Rockport, Ind. I am interested in Mr. Gerardi's varieties at O'Fallon, Ill., because they should be early. Dr. Colby has brought to light three new ones from Cass County, Ill. which should make excellent maturity in central Illinois.

We are blessed in our community with large numbers of native pecan seedlings. The behavior of different nuts on different stocks is not the same. Before any nut should be condemned we feel it should have an opportunity to perform on different stocks over a period of years. For this reason we always try to graft a number of trees to each variety.

Most things taken from nature are subject to improvement and can be better adapted to the use of man. I would like to see some new varieties of pecans developed for our northern zone. I would like to see large plantings of nuts from all our leading varieties of pecans. From these seedling studies, great good would come and possibly a good variety. I would like to see Major, Greenriver, Giles, Posey, Busseron, Indiana, the Gildigs crossed with some early prolific nuts. I would like to see every nut that had any good quality crossed with every other good nut in a mass planting so that genetics could operate and have these trees planted where they might be permitted to reach maturity and the "get" of each union studied. We might get an early heavy bearer which would revolutionize the pecan industry. I would like to see some of our good Southern varieties like Stuart crossed with early northern varieties. This search for new nuts should be accelerated.

Let us rededicate ourselves to the problem of getting the "super-nut." Let us explore these new fields of nut germ plasm which lie all about us, pull these old nuts apart genetically and recombine their good with the good of other nuts into new varieties. If we should fail 10,000 times and succeed once, success would be cheap.

Random Notes from Eastern New York

By Gilbert L. Smith, Wassaic, New York

During the past few years I have found it increasingly difficult to keep up my nut tree work. However, three years hence, I expect to retire from my job as Farm Manager at Wassaic State School and then to devote much of my time to nut work. Mr. Benton now has even less time than I do for the nut work. Our work of previous years is now beginning to show results, especially our variety tests which should become more significant each year as more varieties come into bearing and repeat crops bear out or disprove our earlier opinions. Following are some of our findings on such varieties as have borne enough for us to form an opinion.