Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 43rd Annual Meeting
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Title: Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 43rd Annual Meeting
Editor: Northern Nut Growers Association
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE 43RD ANNUAL MEETING ***
Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|DISCLAIMER |
| |
|The articles published in the Annual Reports of the Northern Nut Growers|
|Association are the findings and thoughts solely of the authors and are |
|not to be construed as an endorsement by the Northern Nut Growers |
|Association, its board of directors, or its members. No endorsement is |
|intended for products mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not|
|mentioned. The laws and recommendations for pesticide application may |
|have changed since the articles were written. It is always the pesticide|
|applicator's responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current |
|label directions for the specific pesticide being used. The discussion |
|of specific nut tree cultivars and of specific techniques to grow nut |
|trees that might have been successful in one area and at a particular |
|time is not a guarantee that similar results will occur elsewhere. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
43rd Annual Report
OF THE
Northern Nut Growers Association
Incorporated
AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
_Annual Meeting at_
ROCKPORT, INDIANA
August 25, 26 and 27, 1952
Table of Contents
Officers and Committees 1952-53 4
State and Foreign Vice Presidents 5
Constitution and By-laws 7
Call to Order, Forty-Third Annual Meeting 11
Address of Welcome--Hilbert Bennett 11
Business Session 15
Treasurer's Report--Carl Prell 18
Committee Reports 21
President's Address--L. H. MacDaniels 27
The Future of Your Nut Planting--W. F. Sonnemann 32
The Value of a Tree--Ferd Bolten 35
Methods of Getting Better Annual Crops on Black Walnut. Panel
discussion led by W. W. Magill 38
The 1952 Hickory Survey--H. F. Stoke 46
A Discussion of Hickory Stocks--Gilbert L. Smith 49
Filbert Varieties. Panel discussion led by G. L. Slate 53
My Experiences with Chinese Chestnuts--W. J. Wilson 62
Persian Walnuts in the Upper South--H. F. Stoke 66
Varieties of Persian Walnuts in Eastern Iowa--Ira B. Kyhl 69
Commercial Production and Processing of Black and Persian
Walnuts--Edwin L. Lemke 71
Black Walnut Processing at Henderson, Kentucky--R. C. Mangelsdorf 73
Nut Shells: Assets or Liabilities--T. F. Clark 77
The Propagation of Hickories--Panel discussion led by
F. L. O'Rourke 81
A Promising New Pecan for the Northern Zone--J. W. McKay and
H. L. Crane 89
The Hickory in Indiana--W. B. Ward 91
The Merrick Hybrid Walnut--P. E. Machovina 93
Producing Quality Nuts and Quality Logs--L. E. Sawyer 94
Colchicine for Nut Improvement Programs--O. J. Eigsti and
R. B. Best 99
An Early Pecan and Some Other West Tennessee Nuts--Aubrey
Richards 101
Scab Disease in Eastern Kentucky on Busseron Pecan--W. D.
Armstrong 102
Further News about Oak Wilt--E. A. Curl 102
Life History and Control of the Pecan Spittle Bug--Stewart
Chandler 106
Insect Enemies of Northern Nut Trees--Howard Baker 112
Tuesday Evening Banquet Session Resolutions and Election of
Officers 118
Chestnut Breeding--Arthur H. Graves and Hans Nienstaedt 120
Effect of Vermiculite in Inducing Fibrous Roots on Tap Rooting
Tree Seedlings--Herbert C. Barrett and Toro Arisumi 131
Eastern Black Walnut Survey 1951--H. F. Stoke 133
Crath's Carpathian English Walnuts in Ontario--P. C. Crath 136
Nut Tree Plantings in Southeastern Iowa--Albert B. Ferguson 146
Rockville as a Hickory Interstock--Herman Last 147
A Fruitful Pair of Carpathian Walnut Varieties in
Michigan--Gilbert Becker 147
Suggested Blooming Data to be Recorded for Nut Tree
Varieties--J. C. McDaniel 148
Note on Chinese Chestnuts--Harwood Steiger 149
Scott Healey--An Obituary 149
A Letter from Dr. W. C. Deming 150
Sweepstakes Award in Ohio Black Walnut Contest--L. Walter
Sherman 152
Attendance Record, Rockport, Ind. 1952 156
Membership List--Northern Nut Growers Association 158
Officers for 1952-53
President Richard B. Best, Eldred, Illinois
Vice-President George Salzer, Rochester, New York
Secretary Spencer B. Chase, Norris, Tennessee
Treasurer Carl F. Prell, South Bend, Indiana
Directors Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Ithaca, New York
Dr. William Rohrbacher, Iowa City, Iowa
EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS 1952-53
Program Committee:
Dr. J. W. McKay, Royal Oakes, Gordon Porter, Gilbert Becker, A. A.
Bungart, W. D. Armstrong.
Local Arrangements:
George Salzer, Victor Brook.
Place of Meeting Committee:
R. P. Allaman, Dr. Lloyd L. Dowell, Edwin W. Lemke, Alfred L. Barlow.
Publication Committee:
Professor George L. Slate, Professor Lewis E. Theiss, Dr. L. H.
MacDaniels.
Varieties and Contests Committee:
Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, J. C. McDaniel, Sylvester M. Shessler, H. F.
Stoke, Royal Oakes.
Standards and Judging Committee:
Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Dr. H. L. Crane, Louis Gerardi, Spencer Chase,
Professor Paul E. Machovina.
Survey and Research Committee:
H. F. Stoke (With all the state and foreign vice-presidents).
Exhibits Committee:
Sylvester M. Shessler, Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, H. F. Stoke, Royal Oakes,
A. A. Bungart, J. F. Wilkinson.
Root Stocks Committee:
Professor F. L. O'Rourke, J. C. McDaniel, Albert F. Ferguson, Dr. Aubrey
Richards, Louis Gerardi, Dr. Arthur S. Colby, Max Hardy, Gilbert Smith.
Auditing Committee:
Raymond E. Silvis, Sterling A. Smith, Edward W. Pape.
Legal Advisor:
Sargent H. Wellman.
Finance Committee:
Sterling A. Smith, Ford Wallick, Edward W. Pape.
Necrology:
Mrs. Herbert Negus, Mrs. C. A. Reed, Mrs. G. A. Zimmerman.
Nominating Committee:
(Elected at Rockport, Indiana), Max Hardy, Gilbert Becker, Dr. William
Rohrbacher, Professor George L. Slate, J. Ford Wilkinson.
Membership Committee:
George Salzer (With all the state and foreign vice-presidents).
State and Foreign Vice-Presidents
Alabama Edward L. Hiles, Loxley
Alberta A. L. Young, Brooks
Arkansas W. D. Wylie, Univ. of Ark., Fayetteville
Belgium R. Vanderwaeren, Bierbeekstraat, 310, Korbeek-Lo
British Columbia, Canada J. U. Gellatly, Box 19, Westbank
California Thos. R. Haig, M.D., 3021 Highland Ave., Carlesbad
Colorado J. E. Forbes, Julesburg
Connecticut A. M. Huntington, Stanerigg Farms, Bethel
Delaware Lewis Wilkins, Route 1, Newark
Denmark Count F. M. Knuth, Knuthenborg, Bandholm
District of Columbia Ed. L. Ford, 3634 Austin St.,
S. E. Washington 20
Florida C. A. Avant, 960 N. W. 10th Ave., Miami
Georgia William J. Wilson, North Anderson Ave., Fort Valley
Hawaii John F. Cross, P. O. Box 1720, Hilo
Hong Kong P. W. Wang, 6 Des Voeux Rd., Central
Idaho Lynn Dryden, Peck
Illinois Royal Oakes, Bluffs (Scott County)
Indiana Edw. W. Pape, Rt. 2, Marion
Iowa Ira M. Kyle, Box 236, Sabula
Kansas Dr. Clyde Gray, 1045 Central Ave., Horton
Kentucky Dr. C. A. Moss, Williamsburg
Louisiana Dr. Harald E. Hammar, 608 Court House, Shreveport
Maryland Blaine McCollum, White Hall
Massachusetts S. Lathrop Davenport, 24 Creeper Hill Rd.,
North Grafton
Michigan Gilbert Becker, Climax
Minnesota R. E. Hodgeson, Southeastern Exp. Station, Waseca
Mississippi James R. Meyer, Delta Branch Exp. Station, Stoneville
Missouri Ralph Richterkessing, Route 1, Saint Charles
Montana Russel H. Ford, Dixon
Nebraska Harvey W. Hess, Box 209, Hebron
New Hampshire Matthew Lahti, Locust Lane Farm, Wolfeboro
New Jersey Mrs. Alan R. Buckwalter, Route 1, Flemington
New Mexico Rev. Titus Gehring, P. O. Box 177, Lumberton
New York Stephen Bernath, Route No. 3, Poughkeepsie
North Carolina Dr. R. T. Dunstan, Greensboro College, Greensboro
North Dakota Homer L. Bradley, Long Lake Refuge, Moffit
Ohio Christ Pataky Jr., 592 Hickory Lane, Route 4, Mansfield
Oklahoma A. G. Hirschi, 414 North Robinson, Oklahoma City
Ontario, Canada Elton E. Papple, Cainsville
Oregon Harry L. Pearcy, Route 2, Box 190, Salem
Pennsylvania R. P. Allaman, Route 86, Harrisburg
Prince Edward Is. Canada Robert Snazelle, Forest Nursery, Route 5,
Charlottetown
Rhode Island Philip Allen, 178 Dorance St., Providence
South Carolina John T. Bregger, P.O. Box 1018, Clemson
South Dakota Herman Richter, Madison
Tennessee W. Jobe Robinson, Route 7, Jackson
Texas Kaufman Florida, Box 154, Rotan
Utah Harlan D. Petterson, 2076 Jefferson Ave., Ogden
Vermont A. W. Aldrich, R. F. D. 2, Box 266, Springfield
Virginia H. R. Gibbs, Linden
Washington H. Lynn Tuttle, Clarkston
West Virginia Wilbert M. Frye, Pleasant Dale
Wisconsin C. F. Ladwig, 2221 St. Lawrence, Beloit
CONSTITUTION
of the
NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED
(As adopted September 13, 1948)
NAME
ARTICLE I. This Society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers
Association, Incorporated. It is strictly a non-profit organization.
PURPOSES
ARTICLE II. The purposes of this Association shall be to promote
interest in the nut bearing plants; scientific research in their
breeding and culture; standardization of varietal names; the
dissemination of information concerning the above and such other
purposes as may advance the culture of nut bearing plants, particularly
in the North Temperate Zone.
MEMBERS
ARTICLE III. Membership in this Association shall be open to all persons
interested in supporting the purposes of the Association. Classes of
members are as follows: Annual members, Contributing members, Life
members, Honorary members, and Perpetual members. Applications for
membership in the Association shall be presented to the secretary or the
treasurer in writing, accompanied by the required dues.
OFFICERS
ARTICLE IV. The elected officers of this Association shall consist of a
President, a Vice-President, a Secretary and a Treasurer or a combined
Secretary-treasurer as the Association may designate.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ARTICLE V. The Board of Directors shall consist of six members of the
Association who shall be the officers of the Association and the two
preceding elected presidents. If the offices of Secretary and Treasurer
are combined, the three past presidents shall serve on the Board of
Directors.
There shall be a State Vice-president for each state, dependency, or
country represented in the membership of the Association, who shall be
appointed by the President.
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE VI. This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the
members present at any annual meeting, notice of such amendment having
been read at the previous annual meeting, or copy of the proposed
amendments having been mailed by the Secretary, or by any member to each
member thirty days before the date of the annual meeting.
BY-LAWS
(Revised and adopted at Norris, Tennessee, September 13, 1948)
SECTION I.--MEMBERSHIP
Classes of membership are defined as follows:
ARTICLE I. ANNUAL MEMBERS. Persons who are interested in the purposes of
the Association who pay annual dues of Three Dollars ($3.00).
ARTICLE II. CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS. Persons who are interested in the
purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Ten Dollars ($10.00)
or more.
ARTICLE III. LIFE MEMBERS. Persons who are interested in the purposes of
the Association who contribute Seventy Five Dollars ($75.00) to its
support and who shall, after such contribution, pay no annual dues.
ARTICLE IV. HONORARY MEMBERS. Those whom the Association has elected as
honorary members in recognition of their achievements in the special
fields of the Association and who shall pay no dues.
ARTICLE V. PERPETUAL MEMBERS. "Perpetual" membership is eligible to any
one who leaves at least five hundred dollars to the Association and such
membership on payment of said sum to the Association shall entitle the
name of the deceased to be forever enrolled in the list of members as
"Perpetual" with the words "In Memoriam" added thereto. Funds received
therefor shall be invested by the Treasurer in interest bearing
securities legal for trust funds in the District of Columbia. Only the
interest shall be expended by the Association. When such funds are in
the treasury the Treasurer shall be bonded. Provided: that in the event
the Association becomes defunct or dissolves, then, in that event, the
Treasurer shall turn over any funds held in his hands for this purpose
for such uses, individuals or companies that the donor may designate at
the time he makes the bequest of the donation.
SECTION II.-DUTIES OF OFFICERS
ARTICLE I. The President shall preside at all meetings of the
Association and Board of Directors, and may call meetings of the Board
of Directors when he believes it to be the best interests of the
Association. He shall appoint the State Vice-presidents; the standing
committees, except the Nominating Committee, and such special committees
as the Association may authorize.
ARTICLE II. Vice-president. In the absence of the President, the
Vice-president shall perform the duties of the President.
ARTICLE III. Secretary. The Secretary shall be the active executive
officer of the Association. He shall conduct the correspondence relating
to the Association's interests, assist in obtaining memberships and
otherwise actively forward the interests of the Association, and report
to the Annual Meeting and from time to time to meetings of the Board of
Directors as they may request.
ARTICLE IV. Treasurer. The Treasurer shall receive and record
memberships, receive and account for all moneys of the Association and
shall pay all bills approved by the President or the Secretary. He shall
give such security as the Board of Directors may require or may legally
be required, shall invest life memberships or other funds as the Board
of Directors may direct, subject to legal restrictions and in accordance
with the law, and shall submit a verified account of receipts and
disbursements to the Annual meeting and such current accounts as the
Board of Directors may from time to time require. Before the final
business session of the Annual Meeting of the Association, the accounts
of the Treasurer shall be submitted for examination to the Auditing
Committee appointed by the President at the opening session of the
Annual Meeting.
ARTICLE V. The Board of Directors shall manage the affairs of the
association between meetings. Four members, including at least two
elected officers, shall be considered a quorum.
SECTION III.--ELECTIONS
ARTICLE I. The Officers shall be elected at the Annual Meeting and hold
office for one year beginning immediately following the close of the
Annual Meeting.
ARTICLE II. The Nominating Committee shall present a slate of officers
on the first day of the Annual Meeting and the election shall take place
at the closing session. Nominations for any office may be presented from
the floor at the time the slate is presented or immediately preceding
the election.
ARTICLE III. For the purpose of nominating officers for the year 1949
and thereafter, a committee of five members shall be elected annually at
the preceding Annual Meeting.
ARTICLE IV. A quorum at a regularly called Annual Meeting shall be
fifteen (15) members and must include at least two of the elected
officers.
ARTICLE V. All classes of members whose dues are paid shall be eligible
to vote and hold office.
SECTION IV.--FINANCIAL MATTERS
ARTICLE I. The fiscal year of the Association shall extend from October
1st through the following September 30th. All annual memberships shall
begin October 1st.
ARTICLE II. The names of all members whose dues have not been paid by
January 1st shall be dropped from the rolls of the Society. Notices of
non-payment of dues shall be mailed to delinquent members on or about
December 1st.
ARTICLE III. The Annual Report shall be sent to only those members who
have paid their dues for the current year. Members whose dues have not
been paid by January 1st shall be considered delinquent. They will not
be entitled to receive the publication or other benefits of the
Association until dues are paid.
SECTION V.--MEETINGS
ARTICLE I. The place and time of the Annual Meeting shall be selected by
the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made at
this time, the Board of Directors shall choose the place and time for
the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seem
desirable may be called by the President and Board of Directors.
SECTION VI.--PUBLICATIONS
ARTICLE I. The Association shall publish a report each fiscal year and
such other publications as may be authorized by the Association.
ARTICLE II. The publishing of the report shall be the responsibility of
the Committee on Publications.
SECTION VII.--AWARDS
ARTICLE I. The Association may provide suitable awards for outstanding
contributions to the cultivation of nut bearing plants and suitable
recognition for meritorious exhibits as may be appropriate.
SECTION VIII.--STANDING COMMITTEES
As soon as practical after the Annual Meeting of the Association, the
President shall appoint the following standing committees:
1. Membership
2. Auditing
3. Publications
4. Survey
5. Program
6. Research
7. Exhibit
8. Varieties and Contests
SECTION IX.--REGIONAL GROUPS AND AFFILIATED SOCIETIES
ARTICLE I. The Association shall encourage the formation of regional
groups of its members, who may elect their own officers and organize
their own local field days and other programs. They may publish their
proceedings and selected papers in the yearbooks of the parent society
subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.
ARTICLE II. Any independent regional association of nut growers may
affiliate with the Northern Nut Growers Association provided one-fourth
of its members are also members of the Northern Nut Growers Association.
Such affiliated societies shall pay an annual affiliation fee of $3.00
to the Northern Nut Growers Association. Papers presented at the
meetings of the regional society may be published in the proceedings of
the parent society subject to review of the Association's Committee on
Publications.
SECTION X.--AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS
ARTICLE I. These by-laws may be amended at any Annual Meeting by a
two-thirds vote of the members present provided such amendments shall
have been submitted to the membership in writing at least thirty days
prior to that meeting.
Forty-Third Annual Meeting
Northern Nut Growers Association
August 25, 26, 27, 1952
Spencer County Court House, Rockport, Ind.
The opening session of the Forty-third Annual Meeting of the Northern
Nut Growers Association convened at 9:20 o'clock, a.m., at the Spencer
County Court House, President L. H. MacDaniels presiding.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The gavel with which we open this forty-third
annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association has some
historical significance. It was made from a pecan tree which grew in the
orchard of Mr. Thomas Littlepage in Maryland, near the city of
Washington, and it has been the custom of the Association to open its
meetings with that gavel.
The forty-third meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association will be
in order. To open the session we will have the presentation of the
colors. You will all stand, please, and remain standing through the
invocation. (Colors presented by Boy Scouts and the invocation given by
the Reverend William Ellis of Rockport.)
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: At this time we will call on Mr. Hilbert Bennett
to bring us greetings from the people of Rockport. Mr. Bennett of
Rockport.
Address of Welcome
HILBERT BENNETT, _Rockport, Ind._
Some are here that were here in 1935 and 1939. I was on the Citizen's
Committee in each of those years. It was the purpose of the Citizen's
Committee to take notice of your coming and to try to make you
appreciate our interest in you and in your coming.
Why was I on that Committee in 1935?
Why was I on that Committee in 1939?
Why am I on that Committee in 1952?
I will tell you.
When I was a boy two other young men, somewhat older than I, were young
men in the same township and somewhat closely located. I knew those boys
and I knew them well. You came to know them and know them well. One of
those boys was the late Thomas P. Littlepage, a charter member of this
Association. It was my good pleasure to teach school with him. We
attended College together. At college we roomed together. We attended
conventions together and were close personal friends. I think I was in
position to know him and know him well. The other boy was R. L. McCoy.
We too, were close personal friends. We too, taught school in the same
territory and contemporary with T. P. Littlepage. Prior to any
organization of the N.N.G.A. I went with these two boys (men by that
time) on trips of investigation and inspection of certain nut trees
about which they had heard and which they wanted to examine.
If the trees examined met the proper standards, they wanted to use them
in propagation. If not they would pass them up.
Another boy somewhat younger than myself and the two above mentioned
boys, joined most heartily into the nut discussions and investigations
and explorations of promising clues. With them he helped to run down
clues when they would hear of a promising prospect. The jungles were
never too dense, the distance too far, the road too muddy or rough, for
those three characters to run down in those horse and buggy days, any
prospect in which they were interested. This boy also became a member of
your most valued organization. I have a special interest in this boy. I
was, especially closely associated with him and his family. He went to
school to me. My signature appears on his Common School Diploma. Their
home was my home whenever I sought to make it so. I was free to come and
go. I came a lot. Ford Wilkinson, the third character, and I have been
close friends ever since.
Another one of your fine members became a good friend of mine. He came
into our county and planted a farm to nut trees and nut production. It
is now the largest nut orchard in the county. I am informed that at that
time it was the largest nut farm of hardy northern varieties in the
world. I got acquainted with him early and became endeared to him. It
was none other than the late Harry Weber.
When it became known that you were to meet here in 1935, it was a
natural sequence that Ford Wilkinson, knowing that I would gladly help
in any way I could and knowing I was his genuine friend saw fit to place
me on the Citizen's Committee. If he had not, I positively would have
climbed aboard anyway. You couldn't have driven me out with a peeled
hickory club. I was just going to be in on it whether or no.
Whether I performed well in 1935 or whether he couldn't find any one
else to serve in my place, I never knew; but he again placed me on the
Committee in 1939.
Now here I am in 1952 an old broken down fossil, broken in health, but
not in spirit, of little consequence to anybody or anything, I am still
on the Committee.
That answers the question of some of you of why that old man Bennett is
always on the local committee and that you have wondered if there is no
other person in this whole community that will serve but him. No,
friends, we have many who would gladly serve and I doubt not that would
serve much more efficiently.
I have prepared a short "skit" that I wish to present.
* * * * *
1st. _Introducing Joan Flick, of Washington, D. C._
I am a pecan plucked from a small orchard planted by a retired business
man. He had some surplus ground near his premises that was too rough for
easy cultivation. He thought that he would plant it to pecans so that
his family and his children's families would have nuts for their own use
and pleasure. He took good care of the trees. He fertilized them every
year and sometimes oftener. In the course of a few years he not only had
more pecans than all of the families could use, but he sold hundreds of
pounds of nuts from these trees. He developed a commercial orchard
unconsciously.
2nd. _Palma Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio._
I am the hican, I have no commercial value of consequence. I demonstrate
the ability, the interest, the development and the possibilities of
improvement by the determined efforts of the members of your
association. Knowing your ability and determination to make improvements
in nut culture, I have every feeling that in the not too distant future
you will develop me into a profitable commercial product.
3rd. _Sandra Wright of Rockport, Indiana._
I am the walnut, a most valuable tree for fine fruit and fine timber for
many uses. I have been noted for my fine grain and my ability to take a
fine polish. Our forefathers immediately found the walnut to be the
choice timber out of which to build fine furniture, gun stocks, home
furnishings and many other things that required high grade material. We
have never lost sight of its significance.
Thin shelled nuts, easily cracked, and hulled out in halves have been
developed. Walnuts will grow almost any where. Originally it was a
common forest tree and would continue to be if it had the opportunity.
There is little danger of the walnut becoming extinct. It is too
valuable. I suggest that you plant liberally to high grade walnut trees.
4th. _Jo Ann Hall of Rockport, Indiana._
I am the once popular beech under whose folds thousands of picnickers
have gathered and enjoyed life's most savory and pleasant moments. I
have built thousands of American homes and farm barns. I have built
thousands of miles of old farm plank fences. I have built car load after
car load of beautiful, useful and valuable furniture. In the early
period of this country I furnished mast for thousands of swine that fed
many families. I have filled many minor places of usefulness. As sad as
it is to do and as much as I hate to do so, I am now bidding you a last
farewell.
Self interest, the slowness of my growth and the impracticability of
propagation of this once valuable tree leaves but one course, that I
pass to my reward with the firm hope that the other trees now being
developed, and grown will fill all of the purposes for which I have been
so useful, and fill them with increased usefulness. With this sad but
necessary adieu, I bid you one and all goodbye.
5th. _Pattie Jones of Rockport, Ind._
I am the oak, the sturdy oak, the king of the forests. I am stout. They
make beams, spars, sills, fulcrums and what not from me that require
strength. I grow fairly fast. I came into usefulness as the world came
into need of heavy timbers.
I am dainty and refined as well as strong. I am used in making fine
flooring, fine furniture and many other useful things. Please do not
discard me from production. Please do not let me pass into oblivion. I
am very very valuable. I deserve to be perpetuated.
6th. _Marcia Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio._
I am a pecan plucked from the tree of a man who in the early years of
his married life planted pecan trees in unused spots on his farm that
were unsuitable for cultivation. As the trees grew into nut bearing
trees his family of children grew. In the October days, with great
gaiety, glee and happiness, the children would gather the fruit of those
trees. The children grew to maturity and went to the city to work; but
when those October days came they returned home and with similar
happiness as of their youth they gathered the nuts from those trees.
With pleasure I say I am one of those trees.
7th. _Jean Morris, Joyce Morris and Sandra Wright, all of Rockport,
Indiana._
We are a group of clusters, the filbert, the pecan and the walnut. We
came from a nut farm within the bounds of Spencer County. This farm was
planted and developed by a former enthusiastic member of your wonderful
organization. He spent much time and energy in behalf of your
organization. He developed the largest nut orchard in the county. I
refer to Harry Weber, who came from a neighboring state and endeared
himself to this community by his superb manhood, his genial disposition
and his intense interest in his subject matter. We commend his efforts
to others.
8th. _Virginia Mae Daming of Rockport, Ind._ She was carrying the former
Reports of the N.N.G.A.
This cluster is plucked from a "Tree" of great magnitude and
significance. Today it has its roots firmly set in Rockport, Indiana.
Its branches reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to
Mexico. Its influence is felt throughout the world.
Its inception was in Spencer County, Indiana, not specifically detailed,
but in the main, by boys that were reared among the native nut trees of
this community of which there were many. It was born in the great City
of New York under the care of the late Thomas P. Littlepage, Dr. Wm. C.
Deming, Dr. Robert T. Morris and Prof. John Craig. It was nurtured
throughout the land of the detailed history you know much more than I.
It has had an enormous growth. It is a most meritorious organization.
Language will not express the extent of its benefits to humanity and to
civilization. It adds to the comfort of untold thousands of happy homes.
It furnishes employment for thousands of people. It furnishes food of
vital importance to many families. It is the main stay in the
manufacture of all kinds and grades of furniture. It furnishes food for
thought. It keeps the scientific and investigating minds busy in the
constant development and improvement of its processes and benefits. Its
possibilities are boundless.
That this "Tree" may continue to grow and develop in the future as it
has in the past in the interest of humanity and help us to realize its
importance and help us to continue its forces in accord with nature and
nature's God is my earnest prayer. May God bless you one and all.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Thank you very much, Mr. Bennett. You have made
us feel most welcome in Rockport, as you have before on two other
occasions. I don't believe that there is any other man who has welcomed
this organization three times in the same locality.
We also thank you for bringing in the trees and the children to greet us
on this occasion. It isn't very often that the trees themselves come
into the assembly room to greet us, and we appreciate your effort in
doing this for us.
We will now proceed with the business of the Association.
There appears to be no record of the members elected to serve on the
nominating committee for this session. As near as we can determine this
committee is as follows: Mr. Silvis, Mr. Allen, Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. McKay
and Mr. Gerardi.
Is there a motion to approve these names?
The committee was approved by vote.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: This Committee will bring in a slate of officers
of the Association for the next year at our final business session.
I will now call for the reports of standing committees. There are eight
of these. The Program Committee. Royal Oakes is the chairman. The fact
that we are having a meeting indicates the functioning of the Program
Committee.
MR. OAKES: I believe I have nothing to report at this moment. I would
like to say the other members did a good part of the committee work.
PRESIDENT MACDANIELS: We appreciate the part that all of you have played
in arranging these meetings.
The Publications Committee, Editorial Section. Dr. Theiss, I believe, is
not here. Dr. Theiss received the manuscripts and either had them read
or read them himself.
The Printing Section of the Publications Committee, Mr. Slate.
MR. SLATE: Our proceedings are on the press and probably will be
finished and in the mail this week.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The Place of Meeting Committee. Mr. Allaman is the
chairman. In the absence of Mr. Allaman, I present the invitation
secured by Mr. Salzer, to meet in Rochester, New York in 1953. Their
convention bureau offers very attractive facilities and the invitation
is seconded by the Mayor, Joseph J. Naylor, the president of the
Rochester Convention and Publicity Bureau, the President of the
Rochester Hotel Association, the President of the Junior Chamber of
Commerce of Rochester, and the Deputy Commissioner of the Rochester
Parks, which just about covers the board.
It doesn't seem to me worthwhile to read all of this material. What it
boils down to is that Rochester would be a very good place to meet. The
Rochester parks are very interesing places to go, and as I understand
it, there are facilities which would not be expensive to the
Association. Is that true, Mr. Salzer?
MR. SALZER: Yes, there would be no charge for exhibit rooms if they are
held in the hotel, because we are classed as a scientific organization.
And we would have the facilities of the Bausch Memorial Museum. There
would be facilities for showing moving pictures or slides, and for an
exhibit.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: It would be in order at the present time to take
definite action on this Rochester invitation, if you care to do so. A
motion would be in order to accept.
It has been moved, seconded, and carried that we have our 1953
convention in the City of Rochester, the dates will be determined by the
Board of Directors.
The general thinking of the Board of Directors is that we will go to
Lancaster, Pa. again in 1954, and in 1955 come back into the Middle
West. Mr. Allaman has been working on the Lancaster proposal and I think
there has been some spade work done in Michigan already. Have you
anything to say about that, Mr. O'Rourke?
MR. O'ROURKE: We will be very glad to have you at Michigan State College
at any time. Unfortunately, however, we do not have any nut plantings
there. The nut plantings are either in the eastern part of the state or
the western part. It's quite a drive either way.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I don't think we have to make a commitment at this
time, but it is something to be brought to the attention of the Place of
Meeting Committee.
I think we might have a little further explanation from Mr. Best about
his bacon breakfast.
MR. BEST: We said in our membership drive that anyone who would go out
and work would bring home the bacon, and we further fortified the deal
that we were going to furnish the bacon here at Rockport at this
session. So in the morning over at Cotton's restaurant we will have
bacon, all you want to eat, and the only requirement is that you either
got a member last year in the membership drive we have been working on,
or that you tried to get a member. That's all that's necessary.
MR. GRAVATT: You have spoken about the meeting in 1954. As you know, I
have represented this country at the International Chestnut Meeting for
two years. There has been some talk about the possibility of the N. N.
G. A. inviting the International Chestnut Meeting to meet in this
country in 1954 or '55. At the last meeting the delegates from Japan
recommended that they meet in the United States in 1954. The matter is
not decided, and I think if you will put off decision about Lancaster
until later, it would be a little better.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The committee on Standards and Judging, Mr.
Spencer Chase.
MR. SPENCER CHASE: Mr. President, we contemplated having a report on
hickory standards for this meeting, but because of circumstances beyond
our control, we didn't get the project under way.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I will call on our secretary at this time for the
report of the meeting of the directors.
MR. McDANIEL: There were several things brought up last night at the
meeting of the Board of Directors of the Northern Nut Growers
Association. One matter was the subscription to the American Fruit
Grower magazine which we give our membership.
The American Fruit Grower had been selling subscriptions to the
Association for its members at 30 cents a year. Since the first of July
this year their rate is 50 cents. The opinion of the directors and
committee members present last night was that we should drop that
subscription to the American Fruit Grower for our members. It will be
sent to all members who join for this year and up to the beginning of
the next fiscal year. After October 1st, no subscriptions to the
American Fruit Grower through the Association. Do we have any discussion
on this proposal? (Considerable discussion followed.)
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I suggest that we hear the report of the Board of
Directors and then act on the various items one by one in executive
session.
MR. McDANIEL: You have heard something about the membership drive, and
we will have more on that later. The directors suggested that we
encourage more memberships, contributing memberships and sustaining
memberships in the Association at $5.00 and $10.00 per year. Some of us
feel we can't pay any more than $3.00 for our membership; others will be
able to support the organization financially by taking memberships at
the $5.00 or $10.00 rate, and we are still offering our life membership
at $75.00.
Another matter discussed was offering the set of 34 volumes of back
reports in The Nutshell at the price of $20.00 for the 34 volumes now
available.
We suggest also that the Association authorize the appointment of a
Publicity Committee to work with the Membership Committee in attracting
new members.
That is about all I have as the report of the directors' meeting last
night, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: This matter of the Board of Directors reporting to
the business session is a pattern which I think is a good one. The
proposition has been placed before you as to whether or not you wish to
continue our affiliation with the American Fruit Grower magazine. As you
will recall, the reason the question comes up at the present time is
that they have raised their rate from 30 cents a member to 50 cents a
member, which is 50 cents of our $3.00, which with the 50 cents
secretarial expenses leaves but $2.00 to run the society. As the
Treasurer will explain to you later, we are in somewhat of a financial
difficulty.
It has been moved and seconded that the Association subscription to the
American Fruit Grower be discontinued.
This matter is up for discussion.
MR. MCDANIEL: We have much more space available in The Nutshell than in
the American Fruit Grower, and there is the possibility of more frequent
publication.
MR. DOWELL: If we could actually get it bi-monthly or quarterly, in
place of the Fruit Grower, I think most all of us would be better
informed and actually have more information. And The Nutshell is a very
excellent means of showing somebody what the organization is about. You
give them a copy of the American Fruit Grower, and if he is interested
in nuts, most copies aren't going to convince him of much.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I think this question is related to the
appointment of a Publicity Committee which will explore what can be
done to secure more publicity and give more information about nuts to
our members than has been possible in the Fruit Grower.
The members of the Board of Directors felt that $300-plus is a high
price to pay for what we got out of The American Fruit Grower.
(The question was called for.)
The motion is passed without dissent.
The question of authorizing the appointment of a Publicity Committee is
introduced mainly as a matter for your information, also because it's
much better if the society as such were to authorize such a committee.
Do I hear such a motion?
Moved by Mr. Salzer, seconded by Colby and passed that the appointment
of a Publicity Committee be approved.
I will ask for the report of the Treasurer, Mr. Prell.
Treasurer's Report
MR. PRELL: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Best has asked that I
help in connection with his report. That certainly is not because I can
make his report better than he can, but probably because a new member is
not a new member until his check has arrived and has been recorded, and
I happen to have those figures. I will be happy to do that, but perhaps
we should start first with the report that the President has asked for,
the Treasurer's report.
I imagine that you are uninterested in an itemized, detailed report of
receipts and expenditures; I imagine you are interested in the question:
How are we doing? We are not doing too well. The annual report for this
year indicates that our financial condition is not satisfactory. For the
second successive year we have spent more money than we have taken in,
and that would be the third successive year, if it hadn't been for the
fact that due to the lateness of the publication in 1950--that it, the
annual report--we did not pay for an annual report that year. That means
there are three years in a row that we have gone downhill.
The picture is not entirely black, however. There are some bright spots.
For instance, all our bills are paid. Second, we have money in the bank.
Third, our $3,000 investment in Government bonds is still intact, and
fourth, our deficit this year was less than it was last year, which may
indicate that we have already touched bottom and are starting up.
The cause of our deficit is easy to put your finger on. We are operating
on budgets that are ten years old, and costs have gone way, way beyond.
Dues were increased several years ago, but even at that time they were
not increased adequately, and since then costs have skyrocketed.
The membership situation is not too bad, though the cost situation is
bad. The two don't jibe at all. The reason we have a lesser deficit this
year than last is Mr. Best's work and the work of his vice-presidents in
increasing the membership, and the results of that work; I think, have
only begun to show.
Specifically, we came within $417 of collecting enough money this year
to pay our expenses. It was over $500 last year, making a total of a
thousand dollars that we have spent above our receipts. While we have
some money in the bank, there will be a bill due in about 30 days on the
publication of the annual report, that will be mailed within the next
few days. And that will take all the money that is in the bank, plus
what we are able to collect in dues immediately, and I hope that many of
them are paid at once. But that still leaves us without money to operate
through the year, and by January, unless conditions change, we will be
borrowing money.
The Board of Directors has discussed this. They have some thoughts on
the subject which will be presented to you by Dr. MacDaniels. I think
that one of the obvious things that you all think of and I may mention
is the matter of increased membership. That's an obvious solution, and
as I said a minute ago, it's a very possible solution.
The work that was started by Mr. Best last February is only now
beginning to bear fruit. New memberships, even as late as this for this
year, in August, are coming in very, very well. I personally see no
reason why the membership cannot be increased to a thousand members next
year, providing all of us bring in a member or two.
I asked a friend of mine on The Country Gentleman for some data on state
population compared to farm population. I forget just exactly now how it
runs on various states, but I do recall Indiana. We have a population
here of four million people. There are about 700,000 of these people on
166,000 farms. The farms in this state produce a wealth of $75,000,000 a
year. With 700,000 farmers in this state and population of 4,000,000
with a wealth of $75,000,000 a year, it would seem to me that the State
of Indiana should have more than only 39 members. Out of that group we
should certainly increase that ten times. We should have 400 members,
and if the same proportion is carried throughout the nation, why, this
organization can easily obtain a roll of 7500 to 10,000 members. A
thousand members next year should be a pushover. So much for the
financial report.
Mr. Best's campaign started last February. His vice-presidents were
given material and the inspiration to work for new members, and they
responded. For Mr. Best I compiled the list of the new members who have
been brought in, with the people who have brought in the greatest
number, but that thing went galley-west in the last few days by the
strong finishers. Mr. Best himself came in yesterday with a pocket full
of 11 new members, and he already had a couple on the list. Up to that
time--and I am not giving credit to the Secretary, because several of
the members that show his sponsorship have come naturally through his
office. So disregarding the sponsored members of the Secretary, Spencer
Chase was top man, up until Mr. Best upset him yesterday, followed by
Dr. Rohrbacher, who was a late finisher with members who were not
recorded in this report. All through the year it was a battle between
Pennsylvania and Illinois as to who would have the greater number of
members.
Illinois, with 36 members, hopped up to 60, and Mr. Best's 11 make 71.
And just this morning they got two others from Illinois, making 73. So I
think Illinois has the second place position firmly nailed down.
Last year we had 563 members all together. This year now we have 170
new members. We can't add that to 563, because in every organization
there is a loss of membership every year, and it's to be expected that
our membership should have a 10 per cent turnover through circumstances
of people leaving their places where they have their nut tree plantings,
deaths and other circumstances. So there was a net gain of 86 members to
date.
TREASURER'S REPORT
August 25, 1951 to August 18, 1952
RECEIPTS
Membership Dues $1,907.00
Sales of Annual Reports 190.00
Interest on U. S. Bonds 37.50
Donations 48.95
U.S.P.O. Unused Balance, Permit 3.05
Petty Cash 1.97
TOTAL $2,188.47
DISBURSEMENTS
41st Annual Report (Pleasant Valley) $1,375.86
Plates and printing, 900 copies $1,271.16
Envelopes, 2500 31.65
Mailing 73.05
The Nutshell 86.55
Printing & mailing Vol. 4, No. 3 28.64
Printing & mailing Vol. 5, No. 1 57.91
American Fruit Grower 191.60
582 Subscriptions at 30c 174.60
34 Subscriptions at 50c 17.00
Urbana Meeting 163.68
General Expenses 20.28
Reporting & Transcribing 143.40
Secretarial Help, 50c per member 317.00
Stationery and Supplies 179.81
Association Promotion 114.91
Application Folder, 5000 90.02
Supplemental Folder, 650 17.69
Things-of-Science 7.20
Secretary's Expense 77.23
Treasurer's Expense 94.04
Dues, American Horticultural Society 5.00
TOTAL $2,605.68
Cash on deposit, First Bank, South Bend $1,313.78
Disbursements 2,605.68
$3,919.46
-- -- -- --
On hand August 26, 1951 $1,730.99
Receipts 2,188.47
$3,919.46
-- -- -- --
U. S. Bonds in Safety Deposit Box $3,000.00
I know that Mr. Best has still some more material that he will supply to
any of you who are anxious to go out and help in getting the new
members. It's only a matter of every person getting a couple, or like
Spencer Chase getting 10. That would put us well toward our goal of a
thousand members, on which the Association probably can operate without
deficit. I thank you. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Thank you very much, Mr. Prell. We are very much
indebted to you for your business-like handling of the affairs of the
society. It is sometimes bitter to know the facts, but the only way that
we are ever going to get anywhere is by knowing the facts and facing
them. Either fortunately or unfortunately we are not like the federal
government, which can go on piling up deficits. We have to do as each
one of us as individuals has to do: If our operating-expense exceeds
income, we either have to get more income or cease out-go. That is the
situation under which we are confronted at the present time.
A little later we can take up some of the things we have in mind. Did
you have a further report, Mr. Secretary?
I think probably the Treasurer stole some of the thunder that you might
otherwise have.
MR. MCDANIEL: He did that, and the Membership Committee also. You know
something of the activities of the secretary's office during the current
year, a matter of getting out three issues of The Nutshell and assisting
with the editing of the annual report, which I hope you will receive
about the time you get home.
One other activity in which the Secretary participated, in addition to
the usual task of answering letters to beginning nut growers, was this
project "Things of Science". Perhaps Dr. McKay could tell us more about
that. Is Dr. McKay in the room? Will you come up now?
DR. MCKAY: We being near Washington, were, of course, the logical people
to come in contact with this suggestion early when it was made. As a
matter of fact, the very beginning of this movement goes back to Harry
Dengler. Some of you may know of him. He is Extension Forester at the
University of Maryland and is also Secretary of the American Holly
Association.
Harry Dengler was very much interested in this "Things of Science"
program and happened to mention to the Science Service paper, of which
Watson Davis is editor, that it would be a desirable thing to work up a
test on nuts.
For the benefit of those of you who do not know what "Things of Science"
is, it is a movement sponsored by Science Service, located in
Washington, D. C, whereby 12,000 subscribers to "Things of Science"
receive every month a little kit through the mails dealing with all
kinds of subjects in science. It is usually a little box, as in the case
of the one on nuts, or it may be simply an envelope with some things in
it to taste. The idea is to give people all over the country who are
interested enough to pay $5.00 a year one kit a month, each one dealing
with a different phase of science.
Many groups subscribe to this service; for instance a boy scout troop,
libraries and industrial plants. So it goes to literally many thousands
more people than the 12,000 actual subscribers that it has.
So when Science Service came to us and said, "Would you be interested in
helping us work up a kit on nuts", naturally, we wanted to do what we
could towards helping these people, and our first thought was this
organization as an official sponsor for it. So we contacted the
directors, the officers, Dr. MacDaniels and J. C. McDaniel, and as a
result, the Northern Nut Growers, through its board of directors,
because we had no other means to authorize it, went ahead and sponsored
this move.
To do it, we approached the California Walnut Growers Association, the
California Almond Growers Association, the Northwest Nut Growers
Association, and the Southeastern Pecan Growers Association, with the
idea of having their names mentioned in the kit, and in return they
would furnish samples to distribute. The Northern Nut Growers
Association furnished the hickory nut samples. The kit was composed of,
as I recall, six different kinds of nuts--Persian walnuts and almonds
from California, filberts from the Northwest, Pecans from the Southeast,
hickory nuts from the Northern Nut Growers Association, and pistachio
nuts furnished through the Department of Agriculture by Captain
Whitehouse at Beltsville. He secured the pistachio nuts from the trees
in California. The kit was composed of a little box about four inches
long, an inch and a half deep and three inches wide, containing two or
more nuts of the various kinds, together with a brochure that we helped
the science people work up. Dr. MacDaniels and the various cooperating
groups worked up this brochure of information. The kits include a set of
directions for the subscriber to follow in using the material. There are
several different possibilities, all along the lines of scientific
experimentation.
The idea is to get these youngsters and young people to become familiar
with different kinds of nuts.
I think that's all I should say, Mr. President. That covers pretty well
the effort that was made and those who made the effort. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Thank you very much, Dr. McKay. This project is
one in which there were deadlines as to time, and we had to work rather
fast. Air mail, special delivery, the long distance telephone and
telegraph played quite a part in it. The Science Service was paying the
cost of assembling and mailing. The only cost to the Association was for
the hickory nuts.
MR. MCDANIEL: We were late on that and unable to get the quality nuts we
would like, but we did get enough to fill the kits, not all of which
were worthy.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We would like to have secured Carpathian walnuts,
but the nuts from known sources of supply were so discolored with husk
maggot that we were ashamed to send them out. We were not able to locate
and to furnish any considerable amount of any kind of northern nuts.
Twelve thousand of these kits went out, and each one of them is in a
position where it probably contacted a dozen or more on the average, so
that I am sure as a result of the effort a great many people not only
became more familiar with nuts and their various sources and uses, but
also learned that the contest was sponsored by the Northern Nut Growers
Association. Mr. Prell, who knows something about advertising, thought
it was a very worthwhile project.
That completes the reports of the officers and of the committees. We
will now take ten minutes recess.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The session will be in order.
As your treasurer said, there are several other things which we
discussed in the directors' meeting. We discussed this matter of how,
the situation being such as it is, the Association could improve its
position through gaining more members and through either making more
money or cutting down expenditures.
The Publicity Committee was one of those suggestions, who were to
explore this matter of getting better publicity for less money. That is,
whatever publicity we got from the American Fruit Grower cost us about
$300, and we think we can do a lot better in some other way.
Another matter was to place the financial situation of the society
squarely before the membership and ask that as many as could and felt so
inclined take out a contributing or a sustaining membership. We felt
quite strongly that raising the dues was not the answer, because there
are a lot of people sort of on the fringe who don't work too actively
for the society but who do take out regular memberships but who, if we
raised the dues even another 50 cents, would probably fail to renew
their memberships. So that at least for the present we are not going to
go ahead on that basis, unless you want that to come up for further
discussion.
Another point which we, I think, should explore was the matter of
advertising in the proceedings. Some other associations, the pecan
association, particularly, as Dr. McKay pointed out, make a substantial
part of their revenue from advertising in the proceedings. We have tried
that before, but times have changed, and I think it should be considered
again.
Then the matter of speeding up sales of sets of the proceedings to
libraries, that is, further publicity in The Nutshell about sets that
are for sale and, perhaps, circularizing the library lists to sell
complete sets, or as complete as we have.
Another matter that might be explored is having some kind of a
"give-away program", some inducement for those who take out memberships
for the first time. Other societies do it in one way or another.
Unfortunately, our material does not lend itself to that sort of thing
as well as some others, but we might be able to give nuts of Carpathian
strains that could be used as seed nuts, or perhaps the hybrid hazels.
MR. MCDANIEL: One suggestion made in a letter from Dr. Crane was to
distribute hybrid walnuts to grow to fruiting size. That might be
explored if there is a source of enough seedlings or seed nuts of
Juglans Regia crossed with Juglans Nigra.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We would welcome any further suggestions which you
may have, either as to saving money or making money, or increasing our
membership, which amounts to making money, of course.
Another thing that might be done to present the possibilities of nut
growing to your communities is to sponsor exhibits at your own county or
state fairs.
Mr. Slate wanted to make a comment along these lines.
MR. SLATE: That matter of urging sustaining and contributing memberships
has been mentioned by you. I think it would be one of the best things
we could do to send a statement of our financial condition to the
members of the Association pointing out the need for additional funds
and suggesting that all who can possibly afford it take out sustaining
and contributing memberships. It seems to me that this is just about the
only alternative to increasing the dues. I am not sure whether an
increase in the dues would result in the loss of many members or not.
Perhaps they are getting rather used to the higher price level, and it
might be well to have an expression of opinion from some of those here
as to whether they thought there would be serious objections to an
increase in the dues. Surely, there are many who can afford to carry
sustaining or contributing memberships.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: That is the opinion of the Board of Directors. Mr.
Slate has raised a question as to the validity of the conclusion of the
Directors regarding the advisability of raising the dues. Our thinking
was that to raise the dues beyond the present level would result in
sufficient loss of membership to offset any gain in revenue. The last
time we raised the dues what was the effect?
MR. MCDANIEL: When we raised the dues to $3.00 we had a membership of
650. It dropped to about 580; a loss of 60 or 70.
MR. PRELL: We in effect raised dues 50 cents this morning. It won't
affect new members, but it may cause some of the older ones who are
members to drop. They know that at present 50 cents of their dues are
going to the Fruit Grower; now they aren't getting the Fruit Grower.
MR. MACHOVINA: They were getting for $2.50 what they will now get for
$3.00.
PRESIDENT MACDANIELS: Any other discussion?
MR. KINTZEL: I have given this problem of increasing the membership
quite a bit of thought, and have an idea which might be used. Let's see
by a show of hands how many live in the city but own farms outside of
the city.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The question is how many live in the city but have
farms outside. Sixteen or 17, probably about 20.
MR. KINTZEL: You might call me a city farmer. Like many other city
people, I own a small farm near the city in which I live, which is
Cincinnati, Ohio. I am intensely interested in the work of the N.N.G.A.
There must be many others who, too, are owners of land but who use the
land for experimental farming and to get a little diversion from the
daily grind in the busy, noisy city. These people would consider it a
favor to have their attention called to the interesting work of our
organization.
A practical plan for getting in touch with this reservoir of future
members is to secure the names and addresses of such land owners from
the records at the various county court houses fringing the cities. A
personal letter should be written to these future members. A friendly
invitation to join the N.N.G.A. should be extended, and a printed
brochure describing and explaining its work and objects should be
included.
I believe that by working systematically on the city dweller, who also
owns acreage outside the city limits, we could give our membership list
a big boost.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: That is a good suggestion for the Membership
Committee.
Is there anything further?
MR. CALDWELL: This is not a suggestion, but a comment following up the
idea of the previous speaker. In Syracuse there was a woman with an
estimated 160 acres of land, who about 15 or 16 years ago became
interested in planting hybrid chestnuts. Unfortunately, the land was not
suitable for raising chestnuts and the two or three hundred trees she
planted failed to grow. I don't think there are two alive there now. So
you will have to be a little bit careful in encouraging city people to
plant nut trees. She spent a lot of money and right now if you mention
that, she will just practically tear you apart. She wasted money and
time, so be careful in getting people going too strong unless you are
sure the trees are going to grow for them.
MR. SNYDER: According to the chart outside, cutting off the Fruit Grower
will leave us just a few cents per member in the red.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Right.
MR. SNYDER: Well, don't we have $3,000 in bonds? What are they for, if
it isn't to tide us over a hard period like this?
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: That is a suggestion for the Board of Directors.
MR. SNYDER: If inflation keeps up, the bonds will be worth nothing. We
might as well use them up. I would suggest we use every method to
balance the budget without them, but if necessary, use some of them up.
If it is necessary, use the bonds to balance the budget.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The question of whether or not we use the bonds, I
think, would have to be considered very carefully. I think one of the
Ohio men has a suggestion.
MR. DOWELL: This discussion would follow along with that on membership.
The active members of the Ohio section were organized back in 1946, and
in 1948 the national body put in its by-laws a provision that there
could be state sections formed. That is Article 1 and also Article 2,
that you could have affiliated bodies. Now, as far as I know, there is
no other state section.
MR. MCDANIEL: Michigan has one, now.
MR. DOWELL: Michigan has not actually affiliated yet, and when it does
come in it will be an affiliated society. According to the by-laws it
will not be necessary for all its members to be members of the N. N. G.
A.
Now, we feel that some strong state section is the main support in
membership interest and a lot of other lines, and I think that if you
check the rolls you will find where you have had a state organization,
whether it's affiliated or otherwise, particularly Ohio and Michigan,
that our membership has not really dropped down in total numbers. Of
course, there is a turnover every year. If it has dropped down, it's
been slight in comparison with the overall drop down.
MR. MCDANIEL: Ohio is only holding its own now. You have one more member
than you had a year ago.
MR. DOWELL: That's right, we are holding our own, and previous to this
last run, the total number in the Association was down a hundred. That
has not dropped in Ohio, which has the state section. Neither has it
recently in Michigan, which has recently organized the Michigan Nut
Growers.
The Executive Committee of the Ohio section wishes to present the
following resolution for the consideration of this body:
RESOLUTION
"WHEREAS we feel that membership in a state section has been a
definite advantage in maintaining and increasing membership in the
National Organization, as has been demonstrated in the Ohio Section
of the N. N. G. A.;
WHEREAS a National Organization becomes strong because of its
strong local sections which help maintain interest;
THEREFORE the National Organization should encourage and foster the
formation of local sections.
We therefore submit the following motion: That the N. N. G. A.
amend its constitution to provide for the organization of local
sections. These amendments should include the following provisions:
1. Membership in the N. N. G. A. shall be a requirement for full
membership in the local section; however this shall not exclude
local sections from accepting associate members.
2. That each member of the N. N. G. A. shall automatically become a
member of a local section when he resides in a location where a
recognized local section exists.
3. Wherever a local section has become established, the local
chairman shall serve as vice president of the N. N. G. A. for that
area.
4. The N. N. G. A. shall refund to the treasurer of each local
section ten percent (10%) of the N. N. G. A. dues paid annually by
members of that section."
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I conclude that you are presenting this for the
consideration of the Association. It would be an amendment to the
by-laws, I take it, rather than the constitution. Such an amendment
would have to come up for consideration at the next meeting after
consideration by the Board of Directors; either that, or else vote on it
by mail.
MR. DOWELL: It is purely a motion now, if passed or rejected. But if it
is passed, then previous to the Rochester meeting, the proposal would
have to be in a suitable form to be either passed or rejected for the
by-laws.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We have this resolution in printed form. That will
be transmitted to the Board of Directors for consideration at the next
meeting.
MR. DOWELL: We make it as a motion that the mass accept or reject it
here.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The motion is, then, to accept the resolution and
present it to the Board of Directors. Is that right? Is there a second?
MR. KINTZEL: I second it.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Are there further remarks? If not, all in favor,
signify by saying "Aye." (Chorus of "ayes"). Opposed? (None.) It is
carried.
MR. O'ROURKE: I am very sorry I was not recognized before the vote was
taken.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I am sorry.
MR. O'ROURKE: I am speaking, I think, for the Michigan Nut Growers, of
which we have quite a group here today, and we are quite anxious to
maintain an independent state organization. We feel that it is perfectly
all right for this motion to have been adopted as it has been, if there
will be no attempt made to delete that section which now refers to
affiliation.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I think there would be no attempt to do that.
MR. O'ROURKE: Is that clearly understood that there will be no attempt
made to delete the section on affiliation?
MR. DOWELL: That is the understanding. Now, there are two ways in the
present by-laws. Now, this would either be a third or replace the first.
It would have nothing to do with affiliating groups.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I think that is right, and I think the thing to
do, Mr. Dowell, would be to be sure that the new president is apprized
of the Michigan point of view in that regard. He will be the chairman of
the new Board of Directors, and this is simply a motion to consider it.
It doesn't go any further than that.
Is there any further business to come before this group at this time? If
not, the other item on the agenda, as it is stated, I believe, is a
presidential address.
The Forward Look
Presidential Address, by L. H. MacDaniels
As the retiring president of our Association, it is a time honored
custom and a privilege to give what is often referred to as the
presidential address. I do not have in mind giving an address but rather
to consider with you informally the present situation of the Northern
Nut Growers Association and to give my ideas as to what we might do to
improve our position and forward the purposes for which the Association
was organized in 1910.
Time does not permit recounting the history of the development of the
Association. This has been done on several previous occasions. I will,
however, go back to the 1945 report in which under the title "Where Do
We Go from Here" I tried to pick up various aspects of the condition of
the Association immediately following the war and point out areas to
which special attention should be given at that time.
Considering our situation in 1952, it appears that many of our problems
are about the same as they were in 1945 although in some areas definite
progress has been made. A quick look at our problems then and now is
perhaps pertinent to the present discussion. One of these is variety
evaluation. This still remains one of the important areas where we need
much more information particularly as to the success or failure of
different named clones of nut trees in various regions. Perhaps it is
time for us to carefully summarize whatever data we have accumulated as
to the adaptation of varieties or at least make plans for extending a
program of evaluation. Since 1945 our survey committees have been active
and have secured information that will certainly be helpful.
The problem of judging standards has been clarified somewhat. It is my
personal opinion that the judging schedule for varieties of black
walnuts worked out with the assistance of Dr. S. S. Atwood is on a sound
basis and might well receive much wider use. Following along somewhat
the same pattern, suggested schedules have been proposed for the
hickories and butternuts. These should receive further consideration and
adoption, if approved at least on a tentative basis. A schedule for
Persian walnuts is very much needed as indicated by the recent contest
in which confusion occurred related to there being no recognized
standards of evaluation. With the Persian walnut such matters as the
method of cracking and the importance of such characters as sealing of
nuts, recovery of whole halves and others should be agreed upon.
Our procedure in naming varieties is still somewhat chaotic. Possibly we
should adopt the general pattern of the American Pomological Society.
Their example of setting up an approved list of varieties for planting
on a regional basis is worthy of consideration. Even though such a list
were tentative and incomplete, a start which would embody the best
information we have would be valuable.
Securing new varieties of, hardy nut trees through breeding has made
some progress. Most encouraging is the work of the Federal Experiment
Station at Beltsville where Doctor Crane and Doctor McKay and their
associates are using modern techniques in securing new varieties of
hardy nut trees. Some progress in hybridization, of course, has been
made, particularly with the filberts, the hybrids developed by J. F.
Jones, G. L. Slate, S. H. Graham, Heben Corsan and some others, showing
great improvement over previous European varieties in their adaptability
to the northern United States. At the present time there are filbert
varieties of hybrid origin better than those in the nursery trade which
should be propagated and made available. Work with the Chinese chestnuts
has also been valuable.
It is my opinion, which I believe is shared by most of those who are
familiar with progress in securing new varieties, that we are not likely
to find in the wild, varieties or clones which show any marked
improvement over those already found and named. There is, of course,
always the possibility of the "perfect nut" arising as a chance
variation. The recent walnut and hickory contests, however, have been
somewhat disappointing for they have not discovered any variety of black
walnut better than the Thomas for instance, or a hickory much better
than some of those located years ago. This does not mean that members of
the Association should not keep a sharp lookout for new varieties
occurring spontaneously which will be better than existing sorts. It
does mean, however, that if real "breaks" are to be secured, it will be
necessary to apply some of the more effective techniques which are known
in the plant breeding field. Any such program is a long time project and
can only be effectively attempted by experiment stations, or by some of
the young men, who begin now to make crosses under the direction or at
least with the advice of those who are familiar with plant breeding
techniques.
Progress has been made in the Association organization. The constitution
has been thoroughly overhauled and amended, particularly to provide for
regional groups. Certainly such groups are to be encouraged and have
done and will do much to strengthen the national organization in the
various states. It is my personal opinion that these regional groups can
be of particular value in working with the experiment stations and
legislatures to promote the interests of the Association. The state
associations should be on the alert to build on the interests of
conservation departments as related to wildlife preserves and
sportsmen's clubs and other agencies which put the growing of nut trees
in proper perspective. I am not at all in favor of securing either
federal or state support for every minor project which comes along.
However, the Northern Nut Growers Association need make no apologies for
its program, particularly as it is related to the conservation of our
natural resources; to the promotion of better living on the farm and
those values which are real and great, even though they do not show up
large in dollar value of crops produced.
Unfortunately, projects in nut growing have been started in various
states, particularly Ohio and Michigan only to be eliminated before they
really got under way because of lack of support. Experiment station
directors, if they are confronted with a shortage of funds, are likely
to run the blue pencil through items which cannot be backed up with
economic considerations. The approach of the Northern Nut Growers
Association it seems to me should not be to seek support on an economic
basis but rather on the basis of better living on the farm, improvement
of gardens and farmsteads and the advantages of growing nut trees as
compared with any other horticultural activity. There has been a real
increase in the importance which is given to this approach in recent
times and an active state association, which can keep in touch with
local conditions and call on the national association for additional
support, will certainly be of great assistance in the future.
I personally am not in favor of any sort of a set up by which the
national association gives a kick back of national dues to a regional
association. The dues are inadequate for the national association at the
present time. Looking at the whole situation with some perspective, it
would seem that the regional associations might contribute to the
national association rather than the reverse. If the constitution and
by-laws of the Association are not such as to make affiliation with the
national association and the formation of regional associations easy,
they can readily be changed to secure the very best pattern that can be
devised.
Perhaps one of the most acute problems with which the Association is
faced is the struggle to keep financially solvent. We are all aware of
our changing economy, particularly the increased costs of printing and
in fact of everything that our organization uses or needs, even postage.
In my thinking, the finances of the Association are much the same as
those of an individual, who is confronted with expenditures that exceed
his income. The things that have to be done are obvious and the same in
both cases. One is to spend less and the other is to secure more funds.
In the judgment of your directors and executive committee, expenditures
have been reduced as low as is safe in order to keep a going
organization. Members join the Association for the value which they get
out of it and a large part of this value is in the form of reports,
newsletters, information made available and the organization of annual
meetings. If these services were discontinued or curtailed, membership
falls off. This has been the experience of other plant societies, of
which there are many.
In my judgment retrenchment is not the answer in the present situation.
Securing additional funds is the best forward-looking policy. The
question comes up as to how this may be done. Experience in our
Association and I believe other associations as well, has shown that
$3.00 is about as far as dues can be raised. There comes a point with
every society when, if the dues are increased, there is a falling off of
membership, which more than offsets the gain. Other obvious procedures
are: (1) increasing the number of members; (2) providing different types
of memberships to encourage larger contributions; (3) gifts; and (4)
special fund raising projects. Of these various ways and means,
certainly increasing the number of members is by far the more promising.
The overhead of the association is not increased with additional
memberships anywhere near in proportion to the contributions of those
members. This is particularly true for additional copies of the report
and general office expense. The drive for new members under President
Best's leadership has produced gratifying results and I believe if this
is continued effectively through the next few years, a membership
increase can be secured that will assure the Association's balancing its
budget. Somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand paid memberships
would solve most of our financial difficulties. Provision is already
made for different types of memberships and it is to be hoped that many
who can do so will join the contributing member class at least until we
are out of our present financial woods.
Other societies raise considerable revenue through special projects such
as the sale of publications of one kind or another, seed distribution or
slide rental. The type of material with which the Northern Nut Growers
Association deals is not comparable to some of these other organizations
but certainly the possibilities of revenue through special projects need
to be explored.
Research with northern nut trees is exceedingly important from the
standpoint of accomplishing the objectives of the Association. The
matter of breeding new varieties has already been touched on. Other
types of research are such that a large part must be carried on by
experiment stations which have a continuing program. Much has been done
in securing observational information by Association members themselves
but some problems are such that they must be continued over a long
period of time and set up with adequate checks and provision for
securing significant data. Otherwise the results are of no real value.
Granted we need all the sound observational experience that all the
members can bring to our problems, there are still aspects of culture of
northern nut trees that need continuing program of scientific research.
Fortunately, much of the cultural information secured with nut crops of
economic value is directly applicable to northern nut trees. This is
true of the work with northwestern filberts, western walnuts, southern
pecans and even the tung industry. There comes a point, however, when
information thus gained needs to be checked under the specific
conditions where the crops are grown and very little research has been
done in the northern states where the hardy nuts are important.
Of special importance to the northern nut growers is the control of
diseases and insects. At the present time the bunch disease of walnuts
is becoming increasingly more troublesome and very little is known as to
how this is spread or how it may be controlled. In my own filbert
planting, the hazel bud mite during past years has made the crop
practically a failure. Little apparently is known as to the life history
of this insect or when miticides might be applied. Examples such as the
bunch disease and mite damage are multiplied many times with other
diseases of local or regional importance. In my thinking our best hope
for getting something done is to encourage the Departments of Entomology
and Plant Pathology in the experiment stations to take up these disease
and insect problems, which might be attacked by graduate students as
thesis subjects, even though the economic importance is not great.
As I see the situation of the Association, there is need for its members
to produce more nuts of better quality. Nothing intrigues the interest
of potential members as much as actually seeing and tasting locally
grown samples of nuts of superior varieties. On several occasions I have
tried to assemble collections of nuts for exhibit or to buy them for one
purpose or another and found great difficulty in finding sources of
supply. This was particularly true in the fall of 1951 when we were
trying to assemble nuts for "The Things of Science" project. We wanted
very much to secure Carpathian walnuts that could be sent out and used
for seed purposes. There was no source to which we could turn. In
several possible sources of supply, husk maggots had so infested the
crop that the nuts were discolored and unattractive. It might have been
possible to secure enough black walnuts to include in the kit but the
problem of state quarantines against the bunch disease could not be
easily adjusted.
Finally I believe the Northern Nut Growers Association is doing a very
significant work. Our emphasis at the present time at least might very
well be on nut growing as a hobby and for conservation, for better shade
trees and for better living on the farms and homesteads rather than to
emphasize the commercial angles. This will come in time if it can really
be demonstrated that growing northern nut trees is a profitable venture.
In these days of job specialization everyone needs a hobby and an outlet
for special interests. I know of few other fields of endeavor for those
who like growing things than the rewards that are to be found in the
growing of hardy nut trees.
MONDAY AFTERNOON SESSION
The Monday afternoon session was convened at one o'clock p.m.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The afternoon session will please be in order.
The first paper this afternoon will be, "The Future of Your Nut
Planting," Mr. W. F. Sonnemann, Vandalia, Illinois.
The Future of Your Nut Planting
W. F. SONNEMANN, _Vandalia, Ill._
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to appear before the
Northern Nut Growers Association. I am just a sprout as far as nut
growing is concerned, when we consider the age of some of our old
hickory nut trees.
About 25 years ago, I became interested in nut growing and, in
particular, the river-bottom hickory nut tree. Then we had so many nut
trees growing in the bottom that we never thought of trying to plant a
tree or look after one. People could gather all the nuts they wanted and
often the trees were cut just to get the nuts. They'd lay a stick of
dynamite at the base of the tree to shake the nuts off.
After a few years of that, I thought we might do something to save the
nut trees for the future generations. That's when I first started to
plant some nuts. Incidentally, I made a big mistake, by not joining the
Northern Nut Growers Association.
Naturally, I wanted the largest pecan I could find. I went to the St.
Louis market and bought and planted nice Papershell pecans--very nice
pecans, but the trees do not mature their crop. Mr. McDaniel and I tried
to top-work them, but that's a big job. Had I joined the Northern Nut
Growers Association, I could have avoided a lot of those mistakes.
There are some things that I found out in practicing law that can very
well apply to nut growing. If you will pardon the reference to personal
experience, I can bring forth to you about four situations. One, a good,
close friend of mine had a vacant lot close to his home. He had been
planting nut trees and papaw trees and persimmon trees for years. On
this vacant lot he had a 25-year-old Busch walnut growing back on the
alley, on the lawn was a beautiful Japanese flowering cherry, and there
were two pecan trees in the yard proper. He sold the lot to a neighbor
whose wife was just crazy about flowers, little dreaming that those
trees would ever be cut down. I don't believe the ink of the recorder
had been cooled or dried before that English walnut was cut down, the
Japanese cherry grubbed out of the front lawn, and one of the pecan
trees was cut. It just about broke the old owner's heart, and all he
could say was, "I am just disappointed in my neighbors." And now there
is a house being erected there, and the pecan tree that was 12 inches in
diameter was cut. That could have been prevented, had this man given
thought to the future.
Another man, named Hagen, who was instrumental in getting me interested
in nut growing, had a nice group of river-bottom shellbark trees growing
in his field. One of these has been propagated and named the Hagen, and
although it isn't a good cracking quality, it's a very large nut.
A pipe line was laid close to that field, and this man had the
fore-*sight to put a clause in this pipe-line right of way which gave
him the protection of collecting adequate damages for the destruction
of the trees. Didn't even need a lawyer, which is something bad for the
law business. It is a suggestion, that when a pipe line, or telephone
company is buying a right of way, it is possible to protect your
interests in valuable trees.
Another instance of protecting nut trees was when the new U. S. Highway
40 was built across Illinois. I had the job of condemning the right of
way and when the engineer and I were out walking over it we noticed a
fine group of hickory nut trees on the hillside. I remarked what a nice
group of trees it was. He said, "Yes, that's going to be a borrow pit up
there." I said, "You mean they are going to destroy those trees?" He
said, "Yes, dirt from this borrow pit will make the fill across this
bottom."
I said, "Why can't we get the dirt somewhere else? Dirt is dirt."
And the engineer said, "Well, that's the plans." We had a little
contrariness there, and I had to threaten to drop the case as far as
that tract of land was concerned. If you fight long enough and hard
enough in such cases you may find some other person who is interested in
nut trees. We did; we found an engineer higher up, and that group of
hickory trees is now a picnic area. They used a borrow pit somewhere
else, and it gives me a great pleasure to drive past that group of
hickory trees and see them still standing there. In the fall of the year
you'd be surprised at the number of people at that picnic area, and they
keep those hickory nuts picked up clean as fast as they fall.
In our county hospital just started they happened to select a piece of
ground I own an interest in for a county hospital. On that are some good
hickory nut trees. I told them they'd never get the land until they made
some arrangements in regard to those nut trees. The engineer that
designed that hospital must have had some sense, because they are
building a canopy around one of the trees adjacent to that hospital, and
have arranged to cut only one scrub oak. The other trees will be
mentioned in the deed with restrictive covenants to protect them.
If you sign anything a company gives you, you are liable to have
anything cut on your land. Remember the saying that "the big print gives
it to you and the fine print takes it away." And it's the fine print you
want to watch in all your right of ways or in your condemnation
proceedings.
I know a man who had almost 160 acres of river-bottom hickories. During
his lifetime he was very careful about those trees. He would cut the
brush around the trees and harvest those hickory nuts as if it was a
crop of corn or beans. Upon his death his children were scattered over
the various states. They didn't care anything for this hickory grove.
It's been cut. Now there is a bulldozer in there trying to clean out
those hickory stumps. They are not making much progress. All you now
have in that farm is 160 acres of old tree stumps, wild honey-suckle
vines, poison ivy and poison oak, and even a coon hunter gripes when he
has to take his dogs through there on a coon hunt. Those heirs care
nothing about it.
In selling land it doesn't make any difference whether it's a sale to a
neighbor, or to a friend or a stranger, you should protect any trees
that you have growing upon that land by what we term a covenant running
with the land, and that means if a deed is made it will provide that
certain trees shall not be cut within a certain period of time. In one
case where I am forced to sell some land I am protecting the trees for
10 years.
Each of these situations requires research under your own state laws. I
had hoped to be able to tell you something definite and precise as to
each situation, but when I considered the membership in the Northern Nut
Growers, the many states it covers and the great difference in the state
laws, it's just impossible to lay your hand upon one set of facts that
governs. You should consult your attorney who is dealing with your
transactions and tell him specifically what you have in mind and what
you want to protect. He will know whether your state recognizes
covenants running with your land and what provision can be made to
protect trees that you want to save or secure damages.
Remember, in any transaction, if it is not in the written instrument
that you sign, it's just an oral agreement that you make on the side,
and it doesn't mean a thing. It has to be in the paper that you sign.
As I mentioned briefly, in what they call "eminent domain", the state
has a right to take property for public use. The only thing you can do
there is just get your head square and fight, and if you are stubborn
enough, you may find someone in the organization that you are dealing
with who has some interest in trees. They may not be members of the
Northern Nut Growers Association or any tree association, but there are
some people who appreciate trees and who do realize how long it takes to
have a nice pecan tree or nice hickory nut tree growing.
If they call you contrary, that you won't give in to anything, let them
call you contrary, let them call you nuts, but you can protect your
trees and make sure that their future is secure.
What will happen to your trees after you are dead? Each individual's
situation has to be considered separately. In many states you can
provide by will to whom you want your nut planting to go, or you can, by
making a trust, give the trees to trustees with certain powers and
duties to care for and manage them for a period of time or perpetually,
depending on the laws of your state. Usually it is limited to the life
of some person or 21 years. In that length of time if your heirs or the
person you desire these trees to go to have not educated themselves to
the value of the tree, then the planting will be lost anyway.
In all of these cases and all the transactions that you make, if you
value your trees--and you surely do when you will carry water for them
and plant them and dig that large hole for those roots--it is worth
while to look after them during the trees' lifetime, not your own
lifetime. And if you will consult with your attorney, particularly
mention those trees to him and just exactly what your ideas are, I think
you will be assured that you will have a future for nut trees.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Thank you, Mr. Sonnemann.
Are there any questions you wish to ask on this subject. Here is a
chance to get free legal advice on the spot. That's unusual.
DR. GRAVATT: There is one point I'd like to bring out, backing up what
the gentleman just said. You know we introduced back in 1928 to 1936
very large numbers of Chinese and Japanese chestnuts. Most of them went
out to state forestry departments and such; somewhere around a half
million trees. We have had some very valuable cooperative orchard
plantings, which have been lost because something happened to the man,
he moved away, sold his property, or died. With these gentlemen who have
passed away, experimental orchard plantings and other trees were part of
their lives, but their children, or whoever inherited the property, had
no interest in continuing the work.
We have had the same experience with some agricultural experiment
stations where one of the horticulturists is interested in the
plantings, but has moved away, and we have lost our plantings.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Thank you, Dr. Gravatt. Mr. Becker, do you wish to
say something about the Reed Memorial?
MR. BECKER: This is just a word of appreciation to a number of the
Northern Nut Growers members who have helped out with the C. A. Reed
Memorial.
When we organized the Michigan Nut Growers Association last January it
was Professor O'Rourke's idea to have a memorial at Mr. Reed's home
town, which is Howell, Michigan. With Mrs. Reed's approval we planned as
our first project, planting a nut tree with a suitable plaque in memory
of the late Dr. Reed.
As a followup, we issued a little bulletin asking for contributions
toward the memorial. We sent these out to people who knew Mr. Reed, many
of whom are among this group.
Response has been gratifying and we now have approximately $95 toward
the tablet. On Arbor Day a Michigan variety of shagbark hickory called
the Abscoda was planted at Howell on the library grounds. The services
were conducted with the cooperation of the Michigan State College and
the Livingston County garden group. This is a word of appreciation and
also to explain what we have done. Thank you. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We will go on to the next paper, "The Value of a
Tree," Ferdinand Bolten, Linton, Indiana. Mr. Bolton. (Applause.)
MR. BOLTEN: Members of the Northern Nut Growers Association and ladies
and gentlemen: I am just a farmer. I am not a speech-maker, like the
lawyer here who makes his living talking. I make my living farming, and
I have some ideas, views that I'd like to bring before you.
The Value of a Tree
FERD BOLTEN, _Linton, Ind._
Members of the Northern Nut Growers Association, ladies, and gentlemen.
It may be a little unusual for a fruit grower and farmer to be on this
program; however, I have lived a lifetime working with trees on the same
farm I was born on sixty-six years ago last May. We have one hundred
acres of orchard, several varieties of nut trees, including English
walnut, pecans, hybrid pecans or hicans, hickories, filberts, hazelnuts,
heart nuts, butternuts, black walnuts; also, persimmons, pawpaws,
hybrid oaks and many of the native forest trees. In operating a farm
this size, you naturally get a lot of experience and headaches. A very
good friend of mine told me a joke that I think fits in with my farm
very well. He said a fruit grower delivered a load of apples to the
insane asylum. One of the inmates was helping unload the apples. The
inmate kept talking about apples, so the grower asked him if he was ever
on a fruit farm. The inmate replied that he was before he came to the
asylum and, in return, asked the grower if he had ever been in the
asylum. The grower replied that he had not. Then the inmate said, "Mr.,
I have been both places, and I can tell you something. It is a lot nicer
here than it is on a fruit farm".
My subject is,
THE VALUE OF A TREE
A tree out of its natural habitat sometimes becomes worthless. As an
extreme example, the orange tree in Indiana has no commercial value and
the apple tree in Florida has no commercial value. Therefore, it seems
that we should, in Indiana, endeavor to develop better trees in the
trees which are at home here. This includes the native hickory and the
black walnut, hazels, filberts and the pecans in Southern Indiana.
Personally, I am spending quite a bit of time with the Crath Carpathian
English or Persian Walnut. Last winter, I lost seven out of fifty trees
from some cause, after they had gone through the winter of 1950 and
1951, at a temperature of nineteen below zero without injury. It may
have been they were caught last fall by a hard freeze in full foliage,
early before the apples were all picked; and, again, it may be blight. I
hope not. But this I do know, the hickory and black walnut in their
natural habitat were not injured.
I wonder why hickories are so erratic in their bearing habits. Could it
be the winter rest period? For example, the peach has to have from seven
hundred hours, in some varieties, to twelve hundred hours, in others, of
below forty-five degrees temperature, or they will not set a good crop
of fruit. The value of a variety of peach in Georgia sometimes is
determined by the number of hours of rest period below forty-five
degrees that the variety has to have. It has happened that the same
variety of peach has produced a good crop in Northern Georgia and a poor
crop in Southern Georgia. Where the winter was not as cold in Indiana we
never lose crops from the lack of enough cold weather; we lose them from
sub-zero temperatures. So you see, the value of a variety in Georgia is
different to Indiana.
The value of a tree may be in the wood or in the food its produces, or
its beauty in winter. Many a picture is taken of evergreens covered with
snow. Its value may be its beauty in summer, or the coloring of its
leaves in the fall. There is also a sentimental value; a limb that is
just right for a child's swing, the Constitutional Elm at Corydon, or
the Harrison Oak at North Bend, Ohio. They have a historical value and
are visited by many people.
A man said to me some time ago, "I wonder why God made the hicans the
cross between the pecans and the hickory?" There may be a valuable nut
tree show up in the second or third generation of the hybrid trees when
certain characteristics begin to revert to the parent trees. I have on
my farm some hybrid oaks grafted, and am very anxious to see them
produce acorns so I can plant them and watch the results. This hybrid
originated in the Greene and Sullivan County Forest in Indiana, and is
called the Carpenter Oak after Mr. Carpenter, the district forester. It
is, apparently, a cross between the shingle oak and the pin oak because
it is comparable with both of them.
The value of a tree is not always the one that wins first prize in the
show. The best plate of nuts in the show may not be from the most
valuable tree, because it may be biennial in bearing habits, it may be a
shy bearer, it may be an early bloomer and subject to frost. My most
productive Crath Carpathian tree is not the best walnut and would not
get anywhere in the show, but it is hardy, blooms late, and is
productive; so its value is in these traits. The number of chromosomes
in the Crath Carpathian walnut may be different. There is quite a
difference in the size of nuts produced on individual trees. This
indicates that there may be a difference in chromosome count. If this is
true, it will be a great help in improving the size of the nuts
produced. It may be of value in pollination. The triploid apple needs to
be pollinated by the diploid variety. By setting them close together,
you get a much better set of fruit.
Sometimes I think trees are as temperamental as people. Some trees,
especially the apple, lose their value because they are subject to
certain diseases. Some are susceptible to scab, blight, codling moth,
rots, blotch, and other diseases, to a point where they become worthless
as commercial varieties. The honey locust has been considered one of the
trees on farms to be destroyed, because it was thought to be worthless.
Now, its value is being found in the correcting of sugar deficiency in
dairy cattle. The pods of the honey locust are one of the best foods to
correct sugar deficiency and cattle like them and eat them freely. I
have on my farm a thornless honey locust that produced ten bushels of
pods one year. The honey locust is also a legume and produces nitrogen
which, in turn, is used by the pasture grasses and makes more pasture
for the cattle.
The mulberry tree that ripens when cherries are ripe has a value in the
fact that every mulberry eaten by a bird saves a cherry and the birds
are valuable because they destroy insects that cause the worms in
cherries.
After observing trees for years, I am convinced that there are certain
strains or families of trees in the forest that have outstanding traits.
Those traits in growth might be dwarfs or they may be giants; they may
have short lives or long lives, like different varieties of apples. The
fruit or seeds may be large or small. I believe as reforestation
progresses there will be certain trees located which have value as seed
trees and which will improve the forest equal to the improvement in
livestock on the farms today. The razor back hog that roamed the forest
is gone and has been replaced by animals much improved; yet, the forest
in which it roamed is the same. Now we are turning to man made forests
and a chance to improve them by selecting the more valuable trees for
our source of seed. In the native hickory and black walnut, there is a
great need for more interest in searching for and preserving the most
valuable trees for their cracking quality, flavor, and productivity.
There have been and are now, nut trees on farms that were valuable
trees, but were known only to the owner and the small boys of the
community. These trees should have been preserved for posterity, but
many of them are lost forever.
In forestry, a tree's value may be in its ability to re-seed itself. In
the kinds of pine, the Virginia pine is one of the best, and also, one
of the youngest to produce seed cones. I have counted twenty-five cones
on a five year old Virginia Pine tree. In forestry, the red cedar is
good to re-seed itself in the area in which it grows. The maple ash,
cotton wood, and poplar also grow freely from nature's seeding.
Every tree that grows has a value. The leaves help purify the air; the
persimmon and the tree with a wild grapevine are food for wild life. The
old hollow tree is a refuge for the coon and o'possum and other wild
life. I have a hollow white oak on my farm I let stand because a family
of squirrels is raised in it every year. I also have a bee tree and the
bees help pollinate my fruit trees so they produce better. A world
without trees would be a desolate place. The value of a park is in its
trees.
I have spoken of the value of trees for the preservation of wild life,
but how do trees affect the life of man and how does man affect tree
life? Man is the builder or destroyer of tree life; although the tree is
the oldest living thing in plant or animal life, man is master over
trees. A man came into my farm office one day and said, "Everything in
this room either grew from the earth or was mined from the earth." How
about everything in this room? The furniture, the clothing you wear, the
ring on your finger, the glass in the windows, etc.? Let us think for a
minute, what are the things of the greatest value in this room? We have
an organization, The Northern Nut Growers Association. It did not grow
from the earth, there is knowledge of science here, there are doctors'
degrees (I wish I had one), there is ambition, honesty, love, pride, and
patriotism. Man's knowledge is the key. What he leaves alone or what he
destroys. So the greatest value is man's knowledge. After all, the
greatest values are the things that come from the minds and the hearts
of men. By man's efforts, we find or develop these valuable trees.
The value of a home is increased by trees. The love of trees and the
pride in owning a home is hard to separate. The privilege in America to
own a home and plant a tree on your own ground is of great value. It has
been said that he, who plants a tree, is truly a servant of God. I
sometimes wonder if this great value of the privilege of owning a piece
of ground and building a home and planting a tree is in danger of being
lost under the present creeping grip of socialism and communism. This
privilege of planting and owning a tree is of greater value than any
tree, and we must not lose this valuable inheritance in America.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Mr. Magill, are you all set with your program?
MR. MAGILL: Yes, sir. This is to be a discussion of "Methods of Getting
Better Annual Crops on Black Walnut--A symposium led by W. W. Magill
(Kentucky)--Discussion by a panel made up of W. G. Tatum, Spencer Chase,
W. B. Ward and Mr. Schlagenbusch." Will those men come here? We will get
started.
My business in life is Extension peddler down in Kentucky, working on
fruits and nuts and berries, and naturally that takes me into a good
many counties. We have 120, and I have been in all of them. Some places
didn't have anything, so no reason to go back. But I pick up a lot of
conversation, people give you ideas and things to think about.
We were talking about the conditions of the world--everybody's got a
good job and plenty of money and biggest incomes that the country has
ever known. That's true, but if you take down in the hills and hollows
into some places that I go and you take the financial status of certain
of those families, it's not measured in thousands of dollars, some cases
not hardly measured in hundreds of dollars. It's measured in terms of
gratuities and things to eat and not measured by greenbacks, and the
families don't pay income tax.
Last fall I was out on a farm in the foothills some 70 miles from
Lexington, in a place that most of you folks wouldn't want to live in
and call home, a little farm, probably 16 acres, with a widow lady
probably 65 years old, living there with her daughter. And among other
things, she said, "Mr. Magill, I understand that you are supposed to
know something about nuts. See that tree standing right out there?" She
says, "I will give you a $20 bill if you will tell me how to make that
nut tree bear annual crops."
Well, I was a little bit surprised. I listened, and I got to asking her
questions. Some member of the family had gone to Chicago years ago, and
she knew about all the black walnut packing firms in Kentucky. This
relative had worked in the market, and had indicated she could get a
dollar a pound for all the nut meats she would pick out and send to this
relative in Chicago. And that nut tree meant about 30 to 35 dollars a
year when it had a crop but only bore every other year.
Well, that drove home just a little more to me than ever before the
question of why certain nut trees bore and others didn't bear. To that
lady there it meant $30 the year it bore and no income from that tree on
the year it didn't bear. And she stood there beside the home and pointed
out other trees that bore regularly. And she said, "Why do they bear
regular crops and this good tree that makes so many fine, big kernels
bears every other year?" That's a challenge I am throwing out to this
audience today to all the members on this panel.
I am hoping that Pappy Ward or Friend Chase will answer that question
completely. The thing I have in mind, is that in a group like we have
here today, as many nuts as we have got here, if we think about this
question and talk to the folks back home, I believe in a year or two we
can have worked out and have printed in the records of the report some
pretty reasonable answers as to why nut trees don't bear, or why they
bear heavy crops on certain years and are off certain years.
Mr. Ward, I know you have observed this over a period of years. What, in
your opinion, is the one factor that is more responsible for this
alternate bearing of black walnuts?
Why Black Walnuts Fail to Bear Satisfactory Crops
W. B. WARD, _Department of Horticulture, Purdue University, Lafayette,
Ind._
When man or nature, and sometimes both, change the natural habits of a
tree, most anything can happen. There are years when the black walnut
sets very few fruits either on the seedling trees or trees of named
varieties. Some few trees have alternate years of production, while
other trees bear annually and some not at all. Good results and good
crops may be expected only when several factors are normal and
conditions favorable. After twenty years of keeping records and
observations on nut trees and through correspondence with other growers,
I consider the main reason for crop failure or light production to be
climatic conditions and the weather for an entire year.
The black walnut produces a pistillate flower at the end of the present
season's growth. The staminate flowers, or catkins, come from last
year's wood. Good growing conditions are desirable for wood growth and
fruit bud formation and any retarding of growth the previous season
means little or no production. Winter injury to wood and bud, diseases
or insects attacking the foliage, soil moisture, and summer temperatures
will lower tree vitality. There are times when strong vigorous trees
fail to fruit which could be due to a high or low carbohydrate-nitrogen
balance. Soil type, plant food, age of tree, and location will have some
influence on annual or even biennial production but yet are not the all
important reasons for light crops.
The pollen of the black walnut is mostly wind borne as few insects ever
visit the flowers and pollination is dependent on wind borne pollen.
Trees planted in groups and close together are generally more productive
than trees planted in orchard rows even as close as 40' by 40'. When the
weather is cold and rainy during bloom, one should not expect much of a
crop.
The staminate flowers opened early in Indiana the years of 1950, 1951,
and 1952. The weather was more or less ideal during the time the catkins
had elongated and about ready to shed pollen. This warm spell was
followed by a fairly cool weather and considerable rain, which delayed
the opening of the pistillate flowers, consequently the pollen dried and
was lost before the pistil was receptive.
The few walnut trees in the University plantation have always had the
best of care. The trees have been mulched, fertilized (both through root
and leaf feedings), sprayed, cultivated and seeded to grass with the
grass clipped. The trees are some distance away from other seedling
walnuts and a bit off the beaten path of the right direction of the
spring winds. The varieties are Ohio, Stambaugh, Stabler, Rohwer, and
Thomas. When the spring weather is balmy at flowering time, the trees
bear a respectable crop but let the weather change to cool and moist and
then that is the time one begins to think about calling up the sawmill
to see if there is any need for some good walnut logs.
MR. MAGILL: That's a mighty good discussion. I see Mr. Ward has been
observing walnut trees closer than I assumed he had.
Mr. Chase, I know you have seen a lot of things in Tennessee that you
are not going to tell us about, but I suggest that you discuss some of
the things you have observed about walnut trees bearing anywhere.
MR. CHASE: Alternate bearing has been a problem with fruits and nuts
since time immemorial. I know a tremendous amount of work has been done
with the apple, which has a definite biennial bearing habit. There have
been all sorts of things tried to make it bear annual crops, and as far
as I know, there has not been anything effective developed along that
line. Of course, there are varieties of apples that tend to bear annual
crops.
As Mr. Ward brought out--he took all my thunder, so I don't have much to
say--a tree may set a heavy crop of nuts one year because frost or poor
pollination the year before destroyed the crop so that a large amount of
carbohydrates were built up in the tree. Now, the tree in producing a
heavy crop of well filled nuts utilizes every bit of carbohydrates it
has stored and can manufacture. While it is doing this the terminal bud
is being formed for next year's crop, and if there isn't a sufficient
amount of carbohydrates in the tree at that critical period, there is
not likely to be a flower bud formed.
This is not limited just to walnuts, but occurs with nearly all fruits
and nuts, with the possible exception of the chestnut.
We made a study which was reported in the 1946 report by Mr. Zarger in
which he reported the bearing habits of some 135 trees over a 10-year
period, and there were definite bearing cycles, or bearing habits. It
was not always an on year followed by an off year, but possibly two
years in a row, then nothing. There were some trees that went three
years without a crop, then a crop. Very few, however, had annual crops,
and the annual crops were heavy or moderately heavy, followed by what we
consider a light crop.
These trees were scattered through seven states and, of course,
conditions were not the same. They were all seedling trees, but careful
records were kept on the bearing habits. There was a group of trees that
could not be classified into any definite bearing habit. In those
instances we suspected unfavorable weather at pollination time, but as a
general rule, in our section I don't believe we are concerned with that
factor.
The Thomas, which we can watch carefully in a nearby orchard, is
definitely on one year and off the next. Quite a few are on one year and
off two years. We haven't found any way to make that an annual crop,
because when it sets a crop, it sets a bumper crop, and there is simply
not enough food in the tree to set a sufficient number of fruit buds for
the following year's crop. I am sure that a lot of you folks have
observed this, and I think, Mr. Magill, that you might sound out some of
them.
MR. MAGILL: Going back to an observation I made as a kid, money didn't
grow in bushes around our place, and back in those days you could go out
and kill ten rabbits and sell them for 8 cents apiece, and if you only
used 4 cents apiece for ammunition, you have made 40 cents off of the
deal and had $20 worth of fun, and that was a good day's work. You
remember those days, Pappy? Back in those same times, I used to get
money out of hauling black walnuts to an old corn sheller and having
people who didn't have an interest in the corn sheller sell them for 50
cents a bushel. That was also pin money. Come in mighty useful.
We had a certain group of trees on the farm I was raised on that bore
every other year, and I can think of two fields where we rearranged the
fences in such a way as to make pasture fields out of them, and two of
those trees were where 15 or 20 cattle pastured. These were the only
shade trees, and naturally they manured those trees. And I recall for a
few years I was getting annual crops from them. Apparently they got
something supplied by cattle that they didn't have otherwise. Others in
the foothills of Kentucky, have come to the same conclusion.
I know a man who has pecan holdings in Alabama. He told me up to the
time he got the farm the trees had a few blooms but wouldn't set pecans.
He applied 15 mineral elements and claims to have got results from it. I
have talked to at least three people in my travelling around who tried
the same treatment on pecans, one in Georgia, one in Alabama and one in
Mississippi. They reported that they had improved yield on pecans by
using complete mineral fertilizer. That's in addition to nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium.
I am foolish enough to think that that nice, young orchard of Mrs.
Weber's would make an excellent place to try it. I understand that the
trees are not behaving as well as they should. I'd like for Ford
Wilkinson to be made chairman of a committee to see that they are
fertilized according to some kind of a schedule that could be worked out
and do some observing. That is one of the few places I know of in the
several states that would be as adequately laid out. I'd like to see a
complete fertilizer including nine or ten mineral elements used.
I don't mean spend a lot of money, but you can do a lot of observing for
relatively few dollars. I just throw that out as a hint.
I would like to open up this discussion. Mr. Bolten talked a while ago
about things he was growing out of the ground, or out of minerals.
Everything comes from the ground, and I reckon you'd say this Northern
Nut Growers Association is a little like Topsy, it just developed, as
the fellow about the weeds. He said they weren't created, they just come
all at once. Now I believe that out of this Northern Nut Growers
assembly here that we have got some keen observers that might have
something on their minds they want to tell us about. Who wants to speak
first?
MR. CALDWELL: This is just an observation I am throwing out for the
benefit of those who are here. I spent some time in China, and I was
interested in the fact that their walnuts there produced yearly crops.
In trying to find out why they produced yearly crops, I also discovered
that their persimmons, their plums and their peaches did the same thing.
The reason for that apparently goes back to their mythology. They
believe in signs and doing certain things according to certain seasons
of the year, and one of the things that they did was to gather together
in the dark of the moon on one particular night at a certain time and
beat the living daylights out of these trees with big bamboo clubs. I
wouldn't suggest that people here do that, but it's been known to
foresters quite a while that by transplanting or severely pruning or
girdling trees that you could produce fruits on these trees the
following year. Apparently the Chinese so injured the cambium during the
severe beating that they have caused that wound stimulus to induce the
formation of flower buds for the following year. By so doing in their
English or Persian walnuts they did have yearly crops. I have seen this
myself, and I checked back to see why. Perhaps they could explain it.
The only explanation we made was not fertilizing, but in the wounding of
the cambium. Now, perhaps there could be something done of that nature
for walnuts, but I wouldn't suggest getting around and beating the trees
up.
MR. MAGILL: In that connection, one man in Kentucky got the same answer.
He said about five years ago a cyclone came through there and blew the
chimney off the house and uprooted a number of apple trees and leaned
over three walnut trees, and he said they have borne five crops in
succession. Now, this is the same story that you have got there.
MR. STOKE: I'd just like to remark that I think that's a sort of
negative approach. I noticed a boy who had an apple tree that was about
to die. He girdled it and got a tremendous crop of blossom. You probably
have secured the same results. That is one of Nature's ways to
perpetuate itself. But I think there a constructive angle in those trees
that respond to nitrogenous fertilizer or manure. I believe the secret,
if there is a secret, is that a tree in bearing a crop exhausts itself
more or less. It recuperates the following year and then is ready to
bear another crop. And the way to meet that situation is to fertilize
heavily, especially with nitrogen, the season of the heavy crop so that
you will have not only enough leaf growth to produce that crop, but to
build up nutrients the following year. I believe that will help break
the cycle and establish more regularity.
Some trees do that themselves; that is, they will bear a moderate crop
every year. I have the Land walnut at home. It bears every year. Certain
chestnuts will bear every year, not excessive crops, but Hobson bears a
pretty good crop every year. I believe the secret of breaking that
on-and-off cycle is to fertilize heavily the year of production not the
year of non-production. If you apply nitrogen on the off year you
produce perhaps an excess of wood growth that year and overbearing the
following year.
MR. MAGILL: Referring to apples, any of you apple growers well know that
the Golden Delicious and York Imperial grow crops in alternate years.
Now, you come along with hormone sprays and take half or two-thirds of
the young fruits off soon after the trees blossom and throw them into
regular production. That's the same thing that you are talking about,
Mr. Stoke. I never heard of anybody thinning walnuts. I don't know
whether they do or not. A lot of things I don't know, but I don't know
of anybody ever thinning walnuts, except squirrels.
MR. WARD: Last year a lady from Kokomo, Indiana, wrote me that she had a
very fine walnut tree growing near Mr. Bolten's place in Greene County,
and as far as she could remember that tree had borne an annual crop for
the past 70 years. I wrote to Mr. Bolten asking him to investigate. If
I remember correctly, these trees were grown in the poorest possible
place. Is that right, Mr. Bolten?
MR. BOLTEN: Yes.
MR. WARD: There were two or three trees right close together that had a
nice crop and the ground was covered with a lot of nice nuts which Mr.
Bolten thought worth propagating, and he has a tree already started.
We have other varieties that we call the Saul, the Goose Creek and the
Alley, which are all seedlings and which have produced almost every year
with about the same size of crop.
In our own planting, at the University, we have tried a lot of things
without telling anybody about it. Every once in a while the boys mow the
orchard, and have bruised and barked a lot of these trees with no effect
whatever on bearing. We have time and time again taken the Stambaugh,
Ohio, Thomas, Stabler, and Aurora and have given them a good shot of
fertilizer in the spring after a rain, and have produced wonderful
growth in all of those years but still had only a light crop.
A few years ago some of the boys were spraying the apple orchard with
Nu-Green and Urea at the rate of 5 pounds to 100 gallons of water, and
had a little extra. They said, "Well, we don't like Ward's nut trees
over there, we will put this stuff on them, and if it kills them, that's
all right, and if they live, that's all right, too." They gave them some
feeding throughout the summer and we haven't found any different
results.
MR. STOKE: May I say just one more thing to clarify my suggestion? I was
assuming that potash and phosphate were present in sufficient quantity.
What I wanted was leaf growth to store up energy and nutrients for the
following year and to apply that on the year of heavy crop, so besides
maturing the crop, it will provide that leaf growth, and not in the year
of no crop.
MR. WARD: We have tried that both ways, and going back, Mr. Stoke, again
to the lack of pollination, it seems like both the pistillate and
staminate flowers are there, but they just don't set a crop of fruit.
MR. STOKE: One thing more I wanted to say, and it slipped my mind. We
know any tree that grows too rapidly will not produce seed nor fruit,
and excess nitrogen on apple or walnut or anything else will not cause
the formation of fruit buds, but the normal amount is necessary for the
formation of buds.
MR. MCDANIEL: We have even got alternate bearing on persimmons in Urbana
now. Trees that bore extremely heavily didn't bloom this year.
MR. MAGILL: We hill-billies have been taking a pass at that. I wonder if
Dr. Slate couldn't give us some scientific facts about this. How about
it, Slate?
DR. SLATE: Mr. Caldwell's remarks about the beating of the walnut trees
in China reminds me of an ancient saying that, "A dog, a woman, a walnut
tree, the more you beat them the better they be."
MR. DAVIDSON: One of my seedlings began to bear seven years ago, and has
borne steadily every year exceptionally large crops. It never failed
until this year, and the only explanation that I can give is that just
as the bloom was incepted we had continuous rains. There was no
pollination of that tree, whereas other trees that were receptive at
other times are pretty well filled.
Out of two or three thousand trees you will find some exceptional ones.
I have some that bear fairly good crops but do not fill. Walnut trees
are just as different from each other as are apple trees. There are some
things you can't do anything about at all, and weather is one of the
things. One shouldn't be too much mystified by an occasional failure,
because it may be due to continuous rains during the period of
pollination and when they are receptive.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: This matter of alternate bearing is one that has
plagued the pomologist for a great many years, and one in which we made
little progress, with apples for example, until with hormone sprays the
trees could be thinned very early in the year. Any thinning done after
the fruit was the size of your thumb was too late. However, now that the
fruit can be thinned when it is very young, real progress is being made
in securing annual bearing on varieties that previously were a serious
problem in alternate bearing.
The failure to fruit is due to many different factors. Some of these are
external such as frost and rain at pollen shedding. There is nothing you
can do about these. Other factors are internal and determine the
formation of fruit buds. If the tree is carrying an exceptionally heavy
crop, the chances are it will not have enough of the material which
determines the setting of buds to form buds for the following year. With
the apples we can do something about this by thinning the crop at the
time it blooms. With walnuts, I don't see how we are going to do it.
Fertilization is another approach.
Certainly we should make conditions just as favorable as possible for
growth and for the development of the buds and by all means control
insects and diseases. If you do not have a good leaf surface good crops
will not be set the next year. It's a complex problem, but I don't think
it is insoluble.
DR. MCKAY: Mr. Chairman, in connection with this matter of annual
bearing of black walnut trees we believe that in doing all sorts of
things you will not influence the yielding of most of our black walnut
varieties. The black walnut, _Juglans nigra_ is probably--some of us
think, at least--constituted genetically in such a way that the
varieties we have do not yield annual crops simply because they are not
constituted that way. I know some of you may disagree with me, but one
of the greatest arguments for this idea is the fact that in some of our
other nut species we do have varieties that are genetically heavy
producers. For instance, we have a selection of Chinese chestnuts right
now that will bear annual crops on the poorest soil under any conditions
imaginable. You can graft scions of that tree on other stocks and plant
them anywhere you choose under differing conditions and it will have a
heavy set of burs. It may not fill the nuts, it may not attain the size,
but genetically speaking, inherently it is a heavy bearer. Perhaps our
black walnut species are inherently not annual producers. This is hard
to prove, I admit, because the breeding of the species takes so long
that we cannot actually demonstrate it.
We have felt also that the black walnut species as a whole does not have
the characteristics of thin shells and good cracking qualities that we
want. For this reason we have begun a program of crossing the black
walnut with the English or Persian walnut, in order to get the thin
shell that we want from the other species. Perhaps the same thing is
true in the question of yield and the species as a whole does not have
the characteristic of yielding heavy annual crops.
MR. MAGILL: I think we can readily see that we haven't settled this
problem but it is time to close the discussion.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The next paper that we have is by H. F. Stoke of
Roanoke, Virginia, "Survey on Hickory Varieties." Mr. Stoke is the
chairman of our Survey Committee. Last year he brought us very valuable
information about walnuts, and this year he is going to talk about the
hickories. Mr. Stoke.
MR. STOKE: They delegated the job to the Survey Committee to make a
hickory survey for this year, using the different state and provincial
and national vice-presidents to collect the data. I am going to read
this.
The 1952 Hickory Survey
By the Survey Committee
H. F. STOKE, _Chairman_
In compiling this report the pecan has been omitted from the list. As it
is the most important member of the hickory group it was felt that the
national and state pecan associations are far more competent to compile
complete and reliable data on the species than is this organization.
The response by our vice-presidents to the questionnaire sent out has
been rather disappointing, replies having been received from slightly
less than half their number. It is apparent that interest in the hickory
is considerably less than in the black walnut, which was surveyed in
1951.
Perhaps the most beloved and widely distributed of the hickories is the
shagbark, _Carya ovata_. It is reported from Massachusetts on the east
to southeastern Minnesota, southward to Texas and eastward to the
Carolinas where it mingles with and is sometimes confused with the
scalybark. In the opinion of many the superb distinctive flavor of its
nuts is not equaled by those of any species.
The domain of the Shellbark or Kingnut _C. laciniosa_ lies within the
same area but is slightly less extensive. Like the pecan, it is partial
to the rich alluvial bottom lands along streams and is seldom found
elsewhere. It occurs rarely in Virginia and North Carolina, and there
only in the Appalachian area.
The Scalybark or southern Shagbark, _C. Carolina septentrionalis_, is
reported only by Virginia, West Virginia and the Carolinas.
The White Hickory or Mockernut, _C. alba_, covers the South and is
reported as far north as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana and, rarely, in
Michigan. It is found from the Atlantic coast to east Texas.
The widely distributed Bitternut, _C. cordiformis_, covers virtually the
same territory as the shagbark.
The Sweet Pignut, _C. glabra_, is reported from New Hampshire to
Wisconsin and southward to North Carolina. Its south-westward occurrence
has not been defined in reports received.
In addition to these better-known species, the Water Hickory, _C.
aquatica_, is reported from Louisiana, and the Black Hickory, _C.
buckleyi_, from Indiana and Texas.
In an unusually full report Indiana lists all of sixteen hickory species
and sub-species as appearing in The Flora of Indiana, a book by Mr.
Charles Deam, former State Forester. The list follows.
1. _C. pecan_
2. _C. cordiformis_
3. _C. ovata_
3a. _C. ovata_, var, _fraxinifolia_
3b. _C. ovata_, var. _nuttali_
4. _C. laciniosa_
5. _C. tomentosa (alba)_
5a. _C. tomentosa_ var. _subcoriacea_
6. _C. glabra_
6a. _C. glabra_ var. _megacarpa_
7. _C. ovalis_
7a, b, c. _C. ovalis_ var. _odorata_
7d. _C. ovalis_ var. _obovalis_
7e. _C. ovalis_ var. _obcordata_
8. _C. ovalis_ var. _pallida_
9. _C. ovalis_ var. _buckleyi_
Doubtless many sub-species and variants are actually hybrids of obscure
ancestry. Virginia has many such.
There is no reason to doubt that the hickories will grow anywhere
ecological conditions approximate those of their native habitat. This is
true in the Pacific coast states. Mr. Julio Grandjean, of Hillerod,
Denmark, reports that there are several white hickories, _C. alba_ or
_C. tomentosa_, growing in the Horsholm Royal Park that were planted
about 1790. There is no reason to believe that such northern species as
the shellbark and shagbark would not also succeed. He reports
winter-killing of pecans from southern sources. Inasmuch as extreme
winter temperatures in Denmark are less than in some places where the
pecan is grown here, it would appear that the more northern strains
should succeed there, though lack of summer heat would prevent the
maturing of nuts.
There appears to be much less interest in planting hickories on home
grounds than the value of the species justifies. Only five states,
Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, indicated any
local interest. In each case the shagbark was the preferred species.
Apparently we must still depend on the much-abused squirrel for the
future of the hickory.
R. E. Hodgson of the Southeast Experiment Station, Waseca, Minn.,
reports 15 named varieties of hickory under test, but no evaluation of
their worth can be made as yet.
Dr. R. T. Dunstan of Greensboro, North Carolina, has also a considerable
number of hickory varieties under more advanced test. Results have been
highly variable. He finds that Schinnerling has filled poorly; Whitney
and Shaul are "Excellent growers and highly satisfactory bearers."
Whitney, however, with a kernel of superb quality, cracks poorly and the
husk is thick and heavy. Shaul is reported as having a rather thin
kernel and cracking poorly, also.
Romig, that has been late in coming into bearing, is described as
producing a large, handsome nut of good quality that cracks unusually
well. Grainger, good in other respects, has borne light crops as also
have Glover and Weschcke. Fox is described as superb in every respect
except cracking quality.
Among the hicans, Burton is declared to be outstanding in vigor and
health of tree, and production of good regular crops of delicious nuts
that crack well.
It is interesting to note that in his extensive hickory experiments Dr.
Dunstan is using pecan stocks. He uses the bark-slot method of grafting
and hot wax compounded of 10 parts resin, 2 parts beeswax and one part
Kieselguhr. Both method and wax he finds highly successful.
Dr. Dunstan also reports a Mahan pecan grafted on a white or mockernut
hickory stock that produces heavy crops of well-filled nuts. This is an
exceptional performance for this variety.
Mr. Fayette Etter, of Pennsylvania, supports Dr. Dunstan in the use of
pecan stocks for hickories. He states that the young trees grow more
rapidly in the nursery, transplant better, and grow faster thereafter
than when on hickory stocks.
Mr. A. G. Hirschi, of Oklahoma reports that in the hilly "blackjack"
country of southeastern Oklahoma the scrub has been cleared away and a
40-acre project of grafting the native hickory (probably white or
mockernut) with pecan has been established. The land has been terraced
and is cropped with cotton. The results have been so satisfactory that
this plot in one year carried off more prizes on pecans than any other
entry within the state.
Mr. Harald E. Hammar reports from Louisiana that there has been some
grafting of pecan on hickory, species not specified. The older trees
show a decided overgrowth of the hickory stock by the more vigorous
pecan, in some cases the diameter being almost double above the graft of
that below.
In virtually all cases of topworking hickory on pecan, or vice versa,
the bark slot graft has been used.
In point of preference of named varieties, Michigan suggests Abscoda,
Ohio suggests Stafford, while Pennsylvania recommends Glover, Goheen,
Whitney and Weschcke, in that order.
In naming the insects and diseases that attack the hickories,
Pennsylvania offers the following rather appalling list:
Nut curculio
Hickory shuckworm
Galls
Spider mites
Twig girdlers
Fall web worm
Pecan phylloxera
Black pecan aphids
Flathead apple borer
Other unnamed borers
Those that know Mr. Etter will understand that this formidable list is
due to his excellent powers of observation and his integrity rather than
to the likelihood that the state of Pennsylvania is worse plagued with
insects than others. Dr. Dunstan lists leaf-spot along with some of
those listed above, but adds that none are generally serious. This is
corroborated by other reporters.
Wild nuts are generally harvested for home use. Commercial marketing,
reported by Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Virginia and North
Carolina, is in all cases local. Usually the nuts are marketed whole,
but occasionally home-picked kernels are sold.
Good stands of second-growth shagbark hickory are reported in
Pennsylvania. Kansas reports limited shellbark and bitternut stands.
West Virginia reports considerable stands of young shagbark and pignut,
while North Carolina reports small stands of mockernut.
The industrial use of hickory reached its height in the horse and buggy
days. Nothing equalled its strong, tough wood for the wheels and running
gears of horse-drawn vehicles. Old-timers will recall "hoop poles", tall
slender young saplings of shagbark hickory that were split and fashioned
with the "drawshave" into barrel hoops.
The market for hickory still remains, however. It is universally used
for hand tool handles, if obtainable. In the mountains of the South
hickory "splints" are still woven into imperishable baskets and chair
seats. Louisiana insists it is still the only fuel for roasting barbecue
and there is, indeed, no finer wood fuel of any species.
Those propagating hickory trees for sale and distribution should be
given every encouragement. They are contributing a real patriotic
service. No tree is more characteristically American. Except for a
related species in China, it is found nowhere else in the world. In
beauty, utility and durability no tree has greater appeal. Who plants a
hickory plants for generations unborn.
MR. STOKE: If there are any misstatements, I'd be glad to have them
publicly corrected.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Thank you, Mr. Stoke. The comment that you made
that there wasn't as much enthusiasm about the hickory as about the
black walnut, although true, is not the way I personally feel about it.
I have at Ithaca a number of trees of various kinds of nuts, and I think
that the enjoyment I get out of the hickories, which we grow, is as
great or greater than that from the black walnuts. The Davis hickory is
one of the best that matures, the Wilcox--that's an Ohio nut--probably
has a bushel and a half of nuts in the shuck this year, and the Kentucky
will give a pretty good record. Of about 20 varieties, those are the
only ones which amount to anything, and we have a fairly good selection.
There was a good deal said about stocks in Mr. Stoke's discussion. We
have a short paper here by Gilbert Smith on his experience with stocks,
and I have asked Mr. Chase to read it. Mr. Smith began topworking
seedling trees on a side hill many years ago and has trees of good size
at the present time.
MR. CHASE: This is a short discussion of several species of hickory
which Mr. Smith has used as stocks to graft named varieties.
A Discussion of Hickory Stocks
Gilbert L. Smith, _Rt. 2, Millerton, N. Y._
This is a discussion of several species of hickory as stocks on which to
graft the named varieties of shagbark, shellbark and hybrid hickories.
We have never had any experience grafting pecan as we are too far north
for it. This paper is limited to the species with which we have had
experience.
SWEET PIGNUT, _Carya ovalis_
This species will be discussed first because it is the poorest stock of
any of the hickory species which we have used. This is probably because
it is a tetraploid while the shagbark, shellbark and hybrids are
diploids.
We have grafted many of the named varieties of hickory onto pignut
stocks, using several thousand scions. We have found only one variety
(the Davis shagbark) that will grow on pignut stock. We have heard of
one or two others but have never tried them.
Nearly all varieties grow well the first season but fail to leaf out the
following spring. They appear to winterkill. Davis has continued to grow
on it for over fifteen years but growth is slower than on shagbark or
bitternut stocks.
PIGNUT, _Carya glabra_
I have never been able to positively identify this species of pignut.
Pignuts growing here vary considerably in roughness of the bark, some
being smooth while others are as rough as the shagbark. In other
respects they are essentially the same, all having seven leaflets per
leaf. However, I have observed a very few pignut trees having smooth
bark and five leaflets per leaf. The leaves are finer and smaller than
on the seven leaflet trees.
These may be the _glabra_ species, but if so, grafting results have been
no better on these than on the seven leaflet trees.
As nursery stock the pignuts are worthless. However if one has some nice
young pignut trees growing where he wants them, it is feasible to graft
them to Davis or some other variety which has proven its ability to grow
on pignut stocks. It is not advisable to graft hickory trees growing in
dense woods.
MOCKERNUT, _Carya alba_
While the mockernut is also a tetraploid, it is a somewhat better stock
than the pignuts, in that more of the named varieties will grow on it
and as the mockernut is faster growing than the pignut, such grafts will
usually grow faster.
It is of little value as a nursery stock, but if one has young mockernut
trees growing where hickory trees are wanted, they would be somewhat
better to graft than would pignut trees. One would at least have a
larger selection of varieties and the grafts would grow faster.
PECAN, _Carya illinoiensis_
While we have read many favorable reports on the use of the pecan as a
stock on which to graft shagbark, shellbark and hybrid hickories, our
own experiences with it have not been very favorable. This may be due to
the fact that we have used only two varieties of shagbark on
pecan-stocks and may have happened to use two varieties that are not
well adapted to pecan.
Pecan seedlings are much faster growing than are shagbark seedlings and
for this reason would be valuable as a nursery stock if satisfactory in
other respects.
BITTERNUT, _Carya cordiformis_
All of our experiences with bitternut as a stock, both in the nursery
and as young trees growing in permanent locations, have been very
favorable.
We have heard reports of grafts failing on bitternut stocks after a few
years growth. All such reports have come from regions considerably
farther south than our location. It may be that the bitternut does not
thrive as well in the South as it does here.
Bitternut seedlings are much faster growing than are shagbark seedlings.
This is of considerable value in the nursery.
SHAGBARK, _Carya ovata_
The shagbark makes the best stock on which to graft the named varieties
of shagbark, shellbark and hybrid hickories. However it has one very
serious drawback in that young shagbark seedlings are so very slow
growing. It usually takes five or more years to grow a shagbark stock
from seed to a size large enough to graft in the nursery row.
However, when shagbark stocks are large enough to be grafted, all of the
named varieties we have grafted onto it have grown well.
SHELLBARK, _Carya laciniosa_
We have never had any experience with shellbark seedlings as stocks, but
as it is so similar to the shagbark, I expect that it would make a good
stock.
The production of grafted hickory trees is a serious problem in the
nursery, taking many years to grow the stocks and the grafted trees are
difficult to transplant, resulting in a high rate of mortality.
However, the grafting of young hickory trees growing in a permanent
location is not difficult, and such grafts will grow much faster and
bear younger than will grafted hickory trees from a nursery.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: My experience with bitternut stock with only two
varieties, the Strever #1 and the Champigne, has not been good. The
grafts have been stunted, the stocks have tended to sprout and make
vigorous growth, and the fruiting has been sparse. Neither have I had
success with the pecan stock with only three varieties. The trees have
been very slow coming into bearing and have made rather stubby growth.
MR. MCDANIEL: I was about to remark that we have had similar experience
at Urbana with bitternut stock with pecan and shagbark varieties. It
warps the shagbark and very likely those trees won't live long. We have
already lost the Weschke hickory grafted on bitternut.
MR. CRAIG: Have you tried hickory on pecan? The pecan is O. K. there.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Tomorrow we are to have a round table on hickory
propagation and suggest that further discussion of stocks might be left
until then. Has anyone any comments on hickory varieties?
MR. KEPLINGER: (North Central Michigan) I was born and raised in Saginaw
County where the Saginaw River is fed by five or six different runs and
you have prairie farms. More hickories grow there than any place in the
United States--enormous size. We think we have better hickories than
anyone.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: Why couldn't you send some in for testing? Mr.
Becker would be glad to take them. Any other discussion on hickory
varieties? How many are growing the Wilcox? (5 hands). How many find it
a good variety? (Two). How many have Davis? (Three). The shucks are
fairly thin, compared with the Wilcox.
Who else has a variety that is doing very well? We ought to have a
hickory show here sometime and see who has the best hickory.
DR. MCKAY: I'd like to ask if anyone has the variety Lingenfelter.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We have it at Ithaca; doesn't mature.
DR. McKAY: We have two varieties at Beltsville that are outstanding as
far as bearing is concerned. One is Lingenfelter, which has been a
consistent bearer for us for a number of years, and the variety Shaul,
that was mentioned in Mr. Stokes' report and has been mentioned here
before, is a very good producer.
MR. MCDANIEL: What species is the Shaul, is it _ovata_ or _laciniosa_?
DR. MCKAY: It's _ovata_. It's a shagbark, as also is Lingenfelter. The
one characteristic that is outstanding with these two varieties with us
is the fact that they bear while they are young trees; from the time our
trees were as tall as one's head, they have been full of nuts.
MR. MCDANIEL: Have you fruited the Weschke at Beltsville?
DR. MCKAY: No.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: How about the Barnes?
MR. STOKE: I have been growing it on mockernut or white hickory. It
produces moderate crops and is the one that came into bearing about
first on mockernut. In fact, I have several varieties on mockernut that
haven't borne yet. It's been on there about 12 years.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: The Barnes, with us, has yielded more at a younger
age than any other variety, but it never filled. It began early and bore
heavy crops, but the season is not long enough or hot enough.
MR. STOKE: In Virginia they fill well, but they are not easily
extracted. The shell is rather thin and fills well.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I don't want to prolong this discussion longer
than seems profitable.
DR. MCKAY: Did I understand you to mention the variety Schinnerling?
MR. GERARDI: I have got that at home. That's one that's bearing, but if
it's that variety I have there, I wouldn't give it yard room.
DR. MCKAY: It is also one of our best. We have three, the Shaul, the
Lingenfelter that I mentioned, and the third one is Schinnerling, all
three of which are extremely heavy bearers and the three hickory
varieties that we are interested in.
MR. GERARDI: How big is that Schinnerling?
DR. MCKAY: It's an average-sized nut.
MR, GERARDI: Big as your thumb?
DR. MCKAY: Oh, yes, about an inch long, I'd say.
MR. BECKER: I was wondering about the Stratford. That's not supposed to
be a pure shagbark, but it's the only one we've got, I think, that
bears.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: I have the Stratford. It grows very well, but it
doesn't quite fill. What does it do with you?
MR. SNYDER: It's not been doing well the last year or two. Of course,
none of them have for that matter. Used to bear tremendous crops and
filled well. I wouldn't say it's the best quality of any tree, but it's
easy to graft and bears young.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: That's been my experience, that it was a young
bearer and bears fairly consistently.
If there is no other discussion, on the hickories, we will close that
discussion. We stand adjourned until this evening at 7:20.
Adjournment at 4:30 o'clock, p.m.
MONDAY EVENING SESSION
Called to order at 7:20 p.m.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We will call on Dr. McKay as chairman of the
Nominating Committee to present the slate of officers for the next year.
Dr. McKay.
DR. MCKAY: Mr. Chairman, the Nominating Committee, as you know, is
charged with the responsibility of selecting a slate of officers that
will be presented to the meeting.
The committee, composed of myself as chairman, Mr. Allaman, Mr. Silvis,
Mr. Ford Wilkinson and Mr. Gerardi, have the following slate of officers
for next year: For president, Mr. R. B. Best; for vice-president, Mr.
George Salzer of Rochester; for secretary, Mr. Spencer Chase; for
treasurer, Mr. Carl Prell.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: You have heard the report of the Nominating
Committee. At this time we will entertain further nominations from the
floor, if any.
The only action to be taken now is to accept the report of the
Nominating Committee. Do I hear such a motion?
The motion to accept the report was moved, seconded and carried.
Going on with the program of the evening, are you ready to show the
film?
MR. MCDANIEL: The film comes to us from the Northwest Nut Growers now
located in Portland, Oregon. They are an organization for marketing
filberts, and you will see, "The Filbert Valleys", the title. I haven't
seen it myself and don't know exactly what the contents are. We will
look at it now and judge for ourselves.
The film, "The Filbert Valleys", was shown.
PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: We appreciate very much your running it.
The next item will be our discussion of filbert varieties and their
culture. Mildred Jones, who was to be here, could not come. She
telephoned the last minute that she was ill and could not be with us. I
have asked George Slate to be the moderator in the discussion, with his
panel, D. C. Snyder, Raymond Silvis, A. M. Whitford, Louis Gerardi and
H. F. Stoke.
MR. SLATE: I just learned when I arrived here that I was to be on this
discussion group, and I learned a few minutes ago that I was to lead it,
so I can assure you that this is wholly unrehearsed, and I may have to
flounder around a bit before we get things running smoothly.
I thought I might review the variety situation rather briefly. We have
done quite a lot of variety testing of filberts at Geneva; in fact,
about the only nut cultural work we have done at Geneva has been the
filbert project. We started out with about 25 or 30 varieties that we
secured from American nurseries, many of them from a firm in Rochester
which imported them from Germany. Later we added varieties from England,
France and Germany. I picked up nearly all the varieties that I could
locate until we had about 120 varieties growing there at Geneva. These
were there for some years, and it became evident that many of them were
not of great value. Then we had a hard winter in 1933 and 1934, and
although it did not kill the trees, most of them were blackhearted and
began going back soon after that. However, I felt at that time that I
knew enough about the varieties to discard most of them. Many of them
were discarded because they had poor nuts, many of them were
unproductive, and many of them lacked hardiness of catkins. I laid a
great deal of emphasis on the hardiness of catkins in testing the
varieties.
Out of that variety test were three varieties which we considered to be
most satisfactory of the lot. These were Cosford, an English variety,
rather a small nut but very thin-shelled. The catkins were hardy and one
of the heavier croppers of the lot. Medium Long, a nut which I believe
originated as a seedling in Rochester, was another one, and Italian Red,
which later proved to be Gustav's Zellernuss, a German variety, was
another.
As a result of that variety test it became evident that varieties from
Germany, many of which originated in the colder portions of Germany and
Northern Germany, were distinctly more hardy than the varieties that we
got from French sources and English sources. In some of the proceedings
of the Association published during the '30's I have reported on the
different varieties and their hardiness and those varieties that I
thought were most valuable. I don't recall the names of many of those
German varieties. These three varieties which we consider the best of
the lot were turned over to the New York Fruit Testing Association to
propagate and distribute, because they were not available from American
nurseries. I am not sure how many of them were available from other
sources, but they are still available from the Fruit Testing
Association.
Then out of that variety test a grading project developed. We got our
start from about 500 seedlings that Clarence Reed sent us in the early
'30's. We made crosses there at Geneva, using the Rush variety of
_Corylus americana_ as the seed parent in many cases. We also made some
crosses between _Corylus avellana_ varieties, and with these seedlings
from Mr. Reed and seedlings of our own crossing, we have grown about
2,000 filbert seedlings there at Geneva. These have all been evaluated
and discarded, except possibly 30 or 35 selections still on hand, some
of them being propagated for a second test planting. Stock of one or two
has been turned over to the Fruit Testing Association for increase and
eventual naming and introduction.
The work of the United States Department of Agriculture was along
similar lines. Mr. Reed did not send us all of his seedlings. A number
of them were fruited at Beltsville, and from that work at Beltsville I
believe two varieties have been named, Reed and Potomac. I am not sure
whether they are available yet from commercial sources.
MR. MCDANIEL: Two of them are.
MR. SLATE: Mr. Graham of Ithaca, a long-time member of this Association
and very much interested in filberts, had also made some crosses and
raised several hundred seedlings. He used the Winkler variety as a seed
parent. I believe he raised some seedlings of the Jones hybrids, which
would make that material second generation stock from the original cross
between Rush and the _avellana_ varieties.
Mr. Graham's planting was in rather a cold area; he had considerable
winter killing. Eventually filbert blight got into his planting, and it
really cleaned house. There were a very few seedlings in his planting
which remained free of filbert blight. I think it is a fairly safe guess
to say that they were probably very resistant to blight. So far these
have not been propagated to any extent.
There are a few cultural problems. The ones that we have encountered at
Geneva have been winter injury, particularly of the catkins, and also
some of them have not been as hardy in wood as we would like. We have
had no trouble with filbert blight, presumably because we are isolated
from the wild hazel, which harbors this blight. Dr. MacDaniels has had
trouble with his planting at Ithaca with filbert mite.
With this introduction, which is mostly varieties and breeding, because
that seems to be my interest, I'd like to call on some members of the
panel to get their experiences. Mr. Snyder raises nut trees in Iowa
where winter injury is probably much more serious than we have at
Geneva. At Geneva we have a fairly respectable climate and can get a
crop of peaches about nine years out of ten. In Iowa they have a lot
more sunshine, and I think probably sharper drops of temperature than we
have at Geneva. I'd like to have Mr. Snyder tell us what his experiences
have been with filbert varieties.
MR. SNYDER: I really didn't know that I was to be on this panel until I
got here. I thought I was on the hickory panel. As Mr. Slate says, our
climate is more severe that that at Geneva. We can get the very hardiest
peaches to bear about two years out of three, and the trees are severely
injured in between. So that will give you a little idea as to the
climate in that respect.
We made quite a planting at one time, maybe 30 of the Jones hybrids, and
they did quite well for several years, and then between the
winter-killing and the blight most of them are dead now. The Winkler, of
course, is an Iowa nut and was introduced by our people and did very
well for a number of years but has backed out on us the last several
years, too, I believe due to this same mite trouble that Dr. MacDaniels
reports in New York. They just don't bear. The bushes are quite healthy,
and we get plenty of catkins, but we don't get any nuts to amount to
anything.
We have a little bush of the Mandchurian hazel. It isn't worth
mentioning as a nut producer, but it does have very attractive foliage
and seems to be entirely healthy, produces perhaps three to five nuts a
year on a bush as high as your head. You may be familiar with it. The
foliage is very distinct from anything I know. The leaves are truncate
at the end, cut off quite square, with just a little point in the
middle.
MR. SLATE: I don't have that.
MR. SNYDER: That is standing our conditions all right, and several years
ago Mr. Reed sent us what he said at the time were Chinese tree hazels,
but later he retracted and said that they were not Chinese tree hazels
but they were hybrids of the Chinese tree hazel. There were four of
those plants; one of them was a tremendous grower. It would grow six
feet or more a year and commence bearing in a year or two. But the
blight hit it and cleaned it out. There is only one left now, one of the
slower-growing ones, and while it promises to become a tree, it is a
very irregular-growing one. I think it had half a dozen nuts on this
year.
The Turkish tree hazel, of which I have two trees, were very badly
damaged by a very severe hailstorm 12 or 15 years ago, which completely
peeled off the bark on one side. That was in early July, and we were
afraid to cut them off and let them grow up new for fear it would kill
them. They have finally developed into quite beautiful upright trees.
Also they have more than one stem from the bottom. One of them produces
a great abundance of catkins, but neither of them has produced any nuts
yet, and they are 14 feet high or more, good-sized trees and very
attractive. The foliage is very beautiful, and it remains healthy. I
don't know that there are any other varieties that I can name.
MR. SLATE: We have had several of the Turkish tree hazels, _Corylus
colurna_, growing at Geneva for two or three years. They came from the
Rochester State Park. We have one tree which Mr. Bixby imported from
China, as _Corylus chinensis_, but recently I had it checked by Dr.
Lawrence of the Bailey Hortorium and he assured me that it was _Corylus
colurna_. I think these make a very handsome tree. I like that rough,
corky bark they have as they get older. The trees in Highland Park at
Rochester are the largest, perhaps, in the country, certainly the
largest that I know anything about. They are at least as large as a very
large apple tree. They have been fruiting for some years. The trees at
Geneva have not fruited very much. I don't think you can expect much in
the way of nuts until the tree is about 15 years old. This year one of
our trees has a number of nuts on it. The nuts are too small and too
thick-shelled to be of any great value for nuts.
Now, Mr. Whitford, you have had some experience with the filbert
varieties. Which one would you recommend?
MR. WHITFORD: I haven't had a whole lot of experience with the filberts,
but we had some of the old varieties, like Barcelona and DuChilly, and
they didn't bear many nuts, and eventually they went out with blight.
And we have some of the Potomac and Reed, about five years old, and they
don't bear well as yet. I don't know what the outcome is going to be on
the Potomac and Reed. They make a nice ornamental bush, anyway, and
that's about the sum and substance of my experience with filberts.
MR. SLATE: The Barcelona and DuChilly at Geneva have not been very
satisfactory. During the first two years Barcelona outyielded the other
varieties, but as the trees became older they experienced winter injury.
DuChilly or Kentish Cob makes a small tree, but the nut is about the
best of the nuts. There is a German variety not in circulation in this
country, Langsdorfer, which is much like DuChilly, but it seems to make
a much better tree. I think if they were put into circulation it might
be a good substitute here in the East for DuChilly variety.
Let's hear from you, Mr. Gerardi. I know you are testing filbert
varieties now.
MR. GERARDI: Yes, I have DuChilly and Kentish Cob. So far, at our place
we have no blight or mite damage to speak of. The original plantings
were the Bixby and Buchanan. We have them yet, and they are still as
healthy as the day we put them out. They show no damage; even the
Winkler hazel has had no damage or disease. It may be the soil, although
we have them on high ground and low ground both. Among the newer ones
this year the Reed has the most on. The Potomac, though it is the
strongest grower of the two, has less nuts. Although it appeared to me
that the catkins were all killed in February of this year, still we have
some nuts. The Jones hybrids, when the catkins are killed, have very
few, if any nuts. Some years we have a crop, if some of the catkins are
held back and bloom late. Winter killing in February before they have
had a chance to pollinate, has been our main trouble. If we could get a
variety that this wouldn't bother, we'd have what we are looking for.
MR. MCDANIEL: The Winkler will bloom for you almost every year. Doesn't
the Winkler hold its catkins most years?
MR. GERARDI: Yes, sir, I'd say at our place the Winkler has never failed
entirely. Even though the catkins are killed, they still bear quite
regularly.
MR. MCDANIEL: I can say that for it at Urbana.
MR. WHITFORD: The catkins might have been killed, but you might have had
some cross-pollination from other sources.
MR. GERARDI: There is a chance of that, of course. There is a wild hazel
within a quarter of a mile, but apparently the wild hazel bloomed first.
They were on a south slope and naturally came out first. I tried to keep
them on the north slope, or on the cool side of any particular planting,
because if you can hold them back more, you have got a better chance. If
you plant them on the south side, you rarely get anything.
MR. SLATE: The hybrids bloom later than the _avellana_ varieties, and
they mature nuts later. Is that your experience?
MR. GERARDI: That's true, I will admit your hybrids are a little later
blooming, because your American hazel nuts around our place bloom very
early, sometimes in January in full bloom.
MR. SLATE: _C. avellana_ starts blooming in March and blooms for about a
month. Some years when you have had considerable open weather, they have
bloomed as early as the middle of February. They will, of course, stand
considerable freezing when they are in bloom.
As regards the pollination, I believe about all the information we have
is the work that was done at the Oregon Experiment Station a number of
years ago. All of the varieties tried were self-unfruitful or
self-incompatible. The term, "self-sterile" is often used, but I think
it is a little more exact to say self-unfruitful or self-incompatible.
They are not sterile, because the pistillate flowers are normal and so
is the pollen produced by the staminate flowers. It's just a question of
inability of the pollen to fertilize the pistillate flowers on the same
variety.
We know nothing about the pollination requirements of any of these
_Corylus avellana_ or _Corylus americana_ hybrids. We do know that when
the cross is made that the _Corylus americana_ variety must be the
seed-parent. The cross doesn't work the other way around. That's about
all we know about the cross-pollination of these filberts.
MR. SAWYER: We have had them to bloom in April or the first week in May.
MR. SLATE: The seedlings?
MR. SAWYER: The seedlings.
MR. SLATE: What is the origin of the seedlings?
MR. SAWYER: They are the natives.
MR. SLATE: The native _C. rostrata_, or _C. cornuta_ to some botanists,
it seems to me has nothing that we want in the way of a nut, if we can
possibly grow these other varieties, the _americana_ selections or the
hybrids. It's a miserable little nut with that long, prickly husk. It's
very difficult to get the nut out of it. For that reason, I have never
been very much interested in it.
MR. SAWYER: How is the Ryan?
MR. MCDANIEL: Mr. Gellatly out in British Columbia has named several
hybrids between _avellana_ and the _Corylus cornuta_. Have you seen it?
MR. SLATE: No, I haven't seen it.
MR. MCDANIEL: They described them in their catalog.
MR. COLBY: I have preference for the Winkler hazel, as you know. I
bought and put them in the greenhouse several years ago and shook the
pollen on the pistils and got a full set. So I felt that was
self-fruitful.
MR. SLATE: That was pretty good evidence, then, that it was
self-fruitful.
Now, Mr. Silvis, you raise nut trees, and the climate is somewhat like
that in Western New York, perhaps a little milder in the winter. What
have you to say about the filbert varieties?
MR. SILVIS: It's Warmer, and in spite of all the statistics of previous
gentlemen, I find that _avellana_ types which I had growing in my back
yard three years ago produced pollen on January the 25th. It was
unseasonably warm. It was 70 degrees, and most of the pollen was
dispersed. And this year I found the wild hazel pollen much later than
the early types, due to the different situation. The wild ones which I
had seen were growing in semi shade under tall trees, and my bushes and
plants are growing in the back yard south of our house. And I think I
have the largest planting in the State of Ohio, about two dozen plants,
and I am in production.
Besides numerous seedlings, I have the following varieties: Italian Red,
Cosford, Medium Long, DuChilly. They are in bearing. Italian Red and
DuChilly planted together, I believe, are good for one another for the
production of nice filbert nuts. I have, from scion wood you sent me
several years ago, Cosford, and now on their own roots Neue Riesenuss,
and what I thought the tag said, not "Langsdorfer," but Langsberger.
MR. SLATE: There is a Langsdorfer, and I think there is another variety
which Langsberg is part of the name. I am not sure, I will have to look
that up.
MR. SILVIS: Well, I have it as Langsberger. I have shown last evening
the picture of Harry L. Pierce's orchard at Willamette in Oregon, or in
Salem, Oregon. I have one of his trees with staminate blooms only, no
pistillate blooms. But I also have what Fayette Etter in Pennsylvania
calls his Royal, and I just cannot get two fellows together with paper
and pencil to determine whether those two Royals are the same, but I am
hoping to find out whether the two Royals are identical. I had Fayette
Etter find me scion wood, and now I have it growing as a graft and
layered on its own roots.
I think you people do yourselves an injustice by not learning to graft
and learning to work with the filbert. You only have to have three
compatible plants. If you have more, you will have more nuts. I see no
reason why anyone who owns a city lot cannot grow filberts. They are
much easier to take care of, and you are not going to prejudice the
plant by having it associate with its wild cousin, and I think you will
find a lot of enjoyment in the filbert bush.
MR. SLATE: What variety do you think is best? What two or three would
you plant?
MR. SILVIS: For eating I like DuChilly, and the catkin is hardy with me,
and I am between the 40th and 41st parallel. I'd say anyone who lives
from Iowa to the East Coast within one hundred miles north or south of
the 40th parallel should have the same luck that I have. And as to a
group planting, I would suggest, as you recommended to me when we first
started out the Medium Long, Cosford and Italian Red. If you want only
two bushes, Italian Red and DuChilly will work well together.
MR. MCDANIEL: Do you have Medium Long?
MR. SILVIS: Yes, I do.
MR. MCDANIEL: Is that doing well?
MR. SILVIS: I don't think it fruits as well as Cosford or DuChilly.
That's been my experience. My DuChilly was plastered with nuts last year
and this year, and I believe it's due to the Italian Red which New York
Fruit Testing Laboratory sold me.
MR. SLATE: Thank you.
MR. WHITFORD: Do you fertilize those bushes?
MR. SILVIS: Due to the fact I have started to mulch with sawdust I have
been using nitrate and rock phosphate, so my teeth don't fall out when I
chew them.
MR. SLATE: I crack mine with a hand cracker, I don't crack them with my
teeth.
DR. COLBY: Mr. Chairman, we can grow filberts. How does the chairman
keep the squirrels from eating them?
MR. STOKE: I will tell you that.
MR. SLATE: Mr. Stoke raises his nut trees in the Sunny South, and he has
problems down there that we don't have up north. I think he has to worry
a lot more about winter killing than we do way up north where we are in
Central New York. What's been your experience with some of the varieties
and what are your principal cultural problems with the filberts?
MR. STOKE: I wish to answer Dr. Colby's query about squirrels. I find
that squirrels are very highly allergic to these BB caps or the CP caps
used in a 22 rifle. It works. In my back yard there is a Brixnut
filbert, which originated in Oregon. I guess it's been there 15 years.
There are four trunks to it, the largest about 16 inches in diameter.
One of those I grafted to Giant, as a pollinizer for Brixnut. It's
similar in shape, somewhat smaller in spite of its name, but it's pretty
effective. Then about ten years ago there was an old gentleman from
Halsey, Oregon. I don't know whether any of you have corresponded with
him or not. He bought the Breslau Persian walnut--I pretty nearly said
the English walnut, and I'd have been disgraced--and furnished me scions
and I got a start of it from him. Russ sent me some scions from a
filbert he called Jumbo. You will see it out on the table there. It's
rather a long nut, little larger than DuChilly and not quite so flat,
that I grafted in there. It absolutely is hopeless as a pollinizer for
anything, because it loses its staminate blossoms by Christmas. But the
Hall's Giant pollinizes them, and it's the best filbert I have, all
things considered. This year off that one scion--of course, it's four
inches in diameter--I got about 7 quarts of nuts, and they began
ripening at least three weeks ago, and the crop is all off now. And the
foliage is unusually heavy, almost in clusters, and it drops cleanly and
freely from the husks, and I think it is a very nice filbert. Whether
it's a recognized variety in the West I have no idea, and I haven't
corresponded with the old gentleman for some years, and he probably has
passed on by this time, because he was an elderly man and not in good
health at the time I had my correspondence with him. I consider that an
excellent filbert, and I think anyone wishing to plant filberts should
investigate with the Oregon nurseries or Washington nurseries and see if
that is a recognized variety. I tried to find out once and failed so
far. I do not have it on its own roots. I hope that I will have it
rooted in another year.
In my back yard also I have one that I bought in Oregon. That's as tall
as up to that beam, maybe almost to the ceiling, very vigorous growth,
larger nut than Longfellow, thicker nuts and also longer. But I think
the thing he sold me was a graft and the graft died and this came from
the root. It bears very sparingly, but it's a very large nut, and I
wondered why it was always so spare, and I caught it blooming in
December, staminate blossoms in December this year. So that's that.
Ten miles east of my home, east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the
granitic, very heavy clay soil of what we call the Piedmont down there,
I have a planting that was made 15 years ago of filberts, some on their
own roots and some that I grew on the Turkish tree hazel stocks. Those
grew well, and the main advantage was they put up no suckers. You had a
nice clean trunk, and you didn't have that problem of getting rid of the
sprouts all the time. And it looked very good for a while.
I find where you graft that way, the stocks get old and do not renew
themselves, and eventually the life will be shorter than if you had a
shrub that might last for a century, when you are renewing your stalks
when they reach maturity and cease to grow enough to be productive.
Two years ago I had most of the standard varieties you mentioned here in
that planting, about three-quarters or perhaps an acre planted in
between chestnut trees. Planted the chestnut trees 40 feet apart and
then interplanted with the filberts at 20 feet. Two years ago we had an
unusually wet season, and the blight, of which I had had some before,
hit hard and virtually ruined the whole planting. And in addition to
that, we have leaf miner. It's an insect that lays a tiny egg in the
leaf and develops a little larva or worm that eats out the chlorophyll
between the two membranes of the leaf, just hollows it out and makes
unsightly spots in there and, of course, kills that portion of the leaf.
But the blight, known as the eastern filbert blight, according to Mr.
Gravatt, has just ruined that planting. Some of the trees have been
killed outright, and most of the tops are either dead or dying. This
year the blight wasn't apparently active on the living part, because it
was very dry up until the first of August, and since then it's been very
wet. That's what happened to my filberts there.
Now, in that same location I have some younger, second-generation or
third-generation plantings that I grew from scions from the Jones
hybrids and so far those have not been attacked by the blight and not
much by the leaf miner. I used them to replace some of the others that
had died several years ago, so they are right in there together. About
the best I have of those are also on exhibit out there and marked as the
Jones Hybrid.
At the same time I put out some seedling Colurna or the Turkish tree
hazel in that same plot. They were attacked somewhat but not badly by
the blight. Today you'd never know they had any blight. They look
healthy, and as has already been said, they make a beautiful tree. And
if you want an avenue of trees on a drive that don't spread too wide and
run up like Lombardi poplar, they'll beat Lombardi poplar all to pieces.
And if you crowd them a little, they will grow up like a spire and
retain their branches, so you really have a tree.
There was one in the J. F. Jones yard at Lancaster that I think was at
least 14 inches in trunk diameter 20 years ago when I saw it. Do you
know whether that is still there at the Jones place, that Turkish tree
hazel, Mrs. Weber?
MRS. WEBER: Where is it located?
MR. STOKE: It's right near the house, it seems to me between the house
and the side near the barn.
DR. MCKAY: Mr. Stoke, that tree is gone. We were there last fall.
MR. STOKE: But it was a very nice tree, and for shade it's very nice.
The Manchurian hazel has been spoken of, and I might mention that,
because I have dabbled in everything, I guess. I got seed from the
University of Nanking along with some other things, and those seedlings
were quite variable. The nuts compared rather favorably with the
American hazel. Some were thick-shelled, but they will average almost as
good as the American hazel, and they bore quite freely for me until I
let the bushes get right thick. They will send out suckers and make a
very spreading growth. If you dig them out and leave a piece of root in
the ground, it will come up just like sassafras or persimmon will on
that piece of root. But it is an attractive bush, and mine has a
reddish-brown little spot in the middle of the leaf in most cases. It
seems to be characteristic of that strain that I have. The nuts were
quite variable and, as I say, they bore right well until I let them get
too thick. I believe that's all.
MR. SLATE: I neglected to answer your question, Dr. Colby, but the
squirrels have not been much of a problem with our filberts at Geneva,
strange as it may seem. They have never taken a very high percentage of
the crop. We have a Lancaster heartnut, and they clean up every nut on
that tree every year before the end of August.
I'd like to comment on this matter of the name of Halle's Giant, I think
you called it. I think the name is Halle, the German town where the
variety originated. I prefer the name Halle, because calling it Hall's
Giant is more or less a sign its origin is a man named Hall.
MR. STOKE: In some catalogs it is one way and some the other.
MR. SLATE: We have other items on the program tonight, and as the Latin
student said, "Tempus is fugiting very fast," so I think we had better
turn the meeting back to Dr. MacDaniels.
PRESIDENT MACDANIELS: The next two talks have slides to be shown, and it
is suggested that you take about ten minutes, take a stretch and then
come back when the slide projector is set up.
My Experiences With Chinese Chestnuts
W. J. WILSON, _Fort Valley, Ga._
When I was asked to appear on this program to tell my experiences as a
grower of chestnuts, I felt like a child, appearing before a group of
grown-ups to tell them how to make marriage succeed. When I see the
sages of chestnut knowledge seated before me I realize that I can only
relate my experiences and ask your advice.
My father was a pioneer peach and pecan grower; he loved trees and has
told me time after time that if I ever made more than just a living,
farming, it would have to come from trees, not row crops. He was what I
would call a self-educated man. He had small chance of formal education,
being the sickly son, one of eight sons and three daughters, of a couple
who eked out an existence on the poor, unproductive, sandy, soils of
Crawford County, Georgia, growing the one and only cash crop of those
days, cotton. The combined wages of these boys often amounted to more
cash money than their own cotton crop returned because the supplier got
most of the money from their own crop. They helped neighbors pick out
their cotton crops after finishing their own. Grandfather must have
liked to experiment in his limited way. Each spring as Grandfather would
plant his small patch of Spanish peanuts and yellow corn, Grandmother
would tongue-lash him, saying, 'so long as you fool away your time with
Spanish peanuts and yellow corn you will remain a poor man. Time has
proven Grandfather right and Grandmother wrong. Spanish peanuts is a
huge industry; most of our hybrid corns, which have added millions of
bushels to our yields are yellow.
My father wasted his time back at the turn of the century planting a
peach orchard on his best cotton land. He planted pecans each winter,
beginning about 1912, often to the ribbing of friends who still
worshipped at the feet of King Cotton. One told him that he had a pecan
tree or two about his home and the damn flying squirrels ate all of the
nuts. Another told him that if he wanted a load of stove wood he would
just as soon cut down a pecan tree as any other kind. At his death in
1942, my father had planted six hundred acres of pecan orchards, each
acre having been interplanted with peaches, to produce income while the
pecans were reaching bearing age.
I give you this background so that you may better understand my attitude
toward chestnut growing. The scale on which I have set out on chestnut
growing I know to some of you will seem rather bold or foolhardy.
About ten years ago I found that the U. S. D. A. Pecan Experiment
Station at Albany, Georgia had a small chestnut orchard. Max Hardy, was
doing the chestnut work and was so much interested in them that I caught
fire and have been burning ever since. When I found that the harvest
came between the peach harvest and the pecan harvest it fitted right
into my kind of farming. The fact, that it was a possible tree crop made
chestnut growing still more attractive to me. Max suggested that I join
the N. N. G. A. when I complained that I couldn't find much information
on chestnuts. I attended my first convention at Norris. I have tried to
make most of them since that time. Of all the discussions at the Norris
meeting, the one that stuck in my mind was whether nurseries should
recommend seedlings or grafted trees. I thought then, and still think,
that for commercial production one must have varieties, because
seedlings are so variable. I believe, that when, chestnut growing comes
of age, the major part of the production will go through processing
plants. It will be a great advantage to have nuts of uniform quality and
size, which is and will be impossible with seedlings.
Of the fifteen trees that I planted in 1946, only one fruited in 1951.
It bore only 3-1/4 pounds of nuts. The other fourteen did not fruit.
This year there are a few scattering burs at seven years of age, on
those that I did not graft this spring. I am now too old to wait seven
or eight years for a chestnut tree to begin bearing. These trees came
from a Virginia nursery. The trees I planted in 1947, I started grafting
in 1950, to Nanking, Meiling, and Kuling, and finished this spring,
except for a few replants. I also grafted ten trees in 1950 to
Abundance. These tops bore the second year, several bearing good burs
the same year the scions were set. These grafted trees are anxious to go
to work, because they bloom in the spring and again in late July and
early August. I have used the in-lay bark, modified cleft, the cleft,
and what I call a saddle graft, bevelling two sides of the stock and
splitting the scion, thus slipping the split scion down over the
prepared stock. I have had equally good take on all types of grafts
used. In 1948 I planted two hundred seedlings bought from Max Hardy,
grown from seed from the Experiment Station orchard. I believe the
production record of this orchard has been given to this convention at
previous meetings. You will recall that the off-type trees were rogued,
leaving the parent trees of Nanking, Kuling and Meiling and others of
good bearing habits. In 1951 four trees out of this lot, were
outstanding in precocity. The earliest started dropping nuts the
fifteenth of August and bore 7-1/4 pounds. The next matured September
5th and produced 8-1/2 pounds. The third tree is unusual. I noticed it
the 4th of October. The ground was covered with nuts, but only an
occasional bur. All of the burs were wide open and still on the tree.
The crop weighed 6-1/2 pounds. The fourth tree I found on the 5th of
October with all of its nuts on the ground, the tree retaining the burs.
The yield of this tree was 4-1/2 pounds. Mind you, this was the fourth
summer after planting. These trees have repeated this year with another
good heavy crop. The other trees in this block bore from none to one or
two pounds of nuts in 1951. This year less than ten trees in the block
are not bearing. Next spring these ten will be growing new tops, because
their present tops are not satisfactory. I noticed that one tree in this
block bloomed long after the rest this spring, several weeks in fact. It
might have possibilities in northern areas because of its late blooming.
Of the eleven hundred trees planted in 1950, one bore nuts in 1951. I
didn't know it until this spring, when I was pruning the trees in this
block, and found nuts on the ground under this tree. It is bearing a
good crop this year for its size and age. There are a number of these
trees bearing this year. Dr. Crane in a hurried inspection of these
trees this summer thought those trees bearing were offspring of a
certain tree in the Philema orchard.
I do not give my chestnut trees special care. They are fertilized and
cultivated the same as young peach orchards. We try to bring in a peach
orchard the third summer, with enough fruit to make it worth spraying. I
see no reason to wait seven or eight years to get a chestnut orchard
into bearing. If you will keep down competition from weeds, cultivate
frequently, and give the tree plenty of nitrogen you will be surprised
at the growth it will make. I set the trees twenty-four feet each way,
with the idea of thinning later when they begin to crowd. In this way I
will get higher acre yields in the early years. When they reach maturity
I will have them thinned down to forty-eight feet each way. As they
reach heavy bearing the rate of growth will slow down and I will adjust
the nitrogen to keep them from becoming too vegetative.
So far the only insects that have bothered me are caterpillars that
ordinarily feed on wild maypops, or passion flowers. These caterpillars
will defoliate a tree. The only tree that I have lost from
winter-killing was one defoliated by the caterpillars early last fall.
It may become necessary for me to spray for these worms if they become
too plentiful.
I do not come before you as an authority on chestnut growing. I feel
that to force myself to do my best I should plant enough trees to make
me find out how to handle them. In the rush and bustle of peach and
pecan growing if I had only a few chestnut trees I might decide that not
much was involved, and neglect the chestnuts. I know that with two
thousand trees already planted and some of them bearing I am going to
make a great effort to make the project profitable. I have decided that
chestnut growing has possibilities as a tree crop in my section, and is
worth my time and effort. I know there are many problems ahead, but so
did my father when he planted peaches and pecans many years ago. I am
still meeting new problems with them each year. Problems go hand in hand
with the fruit and nut business. It is the fellow who is willing to try
to work them out who has a chance to profit. If I wait until all the
problems are solved I will never grow chestnuts. The day that I decide
that I know all the answers about growing peaches, pecans or chestnuts,
is the day I start going broke. I have been badly bent several times
while I was struggling to find an answer. Each year starts full of hope,
with visions of a nice fat bank balance when the jobs are all done. Then
the problems start and if I can lick enough of them, I come through with
the right to see if I can't do a still better job next year, despite the
risks of too much rain, not enough rain, hail, insects and diseases.
I have found that each year from 15 to 50 million pounds of chestnuts
are imported from Europe. The same blight that destroyed our native
chestnuts, is going full tilt in Italy and other European countries. If
the blight runs its course as it did in this country, it will not be
many years until we will not have chestnuts from Europe. I am going to
grow some to fill this gap. In 1950 Dr. McKay sent me eight trees, four
Meiling, two Nanking, two Kuling. Two Meiling and two Nanking to be
planted together, two Meiling and two Kuling together. Each combination
to be isolated so that the nuts produced would be of known crosses.
These trees bloomed this spring and two of them set a few burs. Next
year I hope to turn over to Dr. McKay nuts from these trees to be
planted, and grown to fruiting age. I now have about one hundred and
sixty grafted trees. I intend to fruit my seedlings with the hope that
among them I will find trees superior enough to be given variety status.
I will then top-work the rest to varieties. At present I intend to plant
more trees each winter until I have at least one hundred acres of
orchards. If and when the weevil moves in I will have the equipment on
hand to spray, using the same equipment on peaches or pecans.
I would like to see this Association ask that more research on chestnut
production be done by the U. S. D. A. It will not be done until we ask
for it. The men in the department are not in position to do much asking
for additional funds. It is the responsibility of groups like the N. N.
G. A. and the Southeastern Chestnut Grower's Association. We are in need
of more breeding and selection of new, and better adapted varieties. We
need processing research, marketing research, and research in the field
of production. We are not going to get it done until we insist on it
good and strong.
This spring, at Fort Valley, Georgia, the Southeastern Chestnut Grower's
Association was formed. We hold our convention in March and will be glad
to have everyone interested in chestnut growing, marketing, processing
or research, attend our convention. I think in time this organization
will want to become affiliated with the N. N. G. A., to the mutual
benefit of both. I will be glad to have any of you visit my orchards and
show me how to grow chestnuts, I am constantly searching for
information.
PRESIDENT MACDANIELS: We thank Mr. Wilson very much for his talk, and
we think it does take a lot of courage to embark on an experiment of
that kind.
In view of the lateness of the hour, unless somebody objects, we will
adjourn until tomorrow morning at 8:30.
At 9:40 o'clock, p.m., the meeting adjourned.
TUESDAY MORNING SESSION
(Called to order at 8:30 o'clock, a.m., President L. H. MacDaniels
presiding.)
Persian Walnuts in the Upper South
H. F. STOKE, _Roanoke, Va._
My experience with the Persian walnut has been acquired in the Roanoke
district of south-west Virginia. It is located 300 miles from the
Atlantic seaboard and my trees are at an approximate elevation of eleven
hundred feet. Roanoke is on the same parallel as Springfield, Missouri,
and about thirty miles south of Rockport, Indiana.
This experience covers a period of more than twenty years with named
varieties and seedlings of the species. I shall here attempt to present
some findings that may be of some value to others similarly located.
For the sake of brevity I shall put the cart before the horse, the
findings before the facts from which they are derived.
For the upper south and, in my opinion, for the middle west, late
vegetating and blossoming is of prime importance for success with the
Persian walnut. No matter how vigorous, prolific and precocious the tree
may be, nor how fine the nuts, the variety is worthless for anything
except shade if the crop is destroyed by normal spring frosts.
In the second place is winter hardiness. This is of two kinds;
resistance to extreme cold, and resistance to the wooing of warm winter
days that starts premature activity, followed by a destructive freeze.
My experience with the Payne variety is a case in point. Having read
some place of the vigor, precocity and heavy bearing of the new variety,
then called the Payne Seedling, I secured some scions of it from its
originator and worked it on a young black walnut. The variety was
already making a name for itself in Northern California and Oregon, not
only because of its bearing habits but for the superb quality of its
nuts.
During the first few years it did well despite its early starting in the
spring, and bore heavy crops; then disaster fell. One spring the tree
failed to leaf out at the usual time. On examination I found that it had
winter-killed back to five-year wood. The winter had been unusually
cold, and the tree could not take it. Pruned back, the belated new
growth did not fully mature before winter so in turn was damaged, a
phenomenon that recurred from year to year. Exit Payne as a Virginia
prospect.
An example of the other type of winter injury was that of my first Crath
Carpathian. I secured scions of this variety from Rev. P. C. Crath in
1929. The parent tree had been growing and bearing in the vicinity of
Toronto and was apparently fully hardy. The scions grew vigorously on
the young black walnut stock on which it was worked, and completed their
longitudinal growth early in July, giving ample time for the ripening of
the wood before winter.
After several years I noticed the bark on the south side of the trunks
dead from so-called sun-scald. Activity had been induced by the warmth
of the winter sun, followed by freezing. After some years the wood was
killed back to limbs the thickness of one's wrist, and this has been
again repeated. The tree was hardy in Ontario, but not in Virginia.
The nut of this variety, which to me is the Crath, is much superior to
the average Carpathian, and I think might be well worth while in the
north-east and along the Great Lakes, but not in the upper South nor the
Mid-West.
Besides their winter weaknesses, both the Payne and Crath start too
early in the spring for my conditions.
Broadview and Lancaster both blossom here in mid-season and, since both
have a rather long period of producing pistillate blossoms, they seldom
fail to produce a crop when properly pollenized.
Franquette and Mayette, both highly recommended as being late vegetating
and producing excellent nuts, have offered me some difficulties of
another order. With Franquette the chief trouble has been to get a
suitable pollenizer. Like the Mayette, its pistillate blossoms appear
ten days or more after the staminate blossoms and self-pollination is
not effected. I tried King, recommended as a pollenizer, but it was too
early to be reliably effective. When Franquette is properly pollenized
it, with Payne, is one of the heaviest bearers.
Mayette in Virginia produces a fine, healthy, vigorous tree, but it
refuses to produce pistillate blossoms. A dozen nuts is an average crop
for a tree that should produce a bushel. It, like Franquette, demands a
late pollenizer, but the pistillate blossoms are simply not there.
Neither of these two late varieties have ever suffered winter injury
with me, nor have been damaged by spring frosts.
I will not attempt to go into detail regarding all the varieties and
seedlings that I have tried through the years; Eureka, that ranks with
Mayette and Franquette for lateness, but refuses to bear, apparently for
want of pollination; Chambers that was recommended along with King for
pollenizing the late bloomers but not fully successful; Breslau, with
its huge nuts but slow growth, in addition to an assortment of
Carpathian seedlings. Of the latter my Caesar is one of the more
promising with its vigorous growth, large thin-shelled nuts and ability
to pollenize itself in some seasons. Gilbert Becker has reported it
passing through Michigan winters unhurt.
As matters now stand, I believe Bedford, Caesar and Lancaster have
proven the most satisfactory varieties to date under my conditions,
although some seedlings I have grown appear even more promising. Chief
of these are several that I grew from open-pollenized nuts of the
Lancaster, which I am here exhibiting.
You will note that the one I designate as L-2 is an extremely large nut,
considerably larger than its seed parent which it somewhat resembles.
L-8 is of somewhat similar type, but smaller. L-3 and L-6, on the other
hand, are of entirely different type. Much smaller, they are smooth,
thin-shelled and well filled, with kernels running 50% by weight and of
high quality. They resemble their seed parent, Lancaster, not at all but
in type are much nearer Bedford, their probable pollen parent.
Another one of these seedlings, L-7, resembles Caesar, its probable
pollen parent, far more than it does its seed
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