Chapter II: Part 2

I have brought here a cluster of burrs from some chinkapin bushes that have been growing in Elizabeth Park, Hartford, for 23 years. They are loaded with nuts and although attacked by the blight, the fact of their being there so many years shows how resistant they are. I have also some clusters of burrs from chinkapin bushes in my own garden. They bore a full crop the second year from transplanting.

MR. O'CONNOR: Before I forget it, I want to say a word in regard to chinkapins. Right close to where I live there was a fire swept through the place and burned them down to the roots. But they have come up from the roots and are full of chinkapins at the present time; I have seen where the blight has hit them and they died back to the ground and they have shot up new shoots again and are bearing. The chinkapin is a coming nut; the school children are looking for them like I used to look for the butternuts in the early days.

THE PRESIDENT: That is very interesting information, Mr. O'Connor, and I am very glad you have stated it.

THE SECRETARY: Mr. Wycoff of Aurora, N. Y., has brought here a little branch containing two well developed Indiana pecans grown on a grafted tree. I think that is the first instance in which a grafted pecan tree of the Indiana variety has borne in the North. Mr. Snyder says he has fruited a Witte pecan at his place. A number of us have been striving to make the record for first bearing of a grafted "Indiana" pecan tree in the North. Mr. Wycoff has won it.

Mr. O'Connor, I think, has brought with him a number of branches of pecans grown in Maryland.

MR. O'CONNOR: I have some hazels and also some chinkapins.

THE SECRETARY: Have you any pecans fruiting down there this year?

MR. O'CONNOR: Several nights of frost hurt us pretty bad this spring. We have one tree that has got a few pecans on this year; last year the same tree had over a hundred; this year it hasn't got more than a dozen, but it promises to have a heavy crop next year.

THE PRESIDENT: What variety of pecans?

MR. O'CONNOR: If I am not mistaken, it is the Indiana. There are several trees that promise to bear heavily next year. In the spring we had a severe frost for seven nights in succession and that hurt our trees pretty bad. We are in the frost belt down there. Last year we didn't have any apples or peaches; this year we have some apples and some peaches but the grapes were severely hurt by the frost, also there are very few walnuts on the trees this year.

MR. CORSAN: From traveling around as much as I do I can vouch for that gentleman's statement in regard to the frost. I was up in the extreme northern part of the United States, northern New York, and I never saw such a crop of hickory nuts in my life and I have gathered nuts since I am able to remember. I have also seen more peaches up in Ontario and even north of Ontario. When you talk about frost and the South having such an advantage over the North, it is entirely wrong; I have had that idea knocked out of me for a good many years.

THE SECRETARY: I wish also to say that I brought here a small branch from the Hartford pecan tree bearing two nuts. The Hartford pecan tree is undoubtedly the largest pecan tree in the North. It is about ten feet in circumference, over seventy-five feet high and has a very large spread. I will ask Mr. Weber if he will give us the account again of the finding of that black walnut in the river and tell us the result of his investigation.

MR. WEBER: Whenever I come across a black walnut I want to open it up and see what it looks like inside. Following that custom when I found a walnut that had lodged against the dyke north of the central part of the city, I was surprised when I opened it because the partitions were very thin, like an English walnut. Later on I found another similar nut lodged against the dyke of the river about a quarter of a mile along. Then through a statement in the paper and an advertising campaign we tried to locate the tree. Finally we got the name of a man in Floyd, Va., who said he knew of the existence of such a tree, but a few years previously they had cleared the land and it had been cut down. So that finished that. But he gave me the name of the man who had owned the place and said that there were some other trees that had originated there and that they were bearing. It is down in Virginia at the extreme western end and off the railroad and rather hard to get to. I thought possibly on my way home I would get there this trip.

THE SECRETARY: As an example of nut enthusiasm here is the corporation counsel of the city of Cincinnati, who on his walks abroad picks up nuts that he finds and examines them. He finds one on the dyke of the river that he considers remarkable and in conjunction with the president of this association conducts an advertising campaign in the watershed of the river where that nut was found in order to locate the tree, and succeeds eventually in doing so.

Mr. President, here is a communication which I received in July from the Secretary of the American Pomological Society inviting us to become a member. I didn't feel that I had the authority to send him a check for ten dollars, but I would like to put before the association the question as to whether we ought not to make this association a member of the American Pomological Society. I would ask, Mr. President, that you put that matter up for discussion, if you think it is of sufficient importance.

THE PRESIDENT: I do, Mr. Secretary, and think it would materially help in gaining names in our plans for increasing the membership if we were able to say we were a member of that society. What do you suggest relative to the procedure in that connection?

THE SECRETARY: I think all that is necessary is the motion by some member that the treasurer be authorized to take out a membership for the association in the American Pomological Society.

BY A MEMBER: I so move. They will know we are in existence and if we take an interest in their work they will take an interest in ours.

Motion duly seconded and carried.

THE PRESIDENT: Your reference to Mr. Reed reminds me that prior to his receiving orders to go to China, he and Mrs. Reed both had promised to come and make addresses at this convention; Mrs. Reed on the subject of nuts as a food and Mr. Reed with a fine exhibit and also an illustrated lecture. He wrote me quite fully just before going saying he was awfully sorry that he could not be here. With reference to the Secretary's remarks regarding Dean Watts, I had the privilege of meeting Dean Watts last year at Lancaster and I think his ideas are very much along the same line relative to increasing our membership and improving our financial condition so that we can do real things. I had a letter from Mr. Littlepage early in the season and he expected to be here. Then he finally wrote me and said it would be absolutely impossible for him to come but he was sending his able lieutenant, Mr. O'Connor. I was beginning to feel a little worried this morning that perhaps Dr. Morris might not be able to get here but I was very happy a few minutes ago to see the Doctor come in and now I feel considerably more comfortable because he is a great aid and help at these conventions. Is there anything further, Mr. Secretary, that you have in mind?

THE SECRETARY: I just want to call your attention to the exhibits; they really hardly need any one to call attention to them, but I would like to mention especially the exhibits at the two ends of the table. The one at the further end of the table by Mr. Dunbar of the Department of Parks of Rochester is really a very remarkable exhibit, especially from a scientific point of view. (See list of exhibits in appendix.) At this end of the table is a splendid exhibition of filberts grown in Rochester in Mr. McGlennon's filbert nursery under the direction of Mr. Vollertsen; it needs no word of praise from any one, it speaks for itself. Also I call your attention to these three English walnut trees in pots, each one bearing fully developed nuts, which were grown by Mrs. Ellwanger. Last of all I will mention again the cluster of Indiana pecans brought here by Mr. Wycoff of Aurora.

MR. DUNBAR: Dr. Deming didn't tell us about the Chinese chestnuts that are fruiting--the castanea mollissima.

THE SECRETARY: Dr. Morris has had them fruiting for a number of years. I don't know whether any others have or not.

DR. MORRIS: They fruit very well and are a good hardy nut. They are on limestone land.

THE SECRETARY: It is a very interesting nut.

MR. CORSAN: Out of twelve varieties of chestnuts that I planted on my place it is the only one that died. I got them in Washington. I looked after them probably too well. I will try them again to be certain they had no climatic reason for dying. It is very strange that that chestnut didn't grow. Nobody near me grows chestnuts so I can cultivate them for a good many years without any worry about blight.

DR. MORRIS: I doubt if the blight amounts to much with you. It is carried by migrating birds. Some birds will take the blight north and our friends in Canada will finally have it, so cheer up, the worst is yet to come, but it will be a good many years.

MR. CORSAN: The blight has got to the extreme northern part of the chestnut growth, that is, to the top of Lake George. The chestnut doesn't go a quarter of a mile beyond Silver Bay.

DR. MORRIS: I have found chestnut trees in Quebec.

PROFESSOR NIELSON: Speaking of the range of nut trees, I have seen the hazelnut in the Saskatchewan several hundred miles north of the international boundary and at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

THE PRESIDENT: That is very interesting to me for about the time that we started in experimenting with filberts I received a letter from an old friend of mine in Canada, Mr. Edward Kennedy; he stated that he believed the hazelnut or filbert would do very well in the Canadian Northwest. At that time we were in the nursery business and were finding it difficult for our general nursery stock to survive the severe winters in the Canadian Northwest. Mr. Kennedy thought that from his observation of the filbert throughout that country it was the one item in the nurseryman's list that would do very well there.

DR. MORRIS: In that connection I would like to say that I have seen the hazelnut growing as far north as Hudson Bay and it is very hard to distinguish it from the elm. The hazelnuts grow to a height of from twenty to twenty-five feet and the elm comes down to about that height. The leaves look so much alike that I found myself looking for hazelnuts under an elm tree.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Patterson told me that while fishing on one of the streams near Albany he had found some of the common hazelnuts in fruit. I have sent down to some of my friends at Albany some of our filbert plants to see how they might do there and the reports up to the present time have been altogether favorable. My thought up to the present time has been that perhaps the climate there is a little too hot.

The next item on our program is the report of the treasurer, Mr. Willard G. Bixby of Baldwin, N. Y.

NORTHERN NUT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION

_In Account With_

WILLARD G. BIXBY, _Treasurer_

_Receipts:_

From annual members, including joint subscription
to American Nut Journal $222.25
From contributing members, including joint
subscription to American Nut Journal 80.00
From contributions 357.50
From advertising in report 5.35
From sale of reports 12.00
From sale of Bulletin No. 5 8.58 $685.68
------
From Life Membership W. L. Linton 50.00
------
$735.68

Deficit September 1, 1922:
Balance Special Hickory Prize $25.00
Balance Life Memberships 95.00
Deficit for regular expenses 176.87
Net deficit 56.87
------
$792.55

_Expenditures:_

American Nut Journal--their portion of joint
subscription $74.00
1921 Convention 71.46
Printing report 12th meeting 212.19
Printing and stationery 142.82
Nut contest 111.01
Postage and express 5.00 $616.48
------
Deficit October 1, 1921:
Balance Special Hickory Prize $25.00
Balance Life Memberships 45.00
Deficit for regular expenses 246.07
Net deficit 176.07
------
$792.55

The work of the treasurer for the past year has not been satisfactory to him.

The amount of attention he has been able to give it has been much less than he had hoped. While supposed to be retired with nothing to do except just what he wants to this is far from the facts. While it is true that in 1919 he did retire from business, in which he had spent practically all of his time since leaving school, he has never been able to retire entirely and is still president of one corporation and vice-president of two. In the case of one of these the conditions under which it operated have changed so entirely that he has had practically to get back into business and the work of the association has had to be sandwiched in as best it could and at times has had scant attention. Had it not been for Mrs. Bixby's help on the work of the treasurer proper, he would have had to resign.

There is a deficit[1] shown by the treasurer's report although less than that of a year ago. The attempt to induce a rather large proportion of our members to become contributing members, paying $5.00 per year as membership fee, including subscription to the American Nut Journal, has been reasonably successful, about one-quarter of our receipts of membership fees being from this source. The real difficulty, however, is that our total membership is not sufficient to enable receipts from dues to pay expenses. In every year, for a good many years, receipts from contributions have been about equal to those from dues and apparently that condition will have to continue until our membership is doubled, unless the activity of the association is materially reduced, which course seems inadvisable to your treasurer.

[1] This was wiped out at the meeting by contributions and guarantee of new membership which more than equalled the amount of the deficit.

The results of the nut contest the past year have been unsatisfactory. The nut crop was a failure over quite a portion of the country covered by the association. The number of nuts sent in was not over one-tenth of those received in 1920 and no nuts of notable excellence were received. Were it not for the fact that this year promises to be a great year for nuts in the northeastern United States, one might think that the nut contests had outlived their usefulness. They have, however, brought us so many good nuts and are so comparatively inexpensive that your treasurer would not want to give them up yet.

During the past year an earnest effort was made by the treasurer to get new members by getting nurserymen to enclose in their catalogs circulars regarding the association as well as membership application blanks, over $100.00 being expended on this item. The nurserymen on the accredited list responded heartily. The results, however, were far from being as satisfactory as a year ago when the literature sent out by the nurserymen simply called attention to bulletin No. 5. Literature regarding the association and membership application blanks were inserted in bulletin No. 5 and between five and ten per cent. of those who received bulletin No. 5 became members, the number being considerably greater than those from similar efforts this year.

This shows conclusively that direct appeals, unless there is personality behind them, do not have much force. A year ago bulletin No. 5 in the possession of one interested enough to purchase it, supplied the personality and gave force to the appeal that was lacking this year.

Thirty-eight new members have joined the association since the last report, making 561 since organization, of whom we have 249 at present, making 312 who have resigned, or dropped out, or have been removed by death. The additional members obtained this year are largely due to the personal efforts of the president and those in his office.

During the past year we have lost by death our only honorary member, Dr. Walter Van Fleet of the United States Department of Agriculture, and one life member, Col. C. K. Sober of Lewisburg, Penn.

Respectfully submitted,

WILLARD G. BIXBY, _Treas._

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: I feel that we have got to get busy and get some more members and more money. At nearly every convention a deficit is reported; it ought to be the other way, and it can be. We will all agree, I believe, those of us who are in the habit of attending these conventions, that they resolve themselves largely into meetings of a mutual admiration society. Outside of Dr. Deming, Mr. Bixby and one or two others, there is very little thought given to this association during the year except immediately prior to the convention. Of course, we can't get ahead very far that way. Ever since I have been actively connected with this association I have given first thought to the matter of membership and the improvement of our finances. I do hope that at this convention some definite and specific action will be taken so that a year from now there will be a decided increase of members, because I am confident we can do it if we put our shoulders to the wheel. Then we will have a surplus instead of a deficit. As I said in my paper this morning, the association is engaged in scientific work, but we are not going to get very far along unless we have more money, and we can't get more money unless we get more members. We ought to put our shoulders to the wheel and pull this association up to a membership that is worthy of its title. If each member would get from three to five new members during the year we would have a membership in the neighborhood of a thousand another year and that would give us a surplus of money. I hope that definite action will be taken at this convention to stimulate that development of the association. If any of the other members have anything to say on that subject I would be very glad to hear from them.

MR. OLCOTT: I think that the membership is really one of the most important things for this association to consider. But I do not think it would be well to go away from this convention with only the idea that each member should try to get three or four others. That is all very well and it would mean considerable IF they would do it. I think there are enough business men here and brains enough here so that if this matter were referred to a good big committee that would spend some time on it, and before we go would report some definite way of stimulating interest in nut culture and in this association, that it would bring the membership up to a point where it could accomplish something in a business way. It is not a matter for individual action but a matter for association action. It needs publicity and a good comprehensive plan. The money will come as more members come. The wider knowledge of what this association is doing for an active membership would make a bigger membership. If you will remember President Linton suggested that each state should provide twenty-five to fifty members; it does seem as though there should be twenty-five or fifty members, men and women, in each one of the twenty or so northern states. If there were fifty there is a thousand members in the twenty states. He pledged, I believe, twenty-five names from Michigan on his own account; I don't know whether he made good or not but the plan is good to aim at fifty members in each of twenty states.

MR. SPENCER: I am very much interested in the production of nut trees largely as a matter of curiosity. My home is in Decatur, Ill. Illinois has 56,000 square miles, 30,000 square miles of that state are, or were, covered with hard wood timber. In Bureau County the hickory, the hazel, the walnut and butternut grow with a great deal of vigor; less than two blocks from me there is an ordinary sweet chestnut brought from the East by a gentleman a great many years ago. I measured it last fall and it is six feet nine inches in circumference, it has a spread of about sixty feet and it is about seventy-five feet high. The neighbors told me that they got a bushel of chestnuts every year off that one tree. I presume if they took better care of it and gave it some fertilization they would get more than that. I happen to be the chairman of the tree committee of the Bird and Tree Club. The city of Decatur purchased 42 trees and planted them in seven parks of the city of Decatur; members of the Bird and Tree Club came to me for advice and last year I placed 114 trees for them. They placed a number of trees with the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, chestnut trees, and they planted them on the campus. I believe that persons who are associated with different clubs would take up the matter of nut growing. That means that you can interest the children and if you can interest the children then you get the parents interested. In Macon County alone the county surveyor told me there are 20,000 acres of ground that are absolutely worthless except for pasture because they form bluff land along the Sangamon river. It isn't a large stream, I suppose down here you would call it a creek, but the city has put a dam across the river and trees were planted. I tried to create a sentiment to have that shore planted with nut trees instead of ash and elm and the various trees that can bear nothing but leaves, but the hardest thing in the world is to start a new idea.

An ordinary crop of nuts after a tree commences bearing is worth a great deal more than a crop of wheat or oats and in the meantime you can use the ground under it if you want to.

Now these are simply my individual efforts in Macon County to get people interested in nut-bearing trees. It is a hard road and I am like some other people, I don't like to be pointed out as a crank, but I am pretty near that on this subject. With the co-operation of Mr. Reed a year ago I delivered an address, illustrated with pictures that were supplied by the Bureau of Plant Industry, on the subject of "The Value of the Nut Trees for Shade and Food," with the idea of having farm homes made beautiful by trees and attractive by the fruits thereof to keep the children home. Last year I delivered an address on "Nut Trees and Roadside Planting," also illustrated by pictures sent me by Mr. Reed and through the courtesy of McMillan & Company I reproduced pictures describing Dr. Morris's new way of grafting. If you will take steps along those lines and work through the Bird and Tree Clubs and get the children interested I believe you could do something toward spreading the gospel of nut culture. I thank you for your attention. (Applause.)

MR. CORSAN: As to getting new members, I am ashamed to say that since I joined in 1912, I just got one new member actually into the club and that was Dr. Kellogg. I interested hundreds of people but he was the only person I got in. The only way to do is to step right up and ask a man for his money as soon as you give him the proposition. Now that is where I fail. I struck Mr. MacDonald, the permanent Boy Scout Director, 200 Fifth avenue, New York City. He is very enthusiastic but he hasn't come in as a member. Then the Overseer of the Boy Scouts, a tall young fellow with sandy hair and a good complexion, I have forgotten his name, but he is a splendid fellow. He was enthusiastic but he hasn't come in as a member. I met Mr. McLean of the Orphan's Home and he is going to have the Orphan's Home planted with nut trees, but he didn't join the society. I suppose I didn't beg them enough. I suppose I should say, "Give your money to me right now, immediately, and let me send it over to Mr. Bixby." I think that would be the best method of getting in new members. Then they will read the literature and keep in touch with the association. I must confess downright negligence for not getting members into the association. I thought we were a kind of a rich gang and don't need money. But we have got to have money in order to get people into the idea of growing nut trees.

THE PRESIDENT: What seems to be the objection?

MR. CORSAN: No objection at all except I had that fault of not gathering in their membership while I was speaking to them upon the possibilities of nut culture.

THE PRESIDENT: If you don't get some members in this year there will be trouble!

MR. CORSAN: Why not give a tree with every new membership so that the member can plant a nut tree on his own farm, and the Boy Scouts and also the Girl Scouts would come into this thing, too, as the tall gentleman from Decatur has said.

MR. PATTERSON: I should like to tell you what happens in our association in the south of Georgia. For a number of years our treasurer has come up with a deficit each year. The only practical way that we have found in the southern nut growers' association for increasing our membership and getting additional funds is to do it by subscriptions taken at the meeting. Let each man pledge so many members and turn over the money to the treasurer to pay up for the members that he has pledged. Then let him go out and get the members to reimburse himself. In that way we have increased our membership very much. I do not say that that is the way that it should be handled here but that is the only way we have found of solving the problem.

MR. TAYLOR: I represent the Northern Apple Growers' Exchange. We want to get people who grow apples into our association and the first thing of all is to get them interested. You first have to attract the attention of a man, your prospective member, and then you have to arouse his interest and you have to create a desire. We found that in order to attract his attention a circularization of people who were eligible for membership accomplished a great deal. These people were circularized, given little bits of information here and there, not the information that was given the members as a rule, not to that extent, but they were given a certain lot of information from time to time to let them know that the Apple Growers' Exchange was there. After a while they were approached personally and if they said "No" we continued circularizing them a little while longer along a different line. Finally, when we thought we had gotten them to a point where they were interested, the problem was to get them properly signed up. So we then made a drive for those particular individuals by showing them what they could personally get out of it. After he had joined our problem was to hold him, to keep him interested until he became enthusiastic. Unless you keep them interested they are liable to cool off, and once they are cooled off it is almost impossible to get them interested again. We find the members who have gone out are the hardest to get back. A way of keeping that new member in, and helping him to feel that he is a potent factor in the organization, might be by having some sort of a special communication with him at the time he joins, or at the next meeting of the association. I know that in California that is the way they work it. Keep members informed, not merely with reports of proceedings but with something like an occasional sheet or two on the latest thing that is going on, especially for the new members. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: I would like to have any other suggestions. Dr. Morris, have you anything to say?

DR. MORRIS: No, I have been doing a lot of thinking.

THE PRESIDENT: It seems to me it is the one vital thing for us to consider. We have got to increase our membership.

MR. OLCOTT: Apropos of the remarks of Dr. Taylor comes the question of the desirability of giving a prospective member something for his money. Our first problem is to interest someone to the extent of membership and then to keep him after we get him. Those are problems that require thought. I think the President in his address suggested that the association produce young nut trees to be given away to someone to plant, to interest that someone and others who see it. Would you give him another tree at renewal time?

THE PRESIDENT: That was the idea.

MR. OLCOTT: The renewal proposition with trees selling at $2.50 to $3.00 apiece would be pretty expensive for the association--for a member to pay us $2.00 and get a tree for nothing. My personal idea has been that there should be a state organization in every one of the northern states, subsidiary to this association; that each association have its monthly meeting, or maybe quarterly or annual, taking in those who cannot find it convenient to come to the parent association's convention.

DR. MORRIS: I will pay the dues, and subscription to the Journal, for any Boy Scout for ten years if you will make that the object for striving for a prize in some organization of Boy Scouts.

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate that very much.

THE SECRETARY: I have two suggestions for ways of drawing attention to our association. The first is lectures. There are a number of our members who have given lectures on the subject of nut growing. Mr. Spencer has just told you that he has and Dr. Morris loses no opportunity to give them. I have given them myself and Mr. Reed of the Department of Agriculture speaks on nut culture. There is hardly a member of this association but belongs to some agricultural society or club. That is one possible place for bringing nut culture to the attention of people who are interested in either agriculture or horticulture. I am sure that Mr. Reed of the Department of Agriculture will send a collection of lantern slides on nut growing to responsible persons. These slides make lecturing much easier. I will undertake to get Mr. Reed to make up a collection of slides to be sent out to members for the purpose of illustrating lectures. My other suggestion is the writing of articles for magazines, horticultural and agricultural, and especially high-class horticultural magazines that reach wealthy people who are interested in new things and in trying experiments, such as the Country Gentleman, Country Life in America and the Garden Magazine. What we really want is some person who will give himself continuously to the promotion of this nut-growing idea. It is a great misfortune that Mr. Bixby has taken up business again because he made a splendid beginning in devoting himself to the interests of nut culture. I did a great deal more myself in the earlier days of this society but circumstances have been such that lately I have not given it much attention. I feel that there must be members who are all ready to do work, members who would like to jump in and take a hand. I would be very glad to share my work as secretary. I would be glad to hand over the entire work of secretary to some member who feels an itch to get in and do this sort of work.

THE PRESIDENT: You are very liberal in your service but I think others ought to take a bigger share so that your duties will be easier and also Mr. Bixby's. Now that we have this thing going I hope we will stick to it until we get something concrete because I can't see that we are going to make much progress just meeting from year to year with an increase of twenty to twenty-five members. I personally will guarantee a hundred members for this year for this association. I speak advisedly because I know what we have been doing in our office this last couple of months. I am satisfied that I can bring to the association a hundred new members this year if the rest will bring ten each. We have got to get more members and more money; let's get down to bed rock and look the thing squarely in the face and make up our minds to go to it and do it.

MR. CORSAN: Where can these slides be got?

THE SECRETARY: I will undertake to furnish them through Mr. Reed of the Department of Agriculture. There is also a good moving picture film of Colonel Sober's chestnut grove that I think can be had. I have used it myself two or three times.

MR. KAINS: Rochester, as a good many of you know, is the center of the fruit industry in western New York. Right here is also the scene of one of the greatest fights to get an association on a paying basis that ever occurred. Some of you probably know that away back in the fifties Patrick Barry and Mr. Worter and several others of the fruit growers got together and formed the Western New York Horticultural Society. Gradually people came in and took an interest in the work but, as always in the beginning, there was trouble to make ends meet and Mr. Barry and some of the others put their hands in their pockets to keep the association going. At last it got so bad and the amount of the deficit was so great that it was decided to have a closed meeting, no one to be admitted except those who had actually paid their one dollar membership fee. The year that it was announced that this would be put into effect the following year there was all kinds of a fuss at the meeting. The next year the people came there in a crowd to see if the rule was going to be put in effect and the result was the largest meeting the association had ever had. The only men and women who got inside the door had paid their dollar. That was the first year that the association got on its feet. One other method that could be used to spread the love of nut growing would be to have the association offer a nut tree to different schools where they would plant it as an Arbor Day tree. In that way the children would learn the value of the grafted nut tree and the value of real first-class nuts. The result would be that other people would become interested in grafted nuts and thus extend the interest in the whole nut-growing proposition, and your membership would most likely increase. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: I will ask for nominations from the floor for the nominating committee.

Mr. Pomeroy, Dr. Morris, Mr. Olcott, Mr. Rick and Mr. Patterson nominated and elected.

THE PRESIDENT: The next order of business is to call for the reports of any of the standing committees.

THE SECRETARY: The chairman of the committee on incorporation, Mr. Littlepage, wrote me not long ago that he was taking active steps to incorporate the association. I don't know whether Mr. O'Connor may know if Mr. Littlepage has done anything about it or not.

MR. O'CONNOR: I can't say about that.

THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1922

THE PRESIDENT: I am going to ask Dr. Taylor to present his paper now, if he will please.

PROF. RALPH H. TAYLOR: Through a previous arrangement with our secretary I had assigned to me an entirely different subject from that on the printed programme, "The Use of Nuts the Year Around." I have prepared a paper on the original subject and so I will proceed to deliver it in accordance with my arrangement with him.

I do, however, want to say first, in connection with the use of nuts the year around, that we from California are vitally interested in that problem. I know of no problem that faces us more at the present time than the one of marketing the product that we grow in competition with the tremendously increasing imports from abroad, brought in from countries where labor costs anywhere from twenty to fifty cents a day, and at the highest a dollar a day for what they call skilled labor, most of it twenty to fifty cents, and with freight rates across the Atlantic that amount to less than half of our freight rates, or one-quarter of them. With the commodity in the hands of speculators who are able in various ways to make tremendous profits, and giving the public none of the benefit of these conditions, we find it almost impossible to market our product at a profit. We must get it into the hands of the consumer cheaply. We are endeavoring to do it. One of the plans is to encourage the use of nuts the year around, and the California Almond Growers' Association, whom I represent, are planning now to shell their own almonds and put the kernels up in vacuum packages, both tin and glass, and make it possible for the housewife, instead of going to the candy stores and buying salted almonds for a dollar to a dollar and a quarter once or twice a year, to secure her own almonds, blanch them herself and use them considerably more often because she can get them cheaper. We believe it is going to be worth while for us to go into the business the year around. The demand at the present time is for almonds for a brief period up to the first of January. Thereafter there is no sale until the following November. Under those conditions you can see that with increasing crops we are facing difficulties that are almost insurmountable. Therefore we are changing the form in which we are marketing part of our crop. I want to say to those people who do recognize the value of almonds for food that it is going to be possible for you to secure them in a most desirable form, clean, wholesome and absolutely fresh, as almonds packed in vacuum. They will be just as fresh as when they are put in from the orchards of California.

ALMOND POSSIBILITIES IN THE EASTERN STATES

BY R. H. TAYLOR[2]

There is probably no better way to open a discussion of this kind than by asking a question and then using it as a text. The future possibilities for almond production in the eastern states can not be stated any other way than as a question. For my text I am indebted to your secretary, Dr. W. C. Deming. It is taken from a letter written by him under date of June 22nd to Mr. T. C. Tucker, the manager of the California Almond Growers' Exchange, and is as follows:

"Why can't we breed an almond that will do in the East what its
sister, the peach, does?"

Any answer we might give must be, of necessity, more or less empirical in nature.

[2] In charge Field Department, California Almond Growers' Exchange.

In order properly to understand that answer, and I shall attempt to give one later, certain fundamental relations and limitations must first be considered; then the possibilities of any given line of procedure may be more clearly understood.

Botanically the almond is very closely related to the peach, both belonging to the genus _Prunus_, sub-genus _Amygdalus_. The species of the peach being _persica_, and of the almond, _communis_. In fact the two trees are in many respects so much alike that it is possible to select twigs and leaves from each which cannot be distinguished except by an expert, and even he may be misled at times. Ordinarily, however, they are of sufficient difference to be readily distinguished.

In the fruit the principal difference is that the fleshy portion of the peach becomes in the almond a leathery hull which splits at maturity revealing a seed or nut, the shell of which is generally softer than that of the peach pit. The kernel may or may not be bitter, depending upon the characteristics of that particular seedling. If 100 almonds from a sweet almond tree are planted and brought to bearing it is probable that from a third to a half of them would produce bitter almonds. As a matter of fact, we have had by actual tests as high as 50 per cent. bitter. The peach, on the other hand, will, probably in 99-1/2 per cent. of the cases, produce a seed with a bitter kernel, only very rarely a seed developing which will produce edible kernels. The same is true of the apricot, the Smyrna variety being an edible apricot with an edible kernel.

The almond is normally the first of the stone fruits to begin growth and come into blossom in the spring and is also normally the last tree to become dormant in the fall. It is evident, therefore, that its normal winter resting period is comparatively short. The peach has a much longer resting period than the almond although less than the apple, pear and other similar fruits, and it is for this reason that peach production is possible in a commercial way in many sections of the East.

In California, where almonds and peaches are very often planted in close proximity, many seedlings are known which are very evidently natural crosses between the peach and the almond. In addition many artificial crosses have been made with no difficulty and have been planted and brought to maturity. The products of these crosses have shown the same general characteristics as those found naturally.

We are familiar with a peach-almond growing on the edge of a large almond orchard in California which produces good crops of fruit quite regularly. The fleshy portion or hull is almost edible, being much drier than the flesh of an ordinary peach and yet much more fleshy than the hull of the ordinary almond. It has a slight amount of astringency, a characteristic of the almond hull, but not sufficient to prevent its being eaten. Upon maturity this fleshy portion or pericarp splits but does not open as is usually the case with almond hulls. Inside this the pit, stone, seed or nut, or by whatever name it may be called, exhibits characteristics of both the peach and the almond. It does not have the deep corrugations of the peach pit nor does it have the comparatively smooth shell with small pores of the almond. In this particular variety the kernel is mildly bitter. In almost every respect this cross exhibits characteristics of both the peach and the almond. In other cases this is not true, some approaching more nearly the almond type while others are almost indistinguishable from peaches. In other words, the variations are those naturally to be expected in hybrids.

Now to return to the almond again. We find that for best results in production the almond must be grown in a climate where the winters are comparatively short and yet where there is sufficient cold weather to force the trees into complete dormancy. Where the winters are long or the summers are so dry as to force the trees to come dormant too early in the fall there is a great tendency to premature blossoming in the spring. In other words, the first warm weather in the late winter will bring the trees into bloom because of the fact that they have completed their normal rest period. This same condition has been found to be true of certain varieties of peaches which can be grown in the South but do not do well when planted in the North. It is for this reason primarily, in our judgment, that almonds do not produce under eastern conditions. There are other factors, such as extreme humidity, which may have a bearing, and undoubtedly would in the maturing of these nuts, but this should not prevent them bearing provided they could escape the adverse weather of late winter and early spring.

A mistaken notion has been given considerable credence that the almond is much more tender to frost or cold than the peach. Our experience, where the two have been grown side by side under identical conditions, is that the almond will stand fully as much cold as the peach and in some cases even more. The reason why almond crops are lost oftentimes when peach crops are not is due to their earlier blossoming and consequent subjection to the more severe weather of early spring which the peaches avoid.

It is evident, therefore, that the principal problem in producing almonds in regions of long winters, as compared with those localities where almonds can be produced, is to secure an almond which naturally has a long resting period, resulting in late blossoming, and yet one which will mature its fruit reasonably early. An almond tree beginning to blossom about the first of February will usually ripen its crop between the first and middle of August, though sometimes later. Those beginning to blossom about the first of March or later ripen their crops during September usually and often extend into October.

The question of soils and stocks is too broad to discuss here, except to dismiss it with the statement that the soils that will successfully produce peaches should also prove reasonably satisfactory for almonds through the use of peach rootstocks. These are commonly and successfully used in commercial almond orchards in the West.

Whether it will ever be possible to produce commercial almonds will depend upon whether an almond can be bred which will fulfill the requirements of late blossoming and early ripening and at the same time answer the requirements of a commercial nut. We should judge that it is possible, although we believe it is a big problem. Our reason for thinking so is that the Ridenhauer almond under eastern conditions will often produce nuts and it is recognized as doing quite well. We have never had an opportunity of tasting this nut but have seen photographs of the tree and have examined personally the nuts. Without any knowledge as to the actual ancestry of this nut we are very much inclined to the belief that it is a peach-almond. If this is so it opens up a line of breeding possibilities which should not be overlooked.

The procedure which should be followed will depend necessarily upon the conditions under which breeding experiments may be carried on. We believe that under eastern conditions the only opportunities for outdoor breeding work will lie along the line of interbreeding with peaches and almonds. The feasibility of indoor breeding with almonds is questionable in view of the difficulty of properly hardening for winter and yet affording protection during blossoming and providing at the same time for conditions which will favor the setting of the fruit. We do believe that there is abundant opportunity for experimentation, with the possibility that valuable results may be secured by systematic breeding along the line just mentioned.

Along with this cross breeding simple almond breeding experiments should be carried on, but these must be done in a locality where almonds can be brought to fruitage. Of course, the ideal place for this would be in California in a known almond district, and it is hoped that as time goes on experiments along this line will be conducted in an effort to secure later blossoming varieties and earlier ripening varieties. Our guess is that it would not be possible, at least within the lifetime of one man, to lengthen the normal resting period of any strain of pure bred almonds to the point where they would be able to withstand the long eastern winters and at the same time shorten the ripening period to practical limits. The development of this work, as far as it can be practically carried, should result in relatively late blossoming almonds which could then be used as a basis for breeding with peaches in an effort to still further approach the desired results and yet maintain the desirable characteristics of the almond. This simply involves the application of known breeding methods to these fruits.

To accomplish anything of this kind involves the development of a long-time plan which must be consistently followed. We would not look for any results to speak of before ten years, and would not expect any definite worthwhile results short of twenty years. It appears, however, that the possibilities are great and well worth striving for, and it is our sincere hope that some day a variety may be developed which will prove adaptable to eastern conditions.

The usual summer climatic conditions which prevail in the eastern states are not favorable to the economical production of almonds in a commercial way but we see no reason why they should not be eventually developed to the point where they may prove of considerable value and satisfaction for home orchards. The very fact that thus far no varieties of peaches have been developed which are immune year after year to spring frosts would indicate that it would probably be impossible to secure an almond which would be better than any peaches now known. On the other hand, one never knows until he tries and we believe that out of the effort much good could be accomplished, not only in the possible production of satisfactory varieties of almonds, but possibly in the accidental development of new and highly desirable peach varieties.

The possible development of a desirable table or canning peach variety with a sweet kernel would in itself be well worth the effort.

I had occasion to examine those Illinois almonds on the table here. It is quite evident that even though dried out somewhat they have some of the characteristics of the peach. The hull itself is fleshy even though thin. That is a characteristic that does not appear in the normal, pure bred almond hull.

I was just talking with Dr. Morris about some efforts he made at Stamford, Connecticut, to grow almonds. He stated to me, what was a very great surprise, that almonds there are afflicted with peach leaf curl and other diseases to which, under our weather conditions, they are not subject at all. There are undoubtedly other conditions here, due to a different climate, which we of California do not recognize at all.

I have endeavored to make this paper just as short as I could. I think that after it comes out in the proceedings there may be opportunity to study a few of the suggestions made here, and I want to express, on the part of the people in California, our desire to co-operate with those of you from the other sections of the country in every way possible for the development of varieties of almonds, or peach almonds. I can see that it will be difficult to compete with the sections in which almonds are naturally produced under semi-arid conditions. But I do believe in being close to your market if it is possible and in developing an almond which will be worth while for local consumption, especially for home use.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Taylor, we thank you for the good advice and suggestions offered in your paper. I believe some attempt has been made to study the almond here in this vicinity. I know of one instance down in Forest Lawn by Mr. Baker. I believe that some years ago Mr. Wile attempted to do something in a commercial way with the almond, but I have since learned it proved a failure.