Chapter IV: Part 4

THE PRESIDENT: That is a subject that I feel we ought to have a little discussion on and I would like to hear from Mr. Jones, Doctor Morris, Mr. Bixby, Doctor Deming, for a brief discussion on the points just touched on by Mr. Vollertsen.

THE SECRETARY: I have had very little experience with the blight. Two years ago Mr. Bixby and I visited the very large hazels in Bethel, Connecticut, seedlings raised from grocery store nuts, and we saw there the blight on some of the largest trees, on the large limbs, unquestionable blight with sunken areas covered with pustules. I didn't see the trees last year, but on Wednesday, just before taking the train to come here, I ran in to this place to get a bunch of hazels to bring here, and I saw the tree on which Mr. Bixby and I had found the blight looking as well as ever. In a hasty examination of the tree I saw one or two stubs where large limbs had been cut off. I presume that the owner had followed our advice and had cut off the blighted limb and, apparently, the tree itself was none the worse for the blight.

I have had hazels planted and neglected for twelve or thirteen years and this is the first year in which I have found the blight. I have found before other causes of death of parts of the shrubs, girdling by insects and apparent winter killing, but this year I found several of my trees on which were undoubted patches of cryptosporella. That is the extent of my experience with the blight.

MR. JONES: I have not had any actual experience with the blight but I have seen it in Connecticut. I have not found it on any of the wild hazels of Pennsylvania. Therefore we do not have it at Lancaster. I have not regarded it as nearly as serious as pear blight and some other blights that attack fruit trees.

THE PRESIDENT: What is that, Mr. Jones?

MR. JONES: I say I have not regarded the filbert blight as nearly as deadly as some of the blights that attack the fruit trees, because of the fact that it works very slowly, and it takes, I understand, about two years to girdle a limb of any size; therefore, it is easily cut out and controlled.

MR. CORSAN: Could it be that the blight would be very much more active in a tree growing in the shade than on one growing out in the strong sunlight and well nourished?

MR. VOLLERTSEN: I know of some trees that were for at least ten or eleven years practically overgrown by butternut trees. I have known the trees for more than thirty years. I visited the place about a week ago and found a tree doing fairly well under the circumstances. That tree is between thirty and forty years old and has grown steadily for the last five or six years entirely in the shade and is bearing fruit fairly well. There were quite a few nuts on it although there were more over the top than on the lower branches; but I did not notice any dead limbs or anything of that kind.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you refer to Doctor Mandel's plant?

MR. VOLLERTSEN: No.

DOCTOR MORRIS: Stamford is a natural home of the hazel. Wild hazels fill the fields to such an extent that they destroy pastures very often. Hazel blight, therefore, is to be found there as an indigenous organism or parasite. Among the native hazels it apparently attacks only those that have been injured or are weakened by age or otherwise. That is the common history where a plant has existed along with a parasite for centuries or ages, a certain amount of tolerance is established by the resistance of a few individual plants and the elimination of the others. By natural selection the best survives.

Now when I brought some European hazels to this place a little over twenty years ago they made a good start. In two or three years all were attacked with blight and at the end of four or five years all were dead. I spoke to Mr. Henry Hicks about it. He has a place on Long Island. Mr. Hicks said, "I have given up foreign hazels. They are no use. They all die. I don't try them." Whenever anybody says that to me it starts me right off doing it. When they said we couldn't graft hickories I said, "Well, here is something to do," and I did it. They said, "Well, we couldn't raise hazels; we might as well give up." I said, "Well, here is the best thing for us to do then." So again I got a small lot and observed them day by day. Very soon the blight began to attack them. I found it grew slowly and gave me plenty of time to cut it out. I neglected some purposely to see how long it would take the blight to girdle a limb and some of the larger limbs took two years. In all of the limbs that were affected, in the hazels which I wished to save, I simply cut out the blight with a sharp jackknife, painted the spot with a little paint, an antiseptic or something of the sort, and had complete control. In fact I found that I needed to go over my hazel bushes not more than once a year to look after the blight, and in one day, or part of a day, with a sharp jackknife I had absolute control of the blight.

There are some large European hazels that I have neglected and have allowed the blight to get under way. Some of them are so resistant that they bear very good crops notwithstanding the fact that they are neglected and have the blight. Others have died. Therefore it is a relative question, a question of relative immunity to the blight. My belief is that the blight will not be any more injurious to our hazels than the San Jose scale has been to the peaches. We have complete control of the San Jose scale because we know the habits of the scale insect. I believe we have complete control of the hazel blight because we know the habits of that particular sporella.

As to the question of growing in the shade or in the sunshine, on the Palmer property not very far from me, there are some very large bushes of red and white avellana and of the purple hazel that have been overshadowed by other trees because they haven't been looked after. Those are all very large bushes, in fact they have grown to be small trees and they are completely overshadowed by other things. They have some blight but continue year after year to bear heavy crops of nuts.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Bartlett, have you any remarks on the subject?

MR. BARTLETT: My experience has been very similar to that of Doctor Morris. I have visited possibly a hundred places and have seen hazels growing, some of which have probably been there seventy-five years. In talking with the people connected with the place I have often heard said, "Why, years ago we used to have hazels, a great many hazels here, picked maybe a bushel at a time, but the best varieties have died, and what we have left are worthless." Or perhaps, "There is only one bush left and we don't get any hazels now." Apparently the purple hazel is freer from blight than most of the other imported varieties. I have seen the blight in these places. I have seen branches from three to four inches in diameter that were attacked with blight and were still growing but were not fruiting very much. I know a very few places where hazels are grown within fifty miles of New York, and I know of some places where they are getting some nuts. But the general impression is that the European varieties will be attacked with blight and killed.

I have seen bushes that have been attacked by blight where the roots are alive but sending up very weak shoots. That is probably through neglect of stocks. Certain of those that I have raised, five or six years old, are absolutely free from blight. Most of the older trees that I have seen around have blight in some form or other.

MR. BIXBY: Doctor Morris' remark as to what Mr. Hicks says of giving up attempting to grow hazels because the blight would take them, seemed to me very appropriate in view of an observation I made on Mr. Hicks' place last fall. I found there a large hazel which was probably twenty-five feet high and bearing a fair crop of nuts. Mr. Hicks told me that he had brought that tree from Germany many years ago--I think it was over twenty years ago--and that that was the only one left out of a lot. Now if other European hazels had been killed there with the blight and this one was left there was apparently a blight-proof hazel in that lot.

I have seen a good many hazel bushes affected with blight, but I have not seen any since I went with Doctor Deming up to Bethel. I have seen no blight since then though I have looked for it whenever I have been where there were European hazels. I examined that tree in Mr. Hicks' nursery very carefully and found there was no evidence of blight. I feel as the other speakers do who have expressed themselves, that we have little to fear from the hazel blight; that if it does appear in the nurseries we can control it by cutting out the blighted portions.

MR. PIERCE: In northern Utah I have a number of bushes of the foreign and the American hazel and they are ten years old. So far I have not seen any evidence of blight.

I would like to ask a question. What form does this blight take, and is it deadly? In other words, will it kill the bush? Is it good to cut out the affected parts?

DOCTOR MORRIS: You find a depression of the bark over a small area, gradually increasing, and around the part that is depressed you will find a little swelling of the healthy part that is trying to grow over the blight area. This also contains the roots, if you can call them that, of the blight. You can recognize it everywhere on the hazel by the distinctly depressed area of bark, which should be cut out before it gets to be the size of a quarter.

In other cases the blight will encircle a small branch and cause a swelling instead of depression that looks very much like the swollen area around the depressed bark. There may be depression in the branch parts but the swelling blocks that so you can see only the swelling. These branches may be very easily removed, with as much ease as a boy would steal the nuts, so there is nothing to be feared on that score. If the blight is left uncared for it will kill some of the plants and it will not kill others. It will injure some also without killing them, so that we have to consider the question of what we call relative immunity. In the case quoted by Mr. Bixby we have a case of relative immunity of a hazel which has grown to be twenty-five feet high and bearing crops in the midst of the blight area on Long Island, while others have disappeared from the vicinity.

MR. BIXBY: I would say in connection with that hazel that Dr. Deming and I visited in Bethel that I took a blighted branch away with me and it was such an excellent example of a blighted area that I had a photograph made and it was printed in the Nut Journal.

THE PRESIDENT: This discussion on the blight of the filbert is of intense interest to me. It is a considerable relief to us to hear these encouraging statements, because during our experiments, covering the past decade, the bugbear of all of our deliberations has been the possibility of blight wiping us out, it having been suggested at the time we imported plants that we would never get anywhere with them. I think we have little cause to feel very much worried on the subject of the blight.

It now gives me real pleasure to introduce to you our friend, Mr. Pomeroy.

MR. POMEROY: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: Josephus says that he has set down various things according to his opinion and if anybody holds to another opinion he will not object. That's my position in regard to nut growing. I will tell you a few things that I believe and if you hold another opinion you are entitled to keep it.

Professor John Craig once referred to a thing that surprised me very much. We Americans believe we are a very energetic, smart people not to be fooled much in a trade. Well, he had statistics which showed that after we have shipped millions of dollars worth of wheat and cotton and various other products to Europe we receive our pay in the form of great quantities of nuts which we use for food, holiday nuts, all-year-round nuts. Now I believe that those nuts can be raised right here and we can pocket that money instead of leaving it in Europe.

I was a very small child when my father went to Philadelphia to visit the Exposition in 1876. While he was there he picked up a few walnuts which had dropped from a tree in front of his lodging house and brought them home and planted them. A very few years after he amazed us all by taking a load of nuts to Buffalo and obtaining more money for them than the hired man and I did for a large load of fruit.

At one time I put out some English walnuts in a cemetery as a memorial orchard and the trees are now doing fine. The other night my wife and I strolled over and looked at them and when we were on our way back we passed a neighbor's house where there were a number of maple trees on the lawn. I said to my wife, "Those maple trees are fifty years old, and there by the side of his lawn is a chestnut tree that is forty-four or five years old." She made the remark, "Those English walnut trees over there cast a much more beautiful shade than those maples," and it was true. I think Mr. McGlennon saw them.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes; that's so. I thank you very much, Mr. Pomeroy.

Mr. G. H. Corsan, of Toronto, Canada, is known as the "Canadian Johnny Appleseed." Mr. Corsan goes about the country and when he can find nuts and seeds of what he thinks are good trees and plants he gathers them up and arranges to distribute them. If Mr. Corsan will give us about ten or fifteen minutes I should certainly appreciate it very much.

MR. CORSAN: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: Our friend here called me Johnny Appleseed, I suppose because I went around among my friends who had gardens and said, "Let me plant this," and I would plant a nut tree. I said, "Why don't you plant something with a utility value as well as a thing of beauty?" I said, "Why not plant something that will not only grow rapidly and cast a splendid shade but that will also return you something in the way of food?"

I first devoted twelve acres to the culture of nut trees. I afterwards added four more. I just planted seedlings. In the year 1912 I joined the Nut Growers' Association and I set out a hundred chestnut trees. When I found the blight was in them and I cut them all down but two. I have those two now and last year I gathered a peck of very large chestnuts from them which caused the Ontario government to take notice of what I was doing.

I bought a great many other trees, among them some of Mr. Pomeroy's. I had a hard fight with Pomeroy's trees. They would die down one year and grow a foot or a foot and a half the next and then die down again. But each year they increased a little in size and now they are over my head and are not dying down at all.

I tried a lot of others, among which were seedling English walnuts from St. Catherine's. They did not freeze down at all, but whether they will throw as good a nut as Mr. Pomeroy's I don't know. They are certainly a different nut.

Then I got a Chinese walnut of Black's nursery, Hightstown, New Jersey, and it is growing remarkably well. All three types of trees are doing very well and are all over my head, sometimes growing three or four feet a year, very rarely less than a yard from each terminal branch, and I have had no winter killing.

It may be interesting to recount a few other things about my place. I had an awful fight with mice. My land is in a valley and the spring floods come down and I can't plow the land or it would all be washed away. I put a tree in and protect it with a certain amount of space around it. I found that the mice would chew down the trees almost as fast as I could get them in, so I got some cats. The cats soon learned to prefer birds to mice so I killed the cats. Then I bought a flock of geese and the geese cropped the grass short and prevented it from growing so powerfully as to smother out the trees. But the geese had hard bills and when the trees were small they clipped off pieces of bark with their bills, so I traded the geese for wild geese. I learned that they are more discriminating in their choice of food and that though their wings are more powerful their bills are not as strong. They have kept the grass down for me and destroyed the homes of the mice. Then I got pheasants in order to rid myself of the insect pests. I feel that in another ten or twenty years we will have a very beautiful place.

I need not refer to the fact that nuts are very valuable for food. Dentists would all go out of business if we ate nuts.

Pennsylvania is a state which should certainly take up with its agricultural authorities the possibilities of nut growing because that is a state that can be ruined utterly by trying to grow grain on the hillsides. The water comes down and washes all the rich top soil off into the creeks and it is lost to us and our children.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Will the secretary please read Doctor Kellogg's paper?

THE SECRETARY: Mr. President, this is a very long paper and I have not read it over. It seems to me that perhaps we have devoted so much time to genealogy and reminiscences that the time is short for the papers which are to be read by members present. Would it not be well to defer the reading of this paper of Doctor Kellogg's to a later time, or, possibly, merely print it in the proceedings?

DOCTOR MORRIS: I move it be laid upon the table and printed in the proceedings.

The motion was duly seconded and carried.

(See Appendix for Dr. Kellogg's paper.)

THE PRESIDENT: One of our important visitors is Professor James A. Neilson, Guelph, Canada. The title of Professor Neilson's paper is, "Nut Culture in Canada." This is an especially interesting subject to me.

PROFESSOR NEILSON: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I want to express my appreciation of your kind invitation to attend your convention and for the opportunity of talking to you for a while on the subject that is more interesting to me than any other branch of horticulture. I had looked forward to coming to this convention but wasn't just sure that I would be able to be here. Therefore when I got a wire from your president I immediately got busy and pulled the wires at the college and asked them to authorize me to come here at college expense. I am very glad to be here. It has been most interesting to me, and I am very pleased, indeed, to meet so many whom I knew already by reputation.

NUT CULTURE IN CANADA

J. A. NEILSON, B. S. A.

_Lecturer in Horticulture, Ontario Agricultural College Guelph, Canada_

The conservation and improvement of our native nut trees and the introduction of suitable species from foreign countries has not received much attention by horticulturists in Canada, except in British Columbia and in Ontario. In British Columbia, Persian walnuts, Japanese walnuts, filberts, almonds and European varieties of chestnuts have been planted to a limited extent in the fruit districts and small plantings have been made at the Dominion Experimental Farms located at Aggaziz on the mainland and at Sidney on Vancouver Island.

In Ontario very little had been done by the Provincial Experiment Stations to test the different varieties of nut trees until about one year ago when the Vineland Station undertook to establish experimental plantings. A few enthusiasts like G. H. Corsan of Toronto, Dr. Sager of Brantford, Dr. McWilliams of London and William Corcoran of Port Dalhousie are about the only parties who have attempted anything along the line of nut growing. These remarks of course do not apply to those people who have planted a few black walnuts or Japanese walnuts on the home grounds or along the roadsides. Of such plantings there are a few here and there in the older settled parts of the province.

For some years the writer has felt that something should be done by the Horticultural Department of the College to interest the people of Canada in planting more and better nut trees and in conserving the remnant of the many fine nut trees which formerly grew so abundantly in parts of Ontario and elsewhere. Therefore an attempt was made during the spring of 1921 to interest the public in the possibilities of nut culture. A letter and questionnaire asking for information on nut trees were prepared and sent to officers of horticultural and agricultural societies, agricultural representatives, agricultural and horticultural magazines, daily and weekly newspapers, school inspectors and other interested parties.

The following is a copy of the letter and questionnaire which were sent out:

"Dear Sir:

"We are investigating the possibilities of nut culture in Ontario and would be pleased to have you assist us by reporting the occurrence and distribution of the various species of native and introduced nut trees growing in your locality. We are particularly anxious to learn of the exact location of superior trees and if any such are found we plan to have these propagated and distributed for test purposes. We would also like to secure the names of people who are interested in nut culture. Please fill out the enclosed questionnaire and return to the undersigned at your earliest convenience.

"Thanking you in anticipation of receiving some interesting information on nut trees, I am, yours sincerely, (signed) James A. Neilson, Lecturer in Horticulture."

_Questionnaire:_

Q. 1. Are any of the following kinds of trees growing in your locality:

American Black Walnut European Chestnut
Japanese Walnut Japanese Chestnut
English Walnut Chinese Walnut
Butternut Beechnut
Hickory nut Hazel nut
Pecans Filbert
Sweet Chestnut

Q. 2. Do you know of any individual trees of the above mentioned kinds that are superior because of large size of nuts, excellent flavour of kernel, thin shells, rapid growth or high yields? Please give exact location of such trees.

Q. 3. Is any one in your section making a special effort to grow any native or foreign species of nuts? If so please give their name and address.

Name of correspondent
Post Office
Township
County
Province

I am delighted to say that I never did anything in my life that met with such hearty and general approval as this venture. From almost every quarter of Canada I received commendatory letters and offers of assistance. One encouraging feature was the keen interest shown by wealthy business and professional men in our larger centres and by some of our more progressive fruit growers and farmers. Inasmuch as my venture was an innovation there were of course some humorous comments to the effect that we had enough "nuts" in the country now without encouraging any more. I replied to my humorous friends that the "nuts" they had in mind did not grow on trees whereas the kind I had in mind did.

The information I received in answer to my questionnaire was very interesting and instructive and confirmed some of my impressions regarding the occurrence of nut trees in our province. More important still it showed that there were several superior trees of various species growing here and there throughout the country.

_Geographical Distribution of Nut Trees in Canada_

The chief native nut trees are the black walnut, the butternut or white walnut, the hickory, of which there are four species--the chestnut, the beechnut and the hazelnut. Of introduced nut trees there are the Persian, Japanese and Chinese walnuts, the European, Japanese and Chinese chestnuts, the pecan and the European filberts.

THE BLACK WALNUT (_Juglans nigra_).

The black walnut is one of our finest native nut trees and is found growing naturally along the north shore of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and around Lake St. Clair. It has been planted in many other parts of Ontario and does well where protected from cold winds. The tree grows to a large size, sometimes attaining a height of 90 feet and a trunk diameter of 5 feet. When grown in the open it makes a beautiful symmetrical tree, having a large, rounded crown with drooping lower branches.

The black walnut is not found growing naturally outside of Ontario. It has been planted in Manitoba but does not do well there because of the cold winter. In 1917 the writer observed a few specimens near Portage la Prairie which were about five feet tall. These trees made a fair annual growth but most of this froze back each winter.

Many people in Canada believe that the black walnut is a slow grower. This impression is not correct as some trees grow very rapidly. About eighteen years ago I planted a number of nuts along the line fence and along the roadside on my father's farm near Simcoe, Ontario. Most of these nuts sprouted and grew and some have done exceptionally well. One of these trees is now thirty-seven feet tall and has a trunk circumference of forty-one inches at the ground. It has borne nuts since it was six years of age and this year has a very heavy crop. Some of the first crop of nuts were planted and these in turn have developed into trees which have produced nuts. Nuts from the second generation have been planted and will likely make trees which will yield nuts in a few years. An interesting feature of the original planting is the great variation in the size, shape of nut, thickness of shell and yield. Some are large, some are small, some are round and others are pear-shaped. The majority of the trees yield well but a few, however, are light croppers.

THE BUTTERNUT (_Juglans cinerea_)

The butternut is much hardier than the black walnut and has a much wider distribution in Canada. It occurs throughout New Brunswick, in Quebec, along the St. Lawrence basin and in Ontario from the shore of Lakes Erie and Ontario to the Georgian Bay and Ottawa River. It has been planted in Manitoba and does fairly well there when protected from cold winds. West of Portage la Prairie the writer observed a grove of seventy-seven trees. Some of these trees were about thirty-five feet tall with a trunk diameter of ten inches and had borne several crops of good nuts.

The butternut in Ontario sometimes attains a height of seventy feet and a trunk diameter of three feet.

THE ENGLISH OR PERSIAN WALNUT (_Juglans regia_).

The English walnut, or the Persian walnut, as it should be called, is found growing in the Niagara district and to a lesser extent in the Lake Erie counties. It is stated on good authority that there are about 100 of these trees growing in the fruit belt between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. There are several quite large trees in the vicinity of St. Catharines, which have borne good crops of nuts. One of these trees produced nuts of sufficient merit to be included in the list of desirable nuts prepared by C. A. Reed, Nut Culturist of the United States Department of Agriculture. This variety has been named the "Ontario" and is now being propagated, experimentally, in the United States. In the vicinity of St. Davids, on the farm of Mr. James Woodruff, there is a fine English walnut tree which produced ten bushels of shelled nuts in one season. This tree is one of the largest of its kind in Ontario, being about sixty feet tall with a trunk diameter of three feet at one foot above the ground and a spread of branches equal to its height.

The English walnut is not as hardy as the black walnut and is adapted only to those sections where the peach can be grown successfully. At present this tree cannot be recommended for any part of Ontario except the Niagara district and the Lake Erie counties and even in these areas it should not be planted unless it has been grafted or budded on the hardier black walnut.

JAPANESE WALNUTS.

The Japanese Walnut is known to occur in Canada in three different forms--Juglans cordiformis; Juglans Sieboldiana; Juglans mandschurica.

_Juglans Cordiformis._

This species is cultivated extensively in Japan and is the most valuable one for Ontario. The tree is very beautiful, comes into bearing early, bears heavily, grows rapidly and is reported to live to a great age. It is believed to be as hardy as the black walnut and ought to do well wherever the native walnut grows satisfactorily. In the best types the nuts are distinctly heart-shaped, have a thin shell, crack easily and contain a large kernel of good quality which can often be removed almost entire from the shell with a light tap from a hammer.

There are two fine heartnut trees growing near Aldershot which is near Hamilton on the road to Toronto. These trees are eight years of age and are about twenty-eight feet tall with a trunk diameter of eight to nine inches. In the seventh year one tree produced about a bushel of fine nuts with thin shells.

_Juglans Sieboldiana._

This type was first introduced into the United States about 1860 by a Mr. Towerhouse in Shasta County, California. Since then it has been widely distributed and is now found in many parts of the United States and Canada. It is much the same in appearance as the one first described and grows just as rapidly and bears just as early but does not produce so valuable a nut. The nut has a smooth shell of medium thickness with a kernel of good quality. It does not usually crack easily and the kernel cannot be taken out entire, therefore, is not so desirable as the cordiformis type. In rapidity of growth the Japanese walnut is only excelled by the willows and poplars. In the vicinity of Grimsby there is a tree eight years of age which is about twenty-five feet high and has trunk diameter of seven inches at the base. It began to bear nuts in the third year and in the sixth year produced one bushel.

_Juglans Mandschurica._

The general growth characteristics of this species are somewhat similar to the other two types but the nut, however, is quite different, being somewhat like a butternut. Because of this it is sometimes called the Japanese butternut. It is the least desirable of the Japanese group and should not be planted except where the cordiformis type will not grow.

CHINESE WALNUTS (_Juglans regia sinensis_).

The Chinese walnut is being grown experimentally in the northern part of the United States and has been tried at only one place in Canada, e. g., in the grounds of G. H. Corsan, Islington, Ont. The tree is reported to be fairly hardy at the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plains, Mass., and should be sufficiently hardy for southern Ontario. It is believed that the Chinese walnut will prove to be hardier than the English walnut and it may have an important place amongst the trees in the northern part of the United States and in Southern Canada. The nuts are quite large and have a shell which is thicker than the English walnut but not nearly as thick or hard as the native black walnut. The kernel generally has a fine flavour, being almost as good as the English walnut. Nuts of this species have been planted at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, and at the Experiment Station, Vineland, Ont., and it is expected that trees will be hardy enough for our climate and produce nuts which will be as good as the Persian walnut.

THE SWEET CHESTNUT (_Castanea dentata_)

The sweet chestnut is found growing naturally on sandy ridges in that part of Ontario extending from Toronto to Sarnia and southward to Lake Erie. At the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, there is a fair sized tree and near Newcastle there are a few fine specimens.

It grows to a large size, sometimes reaching a height of one hundred feet and a diameter of five feet at the base. When grown in the open it forms several heavy branches and makes a broad rounded crown, but when grown in a dense stand it makes a tall, straight tree.

The native chestnut is subject to a fatal disease called chestnut bark disease. This disease is not known to occur in Ontario, but there is no assurance that it will not appear and, therefore, the planting of this tree is attended with some risk.

A dwarf type of chestnut has been reported from east of Ottawa in the Ottawa valley. The tree is about fifteen feet tall and produces a small burr containing only one nut. I have not seen this tree so cannot vouch for the accuracy of the above statement.

EXOTIC SPECIES OF CHESTNUTS.

Inasmuch as very few of the Chinese, Japanese and European chestnuts have been planted in Ontario very little can be said regarding their behaviour. Dr. Sargeant reports the Chinese chestnut (Castanea Mollissima) as being hardy at the Arnold Arboretum and therefore it should be adapted to southern Ontario. The Japanese chestnut is also quite hardy but is susceptible to chestnut bark disease. A few Japanese chestnut trees are growing near Fonthill, Ontario, and have borne some good crops. The tree is a small, spreading grower, comes into bearing fairly early and bears quite heavily.

THE HICKORIES.

There are four species of Hickory native to Canada. The shagbark, the bitternut, the pignut and mockernut.

The shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) is the chief one of value for the production of edible nuts. It is confined to the St. Lawrence valley from Montreal westward and along Lakes Erie and Ontario for a distance of 40-50 miles back from the shore. It reaches a height of fifty to ninety feet and a trunk diameter of one to three feet and grows best on deep, fertile loams.

BITTERNUT HICKORY (_Carya cordiformis_)

This species has a wider range than the shellbark and is found in southwestern Quebec and throughout Ontario from the Quebec border to the Georgian Bay district. It grows best on low wet soils near streams but is also found on higher well-drained sorts. There are two fair sized trees on such a soil on the O. A. C. campus. This species may prove to be of value as a stock for grafting with the shellbark kingnut and some of the good hybrid hickories.

The mockernut (Carya alba) and the pignut (Carya glabra) occur along the north shore of Lake Erie and along Lake St. Clair.

The mockernut is not of much value as a nut tree but the wood is considered to be superior to other species of hickory.

The pignut is generally a small tree which produces nuts of variable size, form and flavor. The kernel may be bitter or it may be sweet and the nuts vary from round to pear-shape.

THE HAZELS.

There are two species of hazels native to Canada--the common hazel (Corylus Americana) and the beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta). The hazels have a wider range than other nut-bearing plants in Canada, being found in almost every province from Nova Scotia westward to British Columbia and as far north as Edmonton in Alberta and Prince Alberta in Saskatchewan. In Ontario the beaked hazel grows as far north as Hudson Bay and in many other parts the common hazel grows very abundantly and bears heavily. In Norfolk County it is very common and in places almost covers the roadside in the little traveled sections. Dr. N. E. Hansen of Brookings, South Dakota, has made a few selections of the common hazelnut found in Manitoba and is now propagating the best of these for distribution.

A few filberts have been planted in Ontario but have not done very well. The growth of wood has been good but little or no nuts have been produced. In Guelph there is a filbert about fifteen feet tall growing on the grounds of J. W. Bell, but like most other filberts in this province it has not yielded nuts.

THE BEECH (_Fagus grandiflora_)

This tree grows in the hardwood region from Nova Scotia westward to the western end of Lake Superior.

On suitable soils it attains a height of eighty or ninety feet and a diameter of four feet. The nuts are much appreciated by old and young, but on account of the slow rate of growth and the irregularity of bearing very little has been done to plant this tree.

THE ALMOND (_Prunus amygdalus_).

Almonds have been tried to a limited extent in the warmer parts of Canada but only with indifferent success except on Vancouver Island. It is possible that a satisfactory strain will eventually be found that will extend the range of this desirable nut-bearing tree.

_Introduction of New Species_

In addition to the efforts to gather data regarding nut trees I decided to introduce some good exotic species for trial with the hope that some of these might prove hardy enough for our climatic conditions. I thought that northeastern Asia would be the most promising region from which to obtain nuts for planting. Therefore, I wrote to the Mission Boards of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican Churches and obtained the names of their missionaries in those fields. I then wrote to several of these missionaries and outlined my programme and asked them to send me samples of the best nuts growing in their respective sections. Here again I received great encouragement and assistance. Several packages of fine chestnuts and walnuts were received from China and Japan. Some of these nuts were planted at the College and the remainder were distributed throughout the province to interested parties. Owing to the length of the period between the gathering of the nuts and their arrival at Guelph many had lost their germinating power, consequently I only succeeded in getting ten walnuts to grow and failed entirely with the chestnuts. However, we may succeed in germinating a few more walnuts after a winter's frost.

I am aware that we might not get as good nuts from these plantings as the parents were, but it is also possible to get a real good tree which would be hardy enough for our climatic conditions. Should we succeed in this endeavor it would be a desirable acquisition and a great improvement on our native black walnut.

_Improvement of Native Trees_

Attempts were made to improve ordinary black walnut trees by grafting. Scions of the Persian walnut and the Japanese walnut were obtained and grafted onto some of the seedling black walnuts planted by myself years ago. I regret to state that in this phase of the work I was greatly disappointed. Not one scion grew but the stock trees grew amazingly after being cut back and would have been fine for budding this summer if I had been able to get the buds at the proper time.

_Educational Work_

An attempt has been made to bring before all our students at the O. A. C. the advantages of paying more attention to nut culture. These lectures have always been well received and almost invariably have aroused special interest in the minds of those who are horticulturally inclined.

Addresses on nut culture have been given to Kiwanis Clubs and Horticultural Societies and articles have been written for the agricultural and horticultural press.

A small bulletin is being written and it is hoped that it will be available for distribution in a short time.

_Plans for the Future_

The activities outlined above will be continued on a larger scale and in a more thorough manner, provided I can get the necessary funds to carry on the work. The search for superior trees and bushes will be continued and nuts from good trees in China and Japan will be introduced in much greater quantities for test purposes. The conversion of poor or ordinary native nut trees into superior trees by grafting will receive special attention.

In this way, ladies and gentlemen, I hope to attain the ideal of all true horticulturists, e. g., "To make our country more beautiful and fruitful and thereby help to serve the aesthetic and physical needs of our people."

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DOCTOR MORRIS: Mr. Chairman: Canada is the next country in which great developments in all of the branches of science will occur. It is to develop, of course, in our present cultural period and I hope this movement for the development of nut culture in Canada will keep pace with the other developments.

I want to speak about one point of Mr. Corsan's. Game breeding can go very well with nut raising. Wild geese will graze like sheep, they will keep the grass and weeds down, and after they are ten days old they need no feeding at all until winter comes. They will graze like sheep, live out of doors like sheep, take the place of sheep, and will return to the land immediately valuable fertilization.

The pheasants Mr. Corsan spoke about are tremendous destroyers of insects. I have had pheasants in my garden this year and the other morning I looked out of the window and saw a pheasant in the midst of a nest of fall web worms. The pheasants will destroy insects of every sort. The only difficulty is that where there are rosebugs in abundance they will kill young pheasants.

I hope every one will take a copy of this "Game Breeder" that Mr. Corsan has left on the table. The subscription price is very small and we may profitably add game breeding of certain kinds to our nut breeding with benefit all around.

MR. BIXBY: Mr. President: There are some points brought out upon which I could throw some light. I have some specimens of Juglans mandschurica which were sent by E. H. Wilson from Korea. I also have a young tree growing that is apparently larger leafed and with thicker shoots than even Juglans cordiformis. The nut is rougher than the other.

I had the privilege of talking to Doctor Wilson regarding his travels in Japan, particularly in relation to the Japanese walnuts. He tells me that Juglans sieboldiana is a wild tree he has found all through the Japanese islands, from the southern part of the northern island Yezo to the mountains of Kyushu, the southern island. He says that Juglans cordiformis is a cultivated tree found in only three or four provinces in central Japan where the walnuts are cultivated. He also tells me he has never seen any of the so-called Japanese butternut type with the rough shell.

I devoted some time three or four years ago to finding out what this so-called Japanese butternut really was. I could never find any instance of where Japanese walnuts, either cordiformis or sieboldiana, had been imported from Japan and planted here and trees grown from them, where those trees had borne rough-shelled nuts like butternuts. In every case where I found any trees bearing those so-called Japanese butternuts they were grown from nuts, Japanese walnuts, which had been grown in this country. In a number of instances I was able to find that the nuts which were planted were smooth-shelled nuts, either sieboldiana or cordiformis. When they were planted and the trees grew they bore these rough shelled Japan nuts. In a number of instances I was able to find native butternut trees not far away.

The other question was about the varieties of the American hazel. We have here specimens of the best variety which we have found, the Rush hazel. The gentleman who asked about it may see specimens on the table. I believe that will be commercially valuable.

THE PRESIDENT: I think you have all enjoyed Professor Neilson's address quite as much as I have. I wonder, Professor, if it would be agreeable to you that we, as an association, should communicate with these people who answered your questionnaire, inviting them to membership in this association.

PROFESSOR NEILSON: Mr. President, I think that would be an excellent suggestion, and I would be very glad indeed to prepare a list of those that I know are interested in nut growing, and also give you a list of the names of people who gave me exceptionally good replies.

THE PRESIDENT: That's fine. That's perfectly fine.

PROFESSOR NEILSON: Yesterday when you were talking about a membership campaign it occurred to me that it might be well for me to write personally to several people whom I know are interested in nut growing, asking them to join.

As a matter of fact there is one gentleman in southwestern Ontario who suggested to me that we form a Canadian branch of the Northern Nut Growers' Association.

THE PRESIDENT: Don't do it. Just let us all be one.

PROFESSOR NEILSON: I think that's the better way to do it.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Is Mr. John Watson here?

MR. OLCOTT: He asked me to state in his behalf that he really didn't have much to say, he noticed your program was pretty well filled up, and he asked to be excused. I hoped Mr. Watson would say something here, but what would be more important would be for him to speak before the nurserymen and induce them to take more interest in our work. Mr. Jones is here and Mr. Watson was here. Of all the nurserymen in this nursery center here that is the only representation.

Nursery catalogues list seedling trees for the most part. One nurseryman wrote me the other day saying he was continually receiving requests for nut trees but he couldn't supply them and knew nothing about them. He asked me for a list of nurseries growing them. Nursery nut trees are not being produced in very great quantities except by Mr. Jones, and they are unlisted in the nursery catalogues, or only listed in an incidental way, very much as though they were tacking on something in the way of citrus fruit, or something of that kind.

A subject that this association might well take up in the enlisting of the nurserymen's interest in this work. Mr. Brown, by the way, of Queens, New York, was here last night. There was a third one here, the head of a very large nursery down there. I talked with him. He was here with Mr. Dunbar. He was interested mildly but not from a practical point of view. I don't know what is the reason for this lack of interest. I thought maybe Mr. Watson could tell us.

THE PRESIDENT: This thought occurs to me in connection with Mr. Olcott's remarks, that it might be desirable for us to send a representative from this association to the annual meeting of the national nurserymen, and let such representative put before the nurserymen the possibilities of making the growing of nut trees in their nurseries a real feature.

MR. SPENCER: Mr. President, several years ago when I first became interested in nut raising I wrote to the University of Illinois which has really one of the great agricultural schools. It is especially famed for its soil fertility studies and for engineering. I asked them what they were doing in the way of spreading information in regard to nut trees, and if they could give me a list of persons from whom I could purchase reliable stock. To my amusement they said they had no list of nurserymen who produced nut trees. I wrote back to them and said that it seemed to me that in a country which is a nut country they ought to know the products of their own state, and I sent them a list of the people from whom they could get trees.

Now I think it would be good policy to send information to the various agriculture schools, giving them what we know of their particular territory based on our experiences, and also send this information to the farm bureaus.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Olcott, what do you think about the suggestion to send a delegate to the nurserymen's convention. You are familiar with the nursery trade.

MR. OLCOTT: That's a good suggestion, Mr. President. I don't know--I had thought of Mr. Jones, who is in the nursery business. It might mean competition for him but I didn't think he would be able to supply all the trees that might be needed. Mr. Jones, by the way, is a regular attendant at the nurserymen's association.

THE PRESIDENT: He would be the man of all men to carry the message and I am sure that he would be very glad to.

MR. CORSAN: Mr. Chairman, I have an idea that the best thing we can do is carry on a magazine campaign this winter. Now my wife is a very good magazine writer and can fix up anything in good shape. Send me along all the photographs you can to the Brooklyn Central Y. M. C. A., where I will be located this winter, and on cold, wet days and odd days I don't work, why, we can get up some magazine articles on nut growing.

THE PRESIDENT: It affords me great pleasure to introduce Mr. Bixby.

THE EXPERIMENTAL NUT ORCHARD

WILLARD G. BIXBY, Baldwin, N. Y.

We have heard much about the desirability of the experimental nut orchard and the association has repeatedly urged the planting of such by each one of the agricultural experiment stations in the country. These have been advocated in order that we might learn of the behavior of the fine varieties of nuts that we now have under varying conditions of soil and climate, and in this way accumulate the experience out of which to make positive recommendations as to the species and varieties that might be planted in any given section with reasonably assured prospects of success.

The association has been criticised, sometimes a little harshly I have thought, for the lack of specific planting recommendations, for, as a general rule, that was what those interested have wanted. They did not want to be experimenters; they wanted to plant varieties and get reliable estimates of the returns that might be expected and information as to the returns that similar plantings have shown. Indeed the statement has been made that, unless the association could give this, it could not hold its members and would largely fail in its mission.

That it has not until recently made any very specific recommendations of this character is to my mind an evidence of wisdom. There is a legend told of King Canute whose courtiers flattered him by telling of his power, not differentiating between the immense power he did possess from that which he did not, and who persuaded him to try it on the rising tide. The King learned a lesson by the test that he never forgot. Had the association attempted to make very definite recommendations before it could point to specific instances where things had been done it would almost certainly have failed as signally as did King Canute.

It is not because it did not realize the value that such recommendations would have, but because it did realize that the experience necessary had not been accumulated before it could safely make them. It is only through experience that recommendations worth while can be made, and it is because of the need of accumulating this for the various sections that the association has advocated the planting of experimental orchards.