Chapter XIV: Section X: Amendments to By-Laws (7)

WESCHCKE, shagbark--Is our second earliest variety so far. It is also rather small, with a distinctive shape, tapering from a rather broad blossom end to a sharp point at the stem end. Our graft has had one very good crop, but it is younger than many of our other grafts. We consider it a very good variety.

CROWN POINT, shagbark--Is our third variety in order of ripening. This is a rather small nut with some of them being very small; that is, there is quite a variation in the size of the nuts. It cracks quite well and is of very good quality. It has also borne as well or better than any other variety we have under test. We have never propagated it for sale as we have hardly thought it quite good enough.

In fourth place of ripening order, we have four ties, namely; Bauer, Cedar Rapids, Hines, and Independence.

BAUER, shagbark--Has borne well, is of good size, good quality and cracks well. It is also a very good shaped nut. We consider it to be one of the very good hickories.

CEDAR RAPIDS, shagbark--While our graft of this variety has borne but moderately, we consider it to be a very good variety. It is of good size, cracks well, is of good quality and attractive shape.

HINES, shagbark--While our graft of this variety has borne well, cracks well and is of good quality, it is so small that we have never propagated it for sale.

INDEPENDENCE, shagbark--The nuts of this variety are so small that we have paid little attention to it.

FOX, shagbark--This variety is in fifth place in order of ripening.

Fox won first prize in the 1934 N.N.G.A. contest. But there is a deep mystery connected with this variety as subsequent crops, grown on grafts, have not produced nuts of such top qualities. There have been many theories advanced but no one has solved the mystery yet. One theory is that there is bud variation in the parent tree and that Mr. Fox, quite naturally, cut scion wood from the lower parts of the tree, which were most readily accessible. During the war, I secured a special allotment of gasoline and made the trip to Fonda, N. Y., to cut scions from all parts of the tree. The scions from the various parts of the tree were labeled separately and were grafted on stocks in our test orchard. While not all of these grafts lived, we have living grafts from nearly all parts of the tree. I note that at least one of these grafts has nuts on it this year. If there is bud variation we hope that we will have at least some grafts of the superior Fox nuts.

In spite of all this, Fox is an excellent variety, being of good size, cracks well, and is of very good quality. While it is fifth in order of ripening, it is still an early hickory and will succeed considerably farther north than our location.

In sixth place we have two varieties, namely; Clark and Stocking.

CLARK, shagbark--Our graft of this variety has borne well, the nuts being of good size, crack well and are of good quality. We consider it to be a very good variety.

STOCKING, shagbark x bitternut--While our graft has grown very well, it has produced but very few nuts. We were not very greatly impressed with these.

In seventh place in order of ripening, we have two varieties, Camp No. 2 and Stratford.

CAMP NO. 2, shagbark--We did not find this variety good enough to interest us very much. Subsequent crops may show up better.

STRATFORD, not sure whether shagbark or hybrid[29]--Our Stratford graft has been poorly tended and has had little chance to show its merits. So while it has an excellent reputation, we know very little about it. However we have several good sized grafts of it, growing in nursery row, which have several nuts on this year, so we will find out more about it soon.

[29] It is a bitternut hybrid.--Ed.

In eighth place we have three varieties; Proper, Shaul, and Wilcox. While being in eighth place, these are still medium early varieties.

PROPER, shagbark--This is a little known variety, our graft is rather young and we have had too few nuts to form any opinion of this variety as yet.

SHAUL, shagbark--While this is a very good nut, being of good size, cracks well and of good quality, our graft on shagbark stock has grown slowly and it is the one variety so far that we have found will not do well on our bitternut stocks.

WILCOX, shagbark--So far this is our favorite variety. The graft has grown into a fine tree and has borne good crops of nuts which are of good size, crack almost perfectly and are of very good quality.

MINNIE, shagbark--While we have not had a crop of this variety since starting to keep a ripening record, it ripens about the same time as Wilcox and is a very good variety.

Ninth on our list we have two varieties; Davis and Peck Hybrid. It so happens that I discovered both of these varieties.

DAVIS, shagbark--First prize winner in the New York and New England Contest of 1934. Incidentally, a sample of Fox nuts was awarded tenth place in this same contest. You will note that this was the same year in which Fox won first place in the N.N.G.A.

Davis has pretty well lived up to expectations. Grafts of this variety are rapid growers. It is the only variety we have ever succeeded in making live on pignut stocks. While the grafts are slower growing on pignut stocks, they have lived for several years and have borne nuts. But as the squirrels have stolen all of the nuts, we do not know how they compare with the nuts grown on other stocks.

Our grafts of Davis have borne well, the nuts are of good size and crack well, although not as well as those of Wilcox. It is also of very good quality. We consider it to be a top rate nut.

PECK HYBRID, shagbark x bitternut--The nuts of this variety are large, thin shelled, crack well and are of good quality. It also bears well. The drawback is that only about one third to one half of the nuts are well filled. I can take freshly shucked nuts of this variety and by placing them in water can pick out a sample of nuts that are just about as good hickory nuts as you can find anywhere, but these will be only about one third of the nuts involved. For this reason we have never propagated it for sale.

In tenth place we have three varieties; Berger, Strever, and Triplett.

BERGER, shellbark--While this variety is quite small for a shellbark, it is quite large when compared with the shagbarks. Our graft of the Berger has borne fairly well, cracks well and is of very good quality. Incidentally our graft is the true Berger. There was some mix-up with the Berger wood, and some who thought they had Berger found that they had something else when their trees started to bear.

STREVER, shagbark--The original tree of this variety is growing near Pine Plains here in Dutchess County, on the Old Strever Homestead. This property was later sold to people named Owre, who tried to have the variety named after them. I believe that Strever is the more proper name.

While this variety is of good size and quality, it has not cracked quite well enough to rate it as a top flight hickory.

TRIPLETT, shagbark--This is a large shagbark which cracks well and is of good quality. Our graft bears well. I believe that it was discovered by Dr. Deming and the late Mr. Beeman. This is a variety which can well bear considerable attention in the future. We are propagating some of the trees for sale.

In eleventh place we have nine varieties, namely: Bridgewater, Griffin, Hagen, Harman, Kirtland, Lingenfelter, Manahan, Oliver, and Wampler.

BRIDGEWATER, shagbark--A large fine variety, cracks well, yields well and is of good quality. This is another discovery of Dr. Deming's and Mr. Beeman's. We have started to propagate it for sale.

GRIFFIN, shagbark--I have mislaid my comments on this variety and cannot remember much about it, except that it is of good size and bears well.

HAGEN, shagbark--We have not had enough nuts of this variety to enable us to form an opinion of it.

HARMAN, shagbark--A large nut. We did not think much of our first crop of this variety but the second crop was very good.

KIRTLAND, shagbark--This is a fine large nut, but with the one good crop, we have had, only about half of the nuts were well filled. The other half were floaters, only partly filled.

LINGENFELTER, shagbark--Here again we have had too few nuts to enable us to form an opinion. Mr. Reed thought very well of it.

MANAHAN, shagbark--This nut is of southern origin and I fear that we are too far north for it. However we have had one crop that was very good. All other crops have not been matured. It is evidentally a very good nut where it can be grown.

OLIVER, shagbark--Too few nuts to form an opinion.

WAMPLER, shellbark--Too few nuts to form an opinion.

In twelfth place on our list, in order of ripening, we have Bowman and Redcay. These are both shellbarks and the nuts have not been well filled, as borne on our grafts.

In last place on our list, we have a southern shagbark, Booth, and two hicans, Bixby and Burlington. We have not been able to form an opinion of Booth. Bixby and Burlington have, so far, been very shy bearers and the nuts have not been well filled. They are of very large size and very excellent quality.

The time elapsed between the earliest and latest ripening of these different hickory varieties was 36 days. The time between the different steps were about three days. I do not give the dates because they will vary from year to year. In early years, Anthony has been ripe very early in September.

Summarizing this report shows that our tests so far indicate that the following varieties are good and well worthy of propagation: Anthony (probably No. 1), Weschcke, Bauer, Cedar Rapids, Fox, Clark, Wilcox, Minnie, Davis, Berger, Triplett, Bridgewater, Manahan (farther south). Instead of listing these 13 varieties alphabetically or in order of their merits, I have listed them in order of their ripening, earliest first, and so on. Those varieties in the first half of the list can be grown in locations considerably farther north than our location, which is 41° 45' North Latitude, while those in the last half of the list are not likely to be adapted to locations farther north than ours.

You will note that five of these varieties are not well known, but are good varieties. They are, namely; Bauer, Cedar Rapids, Clark, Triplett, and Bridgewater.[30]

[30] The Bridgewater pollenizes the male-sterile Weschcke variety in Wisconsin. See Mr. Weschcke's discussion, pp. 193-95 in NNGA Report for 1948.--Ed.

This is only a preliminary or progress report, and should not be taken as final in any respect. Neither does it cover all or near all, of the top-rate hickory varieties. For instance, you will note, the variety named Glover has not been mentioned. This is because our grafts of it have not started to bear yet, so we have no comparable basis for including it in this report. Yet there can be no question as to the merits of Glover, for it is one of the very best. There are, no doubt, many other very excellent varieties not mentioned here.

The hickory is the slowest growing, takes the longest to start to bear, is the nurseryman's headache (it taking about five years to grow stocks large enough to graft or bud, during which time they should have been transplanted at least twice to develop a better root system), they are about (the hardest of the nut species to transplant and their nuts are one of the smallest of the nut species only the filbert and the chestnut being as small). Yet because of their delicious flavor and other good qualities, hickories are probably the favorite nut of more people than any other of the nut species that can be grown in the northern part of this country.

(Applause.)

DR. MacDANIELS: I think we need more reports of that kind to get us oriented with our hickory varieties. I think when we get through with the walnut survey that the hickory nut survey would be next.

MR. CORSAN: Hickory was Dr. Charles S. Sargent's favorite tree, and he planted poison ivy under all of them, and it's there yet and they can't get rid of it. He wanted to keep the boys from gathering the nuts.

DR. MacDANIELS: I have poison ivy under some of mine, but not for that purpose.

MR. McDANIEL: It grows under all good trees.

DR. MacDANIELS: The next paper is one which George Slate kind of foisted off on me. He came around and said he thought something more should be said about the butternut and asked if I would get out a report and discuss the standards for evaluation. That is the reason for this paper, which I will read. It will take only about ten minutes.

How About the Butternut?

DR. L. H. MacDANIELS, Ithaca, New York

The purpose in presenting this paper is to summarize what is known about the butternut in the light of my own experience, and to find out from you in discussion what additional facts are available and what some of the problems in the culture of butternuts may be. A good summary by S. H. Graham is to be found in the 34th Annual report of the Northern Nut Growers Association, and short reports appear elsewhere. In general, however, judging from the proceedings of this Association, the butternut has not received much attention through the years. The lack of interest in the butternut indicates unsatisfactory experience with this nut on the part of those who have tried to grow and use it. An analysis of its good and bad characteristics is in order.

Of all the species of nuts with which the Association is concerned, the butternut is the most hardy and the most likely to succeed on poor soil. In general, the trees are easy to transplant, are early bearing, sometimes within two years from the graft, and are easy to grow. The flavor of the butternut is very distinctive and palatable, and usually much more flavorful than similar nuts derived from the Japanese butternut and the heartnut. Some people consider the butternut flavor the best of all nuts.

On the other hand, the butternut has a reputation for being short lived because of susceptibility to various diseases. The seedling trees which are usually sold are slow in bearing. The common wild nuts are hard to crack with a hammer, and the better named varieties are not well known or widely grown. The trees also have a reputation for being difficult to propagate. Of these faults, probably the difficulty of propagation and cracking are the most important in restricting its use.

Botanically the butternut (_Juglans cinerea_) belongs to a group of species within the genus Juglans that bears its fruit in long clusters or racemes, as contrasted with the walnut group which bears nuts singly or in clusters of two or three. The butternuts also have the fruit and leaves covered with sticky hairs instead of being smooth. The group is further characterized by having a cushion of hairs above the leaf scars and pointed terminal buds on the twigs. Other species within the group are the Japanese butternut _J. Sieboldiana_, its variety _cordiformis_, the heartnut, and several less well known species including _J. mandshurica_ and _J. cathayensis_, both native to central Asia. These closely related species apparently hybridize with each other, but accurate information as to the nature and extent of such hybridization is not available.

The natural geographical range of the butternut covers a broad area of Northeastern North America, extending from New Brunswick southward to the mountains of Georgia and westward to Western Ontario, Dakota, and Arkansas. In this range it is most frequent in calcareous soils, reaching its best development in rich woodland, but persisting on poorer upland soils also. It thus has the most northern range of our native nut species, along with the Pignut, _Carya glabra_, and one species of hazelnut, _Corylus rostrata_. The other related species are of variable and uncertain hardiness and are not reliable in this northern range.

It is recognized that the butternut has little commercial value except as it is used in the New England states, particularly in Vermont, where it is combined with maple sugar in making maple-butternut candy. Anyone who has travelled through the New England states is familiar with the roadside advertising of this excellent product. On the general market, butternut kernels are not sold in quantity comparable to those of the black walnut, but are somewhat comparable to the kernels of the hickory which also do not have a commercial outlet except locally.

The greatest use of the butternut is, and will continue to be, for the home grounds and local consumption. I think it is highly probable that if the easy cracking varieties already named were better known, they would be much more widely planted. The common wild butternuts are really difficult to handle. They crack only after considerable hammering with a heavy hammer and then, when cracked, the kernels shatter to such an extent that recovery is very unsatisfactory for the labor expended. After butternuts have been gathered from the wild with some enthusiasm during the fall months, they often remain in the cellar or attic without ever being used. Even the squirrels and the rats will not go to the bother of extracting the kernels if other nuts are available.

For best results the nuts are usually cracked with a heavy hammer, the nut being held vertically against a solid vice or block, so it can be hit on the end. A glove to protect the fingers holding the nut is useful if many are to be cracked. Good results can be secured by holding the nut on its side and tapping it on the suture. This, however is difficult, as it necessitates shucking the nut and even then it is difficult to identify the suture.

Through the years many varieties of butternut have been named. Mr. R. L. Watts in the 35th annual report of the Association lists 26 names, and I am sure there are others. I personally have had experience with only three or four varieties. One of these, the Crax-ezy, has borne good crops and the nuts crack well. Another one, which I have named the Johnson, coming from Tonawanda, New York, cracks well but is a smaller nut. At one time I had Thill variety topworked on _Juglans Sieboldiana_ stock, but the stock was killed by cold winter. Samples of Kinnyglen and Mandeville were furnished by Mr. Graham for testing. We do not, however, have any comparative rating of many varieties based on comparative tests, nor are there recognized standards of quality.

In order to set up standards of quality for butternuts, the following tentative schedule for judging has been worked out along the same lines as the schedule for judging black walnuts. Twenty-five nuts are used in a sample and the score is made up of the weight in grams of the kernels recovered on the first crack, plus total weight of kernels divided by 2, plus 1/2 point for each whole half kernel recovered. A nut should not be considered worthy of propagation unless practically all of the kernels come out in whole halves.

Proposed Schedule For Testing Butternuts

25 Nut Samples

Score = Wt. kernels first crack + total wt. kernels ÷ 2 + no. whole
halves ÷ 2.

Weight Total
Kernels Weight
1st crack Kernels No.
Variety Grams Grams Halves Score Remarks

Kinnyglen 52.0 57.5 36 98.8
Crax-ezy 48.0 56.0 44 98.0
Mandeville 53.6 66.0 10 91.6
Johnson 38.5 45.5 40 81.3
Seedling No. 1 36.5 45.0 7 62.5
Seedling No. 2 26.0 43.0 22 58.5
Seedling No. 3 20.0 44.5 10 47.3

In this schedule the crackability of the sample is measured by the weight of first crack and the number of halves. The yield of kernels is measured by the total weight of kernels in the sample. The first crack includes only those kernels that either fall out or can be removed easily with the fingers. The remaining kernels are rescued with a pick or by recracking. In my judgment, the score accurately measures the merit of the samples. In the Mandeville, the large size is measured by the weight of kernels which in part offsets poor cracking quality. Poor cracking is usually caused by the edges of the halves being curved so as to be bound in the shell. Much more testing should be done to determine the value of the schedule.

Opinions regarding the ease of propagation of the butternut differ, but mostly it is considered difficult to propagate, with often complete failure. This merely means that the matter is not well understood. In my own experience I have had just about as many failures as successes, and must confess that I do not have much idea of what has been responsible for either success or failure. Best results have been secured by using inlay or bark slot grafts on stubs about 2 inches in diameter. This agrees with the experience of Mr. Burgart, of Michigan, and Mr. Weshcke, of Minnesota, who report that grafts must be made several feet from the ground and not at the crown.

Shield budding has apparently not been satisfactory. Mr. D. C. Snyder writes that chip budding is more successful. It is recommended by others and I agree that grafting should be done early, just as growth starts rather than later when trees are in leaf. Special care must be used in tying the new shoots of the graft to braces to prevent breakage by wind or birds. The butternut wood is very brittle and the grafts are often lost by breakage. The whole matter of butternut propagation merits further careful study.

Butternut varieties may be grafted on black walnut, butternut, or _J. Sieboldiana_ stocks. Mr. Burgart, Mr. Weschcke, and Mr. D. C. Snyder consider black walnut to be better than the others, giving a more vigorous long lived tree. Varieties on butternut stocks are apparently relatively short lived and _J. Sieboldiana_ stocks have a different growth rate and are not hardy. Mr. Burgart uses bark slot grafts on black walnut seedling stocks, 2-3 years old.

Butternut trees on their own roots transplant relatively easily because there is no taproot as with the black walnut and the hickory, and there are many fibrous surface roots that can be lifted when the tree is dug. Black walnut stocks are not difficult to manage, particularly if the taproots are cut on the seedlings. Culture is no special problem. Mulching and supplying nitrogenous fertilizer is good practice.

The butternut has the reputation of being susceptible to disease and hence being short lived as a tree. Whether or not this is actually the case is perhaps questionable. Many butternut trees, particularly those in favorable situations of soil and moisture, live to be of large size and old age. Trees on poorer, thinner soils apparently die off earlier than those under better conditions. In any case, it is well recognized that the butternut has a shorter life span on the average than the black walnut, which frequently lives to a large size and old age. There are two common diseases of the butternut. One is leaf spot caused by the fungus _Marsonia_, which defoliates the trees fairly early in the season and probably predisposes them to injury from other fungous attack. This is the same leaf spot that attacks the black walnut leaves. The other disease, which may cause trouble, is a fungous walnut blight known more specifically as Melanconis blight. It has not been established that this disease is an active parasite. The evidence indicates rather that it attacks trees that are already somewhat weakened by defoliation or other injury. It is a fact that many of the dead limbs on butternut trees are found to be affected with the disease. It is a matter of observation that trees growing under favorable conditions are less damaged by the disease than those growing under poor conditions of soil and water, therefore, keeping trees vigorous is good practice.

As with other nut tree species, there are troublesome insects. One of these, the butternut snout beetle or curculio, attacks both the butternut and the Japanese walnut. Control has apparently been secured by dusting foliage with DDT. Sometimes the leaves of butternuts are badly distorted with galls caused by mites. The bunchy top or witches'-broom caused by a virus, that is serious on the Japanese walnut, _Juglans Sieboldiana_, does not appear to be so virulent on butternut. This, however, is a matter of personal observation and is not based on a thorough study.

In conclusion, let me say that in my judgment, the butternut is worthy of more attention than it has had so far received, particularly by home owners in the northern states who would like to have trees in their yards that will bear nuts under conditions that are unfavorable for most other kinds. If it were publicized that varieties are available that will crack out in halves with relatively little effort, the chances are that with these facts in mind those interested in nut trees would give the butternut much more attention. The difficulty at the present time seems to be related to a lack of knowledge as to the relative merit of different varieties and a scarcity of trees because of difficulty of propagation. If we have time and the chairman will permit, I would welcome comments on the propagation problem and would also like to obtain any information on the merit of the named varieties. Let me also state that if any of you have a sample of 30 nuts of any named variety in this or last fall's crop that you can spare, I would be much pleased to have you send it to me for testing.

Discussion

MR. STOKE: It grows in New Brunswick, and I have had specimens from north of Lake of the Woods.

MR. CORSAN: They grow at Brooks, Alberta. I have the Helmick and it grows 14 to the cluster, has a thin shell and heavy meat, and the leaves are persistent. They don't drop off the first of September. That's the Helmick. It's grafted on black walnut stock, and the black walnut stock comes up like that (indicating) and the Helmick recedes.

DR. MacDANIELS: The black walnut overgrows it. There are about 40 varieties, and I would like very much to get hold of any of the samples I can get.

MR. CORSAN: Go up to Silver Bay, Lake George, and on the shore there the Indians have bred the butternut, and it's 10 to the cluster among those trees by Silver Bay, Lake George, New York. Ernest Thompson Seaton and I examined that grove years ago.

DR. MacDANIELS: Wish we had them where we could get at them. Any other comment on the butternut?

MR. McDANIEL: The Helmick is considered to be a "butter-jap" seedling of heartnut, possibly the other parent was a butternut.

DR. MacDANIELS: That is something we will have to decide in the Association, whether or not we are going to throw in these hybrids and the heartnut along with the butternuts in standards or try to keep them separate.

MR. CORSAN: Hybrid heartnut cross is very, very superior in every way to the butternut in my estimation, except for hardiness.

MR. STOKE: That is a hybrid. I have it. The Mitchell hybrid.

DR. MacDANIELS: The ordinary run of seedlings are not worth keeping, no question about that, and it's too much work to recover the kernels.

There are several announcements I'd like to make. One has to do with this hall. It is the American Legion hall, which they do not charge rent for. They do, however, and will expect some sort of a token of appreciation that will be fairly substantial. There is no provision for that in the budget, so any of you who are feeling a little mellow and flush, if you want to approach the treasurer with a contribution towards the use of this hall, that will be appreciated; otherwise, the matter will have to be settled out of the treasury as such.

MR. CORSAN: How about a dance in this hall?

DR. MacDANIELS: If we stay over, we might do something like that.

Then there is the other matter, and that is the prize for the proposed Carpathian walnut contest. There is no prize money available at the present time. If any of you wish to provide a first, second, or third prize, we might even tag it with your name, if that would be possible.

I think probably they will be able to get some publicity backing through farm papers and what not, but still if we have a backlog of prize money, why, that's much to your advantage.

Do you want to say anything further on that, Mr. Chase?

MR. McDANIEL: Mr. Sherman, I believe, has a word.

MR. SHERMAN: Not in this connection.

MR. PATAKY: Do any of the members here have shelled butternuts or hickory nuts that they would sell? If they do, I'd like to get their names and get in touch with them. I do have a demand for some shelled butternuts which I have trouble getting, and I do have trouble getting shelled hickory nuts. It is for the Wideman Company out of Cleveland. I got shelled butternuts before the war, but since the war they don't have the trade, but if they could get them, I think that would be the company that would take them. The Wideman Company of Cleveland, Ohio. They are a big wholesale house. Write to Christ Pataky, Mansfield, Ohio, R.D. 4.

MR. KINTZEL: Do you sell them in the shell?

MR. PATAKY: I do sell them in the shell, too, but there are a lot of people who won't buy them in the shell. We do have a demand for them, not too much on the butternut, but we do have for hickory nuts. I think we could sell a lot more hickory nut meats than hickory nuts even at the difference of the price. I know the price was quite high before the war. They paid somewhere around a dollar a pound before the war for shelled ones, and we even sold them at a profit for that, and we haven't been able to get any since the war. I don't know what happened, whether the kids are too busy playing basketball or football.

DR. MacDANIELS: They get too much for mowing lawns.

MR. WEBER: There is a nut crackery at Mitchell, Indiana. The man who cracks them cracks hickory nuts and puts them out in his name, John Eversol. Mr. Wilkinson can tell you exactly what his name is. He was down there last year. He is cracking walnuts, and in addition cracks hickory nuts and puts them in fine shape.

MR. CORSAN: Isn't it true that nuts have more Vitamin E than any other food in the world, and isn't Vitamin E the greatest antidote against anemia?

DR. MacDANIELS: I wouldn't know. You have a medical man here?

DR. WASHICK: I don't think you are right.

MR. CORSAN: In the West they say Vitamin E is a cure for anemia and they are having wonderful success, and they claim there is more vitamin E in nuts than any other food. I don't know, they are keeping me alive.

~Editor's Note~: Green walnuts are rich in Vitamin C. See 1942 Report, page 95.

DR. MacDANIELS: You are Exhibit 1.

I think Mr. Salzer has slides he wanted to show this afternoon.

MR. SALZER: I had a few. Perhaps we can use those blankets and just fix up, perhaps, a few of these windows in front, and I think we could probably show the slides.

DR. MacDANIELS: If you can leave the blankets here for a short time, we will get them later.

Any other questions?

I think our lunch is ready for us downstairs. We will come back up here at one o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 11:50 o'clock, a. m., the meeting was recessed, to reconvene at 1 o'clock of the same day.)

TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION

DR. MacDANIELS: Calling the afternoon session to order.

This afternoon I am going to turn the gavel over to our good friend, Spencer Chase, to carry on.

MR. CHASE: Thank you, thank you.

All of us are interested in the various experiment stations doing more work with nut trees, and we are very fortunate this afternoon in having two experiment stations represented, and we will first hear from Bill Clarke from Penn State, who will talk on, "Progress in nut culture at the Pennsylvania State College." Mr. Clark.

Progress in Nut Culture at the Pennsylvania State College

W. S. CLARKE, JR., State College, Pennsylvania

Work in nut growing at the Pennsylvania State College was formally begun in 1946, when a project on this subject was approved by the college authorities. A few acres of land were set aside for this work, and the following spring about half an acre was planted with a few nut trees of different species. At the present time an area of about twenty acres is set aside for nut plantings, although a few spots on this land are not plantable on account of rock outcrops.

We now have out in the field sixty black walnuts, all but three of them named varieties, which were received from Tennessee in 1949. Seventeen varieties are represented in this collection.

In the nursery are more than 200 seedling black walnuts. These were planted from nuts gathered from local trees in the fall of 1946. They were transplanted at the end of their first season and have remained in their present position for three years. They were planted largely for the sake of experience in handling the nuts and the young trees. Some of them have been grafted, and this year a few grafts of Thomas and Stabler were successful. On account of their size, all these trees will have to be taken out at the end of the present growing season.

About twenty Persian walnuts have been received from the United States Department of Agriculture. These are all budded trees, the buds having been taken from special selections with the best nuts from trees originally introduced from northern Europe and central Asia. Three out of four seedling Persian walnuts and one out of two Japanese walnuts planted in 1947 have survived and are included in our planting. One named variety of butternut is in our collection, and a number of seedlings in our nursery.

It has been our experience that walnut trees can be moved rather easily. The percentage of loss in transplanting has been negligible. On account of an emergency, this spring we had to move several walnuts which were already in full leaf. Some of the leaves were trimmed off, and the trees have survived and have even made some additional growth.

On our grounds is one Chinese chestnut left from a planting of eight in 1930. It was killed back to the ground in 1934 after winter temperatures of close to 30 degrees below zero, but it has since grown up to be a tree of moderate size. It suffered considerable injury to buds and twigs in 1948 from temperatures down to 23 degrees below zero, but has since recovered. In several years it has borne a crop of burs, but no other tree is available for cross-pollination, and the nuts have seldom filled.

Twelve seedling Chinese chestnut trees from different sources have been planted, and an area of several acres has been set aside to extend the work on chestnuts.

A start has been made toward a collection of filberts. Five named varieties of European filberts were planted in 1947. All have suffered from winter injury, but only one tree has been killed outright. Very few nuts have been produced. About 25 seedlings of European filberts and 25 of the American were received from Tennessee two years ago. About 90% have survived and are growing nicely.

Several other species of nuts have been tried without success. Two trees of the red hickory were set out several years ago, but they failed to leaf out. Four young trees of the golden chinkapin of the Pacific Coast were planted and grew well the first summer, but all four were killed by the first freeze in the fall. About a pound of nuts of the Turkish tree hazel were planted several years ago; these failed to come up the first year. The next winter the mice and rabbits discovered them and ate up most of the planting. A few germinated, but most of these were lost in transplanting, and today only two are left of the entire lot.

MR. CHASE: Thank you, Mr. Clarke.

(Applause.)

Discussion

MR. SHERMAN: I'd like to say, just before you leave this subject, that the speaker barely mentioned the fertilization experiment that was started in Pennsylvania on black walnuts. I think the members of the nut survey stuck their necks out and got their heads hit a little bit when we said that the black walnut as an orchard industry in Pennsylvania was sick. We hadn't been able to find crops of black walnuts. We found individual trees, but we couldn't find orchards of black walnuts, and as a result of that, this fertilization experiment was started, in a 55-acre black walnut orchard with Ohio, Stabler and Thomas varieties.

The owner, Truman Jones, said, "I don't care what you do with the Stablers, you can't hurt them, anyway; they are no good to begin with." But this orchard, evidently from all outward appearances, has been growing very slowly for quite a number of years. It isn't the size it should be, and we think the main trouble there is lack of fertility, and that's the reason why this fertilization experiment was started.

It's quite an ambitious experiment. It takes in about 93 trees in the center of a 55-acre planting of black walnuts. They haven't had a crop, I think, for five or six or seven years. They don't have a crop this year, but we are hoping that some of them next year will have a crop, but if not then the year following.

They are asking about the cultivation. There has been no cultivation there in the orchard for a number of years. It's down in a pretty heavy bluegrass sod. In a portion of that we put the disc in on the tractor and disced and redisced until we got what we thought was a pretty fair seedbed. They found that vertical profile a mixture, and we are hoping to have clover sod instead of bluegrass sod. That's combined with fertility work. I won't take time to go into that, but I think this group is interested in knowing that there is quite an extensive fertility experiment on black walnuts to see why the large plantings are not producing.

I might say in this connection, Mr. Hostetter isn't here this afternoon, hasn't been here, but he has a dandy bang-up nice crop of nuts this year, and Ohio and Thomas are his main varieties.

MR. CRAIG: Did he use any fertilizers?

MR. SHERMAN: Yes, the fertilizer was disced in, and he tried to disc under that bluegrass sod and get that rotting under there. There are quite a few ramifications to that program.

MR. CORSAN: Did you mention Turkish tree hazel?

MR. CLARKE: Yes, we have two trees of it left.

MR. CORSAN: It takes two years to sprout from the time you plant the seed. Have you tried the European beechnuts in your locality?

MR. CLARKE: No, we haven't.

MR. CORSAN: It will produce far more than the American beechnut and is more successful in every way. They can be gotten from Holland quite cheaply. They sell the European beech, and they are beautiful and loaded with nuts and the Europeans think far more of them than the Americans do. The cut-leaf beech is an European beech, and I have seen the tree in Southern Michigan and at the Old Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Ohio, loaded with nuts. And frequently, not just once in every 13 years, like our beechnut. And they are a bigger nut.

Nut Tree Culture in Missouri

T. J. TALBERT, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.

The wide interest now being shown in the planting of nut trees throughout the State emphasizes the need of information on nut culture. Although nut trees may be grown with less care and attention than fruit trees, yet to be successful in starting plantings a knowledge of successful practices developed by the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station at Columbia should prove of great value.

The information which follows applies particularly to the native black walnuts, butternuts, hardy northern pecans, hickories, chinkapins, and hazelnuts. All these nut plants are native to Missouri and may do well if given proper attention in the various districts of the state to which they are adapted.

NUTRITIVE VALUE OF NUTS

Nuts are now given in the diet a higher rating than ever before. This is true because recent studies in nutrition show that they supply not only the elements needed for health and growth, proteins, oils, and carbohydrates but also an abundance of vitamins A, B1, and G. In fact, the nuts compare very favorable with meats in rankings for the above vitamins. Most of the nuts are especially noteworthy in high vitamin A and B1 content. It is also believed generally that nuts contain nearly all of the mineral essentials demanded for the promotion of healthy nutrition.

Moreover, nuts are usually palatable in the raw stage and are prized most highly for dessert purposes. The black walnut is particularly outstanding because it retains its flavor after cooking. Nuts now have a very extensive use in the preparation of confectioneries, cakes, breads, and salads. They enhance the flavor of many other foods.

The value of nuts as food accessories has long been recognized. They also supply so much body fuel in so compact a form that they are particularly well suited for the use of mountain climbers, "hikers," and even soldiers engaged in long marches and maneuvers.

USES FOR NUT TREES

~As Shade Trees~--If during the past 40 or 50 years, a large portion of the shade trees planted had been nut trees like the native walnut, pecan, hickory, chestnut, and chinkapin of the better varieties, it is easy for anyone to see that great benefits would have resulted.

~For Highway Planting~--No other native trees lend themselves so admirably to highway use as the so-called northern or native pecan, the black walnut, and the hickories. These nut trees are all generally well-shaped, reach considerable heights particularly on fertile soils, are stately in appearance, and add beauty and attractiveness to the landscape wherever they are grown.

SOILS AND FERTILIZERS

~Soils Needed for Good Growth~--The nut trees adapt themselves to a very wide range of soil conditions. In fact, few other trees are capable of such a wide range of adaptability to soil types. The uplands usually planted to corn and wheat and the flood plains of the river basins may both be well suited to nut growing.

For good growth and production deep well-drained soils are required. Under proper conditions the trees develop rapidly, have an extensive root system, and eventually may reach a great age. Furthermore, nut trees cannot grow successfully on wet poorly-drained land where water stands on or just beneath the surface a considerable portion of the year. Lowlands which may be found well adapted to the growth of willow and gum trees, may be too wet and sour for the growth of nut trees. It would also be well to avoid dry, very thin, and very sandy soils.

In their native range the pecan, hickory, and walnut thrive on the alluvial soils of the Missouri and Mississippi River Valleys. They grow well also on the upland sandy loam soils adapted to the growth of corn, oats, and wheat. All of these nut trees are usually influenced more by the fertility, humus, and moisture content of the soil, than by any particular soil type.

~Fertilizers for Nut Trees~--The deep rich alluvial soils of river and creek valleys do not present the same fertilizer problems as light and heavy upland soils. Manure supplemented with superphosphate at the rate of about 20 to 30 pounds to a ton should prove to be a satisfactory fertilizer on depleted soils. It is spread in a circle around the trees extending out about twice the spread of the branches and plowed or harrowed into the soil. A moderate application would range from 8 to 12 tons to the acre.

Leguminous cover crops are particularly valuable for building up the nitrogen and humus content of the soil when plowed under. Their judicious use with non-leguminous cover crops and supplemented with commercial fertilizers to increase the tonnage for plowing under, will usually bring good returns in growth and production.

CARE OF THE PERMANENT PLANTINGS

Since but few diseases and insects attack nut trees in Missouri, very little if any spraying work will be required while the trees are young. As the trees grow older, however, it may be necessary to give pest control more attention. Caterpillars that infest the foliage of the trees in late summer and early fall can usually be destroyed by cutting off the comparatively few branches on which the worms have clustered and burning them. The pest may also be destroyed on high branches by means of torches. If the trees can be sprayed thoroughly, arsenicals and other insecticides used in spraying apple orchards will be found very effective while the worms are small.

As in the care of a young apple or peach orchard, it is important that the young trees for at least the first two or three years be given cultivation and some fertilization on lands of lower fertility if a good growth is not being made. A heavy mulch of straw or litter around the trees may prove very satisfactory.

Moreover, livestock should be kept away from the trees until they are established and the branches of sufficient height to be out of danger of injury. It is a serious mistake to plant or grow from seed small nut trees and leave them unprotected from farm animals. If the land is to be grazed, each tree may be guarded with strong posts and barbed or woven wire spaced about 8 to 10 feet from the trees.

Once the young nut orchard is thoroughly established and growing thriftily, grass may be grown beneath the trees and furnish nearly as much hay or pasture as though the trees were not present. If livestock is allowed to graze in the orchard, which is a questionable practice while the trees are young, the trees should be pruned and trained to fairly high heads.

~Spacing for Nut Trees~--The growing of nut trees for timber alone requires a spacing of about 25 to 35 feet apart with other species of trees common to the area growing up later between the nut trees to facilitate the development of tall clean trunks. Under such conditions nut production is inhibited and harvests may be comparatively small. Nut trees grown mainly for nut production rather than for timber may be planted 60 to 80 feet apart on the square plan.

The Thomas black walnut may bear a few nuts the second year following transplanting. Different varieties and species of grafted walnuts, pecans, and hickories often begin bearing from two to four years after setting. Chestnut seedlings may also bear in the second or third year. Black walnuts from seed sometimes bear a few nuts at 8 to 10 years of age. Profitable bearing, however, may not be expected in the average nut orchard until the trees are at least 10 to 12 years old.

PRUNING WALNUT, PECAN AND HICKORY NUT TREES

For the most part these nut trees do not require heavy pruning. Superfluous branches, dead limbs, and unsymmetrical ones, should be removed from time to time while the trees are young and becoming established. A uniform top is desirable. The pruning is begun when the trees are 2 or three years old by removing the lowest branches. The rule is to cut away only one branch a year. But trees making a very strong growth may stand more pruning and those making a poor growth may need none.

Cultivation and other orchard practices may be greatly simplified in commercial plantings by pruning and training the tree heads to heights of six or eight feet. Even then the lower branches will ultimately be pressed downward by the weight of nuts and foliage when bearing begins.

Regular annual pruning is required generally to prevent the limbs from interfering with orchard practices. Furthermore, branches lower than six or eight feet high, should be subdued by cutting back while the trees are young. These limbs should be removed ~only~ when the trees have become anchored strongly enough in the soil to prevent the directions of the trunk being influenced by the prevailing winds.

THE BLACK WALNUT

There is something about the distinctive flavor of our native black walnut kernels that appeals to the American people. And there is much about the black walnut tree itself that makes it much admired and respected.

It grows rapidly, and yet it is one of our most valuable timber trees. It is an excellent tree for the grounds about the home. Not only does it yield an annual crop, but it is a lovely shade tree--beautiful to look at--and has the further advantage that the lawn grasses grow well beneath it.

~Has Wide Distribution~--It is a very cosmopolitan tree in that it will thrive almost anywhere if given half a chance. From lower Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, it may be found in various states of production. On the fertile lands, however, of the Mississippi and Ohio River basins it reaches perhaps its highest development. The 10 high ranking states in walnut lumber production are as follows, in order of their importance: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, and Texas.

~Valuable Timber Tree~--Some of the main or principal uses of the wood may be enumerated as follows: For the making of gun stocks, it stands supreme. Since walnut does not warp or swell when wet it does not interfere with the action of the gunlock in gun stocks. The wood also may be made into a sharp edge and fit snugly against the metal parts, while the dark color and beautiful grain produces an attractive implement. It is a standard and a favorite for musical instruments notably pianos and organs; sewing machine tables, cases, small airplane propellers, picture frames, caskets, cabinet work, moldings and many forms of ornaments. The shells of the nuts were, during World War I, manufactured into carbon and used for gas masks.

The wood possesses unusual and rare combinations of qualities which make it superior in the manufacturing of the articles mentioned above. Its freedom from warping, checking, or splitting when subjected to alternate wetting and drying is an unusual quality. It works easily with all kinds of tools, has remarkable durability in the presence of wood-decaying fungi and insects. Moreover, it is hard, durable, heavy, stiff and strong. The dark color of the wood does not allow soiling stains to show and the grain of the wood and its texture make it easy to grip.

~Produces a Nutritious Food~--The kernels of the black walnut are now used not only in candy making but to a large extent in breads, cakes, salads, waffles, and other forms of food. In the cities the kernels are sold yearly in increasing amounts not only from wholesale and retail grocers but by street venders as well. One may often find the kernels for sale at food stands and in other places where fruits and vegetables are sold.

~Changing Seedling Trees to Named Varieties~--On nearly every farm, walnut trees are growing along ravines, fence rows, and on rough land which is more or less out of the way and inaccessible. Most of these may be top-worked by one or more methods to the named and more desirable kinds of black walnuts without imparing the value of the timber. In 5 to 7 years seedling trees ranging in age from 15 to 40, if topworked, may produce crops equal to untreated trees. Still younger and smaller trees from one to 10 or 12 years old, may generally be top-worked with less difficulty than older trees.