Chapter IV: Part 4

Foresters are now advocating the planting of trees in waste places in the country, especially about farm buildings. There are, perhaps, no conspicuous waste places with a greater aggregate area than the strips along the public highway. In certain foreign countries, these strips are planted to fruit trees and the right of harvest awarded to the highest bidder. The revenue so obtained goes a long way toward keeping the highways in good condition. It is possible that this practice may sometime be introduced into the United States, but until public opinion is radically changed, the planting of fruit trees along the highways can not be expected to yield any satisfactory returns to the public. The experience of Dr. Morris who planted cherry trees along the public road past his farm here in Connecticut, where we have just been, is typical of what, under present conditions, might be expected in any part of the country. When the cherries were ripe, automobile parties came for many miles to pick the fruit, and when that in the highway was gone, the cherries from the nearby orchard were taken. In both cases, the branches were broken down and the trees left in badly mangled condition. Dr. Morris then tried nursery-grown and expensive evergreens, but on Sundays, automobile parties came again with spades and shovels and dug up the trees.

The ratio of population to tillable land in this country is not such that, for a long time to come, the American people as a whole will be pressed into the using of highway land for the production of crops or into respecting the right of the public to harvest such crops as might be grown in its highways. Therefore, for the present, except in densely populated, or in more than ordinarily well regulated communities, it would be useless to advocate the planting of ordinary fruit trees along the public roadways.

Irrespective of the possible value of their crops, fruit trees of most species are both too small and too short-lived to be suitable for highway planting. With nut trees, the situation is entirely different. The native walnuts, most species of hickories and the American beech are large-growing and long-lived trees. In addition, they are capable of withstanding severe temperatures; they are tough and strong and not liable to injury by storm or while being climbed by ordinary persons; and they readily adapt themselves to a wide range of soil, moisture, and climatic conditions.

Ordinary species of nut trees can not be recommended for the dual purpose of timber and nut production, as, for the former purpose, the trees should be planted close together in order to induce length and straightness of trunk with a minimum of top or bearing surface, while for the latter, they should be planted in the open and given space for the maximum development to bearing surface and a minimum length of trunk. The great demand for hickory in the making of axles, wheels, and other vehicle parts and handles for tools, and for walnut in the manufacture of furniture and gun stocks, makes it not only possible but common practice to use these woods in short lengths. Therefore, both species planted along the highways and in other waste places might profitably be converted into their timber upon reaching maturity, if their crops of nuts should prove to be of small commercial value.

The butternut, _J. cinerea_, is a less symmetrical grower than are the black walnuts. The timber is less valuable and the nuts are cracked with greater difficulty. Nevertheless, it is the most hardy of any native species of _Juglans_. Its kernels are rich in quality and of a flavor more pleasing to some persons than that of any other nut. Cracking the native butternut and marketing the kernels affords the rural people in many sections a fairly profitable means of employment during the winter months. Its native range extends farther north than does that of either the eastern black walnut, or that of the shagbark hickory, _Hicoria ovata_, and considerably beyond that of the shellbark hickory, _H. laciniosa_. Therefore, in view of its hardiness, and the merit of its kernels, it is well worthy of consideration for planting in the most northern parts of the country.

Were it not for the blight which is now making practically a clean sweep of destruction over the eastern states, wherever the native chestnut is found, the American chestnut, _Castanea dentata_, would certainly be entitled to leading consideration as a highway, an ornamental or a nut producing tree. Unaffected by blight or other diseases, it is one of the largest-growing and most graceful species in the eastern United States. The European chestnut is nearly as susceptible to this blight as is the American species. The chestnuts from eastern Asia now appear to be sufficiently immune to offer a practical solution to the situation by their introduction into this country. However, they commonly lack the sweet agreeable flavor of the American species and need hybridizing in order to improve their quality. This, the Federal Department of Agriculture is now doing, and in due time, there may be something to offer in ample quantity which will make a satisfactory substitute for the native species. Exclusive of the Asiatic species and the government hybrids, there are now no available species which can be recommended for planting in the blight affected area, and these should be planted only for test purposes.

The pines referred to at the outset of this article as being important nut producers are all western species found only on the mountains and nowhere under cultivation. There are at least fourteen American species. Representatives are found in most of the Rocky Mountain states. The most important species is _Pinus edulis_. It is found at altitudes of from five to seven thousand feet in the mountains of New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico. In favorable years, the seeds are gathered in enormous quantities under the name of "piñons," or according to the Mexicans, "pinyonies." The nuts are rich in flavor but small and difficult to extract from the shells. They are not well known in the eastern market, but in the southwest they form a highly important article of food for the Indians and Mexicans. These pines are exceedingly slow growers and not of graceful form. They could scarcely be considered for ornamental planting, except at the altitudes to which they are common, and then; probably, only where some more satisfactory shade trees would not succeed.

Among all American species of trees, it is probable that in a combination of beauty, longevity, strength and hardiness, the American beech, _Fagus grandifolia_, is unexcelled. Although commonly looked upon as being a northern species, its range extends south to northern Florida and west to the Trinity River in Texas. It is most familiar as a clean-barked, spreading tree, with low head, and a height of from fifty to sixty feet. However, its form depends largely upon environment. The writer has seen it in the bottoms of southwestern Georgia, in common with the magnolia, growing to a height of from seventy-five to one hundred feet and with trunks of two feet in diameter extending upward in a manner which, with regard to height and uniformity of size, compared favorably with the long-leafed Georgia pine. The nuts of the beech are rich in quality and of excellent flavor, but owing to their small size and the great difficulty attending the extraction of the kernels, they are not ranked as being of direct importance for human food. Their principal use in this country is as a mast crop for turkeys and swine, for which they serve a most useful purpose. Crops which can be used in this manner to good advantage, thus practically obviating the problems of harvesting, storing and marketing, are certainly well worth thinking about in these days of labor scarcity.

There are few large sections of the United States adapted to the growing of trees to which some nut-bearing species is not suited. Most species of nut trees are as capable of producing shade and ornamental effect, and are as hardy and lasting as any others which might be mentioned. In addition, they produce an edible product which is entering into the list of staple food products with great rapidity. The present scarcity of meats and the consequent high prices are compelling the substitution of other products. The superiority of nuts over practically all other products which are available, as substitutes, scarcely needs argument. Already, nuts are being pressed into service as rapidly as production permits, and perhaps more so than prices and comparative food values justify. Singularly enough, this section of the United States, which is the oldest and most thickly populated portion of the country, and that within which the greatest number of edible species of nuts are indigenous, is today practically without pomological varieties for planting. Within this area, individuals have made tests of species and varieties for many generations, yet little progress has resulted. The obvious need is for further test on a large scale. A better opportunity for the making of such a test could scarcely be imagined than that of highway planting.

Pomologists are firmly recommending the exclusive use of budded or grafted trees. But this advice applies only to orchard planting for the purpose of commercial production. Until more and better varieties are known and their merits established, that portion of the country lying north of the pecan belt and east of the Rocky Mountains, must await the development and trial of new varieties. Seedlings must be planted in large numbers from which to select varieties. The process is too slow and the percentage of varieties which may be expected to be worth while too small for it to be possible for the individual to make much headway during an ordinary lifetime. Our present system of national highways by which all parts of the country are being connected is perfecting the opportunity. The general planting along these great national highways of elm, oak, poplar, tulip, cedar, hemlock, magnolia, pine or any other species which, unless cut, are capable of producing no crop other than that of shade, would hardly be in keeping with the present need for utility. It would be giving a questionable degree of thought to the welfare of future generations.

To the list of nut trees as utility trees there might be added the sugar maple, and certain species of prolific-bearing oaks. The former could be drawn upon for the making of syrup and sugar, and the acorns from the latter could be put to good use as hog and turkey food. In wet sections, willows might prove useful from which to cut material for baskets, furniture, or tying bundles.

A way of overcoming the objection of slow growth of some of the nut species might be the alternate planting of quick-growing species which would furnish shade in a minimum length of time, and which could be cut for pulp or other purposes by the time the nut trees reach maturity.

A practical objection to highway planting of nut trees is that unless cared for, such trees are in danger of becoming breeding places for diseases and insect pests which would quickly spread to nearby orchards. However, such planting in numbers too small to be worth caring for is not to be considered. Already the country is agreed that the maintaining of the middle of the road in such condition that it can render maximum service is a paying investment. The suggestion here made is only as the next step in highway investment. It is a proposition to make more comfortable and attractive the present system of roadways, and at the same time to help develop new varieties of nut trees for orchard planting. Unless such new varieties are soon to become available, a large part of the country will presently find itself dependent upon outside sources for its principal substitute for meat and its main supply of vegetable fats.

A little thought should be able to work out a sound program for the planting of utility trees on practically every highway in this country.

Since this manuscript was completed, attention has been called to a reference to a war use of the horse chestnut, which appears on page 18 of the July number of "My Garden," a monthly publication, with headquarters at 6 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, London. As the heading "NEW USE FOR HORSE CHESTNUTS," and its sub-head "Cereal Saving," both indicate it may be of interest to the American people, although the production of horse chestnuts in this country is not large. The article which is credited to The Times, is as follows: "An important war time use has been found for horse chestnuts by the systematic collection and transport of all the nuts that can be obtained to the centre where they can be utilized. Up to the present time cereals have been necessary for the production of an article of great importance in the prosecution of the war. Under the direction of the Food (War) Committee of the Royal Society, which acts for and in consultation with the Royal Commission on Wheat Supplies, the Minister of Food, and the Minister of Munitions, experiments have been carried out during the winter to find a substitute for these cereals, and thus to set them free for food supplies. Brilliant work has ended in the difficulties being overcome, and the proof that the seeds of the horse chestnuts answer the purpose admirably. Except as food for deer and goats the seeds have, in the past, been practically a waste crop, and they can be used instead of cereals, essential for human consumption, without interfering with any existing industry or interest.

"The organization for the collection and transport of all that can be obtained is being rapidly perfected. When the time comes it will be the privilege and duty of every owner of a tree or trees to help and to give facilities for the collection of the nuts. Every ton of chestnuts collected will set free an equivalent amount of grain. The tree being chiefly grown for ornamental purposes occurs most freely in towns and private gardens. In some towns it is the practice to remove the young nuts from the trees in July so as to prevent them from being stoned and broken by boys later on when the "conker" demand begins. Urban authorities and park-keepers must discontinue the practice this year. Chestnut Day, early in next autumn, will have a far wider observance and significance this year than any Chestnut Sunday at Bushey, or than Arbor Day over here, or even in America. For once the small boy will collect the nuts with the full approval of the owner.

"To prevent any misapprehension it should perhaps be made clear that the horse chestnuts will not themselves be used as food. They are required for another purpose altogether, and the only way in which they will help the food supplies of the country is by setting free cereals which have now to be consumed in the production of a necessary article."

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THURSDAY, SEPT. 6, 1917.

Meeting called to order at 9.30 A. M.

The Nominating Committee reported the renomination of all the officers. The Secretary was instructed to cast one vote for these candidates.

[Carried.]

Moved and carried that the selection of the time and place for next meeting to be left to the Executive Committee with especial consideration of a joint meeting with the National Association at Albany, Georgia.

SOME INSECTS INJURING-NUT TREES.

BY W. E. BRITTON, STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, CONNECTICUT.

Nut-bearing trees, like other kinds of trees, are attacked by insect pests. Some kinds are seriously injured by them; others scarcely at all. Some of these insects are borers in the trunk and branches; some devour the leaves; some feed inside the nuts and ruin them; some suck the sap from the stems and leaves.

I shall make no attempt in this paper to enumerate these pests. Time forbids. I shall only mention a few of the most obvious and most serious, and where possible, point out control measures.

THE WALNUT CATERPILLAR.

_Datana integerrima_ G. & R.

During the month of August clusters of blackish caterpillars bearing white hairs, may be seen stripping the terminal branches of black walnut, butternut and hickory trees. This is called the walnut caterpillar, and it has been very abundant in Connecticut this season. Many small trees have been entirely stripped and large ones almost defoliated. There is only one brood each year in Connecticut, though two occur in the southern states, and the pupae winter in the ground. The adult is a reddish brown moth, having a wing-spread of about one and one-half inches. Clipping off the twigs and crushing the mass of caterpillars is perhaps the simplest control method on small trees. Spraying with lead arsenate will prevent defoliation.

THE FALL WEB-WORM.

_Hyphantria cunea_ Drury.

Though a general feeder attacking all kinds of fruit, shade and forest trees, the fall web-worm commonly feeds upon the foliage of nut trees, especially hickories, causing considerable damage in the South. The adult is a white moth, having a wing-spread of an inch or more, appearing in midsummer and laying its egg-cluster on the under side of a leaf. The young caterpillars make a nest at the end of a lateral branch by drawing the leaves together with their webs. These nests usually appear in July and August, though in Connecticut there is a partial second brood and usually a few nests of the early brood may be found in June. In the South there are two complete generations. When the larvae have exhausted their food supply, they extend their nest by taking in fresh leaves, but always feed inside the nest, differing in this respect from the tent caterpillar which makes its nests here in May. When fully grown the caterpillars are about one and one-fourth inches long, with brown bodies covered with light brown hairs, and may be seen crawling about seeking a place to pupate. They soon go into the ground where they transform, the adults emerging the following year.

The best remedies are (1) clipping off and burning the nests when small, and (2) spraying the foliage with arsenical poison.

THE WALNUT BUD MOTH.

_Acrobasis caryae_ Grote?

Inconspicuous nests containing small caterpillars are often found at the ends of the new shoots of _Juglans regia_, seriously injuring them, and sometimes killing the trees. One small tree two feet high was killed, and thirty-five pupae were found in the nests at Dr. Morris' farm in 1912. The adult is a small gray moth with a wing expanse of about three-fourths of an inch. There are three broods each season in Connecticut, the larvae appearing about June 1, July 10 and August 18.

By spraying the foliage with lead arsenate (3 lbs. in 50 gals. water) this insect can be controlled. One application should be made about June 1, followed by a second about July 10.

Though this insect is thought to be _Acrobasis caryae_ Grote, it is often difficult to distinguish some of these species in this genus without a knowledge of their food habits and seasonal life histories. We possess such knowledge regarding this species which we have studied and reared in Connecticut, but it is lacking in connection with adult specimens in the United States National Museum labeled _caryae,_ which superficially seemed identical with ours. Further study, therefore, may prove this to be an undescribed species. There are other bud-worms attacking nut trees, especially in the southern states, where they cause considerable damage to pecans.

THE WALNUT WEEVIL OR CURCULIO.

_Conotrachelus juglandis_ LeC.

Probably the most serious enemy of _Juglans_, in Connecticut at least, is the walnut weevil or curculio, _Conotrachelus juglandis_ LeC. The larvae tunnel in the tender shoots, often ruining the new growth, and they also infest the nuts. The adults feed upon the shoots and leaf petioles. Observations on the different hosts indicate that _Juglans cordiformis_ and _J. sieboldiana_ are preferred, and the most severely injured, followed in order by _cinerea_, _regia_, _nigra_ and _mandshurica_.

Though described as early as 1876, little was known about the life history of this insect until the studies were made at the Station in 1912 by Mr. Kirk and the writer. Formerly it was supposed that this insect attacked and injured only the nuts or fruit, and Dr. Morris in 1909 seems to be the first on record to observe the injury to the shoots of _Juglans regia_. It was on the trees of Dr. Morris here in Stamford and those of Mr. H. L. Champlain at Lyme that the life history studies were made. There is but one brood each year, and the winter is passed in the adult stage. The beetles appear the latter part of May and feed upon the stems and leaf veins during the egg-laying period, which extends from the last week in May up to August 1st. The eggs are laid in irregular crescent-shaped punctures, similar to those of the plum curculio, and hatch in from six to twelve days, depending upon the weather.

From four to six weeks are necessary for the development of the larvae, and when mature they go into the ground where they remain for about ten days an inch or so beneath the surface. They then pupate, and from sixteen to twenty days later the adult beetles emerge. They fly to the trees and eat small holes chiefly at the base of the leaf petioles, but must early go into winter quarters as they are seldom seen after the first week in September.

This insect occurs throughout the Eastern United States, but seems to cause more injury in Connecticut than has been noted elsewhere. The remedy is to spray the new shoots and under side of the leaves about June 1, with lead arsenate (6 lbs. of the paste in 50 gallons of water), to kill the beetles when feeding on the leaf petioles.

THE NUT WEEVILS.

_Balaninus_ sp.

Several kinds of nuts are attacked and injured by long-beaked snout beetles or weevils belonging to the genus _Balaninus_, the chestnut probably being the most seriously damaged. All of them feed inside the nuts or fruit during the larval stage, and the larvae are without legs. As both the methods of attack and the life history are similar for all species, they will be considered here in a group. For the sake of distinguishing them, however, their names are mentioned.

Larger Chestnut weevil, _Balaninus proboscideus_ Fabr.
Lesser Chestnut weevil, _B. rectus_ Say.
Hickory nut or Pecan weevil, _B. caryae_ Horn.
Hazelnut weevil, _B. obtusus_ Blanch.
Common acorn weevil, _B. quercus_ Horn.
Mottled acorn weevil, _B. nasicus_ Say.
Straight-snouted acorn weevil, _B. orthorhynchus_ Chittn.
Sooty acorn weevil, _B. baculi_ Chittn.
Confused acorn weevil, _B. confusor_ Ham.
Spotted acorn weevil, _B. pardalus_ Chittn.

All of these weevils pass the winter in the ground in the larval stage, transforming to pupae about three weeks before the adult beetles emerge, which varies from June, when they are usually few and scattering, to September, when they have become abundant. Thus there is a single brood each year, and the larval period lasts from three to five weeks in the nuts and some ten months in the ground, from two to eight inches below the surface.

The control of these weevils is difficult, and ordinary methods such as spraying are not effective. In fact little can be done other than destroying the weeviled nuts, which may be fed to hogs. When first gathered the nuts may be fumigated with carbon disulphide. About two fluid ounces of the liquid should be used for each bushel of nuts and placed in a shallow dish on top of the nuts, which should be enclosed in a tight box or barrel. The period of fumigation should be from 12 to 24 hours. Where nuts are not to be used for seed they may be thrown into boiling water for about five minutes--just long enough to kill the weevils. The nuts are then dried and sold. Most of the weeviled nuts will rise to the surface and may be discarded, but this test is not absolute and cannot be depended on to distinguish the sound from the weeviled nuts.

HICKORY BARK BEETLE OR BARK BORER.

_Scolytus quadrispinosus_ Say.

Outbreaks of the hickory bark borer occur periodically throughout the northeastern United States, and during the past five years many hickory trees in this vicinity have died.

The adult is a small black beetle appearing in May and June, which eats holes in the axils of the leaf stems causing them to fall early--usually in July and August. Brood galleries are then made longitudinally just under the bark of the trunk by the female, and a row of eggs is placed along either side of this brood chamber. On hatching the grubs, which are at first very small, tunnel at right angles to the central chamber, each making its own separate gallery. These galleries never meet or cross each other, but must necessarily diverge toward their extremities as they become larger. The effect of this is to girdle the tree which soon dies. The larvae pass the winter under the bark, finish their development in the spring, pupate, and the adults emerge in May and June from small round holes about the size of bird shot.

For control measures, Dr. Hopkins advises examining the trees during the fall and marking all dead and dying trees within an area of several square miles. Then between October 1 and May 1, cut all such trees and dispose of the infested portion to destroy the insects before the adults emerge.

Many forms of treatment have been devised and recommended by tree doctors for the control of this insect. Some of them may be worth trying; most are of doubtful value, and some are absolutely injurious to the trees. On July 3, 1914, some affected hickory trees on the Station grounds were sprayed heavily with powdered lead arsenate, 4 lbs. in 50 gallons of water, to which one pint of "Black Leaf No. 40" was added. Two days later many dead beetles were found on the tar walks under the trees, and a few were observed each day up until about the middle of August. Most of the trees treated, however, had been so badly injured by the insect that they were removed. Since then this insect has caused little damage on the grounds, though a few hickory trees still remain. In 1901 an outbreak of the hickory bark beetle caused the death of 110 trees on the Hillhouse place in New Haven; then the destructive work of the insect ceased and the few remaining hickory trees are still standing and in fairly good condition. I mention these instances to show that nature's control methods through parasites and natural enemies is far more effective with certain pests than any which man has yet devised. Of course, we hope that in the future man will make better progress along this line.

THE PAINTED HICKORY BORER.

_Cyllene pictus_ Drury.

There are several borers attacking the wood of the trunk of the hickory, but one of the commonest is the painted hickory borer. It also occasionally attacks black walnut, butternut, mulberry and osage orange. In hickory especially the larval tunnels are often found in the wood when trees are felled. There is probably one brood annually and the winter passed in the pupa stage, though it may possibly hibernate as a larva. Its life history is not fully understood. It is a common occurrence in Connecticut, and specimens are sent me every year, for the adult beetles to emerge in March from firewood in the house or cellar and crawl about seeking a chance to escape. The housewife fears that a terrible household pest has descended upon her, and with fear and trembling invokes the aid of the Agricultural Station.

The beetles appear outside in April and May, and probably oviposit soon afterward. They are about three-fourths of an inch in length and are black, prettily marked with golden yellow.

The insect can be controlled only by the old arduous methods of digging out, and injecting carbon disulphide into the burrows.

Several other long-horned beetles are borers in the hickory and other nut trees. Then, too, the leopard moth, _zeuzera pyrina_ Linn., and the carpenter worm, _Prionoxystus robiniae_ Peck, may be found occasionally in most any kind of tree.

The chestnut tree (if it has thus far escaped the blight or bark disease) may show small, deep tunnels into the wood of trunk and branch, made by the chestnut timber worm, _Lymexylon sericeum_ Harr. Slow-growing woodland trees are more apt to show these galleries than trees of rapid growth standing in the open.

There are a number of tussock moths, sawflies, beetles, etc., which feed on the leaves of nut trees. Spraying with lead arsenate will prevent damage. There are also many sucking insects attacking them, such as the hickory gall aphis, and several species found on the leaves. Some of these may be controlled by spraying with a contact insecticide such as nicotine solution or kerosene emulsion.

In the Southern States, pecan trees are attached by some of these insects which I have mentioned; there are also many more which cannot even be mentioned in the time allotted to this paper. Information may be obtained regarding them, by any one interested, and for this purpose I have appended a short list of publications.

LITERATURE.

Britton, W. E., and Kirk, H. B. The Life History of the Walnut Weevil or Curculio. Report Conn. Agr. Expt. Station for 1912, page 240.

Brooks, Fred E. Snout Beetles That Injure Nuts. Bull. 128, West Virginia Agr. Expt. Sta., Morgantown, W. Va., 1910.

Chittenden, F. H. The Nut Weevils, Circular 99, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, D. C., 1908.

Felt, E. P. Insects Affecting Park and Woodland Trees. Memoir No. 8, N. Y. State Museum, Albany, N. Y. 2 vols., 1905, 1906.

Gossard, H. A. Insects of the Pecan, Bull. 79, Fla. Agr. Expt. Station, Gainesville, Fla., 1905.

Herrick, G. W. Insects Injurious to Pecans, Bull. 86, Miss. Agr. Expt. Station, Agricultural College, Miss., 1904.

Hopkins, A. D. The Dying Hickory Trees. Circular 144, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, D. C., 1912.

Kirk, H. B. The Walnut Bud Moth. Report Conn. Agr. Expt. Station for 1912, page 253.

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A MEMBER: Early in the spring I noticed something on the hickory trees swollen and bright red in color, so that the trees were conspicuous from a distance. Later insects emerged which appeared to be these little gnats that fly in swarms.

DR. BRITTON: From the description I am not able to say what it was, but it was probably one of those gall flies, a great many species of which exist and which attack all kinds of plants. They do not, as a rule, cause very serious damage, and I can not suggest any particular remedy. Did it interfere with the growth of the tree?

A MEMBER: I noticed what seemed to be the same insect on the grape vines.

DR. MORRIS: I would call attention to one pest that is very destructive to hazels; unless watched closely it will produce serious injury. That is the larvae of two of the sawflies. Dr. Britton was unable to determine off-hand the species of the specimens I sent him, but you may know the sawfly larvae by their habit of collecting in a row like soldiers around the edge of the leaf and when the branch is disturbed, their heads and tails stand up. These sawfly larvae need looking after and can be killed by spraying. They usually collect on two or three leaves at a time.

I would like to ask about a bud worm that attacks the leaf of the hickory near the axil, sometimes very extensively, but not very injuriously. At the same time it makes deformities. Colonies of this insect select certain trees, for instance, the Taylor tree that you saw yesterday is infected with this particular bud larva. The base of a petiole becomes enlarged two or three times, and you will find one white worm at the bottom. This colony is confined to this one tree, and the very next tree adjoining the Taylor has its branches interwining, but is not bothered at all, so far as I can determine.

This colony habit is also true of the hickory nut weevil--the hickory weevil makes the Taylor tree a colony house, whereas I haven't found a single weevil in nuts of the adjoining hickory tree that has its branches interwining.

That colony habit is, perhaps, a weak point with the weevil, and it may enable us to eradicate them by concentrating our attention upon their colony trees.

One point in regard to the chestnut weevil. When our chestnuts began to die here, I supposed that the chestnut weevils would immediately turn to my chinquapins for comfort. Weevils attack the chinquapins so extensively in the South that Mr. Littlepage said chinquapins would not be acceptable to Dr. Kellogg because they furnished so much animal diet. (Laughter). Curiously enough, the chestnut weevils did not go to my chinquapins. These chinquapins bear full crops, heavy crops, and one will almost never find a chestnut weevil in the nuts. I have found now and then a little weevil, about half a dozen altogether, that attacks the involucre at its point of attachment to the chinquapin. This looks like the chestnut weevil, but perhaps, only according to my eye, very much as all Chinamen look alike to one who has never seen them before.

The matter of carbon disulphide for the painted hickory borer. I have used that apparently successfully, but I didn't tunnel through six feet of hickory tree afterward to see whether the borers were dead or not. It is a successful treatment for apple borers. I have no trouble with the apple borers now. I simply clean off the entrance of the hole, the "sawdust," and then with a little putty spread out with my hand make a sort of putty shelf below the hole, then I squirt in a few drops of carbon disulphide with a syringe, turn up the putty and leave it adhering to the bark, closing the hole. You can do that very quickly, and it spares a good deal of perspiring and backache.

The black walnut. On one of my black walnut trees there is a serious pest, a very little worm which infests the involucre. The black walnuts of this tree fall early. I found that same worm last year also extending to the Asiatic walnuts, so that a great many Japanese walnuts fell early as the black walnuts fall, as a result of this little worm's working in large numbers within the involucre. I sent some specimens to New Haven for the species to be observed. This will be a very serious matter if it is going to involve the English walnuts as it does on Long Island. I have found the same thing, apparently, on Long Island in the black walnut, in the English walnut, and in the pecan. It causes a serious drop of these nuts at Dana's Island, near Glen Cove, Long Island.

THE EXTENT OF THE HARDY NUT TREE NURSERY BUSINESS.

R. T. OLCOTT, NEW YORK.

For obvious reasons this subject may well be considered as constituting a gauge of commercial nut culture in the North; it is therefore of much more importance than the mere title would suggest. If there is merit in all that has been preached regarding the planting of budded and grafted trees instead of seedlings; and if it is still true, as we have long observed, that the propagation of named varieties of nut trees, and especially of hardy nut trees, is successful almost solely in the hands of experts, the progress of commercial nut culture in the northern states rests largely in the hands of the nurserymen. We may even go further and assert that it rests for the present mainly in the hands of a few nurserymen who have persistently studied the problems pertaining to the taming of a denizen of the forest, and have persevered with experiments in the face of repeated failure; for, as editor of the _American Nurseryman_, I am in a position to state that with a few exceptions nurserymen generally have not attempted to prepare to supply a demand for hardy, northern-grown, improved nursery nut trees. Seedling walnuts and hickories have been procurable for years from nurseries all over the country, as is shown by nursery catalogue listings; and at least two concerns--one at Lockport, N. Y., and another at Rochester, N. Y.,--have advertised nut tree seedlings extensively, despite the universal nursery practice of budding or grafting or layering practically all other kinds of trees and plants offered for sale as nursery stock--simply because it is not easy to propagate nut trees, and these nurserymen would take advantage of the growing demand for nut orchards.

Within established nut circles all this is commonly known. It was my purpose in referring to these conditions to direct the attention of those not posted to what has been done by a half dozen or more conscientious nursery concerns in an endeavor to supply material of quality for the starting of nut orchards or the planting of isolated trees in response to the arguments set forth in behalf of nut culture. My subject lies at the very base of the formation of this association; for was it not with the idea of directing into safe channels interest which might be aroused in nut culture that the pioneers of the industry in the North organized and convened repeatedly to select and propagate and recommend certain varieties? As the result of years of concentrated effort selections have been made and varieties have been named--and to some extent recommended--throughout the northern states. Now and for some time past the public has had opportunity to purchase and plant carefully grown budded and grafted true-to-name nursery nut trees of varieties having in the parent trees exceptional characteristics deemed sufficient to warrant propagation and dissemination. I need not go into the matter of years of patient effort on the part of a few nurserymen and of a few investigators who entered the lists solely for the love of Nature's developments.

This, in brief, is the rise of the hardy nut tree nursery business. Now, what of its extent? There are upwards of two thousand propagating nurserymen in the country, but those who have made a specialty of hardy, northern-grown nut trees are few. They include the Vincennes Nurseries, W. C. Reed & Son, Vincennes, Ind.; the Indiana Nurseries, J. Ford Wilkinson, Rockport, Ind.; the McCoy Nut Nurseries, R. L. McCoy, president, Evansville and Lake, Ind.; the Maryland Nurseries, T. P. Littlepage, Bowie, Md.; J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa,; J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.; C. K. Sober, Lewisburg, Pa., and some in the northwest.

As showing the extent of the business, Mr. Reed, of Vincennes, reports demand for nut trees increasing. He had to return orders unfilled last spring. His nurseries have 3,000 to 4,000 Persian walnut trees and about the same number of pecan trees for fall sales; also about 1,000 grafted black walnut trees. There are growing in the Vincennes nurseries ready for budding and grafting 50,000 black walnut seedlings and 50,000 pecan seedlings. Mr. Reed said recently: "Owing to the extreme difficulty of propagating nut trees in the North, I think the demand will keep up with the supply."

Mr. Jones sold last year about 8,000 nut trees which went to points all over the country; not many to California, or to the far South; a good many to New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, etc. The largest order was for 600 trees. A number of orders were for 100 to 300 trees. New Jersey leads in planting, he finds, with Virginia a close second, in large orders. In small orders, Pennsylvania leads with him.

Mr. McCoy has done a great deal of experimenting with grafts and he is still at it. He has 40 acres mostly under nut tree cultivation, and has a considerable number of trees for sale.

Anyone who has seen the handsome nut tree catalogue issued by Mr. Littlepage, of the Maryland Nurseries, must have been impressed with the great care taken to produce the attractive trees and nuts there depicted. These nurseries have been recently established and not a great number of trees have yet been offered for sale, but Mr. Littlepage has 150,000 seedling nut trees in his nurseries for propagating purposes.

Mr. Sober's nurseries are devoted almost entirely to the cultivation of chestnut trees. Mr. Rush's specialty is the Persian walnut. Mr. Wilkinson naturally specializes in Indiana pecan trees. At Rochester, N. Y., James S. McGlennon and Conrad Vollertsen have produced interesting results with filberts imported some years ago from Germany. They have five-year-old bushes bearing; these have proved hardy in every way and they have no blight. The nuts compare favorably with the best of the imported kinds. Nursery stock will soon be ready in quantity, and they now have 500 plants suitable for transplanting.

Filbert and walnut are the only nut trees grown commercially to any extent in the nurseries of the northwest. A few almond and chestnut trees are grown there, but the demand for them is very light. J. B. Pilkington, Portland, Ore., a well-known grower of a general line of nursery stock, advertises French, Japanese and Italian chestnut trees and the American Sweet. Filberts are being produced to a considerable extent. At present the nurseries cannot supply the demand for filbert plants, owing to the limited number of mother plants in the northwest. Practically all the nurseries have Barcelona and Du Chilly for sale, and a number have the Avelines. From one nursery or another De Alger, Kentish Cob and a few other varieties can be had. Persian walnuts are grown on a larger scale. Groner & McClure, Hillsboro, Ore., are the largest exclusive walnut nurserymen in the northwest. They produce close to 6,000 grafted trees annually. These sell at 90c. to $1.00 per tree in lots of 100. The Oregon Nursery Company, Orenco, Ore., produce a large number of both grafted and seedling walnut trees, asking up to $2.00 per tree for grafted and 35 to 50c. for seedlings. Many of the smaller nurseries procure their nut trees from California nurseries. Each year the proportion of seedlings planted is less. Franquette is the popular variety that is propagated.

The Northern Nut Growers' Association and one or two other similar organizations have labored for years to extend interest in nut culture. The files of the secretary of this association will show in heaps of letters and piles of newspaper clippings the marked success in view of the means that were at hand. And it has all been upon a high plane. The campaigns have been marked by the utmost degree of conscientious effort to arrive at the truth regarding, adaptability of varieties and cultural methods. This work is still in progress--indeed, the need for it will never end. But in the opinion of the writer there should from this day go hand in hand with investigation and experiment a very practical application to orchard purposes of what has been learned. The sooner northern nut trees come into bearing in grove form the sooner will general interest in nut culture increase. I would urge constant effort in that direction; even, if need be, to the exclusion of some of the further study on varieties.

There are now grown in northern nut tree nurseries approved by this association named varieties of pecans, Persian walnuts, black walnuts, hickories and some other nuts amply sufficient to start orchards. The pecan growers of the southern states selected and experimented and discussed for a time--and then they planted. Mistakes were made, but these were discovered quicker by grove planting. Now they are shipping improved varieties of pecans by the carload, at $12,000 per car. Naturally interest in pecan culture in the South is widespread. With bearing orchards of nut trees in the northern states, similar interest will be manifested; and then we shall all see the real progress which comes of producing commercial results. Has not the time arrived to put into practical operation what has been learned in the last eight years? I believe this association could wisely consider the policy of confining discussion in the open session of its annual meetings to topics relating to behavior of varieties in orchard form and commercial cultural methods--at least to the handling of the planted tree by the public, whether isolated or in orchard rows--and reserve for executive sessions the discussion of varieties and methods not yet at a stage for formal endorsement by the association. It seems to me that any other policy obscures the issue which, I take it, is to foster the extension of nut culture. How can nut culture be practically extended if the public is constantly confronted with features of the experimental stage? Persons mildly interested in nut culture, as the result, perhaps, of association propaganda, drift into our meetings or make ad interim inquiry and receive for membership enrollment, or otherwise, printed matter relating almost wholly to experimentation in nut work. No wonder their interest wanes a short time afterward and many of them are not heard from again. What most of them expected was information as to varieties of improved nut trees available, where to get them and how to treat them when planted. Discussion by the experts is not for them; they will reap the result of that in due time.

Now, the extent of the hardy nut tree nursery industry is directly dependent upon all this. If that extent is not yet great, it is due undoubtedly to the newness of the industry. But it is also due in part to conditions which have been referred to. I wish especially for the purposes of this address that this association were an incorporated body so that I could speak of it as such and not seem to be criticising individuals. What has been done by our officers and members has been very necessary. It is of the future that I speak.

Nut brokers, wholesale grocers and manufacturers of confectionery are calling for crop and market reports of nuts. A letter from a large commission house in San Francisco, importers and exporters, says that what is wanted is information as to growing crops of nuts and market conditions. Other brokers and dealers ask the same thing. The _American Nut Journal_ has given crop and market conditions of southern pecans and California walnuts and almonds; and, in peace times, of foreign nut crops. What else is there to give? The native nut crop? But that concerns this association about as much as the blueberry and huckleberry crops of the Michigan and Minnesota barrens concerns the horticultural societies and the National Apple Growers. What the brokers, wholesale grocers and commission merchants want is crop and market reports on cultivated nuts. But where are they? The public and the middlemen are calling for nuts. And these people write that they are not interested in cultural methods.

The hardy nut tree nursery business is what it is and will be what it will be just in proportion to the character of the crop and the market report. Interest in nut culture generally will lag or increase in just the same ratio. This is the eighth annual convention of this association. Will the sixteenth annual meeting see a greatly augmented membership without a practical incentive?

I have said that this association has recommended to some extent the planting of nut trees--the named varieties. I believe that what is needed is a publicity campaign bearing upon the planting of the varieties now on the market. When other varieties come on they may receive proper attention. Native nuts are in great demand. The varieties considered by this association are the best of the natives. Is that not sufficient basis to proceed on? Has not this association officially endorsed the varieties grown by the nut tree nurserymen we have referred to, by officially endorsing those nurserymen? Having endorsed the named varieties grown for sale by the nurserymen on its approved list can this association consistently do otherwise then to urge without hesitation the planting of those varieties by the public?

DR. MORRIS: Mr. Olcott spoke on the almonds of the Pacific Coast. Here in the east it was said yesterday that only hard shelled almonds would thrive. That has been my experience with one exception. I got from a missionary some soft shelled almonds of very high quality and thin shelled. There were about twenty of those almonds, I ate two and planted the rest. The ants enjoyed the sprouting cotyledons of all but one. That one lived and thrived and grew in two years to a height of about four feet. In its third winter it was absolutely killed. Now that means that somewhere in Syria there is a soft shelled almond of very high quality that will live three years in Connecticut according to accurate record. It may live fifty years here if well started and protected when young.

THE CHAIRMAN: You showed us some hard shelled almonds I believe from your place.

DR. MORRIS: The hard shelled almonds do pretty well on my place if looked after. I have had trees that bore nearly a bushel each, but the chief difficulty is due to the leaf blights. Almond trees are quite subject to leaf blights. As long as I sprayed the almond trees frequently they did well but I had several other things to do and couldn't keep it up.

A MEMBER: The Association has a list of nurserymen who are reliable and who will furnish reliable trees. It occurred to me in line with the spirit of Mr. Olcott's paper, if it would be practicable, for the Association to get up a little paper on approved varieties of trees for planting. That may seem foolish to suggest but a good many members who come in here are very green on the subject of nut growing. It may have been done but if it has I am not familiar with it.

THE SECRETARY: A good many requests are received by the secretary for information as to what nut trees to plant. My advice usually is that they get the catalogues of all the different nurserymen on our approved list and select from those catalogues as many nut trees of each variety recommended by the nurserymen as they wish and give them the best cultural conditions they can. I don't see that we can recommend any particular varieties. There are few enough grafted varieties of nut trees obtainable, and I do not see that we can, as an association, recommend any particular varieties. I would like to have suggestions.

MR. OLCOTT: I Don't Think It Is Advisable for the Association To go into that detail. I think that as the association has endorsed a list of nurserymen, so long as those nurserymen keep within boundary and retain that endorsement that is sufficient guarantee to the public.

MR. REED: We cannot recommend the different varieties because they have not been tested out and fruited. In the National Nut Growers' Association data are obtainable because they have been worked out by experiment stations and by individuals. But in this association where varieties are just being discovered and have not been disseminated and tried we have got to test them. We haven't got developed beyond the infant class in this Northern Nut Growers' Association.

A MEMBER: I realize that the thing is in an experimental stage, but since I have been at this meeting I have been asked by two different people here if I could give them any information as to what varieties to plant. That is a very live question for a person here for the first time and he wants a primer.

THE SECRETARY: We had a circular, now exhausted, giving the best information known at that time. It gave the method of procedure from the cultivation of the land until the nut trees were advanced several years in their growth, covering it in detail in so far as it lay in the secretary's ability to give it at that time. The same advice perhaps would not be given now but it would be practically the same thing. It may be desirable that we reprint something of the kind for the person who wants to begin the cultivation of nuts and has no knowledge on the subject.

MR. JONES: I think the association might do something of the kind. We could have a map of the states for instance, and have that outlined in belts and varieties specified that would be somewhat likely to succeed in those belts.