Chapter V: Part 5

MR. CHAIRMAN: I think it is only a question of time when that will be done. In the National Association that has been worked out, what they plant in Florida what they plant in west Georgia, what they plant in Mississippi, and what they plant in all the different sections. I think it is only a question of time when it will be worked out by this association. Every year will bring in new data. You will find in the National Nut Growers' Association that good reports on new varieties of nuts from year to year keep accumulating. From that we get data very definite for certain varieties. I expect the members of this association will know lots of them. They have become past history in nut growing in the south. We have got past those poor things and in to something that is definite and satisfactory.

MR. BARTLETT: Would it be possible and advisable for the association to have such a thing as an experimental orchard, provided they could get somebody to take care of such a place? There is a man in this room who has plenty of room and facilities for taking care of an orchard.

THE CHAIRMAN: That is worthy of attention but I do not know whether the association is in a position to take care of it. In my paper yesterday I spoke about putting it up to the experiment stations.

COL. VAN DUZEE: The experiment stations are at the service of the people and if you will call upon your stations repeatedly they will respond eventually. It is going to take some little time but it seems to me that they are the logical people to carry it out. We have found in the south that the behaviour of varieties in different localities was so different that we have been obliged to wait until each locality had something of history to guide us. I suppose it would be a very good plan if all who are interested in nut culture in the North would convey the information to their experiment stations that they are desirous of having these orchards established. Eventually the country could be covered with little experimental plots where the information obtained would be reliable, where the work could be under the supervision and inspection of people who are paid by the state for that purpose.

Now in regard to the publicity. We have followed a plan for a number of years in the South of publishing frequently what we call Nut Notes. They were gathered together by the editor of the Nut Grower. Whenever an item of interest to the public came to him in his exchange and from any other source, he made a paragraph of it and then at the end of the month, or perhaps two months, he would publish a little circular "Nut Notes," and that would be run off in some large number, and distributed to the nurserymen, or other interested people, and they would simply enclose it in their correspondence. They would send them to the local papers all through the South so that the things that were found worthy of dissemination in the way of new records and new ideas were constantly being sent to the local papers and to the interested people in that way. I have a vast sympathy for Dr. Deming. He is not drawing a princely salary and he has a lot of things to do. I know his heart is in this work and he would be glad to do these things but he must have help. These two ways I suggest to you are ways we have found in the South to accomplish a considerable work. Make a demand upon your experiment stations that this work be taken up and get Mr. Olcott to print the slips and then get the nurserymen who are interested and the local newspaper people to publish the nut notes that become available from time to time.

MR. OLCOTT: I have knowledge of these circulars of Nut Notes sent out by Dr. Wilson in the South and have thought of doing something like it but have not gotten at it yet. I have exchanges and notices coming in that could be summarized just that way and even more extensively but I haven't had time to do this work.

THE SECRETARY: I think this proposal of Mr. Bartlett's is very important and I promise Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Barrows that all the members of this association will help. I am sure Dr. Morris will be glad to give advice about planting this orchard. I haven't the slightest doubt that Mr. Reed will go there in his position as Nut Culturist of the Department of Agriculture. I think we ought to go ahead and do that without waiting for the Connecticut authorities, but at the earliest opportunity begin to try to interest them. They are not interested enough to go into it now. Some of the members of this association have got to start this thing and then we have got to interest the men at the agricultural experiment station. Two of them were here yesterday and have expressed their interest in the subject. We hope eventually that they will take full charge of such work which really ought to be in the hands of self perpetuating institutions and not in the hands of individuals. I can assure Mr. Bartlett of the hearty co-operation of this association in any planting of that kind and I wish that the steps might be taken at once to begin such a planting.

DR. MORRIS: I would be only too glad to give him some trees to start with.

MR. JONES: The nurseries growing these trees would be glad to cooperate and supply these trees at reduced prices for this experimental orchard.

THE CHAIRMAN: There seems to be lots of interest in this matter but it ought not to be on a voluntary basis. It might be interesting to you to have an idea of how we have done that further south. In North Carolina we have definite nut projects on our experiment station's list. The work is outlined and funds appropriated for carrying it out, and workers and funds are assigned to that particular project. They have a regular definite program and when a project is once begun that project has to be reported on. It cannot be discontinued. It has to be continued until it is worked out. In that way we are getting something definite and we have some machinery to work with. At first we had no commercial nut growing. We instituted a nut survey of the state. We issued instructions for our extension men to look out for nut trees on the farms. Then we made a list of the growers and orchards. There we made experimental planting and we made them in every section of the state so as to find out what varieties were best for the different sections. We had difficulty in finding varieties for all of our conditions. We had experiment orchards in all of the various sections of the State which have been conducted now for ten years and we have very definite data. The man who writes in to me for information can be answered shortly. Every year we are getting new data. I think every tree that we can get from any nursery catalogue that I can find is in those experimental orchards. Every year eliminates a few. If the stocks are good we work them over. There is no uncertainty about it. It is either a positive or a negative result. These results are published just as soon as they can be. It is part of our experiment work just as we experiment with cotton or apples or corn. I made a suggestion in my paper for work of this kind here and I thought it would be picked up by the Committee on Resolutions, but it was not acted on. To get this matter crystallized and get it to the attention of the experimental station I think that the secretary ought to be empowered to write officially to the directors of the experiment station in the various states asking that a nut survey be made of those states and that nut projects be entered upon and especially the testing of the varieties that have been found in the various states.

DR. BRITTON: Representing the Connecticut station I can say that the men there will be glad to help you, but they are in the same position as Dr. Deming, doing all they can at present, more than they ought to do, and most of the funds for that reason are arranged for in definite projects. That being the case, it will be necessary to provide for a future appropriation. During his war we are all short handed. I have four young men working in my department who have not had a day's vacation this summer--more work than they can do. At present we have no one connected with the station who is a specialist on nuts, and it would mean getting in a man to work up this subject. But I think that can be brought about in time. Of course if the legislature is asked for any appropriation, this association or those interested in growing nuts would have to help get the appropriation for the state.

THE SECRETARY: Prof. Hutt is State Horticulturist of his state and he is also a specialist on nuts. He lives in a state where nut culture is much further advanced than it is here, consequently it has been, it seems to me, a good deal simpler for him to accomplish results there than it is for us here. I approve of grasping this opportunity and going ahead with it and at the same time following up the suggestions of Dr. Britton of trying to get the appropriation in order to enable the agricultural experiment station to take action.

MR. OLCOTT: I move that the secretary be asked to communicate with the experiment stations in the various states along just the lines you suggested for the purpose of getting started.

The motion, duly seconded, was passed.

MR. OLCOTT: I would like to make another motion that the association do whatever it can to take advantage of this opportunity that Mr. Bartlett has just spoken about, and I would move that the matter be put in the hands of the secretary with power to act.

Mr. Webber seconded the motion and it was carried.

NUT TREES FOR SHADE.

FRANCIS A. BARTLETT, CONNECTICUT.

Were we to limit our shade trees to those trees which alone produce edible nuts we would then have a greater assortment of trees than one could hardly suppose, and not only would be varieties be numerous but they would embrace many of our most noble and most beautiful trees.

Let us consider the varieties from which we may draw. In so doing let me ask why, with all these trees, we really need other trees which in themselves are no more ornamental and are non-producing.

Of the oaks there are many, while the nuts or acorns are seldom eaten by man, yet they have often composed his diet when other foods have failed. In many parts of the South this nut has been the principal food used in the fattening, or possibly the sustaining food, of the native razor-back hog.

Our native beech produces the small triangular nuts which have been sought by the boys and girls of centuries and are as popular today as of hundreds of years ago. The beech will grow to immense size and may live sometimes for centuries. A beautiful bright smooth foliage makes it very desirable as a park tree and it does not lose its charm in winter. On an extensive lawn it makes a very desirable tree but in close proximity to the house the one objection there may be is that the dead foliage seems to cling to the twigs sometimes the entire winter. This objection is more pronounced, however, in the younger trees than in the older ones.

Our native black walnut is a magnificent tree which can compare favorably with the finest oak in size, in shape, in picturesqueness and above all, in its huge nuts, which are both wholesome and delicious. Were it not for the great value of its wood for making gun stocks and for cabinet work we would today have hundreds of these trees growing, where now but few can be found; yet there are individual specimens with spread of over 150 feet and as magnificent and majestic as the finest oak.

Our native chestnut; let us not think of it in memory only, though the pride of our forests seems to have left us after the scourge of the chestnut blight. Unless the history of all scourges has been upset we will find some tree somewhere sometime that is blight resistant and then from this tree we will produce and propagate the chestnut back to its own. At least, as far as an ornamental and useful nut-producing tree is concerned. Should we find no tree in all this huge area which is disease-resistant we have at least one hope in the chestnut brought from China, where for probable centuries this disease has been present, but unable to destroy its host, the chestnut. Already in this country there are thousands of these seedlings growing which are apparently disease-resistant. The tree itself compares very favorably with our native tree. We will yet grow our favorite chestnuts and our children will yet enjoy them as we have done in the days of our youth.

We must not forget the chinkapin, the little brother of the chestnut, but a better fighter of its enemies, for this latter tree is almost resistant to the blight and will bloom and bear nuts while only a little tree, and the nuts are sweet and good. Then, too, it is not necessary to climb the tree to gather the nuts for the tree being small the nuts can almost be gathered from the ground. For planting over rocky banks and hillsides nothing is more handsome. The dark green foliage dotted here and there with the bright green burrs always attracts favorable attention and comment.

Our butternut, too, cannot be omitted, for there are few better flavored nuts than the butternut. Though hard to crack, this fault, if it may be a fault, will soon be overcome, for we will find a tree with thin-shelled nuts somewhere. They are no doubt present and when we do find such a tree we may all propagate from it. Though the tree is a rather irregular grower and is susceptible to certain bark diseases yet it has its place in the home planting for its compound leaves and light bark always shows prominently in the landscape. This tree sometimes grows to an immense size. At my early home in Massachusetts one huge butternut stood in the yard. Though the tree died long before I became especially interested in old trees I remember that we counted the annular rings and as near as I can recall the figures for its measurements and rings were 13 ft. in circumference and 80 annular rings. The trunk was perfectly solid and showed no signs of decay. Many bushels of nuts were gathered from this one tree yearly and I can remember the long winter evenings when we sat in the kitchen cracking the nuts from this old tree. Some have said the butternut is unsatisfactory as an ornamental tree but let me add--do not neglect it in the planting plan for it will give you much pleasure, and, too, the meats are well worth the trouble in cracking the nuts even though a bruised finger may result.

To the family of the walnut we are indebted to Japan for the beautiful and tropical foliage of the Japanese walnut, _Sieboldiana_. Although the tree has many characteristics of the butternut the foliage is much more luxuriant and it is an admirable tree for planting in the open lawn. The individual fruit of the _Sieboldiana_ walnut is similar in appearance to that of the butternut and is borne in clusters or racemes, sometimes as many as twenty or more in a cluster, and is equal in every way to that of the butternut but the nuts being smaller contain a much less quantity of meat.

The king of the walnuts, _Juglans regia_, sometimes called Madeira walnut, Persian walnut, Spanish walnut and English walnut, is the finest of the nuts as far as the fruit is concerned, and is a handsome tree growing to immense size with large spreading branches and almost tropical foliage. For over 150 years this tree has been growing and thriving in our immediate neighborhood, producing bushels of nuts annually, yet few people whom we have met will hardly believe that the English walnut will thrive in this northern latitude. There is one specimen of this tree today with which I am familiar in Tarry town, N. Y., which is over 2 feet in diameter, with a spread of 75 feet or more and nearly 100 feet in height. While the tree has not produced regularly yet it bears a few nuts each year and sometimes numbers of bushels.

The English walnut always attracts attention on account of its symmetrical growth and its luxuriant foliage. As a shade tree there are few better.

Of the nut family the one truly American tree of which we should be duly proud is the hickory, this tree being found in no other part of the world, with the exception of China, but North America. As a park or roadside tree there are few trees that can compare with it,--upright in growth with a beautifully rounded head, sometimes growing to immense size and producing nuts almost annually. Of this group of trees we have the shellbark, shagbark and pignut. The pignut being of little value as far as the nuts are concerned, yet having smaller and possibly more luxuriant foliage than the shagbark or shellbark. The shagbark is the nut most sought for by the younger generations and bids fair to become a nut of considerable importance.

It seems strange that in the long history of the hickory or shagbark more has not been done in the improvement of the nuts in the growing of large thin-shelled and sweeter nuts. Trees bearing such nuts do exist and I think most of us can recall certain trees in our boyhood days that produced nuts of far superior quality than are ordinarily found from the common tree. At least, I can recall one tree from which twenty-five years ago there was produced a very large fine sweet nut which was sought by all the children in the neighborhood. This tree, however, has passed away with hundreds of others, either by the hickory bark beetle or the axe.

It is well to mention the filbert and hazel. While not really trees the filbert sometimes reaches a height of 5 ft. or more with very luxuriant foliage in the summer and in the early spring the catkins are very prominent and attractive. There is no reason why the filbert should not be grown more extensively even though it is affected by blight or canker. We are assured that this can be readily cut away with less trouble than the ordinary treatment of trees.

Of the hazel there are two kinds, the common hazel and beaked hazel, both native here. While the nuts of these shrubs are really too small to be of any commercial value yet I believe we will find nuts growing somewhere that are as large as our imported filberts.

Of the pines and evergreens there are a number which produce nuts of which Dr. Morris has told us. Some of them are rapid growing trees and there seems to be good reason why we should not plant out evergreens which produce fruit and are just as attractive and fine as those evergreens which produce shade only.

I have not mentioned one tree which I believe to be the most promising for this locality--that is the pecan. It has been demonstrated that we can grow the pecan on our native hickories and from what I have seen of the wonderful growth of the first year of the bud I am sure we will be able to produce as fine pecans as can be produced in any section of the country, and further than that, we have an unlimited number of native hickories on which we can graft this finest of nuts. The pecan is hardy in this locality and farther north. I have seen it grown to a fair sized tree in Connecticut. I have seen it on the south side of Long Island and have seen one tree planted possibly over 100 years near Oyster Bay, L. I. which today is more than 3 ft. in diameter and reaches possibly 75 ft. in height. The pecan, too, is fruiting on Long Island and I believe we will have it fruiting in this locality within the next two or three years. During the last few years I have talked with numbers of people, many of them owners of large estates who could hardly believe it is possible to grow the English walnut and pecan in this latitude.

I have said that were we to limit our shade trees to those trees alone which produce edible nuts we would then have a greater assortment than one could hardly suppose. Each and every one of the trees I have mentioned were they not to produce a single nut would in themselves equal or surpass almost any tree in beauty and majesty.

Were we to develop a park and limit the plantings to nut trees alone how attractive such a park might be--the taller trees in the background to be of the black walnut and beech. These trees to be banked with the smaller trees of the butternut and English walnut. Over the rocky places we could plant the chinkapin and hazel. We could then put in specimen trees of the hickory and pecans with groups of filberts, dotted here and there with plantings of nut bearing pines. I believe such a planting would be as attractive as a planting of an added number of our ordinary shade trees. Let us imagine what the return from such a planting might mean to the public or the owners. In fifty years from this time, and in speaking of nut trees looking forward to fifty years is but a comparatively short time, our roadside trees could be replaced by nut bearing trees which are as attractive as any shade tree. I have no doubt that in this city alone were the roadsides planted with nut trees and these received reasonable care the returns from these trees would pay the entire city and town tax.

* * * * *

DR. MORRIS: Mr. Bartlett said that the hickory belonged only to North America. That was supposed to be the case until very recently Mr. Meyer, an agricultural explorer, found an open bud hickory in China.

MR. OLCOTT: Mr. Bartlett said he hoped the day would come when the filbert and hazels would be produced in this country. I saw last week the report of a crop in Rochester, New York, on five-year old filbert bushes that had been pronounced as good as imported nuts in quality and certainly were in size, and finer in coloring. I have some photographs of the trees on which they grew. These were the trees which were described in detail in a paper read at the National Nut Growers' Association at Nashville last year by Mr. McGlennon, of Rochester. He told me that all he said at that time stands, with the addition that since then he has had proof regarding the absence of blight and the extreme hardiness of the trees and their continued bearing. The trees are grown for propagating purposes and not for fruit, and therefore they are not in their best condition for bearing. Mr. McGlennon is a business man of Rochester, with no special experience except that he became interested in some southern pecan plantings. Afterwards the filbert planting came up and he worked with Mr. Vollertson, who was experienced in this work in Germany. He and Mr. McGlennon imported 22 kinds of filberts from Europe. They are so far blight-proof and extremely hardy and are bearing.

MRS. IRWIN: I would like to say that I do not think there is enough publicity given this organization. There are a number of people, to whom I casually mentioned yesterday, that I had become interested in this thing, but they had not seen the Advocate and knew nothing about the meeting. They are interested, I think, and it seems to me that an organization for growth must have publicity and a lot of it.

A MEMBER: We were discussing this morning why we did not have a larger number of people here from Stamford and Greenwich. It is the merest chance I saw the notice. I have been interested for some time. I think there should be greater publicity because only by large membership can we get the growth and the standing that we want.

DR. MORRIS: Even a good many people in the vicinity who knew about this conference and said they would be interested to come, have not appeared. Our meeting came to Stamford this year because there are so many wealthy people interested in horticulture in Stamford and Greenwich. Very large funds are required for development of this subject, experimental orchards, publication and publicity. We believed here we would strike the sort of men to further public interest in the subject. This is by all means the smallest local attendance, however, that we have ever had since the beginning of the Association in any part of the country.

THE SECRETARY: We have never had the advertising more thoroughly done. Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Staunton and Dr. Morris and I have all worked at it; notices have been in at least three of the New York papers, clippings of which have been sent me, and articles in Ansonia and Hartford papers; articles and programs have been sent repeatedly to Stamford, Greenwich, Darien, Port Chester, Danbury, Ridgefield and New Canaan papers. Dr. Morris has written personal letters. And then, too, there are the signs around here. I don't know what other measures could have been taken.

DR. MORRIS: My chauffeur, who is in the Naval Reserve, and doesn't know about nuts at all, dropped in casually yesterday, but stayed through the whole session. That shows what interest might be aroused if only you can catch people. No trouble to hold them when captured.

Every person who has come into this association has done so because of something from the heart within.

MR. BIXBY: On this subject of publicity, I have done something in a very humble way that I thought might help, and this year I am planning to do it to a little larger extent. I have been very much interested in the butternut. The concern with which I am associated has a connection with general stores throughout the country, so I sent circulars calling attention to the butternut prizes to the general stores in the smaller towns throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. That circular invited the people who had specimens of butternuts that they thought superior to send them to Dr. Deming, and in the same circular I called attention to the fact that there were prizes for other nuts, and invited them to communicate with Dr. Deming. It was all done in the name of the Association.

PROF. HUTT: When we started our meeting we announced a question box.

THE SECRETARY: We expected to have a revised proof of our question box to be distributed among the audience, but it has not come. I would like to ask any one who now desires to ask questions relative to nut culture to do so and I think he will be able to get answers from members present. I had better begin by propounding a question myself that has been asked often--what variety of nut trees to plant--and I am going to make a short answer myself, just to bring about discussion. For early bearing, and encouragement to the nut grower, plant chinkapins, hazels, or filberts, many varieties, so that they will pollenize one another, and plant Japanese walnuts, early bearing and beautiful trees. For later results plant Persian walnuts, the Franquette and Mayette varieties, which are old standard ones. If you want to go a little bit more experimentally, plant pecans, say the Indiana and Busseron varieties, both from the Indiana district, and both hardy, though neither of them have fruited here. Plant some black walnuts, say of the Stabler and the Thomes varieties, which are the best known, and plant a few shagbark hickories. There are very few varieties to be had in the shagbark. We don't know much about the Kirtland, although that is one of the best nuts. We know little of the bearing records of these trees. I leave this answer for emendation, addition or correction.

DR. MORRIS: Has anybody any Kirtland hickories in stock grafted for sale?

MR. JONES: 100 to 150.

DR. MORRIS: Have you any Weicker?

MR. JONES: Yes, some are in stock for sale.

DR. MORRIS: Hales's hickories?

MR. JONES: No, not grown.

DR. MORRIS: The Hales' nut is big, too coarse and not very good.

MR. JONES: The kernel is yellowish.

DR. BRITTON: I would like to ask Dr. Morris what time of the year he would advise pruning the Persian walnuts here in Stamford.

DR. MORRIS: The editor of a horticultural journal at one time set out to get opinions about the best time for pruning peaches. There were opinions from all points as to whether peach trees should be trimmed in winter, spring, summer or autumn, and summing up all of the replies, the editor said, "We have come to the conclusion that the right time to prune peach trees is when your knife is sharp." I presume that that in a way will apply to almost all trees. Pruning the walnut trees in the spring when sap is flowing freely would not be desirable, I should think. Walnut trees need very little pruning. Very few of the nut trees need pruning, excepting the hazels. These need to be pruned in order to put them in good head. And possibly some of the hickories, but for the most part I doubt if pruning is desirable, save for broken branches. I leave that to Mr. Jones.

DR. BRITTON: The reason why I asked the question is that when we were carrying on this investigation with the walnut weevil, we found that when branches were cut early in the spring there was nearly always a bad wound that did not heal over. It died back around the place. But when we cut branches later, from the first to the middle of June, when the growth was taking place, it healed over very smoothly without leaving any bad scars, and I was wondering whether that happened over the region where the Persian walnut was grown.

DR. MORRIS: I am glad to have that observation that the wounds did not granulate and heal well. I have noticed that the shag bark hickory cannot be cut well for scions in the spring without injuring the rest of the limb on the tree. I have cut back the Taylor tree's lower branches, in order to cut off scions, and almost every branch from which I have cut scions is dead or dying. That is perhaps in line with the observation of Dr. Britton. Some of the juglandaciae cannot be cut in the spring.

MR. JONES: I have found that in cutting scions of walnut trees when the sap is running the tree bleeds and makes a bad wound and doesn't heal over. It dies back. But if you cut those any time in the winter when you have say two or three days without freezing, they will not bleed then nor in the spring when the sap comes up. Also, if cut after the growth is well started, they won't bleed very much.

MR. WEBER: Are back numbers of the Journal available?

THE SECRETARY: All of our reports.

MR. WEBER: I would suggest for the benefit of uninitiated persons that they get the back numbers, also send to each of the accredited nurserymen and get a copy of each, catalogue and then study the back numbers and the catalogues. They will be pretty well posted, as all the nut catalogues are well illustrated and contain a great deal of information, and it will take them out of the realm of hazy knowledge they now have on the subject.

MR. JONES: The Government has some excellent bulletins in line with this work.

MR. SMITH: I would like to get some information about spring and fall planting in Massachusetts.

A MEMBER: I advise planting in the spring. Where the ground freezes heavily in the winter, plant in the spring. In the South you don't have any injury from cold.

MR. WEBER: I have planted trees in the fall and the tops winter-kill down to the grafts. I had them wrapped and still they were winter-killed, or else the wrapping killed them. Persian walnuts and Indiana pecans. They threw a good shoot in the spring, however, and made a very good growth.

I move that a vote of thanks be extended to the local committee for making this convention a success, and a rising vote of thanks to show Dr. Morris the appreciation of the convention.

The convention thereupon adjourned.

APPENDIX.

I report on soft shell almonds as follows:

In February, 1914, I ordered from Armstrong Nurseries, Ontario, California, the following trees:

10 four to six ft. Jordon Almond trees
10 four to six ft. I. X. L. Almond trees
10 four to six ft. Ne Plus Ultra Almond trees

The trees were shipped in March of the same year and healed in until May. The farm on which these trees were planted is situated on the south shore of Lake Ontario, in Wayne County, New York. This district is a large producer of peaches and apples. The trees were planted twenty feet apart in a sandy loam soil in line with a young apple orchard. This soil is especially adapted to peach growing. The entire orchard was given clean cultivation with intercrops until the Spring of 1917. For two years potatoes were grown among the trees, and for one year cabbage. The land was limed and fertilized with both natural and chemical fertilizers. Cultivation of the tree rows stopped about the 1st of August, the intercrops about the 15th of September. For the year 1917 the trees were grown in sod. The trees were pruned similar to the peach trees, and have made somewhat less growth than a peach tree would make under the same conditions.

The lake on the boundary of the farm tempers the climate conditions of this location so that the opening of the season is about two weeks later than the average, and the date of the first frost is two to three weeks later. On this account the trees have had a better opportunity to ripen the wood for the winter period after cultivation ceases. During these winters the thermometer has gone as low as four degrees below zero without winter killing those trees which survived. Six trees of the thirty originally planted are now living. All others died the first winter after being set out. Unfortunately, the trees were not labeled at the time of getting out so I am unable to indicate what varieties lived through. Of the six trees living, three blossomed scantily this year, but all the blossoms proved false. I think there is no particular cause for discouragement on this account, as we have the same experience with peach trees. That is, they often bear a number of blossoms the first year, and none of them come to maturity. All the trees appear to have buds for next year. Some of these should develop into blossoms, and unless there is a frost after the blossoms come out in the spring of 1918, there may be some nuts produced. The final test as to whether or not these trees can be brought into bearing, will come next spring. The site upon which the trees are planted, as mentioned before, on account of the proximity of the lake, is more favorable than most locations for peach growing, and if the experience of the peach growers in New York State is any index, there would be little opportunity for success with almond trees, except under similar conditions. M. E. WILE.

I am pleased to advise that the hardy soft shell pecan trees I have planted in Virginia, and the hardy English walnut trees are all growing finely. I find it just as easy to get a budded pecan tree to grow as it is to get an apple tree to grow. I am telling my friends about this all over Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee as well as Virginia. They have planted a good many trees and all report favorably.

My advice is to plant pecan and English walnut trees as they are just as beautiful and useful for shade as any other kind, and in addition to this they will produce a large amount of the healthiest and most nutritious of food for the human family.

I am very much indebted to the Northern Nut Growers Association for the knowledge obtained along this line. You can rest assured that I will try and pass it along as I go. JOHN S. PARRISH.

ATTENDANCE

R. T. Olcott, Rochester N. Y.
Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C.
Irwin R. Waite, Stamford, Ct.
Prof. W. O. Filley, State Forester, Connecticut.
Prof. Record, State College of Forestry.
A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, N. Y.
S. M. McMurran, Washington, D. C.
Harry E. Weber, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Fitch A. Hoyt, Stamford, Conn.
Wm. H. Bump, Stamford, Ct.
Wilber F. Stocking, Stratford, Ct.
J. A. Seitz, Greenwich, Ct.
L. C. Root, Stamford, Ct.
John Rick, Redding, Pa.
F. A. Bartlett, Stamford, Ct.
J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
R. H. G. Cunningham, Stamford, Ct.
Col. C. A. Van Duzee, Cairo, Ga.
John H. Hohener, Rochester, N. Y.
C. L. Cleaver, Hingham, Mass.
Fred A. Smith, Hathorne, Mass.
Dr. Lewis H. Taylor, Washington, D. C.
W. H. Druckemiller, Sunbury, Pa.
W. G. Bixby, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mr. and Mrs. C. S. Ridgway, Lumberton, N. J.
Miss Marie Brial, Stamford, Ct.
J. E. Brown, Elmer, N. J.
A. M. Heritage, Elmer, N. J.
Dr. R. T. Morris, N. Y. City.
T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C.
Gray Staunton, Stamford, Ct.
J. L. Glover, Shelton, Ct.
Dr. E. F. Bigelow, Stamford, Ct.
Prof. W. N. Hutt, Raleigh, N. C.
Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Lewis, Stratford, Ct.
H. W. Collingwood, New York City.
Dr. J. H. Kellogg, Battle Creek, Mich.
Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Deming, Georgetown, Ct.
Mr. and Mrs. M. A. Mikkelsen, Georgetown, Ct.
Paul M. Barrows, Stamford, Ct.
G. W. Donning, North Stamford.
Mrs. Payson Irwin, Stamford, Ct.
Noble P. Randel, Stamford, Ct.

* * * * *

~Vincennes Nurseries~

W. C. REED, Proprietor.

VINCENNES, INDIANA, U. S. A.

PROPAGATORS AND INTRODUCERS

_Budded and Grafted Pecans, Hardy Northern Varieties_
_English (Persian) Walnut Grafted on Black Walnut_
_Best Northern and French Varieties_
_Grafted Thomas Black Walnut_

_Grafted Persimmons, best sorts_
_Hardy Almonds_
_Filberts and Hazelnuts_

_Also General Line Nursery Stock_

SPECIAL NUT CATALOGUE ON REQUEST

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~STABLER~

~BLACK WALNUT TREES~

If you would provide for the future beauty of your lawn or roadside, plant at least a few trees of the new Stabler Black Walnut. Its luxuriant fern-like foliage and its weeping twigs make it unique among shade trees--its thin-shelled nuts and heavy bearing habit put it at the top of the list as a nut producer. The only black walnut that yields a whole kernel when cracked.

ORDER NOW FOR SPRING DELIVERY.

My trees, if you plant them in a fertile spot, will surprise you by their growth.

Fine Grafted Trees $1.50 to $2.00.

~HENRY STABLER~

HANCOCK, MD.

* * * * *

~CHESTER VALLEY NURSERIES~

ESTABLISHED 1853

Choice Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Cherry Trees on Mazzard Roots, Hardy Evergreens, Flowering Shrubs, Hedge Plants, etc. Originators of the ~THOMAS BLACK WALNUT~

~JOS. W. THOMAS & SONS King of Prussia P. O., MONTGOMERY CO., PENNA.~

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~CHESTNUT TREES~

Best Varieties Grown. Grown in section free from blight. Descriptive Pricelist.

E. A. RIEHL, GODFREY, ILL.