Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

With the population of the world on a steady increase, it continually becomes necessary for mankind to seek out new sources of food, and utilize products that formerly had received little attention as possible foods. Conditions that disturb normal food production and distribution, such for example as were brought about by the world war, produce serious food shortages in the world, and emphasize how close is the margin that determines whether the peoples of the world have adequate quantities of food or whether they are faced by shortages, and, in many cases, by starvation. In this continual development of our food resources, nuts stand out prominently as offering possibilities which are very great. Not only do they represent a very concentrated form of food which is highly digestible, but they possess a number of characteristic and highly pleasing flavors that recommends them for use in all manner of culinary procedures. The variety of uses to which nuts can be put in the kitchen is amply demonstrated right here in Dr. Kellogg's sanitarium and I feel sure that even he has not exhausted the possibilities of nuts in the dietary. The forms of nut products on the market are steadily increasing. The nut butters, nut pastes, nut margarines, meat substitutes, and so forth, all point to the variety of ways that nuts can be handled as foods.

The tremendous increase in the use of nut oils in the form of the oil itself and as nut margarines within the last few years is a striking example of the utilization on a large scale of relatively new food products. The press cake which remains as a by-product of this oil industry finds ready use as concentrates for cattle feeds. Many of our ideas in the feeding of our domestic animals are undergoing development along with the idea of human nutrition. Just recently, investigators at the Wisconsin Experiment Station, reported that the well known "home grown ration" for dairy cows that consist of cereals, silage and hay, is not a large milk producing diet. Their recommendation is to supplement this ration with protein concentrates. Nut meals recommend themselves most highly as protein concentrates. It certainly is safe to say that the day when the fruits of our nut bearing trees will be allowed to fall ungathered from the trees, is at an end.

There are many problems that still call for an answer by the chemist and dietitian. The nutritive value of the individual nuts should be firmly established in all its phases. The causes that have made the use of certain nuts unprofitable commercially, should be studied with the view of correcting these stumbling blocks. For example, the freeing of the horse-chestnut from its poisonous saponins and enable us to use this starch rich nut as food is well within the range of possibility as indicated by experiments conducted in Austria during the war. Why do nut oils tend to become rancid easily and can this tendency be remedied? Is the freeing of the acorn and its tannin and other objectionable substances a practical consideration? What is the irritating principle of the English walnut?

All these problems and many others wait solution. Research on nuts is in progress in many places. It involves time consuming experiments that are often times expensive. As a result, progress is slow, the amount of research being limited by the financial factor. The value of the pecan nut crop alone of the year 1918, was over 91 million dollars and the value of the imports and exports of nuts and nut products during the same year amounted to over 51 million dollars. If one one-hundredth of one per cent of this sum should be devoted by those interested in the development of our nut industry in this country for the study of the nutritional and chemical properties of nuts, I feel sure that they would be amply repaid for their investment.

PRESIDENT REED: I believe this will complete our program for tonight. We have quite a full program for tomorrow morning. Mr. C. A. Reed, nut culturist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, is with us and was to have been on the program tonight, but he has been busy all day and was hardly ready for tonight's program, as he has been busy getting the exhibit in order, and he will be on the program tomorrow morning, and three or four others, among them Dr Kellogg, I believe, so that there will be quite a full morning's program, and we will be glad to have all of you come who can. We meet in the parlor of the Annex at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. If any one desires to join the Association and will speak to the secretary, he will give yow the necessary information.

END OF TUESDAY EVENING SESSION

* * * * *

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1919, 10:00 A.M.

PRESIDENT W. C. REED IN THE CHAIR

PRESIDENT REED: Mr. O. C. Simonds of Chicago will talk to you on "Nut Trees in Landscape work."

NUT TREES AND BUSHES IN LANDSCAPE WORK

O. C. SIMONDS, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

In considering material for landscape work the places that come to mind where such work would be required are home grounds, highways, parks, cemeteries, school grounds, city squares and woods. The highways would include city streets, parkways, usually called boulevards, and country roads.

All trees are beautiful and should serve in some place in landscape work. Some_are more beautiful than others and where but few trees can be used the more beautiful would naturally be chosen.

BLACK WALNUTS

Not long ago, a lawyer was talking to me about the beauty of black walnuts. To his mind there is no tree more beautiful and from what he said, he would use it almost to the exclusion of other trees. My own judgment does not fully coincide with his although I consider a black walnut a very attractive tree. It grows to a large size and is generally healthy. Its shape is good and the foliage attractive in summer. The leaves drop early and they are not especially attractive in autumn coloring. Black walnuts are strong in appearance. They lack the gracefulness of the elm and if I were making a list of trees in the order of their appearance, placing the most beautiful first and the least attractive last, I should place several trees ahead of the black walnut, among them sugar maples, elms and several of the oaks. Perhaps the black walnut would come about in the center of the list for most locations. The list itself would vary for different situations and climates. I should advise using black walnuts plentifully along the highways, especially country roads, and somewhat sparingly in home grounds and the other locations which I have named. By plentifully, I do not mean to the exclusion of other trees, for, in some places, there should be more elms and maples than black walnuts, but highways are so extensive that many kinds of trees could be used in abundance to give shade. In woods there are places where black walnuts could be used in profusion.

The objections that one might raise to the use of black walnuts would be, first, the comparatively short season of the leaves. These come out rather late in the spring and drop early, probably these trees can not be improved very much in this respect. Second, boys will sometimes throw sticks at the trees to bring down the nuts. If a boy comes in home grounds to do this, he will be considered a nuisance. Branches are sometimes broken and the trees disfigured from this cause. Along highways this objection might perhaps be lessened somewhat by planting enough trees so that there would be more nuts than the boy would want, or by improving the manner of the boy. Third, the trees are often attacked by caterpillars. This objection can usually be obviated by spraying or destroying the pests in other ways.

BUTTERNUTS

The remarks made about the black walnut would apply in many ways to the butternut, its nearest relative. Butternuts have a range extending further north and they are more subject to disease than the black walnuts. Like the walnut, their leaves come out late and drop early. They are subject to the attacks of boys. When healthy, they are attractive in appearance and they deserve to be planted in most places where trees are used for landscape effect, but in the list I suggested, they would come below the black walnut.

HICKORIES

There is a time of the year when the shagbark, which produces such sweet nuts, would be more attractive than any neighboring tree. It is when the big buds swell and send out yellowish green leaves surrounded by large, red bracts. At this time they are as showy and as beautiful as any flowers. The bracts soon fall, but the leaves turn a rich green and are attractive until early fall, when they are sometimes yellow, and sometimes drop without any marked coloring. The trunk of the hickory is unique in appearance as the bark separates from the tree in long platelike strips which hang on at one end and give the scraggly appearance from which the tree derives its name. All of the hickories are attractive in appearance, but some of them drop their leaves early. The hickories are difficult to transplant but this is nothing against the beauty of the tree. An established tree is more valuable on this account. In some places hickories are quite subject to disease or to the attacks of borers. Like the walnuts, hickories which produce edible nuts are subject to the attacks of boys, but, on account of the toughness of the wood and the roughness of the bark, they are usually quite able to withstand these attacks. Hickories are suitable for use in all landscape work so far as their appearance is concerned. The fact that they are not so used is due to the difficulty of transplanting them. In the fall when a maple tree has colored up beautifully and a hickory near it has dropped its leaves, we are apt to compare the two unfavorably to the latter, but we should remember the appearance in summer and especially when the leaves first unfold. Hickory trees are beautiful also when the leaves are off, their branches making beautiful etchings against the sky in winter. The pecan, which is the largest of all hickories, is an exception to the general rule because it is planted quite extensively, especially in the South. It is a beautiful tree and where it is hardy there is no reason why it should not be used as a street tree, a tree in home grounds, in parks, or any other place where deciduous trees are needed. It is raised extensively in some nurseries, while the other hickories are raised very sparingly, and some not at all.

THE BEECH

Some would consider the beech the most beautiful of all nut trees. Its comparatively smooth, bluish-gray bark makes it a distinctive tree at all seasons. Its branches, spreading straight out from the trunk, give it an appearance of strength. Its fine branches form a specially pleasing skyline, its sharp buds are trim and neat in appearance, its leaves are beautiful in shape and texture. Their fall coloring, while not as brilliant as that of the maples, is really beautiful, being either yellow or a rich brown. The leaves are apt to hang on all winter, especially on the younger growth, and then they often turn a straw color. If a list of beautiful trees for February were to be made, I am rather inclined to think that the beech would stand at the head of the list. A young beech with its bluish-gray bark, its straw colored leaves, and flecks of snow here and there, seems to me the most beautiful of all deciduous trees in winter. The young leaves also are especially attractive when they first appear and the blossoms are sometimes objects of interest, although not showy in color.

HAZELNUTS

Often in old pastures one finds forlorn, scraggly looking bushes and is told they are hazelnut bushes. One would not pick out bushes like these to plant in his front yard, and yet, when given a chance, there is scarcely a more attractive shrub than the hazel. It is one of the first shrubs to blossom, the staminate flowers hanging in slender, graceful yellowish-brown catkins, while the pistillate flowers are little points of purplish-red protruding from the buds. These blossoms appear long before the leaves. The latter, when fully developed, are beautiful in outline and soft in texture and they have a rich coloring in the fall including various shades of yellow and red. The hazel should certainly be used extensively in landscape work. The nuts, with their leaflike involucres, are attractive in appearance in August and September. In connection with our own hazel one would naturally think of the filbert, which is a European relative. The filbert is often planted for ornament. There is a variety with purple leaves which some people admire.

THE OAKS

Of all our native trees, I think the oak excels in beauty of foliage. By many oaks might not be considered nut trees, but nearly all of the acorns are eaten by squirrels or other wild animals and so I think it would be proper to mention oaks when speaking of nut trees in the landscape. In the northern states we have two groups known as the white oak group and the red oak group. The trees of the former have soft, dull green leaves with rounded lobes, while those of the latter have shiny leaves with lobes ending in points of filaments. The former mature their acorns in one year, while the latter require two years to bring them to maturity. The acorns of the white group are sweet, while those of the red group are more or less bitter. The foliage of all oaks is attractive when it first appears, the small leaves varying in color from almost white through pink, yellow, and red to the deepest purple. Perhaps the red oak excels all other trees in the beauty of its summer foliage and its leaves are also richly colored in autumn. The Bur Oak, in addition to having attractive foliage, has a rough, dark bark that gives it an attractive appearance in winter. The white oak, especially when young, holds many of its leaves in spring and these with their brown color, give a warmth to the snowy landscape. One could make a most beautiful park by planting nothing but oaks and they should rank with maples and elms as street trees.

CHESTNUTS

There is a tree which a few years ago would have been considered along with the oak in landscape work, but which now would not be thought of in certain regions on account of a disease which has practically destroyed it. This tree is the American chestnut. It grows to a large size, and if it were not for this disease, would be worthy of a place in any park. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent without success in endeavoring to exterminate the disease. Some of the introduced varieties are apparently exempt from this disease, but only the future can tell whether the chestnut will again become valuable in landscape work as well as in the raising of food and lumber.

In designing landscapes, we think first of open spaces and then bound these spaces with trees and shrubs having pleasing shapes and foliage. The tops of these trees form the skyline and the lower growth a margin of lawns, or perhaps of walks and drives. For these purposes the beeches, hickories, hazels, walnuts and butternuts are all valuable, their value being approximately in the order named.

HORSE CHESTNUTS AND BUCKEYES

There may be some question about including these in a list of nut trees. I understand, however, that the seeds of all of these trees have been used for feeding stock and perhaps some way may be found for making them available as food for men and women. There is no question about their usefulness for ornamental trees. In Europe, the horse chestnut has been used extensively for park and boulevard planting and it is also largely used in the United States. There are several varieties. The leaves appear early, the blossoms coming out later. Our own buckeyes are handsome in appearance and all are adapted for use in landscape work.

The arguments for and against the use of nut trees in landscape work would be somewhat similar to such arguments regarding fruit trees. A luscious fruit tree like the snow apple, would be omitted from the list of trees for the park, not because it lacks beauty, but because its fruit would lead to its destruction. Apple trees might, however, be very appropriate for private grounds. They have sometimes given a name to a home, as "The Orchard". The same is true of certain nut trees, "Walnut Hill," and "Hickory Grove" being not uncommon. The hazel, too, is frequently used in naming home grounds, streets or localities. A name would not be used in this way unless the object bearing it was held in esteem. I am glad there is an association to encourage the raising of nut trees and I hope to see such trees used in this way extensively, for the purpose of developing attractive scenery as well as for food production.

MR SIMONDS: When Mr. Bixby asked me to prepare a paper and come here and read it, I wrote back I would prepare a paper and send to him to read; and afterwards Mr. Reed came to see me, and knowing that he would be here, I concluded I would come. I dictated a paper and afterwards I found I had left out a few nut trees, and I want to speak just a word regarding those before I read my paper. One of those is the coconut palm. I was thinking more particularly of trees in this locality when I dictated the paper; but the coconut tree aside from raising the coconuts, I think is the most magnificent palm that we have. There are other trees that some like better, but I think the coconut palm is the most picturesque, the finest tree to plant. I prefer it to the other large palms. It has great spreading leaves, sometimes fifteen or twenty feet long, a feathery top, and the trunk is not quite straight, and I like it a little better because it is not. Then here is the English walnut. I did not speak in my paper about the English walnut, but there is a tree that is a beautiful tree, and where it is hardy it should of course be planted for ornament as well as for the nuts. And then there is the almond which we do not have here as a nut tree, but which they have in California, which has some attractions, and might be planted, although it is really not so ornamental as some of the nut trees; still it is worth planting. (Applause).

PRESIDENT REED: Are there any questions you would like to ask Mr. Simonds while he is with us, or is there any discussion?

DR. MORRIS: There are two or three points for discussion. Mr. Simonds does not think highly of the almond. I do for decorative purposes. When I drive in my driveway at Stamford and face that magnificent blaze of blazing clouds of almonds in the springtime, I think it is something worth while; it is the hard shelled almond. It will grow as far north as the peach does. The only trouble is they are a little more subject to leaf blight and need a little more attention. But where the peach will grow you can raise the almond profitably. Among the hazel nuts the most beautiful of the entire series is the tree hazel that grows about as large as the smaller oaks, and that is said to bear twenty-five or thirty bushels of hazelnuts a year,--enormous crops. That is perfectly hardy here, and the beauty of the tree is such that I believe it to be a very important addition. I would like to hear Mr. Jones' opinion on that point. I use it for grafting purposes for other hazels. The Japanese walnuts, almost tropical in their rapid growth, sometimes grow six feet in a year in rich ground, and with their great sprays of leaves sometimes a yard in length, and the seedballs of the heart nut variety give really a tropical appearance to the grounds where the ground is rich enough. They will grow almost any place, but in rich ground they are certainly very wonderful. Among the chestnuts, of course, we have a number of hybrids now that resist blight very well; and the little chinkapins for lawn bushes are very attractive. One of our most beautiful chestnuts is splendid for a lawn specimen and is evergreen in the South. When I was a boy I never had plums enough; so one of my ambitions was to have plums enough so I could see some of them rot on the ground. We can do the same thing with nut trees--have nuts enough so the boys will be full and have nuts enough. It seems to me it ought to be one of our ambitions to have so many nut trees along the roadsides in the parks, etc., that the boys and the squirrels can not use them all up.

MR. SIMONDS: I think the Doctor is right in some of his criticisms. In fact, the almond is something like a peach, and I had not prized it for use in landscape work so very much on account of certain diseases which would be apt to affect it here if it were not taken care of as we would take care of trees in an orchard. The hazel tree, of course, would be attractive if it is hardy here. I have had doubts about its being hardy because of its coming from southern Europe.

DR. MORRIS: It is hardy in all Canada. They have fine tree hazels in the park at Rochester. They have there probably the largest tree hazels in the country.

MR. C. A. REED: I would like to have more questions asked. I feel as though I had accomplished a real achievement in getting Mr. Simonds here. I was under him a short time a number of years ago and learned something of his skill as a landscape gardener and the reputation that he has; and I felt that we could not hope to have a better authority on these points that he has discussed than we could in Mr. Simonds; and it is something that is constantly coming up. The Department of Agriculture have to consider that people want to know what trees they can plant in the landscape; and I feel particularly glad to have Mr. Simonds here.

DR. MORRIS: It seems to me we ought to talk more about the nut-bearing pines in the landscape, because where you are planting pine trees, you might as well plant the nut-bearing kind as the others; they are just as beautiful, and you combine the Greek idea of beauty and utility.

MR. SIMONDS: Certainly, that is a tree I have omitted, because in this region we have not had any nuts.

DR. MORRIS: There are four pines that will bear nuts here--the Korean pine, the pignolia or stone pine, the Italian stone pine and the Swiss both. There are five nut bearing pine trees that are all market trees for nuts, that I know will grow and bear here, including the lace bark pine.

MR. SIMONDS: Are they raising nuts in Michigan on pines?

DR. MORRIS: No, but they might. Those five kinds would grow here and bear nuts here, so they have a double value.

MR. SIMONDS: I think we ought to raise them. Of course they are beautiful in the landscape.

DR. MORRIS: The whole idea of your paper is to approach the Greek ideal--add utility to beauty.

MR. SIMONDS: That is what nature does. It makes beautiful leaves, then uses the leaves for plant food.

MR. C. A. REED: I wonder, Dr. Morris, if you can tell where these pines can be had.

DR. MORRIS: The Korean pine is from northeast Asia, and you can get those from the original pine seed; the lace bark pine is from northeastern Asia where the climate is like ours. The Swiss stone pine and the Italian stone pine are from Switzerland and Italy and closely related--both excellent trees. The fruit now you buy as the pignolia in the markets. Both those are sold as pignolia nuts. It is a commercial nut of Europe. The white barked pine you would get from the West. It has a beautiful fine large nut, and you would get that from any Pacific coast dealers in nut trees.

MR. SIMMONDS: Has that another name?

DR. MORRIS: I do not know of any other name for it. Wait: The single leaved pine is one. That grows so far north on the Pacific, but we do not know whether it will ripen its nuts here or not. It is perfectly hardy here and would be a beautiful nut tree, grows well. The single-leaved pine--that is _monophylla_. There are four or five pinons that will live, but they do not grow fast enough to make it worth while to raise them in Michigan. The Jeffrey bull pine is another one that will grow here and bear fruit, with a beautiful blue-green foliage. The Jeffrey bull pine is one of the most beautiful and thrifty pines. That is the Jeffrey variety of ponderosa. The nut is very much larger than the nut of the ordinary ponderosa. The nut of the ponderosa is small, but the Indians use them and eat them, shell and all. When we come to using the pines more freely for food purposes, we are going to do what they do in Europe with some of the small seeded pines--crush them and make a mass, squeeze the cream out from the nuts, dry it a little, and that makes very fine rich cream; then the residue is given to the chickens and pigs. There are in all about thirty pine trees now that are used for market purposes where they fruit, and we will undoubtedly increase that number. I do not doubt that fifty species of pine trees will be planted for their fruit by two generations from now when we feel the need more.

PRESIDENT REED: We will be glad to have questions from any one. I think we get more from the discussions than we do from the papers.

VOICE: In regard to the hickory nut, the shagbark, back in northeastern Ohio, four years ago we had quite serious trouble with our hickories there along in the month of June, about the time we get the common June bug, there was a large bug that looked like the June bug that seemed to work at night mostly. We did not see them active in the day time, but they ate the foliage entirely off the lower branches and those limbs from which they ate the foliage died. In some cases, the tree died. I would like to know if anyone knows anything about those. That was new to me. I have had opportunity to answer all sorts of questions about that. I have been asked I guess by a thousand different people about that insect, and I have not been able to learn anything about it.

MR. SIMONDS: I can not tell you.

SAME VOICE: One man told me when he knew I was coming here, "For goodness sakes find out something about that if you can."

DR. MORRIS: It probably is the June bug, and turkeys and ducks would solve the problem.

MR. C. A. REED: The only suggestion I would make is that in Ohio you have one of the best posted authorities on nut insects there is in the country. That is Prof. H. A. Gossard, at Wooster. If he can not tell you about it, no one can.

MR. J. F. JONES: I think it is no doubt it is the ordinary May beetle that is doing the mischief.

PRESIDENT REED: I might say we had quite a deluge of beetles along that line in the nursery a year ago this last June, the first time we have ever been bothered with them. They finally became so thick we had to go through and shake the trees and shake them off. They looked something like the May beetle, only smaller, hard shelled, and seemed to come by the millions; but they only lasted a few days, and it was all over, and we have never seen them since.

MR. C. A. REED: There is one more question I would like to ask Mr. Simonds, and that is in regard to the proper distance for spacing nut trees along avenues and in parks.

MR. SIMONDS: I think that in both of those situations it is well to give the trees a natural appearance by grouping, and sometimes they can be far apart, and sometimes I think there might be a group of two or three close together, so that they would grow in one group. That will give a more natural arrangement in parks, and we have room enough along the sides of most of our highways to have the same effect there. The policy to be pursued with regard to spacing nut trees along highways would be the same that we would follow in planting any other trees, and one of the most attractive streets I know is now in the city of Grand Rapids; it used to be in the country when I lived there years ago; but along the sides of that street there are native trees, mostly burr oaks, and they have grown just as nature planted them. There will be a group of two or three, then a space, may be a single tree, then there may be a group of five or six; and that natural arrangement is really beautiful, to me far more beautiful than a straight row of trees, uniform spaced. On that same street sixty or seventy years ago my uncle planted where there were no trees--it is a continuation of this street--rows of sugar maples, and they grew and finally made splendid trees, and a great storm came along and broke down two or three, and that was a source of great regret to my uncle; but his son thinks, perhaps, it was a good thing, because it opened a beautiful view out into the country. Now by grouping trees we can save beautiful views. If we plant uniformly, we get monotony. With this belt of burr oaks spaced as I have described, you have variety on your sky line. Some trees are a little farther up than others and catch the sunlight, and we get shade and light. That is the way I should plant nut trees. If I were planting black walnuts or butternuts I would group them, but see that the tree has in some directions space enough to develop as far as it wishes.

MR. C. A. REED: Mr. Simonds is about to go. That is the reason I precipitated this question at this point. It was asked with reference to the law which these gentlemen, sitting at my right here, were responsible in putting through in the legislature of this State--provision for planting food trees along the highways; and it may be before Mr. Simonds goes, they have something further to ask.

PRESIDENT REED: These questions are very important to draw out information. Is there anything else you wish to ask before we leave this topic? If not, we will call on C. A. Reed to present his paper next. It was carried over from last night, I believe.

NUT CULTURE IN MICHIGAN

C. A. REED, WASHINGTON, D. C.

There is evidence on all sides that the people of Michigan are deeply interested in nut culture. Some have invested in pecan lands in the Far South; no doubt some own Persian (English) walnut, almond or filbert orchards on the Pacific Coast; and others are at the point of planting nut trees in Michigan. Everybody would go nutting in fall if he could. Michigan leads all other northern states in what its institutions and some of its people have done toward developing the nut industry.

Some thirty years ago the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company showed its interest in nut production, when it planted many miles of chestnut trees along its tracks running north from Adrian. Between 1888 and 1892 there were planted on the grounds of the sub-experiment station at South Haven, a number of pecan trees of Iowa and Missouri seed, Japanese walnuts, a number of filbert plants and a collection of almond varieties. At about the same time, Prof L. H. Bailey set out half dozen pecans and Japanese walnut trees on the campus of the Michigan Agricultural College. Later, Professor L. R. Taft added several seedling Persian (English) walnut trees to the group.

In traveling over the southern part of Michigan, one cannot go far without seeing signs of interest in nut trees. Everywhere the black walnut has been spared or planted. In certain sections it is to be found about practically every farm house or at least near enough by to furnish the winter supply of the family nuts. The chestnut is less common in any part of the state than is the black walnut, not appearing to any considerable extent except in the lower southeastern corner. It has not fared well in the state either as a native or planted tree. The Persian or so-called English walnut has attracted considerable attention from time to time, and under especially favorable surroundings one occasionally finds thrifty specimen trees. The pecan, the Japanese walnut, European hazel or more popularly called the "filbert" have all been given limited trials at various times. Even the almond has had a day in Michigan. Quite possibly the pistache has been through the same experience; but if so, the fact is not generally known. That species is from arid Asia and wholly unlikely to succeed in the latitude of Michigan although a young tree of a Chinese species ornamental because of its fine feathery foliage, green in summer but which takes on a brilliant hue in fall is, or was the last we know, doing well on the private grounds of Dr. Robert T. Morris, near Stamford, Conn.

Among the kinds of nut trees from which we can select varieties for planting in Michigan, there are eleven or more distinct species. With such a range as this, one might ask, why not go into nut growing in Michigan on the same scale as in the growing of apples and peaches. There are probably better reasons why this is not being done, but two very good ones are that there are not enough available trees of good varieties to plant more than a single orchard of respectable size in the state; and the other; it would not pay to put good Michigan land to nut trees of such varieties as are now available even though they could be had.

If nut trees can't be had and wouldn't pay if they could then why publish an article on "Nuts for Michigan Planting," is probably what will run through the minds of most readers of these lines. It is certainly a logical question, but there are at least ten reasons why nut trees should be planted in Michigan.

1. The forests of Michigan have reached the point of depletion such that for the sake of future generations, trees of some kind other than fruit must be planted.

2. While planting, we may as well select those capable of performing more than a single service; in other words, trees of maximum possible use. Oaks, poplars, ashes, pines, elms, etc., all have their places, but not one in the group can produce anything of food value to humankind.

3. Nut trees of most kinds, rightly used, are valuable for timber purposes and are very effective in the landscape.

4. Members of the walnut family including the hickories are especially appropriate along the highways and city streets. They are sturdy, long-lived and not easily damaged by storms or neighbor's boys.

5. Nuts are among the very best of the meat substitutes. They contain much of the same food elements as do meats, although in different proportions. Some contain starch and to that extent can be used as are the cereals and Irish potatoes. Nuts are the only vegetable product grown in Michigan, which in raw condition afford a complete and fairly well balanced food for human beings. Every pound of nut food that can be raised from a tree along the street or in the fence corner on the farm is clear gain, and that much added to our national food supply.

6. Nuts are rapidly assuming importance as factors in the lists of American foods.

7. Many species of nut trees are adapted to some parts of Michigan. By planting the best that are now available, and by constantly being on the lookout for better sorts, superior varieties will be certain to develop in a short while, the same as has been the case with all older orchard fruits and farm crops.

8. Whoever intelligently plants nut trees performs a distinct public service. He will receive the gratitude of more than the present generation.

9. Among all kinds of trees, none are more appropriate for memorial purposes to the men who did not come back from France, than is the black walnut. That species itself took a valiant part in warfare. It furnished material for gunstocks the same as in previous wars, but in the World War it rendered what was considered by eminent authority, a greater service in supplying propellors for aeroplanes. The shells of the nuts contributed their part toward the making of carbon for gas masks, and no one knows the extent to which walnut kernels made up the delicacies sent from home to the boys in the trenches. With such a service record as this, the black walnut is entitled to a memorial of its own. Its value as a timber tree, as an ornamental, and as a food producer, together with its great range of adaptability from North to South and East to West, should justly entitle it to recognition as a National tree.

10. Michigan has a law providing for the planting of nut trees along its highways. Thus, the state has officially put its approval on the idea and has become a leader in the encouragement of this great kind of economy and thrift. It has taken a step toward conservation in a direction which is highly developed in certain parts of Europe. The product is sold to the highest bidder and the income used in the upkeep of the road system. In that manner the roadways of those sections take care of themselves. In this country millions of dollars of state and federal moneys are being used this year, (ending June 30, 1921), in the construction and upkeep of public roads.

Desirable as it would be to accomplish these ends, it could not all be done at once. Even though there were an abundance of available trees of tried kinds, it would take a long time to plant them and to care for them until they might become of profitable bearing age, also public opinion would need to be remolded in order to insure their care and protection. Still it can and will be done. The movement is already on; the Michigan law began to operate soon after being passed, and the Division of Forestry at the Agricultural College is raising the trees for planting. Public opinion regarding the care of the trees and their product will take care of itself when the value of the trees and their products becomes apparent. Both in California and in Oregon not only nut but fruit orchards and vineyards, grow beside the roadways with no protection other than that of public opinion; and what has been done in one part of the country can be done in others as well.

The eleven species referred to as being available for Michigan use are as follows: The almond, beechnut, butternut, chestnut, filbert, (hazel), pecan, shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory, black walnut, Japanese walnut, and the Persian or so-called English walnut.

Taking these up in order we will consider first the

ALMOND

Except as an ornamental, the almond does not offer a great deal for use in Michigan. It is sometimes said to be as hardy as the peach, but only as this refers to the tree and not to the fruit, is it true. Certain hardshell almonds edible, yet so inferior to the improved varieties as to have practically no market value, do sometimes succeed in lower Michigan but their value is limited to their beauty when in bloom and to the production of a low grade product. In form and general appearance these almonds are much like peach pits. Very often they contain much of the same bitter taste of Prussic acid common to the kernel of the ordinary peach. They are interesting to observe while growing especially as they begin to ripen. The covering outside the seed is thin and leathery and while ripening, splits and peels outward in curious fashion.

Perhaps the only recognized variety of almond of this class which is known to have fruited in the East is the Ridenhower from southern Illinois. Trees can be had from some of the nurserymen.

THE BEECH

One of Michigan's noblest, hardiest, and most often abused trees is the American beech. It is common from north to south. No tree is more handsome and none, unless possibly it be the white birch, is so often defaced. Dr. Robt. T. Morris, of New York City, reminds us that according to the scriptures, man, genus _Homo_, is a finished product made by and in the image of the Creator. A safe assumption is that the scriptural reference is not to the creature whose initials appear on the trunk of a beech or whose knife has removed bark from white birch. His genus is not _Homo_, and he is not scripturally recorded.

The beech is not directly important as a nut bearing tree, but indirectly it is as the nuts are rarely harvested. Indirectly it is of great value. No food is better for turkeys and hogs than are beechnuts. A bushel of beechnuts that can be used in this way replace at least a bushel of corn. The difference in cost of production should make beechnuts worth several times as much as corn.

In Europe a valuable oil used as a drug and for salads is expressed from beechnuts. Possibly individual trees could be found somewhere in Michigan which produce nuts large enough, good enough, and in quantity enough to justify their recognition and propagation as named varieties.

No matter whether distinct varieties appear or not, the beech is well worthy of planting in many places about both the farm and the city lot.

BUTTERNUT

A member of the walnut family known also as "long walnut" and as "white walnut" is the true butternut. It has a smaller range of adaptability than does the black walnut but is found considerably farther north. On the Atlantic coast, its native range extends into Nova Scotia. In parts of New York State and New England, it is one of the most common species. It is well known in Michigan where, to many people it is the favorite of all nuts. The tree is less durable and long-lived than is the black walnut. It is less well suited for use in the landscape and its timber value is probably the least of any native walnut.

Within very recent years one or two promising varieties have been introduced by the nurserymen. The first and only one now available is the Aiken from New Hampshire. The nut cracks well and the kernels are of pleasant flavor, but as a variety it has not been tested long enough to determine its adaptability to conditions in other states nor the extent to which budded trees will be productive.

CHESTNUT

Perhaps the greatest, of all tree tragedies is represented by the chestnut. Once a dominant species in many parts of the East, it is now merely a wreck of its former self. In whole states along the Atlantic Seaboard, it has been wiped out by a fungus disease introduced from Japan some 25 years ago. Pennsylvania allows no chestnut trees to be shipped outside its limits for fear of further spreading this disease. So far as known chestnut trees from west of the Wabash River are free from infection. From Illinois, there have recently been introduced several varieties of chestnut supposedly of pure American parentage which are quite the equal in size of the European sorts but which have the sweet flavor of true American strains. In protected places in the southern part of the Lower Peninsula these chestnuts should be well worthy of trial. They are, indeed, splendid chestnuts. The principal varieties are the Rochester, Progress, Fuller and Boone. The last is not related to the others; but is the result of an artificial cross between the American sweet chestnut and the Japan Giant.

HICKORY

Next to, or perhaps equal to the black walnut, the hickories are among the best known of Michigan's nut trees. Belonging to the same family as do the walnuts, they require much the same soil for their best development. They are slower of growth and even harder to bud and graft or to successfully transplant. Nevertheless, some of hickories bear splendid nuts in liberal quantities. Quite a number of good varieties have been named and a few propagated. They are mainly of the shagbark species although some are shellbarks, some pignuts, and a few hybrids. The true shellbark is not found in Michigan and would probably not succeed there as well as do others. In character of growth, the shellbark is much like the shagbark but the nuts are much larger, and the shells extremely thick. Among the good shagbarks there are the Swaim, Weiker, Kentucky, Manahan, Taylor and Vest.

True hickories ordinarily do not attain important habits of bearing until from 15 to 25 years of age.

PECAN

The pecan is easily the favorite and most important nut of American origin. Contrary to current ideas, it is not an introduced species nor are the best pecans grown in California. The pecan has become one of the leading nuts of this country by rapid but natural processes. In the forests, it is indigenous as far north as the southern part of Indiana, and in western Illinois it is found at the latitude of Chicago. Seedling trees at South Haven and on the campus of Michigan Agricultural College have borne occasional crops but the climate of Michigan is too severe for pecans to bear regularly. The trees of northern origin should do well enough over much of lower Michigan to be worthy of planting. Good varieties are the Major, Greenriver, Niblack, Indiana, Busseron and Posey.

BLACK WALNUT

Already the black walnut had been referred to in this article. In its further behalf may be said that like the pecan it is one of America's most rapid growing valuable trees. It does not grow with the speed of a poplar, a willow, or a linden. Neither does any other tree of value or longevity. Two 6-year-old trees of the eastern black walnut grown in the Wiliamette Valley of Western Oregon, bore approximately a peck of nuts apiece, in 1919, when they were photographed by the writer. In good soil and under favorable conditions of growth, it will be seen that the black walnut is not always slow in developing but that it is sometimes a rapid grower.

Three varieties of black walnut are now available from the nurserymen. They are the Thomas from Pennsylvania, the Ohio from some 20 miles south of Toledo, and the Stabler from Howard County, Maryland 15 or 20 miles outside the District of Columbia. All are prolific, precocious and of superior cracking quality. The Thomas was discovered and first propagated some 30 years ago. The young grafted trees show a tendency to begin bearing in the nursery rows.

At the present time, the black walnut is regarded as being of greater promise for planting in the northern states than is any other species either native or introduced.

THE JAPANESE WALNUT

To a considerable extent this species has been confused with the Persian walnut, although the two are quite unlike. This is a dwarfish species with dull green rough leaflets often as many as 15 or 17 per leaf, which often bears nuts in clusters of a dozen or more. While green the outer hulls of the nuts are rough, and somewhat sticky.

The Persian walnut is a standard-sized upright growing tree with bright green leaflets, usually 5 to 7 per leaf, and smooth, round nut hulls which split open and shed the nuts automatically.

The Japanese walnuts hybridize freely with other species of walnuts and produce nuts of all types; not infrequently crosses of this kind resemble butternuts so closely as to be practically indistinguishable from them.

True Japanese walnuts have a range in form of two distinct types. The better known is of guinea egg shape; the other, often known as the heartnut, is of distinct heart shape. Neither is large; the former is of about the size of a guinea egg or smaller; the latter is still smaller. Both are like the black walnut in being encased in a rough outer husk, which upon maturing shrivels and adheres to the surface of the nut. The shells are thinner than are those of the black walnut, but thicker than are those of the Persian walnut. When well matured, the shell of the heartnut tends to open slightly at the apex, after which it can be readily split in half with a knife blade. The flavor of the kernel is much like that of the American butternut.

The Japanese walnut is ordinarily hardy wherever the black succeeds. It is by no means uncommon in Michigan where it is especially appropriate for family planting. For the present, seedling trees will have to be relied upon almost wholly, as very few varieties have been propagated. So far as the writer is informed, the only named variety available from a northern nursery is the Lancaster introduced by J. F. Jones, a nurseryman at Lancaster, Pa.

PERSIAN WALNUT

Perhaps no species of nut tree has attracted as great attention in Michigan as has the Persian walnut. Under some conditions it does well for a time in the eastern or northeastern states, but on the whole its performance is distinctly erratic. Commercially speaking, it is of importance in this country only on the Pacific coast. Trees on the campus at Michigan Agricultural College and at many private places in the central part of the state, have come to little. Usually they grow well in summer only to freeze back nearly as much in winter. In Saranac County, eastern Michigan, close to Lake Huron there are a few young orchards that are in good condition, but a half mile back from the lake the results are discouraging. The same is true next to Lake Michigan from Grand Rapids south to the Indiana line.

The only recommendations that can be made relative to planting the Persian walnut in Michigan are, that it be planted very cautiously in any part of the state and except under very favored circumstances it be not at all in the middle of the state.

Do not undertake to grow the trees by planting the nuts or by buying seedlings. The most desirable trees are those of hardy varieties, budded on the black walnut as a stock a foot or more above ground.

THE FILBERT

The filbert has been one of our tantalizing species of nut trees. In England, trees grow to ages of from one to two hundred years, bearing profusely meanwhile. There, for many years, they are grown under apple trees with currants below them. In Germany, we are told that strawberries are grown below the currants and gooseberries. We are waiting for the Yankee who will be first to grow peanuts or potatoes below strawberries. In the eastern part of this country, plants of the European kinds are disappointing in two ways. First, they are uncertain as to their ability to bear; and second, they are highly susceptible to a fungus disease found everywhere that the native hazels abound. The native species is quite able to resist this disease, but the introductions ordinarily succumb to it quickly.

In the Pacific Northwest, where by many filbert culture is believed destined to become a successful and paying industry within the next few years, not infrequently some varieties begin to blossom as early as in December. The blooming is largely responsible for the failure of eastern trees to set and mature crops of nuts.