Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

Several nurserymen are now endeavoring to find varieties of commercial value in the eastern part of the country. Apparently they are meeting with some success as far as their work has gone. Many of the varieties they are testing are proving inferior, but a few have borne good nuts in gratifying quantity for several years. During the past winter, a good many froze severely, although they are commonly hardy under severe weather.

Wherever they are planted, they should have fertile soil, from 20 to 25 feet of space each way and should be trained to tree form. After 10 years or so, they should be headed back severely, unless regular pruning has been practiced in the meantime. Filberts fruit only on new wood.

To those who have read this article to this point, it is now apparent that the nut industry of Michigan lies almost wholly in the future. The native varieties form an excellent ground work for that future, but to properly take advantage of that base, it will be necessary for practically every nut lover in the state to lend a helping hand. The first great movement necessary is to examine the nuts in the fall as ripen in order to find the best of the walnuts, hickories, native hazels, beeches and introduced chestnuts, walnuts and filberts. In this everyone can help. Whoever finds a tree of any kind bearing superior nuts will render a great service by sending specimens, together with his or her address and that of the owner of the tree to the Federal Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C., or to Willard G. Bixby, Treasurer of the Association, Baldwin, Nassau County, N. Y. Be sure to carefully note the exact tree, from which the nuts were obtained and if specimens are sent from more than one tree, they should be kept separate and each carefully labeled. Such nuts will be examined and if found to be the equal or superior to the varieties already being grown, they will be named and arrangements made for this propagation and test.

No prizes are given by the Government but good nuts sent the Government will be eligible to entry in the contest of the Northern Nut Growers' Association. If enough specimens are sent the Department, some will be forwarded to the Treasurer of that Association who has charge of awards.

According to very recent reports, the outlook for a nut crop during the coming year was never better. This should, therefore, be an excellent year for finding the trees bearing the best nuts.

PRESIDENT REED: I believe Mr. Reed expects to give an additional talk tonight with lantern slides.

MR. C. A. REED: There will be an informal talk, a question box this evening for the benefit of any interested in the general discussion of nut culture in the United States. I notice the guests of the institution are deeply interested in nut growing in their particular states; so the arrangement for this evening is to give those persons an opportunity to come out and ask questions.

MR. OLCOTT: While Mr. Reed is on that subject, I would like to ask if there is a chestnut as large as the Boone or other chestnuts grown by Mr. Riehl of as good flavor as the American Sweet chestnut. A good many people are asking me from time to time what the merit is in those large chestnuts. Invariably they have found that the quality is not as good as in the American sweet chestnut. I have been assured and Mr. Reed says that the kernel of these is very good. I wonder if there, are some of them better than others--of the very large chestnuts.

MR. C. A. REED: There is a difference. The Boone that Mr. Olcott refers to is a cross between the American species and the Japanese. The Japanese has not a good flavor; it is considerably below that of the American; but the Boone is quite good; but there are some of Mr. Riehl's chestnuts that are better. Mr. Riehl's are believed to be the pure American sweet chestnuts and some of them are very good, perhaps not quite as sweet as our American sweet, but they are exceedingly satisfactory and very popular in the Chicago markets where Mr. Riehl's chestnuts are going.

MR. BIXBY: This fall I received a chestnut which I am satisfied was Japanese, which is very large, and seemingly about as sweet as the American. I did not have the American there to test it by, but it was very interesting to me, and I am planning to get scions in the spring to follow it up further. It was seemingly a Japanese chestnut, and pretty nearly as large as the Boone.

MR. J. F. JONES: I might say that so far as I have tested them, some of the Japanese are quite sweet, but the meat is generally tough, not brittle and sweet like the American.

PRESIDENT REED: I believe Mr. Linton is with us, and we shall be glad to hear from him.

NUT TREES FOR HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC PLACES

WILLIAM S. LINTON, SAGINAW, MICHIGAN

For a number of years it has been a source of gratification and pleasure to me to be identified with the membership of the Northern Nut Growers' Association. True, "a long distance membership only," but nevertheless a connection that all must admit has borne fruit, or nuts, as you may prefer to state it.

To this association and its official journal must be given full credit for the pioneer work in a great and good movement that will sweep, not only over the United States, but over every clime and county in the world's Western hemisphere as well. Your seed sown in the peninsular state of Michigan, was the first to sprout in a substantial way in so far as public planting of nut trees by a sovereign state is concerned, and it was our good fortune to have as staunch supporters for the plan such able and persistent workers as my good friend, Senator Harvey A. Penney of Saginaw, Professor A. K. Chittenden of the Michigan Agricultural College, and last, but not least, Honorable Frank F. Rogers, Michigan's excellent State Highway Commissioner. Upon the latter will largely devolve the duty of carrying out the law's provisions, as provided in Senator Penney's bill passed at the last session of the Legislature, and that it will be well and practically done, goes without saying.

And now to my theme, "Should the Country Roadsides be Planted and Why." The present high cost of living, and in fact the cost of living at any time is a fruitful and serious problem. Our vast natural resources during the century gone, of forests, of game, and of grazing lands, have almost to the point of extinction been rapidly passing away, and it behooves us, who have profited thereby and now owe a duty to our race to artificially provide wherever and whenever we can for the future of humankind. In what better way can this be done than in utilizing the immense acreage of America's vast system of highways, (now absolutely wasted except for the sole purpose of travel), to reproduce the very finest of our country's magnificent trees, to again afford beauty, grateful shade, valuable timber and the choicest of food in great abundance for the generations to come.

Were this not a convention devoted to the advancement of nut growing alone, I would be glad to extol also for road planting fruit trees of every kind of adequate size and character, and free or nearly so, from the ravages of disease or insect pest, would be glad to praise the stately, hard maple, with its clear, sweet sap, producing the syrup and sugar that are the delight of childhood and age, and would be glad to recommend the useful basswood with its valuable lumber and its fragrant yellow flowers, producing that nectar from which our most delicious honey is made, and would be glad to recommend for our highways, certain other majestic trees needed by man and beautiful in the landscape.

But the object of this association and convention is a specialized one, as undoubtedly it should be, owing to the important field it covers, and therefore the nut trees and it alone for planting on highways and in public places should be the subject of this paper.

If we were to confine ourselves to one native variety or species for our Northern territory, the great majority of people would unhesitatingly say, let it be the Black Walnut (_Juglans nigra_). Attaining as it does a height of 100 feet and more, and a trunk of four feet and over in diameter, with a symmetrical top of splendid foliage, bearing the richest of nuts and its timber the most valuable in the country, with a natural range extending from Michigan to Mississippi and from Delaware to the Dakotas, it should be universally planted throughout the United States along thousands of miles of our great trunk line roads.

Its nearest American relative, the butternut (_Juglans cinerea_) preferring lower lands along river bottoms, attaining an average height of 60 feet with a trunk of 3 feet, its wood suitable for cabinet work, its bark with medicinal properties, and its nuts of splendid flavor, should be planted where soil conditions call for it.

For their rich, delicious nuts, alone, saying nothing about their clean, handsome foliage, their rough, strong wood--the best of any grown for many purposes--the hickories, among which are the Shagbark (_Carya ovata_) and the big shellbark (_Carya laciniosa_), should be planted in many places. They both frequently attain 100 feet in height with straight sturdy trunks averaging from three to four feet in diameter.

The other nut trees suitable for roadside planting, are not specially attractive to mankind for their fruits, as heretofore used or utilized, but may eventually become so under modern methods of cooking or proper treatment. In their raw state, however, all are edible and also palatable to most people, but their chief food value today, is to provide rich provender to domestic animals and birds, or the desirable wild life of the woodlands, all of which devour them eagerly, adding quickly to their weight and greatly to their quality and flavor of their flesh. I refer to the three magnificent oaks producing sweet acorns, viz., the White Oak (_Quercus albaq_), the Bur Oak (_Quercus macrocarpa_) and the Swamp White Oak (_Quercus plantanoides_). They are all emblematic of great strength and grandeur, reaching the majestic height of 100 feet, with trunks four or five feet in diameter; the leaf coloring at times is indescribably beautiful and the timber owing to its great solidity and strength is of the utmost value.

Last, but not least, the American beech, with a three or four foot trunk and almost 100 feet in height, distinct and beautiful, will demand the attention of those who plant our highways. Its nuts, feasted upon by many forest denizens, may be classed with the sweet acorns heretofore referred to, but the tree has a grace and charm all its own and it thrives from the warm waters of the Gulf to the icy shores of Lake Superior.

At this time we cannot recommend what has been a noble, almost fascinating tree, 100 feet its usual height and sometimes spreading 100 feet almost in extent, with a trunk that in some cases reached a diameter of 10 feet, with clusters of golden catkins fragrant in midsummer, resulting in great quantities of delicious nuts in autumn. Such was the chestnut, _Castanea dentata_, of the past, the fate of which, and almost extinction, has been a tragedy in the ranks of our native trees that has brought bitter regrets to all lovers of this partician of the forest. Good news comes from the far East, however, to the effect that some specimens of this famous tree have escaped or proven immune to the blight, and if the latter, it means the saving of the species and its replanting in soil and territory where it may thrive as of yore.

Having now enumerated the varieties of trees that should be selected in the main for the planting of highways and in public places, the question now arises as to the best method of carrying on the work in a practical way throughout the country.

Individuals or small communities certainly can not be depended upon to do it, as the result would be of a patchwork character that would not be pleasing to the eye or beneficial in its results.

Only federal, state and municipal governments can take charge of this great work and carry it forward to completion.

The State of Michigan, now as you know, by legal enactment, causes state authorities to plant the trunk line, highways, the county to plant the roads of the county systems, and the cities and villages and townships those minor roads that are within their borders.

In case of individual effort, where an owner of land plants food-producing trees along the highways in front of his property, he is reimbursed by stated amounts covering each tree so planted, the returns coming to him by a reduction in the amount of his own taxation.

This so-called Michigan plan carried on throughout the entire country, would call for a supply of trees of the character named far beyond the ability of the commercial growers to supply, and in my opinion can be worked out only by seed or seedlings of the various varieties. And why not? The cost would be much less than of any other method, and only a few years would pass before substantial returns would commence to come. It has been stated and it is true, that the seeds of the trees named do not always produce superior nuts, but in a great majority only those of a common or inferior kind. However, choice specimens will appear also, and from these of the better class grafting may be done to enrich all.

Then again, it is a question as to whether the important tap roots of the important nut species should be disturbed or destroyed in transplanting. It would seem to be the proper plan, therefore, in order to avoid too great an expense, that the nuts or seed should be used in a great majority of highway planting, the trees to remain where first placed on approved roadside lines, and the proper distance apart.

It may be said that too great a time would elapse between the planting of the seed and the maturity of the tree, but as time goes nowadays, it would not be an unreasonable period, and there are those within the sound of my voice now, who will witness in their maturity the magnificent trees producing their valuable products and adding to the beauty of the landscape and to the welfare of mankind.

This Association has been the pioneer in this great movement, and it will be the credit to those connected therewith in the generations to come, in that they have all contributed in a very marked degree to the everlasting benefit of mankind.

PRESIDENT REED: Is there any discussion?

MR. C. A. REED: I believe Senator Penney is to discuss a topic very closely affiliated with this one and perhaps it would be well to defer the discussion until we hear his address.

PRESIDENT REED: We will be glad to have Senator Penney present his paper next, then. It is along the same lines--legislation in regard to tree planting.

SENATOR PENNEY: When my friend, Mr. Linton, started off to discuss his paper, he said he was a long distance member, and you can see the effect in the fruits he has borne or the nuts he has borne. Ever since I was taken sick up north, he has been trying to tell me I was a nut. I was taken sick up there in the deer hunting camp, and my friend, Mr. Linton, assisted in getting me out and rushing me to the nearest hospital, and it happened to be an insane asylum in northern Michigan.

LEGISLATION REGARDING THE PLANTING OF NUT AND OTHER FOOD PRODUCING TREES

SENATOR HARVEY A. PENNEY, SAGINAW, MICHIGAN

I wish to express my hearty appreciation to your Association for the distinct honor of being invited to address your meeting upon the subject of "Legislation Regarding the Planting of Nut and Other Food Trees." I believe that my invitation came as a result of having been responsible for introducing a tree-planting bill in the Senate of the 1919 session of the Michigan State Legislature, and later in securing its passage.

This bill purported "to regulate the planting of ornamental, nut-bearing and other food-producing trees along the highways of the State of Michigan, or in public places, and for the maintenance, protection and care of such trees, and to provide a penalty for injury thereof, or for stealing the products thereof."

For several sessions of the Michigan Legislature prior to 1919, bills had been introduced intending to accomplish this result, but each time heretofore they have regularly failed to pass. This fate included one introduced by the writer during the session of 1917. I am now fully convinced that none of these bills, although a step in the right direction, seemed to provide the proper working machinery or necessary features to put them into practical operation, and hence did not appeal to the legislative committees, nor to the members of the several legislatures.

During the regular session of 1919, with the valuable assistance of Hon. W. S. Linton of Saginaw, a new bill was prepared providing an entirely new method of supplying and planting such trees, and for putting such a law into effective operation under the jurisdiction of the state. It was made to work in harmony with the rights of the property owner adjoining the highway, and with the duties of those state officials whose departments were perfectly adapted and equipped for putting the law into active operation.

I am going to attach an enrolled copy of the tree planting bill at the end of this paper, so that it may be made a part of the permanent records of the Association. It will therefore be unnecessary to give a detailed account of all the provisions contained therein.

I will, however, mention a few of the principal points so that you may understand its purpose. It provides that the Public Domain Commission which has charge of the state forest reserve lands and parks, together with the Michigan Agricultural College, are given authority to grow and acquire suitable seeds, scions or trees for planting under the provisions of this act. A department of the Agricultural College determines the kind of trees which are adapted or suitable for planting in different soils or places. In order to insure a uniform system of planting, this duty is left to the State Highway Commission and the State Board of Agriculture, acting jointly. The trees belong to the state, but the nuts or other products belong to the owner of the land adjoining the highway. A penalty is imposed if these trees are defaced with advertisements or signs, and neither can they be cut down or destroyed.

But just as you find legislatures differing in their opinions upon public matters, so you must expect them to differ more or less upon the feasibility of most any bill that is presented for their consideration. All kinds of arguments are made for and against any bill. I remember that one Senator in the committee thought that trees planted along the highways bearing nuts or fruit would constantly be subject to a lot of tampering and molestation by the traveling public. But another Senator came back with a reply that seemed to be very convincing, when he stated that he had a fine row of cherry trees growing along the front of his farm, and had never experienced any trouble of that kind from such a source.

I have always felt that if the merits of a good bill were properly explained to a legislature committee, there will be no hesitancy in having it favorably reported out and finally passed. I believe the legislature of 1919 took this view of the tree planting bill introduced by myself, as it was passed by both the Senate and the House, and later received the signature of Governor Sleeper, thus making it an established law of Michigan.

I must not forget to mention the fact that after this bill had been passed by the legislature and still needed the signature of the Governor to make it a law, a number of Michigan's representative and influential citizens wrote to Governor Sleeper, urging him to affix his signature thereto. Among those was Dr. J. H. Kellogg of Battle Creek, who has more than a nation-wide reputation in his profession and is at present a strong factor in the success of this association.

This law is intended not only to ornament the public highways of Michigan, but also to furnish nut bearing and other food-producing trees that should assist materially in the problems incident to the high cost of living. It would seem that such a law should be duplicated in every state where practicable, and also be promoted by the National Government upon National Highways.

The people of Michigan recently voted to amend the State Constitution so as to permit the issuance of $50,000,000.00 worth of bonds for the improvement of public highways. By the time that this large sum has been apportioned over a period of say ten years, and the road moneys furnished and expended during this time, as federal aid by the federal government, local counties and townships are added thereto, it has been estimated that the vast sum of nearly $200,000,000.00 will have been used solely for the improvement of our state highways.

With a wonderful highway system thus established, beautifully adorned by the state with nut-bearing and other trees, the roads of Michigan should become a great attraction in which our citizens would not only have a just pride, but serve as a model of excellence for the whole nation to imitate.

MR. C. A. REED: Mr. President, I would like to ask the Senator what danger there is likely to be in the protection of these trees when they are once planted. Is the tree going to have right of way, or is the telephone company going to have right of way in cutting out the top; or is a new bred consciousness going to have authority. If it is possible that the trees will be destroyed as many have been, perhaps the legislation may be changed in some way. Suppose we want to give them good care, what are we going to do?

SENATOR PENNEY: The law has a section in it providing for defacing and damaging the trees or cutting them down. I have a copy of the bill there. As my throat is in bad shape perhaps it might be well to have the secretary read the bill. It is not very long.

MR. LINTON: In this connection I would also ask for the reading of the bill by the secretary. This is a bill that may be copied by other states throughout the Union, and if there is any criticism that is just, in reason, for changing any of the features in the bill, they should be decided upon at this meeting or by a committee. Because a uniform bill throughout the country is really something desirable, I think, in connection with this legislation. And I would add further: Michigan does not have an entire monopoly of Highway legislation at the present time, but is in a prominent position in connection therewith. The chairman of the committee on post offices and post roads of the United States Senate is Senator Townsend, of this State. It is his bill that will cause the national highways to be constructed from ocean to ocean. Senator Townsend is one of our best beloved citizens; his heart is in this work; and I am sure from what I know of him (and he is a close friend of mine) that he will enter heartily into the spirit of embodying in national legislation something of the character that we have in state legislation in Michigan so that it may apply to the whole country as well. And for that reason I would like to have the bill read. It is a short one, and any additions or any amendments thereto I know will be gladly received by Senator Penny or myself.

MR. OLCOTT: Mr. President, I think that is one of the most important subjects that can come before this Association; not only that, but the interest of every member should be enlisted particularly in this subject. The possibilities of the extension of that work are almost unlimited and directly in line with the objects of this organization.

PRESIDENT REED: I am just wondering whether we would have time to have it read now, or postpone it to a little later. Dr. Kellogg is with us now.

MR. BIXBY: This bill is very short. (Read bill.)

Senate Bill No. 59 Introduced by Senator Penney
(File No. 150)

STATE OF MICHIGAN
50th Legislature
Regular Session of 1919
SENATE ENROLLED ACT NO. 18

An act to regulate the planting of ornamental, nut bearing or other
food producing trees along the highways of the State of Michigan,
or in public places, and for the maintenance, protection and care
of such trees and to provide a penalty for injury thereof, or for
stealing the products thereof.

The People of the State of Michigan enact