Chapter III: Part 3

PRESIDENT LINTON: Our highways in Michigan are, ninety per cent of them perhaps, four rods in width. That you will know is a good ample width, sixty-six feet wide. The basis of the planting as adopted by our state highway department, as I understand it, is thirteen feet from each line fence, making trees forty feet apart on opposite sides of the roadways. The main portion of the planting will be forty feet apart but that is simply a detail and the entire matter is left with the state highway commissioner and those who assist him. And, as stated by Senator Penney, they are very competent men in that department. Of course some trees would be placed further apart than others. There is no absolutely fixed distance. I don't know of any movement that will more quickly cause the planting of more trees than the one we are outlining at the present time in undertaking to cover the highways of this country. Michigan alone has six thousand miles of state trunk line highway. That is only a small portion of the highways in our state. These are the important roadways connecting our largest cities and business points. Just as an estimate I would say that we have ten times as many miles of roadway in Michigan as we have trunk line highways. If that average should be maintained throughout the country in each one of the states, and I imagine our state is an average one as to the number of miles of roadway, you would see that there would be three hundred thousand miles of trunk line highways alone, saying nothing about all the other highways and by-ways. So that I believe within the next five or ten years this roadside planting will cause more trees to be planted, and useful and valuable trees too, than all the efforts made in this country up to date in re-forestation. The people are alive to this subject and are asking for this very thing. It is only for us to map out a plan, arrange the details, and provide the sources from which they can obtain their supply and the trees will be planted.

It was my lot and good fortune last fall, following our meeting in the City of Washington, to visit Mount Vernon and there meeting the superintendent Mr. Dodge. He said to me that our association could have the products of the black walnut trees at Mount Vernon upon condition that that crop should not be commercialized in any way but used for public purposes. In behalf of the association I accepted the crop of walnuts, and, as I recall it, got in the neighborhood of thirty bushels of fine walnuts. They were selected walnuts the best and larger ones. It so happened that they arrived late in Saginaw, where my home is, and it was simply impossible to distribute them generally throughout the country. When it became known that we had these walnuts, and it became necessary to distribute these nuts and have them planted in our immediate locality, our people were delighted with the fact, and every school in every school district in the country called for them, and every city school called for some of these walnuts. They were planted in every school yard, in many cases with appropriate ceremonies along patriotic lines, and that did a great deal of good. Our citizens as individuals called for them. I was surprised to see the interest in it. They wanted them in their yards and at their city homes. Following all this I had about two thousand of these walnuts left. I wondered just what I could do with these. It was impossible to arrange a program for distribution so I asked the superintendent of parks of our city if he would plant and care for them and he readily agreed to do it. So that what was left of the consignment was placed in our finest and largest park. Shortly after having planted these, and the papers having noticed what had been done, I sent a copy to our honored first president, Dr. Morris. Soon thereafter I received a letter from him saying that he disliked very much to predict disappointment, but disappointment certainly was coming to us for our efforts in Saginaw, because, he said, "Mr. Linton, I have gone through this experience and the squirrels and other rodents will certainly get every one of those nuts. You will be disappointed in the results in the spring and I am telling you this so it won't come to you all at once. I want you to be prepared for the disappointment when it comes." I rather imagined it would come. I knew that the trees in that particular park harbored a good many fox squirrels and others, and I imagined they would get these walnuts. But I was very much astonished this spring to see the entire crop come up through the ground. I imagine it was a ninety-five per cent crop. So that we have about two thousand young walnuts growing about as high as this table from last year's planting. They are thrifty and they will be distributed around the state of Michigan this coming spring, and at other places. To show the interest manifested in that particular movement I will say that I received letters from perhaps half of the states in the country asking if they could not be supplied with some of these walnuts from George Washington's former home at Mount Vernon. I even got letters from the State of Virginia asking that some of them be sent from Saginaw, Michigan, to them in Virginia for planting at their home. So you can see how far reaching a thing of this kind can be. I know that we have started something here that will sweep from one end of the United States to the other, and will do more good along the lines of re-forestation than any organization up to date has been able to do.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: I move that a committee be appointed to report at the morning session the best method of getting this bill before the various legislatures. I thought first of attempting to formulate what idea I might have in the form of a resolution, but it appears to me that it is something that may require a little thought. Therefore I move the appointment of a committee of three to report in the morning the best form of a resolution or whatever seems best to adopt by this association to get action.

This motion was put by President Linton and unanimously adopted.

The President appoints on this committee Mr. Littlepage, Senator Penney and Dr. Canaday.

PRESIDENT LINTON: This action will close the discussion relative to the tree planting law. Any other subject that you desire to discuss can be brought before the meeting in any proper manner.

MR. BIXBY: As the secretary noted this morning, perhaps the most extensive program of nut tree planting which has yet been carried out has been on the other side of the world, in China. One of the members of the association is Mr. Wang who lives near Shanghai and is secretary of the Kinsan Arboretum there. Some time ago he obtained some American black walnuts from Japan. He planted them and they grew so much faster than he had anticipated, and I think faster than any other tree with which he was familiar, that he conceived the idea of planting the new highway, which was being made from Shanghai to Hankow, with these American black walnuts. In due course he sent a money order to pay for two thousand pounds to the secretary. Last year was not the best year to get black walnuts, and the secretary forwarded the money order to me and asked me if I could get these walnuts for him. There was more trouble in getting them in New York last year than there usually is, but finally I did get them and had them made up in twenty-two bags and shipped to Mr. Wang at Shanghai. In due course they arrived and he is anticipating great things from them. The growth that he reported of this first lot of black walnuts was something astonishing. It seems to me that they grew the second year ten feet high. It was a very astonishing growth, a much more vigorous growth than I ever heard of their making here. At any rate there are two thousand pounds of American black walnuts that have been shipped to China, and if nothing happens to them they will grow and adorn that new road from Shanghai to Hankow.

MR. JONES: A matter that will be of interest is that Mr. Wang wrote me a letter in which he says that the black walnut grows three times as fast in China as the Japanese walnut. Here in the nursery we find the Japanese walnut doubles the black walnut in the first two years in growth.

PRESIDENT LINTON: We would like to hear from those present who are familiar with trees, as you all are, as to the merits and demerits of the various kinds of trees that we desire to plant. In Michigan the only ones we are considering are the black walnut, the hickory, the butternut and the beech. The beech in our state grows to be a beautiful tree, as it does in most states in our country. In addition to that our state agricultural people are suggesting that we plant the hard maple, which is a fine tree in Michigan, and the basswood, and one or two others, to provide food along certain lines. The hard maple, for instance, produces maple sugar, the basswood the bees draw honey from. The simple and useful trees and shrubs are the only ones in our state that we are giving any consideration to.

DR. CANADAY: What would be the best way to start a hickory along the roadside? From the nut?

PRESIDENT LINTON: From my experience with the black walnut I would say that would be the proper way to plant these hickories, to plant the nuts where the trees would be. It is far less expensive than any other method. It is easily cared for by the road men who take care of a section of the road.

MR. MCGLENNON: I am interested in the cultivation and culture of the European filbert at Rochester and have been for a number of years, and I believe successfully. In different meetings of this association that I have attended and in correspondence with the officers of the association, filbert culture in this country has been referred to as still in the experimental stage. Now when you have been in a thing for ten or twelve years and have not had any set-back but progress along all lines of activity, I believe you have passed out of the zone of experimentation and have gotten down to doing something. That is what we have done in Rochester with our nursery which I believe is the only thing of that particular kind in the country. Mr. Vollertsen, my collaborator, came to me with this idea years ago. He told me what he believed could be done and what had been done in filbert culture where he had been until about twenty years of age, having worked in a nursery from the time he had been able to do manual labor. In this nursery they had given especial attention to the cultivation of filberts and he had learned their method of propagation. He told me about this and believed it could be done in this country. I corresponded with some of the prominent nurserymen in the New England states and they told me it would be folly to attempt anything like that in this country, that I would be wiped out by the blight. They had tried it with some of the European varieties. Nevertheless I went ahead and imported five plants of twenty leading German varieties from Hoag & Schmidt, a prominent firm of nurserymen in Germany. I turned them over to Mr. Vollertsen having rented land for him and furnished the funds for the fertilization and cultivation of the land, paying a wage to him to go ahead and make the experiment. I wanted to know rather than to believe. His method of propagation was from the layer. Now we have fruited these propagated plants and found them true. We started in with half an acre. We now have two and a half acres, probably fifty thousand plants altogether. We have never had the semblance of blight. Our cultivation has been thorough. Our fertilization has been consistent. Mr. Vollertsen has been on the job very steadily and understands his business thoroughly. I think that this talk of blight is something that we should not take so seriously to heart. On half a dozen occasions some of our good friends have said, "What about the blight; don't you think it will wipe you out?" I think it is well to be prepared for the truth but the same thing might be said if I plant a peach orchard, that in a few years it will be wiped out by the yellows. I can't make myself believe that the matter of blight in filbert culture in this country is a serious menace. The consensus of opinion in this association seems to have been that even if it does appear there are remedies for it. Our esteemed first president, Dr. Morris, when he visited our place in Rochester some years ago when the convention met there, said that he thought we should not worry about it. He was satisfied that if blight appeared it could be controlled by the removal of the blighted part. I believe that the same principle applies to the development of filbert nurseries as to any phase of life, that eternal vigilance is the price of safety. I believe that thorough cultivation, keeping the plants strong and healthy, will help them resist disease. But if blight does appear, by watching closely it can be removed and I think controlled, as suggested by Dr. Morris. Maybe it has been all right up to the present time to be on our guard but there is my work that has been going on for ten or twelve years. During these last two or three years we have been sending our plants all over the country, to California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Canada, and we have been getting fine reports with not a single reference to the appearance of blight. On the contrary they report that our plants are fruiting and they ask for more plants. As a specific instance I can cite a prominent doctor in Louisville, Kentucky, who some years ago got some plants from us and some filbert plants from some other nursery. We had a letter from him the other day in which he spoke in most complimentary terms of the plants he had gotten from us, that they had fruited, were true, and he wanted to know if we could furnish him from fifteen hundred to two thousand plants within the next few years. William Rockefeller on the Hudson, another customer of ours, reports plants doing splendidly and fruiting well. Mrs. Jones of Jones & Laughlin Steel Company reports plants growing splendidly there. Those are just a few of the instances I could cite. As I suggested to some of the gentlemen today at the next meeting it might be well for me to bring specific references from different parts of the country where our plants have been planted and are bearing fruit and are doing well, with no reference whatever to blight having appeared, and I shall be very glad to do that.

* * * * *

It seems to me, too, that the filbert is one of the best nut producing plants for use here in the North. Usually it is grown in bush form. It is very hearty and begins to bear early and abundantly under proper care. In view of the exceptionally wide range of climates and soils it seems to be one of the good nut producing plants for this association. Now it can be consistently considered that I have an ax to grind as I am producing filbert plants for sale, but I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that it is not with this thought in mind that I make these references. I have the interests of this association very much at heart. My whole time and attention and money is given to nut culture. I am extensively interested in the culture of paper shell pecans in Georgia. Successfully, I might also add. And I want to be equally successful with the filbert because I believe that it is the one great nut bearing plant that this association can stand back of and urge the people to plant, not because I am producing them but because I am a member of this association, and I want to see this association a success.

Three weeks ago last Monday, on account of my interest in pecan culture in the South, and having a good crop at our grove this year, I went to New York and spent the day there conferring with a big commission man down in the Washington Street section who handles large consignments of nuts. The subject of the filbert was discussed and I found a very great interest on the subject. They were one and all, I think I can say, appalled when I told them that there was a nursery in New York State producing filbert plants and filbert nuts. Mr. James, vice-president of the Higgins & James Company, showed me a very fine filbert, a variety with some unpronounceable name, I think Italian, and he said, "Isn't it a beauty?" It was. But when I told him that we had just as fine in Rochester and some finer he looked aghast. I invited him to come to Rochester and be convinced. He told me, as others did, that there was a wonderful future for the filbert in this country.

The filbert, too, I think, is especially adapted for waste lands on farms. A great many farms have considerable areas of waste land which, I believe, could be made very profitable by the planting of the filbert, because just ordinary farm soil with ordinary fertilization, according to our experiments, demonstrates that the filbert will make "the desert to bloom as the rose." And it is a beautiful shrub for ornamental purposes. Come to Rochester and go down to Jones Square, and you will see a beautiful border of the purple filbert. Some of our customers are purchasing it, William Rockefeller for instance and Mrs. Jones, for the borders of walks and drives. I think that we should try to reach the gardeners and the agricultural and horticultural societies of the country in our campaign for the furtherance of nut culture.

In Dr. Kellogg's recent list of diets, fruit and grain and vegetables, covering two pages of his pamphlet, he gives there as the food value of the pecan in protein, fats, and carbo-hydrates 207.8, and next to them the filbert, 207.5, and next the English walnut at 206.8, and next to that the almond, at 191.1.

MR. BIXBY: I really think that Mr. McGlennon has done more than anybody else to get the filbert on a practicable basis. He has also mentioned why the association has been a little bit cautious in saying too much about the filbert. In some of the early plantings the blight made serious inroads. There has been a lot learned about the blight since that time and apparently it can be controlled by cutting out the blighted portions. I have seen filberts in certain sections of the country where the blight went half way around the twig. Apparently that can be controlled by cutting out that blighted portion. Or, if the worst came to the worst, by cutting off the limb. But there have been a number of filbert plantings made the last few years where that blight has not appeared at all. One of the greatest difficulties with the European filberts was that while the bushes would grow all right they would not fruit, or fruit only once in a few years. Mr. McGlennon, when he imported those plants from Germany, apparently took all the varieties the man had. I believe that is one reason why Mr. McGlennon is raising filberts when most of the plantings of one bush, or two bushes of one kind have failed. He has enough varieties to properly pollinate the hazel flowers. That is a thing that must be borne in mind. Any one wanting to plant filberts must not ask what is the best filbert and plant one. He must say, what are the best filberts, and plant several varieties. I believe that is one of the things that has enabled Mr. McGlennon to raise filberts when many previous attempts have failed.

MR. MCGLENNON: Replying to Mr. Bixby's remarks they are well taken. I overlooked mentioning in my talk a fact, because I believe it is a fact, that it is due to the number of varieties we have that every variety has fruited. Now they are in the nursery and the principal consideration is wood. We are working every plant for wood. We have not been able to supply the demand for plants and won't be for another year or two. Next year I shall probably have ten to twelve thousand plants. We layered some twenty-five thousand plants last year, and we are layering some twenty-five thousand this year. Mr. Vollertsen has been very persistent with regard to the maintenance of the smaller nut varieties, has insisted upon it, because we have found that they are very much freer bloomers than the larger fruited varieties. We have made up our selection, as catalogued, carefully to that end, including some of the smaller fruit varieties. A party asked me the other day if I would send them a plant this fall. I said, "No, but I will send you three plants," meaning one of the small fruit and two of the larger fruit. It is the larger fruit that the consumer is going to demand. He is going to buy the larger nut, although the smaller nut is really better for eating.

Convention adjourned until 9:30 a. m., October 7, 1921.

MORNING SESSION

Friday, October 7, 1921

The Convention was called to order at ten o'clock by President Linton.

THE PRESIDENT: The first on our program this morning will be the report of the Committee on Uniform Bill for Roadside Planting. I will ask the chairman, Mr. Littlepage, to make the report.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: The committee met last night after adjournment and considered different methods of getting this bill (a copy of which I now present) before the various states, and after some deliberation it was decided to report, on behalf of the committee, as follows:

That the committee,--the same committee which has been appointed,--be authorized by the association to prepare in proper and simple form a sufficient number of copies of this bill, to be accompanied by a letter, formulated by the committee, which letter will set out substantially three things:

First: Call the governor's attention to the fact that this bill is the one adopted by the State of Michigan, but that it should, of course, be modified to comply with the special judicial or road machinery of each particular state.

Secondly: A short argument in behalf of this character of legislation.

Thirdly: A request to each governor that he refer the bill to his attorney general to put it in proper form to fit into the machinery of his particular state, and that he also refer it to his appropriate state board of forestry, agriculture or what-not.

We suggest, as I said before, that this committee be authorized to prepare a letter along those lines, to be accompanied by a copy of the bill, and that, after it is prepared and ready, it be sent out by either the president or the secretary of the association. It was also thought by the committee to be desirable, at the same time that this is sent to the governor of each state, to send copies to the various agricultural and horticultural journals of the respective states, that being done with the view of getting some publicity. Then, too, the committee thought that it might be well, at that time, for the respective members of the association in these various states to write to their representatives in the legislature calling attention to this bill.

Now that is the report of the committee, and, Mr. President, I move that this report be adopted and the committee instructed to act along those lines.

(Motion seconded and carried, and the report of the committee was adopted unanimously.)

THE PRESIDENT: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I consider that we have performed a most important task in the pioneer work connected with roadside planting in America. There is no question but that with this association the idea first originated; and the work to date along those lines in the United States has been brought about by the Northern Nut Growers' Association. It is a work in which I, personally as well as officially, as you know, have been greatly interested and the unanimous adoption of the committee's report, endorses that line of work. I wish to thank you, individually and collectively, for your interest and the action which you have taken.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: I feel that our president in this instance has hit a high-water mark. He has taken hold of a very important idea and has developed it. After making an observation or two I am going to move a vote of appreciation to our president and accompany it with a vote of thanks to Senator Penney for coming down here from Michigan and lending his aid and enthusiasm.

We listened last night to a discussion about this roadside planting. As I observed before it is not without its difficulties the same as everything else; but this proposition extends to the various state boards of horticulture, highway, or what-not, one of the greatest and finest opportunities. Personally I believe in nut trees; but you must first get the public with you. Suppose you had a highway into Lancaster lined on either side for a half mile with pink weigelias in the spring. You would have the whole population going up and down that highway looking at the display. And the pink weigelia is almost a fool-proof shrub. It grows without cultivation and grows very rapidly and blooms in the greatest profusion. Suppose in mid-summer you had another highway lined with hydrangeas. I believe a particular one that is hardy is called paniculata grandiflora. It is a fool-proof shrub also, requires very little care and comes on after the other flowers go. It also can be produced very cheaply. You would have the population looking at and admiring the blooms and it would inspire, in each one of those individuals, a desire to go and do likewise. Suppose you had a half mile of sweet gum trees. If you go down through the counties of Pennsylvania now you will see the sweet gums--some of them a deep dark purple, some of them a bright golden yellow, some of them red, some of them with all the colors and all summer a beautiful foliage--suppose you had a half mile of those leading into a street of any city in America. The population on Sunday would drive out there and admire their beauty. It affords a wonderful opportunity. The individuals who care for those trees and shrubs, while moving up and down the highway caring for them, will be carrying with them a little university of horticultural knowledge. The average farmer thinks it is a terrible thing to spray. It is the simplest thing in the world as you know. This machinery by which these trees and plants and shrubbery would be cared for would be a moving university up and down the highway teaching the farmers how to care for their trees. Mr. Rush's trees which we saw yesterday were the finest examples of well cared for trees. You could not travel over the country and find trees showing a finer degree of care. Nobody could look at those trees without feeling that he would rather give a little more care to his trees. So that, if this idea is carried out, as it will be, it will become popular with the various state boards. They like to do things that are popular or that please the people.

As I said at the commencement of my remarks I am going to take the liberty of moving a vote of deep appreciation to the president (Mr. Linton), and also a vote of thanks to Senator Penney.

(Motion seconded and carried unanimously.)

THE PRESIDENT: I desire to thank you, one and all, for this vote of appreciation. My connection with the Northern Nut Growers' Association has been of a most pleasant character. I have found a group of men and of women who are interested not only in their own welfare but in the welfare of the race. What we have started today--or rather completed so far as organization is concerned--will do as much good in the United States in the next decade as any movement that has been started by any organization or association. It means re-forestation on a larger scale with right trees and right plants, as stated by my friend Mr. Littlepage. A new start will be made along those lines. The poor trees will be cast aside and the next generation will have trees and bushes and plants that not only will be beautiful to the eye but will be beneficial to mankind and to those birds and animals that we desire to have around us.

The greatest credit should be given to those of this association who in a scientific way have endeavored to bring about better varieties of nuts, better varieties of the products of trees, and their names certainly should go down in history with that of Burbank, or with those of other men who have devoted their lives to this kind of advancement. I am sure that will be the result. I know that as the message goes down along the line to the various states, their efforts will at least be recognized as having been beneficial and advantageous to all.

I want again to thank every one of you for the kindness that you have extended towards me and to my colleague, Senator Penney, who is most actively engaged in this work. Situated as he was--a most prominent member of the Michigan legislature--he was able to promote the very work in our Wolverine State that we today are undertaking to bring about in the United States, and I would call upon Senator Penney to say a word in this connection.

SENATOR PENNEY: Mr. President, it seems to me that after all these remarks have been made, this subject has been very well covered. I was very much interested in the remarks of Mr. Littlepage because he spoke of different ornamental trees and shrubs with which I am not familiar and which are not grown in our part of the country.

Our esteemed president, Mr. Linton, is doing wonderful work up in Saginaw at the present time in conjunction with our superintendent of public parks. He is helping to lay out some of our parks and to plant trees and shrubs there. One gentleman of Saginaw furnished the means to buy one thousand trees and the matter was put in charge of Mr. Linton to see that they were properly planted. This work and similar work that Mr. Linton and I have undertaken to promote and to push. We have done similar things in regard to the promotion of good highways. We have absolutely no interest in stone quarries or gravel pits or in any kind of contracts for the building of roads; yet we have spent several hundred dollars or more in going about Michigan giving talks at different meetings and promoting roads. One of the things that Mr. Linton tried to promote was this tree planting bill. Inasmuch as I was in the legislature I had the opportunity of helping to put this work across. We have a wonderfully good highway commissioner in our state. He is enthusiastic over this proposition. While our bill was passed just a short time ago, he has already planted eighteen miles of trees in one locality, and, he said, at very little cost. Just think what might be done throughout the United States. Suppose the prominent highways throughout the United States were planted with useful and ornamental trees, beautiful shrubs and things of that kind. Wouldn't it be a wonderfully beautiful and useful thing for the country?

In closing I wish to thank Mr. Littlepage and the other members of this association for the very kind treatment we have received here.

THE PRESIDENT: We are fortunate in having a paper that was prepared and will be presented by our esteemed treasurer Mr. Bixby, and I take pleasure in calling upon him at this time.

WHERE MAY THE NORTHERN PECAN BE EXPECTED TO BEAR

_Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, Nassau Co., N. Y._

In the January 1916 issue of the American Nut Journal is an article by Meredith P. Reed read before the Western Association of Nurserymen at their annual meeting in Kansas City, Mo., December 1915 entitled the Pecan Areas of the United States, describing the limits between which the pecan may be grown. In this paper the matter of the Pecan Belts of the country are discussed and their extent determined pretty largely by the length of the season (in average years), that is by the number of days between the latest spring frosts and the earliest fall frosts. A map was shown on which these areas were marked out, and it has been very useful to the writer in answering inquiries from persons who want to know if pecans can be grown in _a_ given section.

Mr. John Garretson, Aspers, Adams Co., Penn., has on his place bearing Stuart and Schley pecans, two of the standard southern varieties. These bear nuts of typical shape but which are only a fraction of the size that these nuts would be if grown in southern Georgia. This clearly shows that some of the standard southern pecans require something which they do not get at Aspers to enable them to properly mature their nuts. The trees stand the cold of winter but the fruit does not properly mature. Mr. Jones has suggested that it is heat that is lacking and has advanced the idea that even though the trees are hardy to winter cold they have not sufficient summer heat at Aspers to enable them to mature their crops. This has brought up the question as to whether there was any method of measuring the summer heat available for causing pecan nuts to grow and mature.

Observations on northern pecans (and some southern ones) on my place at Baldwin caused me to note that no pecans started to vegetate at Baldwin before May. May is the first spring month here when the pecan will leave out. May is also the first spring month when the average monthly temperature here will reach 50°F. It occurred to me that if we note the excess average monthly temperatures over 50° and sum these items for a season we would get what might be termed a figure for "pecan growing heat units." This figure of 50° is doubtless capable of some refinement. There is no reason to suppose that further study may not show that it should be somewhat more or less but it is the best we have so far and seemingly it is proving useful.

If we calculate these figures for Evansville, Ind., for 1914, for example, and show the method of doing it we will have

Average Monthly Average Monthly Temp.
1914 Temperatures in Excess of 50 deg.

January 39.6
February 29.9
March 42.0
April 55.4 5.4
May 67.9 17.9
June 80.0 30.0
July 82.2 32.2
August 78.0 28.0
September 69.6 19.6
October 60.8 10.8
November 49.2
December 31.0 _____

Total 143.9

The pecan growing heat units, pecan units they may be called for short, for Evansville, Ind., in 1914 were 143.9. From this we might conclude that a place where the pecan units for 1914 would figure out 143.9 would be likely (as far as climatic conditions are concerned) to grow pecans as well as Evansville, that is, of course if other years should show similar figures.

With the idea of seeing if the experience of those who were growing pecans would be anything like what might be calculated from the Weather Bureau Records, letters were written to all members of the National Nut Growers' Association to find out if pecans grew and bore well in their sections and if so which varieties. From the replies received it has been in a number of instances difficult to judge just how well pecans grow in some sections. For this reason I have interpreted the replies somewhat on the basis of my own knowledge and on certain facts told me by Mr. C. A. Reed. Apparently at least 175 pecan units are to be found in most places where the southern pecan is successful commercially. This corresponds to a line through Augusta, Milledgeville, Macon and Columbus, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama. There seems little question but that pecans can be grown north of this line but until I get more positive information than I now have I shall doubt if the planting of southern varieties of pecans much north of this line is nearly as advisable as it is south of it.

When we come to compare this figure with the pecan units for Ocean Springs and Pascagoula, Miss., where a number of the fine southern pecans originated which are now being propagated we find an average of about 222 pecan units. To reduce this to a percentage we find that many of the standard southern pecans grow and bear well when the pecan units are as low as 79% of those of the place of their origin. In other words the adaptability of the southern pecan is 79%, that is it will grow and bear well where the pecan units are as low as 79% of those of the place of its origin or to use rough figures, 80%.

When we come to ascertain the pecan units of the locations where the northern pecan grows and bears well we will consider Evansville and Vincennes, Ind., as places where it bears well; Burlington, Ia., as a place where it does quite well, but not as well, as in Evansville; Clinton, Ia., as a place where trees are growing well but where they bear a large crop only once in several years; and Charles City, Ia., as a place where the pecan does not mature its nuts. The pecan units are also shown for several important places outside of the native pecan area.

Highest Lowest Average

Evansville, Ind. (1919) 147.5 (1917) 116.4 135.7
Vincennes, Ind. (1914) 144.7 (1918) 123.1 130.8
Burlington, Ia. (1914) 125.8 (1917) 90.2 108.4
Clinton, Ia. (1914) 109.2 (1917) 75.3 94.9
Charles City, Ia. (1914) 91.2 (1915) 65.4 78.5
New York City (1914) 101.2 (1917) 85.2 94.3
Lancaster, Penn. (1919) 108.7 (1917) 84.9 98.4
Gettysburg, Penn. (1919) 108.4 (1916) 89.4 100.7
Cincinnati, O. (1914) 131.7 (1917) 88.9 109.5
Baltimore, Md. (1919) 127.2 (1917) 106.7 121.0
Washington, Md. (1918) 126.8 (1917) 104.7 119.3
Hartford, Conn. (1919) 88.9 (1917) 74.8 85.1

If we consider that Evansville and Vincennes are the center of the pecan district near which most varieties have originated and that a place should have 80% as many pecan units as in this Evansville district in order to have the northern pecan do well, a place should have 105 pecan units in order for one to feel reasonably certain that the northern pecan will do well there. It will be both interesting and instructive to see how well the applications that may be made from the conclusions compare with observed facts.

We know that there are large numbers of pecan trees at Burlington, Ia., and that the trees grow and bear well. Its pecan units are 108.4. We should conclude that at Baltimore and Washington with pecan units at 121.0 and 119.3 respectively that pecans would grow and bear well. There are pecan trees over 100 years old at Marietta, Md., which is half way between Baltimore and Washington. These trees bear nuts and although it has not been possible to get bearing records it is evident that they bear considerably for on the roads of that vicinity are hundreds of young pecan trees which evidently came up from nuts borne by these old trees. We should expect the pecan to do well at Cincinnati, O. In fact I have been expecting to find it native there, but, so far all inquiries have failed to do so. At Fayetteville, however, which is about 40 miles east of Cincinnati and somewhat north of it, are bearing pecan trees raised from seed brought from Shawneetown, Ill., which is in the Evansville district. Seed from these Fayetteville trees planted at Baldwin have shown nearly 100% germination.

There is some question as to how well pecans should bear at Gettysburg, and Lancaster, Penn., and at New York City where the pecan units are much like those at Clinton, Ia., where, on forest pecan trees, we get a fair crop but once in several years. Perhaps with our present knowledge these places should be considered on the borderland between the country where the pecan is likely to do well and that where it will not mature its nuts. We know that pecan trees have borne nuts at Aspers, Pa., near Gettysburg, at Lancaster, Pa., and at Westbury and Glen Cove, Long Island, near New York City but so far it has not been possible to make sufficient observations to form definite conclusions as to what to expect. It seems quite likely that fertilization and care may help materially the maturing of crops in those sections which in our present knowledge we must consider on the borderland.

Probably we should not expect pecan nuts to be borne at Charles City, Ia., where pecan units are but 60% of those at Vincennes, and pecan units at Hartford, Conn., are not so very different. There are northern pecan trees at Charles City, Ia., which many years ago were brought there, but the information I have about them is that they have never borne. There is a large pecan tree at Hartford, Conn., but I have never been able to learn of its bearing nuts.

As the northern pecan trees now being planted get to bearing age we shall have actual experimental data as to what they will do in the different sections. Until that time by the method outlined herein and with the Weather Bureau Records for several years at hand inquiries regarding its probable adaptability for a given section can be answered with far more confidence than was possible heretofore.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Is there any discussion upon the excellent paper just read by our treasurer?

MR. JORDAN: May I ask if, according to that theory, the Stuart and the Schley would not be expected to do well in Washington?

MR. BIXBY: I should say not. My intention was to indicate roughly a dividing line between where the pecan would be an important commercial crop and where it would not. We know the Stuart pecan bears pretty well at Petersburg, Virginia; it bears at Aspers, Pa., which is near Gettysburg, but the nuts are a fraction of the normal size and not very well filled.

THE SECRETARY: We all appreciate the amount of work that is represented by this report of Mr. Bixby and how valuable it is from a scientific as well as from a practical point of view. I wonder if it could be made more useful if Mr. Bixby could make a little map showing the isothermal lines on the basis that he has followed in his investigation.

MR. BIXBY: That could be done in a very general way, but altitude makes such a difference that there would be many places included in any belt at which, probably, certain pecans would not grow nor would not mature. It is very evident that local conditions make a great difference. I should say that a map to be useful would probably have a series of dots all over the country indicating what pecans would be best grown in that section; and while that would, to a certain extent, form belts yet there could be selected many places in any one belt where another pecan would be preferable.

MR. J. W. RITCHIE: I started in this nut-growing business knowing nothing about it. I found that there were men in it who had been working at it for years who knew many things that I wanted to know. They forgot that I knew nothing and that I might want to know some of the things that they had in their minds which gave them a background. I think there ought to be some way by which all this knowledge that we have can be brought together so that a beginner could pay a dollar or a dollar and a half or, if necessary, two or three dollars and get it all at once. I have visited Washington and have seen Mr. Littlepage. He showed me some Kentucky hickories and Stabler walnuts and I then decided that if I could raise any nuts there would be no trouble about selling them. I can sell just as many of those nuts as I can produce; but yet I do not know a thing about how many nuts will grow on a Kentucky hickory in one year. If you will lay the facts before me and let me judge them I will take the risk myself. I do not want anybody to tell me whether to plant nuts or not to plant them. I will decide that question for myself if you will give me the data to work on. I want a book that will give me the varieties. I want to know what particular nuts can be put out in this region here that would have a chance of commercial success. Then I would like to know as much as I possibly can about those varieties, their respective qualities, what they will produce and especially how to propagate them. I happen to have a place where there are a great many walnuts, butternuts and hickories. I would like to know, in detail, how to propagate those nuts. In a conversation with the secretary he spoke of northern pecans. I have read about the Marquardt, the Burlington and the Witte. I do not know whether the term "northern" included those three or not.

TREASURER BIXBY: I would be very useful if I could directly answer a good many of the questions that are asked. A great many people would like to know the pecan they can plant in their sections and be sure of success. That I would like to tell them. I do not have the information. It is frequently more difficult to answer questions than to ask them.

Regarding the Burlington and the Witte pecans, they come from the most northern section where good pecans have been found, where the heat units are the lowest. They come from Burlington, Iowa, where the heat units are 180, if I remember correctly. If we assume a place where the heat units are 80 per cent of those at Burlington, those pecans should grow and mature there. They would probably do fairly well in New York City. I think we might feel justified in saying that they would not do well at Charles City, Iowa, because pecans from near that section, or back north of that section, have been growing for twenty-five or thirty years, and have not fruited. There the pecan units are very low, only 78. It would seem reasonable that at places where the pecan units are somewhat over 90, including New York City, Lancaster, southern Pennsylvania, and of course practically all sections south of it, they ought to do well. Those are the safest pecans, the Marquardt, the Burlington, the Witte, and the Green Bay, to plant in the northern section.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: The Stuart pecan originally stood within fifty feet of the Gulf of Mexico. There is where it originated. It is one of the leading southern nuts; and yet I saw a Stuart bearing nuts in Mr. Roper's orchard down at Petersburg, Virginia. It has grown beautifully. There is a strictly southern pecan, nurtured by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which has the widest latitude. You can find the same thing up north. The fact that the Burlington grows at Burlington, Iowa, means this, that it ought to grow in all similar latitudes, or else violate known laws of horticulture. But it does not mean that some other pecan that grew 250 miles south of that might not grow still further north. The questions asked are important. Why does not the association, just as fast as it gets information, stick a pin there and fasten it down? For example, will pecan trees grow, say, on the thirty-ninth parallel, which runs through my grove down in Maryland. They will. Will they bear? There is one Major there that has this summer fifty pecans on it; another one there with perhaps a dozen. On the 27th day of March of this year, which was Easter Sunday, the temperature dropped sixty-eight degrees in twenty-four hours. It is a wonder it did not kill the forest trees. But with all that the pecan stood there just as hardy as the oak. It destroyed some of the ends of the swelling buds, not the dormant buds but some of those that had begun to swell a little, and that no doubt affected the crop or we would have had, perhaps, all the varieties, the Butterick, the Warrick, the Niblack, the Busseron, the Major, and the Green River fruiting. Do we want to grow a Major? I do not know. But the man that makes the mistake is the man who fails to set nut trees. How about the Stabler walnut bearing? It bore matured nuts at the age of four years on my farm in Maryland this year. The nuts are here. That answers that question. I have very grave doubts about pecan trees thriving in the Lancaster latitude; yet it may be that I am wrong about that. There may be some particular variety that will thrive here. If I lived in this section I would set out the trees so that when the one, two, three or four varieties are found that will thrive here we will have something to work on. There isn't any question about the black walnut or filbert thriving here, or the hickory, because we find them growing. If you go through southern Michigan and northern Indiana, you will see the shagbark hickory by the thousands growing along the railroad. This association should endeavor to get some affirmative data and distribute it among its members.

I have a row of Indian hazels. I put them on the side of my garage to make a sort of a screen because they grow those big crinkling pretty leaves. That row is probably fifteen feet long. If I had forty acres of those hazels with the same quantity of nuts on that are on there this year I could buy another farm.

MR. OLCOTT: I would like to ask about Evansville, Indiana.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: Evansville, Indiana, is almost exactly on the thirty-eighth parallel. The Busseron pecan tree grows almost exactly on the thirty-ninth parallel which is the northern boundary of the District of Columbia. The big orange groves in California are at the Lancaster latitude, which shows just how such things twist and turn, how difficult it is to learn them and why it is going to take a lot of experience to work them out.

THE SECRETARY: I knew that Mr. Jones was a very patient and a very courteous gentleman; but I did not suppose that his patience and his courtesy would enable him to sit there for nearly a half hour with, lying in his lap unopened, the new book on nut culture which has just been published by Dr. Morris, probably the first copy that you or I have seen. I see that Mr. Jones has finally yielded to temptation and has uncovered the book. Perhaps that is the book that will supply Mr. Ritchie's needs. I mention it now because I think that you all ought to know that such a book has been published by Dr. Morris and that it can be bought of the MacMillan Company, Publishers, of New York City.

MR. MCGLENNON: I think Mr. Jones has overlooked the following on the fly leaf of Dr. Morris's book:

"_To J. F. Jones, first authority in the world today
on the subject of nut growing. With the compliments
of one of his pupils, Robert T. Morris.

"New York, October 3, 1921_"

(Applause).

THE PRESIDENT: If there is no further discussion along this particular line, we will now receive the report of the committee on grades of membership.