Part 15

The Northern Nut Growers Association assembled in convention at the W. K. Kellogg Hotel, Battle Creek, Michigan, September 10 and 11, 1934, expresses its sincere appreciation of the courteous hospitality of the local committee on arrangements, headed by Prof. James A. Neilson. It would mention in particular Mr. W. K. Kellogg, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, and the W. K. Kellogg Hotel management. It appreciates the use of the splendid auditorium and is grateful for the attractive bouquets arranged about the room.

The association heartily commends the nut work being done in the state of Michigan with the aid of Mr. W. K. Kellogg and under the direction of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and actively under the lead of Prof. Neilson. The association records its pride in the establishment and maintenance of 115 acres of nut trees for purposes of experimentation and variety testing. In so far as known to the association there is no other tract of equal area in existence for this purpose.

Be it resolved, that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this meeting and that the secretary be instructed to send copies to Mr. W. K. Kellogg, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the Kellogg Hotel management, Director V. R. Gardner and Prof. James A. Neilson.

The Northern Nut Growers Association records its extreme sorrow at the death of its active and able, although but recently elected, treasurer, Newton H. Russell of South Hadley, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1934. For many years Mr. Russell was a very active member of the association, a regular attendant at its conventions, and a loyal supporter of its various activities. The genial personalities of both Mr. and Mrs. Russell are greatly missed at this convention. Our deep sympathy is expressed to Mrs. Russell and her children in their bereavement.

Be it resolved, that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this meeting, and that the secretary be instructed to send a copy to Mrs. Newton H. Russell.

Resolutions Committee,

G. L. Slate, Chairman C. A. Reed A. S. Colby.

DR. DEMING:

I think that the thanks of the association are especially due to our president, Mr. Frey, for having so successfully stepped into the breach for the completion of the arrangements for this meeting, and for the very excellent program which he completed. I think he should also be thanked for the separate notices which he sent out, directing the attention of the persons coming to and going from this meeting to the nut orchards and other things of interest that may be seen on the way.

THE PRESIDENT:

I thank you. I might say that the suggestion for visiting interesting trees and nut plantings came from Mr. Reed. I want to call to your attention again that next year's meeting will be held at Rockport, Indiana, on September 9 and 10, 1935.

The dues of this association are now only $2.00, and action taken at this convention will result in your receiving without additional charge the American Fruit Grower Magazine, which has been adopted as our official journal and included with the dues. You also have the privilege of joining the American Horticultural Society for the fee of $2 instead of $3.00. We are affiliated with that society and they allow to their affiliated associations the privileges of the members. Secure a membership and get the quarterly journal for the price of $2.00. We certainly recommend this association. We think that you get your money's worth many times over and it does a great deal of good.

The only other item of business is a report from the nominating committee.

DR. DEMING:

Your nominating committee reports through the chairman the nomination of the following members as officers for the ensuing year:

President--Mr. Frank H. Frey, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice President--Dr. G. A. Zimmerman, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Secretary--Mr. George L. Slate, of Geneva, New York.

Treasurer--Mr. Carl F. Walker, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

For Members of the Executive Committee--Mr. Frank H. Frey, Dr. G. A. Zimmerman, Mr. George L. Slate, Mr. Carl F. Walker, Professor J. A. Neilson and Mr. D. C. Snyder.

As Dean of the Association--Dr. Robert T. Morris, of Connecticut.

As Field Secretary--Mr. Zenas H. Ellis, of Vermont.

I move that the secretary be authorized to cast one ballot for the election of the ticket nominated.

The motion was unanimously carried, and the officers nominated by the committee were elected for the ensuing year.

THE PRESIDENT:

I might say that I won't, at least, have to sing a "swan song," and I'm not going to take the time to make any speech of acceptance. I appreciate your confidence in re-electing me and I am sure the other officers feel the same way. We'll all do what we can for your interest and what we are all interested in. Sometimes we may be a little slow in getting results but with your help I think we can make progress.

The twenty-fifth annual convention of the Northern Nut Growers' Association adjourned at 9:30 P. M. Tuesday, September 11, 1934.

Letter from J. U. Gellatly

_British Columbia_

I have just returned from a six weeks' trip to the B. C. Coast scouting for new nut trees and selling nut tree nursery stock. The outstanding discovery of the trip is the Rapier walnut tree. This young giant was planted 24 years ago by Mr. Rapier on Texada Isl. I estimate this tree to be 60 to 70 feet in height, the measured spread is 60 feet one way and 70 at widest point, and other measurements as follows: from ground to first limbs there is 8 feet of straight trunk with a girth of 7 feet one inch taken one foot above ground, and at 6 feet above ground girth is 69 inches. The tree has cropped regularly since it was about 6 years old. The largest crop to date was produced in 1931 totaling 500 pounds. The shape of nut is long oval, size medium. The flavor of those I tasted of the 1933 crop certainly was the sweetest I have tasted to date for this class of nut.

I have no definite information as to source of this tree, but judge it to be a Franquette seedling as that was the class of trees sold by the nursery from which the tree was purchased. I have made arrangements for sample nuts from this year's crop and will send you some later. This tree is well worth testing for hardiness as it is evidently self-fertile, there being no other nut trees of the same age near by.

Another discovery of interest from the nut breeding angle is the McDonald walnut. This is a hybrid English X. J. Sieboldiana, growing at West Vancouver, B. C. Nut large and heavy shell, but the best kernel cavity I have seen in any of these crosses. The tree is a nice tree and leaves show distinct crossing. This is the first year it has borne and it had 2 nuts. One shell I am sending you with other samples of new nuts.

The Watt English walnut at Penticton, B. C., is proving a regular cropper of uniform large round nuts of good flavor. This tree is a seedling from my own nursery. I do not know from what tree it grew, but it is worthy of testing for hardiness in districts north of present location as there is some evidence of hardiness. I know this tree to be a good cropper but have no definite record of any one year's crop as the tree is located where many persons help themselves to the nuts.

The Lindy walnut from the beaches at Kelowna, B. C., continues to make good tree growth and produce good crops of large round nuts with thin shells and well developed kernels of good flavor. This tree is a seedling grown from a nut brought from Kulu Hills, India, in 1912. This tree is also worthy of trial for hardiness in districts north of present locations. I do not know how this tree is as a self-pollenizer as there are two other trees near by of the same stock and planting. I do know that seedlings grown from this tree make a good growth and look alike in the nursery row and are very uniform as to color and growth of leaf, in striking contrast to seedlings from some other trees which vary a lot in every feature.

In heartnuts the newest I have of outstanding promise are from my own nursery. Two are now growing at Peachland, B. C. One, the MacKenzie, is a vigorous, well grown tree and bears regularly heavy crops of large, rough-shelled heartnuts that are easily cracked. The kernels are light in color and of good flavor.

The other, the Rover heartnut, is a young tree just carrying a record crop. Tree is in a poor location on the edge of wild timber competing for soil space. The nut is a big step in the elimination of the central division, so pronounced in most heartnuts. This is the outstanding feature of this nut. Cracking and other features are still undetermined but promising. I have a number of others that are promising. One is the Flavo Heart, a heartnut and butternut cross. This is a seedling of Callender heart and butternut. The outstanding features are the shape of nut, flavor of kernel and ease of extraction. This is its first crop.

From B. D. Wallace

_Portage la Prairie, Manitoba_

I will endeavor to give you a short account of our progress in the culture of butternuts and black walnuts.

Our success with butternuts has been due, very largely, to the method we adopted some twenty years ago and might be summed up in the following report. From one hundred pounds of butternut seed, which we secured in the fall of 1914, and which we planted the same season in October, we got in the following year a splendid stand of seedlings which gave great promise the first summer. During the winter of 1915 a great number of those seedlings were partially or altogether destroyed, through the climatic conditions of the country. But quite a number of them stood up in splendid condition. After about three years we eliminated everything that did not stand up 100 per cent and show a splendid growth. We had in the neighborhood of fifty trees and thus, through a survival of the fittest, the foundation of this industry became established. We distributed perhaps twenty or more trees to the Experimental Farm and other places. These have all stood up, as far as I can learn, with splendid success. This left about thirty of the original trees in our nurseries. These thirty have never shown any sign of frost killing nor are they in any other way affected.

Our trees commenced to bear in their sixth year, in 1920 and have increased in size and fruiting year by year, until today they are about thirty feet high with a spread of about thirty-six feet and are without question the most beautiful row of trees west of the Great Lakes. We have grown at least one hundred thousand trees from the nuts taken from these trees, which have been distributed over a very wide territory, reaching from the northern part of Ontario to the Rocky Mountains. Many of our customers have now their own trees bearing. In addition to our selling the trees, we offer to our customers one two-year-old butternut or horse chestnut with each ten dollar order sent in. We took this method to get our nut trees into the hands of a great number of the people.

We have followed practically the same line with black walnuts, but with less success than with butternuts, as a very much greater percentage of the black walnuts went down. Notwithstanding that we have a number of trees which have survived in splendid condition. One of these is bearing for its second year and one other is just bearing for the first time. However, we have a good deal of hardy wood, as our trees are growing bushy and we intend to use the butternut seedlings for stocks on which to graft the black walnut. By this method we will not have to wait so long to get a good supply of trees. There is no question whatever about the future success of the butternut, as we have this year the third generation of them bearing, which is ample proof that they have become entirely acclimated. The butternuts grow fully as large as in eastern Canada, as do also the black walnuts, and as far as I can see the quality is equal if not better.

In addition to the butternut and black walnut, we have made a complete success of the horse chestnut. Ours were planted in 1914, and commenced bearing about the same time as the butternut, and we have grown great crops of nuts continually from that date to the present. We are also trying out the heartnut, both from young trees and from seed. Out of three different plantings that is planted the same year but in different sections, one planting of six trees has stood up completely for the last three years, whereas the other two freeze back a little. In addition to these we are growing from seed the filbert, which seems to be hardy, but is not old enough to fruit yet. However, there is no question in my mind whatever that we shall succeed with all those different trees, following our own method of only using wood and seed from those trees which are proof against the most severe climatic conditions. We used this same method thirty-five years ago in laying the foundation for fruit growing. Out of twelve thousand of the hardiest fruit trees that we could buy from Dakota and Minnesota, after three years we eliminated all but fourteen trees. These were divided between standard apples, crab-apples, plums and plum hybrids. By using northern Russia plum seed and Siberian crab seed for roots, we have been able to lay a foundation for fruit growing in this western country that will live long after we are forgotten.

From Vera Nekiassena

_Turkestan_

My opinion is there are two kin species growing in Turkestan--Juglans regia L and J fallasc Dode; the first in the Kopet-Dag, the second in the Fansha mountains, in guissar and Darwas. The J. regia is further cultivated in Turkestan gardens and in the Lowawschan Valley. The J. Kamaonia Dode is occasionally to be observed likewise in gardens. I did not chance to see it personally and am in possession of only one of its nuts. Both species (the J. regia and the J. fallasc) produce a great variety of nuts as to shape, thickness of shell and size of kernel. Both these species have been united by some authors (Mr. M. Popof in Bull. of Applied Botany of Genetics and plant breeding XXII N3 (1929), p. 294) into one--that of J. regia but always distinguishing the Kopet-dog nuts in the jsp. turcomanica Popof; difference between them being certainly esctant. The number of leaflets of the J. fallasc amounts to 2-4, they are rounder and more obtuse, the shell of the nut is thicker and also rounder and smaller. The number of J. regia leaflets is 3-5, they are narrower and more pointed (lance shaped), the nuts more elongated, larger and their shell thinner.

Having been for my part mainly occupied with the geographical distribution of nuts without regard to the variation of the fruit shape, I would recommend you to apply for a choice of nuts to Mr. Gursey, (Caucasus, Pjabigorsx), who is making a special study of the problem.

For cultivation in the north you will be interested in J. Manshurica originating in the Far East and very hardy. It is cultivated and produces fruit in Leningrad, young specimens of it were planted on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea and there outlived excellently.

Concerning the list of trees appended to your letter, I can give you the following information.

_J. Regia_ grows well in the park of Botanic Institute in Leningrad, attaining 8-10 M.; in the southern part of Smolensk district the tree produces fruit as far as Minsk. There is a considerable number of fruit producing specimens in the Masir district in the north of White Russia.

_J. Sieboldiana_ freezes up in cold winters in Leningrad.

_J. cinerea_ is very hardy and effects self-polinasation in White Russia; near Kasan there is one specimen producing about 100 fruits yearly.

_J. rigra_ produces fruits in Koslon.

_Corylus Colurna_--a large old specimen esctant in Leningrad rather frequently observed in many parks of European U. S. S. R.

_C. Acellana_ is widely spread in a wild state attaining Ladoga-laxe.

_C. Mascima_ frequently in the Crimea and the Caucasus.

_Castanea Sabiva_ grows in the Caucasus only, and cultivated in Urraina. Castanea Henryii Corylus chinensis.

C. Lacquement and Cticstica I do not know in U. S. S. R.

_C. Seguinu, C. Crensta_ and _C. Mollissima, separate_ strains probably to be had in Suchum.

From Divisional Forest Officer

_Utilization Division, Baramulla Kashmir_

There are two distinct species of of walnut growing here. One which grows from 3,500 to 7,000 feet above sea level near about habitations and on rich fertile soil has got good big sized nuts which are very easy to break even with the pressure of hand, and about which you probably seem interested. The other species grows higher in the forest up to about 11,000 feet elevation. It has hard nuts which cannot be broken easily and have moreover very little kernel as compared to former species. Even the timber of both the species is distinctly different, in as much as the former has dark gray color and the latter has reddish gray. Regarding nomenclature the botanists differ. The former species is named Juglans regia hin. The latter species which is wild may be called Juglans fallax, Dode or Juglans Kamaonia, Dode, but actually it is a bit different from either and is something midway between the two and so is yet to be determined properly.

Corylus colurna is the only species of Corylus found here out of your list.

B. The altitudes of walnut zone has been stated above. Corylus Colurna also grows between 8,000 and 11,000 feet. Both the walnut species are confined to Kashmir and Chamba states, while Corylus Colurna grows all over the Himalayas.

C. The maximum height and girth of a tree I have felled was 100 ft. and 15 ft. respectively. This tree grew in a forest at 9,000 foot altitude amongst firs. Trees growing outside in the fields in the open are sometimes bigger in girth but their bole is very short and the height also is small compared with forest grown trees. The trees growing in the fields in the open are of soft rind species.

D. The trees growing in the fields and of soft rind species are generally fast grown and they have about 8 to 10 rings to an inch. The trees growing in the forest have about 16 to 20 rings to an inch.

E. The length of frost-free season depends upon the situation and locality, generally from May to September there is no frost, the rest of the season has frost.

F. The maximum temperature is 92 degrees, while the minimum is many points below zero when the country is snow-bound all over. There is snow in the forests for about six months.

G. The average annual rainfall is between 54 and 34 inches in the year, according to the locality.

H. All the walnut trees are grown for extraction of oil from their nuts. This oil is used for cooking purposes, in place of fats and butter. When the tree gets old or gets diseased, it is felled and timber is used for making furniture and carving. Kashmir walnut carving is well known.

I. Hazel trees grow wild in the forest, the hazel nuts are collected and are eaten. Sometimes these nuts are exported to British India, where kernels are used chiefly to adulterate almond kernels.

Corylus has not been grown here as a garden tree and so I do not know its requirements of germination. I will however be thankful to you if you could kindly send me a little fresh seed, C. Colema, to grow it here in Kashmir. Some years ago I had sent for the seeds of Rhamnus Purshiana from U. S. A. This was sown here but it did not germinate. I shall feel obliged if you could let me know the requirements of this species, that is, the situation, soil, et cetera, which this species demands. Rhamnus dahuricus grows wild here as a small shrub. Do you think I can get American species by grafting my species with Rhamnus Purshiana scions?

Communication from John W. Hershey, 1934

I called at the experimental nut planting place of the late J. W. Waite, at Normandy, Tennessee, on June 1st and found he had been dead about eight months. I talked with a native who told me he was one of the most plucky men he had ever seen, having had, because of some disease, both legs amputated, was all crippled up otherwise, and traveled in a wheel chair. He even use to milk cows and drive around in an old buggy.

This setting at the Waite place is going to be of immense value to the T. V. A. tree crop program. I met the daughter who knew very little about the trees, but the first thing she mentioned was the wonderful nuts they got off the McCalister tree.

I could identify a few of the trees but will not make much progress at it until this fall, when the nuts are ripe. They are heavily set with bloom now. To assist me in this work, I am wondering if the Association has anything in its files pertaining to the varieties that he has. As you know, one can identify a tree quicker if he knows what he is looking for.

Letter From Mrs. E. W. Freel

_Pleasantville, Iowa, September 5, 1934_

Yesterday, when coming home, we drove around (which was not out of our way) to see those walnut trees about which you made inquiry. The Freel tree has been topped and it has made a wonderful growth this year and is going to make a very pretty tree. The Marion has a few walnuts on this year, but they are falling off due to the dry weather this year. Last year it was loaded. The Metcalf tree has some on but, like the others, most all of them have fallen off. It was also full last year. The Worthington tree also had some on this year, but have all fallen off. It also had walnuts on last year.

I have never known any of these trees to be a complete failure unless it would be this year due to the drought which has been pretty severe with us. We have had no garden to speak of and the crops in this section have almost been a complete failure.

The Wheeling tree had walnuts on last year but I have been unable to get out there this year. It is off the gravel road and it has been raining here for the last two days.

I have not been able to get out to the hickory nut trees. They had some nuts on last year but not very plentiful. I have noticed along the highways, as we would be driving along, that some of the hickory nut trees were full and others would not have any on, but do not know as yet how the drought will affect them.

I wish we could attend the convention, but it will be impossible for us this year.