Part 6

To the best of my present knowledge, and with such conveniences as I had, and to aid in grafting, I should have been told to make a long narrow box, put a wire screen bottom on it, make a cover for it, fasten a wire at each end, put my scion wood in and let it down deep in a cistern, and let it hang two or three inches over the water for scion keeping. When grafting I should have been told to carry my Merribrooke melter around in an empty pail to keep the wind from blowing it out and to be able to better hold the blaze down and keep the wax at the right temperature. And when and if the blaze does go out, do not try taking the thing apart for relighting. Instead, split a small stick, put a match in the split, take out the wax cup, strike the match and reach down from the top for relighting.

Talk to people about better hickories and you discern first that the subject has never been brought to their attention. On further discussion, when they are made to understand that worthwhile hickories can be grown, you come to the balking point. It's the crop! It's too far off! People do not let the time question bother them when they set out the usual dooryard trees because expectancy goes no further than trees. In our latitude grafted hickories, first of all trees, rightly should be in everyone's dooryard. It takes about as much time to grow the best ornamental and shade trees as to make a hickory tree. And the latter furnishes quite as much ornament, just as much shade as were it some other kind of tree. Even if one cannot live long enough to eat nuts from his own planting, plant grafted hickories anyway. Left to their own, and most people's council, their lesser tree selections would approach the eventual worth of a good hickory. Why not make the choice a good one?

No one knows, so far as I have ascertained, the age of a hickory. It is much beyond that of an apple tree, at least in my locality. Of its close relation, the pecan of the south, it has been said there are pecan trees there now bearing nuts that were here when Christopher Columbus discovered America.

Not long ago I read that there are something like five thousand telescope nuts in the country. (You know we here are all interested in nuts.) I can understand that it is interesting to search off in vast spaces to ascertain facts, but it is hard to understand why more people cannot find interest in rare and useful nut sports that can be strived for and, in addition to that enthusiasm, help give to future mankind that first of all essentials, food.

Whether we can get a helpful clue with experiences of the past I do not know. But I often cannot help but recall a bit of the blindness of man when I think of the potato. It was once said that they were fit only for hogs to eat. Many years back when they were having war in Ireland, soldiers would go through people's home and take all they had to eat. It was found, however, where there was a potato patch soldiers would run right over them, giving no thought of there finding food. There then was a chance for home dwellers to better hold their own and it gave the impetus, the beginning of potato growing, to the Caucasian race and the name we have to this day, Irish potato. Years later, when they still had kings in France, their ruler realized his poor subjects could help themselves so much if they would only grow potatoes. There seemed no way of getting them to do so. One day, however, the king went and had a plat of ground planted to potatoes, set guards around it day and night, and let it be known they were the king's potatoes and no one was going to be allowed to steal them. That awoke the people. If potatoes were that good the king would have them, they would have them also.

Franklin Roosevelt likes trees. Do you suppose we could get him to be a king to lead for the finest in tree planting, grafted hickory-nut trees?

Another thing. Every bit we can add to the feeling and knowledge of our securing is a help to us. We have many people whose make-up is not one that enables them to provide for their later years, not even if they earned ten dollars a day over a long period of time. Planting grafted hickories would be something of a standby, extend away into the years, and helping too when physical strength is no more ours. So too, we can count too much sometimes on what we have in a bank. We may do likewise with an insurance company. And there have been people whose governments went back on them. Ours has, on gold promises! All one's hickory trees, had he such, are not likely to treat him like that, at least won't all die in a bunch! They won't even refuse a crop because of a depression! And if one couldn't eat all of his nuts or even any of them, they are something to offer in trade for that which can be used.

Again, if I am not mistaken, there is nothing that we of this latitude do grow or can grow in field or garden that so equally takes the place of meat as do nuts. Speaking of gardens, it has been said "gardening is an occupation for which no man is too high or too low." Likewise could the truth be so said for so clean a pursuit as nut growing.

History has spoken of "the age of acorns." We hope we can look into a not too distant future and rightly see additional help, food, leisure, income for everybody made so partially, in a little way at least, in an age with nuts.

DR. DEMING:

Mr. Anthony sent me quite a generous sample of his hickory and I got to be quite familiar with it. I consider the Anthony one of our best hickories. It is quite evident from his paper that he is a thinking man, and I noticed that he has found out in two or three years things which I have found out only after twenty-five or thirty years of study and which I thought were exclusively possessions of my own.

MR. REED:

The shellbarks and shagbarks are among the finest looking trees in Washington. They are symmetrical, erect and have dark green or light green foliage. At this time of year they are taking on a superb golden yellow. The landscape gardeners use the hickories for the golden effect of the foliage. Before we get through with this meeting I would like to get some reports from the people from the North as to which species grow the farthest north. Is it the black walnut or the shagbark? Does the bitternut grow farther north than either one of them?

MR. CORSAN:

Yes. The bitternut grows 150 miles north of Ottawa. The hickory is much farther north than the black walnut.

MR. SNYDER:

It has always been my impression that the butternut reached farther north than the black walnut.

MR. ELLIS:

The hickories go as far north as Lake Champlain. The butternuts go up as far as the line of Canada.

MR. CORSAN:

Butternuts go way above the Canadian line.

MR. REED:

In New England the shagbark grows considerably farther north than the black walnut and west of the Great Lakes the black walnut grows farther north than the hickory.

MR. WALKER:

I believe the bitternut grows farther north than the butternut. I think the rivers have an influence on them. Getting away from the rivers you don't have to go so far before they run out.

THE PRESIDENT:

With the exhibits is a picture of a Wisconsin black walnut I grafted myself. Dr. Zimmerman also has one growing. The meat of this black walnut is as white and sweet as an English walnut. I think it is quite promising for northern territory. Mr. Reed, did you have an opportunity to test them.

MR. REED:

They impressed me as being very promising. I tried to get cions but was not able to at that time.

DR. ZIMMERMAN:

I don't think I have ever seen a hickory nut tree so loaded with nuts as a Manahan which I have grafted on bitternut. The Taylor every year sets a bunch of young nutlets, but I have never yet seen a catkin on it. I don't know anything that will pollinate it. Until we select buds for hickory nuts and walnuts as they do for citrus and other fruit, I don't believe we can get very far.

MR. REED:

I have some hickories growing and fruiting well on bitternut. I've also seen enough of them not growing well so that I prefer shagbark to bitternut. I prefer shagbark on shagbark.

Motion was made and carried that the next annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers' Association be held at Rockport, Indiana, Monday and Tuesday, September 9 and 10, 1935.

Letter from Rev. Paul C. Crath

Kosseev, Poland

(_Read by Title_)

Being eager to get on time to the walnut harvest in the Carpathian region and personally select walnuts for planting in Canada and the U.S.A. I borrowed $400 and--now I am here. On October 11 I sent to Toronto eight boxes of selected walnuts, about 50,000 in all, and I hope they will arrive in Toronto in time for the Royal Winter Fair. There are 43 varieties and amongst them some of very high quality are on the way to our Acadia. But it was no easy task to find out here good walnuts. I bought 1400 kilograms of different nuts before I picked out of them 600 kg. for Canada. Besides me three men were busy searching for the best walnuts in the orchards of Kosseev and Kooty. Inclosed please find a description of 45 walnut trees and their nuts. A collection of these nuts I am sending you separately.

I found here that:

1. Every walnut tree bears nuts of different variety. The nuts differ from nuts of other trees in shape, hardness of shell, size, texture and flavor of kernels.

2. On every tree walnuts are of three sizes, large, medium and small. It depends how much sunshine they receive. Those nearer to the trunk and on the northern side of the tree are the smallest.

3. According to flavor the walnut trees may be divided into three different groups. Those which bear nuts of sweet kernel are the best. Those nuts which have some bitter flavor are not bad, but those which are languid or tasteless are no good at all.

4. Giants have kernels smaller than the cavity of their shell. But I was told that in this country somewhere are Giants with sweet, hard kernels which fill up their paper-thin shell fully. Some gentleman pointed to the city of Tchernievtjee as a source of good Giants. It is not far from Kosseev, but on the other side of Rumanian frontier. It means that I should go to the province of Bookovina if we wish to find those perfect Giants. I sent to Canada some good Giants, but not perfect ones yet.

A physician who resides in Kooty told me that in the mountaineers villages of Rozhen (500 meters above sea level) there is a tree bearing awfully sweet walnuts. He ate those nuts but he does not know the name of the owner. Now it is my task to find those nuts. In the village of Twedeev (400 meters above sea level) is a tree bearing one year large nuts and next year small nuts. But those small nuts are awfully oily. I failed to secure nuts from that tree but I know its whereabouts. There in the mountains about 600 meters above the sea level comes the line beyond which no walnut tree grows. That line is stretched from the east to the west along the northern slope of the Carpathian region. I have seen some nuts from that colder belt. In shape they are rough, but one variety has papershell and sweet flavor. It seems to me that among these (as natives call them Hutzoolian walnuts) we could find some good variety for northern Ontario and maybe Manitoba. My nearest task will be to go along the cold line and select some walnut trees there.

Kooty and Kooseev district are really walnut country. This district produces papershell walnuts for other parts of Poland. But walnut trees could be found five degrees to the north. Too, I wish to investigate walnuts north of the Dniester River and then proceed farther north to find the northern limit beyond which no walnut grows. I am going to publish 3000 questionnaires, one for each walnut tree. I or my friends would examine these questionnaires when filled out. Maybe we'll come across some extra good walnut through this inquiry. But the easiest way to locate the best walnut is to organize a walnut contest as you did in Michigan, with the help of Mr. Kellogg. With the help of the local agricultural papers we could have such a contest and I am sure we'll have an amazing success. Do your best to get some funds for the prizes. Then please go to the Royal Winter Fair which starts this fall November 21 and inspect my walnuts I shipped there recently. Create a judging committee of Prof. Neilson, Mr. Corsan, Dr. Currelly and others. Open a couple nuts of each variety and judge which walnuts are the best. Then write me from what trees I should cut scions. You see, I am waiting now for winter to cut scions from trees bearing the best walnuts I found. Then after Xmas I'll ship to Canada a large box containing about 10,000 walnut scions. I expect to cut every scion personally and that way secure the best stuff for the spring grafting.

I am told that there are in Latvia filberts of very good type. Latvian filberts have grown eight inches thick in diameter. In that country the ground is frozen in October, like in Manitolia. It seems to me that the Latvian filbert will be ideal for the northern part of the North America. I wish to go there too while I am in Europe. I would bring the Latvian filbert to Canada and the U.S.A. if a small financial support could be given to me to accomplish this task.

To assure bringing of the best walnut into Canada and the U.S.A. I made an agreement with a local gardener to graft for us 500 walnut seedlings with the scions I would secure for him. Thus grafted seedlings could be brought to Canada the next fall. Furthermore, I have an idea to create the largest and the best walnut which ever grew on the globe. For this purpose I selected several walnut trees bearing Giant nuts and I wish to pollenize them next spring with pollen of a tree which yields the hardest and the sweetest kernel. Such a tree is in the city of Stanislav. And here in Kosseev is a tree bearing Giants which before they are dried weigh ten nuts to one kilogram (2.204 pounds). I hope that combination could give us a desirable type.

It is also desirable for me to stay in this country until the fall of 1935. Then I am sure that we'd have some desirable walnuts and filberts. I hope that my friends in Canada and the U.S.A. would come with financial help to give me a chance to accomplish my task. To assure the shipment of scions I need one hundred dollars. For my existence in this country I need $240 for next twelve months, and for traveling expenses about $100. All together I need $500. I hope that some Canadian or American would understand the importance of my expedition and will come with the help. Please put my case before some people who would back me in my enterprise.

MR. CORSAN:

Mr. Crath is a Presbyterian minister, he is out of a job and he is a man of extraordinary practical skill in agriculture. Now he informs me that, up in the Carpathian mountain region, in the valleys they don't have the English walnut, but the estates up in the mountains for hundreds of years have cultivated and selected it. The estates are being divided up and the trees cut down. He has gone up there to select these trees to have the nuts sent to him before the dealers get them and kill-dry to insure them against spoiling.

The Chestnut Situation in Illinois

_By_ DR. A. S. COLBY, _Illinois_

Illinois claims prominence as a state where the commercial chestnut crop has been a profitable one for many years, beginning nearly three decades ago. Before chestnut blight, Endothia parasitica (Murrill), killed the trees in the East, tons of nuts were gathered there and a considerable quantity marketed; these, however, were chiefly of the smaller native species and little attention was paid to the trees, most of which were wild. During the past few years some consideration has been given chestnut culture in the far West; this development, however, is quite recent.

Two men stand out as pioneers in Illinois nut growing: the late George W. Endicott of Villa Ridge, who crossed the native American with the Giant Japanese chestnut in 1895, his work resulting in the origination of the Boone, Blair, and Riehl varieties, the fruit of which combines the size of the Japanese with the quality of the American parent; and the late E. A. Riehl of Godfrey, who for over 30 years, until his death in 1925, carried on experimental work in nut culture, originating, among others, the Fuller and Gibbens chestnuts, superior late and early varieties. Both Mr. Endicott and Mr. Riehl planted the better varieties in orchard form and found the undertaking a very profitable one.

The third large orchard planting in Illinois is located at Farina and owned by the Whitford family. Here the soil type is less favorable for chestnuts and the water drainage is not of the best, but in spite of these disadvantages, the trees are productive.

These orchards, with other smaller plantings in the state, came into full bearing at about the time of the gradual failure of the eastern crops and have made money for their owners, especially where attention was paid to sizing the nuts and to other advanced marketing practices.

During the past twenty years, interest in chestnut culture in Illinois has been increasing gradually. Many plantings of the improved varieties have been made in widely scattered localities. Through the co-operation of Mr. P. A. Glenn, of the State Nursery Inspection Service, a survey of Illinois has been begun to locate all the chestnut trees in the state. By the fall of 1934, with about one-third of the counties surveyed, a total of 7,601 chestnut trees has been found, approximately one-half of which are of bearing and one-half non-bearing age. This latter group includes nursery stock and newly planted young trees mostly of named varieties.

In a preliminary study of the approximately 3,700 trees of bearing age, a number of facts of interest were noted. Nearly all these chestnuts were of the named varieties, the plantings ranging in size from 1 to 800 individuals and in age from 5 to 40 years. Most of them were planted in orchard form and given some attention as to cultural needs. However, there were over 400 older trees averaging from 50 to 60 years with five, 80 years of age and three reported to be 130 years old.

These older trees are in poor condition as a rule, with many dead tops and branches and hollow trunks, but still struggling for life and producing some nuts. Very little care had been given them. They were found along the roadside, in pastures, in the yard about the home, in rows bordering an orchard. Some of these older trees were known to be seedlings from seeds brought in from the East; others had been planted, the trees coming from eastern sections. Very few of these trees are infected with blight. They indicate ages at which chestnut trees may be productive in Illinois if blight is controlled.

Satisfactory soil and climatic conditions for chestnut culture are found in most sections of Illinois, since plantings are reported from Pulaski County in the extreme south to Lee in the north, and in the central sections from Champaign west to Hancock County. As the survey progresses, it is probable that these limits will be extended.

One of the reasons for the state survey was to make a careful inspection of the trees found for evidence of chestnut blight and to have the necessary steps taken for its prompt eradication. Blight was found in Illinois in 1926, and efforts have been made since that time to eradicate it. Only a few infected trees were located prior to 1934. Most of them have been destroyed. In this year's (1934) survey, 123 diseased trees were found, and these are being handled in the most effective way to check further spread of the blight. These trees were found in nine counties, mostly scattered over the southern third of the state, with one infection center in central Illinois in Logan County.

Such is the present status of the chestnut in Illinois. What of the future? We believe that chestnut blight will continue to spread. The disease has been reported in several of the near-by states, including Michigan, Indiana and Iowa. With the scattered centers of infection in Illinois, it is probable that other diseased trees will continue to appear. Only the most determined efforts to check it, based upon a thorough understanding of the life cycle of its causal fungus, can be of any possible value in keeping it in control for any considerable time. Continuous inspection of the trees, with prompt removal of diseased material, such as cankers and infected branches, following methods recognized as sanitary, and immediate burning will be very helpful in checking the trouble. When the entire tree is infected, necessitating its removal, the stump should be treated by peeling back the bark and building a hot fire around the trunk in order that all bark tissues shall be destroyed. It is advisable, also, that all chestnut trees be given good care, especially as regards their needs for plant nutrients. Beginning with the young trees, newly planted, bark injuries of any kind should be guarded against. Extreme care is necessary in the training of the scaffold branches, as the tree grows, in order that the mature tree shall be well formed with as few large wounds as possible through the removal of large branches.

The application of fungicidal sprays, such as Bordeaux, at intervals throughout the growing season, may be helpful. The trunk and the main branches, especially, of young trees should be protected from sun scald. Borers and other insects must be kept out. Injury from tools used about the trees must be guarded against. Any break in the bark offers easy entrance to the fungus spores. Wrapping the trunk with burlap or paper may be very helpful in preventing such injuries. Probably the best time of year to make necessary pruning cuts is in early spring. Pruning should be followed by the painting of the wounds with shellac, later covering this with a good grade of paint. The tree should be well fed to aid in the growth of callus formation to cover the wound quickly.