Part 4

"_What insects damage the nuts?_" Weevil, by long odds. Next come husk maggots or "shock worms", codling moth larvae, borers, stink bugs on filberts, butternut curculio. No cure is given for this trouble except the very valuable one of keeping chickens, or, better still, turkeys running freely in the plantation. Clean cultivation will, of course, destroy many larvae that hibernate under trash.

"_What species are most injured by disease?_" None are immune, apparently, though three reporters in favored regions answer "none" are injured. Black walnuts suffer from leaf-spot, blight, or canker, especially in seasons when the trees have been weakened by drought. Hazels and filberts are next, then Persian walnuts, butternuts, native chestnuts, Chinese chestnuts, pecans.

Blight in chestnuts, nectria canker and blight in black walnuts, blight in filberts (Cryptosporella), scab in pecans, and die-back Melanconium oblongum in butternuts. These are the kinds of diseases most to be feared among nut trees. Sprays, chiefly with Bordeaux mixture and copper base solutions, are recommended. If nut orchards were generally as well sprayed as apple and peach orchards, we should hear less of disease among nut trees. As it is, nut trees are in general far more resistant by nature to disease than fruit trees, but it will not do to take unlimited resistance for granted. As progress is gradually made in the selection of varieties for better nut production, it is very likely that there will be a weakening of this resistance to disease. Better cultural methods, resulting in more robust growth, will build up resistance. Better sprays and more spraying will act as a barrier not only to disease but to most insect enemies as well.

"_What disease, if any, affects the nuts?_" Fortunately, very few diseases are reported. "None," say most of our reporters. A scab is reported for the first time this year in some sections on pecans. "Galls" are reported on some hickories. A husk blight appears to affect Persian walnuts in some places, and nut production is very seriously affected among black walnuts by defoliation prematurely, either because of drought or leaf-spot. The cure is undoubtedly the same as for disease affecting the trees, namely spraying.

"_What proportion of nuts are taken by the squirrels?_" The answers to this question range all the way from "all if allowed" to "none if prevented." If the nut trees are located near a forest, the proportion will be large; if not, much smaller. Most correspondents say that the proportion is very small, but nearly a third of those who make any report on this at all, say such losses are rather heavy. In the extreme north, there seem to be no squirrels to bother. Several report thefts, particularly of filberts, by chipmunks, while one complains about both mice and jaybirds as filbert lovers.

The most effective squirrel control is the rifle or shotgun. Rat traps, using black walnuts as bait, are second choice and said to be effective. The banding of isolated trees with tin (one says cotton batting) will prevent squirrels from climbing. A good cat or several of them will be useful, say several reporters. One judicious correspondent says that, in general, there are two popular ways of handling the situation; one by shooting, the other by cussing--most practiced, least effective. One grower, not to be outdone by the patient Chinaman or Japanese, in September ties up each chestnut burr in a cloth sack. Take your choice; but it will be well, if you wish to remain in good standing with the law, either to do your shooting during the open hunting season or, if at other times, catch your thief in the act and, wastefully, let him lie where he falls when shot. So says the law, at least in some states. On the other hand, there are many who will say, with one reporter: "I do nothing about it. I like squirrels." [This note by chairman--not W. C. D.!]

_The Marketing of Nuts!_ The purpose of this section was not to inquire into methods of marketing but merely to determine, if possible, what marketing of nuts is now being done. It is little enough. Chestnut lovers have all but forgotten the taste of good chestnuts. Black walnut buyers, confectioners, bakers, report that it is next to impossible, at least for the duration of the war, to get deliveries of nuts, especially shelled nuts. The market for a good product is best only when the product is easily and plentifully obtainable.

Forty-one growers reported that they sell nuts commercially. The others do not because they have no surplus to sell. Only six sell kernels. The others sell whole nuts.

Owing to a misreading of the question, few reported on profitable varieties. Those who did, reported Thomas as first, then Stabler and Ohio. Of pecans, Major first, then Greenriver, Busseron, Indiana, Niblack. Of chestnuts, Hobson is the only one mentioned, and of filberts only the Jones hybrid. Most growers reported on species instead of varieties. Of these, black walnuts stand first, then pecans, chestnuts and filberts. In the far northwest, filberts stand first. Most growers have the feeling that the hybrid chestnut, _mollissima x dentata_, is coming fast and offers one of the best chances for profitable commercial planting. At present only three reporters who specifically commit themselves on the subject say they count upon the sale of nuts as an important item in their income. Fifty-one do not. Fifteen definitely expect, and sixteen others have hopes, that nuts may some day become, at least to an extent, good income producers for them. Practically all express themselves as willing to sell or exchange either nuts or cions for propagation purposes.

_Discovery of Promising Nut Trees._ Some thirty-odd "wild" trees which bear nuts of unusual promise have been reported by discoverers in their answers to this survey. It is more than likely that some of them have been previously reported. The committee has no means of knowing. However, it is hoped that, out of the lot, one or two may be good enough for propagating or for contributions of pollen for cross-pollination. The names and locations of the owners of these trees have been turned over to Mr. C. A. Reed, Associate Pomologist, U. S. D. A., Beltsville, Md., for further investigation. It has been found that such information should not be prematurely published, since it leads to trouble for the owners and to possible undue valuations being placed upon the trees in question.

_RATING OF VARIETIES._ First, it will be best to state how the committee arrived at a rating. Certain well-known varieties were printed by name, and blanks were left to be filled, if desired, with names of special favorites of the reporter. Those listed by name were not all good, but were widely planted. We wished to know exactly what the planters' experience had been not only with the better varieties but with other old stand-bys which were suspected of being below standard.

We asked reporters to mark their sheets with the following scale symbols: XXXX for best; XXX, very good; XX, good; X, average. O, poor; OO, failure. In tabulating final summaries, the committee valued the XXXX symbol at 100%; XXX, 75%; XX, 50%; X, 25%; O, O%; OO, minus 20%. Twenty percent was arbitrarily deducted from any 100% rating, and 10% from any lesser rating, in case no other reports on the same tree were received from other reporters.

Qualities upon which ratings were made were hardiness, average yield (rating), yield in pounds per tree or acre, age of oldest trees, age at first crop, percentage filled nuts, husking quality, cracking quality, size of nuts, weight of kernels, quality of kernel.

Naturally, not all reporters were able to evaluate all of these qualities, so many spaces were left blank. For instance, hardiness could be rated for a very young tree, but not yield. In any future survey, we should advocate including a rating on early maturity of nuts, since this is a quality essential in trees planted farthest north.

_Black Walnuts._ Six names of well-known varieties were printed upon our sheets and, of course, most of the reports are centered around these trees. Twenty-four varieties were voluntarily written in and reported on by correspondents. No doubt some of these varieties will in time replace some of the older ones. Reports on them are now too scattered and too much uncorroborated to enable us to do them justice here. For the present we shall have to content ourselves with those which have sufficient evidence.

Of the printed list, Thomas takes first place with rating of 80.1%, which is a cumulative percentage of all percentages earned on the most desirable black walnut qualities. The method of obtaining this Thomas overall percentage is as follows: Add all the Thomas percentages in the paragraph below. Their average will be found to be 78%. Reports from Canada and the southern area bring this average up to 80.1%, as stated. Stambaugh is second with a rating of 72%. Rohwer rates 76%; Ohio, 57%; Stabler, 49%, and Ten Eycke, 45%. The last three seem to stand in jeopardy of replacement by other varieties.

Breaking these percentages down according to their qualities, the trees in the northern U. S. area were rated as follows, using the valuations noted in the second paragraph at this section entitled _Rating of Varieties_: In hardiness Thomas rates 80; Stambaugh, 70; Rohwer, 75; Ohio, 70; Stabler, 60; Ten Eycke, 65. In yield, Thomas rates 61%; Stambaugh, 39; Ten Eycke, 38; Rohwer, 37; Ohio, 36; Stabler, 13. Yield per tree or per acre was not well enough reported to warrant reliable ratings. In percentage of filled nuts, Thomas rated 82%; Stambaugh, 88; Rohwer, 91; Ohio, 87; Stabler, 67; Ten Eycke, 68. In husking quality, Thomas, 71%; Stambaugh, 67; Rohwer, 66; Ohio, 7; Stabler, 21; Ten Eycke, 13. In cracking quality, Thomas rated 81%; Stambaugh, 79; Rohwer, 57; Ohio, 57; Stabler, 61; Ten Eycke, 50. In size of nuts, Thomas rated 92%; Stambaugh rated 57%; Rohwer, 58; Ohio, 55; Stabler, 39; Ten Eycke, 42%. In weight of kernels, Thomas rated 79%; Stambaugh, 87; Rohwer, 62; Ohio, 55; Stabler, 50; Ten Eycke, 31. In quality of kernels, Thomas rated 77%; Stambaugh, 58; Rohwer, 60; Ohio, 68; Stabler, 44; Ten Eyck, 47.

It would have been more accurate, of course, to have again divided these returns according to the warmer and cooler regions from which they came, but the report has certain limits which can not be over-stepped. All these varieties are represented by some trees twenty years old or older. Thomas was reported to be the youngest to bear. Its average age at first crop was exactly five years; Stambaugh, 6 years; Rohwer, 5.57 years; Ohio, 5.17; Stabler, 5.7; and Ten Eyck, 5.17 years.

Other varieties, the names of which were written in, are each sponsored by one or more correspondents who were attracted by their outstanding excellence with respect to the following qualities:

=Hardiness:= Creitz, Homeland, Mintle, Elmer Myers, Tasteright, Pinecrest, Patterson, Horton, Vandersloot, Lamb, Deming Purple, Brown, Tritton, Cole, Sifford and Korn.

=Yield:= Creitz, Homeland, Mintle, Cozad, Vandersloot, Brown.

=Filled Nuts:= Homeland, Mintle, Cornell, Niederhauser, Cozad, Vandersloot, Brown, Tritton, Cole, Sifford.

=Husking Quality:= Creitz, Homeland, Mintle, Patterson, Todd, Snyder, Cozad, Horton, Vandersloot, Lamb, Deming Purple, Brown, Tritton, Cole, Sifford.

=Cracking Quality:= Eureka, Snyder, Mintle, Patterson, Brown, Tritton.

=Size of Nuts:= Homeland, Todd.

=Weight of Kernels:= Mintle, Todd, Snyder, Cornell, Niederhauser.

=Kernel Quality:= Creitz, Homeland, Mintle, Korn, Snyder, Cornell.

This, of course, cannot be a complete list, but we give it as reported to us. It will be well to keep an eye on several of them.

Mr. L. K. Hostetter, Lancaster, Pa., sends us the only report which gives a year-by-year record of nut production from black walnut trees. He says:

"I am especially interested in persimmons, service-berries, wild cherry, mulberry and elderberry. Of about 15 varieties of persimmon here I consider Early Golden and Josephine the best. Of 20 or more varieties of mulberries I consider Downing and Paradise the best. Paradise is a large purple mulberry I found near here. It has an exceptionally good flavor.

"Following is a record of my crops of black walnuts, grafted varieties: 1931, 2 bu.; 1932, 3 bu.; 1933, 4 bu.; 1934, 8 bu.; 1935, 12 bu.; 1936, 18 bu.; 1937, 37 bu.; 1938, 54 bu.; 1939, 52 bu.; 1940, 300 bu.; 1941, 20 bu.; 1942, 125 bu.; 1943, 70 bu."

Mr. Hostetter sells his nuts both as kernels and in the shell. He says that he can now count upon this crop for a substantial contribution to his annual income.

_Seedling Chestnuts._ None but Chinese and Japanese varieties were reported on. More of the Chinese seedlings have been planted than of the Japs. The latter excel in hardiness, yield, size of nuts, but the Chinese have a better percentage of filled nuts, have better husking quality and much better quality of kernel, according to growers. Of course, being seedlings, neither is entirely dependable in any of these qualities. The best that can be said is that the planter of a Chinese seedling has a better chance than the planter of a Jap seedling if he is after nut quality.

_Named Chestnuts._ Outside of the report on hardiness, the returns on these varieties are too meagre to enable one to arrive at a corroborated conclusion. In hardiness, the Hobson stands first with a rating of 95%. Zimmerman and Carr are tied at 60%; Yankee rates 50%. Reliable seems to be little planted but also seems to rate well in hardiness. Hobson again stands first in yield, with Carr and Zimmerman second. The ratings are 80% and 60% respectively. Reliable comes next, then Yankee. In early bearing, Hobson stands first, Carr next. All seem to fill well, also have good husking quality. Carr is said to bear the largest nut, with Hobson and Zimmerman next. In quality of kernel, Hobson and Reliable stand out from the others. Hobson, on the returns, has much the best of it in general excellence. However, the last word has by no means been said in connection with hybrid chestnuts. In no field of nut culture is so much hybridizing being done. We expect to see many contenders for preeminence in this most promising branch of the industry.

_Pecans._ The returns on pecans are also very incomplete after we go beyond the young tree age. Perhaps one reason for this is that young orchards of pecans require a longer time for growth than many other species before they begin to bear. The reports confirm this view. Records of crops from present plantings are none too numerous.

In the reports on hardiness among the pecans, Major stands first with a percentage score of 85; Greenriver 83; Busseron, Indiana and Giles are tied at 80; Posey 75; Butterick 40.

Records of yields are not numerous enough to be conclusive, but Major, Busseron and Butterick lead. This is in the absence of reports on Greenriver, Posey, Niblack, and other important varieties.

_Hybrid Pecans._ The records for hardiness here, as with other pecans, are marred by lack of good reporting. So far as the record shows, Pleas--Hican var. (hickory x pecan) is the outstanding variety for hardiness in regions north of its origin. It scores 85%; Norton and Rockville, 80% each; Gerardi, 75; Burlington, 60; Bixby, Des Moines and McCallister, 50% each.

Records of yields are not forthcoming. Such records as we have of filled nuts show them to be in general, unsatisfactory. In fact, however, no reliable conclusion can be reached from a study of the pecan reports unless it should be--a sad one--that the questionnaire or the questionees fell down here.

_Filberts._ The story brightens. Many are working with filberts. In the northwest, the growing of filberts is developing into a commercial enterprise of good proportions. Our records are correspondingly more complete though they show that there is plenty of room for improvement in the development of varieties of desirable quality.

In hardiness, Winkler leads in the reports with a score of 71.46%, with Jones hybrid a very close second at 71.15%. Bixby is next, then Buchanan. Of the "written-in" varieties, excellent hardiness is reported for Cosford, Hazelbert, Kentish Cob, Early Globe, Burkhardt's Zeller, Comet, Gellatly No. 1, Chinese Corylus, Brixnut and Longfellow.

Yields rule best with Rush and Jones hybrid. Winkler, Bixby and Buchanan follow closely. Failures in this respect are noted for Barcelona, DuChilly, Italian Red and White Aveline. Cosford has a good report.

Rush and Jones hybrid fill well, as do Cosford, Hazelbert, Buchanan and, usually, Winkler. Husking qualities are quite good for all varieties named except Winkler and, in some places, Rush. Cracking qualities are fairly uniform in all varieties reported.

In size of nuts, Jones hybrid and Winkler have a more uniformly good record, with Hazelbert, DuChilly, White Aveline, Barcelona, Brixnut and Longfellow following closely. In kernel quality, Rush, Winkler, Cosford, DuChilly, Bixby, Buchanan and Longfellow are named as among the best.

_Butternuts._ The record is very scant. Weschcke, Sherwood and Buckley, according to these reports, are hardy. Weschcke and Craxezy yield well. Sherwood is the most precocious in early bearing with Weschcke close up. Sherwood, Craxezy and Weschcke fill well and the latter two crack well. Buckley leads in size of nuts, with Sherwood close, and all have good kernel quality. We have no reports on Aiken, Deming or Devon.

_Persian Walnuts._ In most portions of the north, the reports show that Franquette, Mayette, Pomeroy and Rush are not adapted to our climate--too tender. Broadview has the best record for hardiness, followed by one or two of the Crath Carpathian numbers, and with Breslau, Lancaster and Bedford showing up well.

In yields, Broadview and Payne have the best reports, followed by Breslau, Lancaster and Bedford. In size of nuts, Breslau, Lancaster and Franquette are first; Broadview and Payne next. In quality of kernel, Bedford, Franquette, Lancaster and Payne, in that order, are claimed as best, with Mayette, Breslau, Crath, Pomeroy and Broadview following. Since kernel quality is a matter of taste, it seems unlikely that any rating on it will prove satisfactory to everybody.

_Hickories._ Returns are numerous and well distributed. In hardiness, Stratford leads with a rating of 84%; Glover rates 83; Fairbanks, 79; Romig, 75; Weiker, 71; Kentucky, 65. Others, written in, with best ratings by their growers, are, in the following order; Beaver, Hales, Barnes, Clark, Caldwell, Taylor, Weschcke, Beemen, Bridgewater. Schinnerling, Hagen and Abscota are close up.

Best yields are reporting for Stratford and Fairbanks. Close up are Barnes, Glover and Schinnerling.

Weschcke, Glover, Weiker, Beeman and Bridgewater are most precocious in early bearing. Best filled nuts are reported, in order of precedence, for Stratford, Fairbanks, Walters, Beaver, Hagen, Weschcke, Beeman and Bridgewater.

=Husking quality:= Reports were inadequate. Cracking quality, in order or rank, Glover, Stratford, Hagen, Beeman, Weschcke, Schinnerling, Kirtland, Weiker, Bridgewater.

=Size of nuts:= In order of rating, Weiker, Bridgewatar, Fairbanks, Weschcke, Stratford, Beeman, Schinnerling, Hagen. In weight of kernel: first, Abscota, then Barnes, Glover, Fairbanks, Kentucky, Kirtland.

=Quality of kernel:= In order of preference, Kirtland, Glover, Weschcke, Hagen, Stratford, Bridgewater, Weiker, Abscota, Schinnerling, Kentucky, Beeman, Stratford, Beaver.

Too much dependence should not be placed upon the order of precedence in the above lists after the first two or three, since, in many instances, there is not sufficient corroboration from separate sources to warrant more than a tentative position, especially for some of the varieties listed at the ends of the classes.

_Heartnuts._ The hardiest, in the order reported, are Walters, Fodermaier, Gellatly, Faust, Bates. Lancaster, does not bear well and is not hardy in the northern areas. Best yields reported are from Walters and Bates. Other reports are inadequate or absent. Most precocious, Bates and Gellatly.

Best filled heartnuts, with best husking and cracking qualities as well as best quality of kernels; returns are about equally divided between Gellatly, Walters and Bates, with Walters and Gellatly somewhat larger in size.

It is to be regretted that reports are incomplete or absent in connection with many varieties of nuts. We feel, however, that, in the main, the above ratings, especially when arrived at from cumulative evidence, reflect with fair accuracy, the present status of nut tree conditions in northern United States.

_CANADA._ In all its chief characteristics, the Canadian nut growing experience follows the pattern of northern United States. The reports received from Canada numbered about one-tenth those received from the northern states--upon the whole, a satisfactory cross section.

In summarizing these reports it will be necessary only to call attention to such practices and experiences in Canada as are at variance with those already reported from the northern states. For example, in response to the question, "What species are you planting experimentally or commercially?" we find, surprisingly, that Persian walnuts displace black walnuts from first place, at least in these reports, and that filberts and heartnuts come next. Then come black walnuts, butternuts, hickories, hazels, Chinese chestnuts, persimmons, Jap walnuts, almonds and a scattering of other species. Leading native wild trees are, first hazels, then black walnuts, hickories and butternuts.

Winter climate is widely varied, being temperate along Puget Sound and close to the southern tier of the Great Lakes, but subject to great extremes in the prairie provinces. Lower winter temperatures in these provinces average from zero to 45° below, while the lowest recorded is reported to have been 62° below. It is evident that Canadians have widely variable problems, in spite of which three Canadians, exactly the number reported from the northern states, tell us that the sale of nuts is an important item in their annual incomes. It looks as though, in comparison, northern U. S. growers could do better. With an average frost-free season of less than five months (from May 7 to Oct. 2), Canadians do this. The normal dates of latest spring frosts average from April 20 to May 24, and of earliest fall frosts, from Sept. 10 to Oct. 12. Extremes at either end often shorten the season somewhat.

Soil conditions are generally good, with plenty of loam and sandy-loam, half lime, half acid; but drought is serious in places, necessitating irrigation. One wonders whether, if more of us were pushed to it, we might not find irrigation so profitable that we would never again be without it. Cultural and soil corrective practices are, in general, similar to those previously reported. Less trouble is experienced from rodents--mice, rabbits, squirrels--but more from deer. Wrapping the trunks of young trees is more generally practiced than with us of more southern latitudes, and disk cultivation is more generally favored.

In reply to the question, "What was your one greatest source of success?", the answers include, pollination by hand, the use of good trees, disking, planting hardy seed, and budding Persians on black walnut stocks. Failures were due mostly to the inevitable causes, cold, drought, weak growth. Alkaline soil is mentioned in one report as a chief difficulty. Bud worms, June beetle, leaf hoppers and walnut caterpillars are also enemies, but Canada seems free from some of the other pests that have invaded the United States.

The most profitable species reported by Canadians are filberts, black walnuts, with "soft-shelled" walnuts mentioned by Mr. Gellatly, of West Bank, B. C. From Ontario, Mr. A. S. Wagner, of Delhi, writes, "We are collecting (nuts) now to make tests of various types of black walnuts this winter. There are one or two plantations of 1000 trees which will soon be bearing, and the future looks interesting."