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Title: Northern Nut Growers Association Incorporated 39th Annual Report

Editor: Northern Nut Growers Association

Release date: May 24, 2008 [eBook #25583]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25583

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN
NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED 39TH ANNUAL
REPORT ***

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

+
——————————————————————————————
——————+ |DISCLAIMER | | | |The articles published in the Annual
Reports of the Northern Nut Growers| |Association are the findings and
thoughts solely of the authors and are | |not to be construed as an
endorsement by the Northern Nut Growers | |Association, its board of
directors, or its members. No endorsement is | |intended for products
mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not| |mentioned. The laws
and recommendations for pesticide application may | |have changed since
the articles were written. It is always the pesticide| |applicator's
responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current | |label directions for
the specific pesticide being used. The discussion | |of specific nut tree
cultivars and of specific techniques to grow nut | |trees that might have been
successful in one area and at a particular | |time is not a guarantee that
similar results will occur elsewhere. | +
——————————————————————————————
——————+

[Illustration]

NORTHERN

NUT GROWERS

ASSOCIATION

INCORPORATED

39th Annual Report

[Illustration]

CONVENTION AT NORRIS, TENN.

SEPTEMBER 13-15

1948

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Fruiting Chinese Chestnut Branches (Courtesy Dr. H. Reid Hunter) 2

Officers and Committees 6

State and Foreign Vice-Presidents 7

Constitution 8

By-Laws 9

Proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Annual Convention 12
Address of Welcome—George F. Gant 12
Response—Dr. L. H. MacDaniels 14
President's Address—John Davidson 15
Secretary's Report—J. C. McDaniel 16
Treasurer's Report—D. C. Snyder 18
Other Business of the Association, Committee Election and Reports 19

The Development and Propagation of Blight Resistant Chestnut in
West Virginia—Ralph H. Quick 26

The Present Status of the Chestnut in Virginia—R. C. Moore 31

Growing Chinese Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama—G. S. Jones 34

Processed Chestnuts on the Market throughout the Year—J. C. Moore 38

Chestnut Growing in the Southeast—Max B. Hardy 41

Mr. Hardy and Some Chestnuts Prepared for Storage 41

Marketing Chestnuts in the Pacific Coast—Carroll D. Bush 51

Chestnut Weevils and Their Control with DDT—E. R. Van Leeuwen 54

Diseases Affecting the Success of Tree Crop Plantings—G. F. Gravatt
and Donald C. Stout 60

Chinese x American Hybrid Chestnut Trees 62

The Brooming Disease of Walnuts 64-65

Trees Killed by the Persimmon Wilt 67

Round Table Discussion on Chestnut Problems—Spencer B. Chase,
Presiding 69

Greetings from a Kentucky Nut—Dr. C. A. Moss 83

Nut Trees for West Tennessee—Aubrey Richards, M.D. 85

Marketing Black Walnuts as a Community Projects—Rev. Bernard
Taylor 87

Experiences with Tree Crops in Meigs County, Tennessee—W. A.
Shadow 88

Nut Hobbying in Eastern West Virginia—Wilbert M. Frye 91

A Look, "Backward and Forward" into Nut Growing in Kentucky—W.
G. Tatum 93

Round Table Discussion on Judging Schedule for Black Walnuts—Dr.
L. H. MacDaniels, Chairman 95

Fruiting Black Walnut at Brooks, Alberta, Canada 103

Present Outlook for Honeylocust in the South—J. C. Moore 104

Possibilities of Filbert Growing in Virginia—E. L. Overholser 111

Filberts for Food and Looks in Kentucky—N. R. Elliott 116

J. F. Jones, Introducer of Many Nut Varieties—Clarence A. Reed 118

J. F. Jones 118

Mildred and Wesley Langdoc 125

The Value of Nut Trees in Tennessee—F. S. Chance 126

The Development and Filling of Nuts—H. L. Crane 130

The Grafted Curly Walnut as a Timber Tree—J. Ford Wilkinson 139

The Black Walnut Situation in Tennessee—George B. Shivery 142

Grafting Walnuts in Ohio—Sylvester Shessler 145

Grafting Walnuts in the Greenhouse—George L. Slate 146

Nut Investigations at the Pennsylvania State College—William S.
Clarke, Jr. 148

Black Walnuts: A New Specialty at Renfro Valley—Tom Mullins 149

Marketing Black Walnut Kernels—F. J. McCauley 152

Production of Bacteria-Free Walnut Kernels—Roger W. Pease 157

Pecan Selection in Oklahoma—Dr. Frank B. Cross 160

Pecan Improvement Program for Southwestern Kentucky—W. W.
Magill 164

Pecan Production in South Carolina—T. L. Senn 167

Preservation of Shelled Pecans by Drying and Hermetically
Sealing—Hubert Harris 169

Follow-Up Studies on the 1946 Ohio Black Walnut Prize Winners—L.
Walter Sherman 174

Final Business Session, Election of Officers, Reports of Committees 177

Odds and Ends—Dr. W. C. Deming 181

The Birth of a New Walnut Cracker—B. H. Thompson 183

Marketing of Black Walnuts in Arkansas—T. A. Winkleman 183

Further Notes on Nut Tree Guards for Pasture Plantings—Oliver D.
Diller 184

Wire Guard Around Young Chestnut Tree 185

A Pecan Orchard in Glouchester County, Virginia—Mrs. Selina L.
Hopkins 186

Indiana Nut Shows Have Educational Value—W. B. Ward 188

View of an Indiana Nut Exhibit 189

The Importance of Stock and Scion Relationship in Hickory and
Walnut—Carl Weschcke 190

Progress with Nuts at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire—Matthew Lahti 195

Breeding Chestnuts in the New York City Area—Alfred Szego 196

Winter Injury to Nut Trees at Ithaca, New York, in the Fall and
Winter of 1947-48—L. H. MacDaniels and Damon Boynton 199

What Came Through the Hard Winter in Ontario—George Hebden
Corsan 201

Filberts Grow in Vermont—Joseph N. Collins 202

Report of Necrology Committee 203
Carl E. Schuster 203
Mrs. Laura Selden Ellwanger 204
M. M. Kaufman 205
Norman B. Ward 205

Attendance 206

Northern Nut Growers Association, Membership List 209

Exhibitors at the 39th Annual Meeting 222

Announcements 223

+Please Note: The membership list is in the back of this volume.+

OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION 1949

President—H. F. Stoke, 1436 Watts Avenue, Roanoke, Virginia

Vice-President—Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Dept. of Floriculture and
Ornamental Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Treasurer—Sterling A. Smith, 630 West South Street, Vermilion, Ohio

Secretary—J. C. McDaniel, Tennessee Dept. of Agriculture, State
Office Bldg., Nashville 3, Tennessee

Directors include above officers plus: John Davidson, 234 E. Second
Street, Xenia, Ohio; and Clarence A. Reed, 7309 Piney Branch Road, N.
W., Washington 12, D.C.

Dean—Dr. W. C. Deming, 31 S. Highland, West Hartford 7, Connecticut

Nominating Committee—Dr. H. L. Crane, Harry R. Weber, Dr. William
L. Rohrbacher, J. Ford Wilkinson, George L. Slate

EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

Press and Publications—Editorial Section: Dr. Lewis E. Theiss,
Dr. W. C. Deming, Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, C. A. Reed, Dr. A. S. Colby,
George L. Slate, Dr. J., Russell Smith
Publicity Section: Dr. J. Russell Smith, C. A. Reed, Dr. A. S. Colby,
Carrol D. Bush, A. A. Bungart, J. C. McDaniel
Printing Section: John Davidson, Harry R. Weber, J. C. McDaniel

Program—H. L. Crane, R. P. Allaman, George L. Slate, C. A. Reed, J. C.
McDaniel, Raymond E. Silvis

Place of Meeting—Dr. A. S. Colby, J. F. Wilkinson, D. C. Snyder,
Carl F. Walker, H. H. Corsan

Varieties and Contests—Spencer B. Chase, G. J. Korn, J. F. Wilkinson,
Gilbert Becker, A. G. Hirschi, L. Walter Sherman, C. A. Reed, Dr.
L. H. MacDaniels, Dr. J. Russell Smith
Standards and Judging section of this committee: Dr. L. H. MacDaniels,
Spencer B. Chase, C. A. Reed, Dr. J. Russell Smith

Survey and Research—R. E. Silvis, plus the state and foreign
vice-presidents

Membership—Mrs. Harry Weber, Mrs. Blaine McCollum, Mrs. Stephen
Bernath

Exhibits—R. P. Allaman, Carl Weschcke, Fayette Etter, A. G. Hirschi,
G. J. Korn, J. F. Wilkinson, G. L. Smith, Seward Berhow, Royal
Oakes, H. H. Corsan, G. H. Corsan

Necrology—Mrs. Herbert Negus, Mrs. Wm. Rohrbacher, Miss Jeannette
F.
Johns, Barbara Sly

Audit—Dr. Wm. Rohrbacher, E. P. Gerber, Raymond E. Silvis

Finance—Harry Weber, D. C. Snyder, Carl Weschcke, Sterling Smith

Legal Advisers—Sargent Wellman, Harry Weber

Official Journal—American Fruit Grower, 1370 Ontario St., Cleveland
13, Ohio

State and Foreign Vice-Presidents

Alabama LOVIC ORR

Alberta, Canada A. L. YOUNG

Arkansas A. C. HALE

British Columbia, Canada J. U. GELLATLY

California DR. THOMAS R. HAIG

Connecticut GEORGE D. PRATT, JR.

Delaware LEWIS WILKINS

Denmark COUNT F. M. KNUTH

District of Columbia GEORGE U. GRAFF

Ecuador, South America F. A. COLWELL

Florida C. A. AVANT

Georgia WM. J. WILSON

Idaho J. E. MCGORAN

Illinois ROYAL OAKES

Indiana FORD WALLICK

Iowa IRA M. KYHL

Kansas DR. CLYDE GRAY

Kentucky DR. C. A. MOSS

Manitoba, Canada A. H. YOUNG

Maryland BLAINE MCCOLLUM

Massachusetts I. W. SHORT

Mexico FEDERICO COMPEAN

Michigan GILBERT BECKER

Minnesota R. E. HODGSON

Mississippi JAMES R. MEYER

Missouri RALPH RICHTERKESSING

Nebraska GEORGE BRAND

New Hampshire MATTHEW LAHTI

New Jersey MRS. ALAN R. BUCKWALTER

New Mexico REV. TITUS GEHRING

New York GEORGE SALZER

North Carolina DR. R. T. DUNSTAN

North Dakota HOMER L. BRADLEY

Ohio A. A. BUNGART

Oklahoma A. G. HIRSCHI

Ontario, Canada G. H. CORSAN

Oregon HARRY L. PEARCY

Pennsylvania R. P. ALLAMAN

Prince Edward Island, Canada ROBERT SNAZELLE

Rhode Island PHILIP ALLEN

South Carolina JOHN T. BREGGER

South Dakota HERMAN RICHTER

Tennessee THOMAS G. ZARGER

Texas KAUFMAN FLORIDA

Utah HARLAN D. PETTERSON

Vermont A. W. ALDRICH

Virginia H. R. GIBBS

Washington CARROLL D. BUSH

West Virginia WILBERT M. FRYE

Wisconsin NORMAN KOELSCH

CONSTITUTION

of the

NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED

(As read at the annual meeting, Guelph, Ontario, September 5, 1947, and
adopted September 13, 1948, at Norris, Tennessee)

NAME

ARTICLE I. This Society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers
Association, Incorporated. It is strictly a non-profit organization.

PURPOSES

ARTICLE II. The purposes of this Association shall be to promote interest
in the nut bearing plants; scientific research in their breeding and culture;
standardization of varietal names the dissemination of information
concerning the above and such other purposes as may advance the culture
of nut bearing plants, particularly in the North Temperate Zone.

MEMBERS

ARTICLE III. Membership in this Association shall be open to all persons
interested in supporting the purposes of the Association. Classes of
members are as follows: Annual members, Contributing members, Life
members, Honorary members, and Perpetual members. Applications for
membership in the Association shall be presented to the secretary or the
treasurer in writing, accompanied by the required dues.

OFFICERS

ARTICLE IV. The elected officers of this Association shall consist of a
President, Vice-president, a Secretary and a Treasurer or a combined
Secretary-treasurer as the Association may designate.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ARTICLE V. The Board of Directors shall consist of six members of the
Association who shall be the officers of the Association and the two
preceding elected presidents. If the offices of Secretary and Treasurer are
combined, the three past presidents shall serve on the Board of Directors.

There shall be a State Vice-president for each state, dependency, or
country represented in the membership of the Association, who shall be
appointed by the President.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE VI. This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of
the members present at any annual meeting, notice of such amendment
having been read at the previous annual meeting, or copy of the proposed

amendments having been mailed by the Secretary or by any member to
each member thirty days before the date of the annual meeting.

BY-LAWS

(Revised and adopted at Norris, Tennessee, September 13, 1948)

SECTION I.—MEMBERSHIP

Classes of membership are defined as follows:

ARTICLE 1. Annual members. Persons who are interested in the
purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Three Dollars ($3.00).

ARTICLE 2. Contributing members. Persons who are interested in the
purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Ten Dollars ($10.00) or
more.

ARTICLE 3. Life members. Persons who are interested in the purposes of
the Association who contribute Seventy Five Dollars ($75.00) to its support
and who shall, after such contribution, pay no annual dues.

ARTICLE 4. Honorary members. Those whom the Association has
elected as honorary members in recognition of their achievements in the
special fields of the Association and who shall pay no dues.

ARTICLE 5. Perpetual members. "Perpetual" membership is eligible to
any one who leaves at least five hundred dollars to the Association and such

membership on payment of said sum to the Association shall entitle the
name of the deceased to be forever enrolled in the list of members as
"Perpetual" with the words "In Memoriam" added thereto. Funds received
therefor shall be invested by the Treasurer in interest bearing securities legal
for trust funds in the District of Columbia. Only the interest shall be
expended by the Association. When such funds are in the treasury the
Treasurer shall be bonded. Provided: that in the event the Association
becomes defunct or dissolves, then, in that event, the Treasurer shall turn
over any funds held in his hands for this purpose for such uses, individuals
or companies that the donor may designate at the time he makes the bequest
of the donation.

SECTION II.—DUTIES OF OFFICERS

ARTICLE 1. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association
and Board of Directors, and may call meetings of the Board of Directors
when he believes it to be to the best interests of the Association. He shall
appoint the State Vice-presidents; the standing committees, except the
Nominating Committee, and such special committees as the Association
may authorize.

ARTICLE 2. Vice-president. In the absence of the President, the
Vice-president shall perform the duties of the President.

ARTICLE 3. Secretary. The Secretary shall be the active executive
officer of the Association. He shall conduct the correspondence relating to
the Association's interests, assist in obtaining memberships and otherwise
actively forward the interests of the Association, and report to the Annual
Meeting and from time to time to meetings of the Board of Directors as
they may request.

ARTICLE 4. Treasurer. The Treasurer shall receive and record
memberships, receive and account for all moneys of the Association and
shall pay all bills approved by the President or the Secretary. He shall give
such security as the Board of Directors may require or may legally be
required, shall invest life memberships or other funds as the Board of
Directors may direct, subject to legal restrictions and in accordance with the
law, and shall submit a verified account of receipts and disbursements to the
Annual meeting and such current accounts as the Board of Directors may
from time to time require. Before the final business session of the Annual
Meeting of the Association, the accounts of the Treasurer shall be submitted
for examination to the Auditing Committee appointed by the President at
the opening session of the Annual Meeting.

ARTICLE 5. The Board of Directors shall manage the affairs of the
Association between meetings. Four members, including at least two
elected officers, shall be considered a quorum.

SECTION III.—ELECTIONS

ARTICLE 1. The Officers shall be elected at the Annual Meeting and hold
office for one year beginning immediately following the close of the Annual
Meeting.

ARTICLE 2. The Nominating Committee shall present a slate of officers
on the first day of the Annual Meeting and the election shall take place at
the closing session. Nominations for any office may be presented from the
floor at the time the slate is presented or immediately preceding the
election.

ARTICLE 3. For the purpose of nominating officers for the year 1949
and thereafter, a committee of five members shall be elected annually at the

preceding Annual Meeting.

ARTICLE 4. A quorum at a regularly called Annual Meeting shall be
fifteen (15) members and must include at least two of the elected officers.

ARTICLE 5. All classes of members whose dues are paid shall be
eligible to vote and hold office.

SECTION IV.—FINANCIAL MATTERS

ARTICLE 1. The fiscal year of the Association shall extend from October
1st through the following September 30th. All annual memberships shall
begin October 1st.

ARTICLE 2. The names of all members whose dues have not been paid
by
January 1st shall be dropped from the rolls of the Society. Notices of
non-payment of dues will be mailed to delinquent members on or about
December 1st.

ARTICLE 3. The Annual Report shall be sent to only those members
who have paid their dues for the current year. Members whose dues have
not been paid by January 1st shall be considered delinquent. They will not
be entitled to receive the publication or other benefits of the Association
until dues are paid.

SECTION V.—MEETINGS

ARTICLE 1. The place and time of the Annual Meeting shall be selected by
the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made at this
time, the Board of Directors shall choose the place and time for the holding

of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seem desirable may
be called by the President and Board of Directors.

SECTION VI.—PUBLICATIONS

ARTICLE 1. The Association shall publish a report each fiscal year and
such other publications as may be authorized by the Association.

ARTICLE 2. The publishing of the report shall be the responsibility of
the Committee on Publications.

SECTION VII.—AWARDS

ARTICLE 1. The Association may provide suitable awards for outstanding
contributions to the cultivation of nut bearing plants and suitable
recognition for meritorious exhibits as may be appropriate.

SECTION VIII.—STANDING COMMITTEES

As soon as practicable after the Annual Meeting of the Association, the
President shall appoint the following standing committees:

1. Membership 2. Auditing 3. Publications 4. Survey 5. Program 6.
Research 7. Exhibit 8. Varieties and Contests

SECTION IX.—REGIONAL GROUPS AND AFFILIATED
SOCIETIES

ARTICLE 1. The Association shall encourage the formation of regional
groups of its members, who may elect their own officers and organize their

own local field days and other programs. They may publish their
proceedings and selected papers in the yearbooks of the parent society
subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.

ARTICLE 2. Any independent regional association of nut growers may
affiliate with the Northern Nut Growers Association provided one-fourth of
its members are also members of the Northern Nut Growers Association.
Such affiliated societies shall pay an annual affiliation fee of $3.00 to the
Northern Nut Growers Association. Papers presented at the meetings of the
regional society may be published in the proceedings of the parent society
subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.

SECTION X.—AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS

ARTICLE 1. These by-laws may be amended at any Annual Meeting by a
two-thirds vote of the members present provided such amendments shall
have been submitted to the membership in writing at least thirty days prior
to that meeting.

PROCEEDINGS of the Thirty-ninth Annual Convention of the Northern
Nut
Growers Association, Inc.

Meeting at NORRIS, TENNESSEE SEPTEMBER 13-15, 1948

The meeting was called to order by President John Davidson at 8:45
o'clock, a. m.

Address of Welcome

GEORGE F. GANT, General Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority,
Knoxville,
Tennessee

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: It is a distinct pleasure to welcome
you to Norris and to the Tennessee Valley. You have had very fine weather
here, and we hope that you will enjoy the climate and the scenery and the
fishing and the pleasures of this part of the country during your short stay.

The Northern Nut Growers Association is a much older organization than
I had thought, and it is much older than the Tennessee Valley Authority, but
a review of some of the things, you have done and some of the interests you
have expressed from time to time indicate that we have many interests in
common, your organization and the TVA.

You are concerned with experimentation of new and better ways of
growing tree crops. You are concerned with the environment in which tree
crops must find a place in our economy and in our culture, because, as I
understand it, your interest goes beyond mere economics to the full use of
trees.

Now, the Tennessee Valley Authority is likewise concerned with
experimentation. As a matter of fact, it is an experiment, a new and different
way of achieving a better use of natural resources.

There is nothing new in what the TVA does. There are no activities
conducted by TVA that have not been or are not being conducted by other
agencies all over the country and which have been conducted by Federal
agencies for many, many years. The TVA has no new regulatory or coercive

functions. As a matter of fact, the TVA has no coercive functions. It has no
new or unique or different governmental functions. There is only one thing
that is different about TVA, and that is the way in which it approaches the
job of resource use on an overall basis.

Now, I might illustrate that by referring to the construction of dams and
reservoirs. In the Tennessee Valley the TVA builds dams and reservoirs to
prevent floods, to produce a navigable channel, to produce power, and in its
reservoirs it also has the responsibility of achieving the best uses of
reservoirs and reservoir lands in the interests of fish and wild life, in the
interests of recreation, and in the interests of malaria control.

Now, the unique fact here is not that these things are going on or being
done, at least in part, through a Federal agency, but that one Federal agency
is responsible for achieving a balance between all of these activities and
with the administrative responsibility for doing that. In other efforts the
situation is different, with as many as eight agencies having something to
do with the development of some one of these activities in a way which
might or might not be integrated.

Now, the second illustration, I think, is that unity can be accomplished
only if all of the agencies which are concerned with the use of resources
have an environment in which they can work effectively. The Federal
Government is not and should not in the Tennessee Valley be developing all
of these resources itself. It feels that the unified development of the
resources depends upon the participation of the people of the Tennessee
Valley and their institutions, the local and the state agencies. There can't be
unity any more if local agencies are conducting one program and a Federal
agency conducting another program, than there can be if several Federal
agencies are conducting several programs.

Consequently, the Tennessee Valley Authority, except for the operation of
these huge new facilities which have been added to the resources of the
Tennessee Valley, conducts its activities in collaboration with local and state
agencies. That not only avoids the expense of duplication, but it achieves
the collaboration, the participation, the active interest of the people in
getting a full job done.

That is true in the field of forestry. Forestry has a particular role in the
Tennessee Valley. First of all, the TVA is concerned with the effective use
and control of water, not only in the river channel itself, but on the land.
Forestry, together with engineering and agriculture, must come together, not
only come together within the administrative framework of TVA, but within
the framework of what our colleges and state departments are doing and
with what the land owners are doing in these watersheds.

Further than that, the TVA is fully aware that watershed protection cannot
be achieved except within the economy of the region. That means that the
best use of forest lands from the economic point of view, from the
productive point of view, as well as from the conservation point of view,
must be taken into account.

For these reasons the TVA is concerned not only with multiple-purpose
dams, but with multiple-purpose land use. These activities are not
conducted directly by TVA, but in cooperation with the land grant colleges
and with the appropriate state departments.

I think and I hope that as you review the several activities which are
going on in the Tennessee Valley area that you will keep these
characteristics of TVA in mind. We are very happy to have you here. I hope
that many of you will be able to extend your visit or to come back and see
us another time.

*****

President John Davidson: I am personally very glad to have heard this
talk. I know quite a bit more about the fundamental principles of the work
underlying TVA than I did before.

Dr. MacDaniels, will you say a word on behalf of the Association?

+Response+

Dr. L. H. MacDaniels: Mr. President and members of the Northern Nut
Growers Association, I am sure that I voice the sentiment of all of the
Association to you, Mr. Gant, and all of the Tennessee Valley Authority our
very great appreciation of your allowing us to come and meet with you and
use the very fine facilities which are available here in Upper Norris Park.

As far as I am concerned, and probably I am in the same situation as
most of you in the North; we have heard a lot about the Tennessee Valley
Authority, but mostly it is bandied around in the newspapers and usually
connected with some sort of a political argument of one kind or another.
And I think that to come here and to see the place and to live in the cabins
and drive through the forests, to swim in the lake, as some of us did
yesterday afternoon, went far away around the bend, and went in swimming
—I think you might improve the mud bottom in some places, which is not
too good, but it reminds us of our youth, at least—and to fish in the lakes,
although not too successfully. After we have done that we certainly know
much more about what sort of a development the Tennessee Valley
Authority is.

Another thing, as a member of the Northern Nut Growers Association
and as you are members, I think we all appreciate what the Tennessee

Valley Authority has done for the Northern Nut Growers Association. The
Tennessee Valley Authority has been the first, you might say, large agency
which has taken northern nut growing seriously and has used the knowledge
which has been developed by this Association in an extensive way in the
planting and developing of new varieties, developing of new techniques in
the use of the plants, the nut trees and the persimmons, and what not, with
which the Northern Nut Growers Association has been concerned.

As we drive up the valley here and we see these thousands of walnut
seedlings which are still to be used and see the plantings which you will see
more intimately later, we can realize just how extensively the Tennessee
Valley Authority has been concerned with the development of our forest
resources and particularly these plants which are of economic value,
inasmuch as they are nut trees, and their relationship to wildlife and a
project of this kind in which forest resources and tree resources are to be
made use of.

I have noticed that you did mention fishing as one of the things that has
been developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. I also am reminded of
the fact that some of us, including our president, tried to go out and exercise
some of these fish, without much success, and I have been trying to think of
the reason. I know, as far as we are concerned, we used all the plugs and
spinners and floating baits and sinking baits, and I went completely through
my tackle box and pulled out the one that we call the "Christmas tree," a big
bunch of spoons with a place to put a minnow on the end, and we dragged
that around, almost swamped the motor, but did get around; didn't catch
anything.

It reminds me of an incident there at Cornell. We have a director, who
was head of the Pomology Department at that time. He had a dog that
wasn't disciplined very well, he wouldn't come when he was called, and so

on. The foreman out at the orchard had a dog that was very well disciplined.
He'd say, "Go get my hat," and he'd get the hat, and "Go quickly," and he'd
go quickly. And this head of the department asked the foreman, "Well, how
was it that you trained this dog, and how do you train a dog, anyway?"

"Well," he said, "first of all, you have got to know more than the dog."
Perhaps that's the case with some of us and the fish. Anyway, we didn't
catch any fish.

I don't care to say any more, except, Mr. Gant, to express our
appreciation to you for the excellent facilities which you have furnished.

President Davidson: Thank you, Dr. MacDaniels.

I believe the next order is the little talk by myself.

President's Address

JOHN DAVIDSON, Xenia, Ohio

When I was notified that this Association, in session at Guelph, had
named me as its president, I was surprised and deeply honored. I suppose
there is not a single member of this body who does not have the feeling that
the Northern Nut Growers Association is "different," unique, and, very
special: Here are all kinds: scientists and rule-of-thumb planters,
experienced professionals and inexperienced amateurs, conservationists and
hobbyists, all bent on one objective—to enlighten Americans and
themselves on the values and opportunities that lie in the study and practice
of planting forest trees which bear crops—specifically, nuts.

But the interest of most of our members is rather broader than our name
would indicate. Forest crops, not merely nuts, are the logical outgrowth in
interest that such an organization as ours stimulates. Dr. Zimmerman's work
with papaws is a case in point. Mr. Wilkinson's work with the Lamb curly
walnut is another. The persimmon, the papaw, the mulberry, the haws, the
juneberries—you are likely to find them all, sooner or later, among the nut
trees of our members. You will hear presently about a wood from one of our
nut trees that is so valuable, and so possible to grow, that we may presently
be planting for extraordinarily beautiful and valuable timber.

Patience is what it takes, and faith. Trees are an example to us. If we
could only look at the procession of the centuries with the eyes of the
sequoias, we should see creation moving on marvelously with magnificent
fruitfulness, and we should take courage.

Has the process of evolution been more successful with plants than with
the human race? Should benevolent creation fail at its highest point?
Certainly it should not. Nevertheless it certainly will fail there so long as so
large a body of the race is undernourished, ill-born, hopelessly submerged
—dragging downward rather than lifting upward.

Who knows the total answer? Education, of course, is a part of it—in
industry, in eugenics, in moral responsibility. But you can't preach
education effectively to a starving or half-starved man or child. The
multiplication of population, the better distribution of goods throughout the
world (which means in the end the avoidance of extremes of over and
under-production)—these are the world's next greatest problems. I
personally have the feeling that we are on the verge of an almost
unthinkable increase in food productiveness through chemurgy's better and
more complete use of plant life. We shall yet learn to gauge population to
food supplies and food to population. Both are essential.

We need more plant breeders and more organic chemists at work on food
supply all over the world. We need more people of good will and long
vision, fewer political and social parasites; more producers.

Singularly, at the very moment of writing these words, a letter from a
well known plant breeder is dropped upon my desk. In it he turns down the
idea of an hypothetical executive position which most people would regard
as promotion. The importance and interest of his work is so great in its own
right that he would not think of changing.

That is what I mean. We need more of his kind in the world. It is hoped
that in this Association such men may find the kindredship and comradeship
they so richly earn.

This was the spirit with which our Association was organized by Dr.
Robert Morris, Dr. Deming, and a few far-sighted men in the early days of
this century and carried on by them, by Mr. Reed, Dr. Zimmerman,
Professor Neilson and their kind since. We salute them all. Their works
follow and honor them by their multiplied fruits.

I shall not take the time in this full program to review the events of the
past year. Some of our speakers will do this far better than I. But I wish to
greet our visitors and the new members who may not have been with us
before. We hope you will feel very much at home in our family of kindred
minds.

Also, these remarks would not be complete without recognition of the
efforts of those who unselfishly and unstintingly have given of their time
and strength to this important work: our Secretary, Joe McDaniel! You all
know him by his exceptional service to us all. (Let's rise and give him a
hand.) And while we are on our feet—one of the best treasurers any
organization ever had, efficient, kindly, but a veritable watch-dog of the

Treasury, Mr. Snyder! Also a hand to the members of our important
committees, Mr. Chase, Dr. MacDaniels, Mr. Slate, Mr. Stoke—I can't name
or praise them all as they deserve. The NNGA could not possibly be what it
is without them.

And now let us get on to the business before us.

Secretary's Report

J. C. McDANIEL, Nashville, Tennessee

The membership of the Association seems to be increasing fairly steadily.
When I checked the mailing list early last October, it had 667 names, as
compared with 691 listed in the 37th Annual Report. When I left Nashville
last week, the number had increased to 742, according to my stenographer's
latest count. There have been some discontinued memberships, as will
happen almost every year in any organization, but the new members have
more than compensated for them, in numbers.

We did not add up a total on all the mail sent out in response to inquiries,
but it has been voluminous. Close to 800 requests for our nut nursery list
have been received solely as a result of Mr. Stoke's Southern Agriculturist
chestnut article in last February's issue, and they are still trickling in. Some
new memberships have resulted from these contacts, but more have come
as a result of our column in the American Fruit Grower, and a Chinese
chestnut article in The Flower Grower early last spring, which gave our
Association a boost.

Some members have said they did not find their American Fruit Grower
subscriptions of much value to them, particularly since the inauguration of
The Nutshell, our news bulletin which has been issued four times since the
last annual meeting. I will take some of the blame for this, since as editor of
The Nutshell, I am somewhat in the position of competing with myself as
columnist for the Fruit Grower. Space is limited in the latter publication,
too, and sometimes publication of the "Nut Growers News" column is
deferred a month or two, and again, I have been known to miss a deadline.
Most of the columns, as in the previous years, are digests of material
previously given in our Annual Reports. This practice seems to be justified
as a matter of keeping nut news before the orcharding public and as a
means of attracting some new memberships for the Association. I do not
know of a better conditioned list of prospects than the more than 150,000
American Fruit Grower subscribers all over the continent, who are at least
interested in some kind of fruiting trees or plants. In that many, by the law
of averages, are many with some interest in nuts. Several hundred will write
to the secretary or other N.N.G.A. members who are mentioned during the
year, and at least a few score normally will join us.

This does not minimize the desirability of having other publicity outlets.
More of you who have a knack at writing should try your own contributions
to national, regional or even community-wide publications. Even short
letters to the editor, in such cases, may be read by "kindred spirits," and you
will be read by men and women whose interest in nut trees (even though it
may have been a dormant interest) will be stimulated to the extent of
becoming N.N.G.A. members. Then it is up to our officers, the program
committee members, and our contributors to keep them interested enough to
renew their memberships another year!

Your comments on The Nutshell have been quite flattering to its editor.
You all can help make it a better publication by contributing short original

observations or clippings of good items on hardy nut trees from other
sources.

There is a continuing shortage apparent in the supply of good named
varieties of hardy nut trees in nearly all areas. This seems particularly the
case with Chinese chestnuts. Few propagators at present have them in even
enough quantity to catalogue, and the demand which has been built up by
the good publicity on chestnuts exhausts most nurseries' supplies each
spring before all orders can be filled. Our nursery list in the Winter issue of
The Nutshell has gone to some 2,000 people and has helped the nurserymen
to sell out their trees quickly. We hope this will lead to a sound expansion in
the commercial propagation of good nut trees.

I should again call attention to our affiliation with the American
Horticultural Society. This enables our members in good standing to receive
their good quarterly publication, The National Horticultural Magazine, for
only $3.50 a year. You may obtain your affiliate membership through our
Treasurer, or directly from the American Horticultural Society, Room 821,
Washington Loan and Trust Building, Washington 4, D. C.

*****

President Davidson: You have heard the Secretary's report. Has anyone
any revisions or modifications of this report to suggest?

Dr. MacDaniels: I move acceptance with thanks.

(The motion was seconded, a vote taken, and the motion carried
unanimously.)

President Davidson: If the Secretary will also read the Treasurer's report,
we will proceed with it.

Mr. McDaniel: Mr. Snyder wrote recently, regretting that he would miss
this meeting (for reasons of health). He says he can not accept the position
of Treasurer another year.

Treasurer's Report for Year September 1, 1947 to September 1, 1948

D. C. SNYDER, Center Point, Iowa

INCOME

Dues $1,396.00
Reports sold 153.75
Bond Dividends 25.00
Advertising 5.00
Miss Jones' Postage Acc't. 36.85
C. A. Reed Typesetting 32.50
Miscellaneous 7.60
_________
$1,656.70

DISBURSEMENTS

Fruit Grower Subscriptions 100.80
Reports, Stationery etc. 1,105.06
Secretary's expense 100.30
Treasurer's expense 58.17
Reporting Guelph Meeting 25.00
Miscellaneous 15.60

Bank service charges and checks returned N.G. 12.90
________
1,417.83
_________

Balance gained during year 238.87
On hand September 1, 1947 1,790.44
Paid out for Bonds 1,100.00
_________
680.44
_________
Cash total on hand, September 1, 1948 (subject to minor
bank service charges and checks which may be
returned) $ 919.31
Bonds in box at Peoples Bank & Trust Company $2,500.00

*****

President Davidson: You have heard the Treasurer's Report. Any
remarks? It is a very good report. It shows that the organization is creeping
up financially and in very good condition due to the continuous care that the
Secretary and the Treasurer both have used in keeping up with our
membership, keeping dues paid up, and so on. I will entertain a motion to
accept our Treasurer's Report.

Dr. MacDaniels: I so move.

(The motion was seconded.)

Mr. O'Rourke: It should be accepted for audit.

Dr. MacDaniels: I will accept the amendment.

President Davidson: It is moved now, then, that the report be accepted for
audit. Are there any remarks?

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: The next order of business is the regular business
meeting of the Association. I think perhaps the first thing we should do
might be to proceed with the election of a Nominating Committee and the
Auditing Committee. I believe both, if I am not misinformed, are elective
and not appointive. The chair will entertain nominations for the Nominating
Committee.

+Nominating Committee Elected+

(The following were nominated for the Nominating Committee: Dr. H. L.
Crane, Harry R. Weber, Dr. Wm. L. Rohrbacher, J. F. Wilkinson, George L.
Slate. Upon motion that the Secretary cast a unanimous ballot for those
nominated, vote was taken and motion carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Am I correct in saying that the Auditing Committee
is elective, rather than appointive by the Executive Committee?

Mr. Silvis: I understood it was three members and just appointed.

Mr. McDaniel: Yes, under Article I of the by-laws, it is appointed.

President Davidson: In that case we will do nothing about that now.

I think perhaps we might proceed with a few resolutions or motions
before going to the further order of business. The chair will entertain a
motion that the Association give its thanks to Mrs. Baker and her committee

of the ladies for their entertainment of last evening and for future
entertainment.

Mr. Weber: I so move, Mr. President.

(The motion was seconded, a vote called for, and the motion carried
unanimously.)

President Davidson: Also the chair will entertain a motion that the
Secretary be instructed to send Dr. Deming our usual affectionate greetings
and assure him that his beloved association is still carrying on in the spirit
of the founders.

Mr. McDaniel: By the way, I have a letter from Dr. Deming. Should I
read that?

President Davidson: That would be fine if you would, yes.

+A Letter from Dr. Deming+

(Secretary's note: We substitute a more recent letter, dated May 9, 1949).

"… You are giving me much consolation for all my broken promises to
get out the annual report at an early date. I suggest that you have a lawyer
draw up a contract for the printer to get out the report at a given date or
forfeit so much per day for all delay. If you don't do that the printer will put
you off for something that will give him a little more profit. I don't know
that we ever got out a report in plenty of time for the members to get their
orders in early or get other benefits from the report if it arrived before
planting time.

"I note in the announcement of our Connecticut state medical society that
it scheduled a recess of 15 minutes or so at intervals for members to 'view
the exhibits.' It looks to me like a good idea….

"Congratulations on the fast work of Joe, Jr. The idea is to get plenty of
limbs before letting him bear. Have you tried the sweet buckeye on him?
[See page 181.]

"We have Spring here, too, as well as you in Nashville, and it is good.

"I get awfully tired after very little exertion. I'll be 87 on September 1.
Too old to undertake any obligations.

"Best luck.

"Yours,

s/W. C. DEMING"

President Davidson: That is expressed beautifully, as usual. May I have
that motion?

Dr. Crane: It has been moved and seconded that the Secretary be
instructed to send Dr. Deming our affectionate greetings and assure him that
his beloved association is still carrying on in the spirit of the founders.

(A vote on the motion was taken, and it was carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Another, that the Association accept with deep
regrets the resignation of D. C. Snyder, and that the Secretary be instructed
to send him our affectionate greetings and thanks for his long, efficient and
outstanding services as Treasurer of this body. Are you in favor of such a
motion?

Mr. Weber: Take out the accepting the resignation part, and the rest will
be O.K.

President Davidson: That is right. As amended then, with the omission of
that "accepting the resignation."

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

+Clarence A. Reed Elected Honorary Member+

President Davidson: One more. The chair will entertain a motion that the
Secretary be instructed to send C. A. Reed our greetings and as a small
measure of the esteem we have for him and in recognition of his long and
extraordinary services to this Association, we elect him a life member there-
of.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think it should be an "honorary member" rather than a
"life member." A life member contributes $75.

President Davidson: I believe that is correct, an honorary member. With
that amendment, then.

Dr. MacDaniels: I would so move, Mr. President.

Dr. Crane: Second the motion.

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

Dr. Crane: Mr. President, I would like at this time, if I may, to say a few
remarks in regard to Mr. Reed. I saw him last Friday afternoon, and he
asked me to convey to the Association his very deep regrets that he was
unable to attend. He had planned to attend, but his doctor said absolutely

no. So he has learned from experience that he has got to pay more attention
to his doctor's orders than he has in the past.

He wanted me to tell the members of the Association that although he
wasn't here in body he was in spirit and in mind.

President Davidson: That's fine. I think perhaps we should proceed first
with the reports of committees.

The Finance Committee. Mr. Weshcke is not here. Mr. Weber is next in
order on that committee. I presume there would be nothing special to report
at this time.

Mr. Weber: Nothing.

President Davidson: Press and Publication. Mr. Stoke is chairman of that
committee. Mr. Stoke is not present at this time. Dr. MacDaniels, would you
have anything to say in the matter of Press and Publications Committee?
Have you any recommendations or reports to make?

Dr. MacDaniels: Mr. Chairman, I hadn't planned to make any report. As a
matter of fact, I had very little to do with the work of the Publications
Committee this year. I have been rather happy that it has been handled
otherwise, and I think our thanks are due to our Secretary, who has carried
the brunt, in fact, almost the entire burden of the publication of the
proceedings. Also of The Nutshell. That occurred through a series of
circumstances which I don't wish to outline here. I think probably the chief
determining factor was that the contract for printing was awarded to a firm
in Nashville, which almost automatically made it at least convenient and
expedient to have the matter handled in Nashville. I believe you will concur
in that general opinion.

Mr. MacDaniel: Yes.

Dr. MacDaniels: So that our Secretary has had an unusually heavy
burden which we should not expect him to carry again.

President Davidson: Thank you, Dr. MacDaniels.

The chair will entertain a motion to accept Dr. MacDaniels' report on
behalf of the Press and Publication Committee.

(It was so moved and seconded, a vote taken and motion carried
unanimously.)

President Davidson: On Varieties and Contests. Mr. Zarger is not going to
be with us, I am afraid, and if there is any other member of that committee
present who has something to say on the matter of variety and contests, we
would be very glad to hear from him. I don't hear anything, so we will
proceed to the next one.

The report of the Survey Committee. Mr. Silvis is chairman of that
committee, and I will say on his behalf that he was raring to go and would
have gone if it had been the feeling on the part of some of the other
members that a survey was timely at that time. It happened that that was not
the feeling, it was not a good year to make a survey, and on that account I
wrote to Mr. Silvis that possibly it would be well to put off any important
survey for the year 1947.

Do you have anything to say, Mr. Silvis, in addition to this?

Mr. Silvis: Well, on the cuff, no, and off the cuff I would like to make this
remark, that I just had one question I was going to require every member to
answer to me for, and that was what kind of a nut tree should I plant, and

thereby try to establish a zone between frost-free dates for various locations
or states or territories. It didn't develop.

I received as late as last week John Bregger's note explaining why it was
his reply came late. But I do want to make this remark, and for our able
Secretary's first issue of The Nutshell I know this to be a fact, that with it,
it's the nuts, and without it, it's hell.

President Davidson: What shall we do with Mr. Silvis's report? We have
some action to take presently on the matter of survey in addition to this
report. Could I have a motion to accept the report of the Survey
Committee?

Dr. Crane: So move.

Mr. Weber: Second.

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Mr. Chase disappeared again. He is chairman of the
Program Committee. We all have evidence of what he has been doing.
Perhaps his program is sufficient to report.

Mrs. S. H. Graham is chairman of the Membership Committee. I think
Mrs.
Graham is not here, so perhaps we can pass on.

Report of the Necrology Committee fortunately is blank.

Mr. McDaniel: There is one that I know of. Mr. Schuster of Oregon
passed away last winter.

President Davidson: I think that points out a little weakness in our
organization. The death of Mr. Schuster should have been reported and
some notice of it taken, perhaps.

Mr. Stoke, you are here as chairman of the Exhibits Committee. Would
you like to say something?

Mr. Stoke: I don't know that I have anything to say. The exhibits speak
for themselves back there. I wish to thank those who made contributions to
that exhibit, and some still came in this morning that you haven't seen. I
think it's been fine cooperation.

I feel an apology is due for not getting out more publicity on behalf of the
committee. I had hoped that another copy of The Nutshell would be out
before this meeting so I could make another call for exhibits, but it wasn't,
and I didn't get my material in to our Secretary in time for the earlier one.

Mr. McDaniel: I believe we did have a notice in the summer issue.

Mr. Stoke: Yes, there was a notice. At any rate, we have had exhibits here
all the way from Georgia to New York. I am not sure whether they have any
from Canada or not. I think it makes a very nice display, and I certainly
appreciate your cooperation.

Dr. MacDaniels: In connection with these exhibits, we were driving
along talking to Mr. Slate about the desirability of the Northern Nut
Growers Association sending an exhibit to the Harvest Show of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society. That was done about ten years ago,
and the Society gave us a silver medal at that time. I know from talking
with Mr. Nehrling that they would be pleased to have such an exhibit put
on, and I think that if we could take much of the material from our exhibits
here and send it there that that would make an acceptable exhibit, and we

almost assuredly would get not only considerable publicity out of that,
because it would be an exhibit of the Northern Nut Growers Association,
but we might also get either a cash award or a medal. I think if we work
behind the scenes, if we preferred the cash we could get that, which would
be of some value to the Association.

Now, I speak of this merely to bring it to your attention and to point out
that any of the personally furnished exhibits that you wish to turn over for
that purpose, you may arrange with Mr. Stoke for that.

(Further discussion on the details of sending in the above-mentioned
exhibits.)

Dr. MacDaniels: I would move this Association favored sending an
exhibit to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Harvest show, provided
material is available.

Dr. Crane: Second the motion.

Dr. Silvis: May I make this remark and also be in the form of a motion,
that those exhibitors report immediately at the adjournment of this session
to Mr. Stoke and make known to him whether yes or no, whether their
exhibits can be sent up.

President Davidson: Do you make that motion in the form of an
amendment?

Dr. MacDaniels: I will include that in the motion.

Dr. Crane: I accept it.

(A vote was taken on the motion as amended, and it was carried
unanimously.)

President Davidson: Place of Meeting Committee. I judge that that
committee is not ready to report, is it, Mr. Slate, for this following meeting?

Mr. Slate: The chairman didn't realize until just before we were ready to
leave that he was a member of that committee. I have given the matter some
thought on the way down, and in the previous years I have usually gone
fishing for invitations some time before the meeting. I did drop a line
overboard a few days ago, but I didn't catch anything more than I caught in
this big lake up here.

Now, from previous experience I don't believe we can consider going to
the Middle West. Mr. Snyder, Mr. Becker in Michigan, and Dr. Colby at
Illinois, have not thought that they had enough material to make it worth
while to go out there. That throws it back to the East, and we have been to
some of the better places in recent years; Ronoake, Virginia, Hershey,
Pennsylvania, and Boston.

I think there are two places that we should consider. I think we should
consider Beltsville and the New York City region. We all know that there is
plenty of material at Beltsville. We have not been there for some time. And
in the New York City region we have the plantings of Gilbert Smith, who is
probably 85 or 90 miles above New York. He is not far from Poughkeepsie
where I am sure there are ample facilities for handling the crowd. Then
there may be possibly some of Dr. Graves' plantings that would be worth
seeing on a field trip.

Now, of course, the committee will be very glad to receive invitations
from anyone here and consider them, and we will make the final report at
the final business session at the time of the banquet, I believe. But between
now and then I want you to consider the matter rather seriously and let me
know what you are thinking about.

President Davidson: I think it would be desirable, if it were possible, for
Mr. Slate to wire the proper authorities at Beltsville or Poughkeepsie.

Mr. Weber: Mr. President, one of our members is Mr. Bernath, who has
been quite faithful in attending nearly all our meetings, and he has, I
imagine, much of interest to show to the members, and he is located near
Poughkeepsie. I am just throwing that out for the members to think over as
to what they would think about Poughkeepsie as a possible meeting place.

President Davidson: That's worth listening to.

Would it be advisable, do you think, for Mr. Slate at the expense of the
Association to wire to Poughkeepsie or to Beltsville to see whether an
invitation is available or not?

Mr. Slate: Those places are well represented now.

Mr. Weber: I imagine Mr. Bernath can speak for himself.

Mr. Bernath: I don't know, I think if we could delay it another year, Mr.
Smith is going to retire from the State School, and he will have plenty of
time. I am very busy, and he will have loads of time on his hands, and then
he can give it his attention. I think that would be all right next year.

Mr. Slate: That's up to the Association to decide.

Mr. Bernath: We would like to have you come at that time.

Mr. Slate: Beltsville is very well represented in Dr. Crane.

Mr. Weber: Mr, Chairman, in view of what Mr. Bernath says, I'd accept
Mr. Bernath's suggestion and have Poughkeepsie on the list for the year
following.

Mr. Bernath: That's right.

President Davidson: Dr. Crane may have something.

Dr. Crane: Mr. President and members of the Association, we'd like to
have the Association meeting at Beltsville again. However, we have had
four years of May freezes in Beltsville Station, and I am going to tell you
all is not in any too good condition. A lot of it has been pulled, and we have
had to replant an awful lot of the stuff that is now just planted this year. We
lost a lot of the plantings that were made last year because of injury. As you
folks probably know that have been there before, we labored under very
great difficulties on soil conditions in that we have mostly sands and gravel.

So we are kind of in a mess there right now. We'd be glad to have the
Association meet at Beltsville, and we have right good facilities there for
meetings, but as far as any plantings in the area, a lot of the work we are
doing, we are kind of going through a period of change right now and
getting re-established, and I want you to know the situation.

President Davidson: Well, we have been forewarned. It's a case, I judge,
of not being unwilling to see us, but you are not so anxious, for us to see
you, is that it?

Dr. Crane: I wouldn't want you to come there under false hopes that you
would see a lot.

Mr. Gravatt: I would like to say we have done quite a lot of work in
breeding chestnuts and also work with forest types, crossing American
chestnuts and Chinese. But I agree quite with Dr. Crane, that we haven't so
much to show you there. Of course, it's a dog-gone good thing to get
familiar with these diseases and see what you are up against, because all
through the history of nut culture, and so forth, one of the basic defects has

been the failure to appreciate the importance of insect and disease factors.
And we are very much in need of more basic research along those lines, but
I agree with Dr. Crane that at present we have a limited amount to show you
there.

Of course, there is the Plant Industry Station there with a lot of
experimental work, greenhouse work and all sorts of basic research work,
fertilization work, and so forth, going on there. A lot of people like to come
to Washington. Our plantings are pretty much the same condition as Dr.
Crane's and not a display proposition such as you have here at TVA.

President Davidson: Suppose we regard this report, then, as temporary
and hear more from you later.

I think that concludes the reports.

The Board of Directors, unless there is some other order of business to be
taken up, have some recommendations to make to the Association. One is
the recommendation that the Association place the annual membership fee
at $3, the supporting membership fee at $10 and the life membership fee at
$75. They didn't wish to take the responsibility of doing anything more than
referring that matter to this Association.

Dr. MacDaniels: That could be handled in the by-laws under the
constitution.

President Davidson: We still also have another rather important matter
that's been referred to the Association, and that is the matter of a sufficient
amount of remuneration to permit our Secretary to hire a stenographer to do
the extra amount of work that is gradually accumulating in that office. The
resolution that is referred to you calls for a payment of 50 cents per member
to the Secretary for this purpose…. We have no right to be set up so that the

work of the Association would encroach upon a person's job as it is set up at
the present time. That recommendation was that it was contingent, of
course, upon raising the dues to $3.00 and take 50 cents of that to offset the
stenographic help and try to re-organize our affairs between the Secretary
and Treasurer so that as much as possible of the routine mailing, and routine
stenographic work would be carried in this way.

(Discussion on the above recommendation.)

Mr. Weber: I move that the additional remuneration be granted, 50 cents
per member, to the Secretary.

Mr. Smith: I will second the motion.

Mr. Fisher: I'd like to make an amendment to that, that the dues be raised
to $3.00 in order to make this possible.

Mr. Weber: I will accept the amendment.

Mr Smith: And I will second the motion contingent, of course, to the
raising of the dues.

(Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: We will appoint a Resolutions Committee.

+Resolutions Committee+

Sterling Smith, H. L. Crane, Raymond E. Silvis, H. F. Stoke.

President Davidson: I think so far as I know that's everything except the
report of the Committee on the Constitution. Unless I hear otherwise we
will proceed with that report.

(Discussion on Constitution.)

(Constitution and by-laws approved as set out in another part of this
report, the Constitution having first been read at 1947 meeting)

President Davidson: As I understand it, then, this constitution, unless we
make some other provision, is in effect as of now.

Mr. Weber: Now with these by-laws in effect there will have to be a fresh
nominating committee elected for the next year.

Mr. Smith: Mr. President, I make a motion, if it's in order, that the
Nominating Committee as elected previously for this meeting also continue
and serve for next year.

Mr. Clarke: Second the motion.

(Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: There is one other matter that was brought up at the
directors' meeting, and inasmuch as the directors did not have a quorum, it
should be voted through here, I think, and that is that a motion is in order to
pay Mrs. Gibbs $25 for her services as stenographer at our meeting. That
was done, I believe, at Guelph, and it involves a lot of important work.

Mr. Korn: I second the motion.

(Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Shall we adjourn, with a continuance of the business
meeting at the banquet?

(Recess taken until 1:00 o'clock p. m.)

+Monday Afternoon Session+

President Davidson: Shall we come to order?

We now come to the interesting part of our program, and we will listen
first to Mr. Quick of West Virginia, who will take the place of Mr. Sayers,
the State Forester at Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. Quick.

The Development and Propagation of Blight Resistant Chestnut in West
Virginia

RALPH H. QUICK, Conservation Commission, Charleston, West
Virginia

Mr. Quick: Ladies and gentlemen of the Association, your guests and
friends: In substituting for the State Forester of West Virginia I realize that I
am undertaking a big job. A few of you know Mr. Wilson Sayers, who is the
State Forester, and those of you who do may assure the rest of the group
what a big job I am undertaking, because I feel that I am in pretty good-
sized shoes.

The subject that has been assigned is The Development and Propagation
of Blight Resistant Chestnut in West Virginia. Now, being a forester, I am
perhaps interested in blight resistant chestnut from a little different
standpoint than the majority of this group. As representing the Conservation
Commission of that state I might say that we are interested primarily from
the game-food viewpoint. Now, that's a little bit different, I expect, than
most of you have been thinking about, or some of you, at least. But that is
the standpoint from which we are interested.

So I would like to go along with you this afternoon and discuss some of
the things that we have done and some of the things that we are learning—
there are a few yet—that lead us along that line to believe that we can do
something with blight-resistant chestnuts in West Virginia as a game food.
We are just at the beginning, so to speak—that is, the Conservation
Commission of that state is just at the beginning of our study. We have been
fooling with it a little off and on since back in the middle '30's, but interest
has lagged and then has picked up again two or three times.

I am sure that as far as the production of good strains of blight-resistant
chestnut, better strains of Chinese, and so on, that there are people in West
Virginia who are more capable of telling you what has been done from a
private viewpoint than anyone with the Conservation Commission, but we
are interested in learning about it and producing it in large numbers for a
game food, and, of course, if we are interested in distributing from our
nursery over the state for that purpose, we are interested in producing better
strains of blight-resisting chestnut as we go.

Along back in the 1920's a few plantations, or a few trees were planted in
the state by what was then the old Fish and Game Commission, and the
records have been lost, as has been true in many other states. But then,
apparently, the beginning was made. In going over some of those early
plantings I will only have time to hit the high spots and the ones in which
we are particularly interested in our line, but the first ones were back there
somewhere in the '20's.

One of the best plantations, the one that we are particularly interested in
at the present time, is in Jackson County, West Virginia, and it is of the
University of Nanking strain, and there were 34 trees planted there back in
1926, and we are told that they were planted from 2-0[1] stock, from nuts
that came from China in 1924. Twenty-six of those trees survived, and we

think they are pretty good nuts. You may be interested to know that that
plantation now averages 22 feet in height and has an average diameter at
breast height of 8 inches. The spacing in that plantation was 26 by 26 feet.

Now, we can't take credit, nor do we want to take credit, for that
plantation. The state agency had nothing to do with it. It was put in there
through the cooperation of the gentlemen from Beltsville, but we are very
much interested in that plantation; so interested that we have gone to the
owner, along with the permission of the fellows from Beltsville, and sewed
the thing up for a five year period, during which time we hope to get the
seed and to improve our own strains and establish blocks of our own on
state-owned land under different conditions and on different sites where we
expect in the future to be able to secure seed for our use and production at
the nursery.

In the first few years that this plantation that we are speaking of in
Jackson County produced, not many people paid much attention to it or
attached much significance to it. The man who had charge of it gave the
nuts away for experimental purposes or for any reason that anybody
happened to ask for them, and shipped a lot of them free. But along in the
early 1940's he began to find out what he had, and he started selling seed
and made a pretty good thing out of it.

Last year was the first year that we had gotten seed from that plantation.
We got 75 pounds of good nuts taken in the fall of 1947.

We have another orchard, another plantation that led us to become
interested, I guess, in producing blight-resistant chestnut as a game food
and along forestry lines, and that is the orchard that we have on nursery
property. It was one of the early ones, and I expect one of the earliest in the
state, but it was planted along back in 1936, fifty-one trees.

When we started in this we didn't know anything about it at all, so we
have built up our small knowledge in the last few years. But it didn't take us
long to realize that our orchard on our nursery property was of badly
crossed material, and it had some very undesirable trees. If we succeeded in
doing anything with them as a game food we would have to eliminate, and
only last year did we get around to the place where we could secure
authority to eliminate the undesirable species. We have about half of the
stand left now, but we are pretty sure that the trees that we do have are of
good strain.

It might be interesting for you to note—maybe some of you can top it—
we were interested when this orchard was planted, in what would happen if
the trees were planted and allowed to grow as a forest stand. So they were
planted in six-by-six spacing. Of course, we got a lot of self-pruning and a
lot of competition, as we would in forests by the trees growing up and
competing with each other and reaching for height and light. Some of them
died and some were so badly suppressed that they failed to make any
growth at all. But there is one tree that we still have in that orchard that we
are proud of, not from the standpoint of nut production, nor does it produce
a very good nut as far as the human taste is concerned. But it has made a
single stick that far surpasses any other tree we have in the orchard. It looks
like a forest tree. In 1945—it might be hard for you to believe—it grew nine
feet. That isn't an exaggeration. It was measured. We thought that was a lot
better than fair growth. Of course, it hasn't made any growth like that since,
and I don't think it ever did before, but it just had the push to go and went
nine feet in one growing season.

Leaving that orchard for a few minutes, there were 38 plantings of from
10 to 50 trees each made by the Soil Conservation Service and the Division
of Forest Pathology of the Bureau of Plant Industry in the spring of 1939.
These were examined by Dr. Diller of that Bureau in the spring of 1940 and

in 1947. He has told us that he graded those plantings as he found them, 10
being good, and he said the next 15 were only fair and he put 13 down as
total failures.

Of those 13 that failed—from the forestry standpoint now, remember—
he said that 7 of the failures were due to poor site selection, three were
suppressed by surrounding hardwoods and other competing growth, and
three had been destroyed by cattle.

[Footnote 1: Meaning, two years old, not transplanted in the nursery.—
Ed.]

+A Commercial Chestnut Nurseryman+

I don't know whether any of you know of—I expect you do—the Gold
Chestnut Nursery in West Virginia near Cowen, and it is owned and
operated by Mr. Arthur A. Gold. He has been interested in blight-resistant
chestnuts from a commercial standpoint, selling from his nursery for a good
many years. He has worked with us some in the Conservation Commission
and has given us the benefit of his experience. And if any of you have the
opportunity I think you would be interested in seeing Mr. Gold's nursery.
He was an old-time nurseryman that handled most of the conifers found in a
commercial nursery, but in the last few years he has gone into chestnut
production almost entirely, and if you have an opportunity, I am sure Mr.
Gold would welcome you to his nursery in Webster County.

The Game Division of the Conservation Commission of West Virginia
established three or four small plantings on the state forests in 1938 and
1939, but they had low survival. Dr. Diller in going around with some of us
and checking on those has found that we were back there where all of us
were trying to find something and trying to learn something and that we

made many mistakes and that we picked poor stock, for one thing, and poor
sites for another thing, but the great disadvantage and the biggest limiting
factor was our poor selection of sites there in the beginning.

In handling chestnuts that you people handle maybe in small or large
quantities where all of your time can be devoted to that particular thing, you
probably have a lot of things that you do that we don't have time to do
because at the nursery in West Virginia we are interested primarily in
producing conifers and other forest trees for the reforestation of abandoned
land. So in handling this Chinese chestnut as a game food we are working
on a sideline. We have to pick it up as fast as we can do the job and do as
much as we can and learn about as much as we can. And, of course, we
learn slower than people who have the time to spend and perhaps the money
to spend at it. But we are limited in those two respects.

But seed collections are made, and we find it necessary in collecting from
two of the orchards that we are now using for seed to collect twice a day in
the season that the nuts are ripening, because both of those orchards which
we prize are close to forest lands and squirrel country, and they really give
us a race for it. The fact of the matter is the orchard at the nursery has
attracted the squirrels on that particular side of the mountain. I have hunted
on opening day and killed my limit of squirrels without going outside of the
residence and been back at work time at eight o'clock. It really attracts them
on that side of the hill. We are going to compete with the squirrels, but as
you will see, we have just about given up that orchard as a seed source.

We find it necessary to treat the seed, of course, before we plant it. Many
of you people, of course, go into the spraying end of it before the nut ever
develops. We haven't the time or the money right now to go into it that way,
so we try to take care of the nut after we collect it and bring it in.

I expect it is not necessary for me to go into any of the details on any of
the methods that may be used to get rid of the weevil, because you are all
familiar with that. Maybe it suffices to say that we at the nursery now are
using the hot water treatment. The little weevil is found in there and not
always apparent. In fact, most of the time it isn't apparent that the nut is
infested, but they are, and if we take measures to kill the weevil we haven't
any germination of the weevil. We used gas once, but we are limited in that
at present. It is a lot more expensive.

We have, in the first few years that we tried to produce chestnuts at the
nursery, stratified them. We got along pretty well with that in damp sand,
we got along fairly well in sawdust, and we got along especially well with
damp sphagnum moss. But in the end we determined that we are getting
better results if we plant the nuts as they are collected. In other words, the
seed was taken from the orchard, treated to kill the weevil and put in the
ground in the fall.

Now, you can't get away with that everywhere. Our orchard is far enough
away from the nursery that we don't have any rodent damage. We have had
some trouble from skunks, and they finally find out that the nuts are in there
in a row where we have planted them, and they go right down and get them.
But we have no trouble from mice or rats. We are far away from woodland
and buildings.

We find that some people have trouble with wind or water erosion. We
don't have that. So we can get by and do a better job and produce better
trees by sowing nuts in the fall, and we sow them in the fall, just as if we
were sowing black walnuts for production and distribution over the state.

By the next fall when we are ready to distribute those seedlings as 1-0
stock we find that we have produced seedlings of about 14 inches in height
as 1-0 stock. From what I have seen that isn't a bad size to produce as 1-0

stock, though it is better in some places. We find, too, in the spring before
germination, that in our particular section of the state along the Ohio River
valley we sometimes get a dry spring and find it necessary to irrigate that
land where we planted the chestnuts, just as the seed beds where we planted
pine, in order to keep the ground moist and keep it in a condition where
seeds will germinate freely.

We weed our chestnuts just as we do every row planted in the nursery,
cultivate with the tractor about three times in a season, which is all the time
we have to give to it, and hand weed it once. Perhaps it ought to have a little
more than that. Some seasons I am sure it should, but that's about the time
we are allowed or the time that we can allot to that.

I hope, Mr. Davidson, you will check me here on this time. I don't want
to get too far out and upset the schedule.

President Davidson: All right, if necessary.

Mr. Quick: In distributing, the seedlings or blight-resistant chestnut seed
in West Virginia we began back in 1943 putting them out in quantity. We
had to limit them, the only thing in the nursery we had to limit the amount
as to seed. That was because everybody in the state became very much
interested, and the Conservation Commission makes those available to any
land owner in the state free of charge if he will plant them as a game food
but not under other circumstances. He can't use them for ornamentals, and
he can't use them for shade purposes in his yard. But he can receive a
limited number if he is willing to use them for game. So in scattering them
over the state, so many people wanted so many of them that if we didn't
watch we'd have all of our chestnuts planted in three or four, or half a dozen
spots in the state, and we are interested in learning as much as we can by
having them put out at different elevations, different sites and under
different conditions, so we had to limit it to ten to an individual in 1943. We

have gradually upped that as our production has gone up, from 15 to 20,
then 40, and this year we are offering 50 to any land owner in the State of
West Virginia.

Now you can see why we are interested in trying to improve the nut. If
we are going to distribute them all over the state, let's distribute a good nut,
a nut that is not only a heavy bearer for the game, but a nut, too, that is fit
for human consumption.

In our site recommendations we have been trying to follow pretty well
the ideas of the boys from Beltsville, and we found out that what they have
been telling us is just about right. In other words, we are setting our
chestnuts in the cove types, moist with gentle slope, preferably on the north,
and we are getting better growth there. It doesn't mean as far as we are
concerned that it doesn't grow well on drier land and on rich hill-tops but
the growth is so much greater when it's put in good ground and under those
conditions. In other words, it needs a tulip poplar site; where tulip poplar is
growing or has recently grown might be one way to select a site for our
chestnuts.

In these five year now that we have been distributing these chestnuts we
have distributed something like 200,000. Now, we know that all of those
seedlings haven't been good strains, but they have been the best we could
do at that time as we were going along. We hope to learn from you people,
and we hope you can give us help in improving our strains so that we can
distribute better chestnuts over the state.

We haven't had a good system of checking up, until the present time, on
plantings that have been made in the past, but we are initiating a system just
now wherein all plantations that have been made from forest stock will
have regular examination all over the state of West Virginia, and we are
including chestnuts in that. We have made some checks in the state on

certain selected sites and have found out, strange enough, that these little
plantations that are spotted around on the farms, if they were put in
correctly and handled properly according to our instructions, have given us
a survival of about 80 to 85 per cent, which is, as you will remember, about
the percentage in the Nanking strain planting in Jackson County, 26 out of
the 34 original trees. That seems strange, but it has proved true all over the
state in the few checks that we have made. But we are going into it and
checking these plantations and by so doing I believe we can eliminate a
good many of our own troubles, along with your help.

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Quick for a very interesting paper.

Is Professor Moore, present? Our next talk will be on The Present Status
of the Chestnut in Virginia, by Professor R. C. Moore of the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute of Blacksburg, Virginia. Professor Moore.

The Present Status of the Chestnut in Virginia

R.C. MOORE, Department of Horticulture Virginia Agricultural
Experiment
Station

Briefly reviewing the past, Virginia has been in the same position as
many other states in regard to the large number of native American
chestnuts that once grew wild before the blight epidemic occurred. Most of
the chestnuts were found on loose, open type soils rather than on heavy
limestone soil. In mountainous parts of the state, considerable income was

obtained from the sale of wild chestnuts. Men, women, and children
gathered these nuts and traded them at the stores for merchandise. One
small country store, in Floyd County, southwest Virginia, assembled and
shipped between sixty and eighty thousand pounds annually. A small town,
Stuart, in Patrick County, shipped three carloads daily during the peak of
the season. These nuts found their way to city markets, where chestnut
roasters were as commonly seen as popcorn poppers. Since many of these
native chestnut trees grew in forests or on wasteland, there was little
expense involved except in the time required to gather them. The demand
was good but frequently the sale price was rather low, especially during
years when the crop was heavy.

After blight destroyed the wild trees, a considerable amount of timber
was cut from the dead trees. At present this wood has largely decayed
beyond usefulness except for firewood, although in some areas it is being
gathered for pulpwood. Sprouts have arisen from the bases of the trunks and
have borne nuts, but blight sooner or later destroys those sprouts.

Chinkapins are found in many counties of Virginia, especially on shale or
sandy loam soils. Blight affects chinkapins to a considerable extent; but
because of their bushy type of growth, new shoots arise to replace blighted
shoots, thus perpetuating the plants so that they have not died out.
Chinkapins are gathered by children for eating and for sale along the
roadside, but at present they have little total economic value.

+The Asiatic Chestnuts+

Since the native American chestnuts passed out of existence, there has
been a gradually accumulating interest in the Asiatic species, especially
Chinese chestnuts, which appear superior, in blight resistance and nut
quality to the Japanese species. The growing of these Chinese chestnuts is

such a new enterprise that its problems are not fully solved nor its
opportunities fully explored.

The earlier plantings of seedling Chinese chestnut trees were made by
cooperating growers and nurserymen. They were interested in a forest type
chestnut that might replace the dead native trees. A few of these plantings
were made under semi-forest conditions, on cut-over timber land or on dry
ridges. The first lesson that was learned was that the Chinese chestnut is an
orchard type tree requiring rather fertile soil and ample moisture. It would
not compete favorably with most native forest trees, but rather was a slow
growing, shallow rooted type of tree. Under these unfavorable growing
conditions the trees tended to be small and to sprout from the bases of the
trunks. The weakest seedlings died.

In other cases the trees were planted in yards, back lots, along the sides
of ravines, or in other locations where the soil was fertile and moist. Under
these favorable conditions most seedlings have grown and produced crops
of nuts, especially when the trees were pruned and competing weeds and
brush were mowed. Very few of these first seedlings of the Chinese
chestnuts showed much promise although a few of them were fairly
satisfactory.

Several old Japanese chestnut trees have been observed. One of these is
estimated to be 50 years of age with a trunk diameter of 18 inches and a
height of about 50 feet. It is growing in a very fertile spot and heavy crops
in the past have broken its limbs. Chinkapins growing nearby appeared to
have supplied pollen. Recently the nearest chinkapins were cleared away
and hence at present the nuts fail to fill well. Another large tree in eastern
Virginia produces many burs but the nuts fail to develop, indicating self-
sterility. The nuts of both trees are rather coarse and of poor quality.

More recent plantings have been rather widely scattered over the state,
although the total number of trees is not large and no one person has planted
many trees. One large general nursery, serving this area, reported sales last
spring of 196 Chinese seedling trees to thirty-five different customers. The
largest single sale was for fifty trees. Several customers purchased only one
tree each.

+Problems Encountered+

In visiting and corresponding with individuals who are growing Chinese
chestnuts, I have made a few observations, as to problems that have arisen.

+1. Site and Soil.+ The most successful trees from the standpoint of
growth and production were those growing on fertile, well drained soil in
which moisture was plentiful. The Chinese chestnut tree appears to be
shallow rooted and to require good growing conditions. Dry ridges were
unfavorable for growth, and in bottom land the trees frequently were
subjected to late spring freezing of tender shoots.

2. Blight injury to the trees and weevil damage to the nuts seemed to be
the most serious enemies of chestnuts. Seedlings varied considerably in
their resistance to blight. Some of them showed no indications of blight;
others were damaged but outgrew the injury; and a few trees were
weakened and died.

Weevils appeared to be quite prevalent. One grower reported almost
100% wormy nuts. It is my understanding that a spray program has been
developed for control of the weevil. Mr. H. F. Stoke of Roanoke believes
that the Illinois No. 31-4 chestnut (a hybrid) is resistant to weevil, probably
because of its thick burs and closely set spines.

+3. Cultural Care.+ Chinese chestnuts benefited from pruning; it being
especially important to cut away the sprouts at the bases of the trunks.
Mowing weeds and brush around the trees seemed helpful. Applications of
nitrate of soda stimulated more rapid growth of young trees, and in limited
amounts benefited the older trees. It appears, however, that there may be a
danger of overstimulation which increases the hazard of limb breakage by
snow and ice, especially in the case of younger trees. The largest crops of
nuts, however, were frequently produced on trees of only moderate vigor.

+4. Freezing damage to the bark of the trunks and large limbs.+ This
occurred in the VPI Horticultural Department planting in 1945, when a
temperature of about 17 deg.F. occurred after the trees had started growth in
the spring. This injury appeared as a darkening of the outer bark and
cambium. Trees that were severely damaged became weakened and tended
to sprout vigorously from the bases of their trunks. Other trees overcame a
slight injury with little apparent ill-effect.

+5. Seedlings or Varieties.+ The question is whether to grow seedlings or
grafted varieties. Seedlings are more easily propagated, the nursery plants
less expensive, and the trees longer lived on the average; but seedling trees
and nuts are quite variable. Named varieties are difficult to propagate, the
nursery plants expensive, and stock-scion incompatability may occur; but
the trees and nuts are uniform. Seedlings serve a useful purpose in
developing new varieties; but with more planting of superior varieties and a
fuller understanding of propagation methods, and of cultural care, chestnut
growing on a commercial scale may be more likely to become a reality.

+Future Prospects+

For the present, at least, it appears that growing Chinese chestnuts may
be limited to small specialty plantings rather than any large commercial

enterprise. The trees seem well adapted to yard and back lot planting as
ornamentals and to furnish the family with nuts. Also hobbyists and
specialists find them to be interesting plants with which to work.

The industry is new and involves uncertainties and risks, which a
commercial grower should not be expected to assume. Further study is
needed to clear up the uncertainties, especially as to production costs,
markets, and profits to be expected. As additional trees come into bearing
over a wider area, a better understanding may be had of the economic value
of these chestnuts in the various sections of the state. There is a market for
high quality chestnuts, but it remains to be seen whether there will be
sufficient profit with the risks involved to attract commercial growers.

+Summary+

In conclusion, the following points are to be stressed in regard to growing
chestnuts in Virginia:

(1) Chinese chestnuts are adapted for home planting or for planting by
hobbyists and specialists; but their commercial prospects as yet are
uncertain.

(2) The trees require fertile soil with ample moisture but should not be
planted in frost pockets.

(3) Weevils and blight have been the most serious pests.

(4) Seedlings serve a useful purpose in developing new varieties; but
greater progress should be expected from growing superior named varieties.

(5) Additional study is needed to determine the profit prospects, to
evaluate varieties, and to work out details of cultural practices, harvesting,

and storage of nuts on a variety basis.

Although the chestnut blight has destroyed the native Castanea dentata
trees, it is hoped that breeding programs may produce a blight resistant,
hardy tree, of a size that will lend itself to orchard planting and cultural
practices, and which will be regularly productive of high quality nuts.

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Moore.

The next thing on the program is the talk by Mr. G. S. Jones of Phenix
City, Alabama, on Growing Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama.

Growing Chinese Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama

G. S. JONES, R.F.D. 1, Phenix City, Alabama

Ever since childhood, chestnuts have held a fascination for me. How well
I remember the delightful Sunday afternoon trips we used to make in the
fall up on Earkett's Hill to gather a few small nuts from some native trees
which often had been burned by woods fires. I occasionally revisit this area
to see these trees, which are in better condition now than then. Native
chestnuts were never, to my knowledge, very abundant in our area and are
now indeed scarce, but I still hear of a few living trees, some of which grow
as far south as North Florida.

I first became interested in Chinese chestnuts from an article I read in the
early '30's in a Department of Agriculture yearbook which I think had been
written by Mr. Gravatt. This article told about these trees being introduced

into this country because of their high resistance to blight. Until this time I
had heard little about chestnut blight. In order to find out more about these
trees I wrote Mr. Gravatt, who in reply said seedling trees were available for
distribution on an experimental basis. I applied for some of these, more, I
must admit, to get them to grow on our place just to have some chestnuts
than with any thought of disease resistance. When these trees came in the
spring of 1934 I even had some trouble in getting permission to set them in
an open field near the house, for chestnuts were considered as a tree of
minor importance, to be grown in some out of the way place.

These trees were set in sandy loam soil with a porous yellow subsoil in a
field of medium elevation which has excellent air drainage so I have had
little damage from cold injury. The soil is of fair fertility for the Upper
Costal Plain area. Of the trees sent me, fourteen of the ML selection,
originating, I am informed by Mr. Gravatt, from seed obtained in Anhwei
Province of China, and 10 MO selection originating in Chekiang Province
were set in my orchard. Only two of these failed to survive, leaving a total
of twenty-two. These were cultivated with the field crops, mostly cotton
and corn, and I must admit didn't have much individual attention for several
years. I even left the side branches to minimize injury from the mule and
plow used in cultivation. Some leaves and trash were put around them at
times and they received some benefit from the fertilizer of the row crops. I
mention this to show that my chestnuts grew quite well though only
moderately fertilized, but receiving good cultivation while young. I might
mention that I set two trees in stiff Piedmont clay soil a few miles above
here, to try them under woodland conditions. These have never done well,
although one had burs but I found no nuts. Other trees which I observe have
not been given cultivation grow very slowly, although I have not seen any
tried on what I would consider good woodland areas.

My trees, spaced about 40 x 40 ft., have grown quite rapidly so that now
some of the limbs are almost touching. Tree ML No. 2, which is about
average size, measured last fall in diameter 12-1/2 inches, in height 24 feet,
with a limb spread of 30 feet. By 1943 the trees were getting so large that
cultivation was discontinued. An attempt is made to keep all litter possible
in the orchard, which, with the shade of the trees, has caused much of the
soil to become loose and mellow. Since our sandy soil is very low in
calcium I applied limestone one time at the rate of about 1500 lbs. per acre.
This I hoped would improve the texture of the soil and make better
conditions for growing bur clover between the trees. Basic slag which
contains about 10% phosphate was applied at the rate of about 600 lbs. per
acre in the early '40's. For the last four or five years I applied about 200 lbs.
of guano (4-10-7 usually) and 200 lbs of basic slag annually. Since 1944 I
have been adding about 50 lbs. of minor mineral elements to the above
mixture. Whether it is a coincidence or not I cannot say, but the next year
after applying these elements my yields increased from 430 lbs. the
previous year to 961 lbs. and have remained high ever since. Minor mineral
elements show beneficial results on our garden crops, and I am inclined to
believe they are needed, since our soil is so sandy and porous, and
especially the soil that has been cultivated so long. Since my trees have
produced so well with this moderate fertilization, I have made no check
against higher rates of application. In fact I am against the use of large
amounts of mineral guanos since I know certain tender shrubs and plants
are injured by their use and some soil bacteria and animal life are also
harmfully affected, according to reports I have read.

Three of my trees bore a few nuts at four years. No record of yields was
kept until the seventh year or 1942, in which I gathered about 328 lbs. of
nuts. After that my records show for 1943, 554 lbs., 1944—430 lbs; 1945—
961 lbs; 1946—1722 lbs; 1947—1554 lbs. No individual tree records were
kept except in a few cases. I kept a rough record by looking at the burs at

the end of the season, and classed trees as excellent, good, or poor
producers, along with other characteristics of the trees. However, I know
several of my trees produced over 100 lbs. each in 1946 and one tree, ML
No. 2, of which I kept a record by weight, in 1947 produced a little over
150 lbs. of nuts.

[A note from Mr. Jones early in 1949 reports a crop of 1,836 pounds of
chestnuts harvested from his 21 trees in 1948, the largest yield to date. His
ML No. 2 tree produced 165 pounds.]

Nuts on a few of my trees begin ripening the latter part of August, but
September is the heavy month, with some extending to the middle of
October. Their early ripening period while the weather is usually hot and
dry, I think tends to cause damage to nuts from the effects of the hot sun
and rapid drying. Damage to the nuts and consequent spoilage can be kept
at a minimum if they are gathered promptly, which should be daily.

+Preparing Chestnuts for Market+

Here is how I generally handle my crop. As soon as the nuts are gathered
I put them in a container with water and remove the nuts that float. This
eliminates practically all spoiled nuts and those beginning to spoil. Those
that sink are then placed in coarse mesh burlap bags (about 25 lbs. to the
bag) which are tied near the top. These bags are laid on a slatted platform
under a shade tree and pressed out flat, so nuts will not be thicker than 2 or
3 inches. These bags are thoroughly wet with water once or twice daily,
depending on the weather, until I can carry them to cold storage and store at
30 deg.F., or they are marketed fresh, advising buyer of the perishable
nature of these nuts. Last year my nuts kept excellently in cold storage, and
after remaining there about six weeks had dried sufficiently to keep much
better after taking out than when they were fresh.

Nuts for planting purposes can be kept in excellent condition for several
weeks by spreading them thinly between layers of damp sphagnum moss
and storing in a cool place. This cannot be allowed to get very wet or
sprouting will begin. While holding the nuts out of cold storage I attempt to
keep sufficient moisture available so the nuts are not allowed to dry much,
and yet have plenty of ventilation to keep them from heating or souring.
Until I began using this method, a large percentage of my nuts began
spoiling soon after gathering, which caused me much discouragement, as I
did not want to offer such a product for sale. Since then my losses still run
around 12%, but this could be reduced still further by more prompt
gathering and by the elimination of several trees which retain nuts in the
burs to a large extent.

I have been able to dispose of my nuts quite easily in near-by Columbus,
Ga. and for the last few years have had quite a demand for nuts to use in
planting.

My orchard as a whole has been very healthy, showing no blight signs
that I can detect, although there is little chance of exposure to blight in my
section. One tree is slowly dying, which may be due to cold injury, as it
comes into leaf early and also ripens very early. So far I have noticed no
damage from chestnut weevils. As my trees are seedlings, there is quite a bit
of variation in size of nuts and production of individual trees.

+Undesirable Traits in Seedling Trees+

I might mention some undesirable traits which I notice in my trees. First,
I would place retention of nuts in the burs as the worst trouble. This is quite
bad in five or six of my trees. Next, nuts too dry and loose in the hull at
time of falling, which is present in four or five trees, some of which retain
nuts in the burs and some which do not. The dry textured nuts seem to spoil

more easily than plump well filled ones. Some trees produce too small nuts
but the trees which produce extra large nuts do not usually yield nearly so
heavily as those producing small to medium size nuts. I consider too early
ripening as undesirable, for those that ripen later are usually better keepers,
but this does not always hold true as some of the later ripening ones are also
poor keepers.

This year my trees have an excellent crop of burs and show promise of a
good average yield on each tree. Considering all things, I am highly pleased
with my Chinese chestnuts and believe they have a good future in our
section if no greater troubles arise than I now know of although there is
much room for improvement.

+Other Tree Crops+

Although Chinese chestnuts are my largest producing tree crop, I am
working with a number of other trees and shrubs for both nut and fruit
production, as well as other purposes. I have several Thomas black walnuts
which I set about 1938. Three of these have grown quite rapidly and are
beginning to produce nice crops of nuts, although the kernels have a
tendency to be spongy at times.

Of course, I have a small orchard of budded pecans, which do so well in
our section. These trees, which are young, are just coming into production.
Some other nut trees which I am trying in field plantings include native
chestnuts, chinkapins, hazel nuts, native black walnuts, and scaly bark
hickory (Carya ovata). Since most of these are young and grow so slowly, I
cannot say much about their production yet. I have also planted quite a large
number of white oaks from a high production tree in hopes of producing
acorns for hogs and wild life, also some cork oaks on an experimental basis.

Among non-nut producers I am trying honeylocust, persimmons, and
mulberries. I also grow catalpa and black locust for fence posts. This makes
no mention of the great variety of native timber trees such as pines, tulip
poplar, and others which I try to protect from fires so as to get as great a
variety of trees as possible to use for various purposes. I also encourage the
growth of ornamental trees and shrubs such as dogwood, redbud, and holly
to add beauty to the landscape in season.

Dr. J. Russell Smith's book, "Tree Crops" has been a great inspiration to
me along these lines, and I am attempting to study and use as many trees,
shrubs, and plants here on my place as possible because I believe we can
live easier and better and make better use of the land both for ourselves and
nature when we learn how to use our various native plants to the best
advantage along with many of the exotic ones.

I might end by saying that I would much rather work in the shade of trees
than in the open sun and benefit by their long life and varied uses than to
depend so heavily on short lived crops which often require such intensive
care.

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Jones. A very interesting paper with
details that are worth listening to.

Professor J. C. Moore of the Department of Horticulture, Alabama
Polytechnic Institute, will give us a talk on Processed Chestnuts on the
Market throughout the Year.

Processed Chestnuts on the Market throughout the Year

J. C. MOORE, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.

Professor Moore: Mr. President, members of the Association: I have a
few packages here that I just wanted to pass around after we get through
with a short discourse on processed chestnuts. It might be somewhat of an
inspiration to look while I talk a few minutes about it.

These nuts, of course, have been put up from the 1947 crop, but I have
nuts put up in 1945 that are still in fair shape. The quality on the 1945
product is not too good. The quality on the 1947 product is excellent when
the nut is hot. For instance, a toasted chestnut, I think, has a quality that no
other nut has. When the nut sits in a bag sealed for several weeks and gets
cold it still is good, but it doesn't have quite the crispness that it has when it
is really fresh and hot.

We were very much disappointed with Chinese chestnuts when they first
began to bear at Auburn. We got some plants from Mr. Gravatt and the
Bureau of Plant Industry in Beltsville in 1938. They were planted; some of
them started bearing in 1941. The nuts were large in size; the trees seemed
to be perfectly healthy. The early bearing habit gave us a great deal of
encouragement. Then we sampled these nuts, and the quality was not good.
While the nuts were green and in storage the nuts decomposed in just a few
days' time.

The first nuts that we harvested in 1941 were picked, placed in paper
bags, set in the office, and we forgot about them, because they were not
good when we put them in the bags, and we just put them back for our
record purposes. A few days afterwards they were moldy and ruined. In
1942 we had a little better crop, but again the nuts rotted. In 1943 we had a
still larger crop, and the nuts rotted again. We did not know how to take
care of those nuts at the time.

In 1944 Mr. L. S. Holden was with the Soil Conservation Service. He
was transferred to Auburn at the time I was transferred down into Haiti to
do some work on rubber production, and he took my place at Auburn on the
hillculture project. In the fall of 1944 Mr. Holden had an idea that he could
can those chestnuts and preserve them. So he took the nuts, cracked the hull
off of the nut, ground it with a little food chopper, and placed the nuts in
cans, pints and quarts, put them in a pressure cooker at 15 pounds pressure
and cooked them for 15 minutes.

During the fall of 1944, or after the crop was produced, Mr. Holden left
Auburn, and he told me when he left that he had sent some of the samples
to different parts of the United States and had gotten favorable replies from
the samples that he had sent out. That gave me a renewed courage, and
along with that in 1945 we sold quite a few raw nuts on the market at
Auburn. Those nuts sold just like hot cakes for 40 cents a pound. There
were quite a few comments came back to us about those nuts. They were
the most beautiful nuts the people had ever seen, and several different ones
made comments that the nuts toasted had excellent quality and the nuts
boiled had excellent quality, and raw nuts after they were cured had an
excellent quality.

Those few different peoples comment on the material and Mr. Holden's
work that he had done on canning gave me an idea that maybe he had
something, and I have worked since that time trying to perfect a product
that would be edible from the hand from a cellophane-bag standpoint. At
the present time we have a plan worked out whereby we can produce large
quantities of Chinese chestnuts in Alabama.

The thing that is going to confront us in the near future is the marketing
possibility. We have to handle Chinese chestnuts rapidly if we put them on

the market raw. This processed method that we have has been worked out to
perfection, we think, for cold storage purposes.

Now, you can put Chinese chestnuts raw in cellophane bags and seal
them with a hot iron. These bags are not sealed. It is a non-sealable
cellophane. I didn't get hold of the type of cellophane that you can seal.
They are unsealed. They have been in this package about a week, and the
nuts are in good shape. On cold storage I have held those nuts for 40 days.
Last year was the first time that I tried them in sealed cellophane, but sealed
in cellophane bags in cold storage last year they remained perfectly good
for 40 days. At that time the cold storage plant went bad, and, of course, the
nuts molded.

We think that on the cold storage proposition, and if you have followed
food processing and cold storage possibilities on strawberry shortcake,
strawberry pies, apple pies and other types of cold storage products, I think
when you go to the locker and pick out a little bag of lima beans in a cold
storage locker or any other kind of cold packed foods, if you see a pack that
looks attractive, chestnuts, after you get accustomed to their flavor
especially, it will be a difficult thing for you to fail to pick up a bag of
chestnuts and walk out with them among your other grocery purchases.
That type of marketing has possibilities throughout the year.

With that possibility from last year this crop came in. We had an
excellent crop. I contacted Mr. Harris, who is one of the professors working
with food processing at Auburn, and we went over the work quite carefully
together, what I had done and the possibilities for the work in the future,
and with some suggestions from him and with his help we think we have
just about fixed a product that will be a permanent thing on the grocery
shelves throughout the year.

Up to the present time all of the nuts that were canned in cans with the
shells on developed throughout the year somewhat of a soured condition.
When you opened the can and smelled, the odor was foul. When you
cracked the shell and tasted the nut, the flesh had just the least bit of a foul
odor. Mr. Harris suggested that probably that was a flat sour. We weren't
sure that it was flat sour, but we haven't had the bacteria check to find out
whether it was caused by one of the thermophilic bacteria or not, but we are
pretty confident that it was a flat sour that caused the foul odor. With careful
heating and careful drying we have developed some products here that I
think have a possibility, and these products will maintain their quality
throughout the year.

+Nuts Cured Before Canning+

I have canned chestnuts that have been canned for three years, and the
quality is just as good as it was a month after they were canned. The
product, however, when it is canned green does not have the quality that it
does when it is canned after curing. The way we handle these, to begin
with, is to take the nuts from the field, put them on a woven wire and
elevate the wire so that air can go under and over, cure at room temperature
for about three days. If you cure longer than three days you will lose quite a
few of your nuts. That is a rapid cure. We have not tried curing under cooler
conditions to see if we can eliminate part of the damage that is caused by
deterioration, but curing the nuts rapidly you get a deterioration on quite a
few of the nuts after the third or fourth day. If you take the raw nuts three
days cured rapidly where the air can circulate over and under, the quality is
excellent raw, and I have those nuts cured for three days in cellophane bags
on cold storage that can be sold throughout the year. Those nuts must be
heated enough to stop the deterioration, whatever it is. It may be a
physiological condition, I am not sure, it may be a vitamin reaction, I am

not sure, but when the nut dries too fast it turns white on the inside, gets
hard, loses its flavor, and it is no good.

This nut (indicating) canned in cans, I will give you the treatment for it. I
told you we cured them on those drying racks for three days. Then we put
them in a pressure cooker and run the temperature up to about 10 pounds
pressure for 30 minutes, take them out of the pressure cooker and hull them,
and at that stage they hull quite easily. The hull itself will turn loose from
the nut quite easily if you heat it a little while before you try to hull. A
machine which can thresh the hulls off very easily will be simple to
develop. After the shell is taken off, then they are put in an oven (a drying
oven that has an automatic control at 270 degrees), for about 10 minutes in
order to evaporate the excess moisture that you get in the steaming process.
Then they are put in the cans hot, set back into the oven and heated for just
a few moments to get your temperature up again and you put lids on at a
boiling temperature. You get quite a vacuum created by sealing them hot.
We have had as high as fourteen and a half pounds of vacuum on those cans
the third day after they were canned, and if you can get a vacuum like that
by sealing the nuts hot, you can preserve their quality for a long period.

I don't care if you open any bag that's here and taste these products. You
will find that the ones with the shells off are much better than the ones with
the shells on. I believe you will find that. However, the quality of the nut
with the shell on is excellent.

[Illustration: Mr. Hardy and some chestnuts prepared for storage
(Courtesy Southern Agriculturist)]

Chestnut Growing in the Southeast

Max B. Hardy,[2] Leeland Farms, Leesburg, Ga.

+Introduction+

Just about forty years ago the first blight resistant chestnuts were
introduced into the Southeast. This event was to have more far-reaching
effects than could be foreseen at that time, as is illustrated by the present
extensive interest in the growing of these chestnuts as an orchard crop.

Chestnut blight, a fungus disease of the native American chestnut
(Castanea dentata (Marsh) Borkh), first appeared on Long Island in 1904
and destroyed this magnificent nut and timber tree. A Phytophthora root
disease added its toll so that a bearing tree of this species is a rarity in the
East at the present time. The U. S. Department of Agriculture began making
introductions of two species of chestnut from the Orient in 1906, both of
which were resistant to the blight which was then destroying the native
American chestnut. Of the two species, the Japanese chestnut (C. crenata
Sieb. and Zuce.) and the Chinese chestnut (C. mollissima Bl.), only the
latter proved to have much merit other than blight resistance and chestnut
growing in the eastern United States in recent years has been confined
almost entirely to the Chinese chestnut.

About twenty-five years ago, after the first introduction from the Orient
of seed nuts of blight resistant chestnut species, the U. S. Department of
Agriculture distributed a few seedling trees to various interested growers in
the Southeast. Some of these trees are still growing and bearing good crops
of nuts and have reached rather large size. The distribution of trees
produced from nuts imported at subsequent intervals was continued by the
U. S. Department of Agriculture until rather widely scattered planting of
several species under varied soil, climatic, and cultural conditions was
attained. As time passed it became clear that only the Chinese chestnut had

promise as a commercial crop for the production of nuts. As a timber tree
none of the introduced species has as yet shown outstanding merit.

[Footnote 2: Formerly Associate Pomologist, U. S. Pecan Field Station,
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, Georgia.]

+General Observations+

The Chinese chestnut grows well throughout the southern part of the
natural range of the American chestnut and southward to the Gulf Coast,
and possibly even into central Florida. Farther north it apparently grows and
produces better crops along the Atlantic Coast than inland, thus indicating
the need of this species for a long growing season and freedom from late
spring and early fall frosts. In the plantings in Georgia, from Atlanta to the
southward, no loss of crop from late spring frosts has ever been noted. In
the Gulf States and northward along the Atlantic seaboard the Chinese
chestnut tree is vigorous, healthy, and productive, coming into bearing at a
fairly early age and thereafter producing regular crops. The trees grow to be
rather large in size, developing a somewhat rounded form with a spread of
branches about equal to the height. Without pruning when young many
sprouts usually develop near the ground so that the mature tree has
numerous trunks of about equal size, with the lower lateral branches resting
on the ground.

Nearly all of the Chinese chestnut trees being grown at the present time
are seedlings and exhibit a wide range of tree and nut characteristics. A few
trees develop a somewhat more upright type of growth than that commonly
seen, but this type is generally less productive than trees of more spreading
habit, and the nuts are smaller and less desirable. Some trees showing the
most upright type of growth originated from nuts imported from the more
northern provinces of China and may represent a distinct strain or form of
Castanea mollissima. The degree of incompatibility exhibited when

southern China strains are grafted on northern China strains would indicate
the same conclusion. Unfortunately, several different species or strains have
been included in the plantings of most cooperators with the U. S.
Department of Agriculture so that seedlings resulting from cross-pollination
of these types may exhibit an even wider range of characteristics and
performance from the standpoint of commercial production than is
commonly seen at present. A few of these hybrids may be superior to pure
C. mollissima seedlings in certain important respects because of hybrid
vigor, but taken as a whole the best types of C. mollissima seedlings are
superior to the other blight resistant species for purposes of nut production.

The earliest introductions of blight resistant chestnuts from the Orient are
represented by very few trees in the Southeast, but a small number of
plantings of trees distributed in 1926 have been observed. These are
producing good nuts and the trees are quite healthy, regardless of conditions
of planting except when they have been given no attention of any kind. In
one planting the trees were planted about 10 feet apart on the square with
the result that they are tall and spindly with nut production only in the tops
and very light on a per tree basis, which indicates the need of adequate
spacing if the trees are to be vigorous and productive. Incidentally, this
close spacing has not resulted in a desirable timber type of growth.

In two other plantings the trees are planted in cleared areas in cut-over
timber and then given no further attention. In both locations a few trees are
still living but are of no value either for timber or nut production. In still
another planting on a bench about halfway up a mountain, where infrequent
cultivation or mowing is practiced, the trees are growing and producing
moderately well but the nuts are small. A few other scattered plantings of a
few trees each are doing well around homes though receiving only
moderately good care.

The distribution of trees by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1935
and 1937 has resulted in a few plantings that have done moderately well. In
one planting the trees are growing fairly well without care but are
producing few nuts. In another planting the trees are planted on rather
heavy soil that is terraced; they are given applications of commercial
fertilizers and infrequent cultivations and have been producing fairly good
crops of nuts in recent years. Still another planting of a considerable
number of trees has been entirely removed through lack of interest of the
new owner. The plantings described have all been on private property.

Plantings at various experiment stations have received somewhat more
attention in general than those on private property; but because of lack of
keeping quality of the nuts have not for the most part been accepted as a
promising crop and have been the subject of very little study.

From the foregoing observations it is evident that the Chinese chestnut
cannot withstand the effects of crowding either in a solid planting or in
competition with native growth. The trees have performed moderately well
with a minimum of care, but respond to good care by increased production
and nut size. The rotting of the nuts soon after harvest as a result of
improper methods of handling and storage has prevented an earlier
acceptance of the crop as of potential economic importance in the
Southeast.

+Experimental Studies at the U. S. Pecan Field Station, Albany, Georgia+

In 1926, twenty-eight seedling trees of Castanea mollissima were planted
in the Champion experimental block at Philema, near Albany, Georgia.
These trees grew well and began producing nuts in 1932. In 1935, an
additional 16 trees were planted in the same block. The trees in both
plantings have shown good vegetative vigor and have been fairly

productive. All the variations common to any group of Chinese chestnut
seedling trees have been in evidence. One or two trees have lacked
vegetative vigor but have produced heavy crops of nuts for their size. Type
of bur opening has varied from free dropping of nuts to those burs from
which the nuts are removed with difficulty; nut size has varied from about
35 to about 90 nuts per pound; the date of earliest and latest ripening of the
nuts varies by about three weeks; nut color has ranged from light browns to
dark mahogany and dark chocolate brown; and keeping quality and eating
quality have ranged from good to poor. However, nut production, as shown
by the data presented in Table I has been good and nut quality has been
acceptable, so that with increasing knowledge of the storage requirements
of the nuts the trees have paid a good profit in recent years. One of the older
trees has consistently produced close to 150 pounds of nuts each year for
the past few years.

Some of the trees in this planting have been topworked to selections from
other plantings, including the variety Carr which showed up very poorly in
comparison with most of the seedlings. Some of the trees have been culled
out because of poor yield or nut size; and some have died as a result of poor
drainage.

An additional planting at Philema in the Brown tract was made in 1938.
The trees were planted in a portion of a five-acre block at some distance
from the original plantings, with a spacing of 25 feet apart on the square in
soil of rather light and sandy texture with fair subsoil drainage. The fertility
was low but has been improved through the use of winter leguminous green
manure crops and commercial fertilizers. Some of the trees planted
consisted of trees grown from carefully selected Castanea mollissima nuts
imported from south China and designated by the initials MBA, MAY,
MAZ, and MAX. Others carried the designating letters of "FP." The nuts
from which these trees were grown were imported by the Division of Forest

Pathology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture which also grew and
distributed the trees. Still others were selections of C. crenata, the Japanese
chestnut; and C. mollissima selections from an experimental planting in
California were also included. In 1940 the remainder of the five-acre block
was planted with trees grown from seed produced by the original Philema
planting.

Table I. Summary of chestnut yields at Philema, Georgia.

______________________________________________________
||
| HARVEST DATA |
|______________________________|
||
| 1926 and 1935 Planting[3] |
Length |______________________________|
Date Harvest | |
Year Harvest Period | Yield No. Trees Av. Yield |
Began in Days | in Lbs. Bearing per Tree |
_______________________|______________________________|
||
1932 | 14 3 4.7 |
1933 | 7 7 1.0 |
1934 | 80 16 5.0 |
1935 8-29 22 | 222 22 10.1 |
1936 8-26 33 | 379 25 15.1 |
1937 8-26 37 | 278 18 15.4 |
1938 8- 6 42 | 480 21 22.9 |
1939 8-15 42 | 995 26 38.3 |
1940 8-27 38 | 740 34 21.8 |

1941 8-14 51 | 1,467 38 38.6 |
1942 9- 3 41 | 876 32 27.4 |
1943 9- 9 26 | 1,335 38 25.1 |
1944 8-15 44 | 560 29 19.3 |
1945 8-18 34 | 1,450 27 53.7 |
1946 8-20 41 | 1,455 28 52.0 |
1947 8-26 43 | 1,975 27 73.1 |
_______________________|______________________________|

_________________________________________________________
______
|
| HARVEST DATA
|_______________________________________
|
| 1938 and 1940 Planting[4]
Length |_______________________________________
Date Harvest |
Year Harvest Period | Yield No. Trees Av. Yield Range in
Began in Days | in Lbs. Bearing per Tree Yields
_______________________|____________________________________
___
|
1941 8-14 51 | 44 63 .7 .1-6.9
1942 9- 3 41 | 30 46 .7 .1-5.2
1943 9- 9 26 | 357 108 3.3 .1-29.7
1944 8-15 44 | 716 136 5.3 .1-37.0
1945 8-18 34 | 3,025 208 14.6 .1-50.7
1946 8-20 41 | 1,447 173 8.4 .1-48.3
1947 8-26 43 | 6,615 188 35.2 .1-108.5

_______________________|____________________________________
___

[Footnote 3: 28 trees planted in 1926 and 16 planted in 1935, at spacing
of 25 to 40 feet.]

[Footnote 4: 274 trees planted in 1938 and 60 in 1940, at spacing of 25
feet on square.]

The yield's produced in the 1938 planting have been outstanding, as
indicated by the data in Table I, The trees began bearing when younger and
developed heavier production than those of the 1926 planting, whether
judged by age of tree or years of bearing. Many of the trees have produced
nuts of outstanding size, attractiveness, eating quality, and keeping quality.
There has been the usual degree of variation common to any collection of
seedlings, but the best trees in this planting have been superior to any
previously seen. Nut size has varied from 23 to more than 100 to the pound;
the color of the nuts has varied from light tan to deep mahogany, and a few
are nearly black. All have been of good eating quality. The keeping quality
has varied materially, some keeping very well and others quite poorly.

Bur opening, has likewise varied so that at one extreme the nuts drop
entirely free from the burs on some trees and at the other extreme the burs
drop with the nuts in them and considerable work is required to remove the
nuts. It is out of this group of trees that the three seedlings have been
selected that the U. S. Department of Agriculture is considering worthy of
variety status. These have not yet been officially released and no official
description is yet available. The yield data for these three selected Seedlings
are given in Table II.

Table II. Yield data by years, of three seedlings tentatively proposed for
variety status, Philema, Georgia.

————————————————————————————
————————- Tree Proposed Yield in Pounds by Years Total yield
No. Nuts (in Lbs.) per Lb.
———————————————————- No. Name 1941 1942
1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 from Planting
—————————————————————————————
———————- 7880[5]Meiling .2 3.6 20.9 36.9 23.9 73.1 36.9 195.5
38-43 7919 Kuling 4.0 3.8 5.8 6.5 13.8 34.2 50.2 38.2 168.5 35-43 7930
Nanking .1 3.8 28.0 37.8 1.0 87.7 54.6 213.0 30-43
—————————————————————————————
———————-

[Footnote 5: Meiling ("Beauty") is the first name of Mme. Chiang
Kai-shek.]

The trees of the "FP" designation and, of other species were grown to
fruiting, but have since been removed or topworked in entirety because of
their lack of desirable characteristics and because they produced pollen for
cross-pollination which would result in undesirable progeny when the
Castanea mollissima nuts were used for seed. Furthermore, a number of
trees of the three-letter designations have been removed or topworked
because they produced very small nuts, or showed poor keeping quality, or
because of some other undesirable characteristic. Therefore, the nuts now
being produced in this experimental orchard are of pure C. mollissima
inheritance of the best type, and, as such, represent some of the best and
purest seed nuts available in this country today. This procedure is being
continued so as to maintain the quality of the nuts for seed purposes at its
present standard.

Unfortunately, many of the nuts offered in the general trade for seed
purposes at the present time are coming from orchards composed of a

mixture of species or types comparable to the 1938 Philema planting before
culling. This is very undesirable because of the great variability in the nuts
produced by trees with such an origin. When grafted or budded trees of the
newer and improved varieties are available to orchardists chestnut growing
for nut production may be based on the same sound practices as the other
fruit industries.

In the topworking of "FP" trees at Philema with scions from other strains
of Castanea mollissima the degree of incompatibility has been so great, that
the scion tops will have either blown out or died at the end of four or five
years from grafting. At the present time this failure can only be attributed to
the fact that the stocks were of mixed ancestry. On the other hand, scions of
pure C. mollissima placed on the same stock strains have made good unions
and are entirely normal after as long as 13 years from grafting. This
problem of incompatibility between stock and scion is one that yet remains
to be completely solved.

The topworking of trees in the five-acre block at Philema has been
generally successful where incompatibility is not a problem. Bearing-size
trees topworked one spring will generally produce a few nuts in the second
subsequent growing-season. Growth the first year after grafting will
frequently be as much as 12 feet long and very stocky. Both cleft grafting
and inlay bark grafting have been practiced, the latter method proving to be
the more satisfactory from all standpoints. In this method of grafting
scaffold limbs from 1 to 6 inches in diameter are cut off square across.
Scions 6 to 8 inches long are prepared by making a slanting cut 2 to 3
inches long and ending about three-fourths through the scion at its basal
end. A strip of bark just wide and long enough to receive the scion, with
about one-half of the upper end of the bevel showing above the cut surface
of the stub, is then removed from the stub. The scion is then nailed into
place with 5/8-inch nails and painted over with melted grafting wax. Two or

three scions are required for most stubs. This work is done just as growth is
starting in the spring and the bark is slipping well. The scions may generally
be cut directly from the trees, but sometimes they may need to be cut
several days earlier and stored in damp material in a refrigerator to keep
them dormant.

In south Georgia the Chinese chestnut normally begins growth soon after
March 1, but in some years it has started as much as a month after this date.
Between south and north Georgia there is a differential in the time growth
starts in the spring of one to two weeks. This differential also carries over
into the date of blossoming and the date the harvest period begins. In south
Georgia pollination generally occurs during the latter part of April and early
part of May, and the harvest period begins about 100 days later. The peak of
harvest averages 185 days after the initiation of growth in the spring.
Dormancy comes only after the first frost sufficiently heavy to kill the
leaves, usually about two months after nut harvest is completed. This period
between harvest and leaf fall is undoubtedly an important factor in the
annual bearing habit of the chestnut in the Southeast since it permits the
food reserves in the tree to be replenished after the crop is mature. This is
true under favorable conditions but does not hold under conditions of
crowding, low soil fertility, or premature defoliation. For best growth and
production the tree should be in foliage approximately nine months out of
the year.

+ORCHARD MANAGEMENT+

The planting of chestnut trees in the Southeast should be done as soon as
possible after the trees become dormant in the nursery. They should be
planted on fertile soil which is well drained but not subject to serious
drought injury. The Chinese chestnut cannot withstand a high water table,

or free standing water, but appears to be somewhat resistant to drought
injury when once well established. The chestnut trees have not yet reached
an age at which their largest potential size has been attained, but trees of 50-
foot spread have been observed. It appears likely, then, that orchards should
be planted at 50 to 60-foot distances on the square, unless closer planting
and subsequent thinning is resorted to in order to build up high nut
production per acre at an earlier age of the orchard. Planting distances of 25
x 25 feet, 30 x 30 feet, 25 x 50 feet, and 30 x 60 feet are recommended for
this reason, but only if the orchardist will plan to thin the stand at 10 to 15
years of orchard age and at later intervals as required. In no case should the
branches of adjacent trees be allowed to touch as under such conditions
competition between trees will reduce the yield per tree and nut size, and
induce alternate-year bearing.

In planting the young tree it is usually advisable to fill the hole in which
the tree is to be set with top soil, packing it firmly around the roots as the
hole is being filled. Usually no fertilizer is used at the time of planting,
although mixing about a handful of bone meal with the soil around the roots
has given a higher percentage of living trees and has increased growth the
first year. A shallow basin around the tree to facilitate watering when
necessary during the first growing season, or the application of a mulch
around the tree, or both, will be helpful in obtaining a high percentage of
living trees and good growth. Adding water at the time of planting is good
insurance that the soil will be well settled around the roots. A wrap of
newspaper tied loosely around the trunk of the young tree will aid in
preventing winter injury and sun-scald.

Under conditions of little or no care the seedling chestnut tree will
generally develop several trunks as a result of the forcing of multiple
sprouts from near the ground line. The tree should be trained to one trunk,
as such a form seems to be less susceptible to winter injury while young

and makes a much more desirable orchard tree when older. Pruning of the
young trees subsequent to the development of the head at a 4 to 5-foot
height should be confined to the removal of crossing branches and those so
near to the ground as to interfere with the necessary cultivation and
harvesting work under the tree.

Most soils in the Southeast are somewhat low in fertility and must
receive good care if chestnuts are to grow well. The annual application of
commercial fertilizers is generally required as is the growing of a winter
green manure crop, preferably a legume. One of the most satisfactory
systems is to plant hairy vetch, Austrian winter peas, or blue lupine[6] in
late October or early November, applying broadcast at the time of planting
from 400 to 600 pounds per acre of a 0-14-10 or 0-14-7 fertilizer mixture.
This green manure crop should then be disced in by April 15 of the
following spring, with subsequent shallow cultivations at about six-week
intervals through the growing season. The ground should be clean by the
middle of August to facilitate harvesting the nuts. If such a system of
culture is not feasible, as on too steep slopes or around buildings, mowing
or mulching can be used to advantage, but the trees must be given annual
applications of a complete fertilizer mixture, such as 4-8-6, 6-8-8, or 5-7-5.
These should be made each year about a month before growth starts at a
rate of 2 to 3 pounds for each year of tree age. This should be broadcast
under and slightly beyond the spread of the branches.

It has not yet been found necessary to spray the trees for the control of
any disease or insect. This does not indicate that control measures may not
be required at some time in the future, for it is the history of horticultural
crops when planted in any concentration that diseases and insects increase
in number and degree of injury. As yet, the chestnut weevil has not been
found at the lower elevations in the Southeast.

In a few plantings a condition causing some premature defoliation has
been observed at infrequent intervals. The condition begins as a leaf scorch
which may or may not develop to the point where the leaf drops. It is
thought to be caused by some mineral deficiency or unbalance associated
with erratic weather conditions, but the exact cause is yet unknown. A leaf
spot disease has been observed but has caused no appreciable defoliation
and no control measures have been thought necessary.

[Footnote 6: Blue lupine is winter-hardy only in the warmer coastal areas,
not adapted north of Columbus, Georgia, Meridian, Mississippi, or
Shreveport, Louisiana. Ed.]

+Harvesting and Nut Storage+

Harvesting of Chinese chestnuts has proved to have definite requirements
if the nuts are to be obtained in the best possible condition. The nuts are
quite susceptible to rots of several kinds and must be properly handled to
keep losses at a minimum. They are also very easily and quickly injured by
exposure to the sun, with the consequent, high temperatures and drying. If
the nuts are to be stored for any length of time, as is necessary when they
are to be used for seed purposes and as will be necessary when they are to
be marketed for eating purposes during the Thanksgiving and Christmas
holiday seasons, it is paramount that they be picked up from the orchard at
not more than two-day intervals. Cleaning up all dropped nuts at daily
intervals is most desirable.

At the end of each day the harvested nuts must be placed in cold storage
at temperatures between 32 deg.F. and 45 deg.F. It has been found that a
nearly air-tight container is required in order to maintain a relative humidity
of 100% and prevent too much drying of the nuts. A 50-pound tin lard can
with one 20d nail hole in the side near the lid has proven to be a good

container for large quantities and these same cans also make good shipping
containers merely by wiring on the lids. One-gallon friction top syrup cans
with a single nail hole in the side make a good container for smaller
quantities. In air-tight containers the nuts do not decay but germination
capacity is quickly destroyed and bitter flavors develop quite rapidly. Nuts
to be used for eating purposes shortly after harvest may be stored at lower
relative humidities but should be placed in cold storage. A loss of about
15% in weight from the fresh weight of nuts is necessary to reach proper
eating quality. Nuts dried to this extent are sweet and palatable but cannot
be stored for any length of time and fail to germinate well when planted.

The experimental study of chestnut storage problems is being continued
with the hope of working out still better methods. The manner of marketing
chestnuts so that they will reach the consumer in a desirable condition also
is still to be worked out, but it appears possible that retail cold storage and
packaging in moisture-proof bags which are pervious to CO_{2} and
O_{2} give promise at present. Probably the most promising aid to an
increased storage life of chestnuts will come through the selection of trees
for propagation and planting that produce nuts of superior resistance to
storage rots. There is rather great variation among seedlings in this respect,
some being-quite superior, although no completely resistant seedlings have
yet been found.

+Discussion and Conclusions+

The perishable nature of the nuts of the Chinese chestnut has probably
been the greatest drawback to an earlier acceptance of this crop as an
adjunct to the horticulture of the Southeast. It has been only in the past few
years that enough has been learned about the harvesting and storage
requirements to permit the storing of these chestnuts so that they can be
marketed in an orderly manner either for eating or for seed purposes.

Storage losses through periods up to six months have been held to less than
10% for a mixture of nuts from all the trees at Philema. Storage tests of nuts
from individual trees have shown a range in keeping quality from no loss
after six months' storage to nearly 100% loss. By culling out the trees
producing nuts with a high rate of spoilage under the best storage
conditions it should be possible to reduce storage losses to a minimum.
Every grower of seedling trees should follow this same process of culling
out or topworking trees producing nuts of poor keeping quality if the
industry is to grow and prosper, since otherwise the offering of spoiled nuts
for sale to the consumer will soon destroy the demand for the nuts.

There is no question but that the Chinese chestnut tree is very well
adapted to the Southeast. It has proven to be healthy, vigorous, and
productive. Yield records at Philema show actual yields of more than 1,000
pounds per acre and potential average annual yields of 1,500 or more
pounds per acre are not out of reason. In 1947, in the Brown tract at
Philema, if all the trees that bore nuts had been collected into a solid block
the yield per acre would have been nearly 2,500 pounds. Crowding of the
trees in the Brown tract is becoming serious at 11 years of age with a 25 x
25 foot spacing. Alternate-year bearing is becoming apparent and the stand
of trees must be thinned immediately. Because of such potential yields and
because rather extended storage of nuts of varied keeping quality is now
economically possible the future of the chestnut industry in the Southeast is
very promising.

The selection and propagation of selected seedlings is desirable as a
means of advancing the industry at a more rapid rate. The propagation of
selected seedlings offers a problem because of lack of compatibility
between some stocks and scions. Since the chestnut is almost completely
cross-pollinated it may be necessary to develop special plantings of two or
three selections as a source of seed nuts for the production of stocks. Such

plantings might possibly produce seedlings of quite uniform and desirable
characteristics, but this prospect, is not very promising. Certainly, the
evidence points to the conclusion that scion selections must be worked on
stocks of the same strains if incompatibility is to be held at a minimum.

There is a further problem in the propagation of varieties on seedling
rootstocks in the nursery. Only one propagator appears to be having much
success in this art but others must learn it. Topworking of older trees by the
inlay bark graft is generally successful and older seedling orchards can be
worked over to improved selections without difficulty so long as the stocks
are of compatible strains. Time will be required to work out the details of
the solution for this problem but they will be worked out.

In the selection of improved seedlings for propagation the strictest
attention should be paid to the important characteristics of tree vigor,
precocity, productiveness, nut size, attractiveness, and keeping and eating
quality, and type of bur opening. These characteristics have been previously
discussed but it is well to emphasise their importance. The tree that comes
into bearing at an early age seems likely to be more productive in later
years. The nuts should be no smaller than 45 nuts to the pound and be
attractive to the eye of the buyer. Most individuals prefer nuts with a bright
and shining surface free of fuzz and with a fairly rich mahogany or
chocolate color. Keeping quality is, of course, of great importance and
should be carefully determined. Eating quality is generally good but
distinctly superior selections may be found in the future. For the most part
eating quality is dependent on the proper curing of the nuts. The type of bur
opening is more important than usually considered, as it materially affects
the satisfactory harvesting of the nuts. From the commercial standpoint it
appears that the most desirable bur should drop from the tree with the nuts
still in it but be well split so that the nuts can be readily removed. Such a
bur type prevents exposure of the enclosed nuts to the hot sun while on the

tree and reduces injurious drying to a minimum yet permits rapid gathering
of the nuts in the burs for later mechanical separation. Nuts that drop free
from the burs are more subject to injury by drying and require more hand
work in gathering. Burs that do not split readily would be more difficult to
separate mechanically; and mechanical aids will be necessary for the
economical daily gathering of the nuts in commercial orchards.

If is encouraging to note that many of the present new plantings in the
Southeast are being made by orchardists rather than hobbyists. Many home
owners are planting a few trees but the acceptance of the Chinese chestnut
for commercial production by men already growing other orchard crops
portends the future success of the industry. The hobbyist has been of great
service and should be given full credit for his far-sighted interest in a crop
that now has commercial promise, especially in the Southeast. Much
experimental work is still needed by both State and Federal agencies and by
individuals. This work needs be concerned now more with details of
refinement rather than with basic possibilities of the crop.

*****

President Davidson: Mr. Carroll D. Bush, of whom I am sure you have
often heard and whom very few of you, including myself, have met, of
Grapeview, Washington, will now tell us something about the Marketing of
Chestnuts on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Bush.

Marketing Chestnuts on the Pacific Coast

CARROLL D. BUSH, Grapeview, Washington

Mr. Bush: Friends of the Association: There are so many here that I have
known through correspondence that I have welcomed this opportunity to
say something to you today. I don't think that I will add very much to
anything that has been said. I hope perhaps we will have some ideas from
what we have been doing on the Coast.

We were in the nursery business near Portland, and during the war we
went out of it, but we are working back in trees again[7], and all this time
we have been preaching the gospel of nut trees, and we find that we can't
preach a gospel unless there is some reward. There is no market for
chestnuts in our section of the country, and yet we had quite a few of them
around Portland. We could not talk about chestnut trees when there was no
market. Buyers there had been offering as low as three cents a pound or not
buying them at all, and we, ourselves, had quite a few nuts to sell. So I took
a trip up to Seattle and found a commission man there that would take our
nuts and arranged with him, and we have sent nuts to Seattle ever since that
year and got a very good price. Then a neighbor had me send some of his,
and we are still sending nuts.

+Introduced on Mid-West Markets+

The next year through Carl Weschcke of St. Paul I got in touch with a
reliable Minneapolis firm. They evidently had been burned and they were
somewhat skeptical. They said if we would send a sample there they would
look them over. So I went out and picked up a mixed sample and shipped to
Minneapolis, and they said if we could send nuts as good as the sample they
could use some.

We began to send them. When we shipped them we made sure we sent
nuts that were considerably better than the sample, and the rewards for
shipping there were also very good. Then we went on to Chicago, and we

have been shipping to Chicago over since. At this time I am out here to find
a little more market for some of the nuts that we have in Oregon.

At first we put the nuts in cold storage at about 32 degrees, expecting to
get a better price on the Thanksgiving market. We found out that we were
making a mistake and that the earliest nuts on the market brought us our
best price. So now we are shipping just as early as we can ship.

We first adopted the western cranberry box as being open enough to
allow a little drying off and tight enough so that it wouldn't allow too much
and yet we didn't get any mold. We were very much afraid of that, because
a good many of the California chestnuts had molded on the way to market.
Later we turned to the splint bushel basket, and lately we have been in favor
of the half-bushel basket. There seem to be buyers who don't like to stock
up more than a half bushel at a time, chestnuts being of a rather high price.
They dry out too fast.

We found that cold storage above 32 degrees keeps chestnuts in good
condition with little dry-out. One dealer in Oregon we know of wraps his
cold storage nuts in waterproof paper, keeps them that way clear on into
January. A very little mold will develop on chestnuts kept in storage from
32 to 35 degrees, but not enough so we take any precaution. We have had a
few batches that people have stood in sacks on damp nights, and they
started to mold, especially on the open end, and we find we can kill the
mold with Clorox. We have just used a little Clorox in water. We think this
would prevent mold from developing on all nuts if they were put through a
chlorine bath. We haven't taken the trouble to do that. I might say our
walnuts, and filberts have been put through a chlorine solution, and, of
course, after a chlorine solution is used you have to put the nuts through
water again and wash that off.

We have on our place a nice washer. We have graded the European
varieties, which we handle mostly, into three grades: standard, fancy, and
extra fancy, by size. All our grading has been done by hand, except we
expect to have a simple grader this year.

[Footnote 7: Mr. Bush informed the secretary by letter, early in 1949, that
he did not then have any nursery stock ready for sale at his Eagle Creek,
Oregon, nursery. From that location about 10 years ago he introduced,
under numbers, three selections of Chinese chestnuts grown from seed
imported in the early 30's. Two of these, in 1941, were named Abundance
and Honan. The Abundance is now considered one of the most desirable
varieties from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania, while Honan is slightly less
desirable.—Ed.]

+"Sweet" Nuts Sell Faster+

We have a few "sweets." All of those on our farms are Riehl varieties,
hybrids, I think. All of our European chestnuts have an astringent pellicle,
heavy with tannic acid. We classify as sweets any of those that have a
pellicle that is sweet enough to be eaten. We label these the sweets and
mark them as they go into the market. And while, I say, we don't seem to
get a better price for the sweets than for the European, they do sell faster.
There are some people in the eastern cities that are grabbing these in
preference to the large ones. While the large nuts sell very well, I suppose
they go to the Italians and Europeans who are used to cooking them, and
out on the West Coast nothing but the large nut goes; the larger the better. In
the Seattle market we try to send in large nuts.

We also grade out all "cracks" by hand. They mold easily, and we have a
lot of cracked nuts in our climate there, but we have been able to dispose of

all of these through the Seattle market where they move off very fast and
are lower priced.

+California Supplies Distant Markets+

Last winter we went to California and looked into the chestnut market
there. We found them in the Sierras and found them growing in the Coast
Range without irrigation, but the largest growers were in the San Joaquin
Valley near Stockton. The largest grove was 30 acres at Linden owned by
Caesar De Martini. He gave us our best insight into California chestnut
growing. He used to grade and package his own, and he still has his
cylinder grader. It has three different size holes, one inch, one and a quarter
and one and a half. Anything that goes through the one-inch hole is
discarded as a cull. That leaves three sizes, the size that goes through the
one and a quarter, the one and a half, and the size that goes out the end,
which is, of course, a class of jumbos.

All the chestnuts in California, I think, now go to buyers to do the
grading and packing much as De Martini worked out. All of the California
nuts have to be soaked in water just as Mr. Jones does, as they come to the
packer dried out. The largest buyer that we found in California shipped
about seven carloads, and he shipped them all over the world, the
Philippines, Honolulu, Alaska, and other places where the chestnut hasn't
been growing.

+Early Autumn Best Marketing Season+

Now, I am going to sum up what our experience has been and what we
recommend as general from our experience. Your experience may be
different. We clean the nuts, wash them, if necessary, grade them; large and

small nuts do not sell well together. We would pack in baskets, half bushel
for sweets. We are trying to make that half bushel basket the mark of the
sweet nut in the markets where we sell, so that when a buyer comes in there
and sees a half bushel basket he knows that's sweets. Then we ship as wet
as possible, and they dry out on the way. And just as fast as we can get
those nuts off the ground we pack them and ship them. Our greatest trouble
now is, of course, the imported chestnut. They are beginning to come in in
great quantities, and they hit the market in Chicago last year at about the
20th of October, and we tried to beat that line if we possibly can with our
nuts, because just the minute the carloads of chestnuts come in on the East
Coast the market drops right down.

Without question we could use some of the preparations that we use on
filberts to put a gloss on the chestnut, run them through, I think it is a
paraffin mixture, put a gloss on the shell and give us a better chestnut in the
market, make it look nicer and, of course, make it sell better.

+"Stick-tight" Burs Preferred for Pacific Coast+

I disagree, I think, with two of the former speakers in regard to the
chestnut that falls free from the bur. I would prefer a chestnut that sticks
tight to the bur. We have threshers out there that thresh them out. We can
pick up those nuts in the bur with a shovel or fork, throw them into the
wagon, take them in the wagon, thresh them out. You have a cleaner nut,
you don't have to pick around on the ground with rubber gloves that we use,
which is easy enough, but it certainly adds a great deal of work as compared
to threshing them out easily after they are once picked up.

I thank you.

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Bush. We are glad to have that
western angle. It is going to be very useful to us.

Next on the program is a paper on the Control of the Chestnut Weevil, the
author of which is absent, but I believe Mr. Gravatt is going to read that.

Chestnut Weevils and Their Control with DDT

E. R. VAN LEEUWEN

United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research
Administration, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, Division of
Fruit Insect Investigations.

Failure of the American chestnut to resist the chestnut blight has resulted
in the planting of a few blight-resistant species obtained from foreign lands.
These foreign chestnuts would now be planted more extensively in certain
districts, were it not for the fact that the nuts are injured by two species of
weevils, for which heretofore there has been no practical control.

The 1947 season marks the fourth year of the experimental use of DDT
for control of the chestnut weevils. During these years our knowledge of the
spray and how best to use it has been advanced by conducting laboratory
and field tests. Unfortunately, few chestnut orchards now exist in the
Eastern States, and the scattered plantings consist mostly of a large number
of Asiatic seedlings, some of which had to be top-worked to other Asiatic
species and varieties. Many of these trees are grown for ornamental, shade,
or timber purposes rather than for nut production. Owing to these

conditions and to a series of spring frosts since 1945, it has been impossible
to conduct insecticide experiments on an adequate basis of replicated plats.

Although much is to be learned regarding time of application of the
sprays and the proper dosage, the use of DDT can be recommended as a
standard practice, because it has proved highly valuable in protecting
chestnut trees from heavy losses due to the chestnut weevil. It is the
purpose of this paper to discuss some of the experiments that have been
made with DDT and the observations made on the time of egg deposition.

+Nature and Extent of Injury+

The worms attacking chestnuts are the larvae of two very similar species
of weevils, one larger than the other. The adults are medium-sized beetles
having extremely long, slender beaks. With these they drill through the husk
of the nuts, making openings through which they insert their eggs into the
nuts. From these eggs the familiar worms develop. Weevil injury varies
greatly in different chestnut-growing localities. It is not unusual for 50 to 75
percent of the nuts to be wormy, and often infestation reaches 90 to 100 per
cent. The small weevil does the most damage, but there are indications that
this may not always be true. Because the mouth parts of the adult are
situated at the end of an extremely long and slender beak, it can obtain most
of its food from beneath the surface of the host plant. For this reason,
stomach poisons applied to trees have not been eaten by these weevils, and
hence have been of no practical value. As DDT kills by contact, it is
necessary only for the body of the insect to come in contact with DDT.

+Life Histories of the Weevils+

In the vicinity of Beltsville, Md., the adults of the large chestnut
weevil[8] leave the soil about August 15. The date will vary, of course, with
season and locality. Both males and females soon begin to feed by piercing
the burs with their long beaks. Mating begins soon after the weevils collect
on the trees, and egg laying follows shortly. The eggs hatch within a few
days and the worms develop within the nut. A few of the worms will
complete their growth and leave before the nuts fall, but most of them
emerge from the nuts after they have fallen. The worms then enter the soil,
where they build cells and remain until they change to pupae the following
summer. This weevil has a one-year cycle, or one generation a year.

The life history of the small chestnut weevil[9] is somewhat similar,
except that in the vicinity of Beltsville the weevils leave the soil late in May
or early in June, when the trees are in bloom. Several weeks later the
females deposit eggs in the nuts. At Beltsville, egg laying begins late in
August and continues for several weeks. After the nuts have fallen from the
tree, the full-grown larvae leave them and enter the soil. Earthen cells are
constructed at a depth of 4 to 12 inches, where some of the larvae remain
for two winters.

The small chestnut weevil completes its life cycle in two years, and a
small percentage requires three years, whereas the large chestnut weevil
completes its transformation from egg to adult in one year. The large
weevils pass the winter as larvae, whereas the small weevils pass one winter
as larvae and the second winter as adults. With the few individuals of the
small weevil which require three years for transformation, the first two
winters are passed in the ground as larvae and the third in the same location
as adults. This habit of the small weevil complicates control measures, as
one season's spraying with DDT does not reduce the entire infestation of
weevils.

[Footnote 8: +Curculio proboscideus+ Fab.]

+Proper Time for Spray Applications+

Application of DDT sprays at the proper time is very important. An
examination in 1944 of many unopened chestnut burs disclosed the fact that
eggs of the small chestnut weevil were being deposited many weeks before
the burs would open. It was also noted that great numbers of the larvae were
leaving the nuts soon after the burs cracked open. Evidently these full-
grown larvae had hatched from eggs deposited several weeks before the
burs split.

In 1945, 1946, and 1947, cloth bags were tied over developing burs at
various intervals during the season to prevent further egg laying in the nuts.
At harvest time, the bags were removed and the nuts examined.
Occasionally adults were hidden among the spines of the burs and were
inadvertently enclosed in the bags; therefore, all nuts in bags containing
female adults that might have continued ovipositing were discarded. The
data in Table 1 show the approximate time prior to which the nuts were
infested.

Because of difficulty in obtaining sufficient burs for bagging, and other
orchard conditions, the results of these studies were far from conclusive.
They indicated, however, that many eggs had been deposited in the nuts
before the burs had reached maturity. They also suggested that the seasonal
histories of the two species are closely parallel. At Glenn Dale, Md., and
Fairfax, Va., the small weevils predominated, constituting about 69 to 90
per cent of the total numbers taken. At Elkton, Md., only 42 per cent of the
weevils were of the small species.

[Footnote 9: Curculio auriger Casey.]

Table 1. Results of studies to determine the time of oviposition of
the chestnut weevils.

Nuts Infested with

Date of Total Small Large Wormy
Bagging Nuts Chestnut Chestnut Nuts
Nuts Bagged Weevil Weevil
Year and Orchard
Number Number Number Percent
1945 July 9 52 2 5 13
Glenn Dale, Md. Aug. 1 46 4 2 13
Aug. 15 107 18 11 27
Fairfax, Va. Aug. 21 110 22 13 32
Sept. 12 123 63 11 60
1946 July 12 65 0 0
Glenn Dale, Md. July 18 40 0 0
July 26 67 0 0
Aug. 1 71 0 0
Aug. 9 29 1 0 3
Aug. 14 88 3 2 6
Aug. 23 53 18 2 38
Aug. 29 53 23 11 64
Fairfax, Va. July 26 98 0 0 0
Aug. 15 168 0 0 0
Sept. 4 164 139 16 95
1947 Aug. 15 54 5 1 11
Glenn Dale, Md. Aug. 25 38 8 0 21
Sept. 2 24 7 1 33
Sept. 9 42 18 4 52
Sept. 15 56 29 7 64

Sept. 22 90 27 11 64
Sept. 29 143 83 22 73
Fairfax, Va. Aug. 26 35 9 1 29
Sept. 10 58 25 4 50
Sept. 28 50 35 7 84
Oct. 7 217 177 22 92
Elkton, Md. Aug. 21 139 11 13 17
Sept. 4 83 22 25 57
Sept. 18 116 21 35 48
Oct. 1 108 31 44 69

+Spray Experiments in 1944+

Shortly after adults of the large chestnut weevil first appeared in the
orchards in 1944, six trees isolated from other chestnuts were selected for
treatment. Five trees were sprayed with from 1 to 5 pounds of technical
DDT plus 1/2 pound of sodium lauryl sulfate to 100 gallons of water, and
the sixth tree was left untreated as a check. A thorough application of a
coarse, drenching spray at a pressure of 400 pounds per square inch was
used in an attempt to force the DDT between the many spines of the burs.
The DDT used was very coarse, and difficulty was experienced in getting a
proper suspension. This formula was used, however, in preference to one
which contained other ingredients that might have formed a protective
coating over the particles of DDT. Heavy rains prevented later spray
applications.

Adult weevils obtained by jarring untreated trees were then confined in
screen cages placed over the lower branches of the trees. At the end of each
cage was a cloth sleeve which was tied to the limb to hold the cage in place.
The treatments used and the results are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Percentage mortality of chestnut weevils placed in field cages on
trees at different intervals after they had been sprayed with with DDT, 1944.

Strength of
DDT (lb. per Small Chestnut Weevil Large Chestnut Weevil
100 gal.) 48 Hrs. 96 Hrs. 144 Hrs. 48 Hrs. 96 Hrs. 144 Hrs.

1 0 61 100 25 50 100
2 19 69 100 0 34 100
3 4 50 100 0 40 100
4 27 87 100 0 50 100
5 18 50 100 30 46 100
Check 0 0 0 0 7 7

Although the results obtained the first few days in the cages containing
treated foliage were somewhat irregular, because of the small numbers of
tests made, all weevils were killed within 6 days. The results indicate
definitely that DDT is toxic to the adults of both species of weevils. No
consistent differences between species were noted.

As the matured nuts dropped from the treated trees, daily collections
were made, and one-third of each collection was used as a sample in
determining the percentage of wormy nuts. At the time the nuts drop, the
holes in the shell through which the eggs were inserted are very difficult to
detect. The nuts were therefore held in wire baskets to permit most of the
larvae to emerge before the final examination. All nuts not showing exit
holes were cut open to find out whether they were wormy. The marked
increase in clean nuts after all treatments indicates that DDT is a promising
insecticide for use against the weevils. The treatment and infestation
records for the sprayed trees and the check tree are given in Table 3, which
also includes the results obtained in later years.

+Spray Experiments 1945 to 1947+

Spring frosts in 1945 destroyed 95 per cent of the crop of chestnuts in the
Eastern States. Only six trees of different species and ages in the
Government orchard at Glenn Dale, had sufficient nuts for experimental
purposes. Applications of a 50 per cent DDT wettable powder in the
proportions of 4 and 6 pounds plus 1/2 gallon of summer oil as a sticker to
100 gallons of water were made on August 20 and September 9.

Spring frosts again damaged the orchards in 1946, destroying about 80
per cent of the possible chestnut crop, and leaving only eight trees in the
Government orchard that were suitable for experimental purposes. The
remaining trees having a small scattered crop were disregarded. A mixture
consisting of equal parts by weight of DDT and kaolin 41 was used in the
strength of 2 pounds of DDT to 100 gallons of water. The time and number
of applications were varied.

Table 3. Results of spray tests with DDT against chestnut weevils, 1944-
1947.

Larvae Emerging from Sample
Reduction
Nuts Small Large Wormy of
DDT (per Application in Chestnut Chestnut Nuts Injured
100 gal.) Sample Weevil Weevil Nuts
Year
Pounds Number Number Number Percent Percent

Government Orchard, Glenn Dale, Md.

1944 1 Aug. 14 533 1896 21 44 42
2 646 402 45 25 67

3 712 421 5 18 76
4 951 814 5 22 71
5 1844 850 10 16 79
0 976 3238 100 76
1945 2 Aug. 20 & Sept. 9 660 434 38 30 57
3 305 285 58 22 69
0 297 1164 61 70
1946 2 Aug. 15 & 30, Sept. 11 621 131 12 9 90
2 Aug. 15 & 30 371 171 23 19 79
2 Aug. 30 & Sept. 11 292 87 21 26 71
2 Aug. 15 & Sept. 11 949 553 190 43 53
2 Aug. 30 1267 1407 98 43 53
2 Aug. 15 1212 3207 66 43 53
2 Sept. 11 368 1832 53 58 36
0 870 5364 134 91
1947 2 Aug. 13 & 29, Sept. 12 4084 3817 234 30 66
2 Aug. 13 & 29 2618 4255 151 52 40
2 Sept. 12 3029 9498 402 79 9
2 Aug. 13 2639 5049 198 51 41
0 974 4714 121 87

Van Reynolds Orchard, Elkton, Md.

1947 2 Aug. 21, Sept. 4 & 18 1153 264 64 14 84 2 Sept. 4 & 18 338 5
118 67 23 2 Aug. 21 & Sept. 18 149 18 59 34 61 2 Aug. 21 & Sept. 4 669
102 12 51 41 2 Sept. 18 324 63 129 77 11 2 Sept. 4 270 303 67 56 36 2
Aug. 21 500 192 127 57 34 0 338 152 118 87

Sprays containing DDT were applied in two orchards in 1947, the
Government orchard at Glenn Dale, and the Van Reynolds orchard at
Elkton, Md. Spring frosts injured 50 per cent of the chestnut crop at Glenn

Dale and 70 per cent at Elkton, and as a result only a few trees suitable for
tests were available. The remaining trees were not sprayed. Four pounds of
the standard mixture of equal parts of DDT and kaolin were used to 100
gallons of water in all applications.

In Table 3 will be found information on the quantities of DDT used, the
schedules followed, and the results obtained during the period 1944 through
1947.

These results indicate clearly the effectiveness of DDT in chestnut weevil
control, in spite of numerous discrepancies brought about by the small
number and variability of the trees available for the tests. As might be
expected, programs of three applications were more effective than those of
only one or two. Of the single applications, those put on during the latter
half of August were much more effective than those made during the first
half of September, presumably because most of the eggs had been laid by
the early part of September.

These experiments gave fairly exact information on the relative
abundance of the two species of weevils. At Glenn Dale the small chestnut
weevil constituted 92 to 98 per cent of the population; at Elkton, 61 per
cent.

The matured nuts that fell from count trees were collected daily, and one-
third of each lot collected was used as a sample for determining the
percentage of wormy nuts. It was possible, therefore, to obtain a rough
estimate of the numbers of larvae produced on each tree. In 1946, from
1,863 nuts on a tree sprayed three times, 429 larvae emerged; and from a
comparable unsprayed tree having 2,610 nuts 16,494 larvae emerged. In
1947, 1,350 larvae were produced on 9 trees with an average crop of 1,361
nuts sprayed three times, compared with 14,505 larvae from 2,922 nuts on
an unsprayed tree. These figures indicate that DDT sprays bring about large

decreases in the numbers of weevils and that the proper use of DDT sprays
on all host trees over a period of a few years would doubtless reduce the
infestation to a point where fewer applications would be necessary for
effective control of the chestnut weevils.

+Tentative Recommendations+

For the benefit of those who wish to try DDT for chestnut weevil control,
the following tentative recommendation is made:

Thoroughly apply +to all parts of the tree+ 2 pounds of DDT in 100
gallons of water. For example, use 4 pounds of a wettable powder that
contains 50 per cent of DDT, or 8 pounds of one that contains 25 per cent of
DDT. Make three applications, the first about 30 days before the first nut is
due to drop, and the second and third after intervals of 12 days. Unless the
entire bur, especially that portion near the stem end where most of the
feeding punctures are made, +is thoroughly covered+ with a film of DDT,
the weevils may feed without being affected by the insecticide. In handling
DDT, one should use the same care as with such well-known poisons as
lead arsenate, Paris green, calcium arsenate, and nicotine.

*****

Mr. Gravatt: I might say that Mr. Van Leeuwen has used only a small
section of our experimental orchard, and right near-by would be large
sections not used. The weevils are not killed quickly by the DDT, they are
somewhat resistant, and so we think quite a number of weevils come over
and deposit eggs before they are killed by this DDT, because they don't lose
any time getting to work on the nuts. He hopes to have much better results
where the entire orchard is sprayed. This year we sprayed our entire orchard

twice, and it is a real pleasure to go out there now and gather up nuts and
not be eating weevils when we do eat them.

President Davidson: Well, Mr. Gravatt will now give us a talk on
Diseases Affecting the Success of Tree Crop Plantings, and I am sure we all
are on our toes to hear about that. Mr. Gravatt.

Mr. Gravatt: I only ask a few minutes to show a few slides.

(Slides shown.)

Diseases Affecting the Success of Tree Crop Plantings

G. F. GRAVATT and DONALD C. STOUT

Division of Forest Pathology, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville,
Maryland.

Mass plantings of many trees of the same kind frequently result in an
increase in the severity of insect pests and diseases. Leaf diseases, for
instance, spread quickly through such plantings when weather conditions
favor growth of the causal organisms. Plants on sites unfavorable to a
specific tree species also are responsible for disease increases. Chinese
chestnuts grown on a site where they are subject to early-fall and late-spring
frosts will fail. Not only will crops be reduced by the killing of buds or
blooms, but the twigs, or even whole trees, may be killed by freezing. The
blight fungus develops rapidly on such injured trees and may mislead
people into thinking that the blight fungus is the primary cause of the
killing.

Still another factor that determines the damage by diseases, and thus the
success or failure of nut tree plantings, is the ignoring of soil and fertilizer
requirements. Trees weakened by drought, because they are on a site having
a soil too shallow for good root growth, are much more subject to attack
even by weakly parasitic fungi than those growing on a site with deeper
soil. Innumerable dying twigs and branches with fungi growing on them are
sent to the U. S. Department of Agriculture or State experiment stations
with requests that the disease be identified, when the real trouble is lack of
water for the roots. Weak trees are much more subject to winter injury than
vigorous ones.

Trees require a good supply of plant food materials and water to produce
profitable crops. Tho heaviest bearing chestnut trees we have observed were
grown in an irrigated orchard in California and in a poultry yard in the East
where chicken droppings actually formed a mulch under the trees.
However, if you wish to kill a young chestnut tree quickly, just apply a very
heavy application of chicken manure; the point is that trees must become
adjusted to chicken manure by gradual applications.

Another way to damage a tree is to keep it growing late in the fall by
cultivation and fertilizers so that it does not harden off properly. Many
plantings, representing heavy investments, fail because of lack of organic
matter in the soil. This is related to water-holding and water-supplying
capacity of the soil, and lack of proper fertilizer. Dr. Harley L. Crane and
his assistants, in their work with tung and pecan trees, have shown the vital
need for certain elements on some soils. Trees weakened by the lack of
these elements are early prey for some diseases. The element most
frequently deficient is nitrogen, but sometimes boron, copper, or iron is
lacking; or the elements are not in balance, because of the excess of some,
or the lack of others.

By adjusting the various soil, water, and site factors necessary for a
continuous, vigorous growth of trees, many so-called disease conditions are
eliminated. Many fungi and viruses, however, will attack trees in the pink of
condition; a few of the more important of these are treated in the following
sections.

+Chestnut Blight+

The destruction by blight of the native stands of the American chestnut,
and of the small eastern orchard industry based on European and American
chestnuts and their hybrids is almost complete. Blight has been found in the
planted European chestnut orchards of the Pacific Coast from time to time,
but it has been kept under control by eradication. Chestnut trees or nuts
from the eastern States, where blight is common, should not be shipped into
the Rocky Mountain or Pacific Coast States.

Finding the Asiatic chestnuts resistant to the blight, the Division of Forest
Pathology sent R. Kent Beattie to Asia to make selections of chestnuts for
introduction into this country. Later Peter Liu, a Chinese collector who
worked with Mr. Beattie, continued to select Chinese chestnuts for
introduction. These introductions, together with the earlier ones made by
the Division of Plant Exploration and Introduction, were grown at Chico,
Calif., Savannah, Ga., and Bell, or Glenn Dale, Md. Altogether some
300,000 chestnut trees, of pure species and hybrids, were distributed to
cooperators for forest and orchard plantings. (Fig. 1.) These constituted a
fine lot of material from many parts of Asia as a basis for selecting the best
ones for our use. Private nurseries and State game and forestry departments
are now growing these chestnuts and the Division of Forest Pathology has
discontinued general distribution of trees to cooperators.

Chinese chestnuts have proved to be the most valuable for forest, orchard
and ornamental use. The Japanese chestnut is being discriminated against
because of the poor quality of its nuts. Orchardists having mixed plantings
containing Japanese chestnuts are advised to top work the trees or remove
them, if the seed is to be used for plantings. In fact, for orchard plantings,
nuts should be used only from the best individual trees of the Chinese
chestnut.

The Chinese chestnut should be planted on sites with good air drainage
as it is very susceptible to injury from early-fall or late-spring freezes.
Many persons think their trees have been killed by the blight when the
primary cause of the trouble was injury to the trunk by freezing followed by
growth of the blight organism over the injured parts. This fungus may grow
for many years in the outer layers of the bark without doing any material
damage to the tree. An important factor in resistance of the Chinese
chestnuts to the blight is to keep the trees growing vigorously. Avoid late
growth in the fall as this favors fall freezing damage.

[Illustration: Figure 1.—F1 hybrids between the Chinese chestnut and the
American chestnut.]

+Nut Spoilage+

In the Southern States one of the most serious problems with some
selections of the Chinese chestnut is the spoilage of the nuts. Marvin E.
Fowler made a study of this trouble at Savannah, Ga., and found that most
of the trouble in that restricted area was caused by a Gleoesporium-like
fungus that infects the nuts at the tip.[10] Because spraying experiments did
not give control, the more susceptible trees have been removed. In most
parts of the South, however, this fungus is not the primary cause of nut
spoilage and the limited work so far carried out has not revealed the cause.

Part of the trouble may be due to physiological break-down. As individual
trees vary greatly in susceptibility to this deterioration of the nuts,
orchardists are advised to top work or eliminate the more susceptible trees.
Some people have believed that exposure of the nuts to the hot sun while in
the bur or on the ground may cause damage. The market for Chinese
chestnuts can be ruined by shipping nuts that are partly spoiled by the time
they reach the consumer.

[Footnote 10: Gravatt, G. F., and Marvin E. Fowler. Diseases of chestnut
trees and nuts. Northern Nut Growers Assoc. Rept. (1940) 31: 110-113.
1941.]

+Phytophthora Root Disease of Chestnut+

Phytophthora root disease, caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi, is treated
briefly here, and interested nut growers can consult the detailed earlier
article.[11] Briefly, this fungus is considered as introduced into this country
over a hundred years ago. It killed the chestnut and chinkapin growth over
large areas in the southern States. Asiatic chestnuts are highly resistant to
this disease, and when grown on well-drained soils have not been damaged.
Our test plantings of Chinese chestnuts growing in the same soils where
susceptible trees of American and European chestnuts were killed, continue
to make a vigorous growth. The European and American chestnuts and their
hybrids growing in the western States are in danger from this fungus as it
has now been reported in the West. This same fungus sometimes kills
thousands of young nursery trees of the black walnut, but these epidemics
are usually brought on by unusual weather conditions. Poor soil aeration,
induced by excessive rainfall and poor drainage, makes ideal conditions for
damage to the walnut and other hosts by Phytophthora. Even the very
resistant Chinese chestnut roots are invaded by the fungus when the soil
remains waterlogged for extended periods.

+Brooming Disease of Walnut+

A systemic brooming disease, observed on planted walnuts as early as
1917, has been the subject of considerable discussion during recent years,
because it has now spread widely into the native black walnut growth. In
1932 Waite published that he had been observing the disease for some 15
years but that "it was unknown on the black walnut in the wild in this
country or on planted trees away from the Japanese walnut." The disease
has continued to increase in prevalence in recent years and is now widely
distributed in native black walnut growth in Tennessee, Virginia, District of
Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. This extensive spread into
the native growth during the last 15 or 20 years and the fact that reports
indicate that all of the early cases of the disease were found near nursery-
grown trees offer some evidence that the disease is an importation from
another area or continent into the eastern black walnut zone. From the
literature and oral reports, it seems that the disease is now present also in
North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and
Michigan. Surveys probably would uncover the disease among native wild
and planted walnuts in other States.

[Footnote 11: Crandall, B. S., G. F. Gravatt, and M. M. Ryan. Root
diseases of Castanea species and some coniferous and broadleaf nursery
stocks, caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi. Phytopathology 35: 162-180.
Illus. 1945.]

+Economic Importance and Hosts+

The black walnut is a valuable native forest tree, widely but not
abundantly distributed in the eastern United States. It is extensively planted
as a forest tree. The numerous plantings and natural stands around farm
homes, along fences, and in pastures are also very valuable. More and more

grafted ornamentals, and orchards of black walnut are being planted. For
these the per-tree investment is high.

[Illustration: Figure 2.—The brooming disease of walnut. Severe
brooming on Japanese walnut.]

The ultimate effect of the brooming disease on the black walnut is not
known. Dr. Waite stated, "Trees even moderately attacked soon become
worthless for nut production." Some affected black walnut trees, however,
continue to produce small crops of nuts. Visible symptoms have been
known to disappear. In addition, some seedlings, and probably large trees
also, are infected without showing symptoms. Such observations indicate
the complex nature of the disease. Detailed studies are needed, but at
present this Division is not in position to do more than limited, part-time
work on the disease.

The butternut, a widely distributed forest tree of minor importance, is
seriously injured or killed by this disease. The disease severely damages or
kills the Japanese walnut, which has been planted to a limited extent but is
of little importance. According to Dr. Waite's report, the Persian, or English,
walnut is attacked, but very few trees of this species are planted in the
eastern States. Precautions should be taken to prevent the introduction of
this disease into areas where it is not now present, particularly the western
states.

Symptoms expressed by infected trees are viruslike, and Hutchins and
Wester[12] were able to produce the brooming symptoms on a small
number of trees by means of bark patch grafts, indicating that the brooming
disease probably is caused by a virus.

[Illustration: Figure 3.—Brooming disease on black walnut. Ascending
type, upright, sucker growth is typical of this species.]

+Description of Symptoms+

The entire range of symptoms of the brooming disease has not been
determined. Symptoms are recognizable during mid-July but they are most
pronounced during September and October. Curling and cupping of leaflets,
chlorosis, narrowing and basal tapering of leaflets appear to be associated
with early stages of the disease. On severely affected trees there are distinct
broomlike growths at branch terminals, along primary or secondary
branches, or on the main stem to the ground line (Fig. 2). The broomlike
growths are formed by the continuing abnormal development of normally
located buds into short, succulent branches. Upright, suckerlike branches
appear on primary and secondary branches and on the main stem of the
affected tree. (Fig. 3).

The broomed parts usually die back during the dormant period following
their appearance. The dead brooms on trees that appear to be healthy during
the early months of the growing-season indicate that the trees are infected.
Usually the diseased trees, even those severely affected, exhibit normal
growth during the early summer months.

Evidence that walnut trees may be infected for a considerable time prior
to appearance of recognizable symptoms was obtained when 37 per cent of
a total of 300 severely pruned trees exhibited brooming disease symptoms.
These trees had looked healthy until they were pruned. Unpruned control
trees showed a 4 per cent increase in disease during the same period.

[Footnote 12: Hutchins, Lee M., and Horace V. Wester. Graft-
transmissible brooming disease of walnut. Phytopathology. 37 (1): 11.
(Abstract) 1947.]

+Summary+

There is strong evidence that a virus disease is active among certain
species of walnut in central and eastern United States. The disease exhibits
distinctive symptoms and appears to damage infected trees, sometimes
severely, over several growing seasons. Present data indicate that
recognizable symptoms of the disease may not appear for some time after
infection, unless the host is subjected to severe shock. Thus, nursery stock
may be one means of spreading the disease into new areas. It is
recommended, without experimental work to back up the recommendation,
that walnut nurserymen remove infected trees in the vicinity of their nursery
sites.

Investigation of this disease to the present time has been limited. General
observations indicate that severely broomed trees produce poor nut crops.
Mortality caused by the disease appears to be quite low among black walnut
trees. Butternut and Japanese walnut trees are, in general, more severely
affected by the disease than the black walnut and many seem to be killed by
it, although the killing process is slow. As a result of experience with other
virus diseases, orchardists who have only a few infected trees among their
black walnuts are advised to remove them. Whether the disease can be kept
under control by repeated roguing is uncertain. If an owner has just a few
trees of value as ornamentals as well as nut producers, one hesitates to
advise him to remove a lightly infected tree until more information is
obtained concerning the disease.

This Division will welcome information from persons having experience
with the brooming disease of walnut, as it is in a position to do only a
limited amount of work on the disease.

+Persimmon Wilt+

Persimmon wilt is very destructive to the native persimmon (Fig. 4). It is
caused by the fungus Cephalosporium diospyri, which was described in
1945 by Bowen S. Crandall[13]. The fungus grows in the wood of the trees,
producing discolored streaks. Most trees are rapidly killed, with yellow,
wilted leaves making quite a contrast to the normal green trees.

This disease was found in spots from central Tennessee south to the Gulf,
east into Florida, and up the coast into North Carolina. The American
persimmon seemed to be in danger, as this quickly killing disease appeared
to be spreading. The limited work on this disease was discontinued because
of the war and the transfer of Mr. Crandall to Peru. However, this summer
Mr. Crandall and the senior writer spent two weeks surveying some of the
old infections and nearby territory, and were pleased to note that the disease
had made very little progress into new territory. On several small areas
where the disease was present some six years ago practically all of the
larger trees had been killed, but some new small trees were coming up. At
Chattanooga National Park, where the wilt was rampant about six years
ago, it is continuing to kill trees, but many new ones are coming up. No
northward extension of the disease in Tennessee or North Carolina was
noted in the limited time spent in inspection.

[Illustration: Figure 4.—Small persimmon trees killed by the wilt.]

What does the disease mean to the grower of grafted persimmons, both
native and Oriental? The Japanese or Chinese persimmons do not grow as
well on their own roots, although they are quite safe that way as these two
species are very resistant to the wilt. In the East, most of the Oriental
persimmons are grafted on American root stocks, and trees in one case were
killed by the wilt fungus getting in on the susceptible root stock. No
attempts to control the wilt have been made, and these recommendations
are based on procedure with other diseases and on knowledge of the spore

production of this fungus. An owner of a valuable planting of grafted trees
in a region where the disease is present should watch his trees for the first
indication of trouble. The planting will be safer, if there are no nearby
native trees; and if native trees are growing nearby and cannot be removed,
they should be given a general inspection. Prompt removal and burning of
any infected trees found is advisable. The fact that usually fungus spore
production does not take place until after the tree has been dead for a while
makes the prospect for control better than with most diseases. Care should
be taken not to bring in scions or trees from infected areas.

Most members of the Northern Nut Growers Association have only a few
grafted persimmon trees, usually located outside of the infected zone and
therefore in little danger. Persimmon scions and trees should not be shipped
from infected to healthy regions. The disease has not been reported in
nurseries, but it could occur there because it attacks small trees.

[Footnote 13: Crandall, Bowen S. A new species of +Cephalosporium+
causing persimmon wilt. Mycologia 37 (4): 495-498. 1945.]

+Thyronectria Disease of Honeylocust+

Honeylocust is widely distributed both in native stands and in
plantations. Some farmers plant this species or leave native trees in their
pastures for the pods, which have a high sugar content, up to 38 per cent. J.
C. Moore, of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, reported
preliminary tests indicating a per-acre yield of livestock feed equal to that
of oats.

In many areas the growth of honeylocust is seriously affected by a canker
and twig fungus, Thyronectria austro-americana. The disease often kills
many twigs and branches and sometimes results in death of the tree. In most

areas it causes only slight injury. Bowen S. Crandall and Jesse D. Diller
have made a few observations on the prevalence and damage by this
disease, which is present from New England south into the Gulf States and
west into the Great Plains States.

The fungus causing this disease is morphologically somewhat similar to
the chestnut blight fungus, having two spore stages produced in reddish-
brown pinhead-size fruiting bodies on the bark. Cankers are produced on
the smaller branches, but they usually are not noted until some of the
affected ones wilt and die. In the exposed outer wood of a branch cut above
or below the canker there are reddish-brown streaks several inches long,
indicating that the fungus has grown in the vascular system.

As no control experiments are known, recommendations are based on
general knowledge of sanitation. If an owner has only a few valuable
planted trees, he should cut off the diseased parts a foot or more back from
the lower edge of the affected bark and burn or bury them in the soil. If he
has many trees scattered over extensive pasture areas, it is questionable
whether any action other than elimination of the more susceptible trees is
justified. We will be interested in the results obtained from control work.

*****

President Davidson: Now I will turn over the chairmanship of the
meeting to Mr. Chase, who will have charge of the Round Table Discussion.

Round Table Discussion on Chestnut Problems

SPENCER B. CHASE, Presiding

Panel of Experts: Max E. Hardy, Carroll D. Bush, H. F. Stoke, G. F.
Gravatt, J. C. McDaniel.

Mr. Chase: Gentlemen, in the last hour and a half we have heard perhaps
more about chestnuts from qualified specialists than we will ever hear in
any meeting of ours, and we requested each one to withhold questions until
this point. So now we will have some questions from the floor, please.

Mr. Slate: What is the present status of breeding chestnut species for
timber purposes?

Mr. Gravatt: The prospects are coming along. We have one cross between
a none-too-promising Chinese chestnut and an American chestnut, with a
good bunch of hybrids and they are different from other hybrids. It looks
like they will stand up against blight. They will have blight canker growth
from 10 feet down to the ground but it doesn't go into the cambium region.
It is too early to evaluate the hybrids, but they do have the upright form and
rapid growth of the American chestnut.

Now when we take these first-generation hybrids, cross them back with
the Chinese and get more resistance, as we have done so many times in the
past, we lose that rapid and more upright growth habit of the American
chestnut. But we have a lot more work to do before we are ready to say
anything final on this question.

Dr. Arthur H. Graves, formerly at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is now
consulting pathologist at the New Haven, (Conn.) Experiment Station. We
have been working with him and partially supporting his chestnut breeding
for a good many years. He has a lot of hybrids up there. We expect to have
something later, but have nothing to release yet.

A Member: Do you have any sprays to control diseases and insect pests
in the tree that when they go into the soil won't destroy our ground friends?

Mr. Chase: Mr. Gravatt?

Mr. Gravatt: I don't know what insects you are after, in the first place. We
have a lot of trouble with Japanese beetles. Around Washington, Dr. Crane's
and my plantings there would be defoliated if they weren't sprayed for
Japanese beetle control, and it is the same way with filberts.

A Member: The same sprays have a tendency to work against most of the
pests, do they not? Of course, DDT will take one, the arsenate of lead takes
another, Black Leaf 40 another, but if we had a spray that we can use
around on—well, not limited to the chestnut—that would be neutralized in
the earth. Now, we have a good deal of friendly bacteria and insects in the
soil that we want to keep.

Mr. Gravatt: I would say that I am a pathologist, and insect work is out of
my line.

Mr. Chase: Does anyone else have a comment on that? Dr. Cross, did you
hear the question?

Dr. Cross: I didn't get his question.

Mr. Chase: Would you stand and repeat your question?

A Member: Is there a spray that we can use for combating the insect pests
of our trees that when it is washed off and goes into the soil doesn't kill our
soil friends. We have the friendly bacteria in the soil, as well as insect and
worm life. Do we have a spray that will be neutralized as it hits the soil so
we can spray the tree and not kill our lower friends?

Dr. Cross: Sorry, Mr. Chase, that's beyond me.

Mr. Gravatt: You are thinking of arsenate of lead poisoning the soil where
you keep on spraying with it?

A Member: Yes.

Mr. Gravatt: I think DDT may build up a little in the soil, but it is broken
down, isn't it, Dr. Crane?

Dr. Crane: Yes, DDT is broken down and it is not a fungicide and it is not
a bactericide. It is an insecticide that kills insects through affecting the
nervous system, according to my understanding of it. I am not an
entomologist, but that's what the entomologists say. So far we haven't any
evidence to my knowledge of any build-up of DDT in soils that has been
detrimental. I don't know what the situation would be if DDT was used to
the same extent as arsenate of lead. It was not uncommon for some growers
to put on anywhere from 6 to 15 lead sprays in a season in order to control
codling moth, as they used to do in certain apple orchards, particularly in
the West.

I was talking to Dr. Van Leeuwen just a day or two before I had to leave
for the meeting, and he is not ready yet to say anything about it, but he has
already tested some very promising insecticides as far as the control of
weevil is concerned. This DDT and some of the other new insecticides are
very easily decomposed, and, of course, that's one of the disadvantages of
them. Under certain climatic conditions they would need to be less readily
decomposed to give control over a longer period. I know that we have not
had enough experience to know all about those new spray materials.

Mr. McDaniel: There has been one instance reported where DDT in the
soil was injurious to fruit plant growth. That was Goldsworthy's and
Dunegan's work on strawberries. Where they used large amounts of
technical DDT in the soil, they found that it inhibited the growth of the
strawberry plant. I believe that's the only instance I've heard of, where soil
application of DDT hurt growth of fruit plants. Benzene hexachloride, and

some other chlorinated hydrocarbons, and parathion actually appeared to
have a stimulating effect on the berry plants.[14]

Mr. Frye: Why would there be any more danger of affecting the soil in a
chestnut orchard than there would in the apple and peach orchard by
spraying seven, eight and ten times? That's the only question that arises
with me.

Mr. Chase: Let's get back to chestnuts specifically, now, gentlemen.

Mr. Kays (Oklahoma A. & M. College): Since I don't come from a
chestnut area, my impression of the nut samples supplied by Mr. Moore of
Auburn, was: "I'd like them if they had salted them." I am wondering if it
wouldn't have affected their rancidity if they had been treated—salting
material added, prior to or in the process somewhere along the line.

Mr. J. C. Moore: I'd just like to say I have tried putting salt in the water,
to boil the nuts with salt, and then I have tried shelling them and sprinkling
salt, and I find that salt does not add anything to the flavor. Tasting the nuts
raw, I, too, get the impression salt is what I want, but I haven't been able to
add it satisfactorily. I don't say that it cannot be done.

Dr. MacDaniels: Mr. Chairman, in view of the whole situation of
chestnut incompatibility of stock with scion, what would be the position
that we in the Northern Nut Growers Association can take in advising
people what kind of chestnuts they should plant? Should they be
encouraged to try to get grafted trees? What should be our position?

Mr. Chase: Mr. Stoke, would you care to comment on that?

Mr. Stoke: You are asking me to stick out my neck, and it seems as if I
have always done that. The Chinese chestnut is in the Johnny Appleseed

stage, in my opinion, and we are investigating to find out the best varieties,
that is, the best specimen, best performance, best quality, best in blight
resistance, growth, and other qualities and when we winnow out all we have
and arrive at the best, we are going to find—now, this is just my personal
opinion—I will say that for myself I'd rather have one acre of the best
selections we have budded or grafted—asexually propagated, than five
acres of seedling trees as a financial good bet, because I say that one acre of
our very best produce virtually as many nuts as five acres of seedlings. I
have trees from seed I imported through the Yokahama Nursery Company,
and I think it came from Korea. The nuts run very small, and compared with
those I am sure the others will pay much better, and I think it would be
profitable to pay three or four or five times as much for your trees if you get
good trees of good, known varieties and grafted or budded.

Don't misunderstand me. We shouldn't ask the American public to wait
until those can be furnished, because they won't wait, and they shouldn't.
But I say as a commercial proposition, to plant trees commercially, I would
exercise caution and I would encourage my customers to exercise caution
unless they are willing to follow up and do their own top working later on,
and a Chinese chestnut doesn't top work as readily as a black walnut.

Mr. Chase: I don't believe that's quite the answer he wanted. The
comment that I think Dr. MacDaniels is after is what position should the
Northern Nut Growers Association take in regard to planting seedlings or
planting grafted stock. Is that the point?

Dr. MacDaniels: Yes, it seems to be seedlings against grafted stock.

Mr. Stoke: May I answer? I don't think the Northern Nut Growers
Association should take any position. They should present the facts and let
the buyer decide. I don't think we need to go on record, and I don't think we
should. There is too much diversity of opinion.

Dr. MacDaniels: Between ourselves—and this is not an academic
question—we get continual inquiries regarding the Chinese chestnuts and
what should they plant and where can they get the trees, and so forth. It isn't
good enough in most of these cases to write several pages explaining what
the whole situation is, the if's, and's, and but's. But I just wonder what the
opinion is of the people who know best in this regard. Who has a good
orchard of 20-year-old grafted Chinese chestnuts? Where are they? I don't
know: I am asking for information.

Mr. Chase: Dr. Drain, are those trees you have grafted trees or seedling
trees?

Dr. Drain (University of Tennessee): They are seedling trees. They have
produced a rather nice quality nut, and we have enjoyed propagating
seedlings from them. That's really all we know. We haven't grafted any.

Mr. Chase: Mac, would you care to comment on this?

Mr. McDaniel: I am ashamed to say that at present we have no grafted
chestnut trees on my own north Alabama farms. We have about 50 trees that
are 8-year-old seedlings from imported (Chinese) nuts, growing next to a
commercial peach block, and find the production quite variable on the
different trees. I am aiming at top-working most of these with the named
varieties, beginning this year. At present I can't answer the question of
seedlings vs grafted trees. I have been advising people who are interested in
trying them in Tennessee that for their first planting (to test the adaptability
of their locations) they can get the seedlings generally quite a bit cheaper
than the grafted trees. With the experience we have had over the State and
the high mortality of trees, both grafted and seedling—killing of the tops
and in some cases the whole tree—the seedling might be best economically
to begin their experimenting with. I am not recommending that anyone
plant seedlings commercially, but just in a small way for trial. They are well

worth a trial anywhere peaches are doing well. When we find a suitable
site, then is the time to think about using the more expensive grafted trees.

Pres. Davidson: I just want to give a little bit of my experience along that
line. Way back in 1934 I planted a few seeds that I got from Amelia Riehl.
They were nuts of the Riehl hybrids. [Ed. note: Mostly American—
European crosses.] She named one Dan Patch and another Gibbons. They
are now about 13 years old. Each of them is bearing burs this year. They
have borne burs, a few of them, in the past, but no nuts. So far in 1948, the
burs that have fallen to the ground, of course, have no nuts, but whether the
burs that are still on the trees have nuts I don't know. I want to know
whether those trees are normal—-whether a hybrid of that kind is likely to
be sterile or not. That's another matter that might be discussed. Anyhow,
you are taking a chance, no question about that, when you plant seedlings.

Mr. Stoke: Mr. Chairman, if you will pardon me for saying one more
word, here is a suggestion I will make. Now you can check for yourself.
The whole thing hinges on whether we can get permanent grafts on the tree
and get the characteristics in the grafted tree that the parent has—in the
good selected tree. Now you take the reports sent us by Mr. Hemming; you
take the reports of the station at Albany—of individual trees in those plots.
You take the worst trees and you will find they are nothing but boarders.
You take the best and you will find they are very profitable. You take the
average and it will fall somewhere in between.

Now, why keep a lot of boarders that don't pay—free boarders—or why
use run-of-mine seedlings, if we can graft successfully—and some people
like to dispute that—and produce nothing but the best? And you can check
it on any of those tables. [Mr. Hardy's paper.] We have a few tables in our
former Reports. You can check it and figure it out for yourself.

Dr. Crane: To clear up this situation I wanted to ask Mr. Hardy a
question, and then I wanted to make a statement. In this report from the
1938 and 1940 planting at Albany, Georgia, in the Brown tract in 1947 there
were 188 trees that bore crops, but that planting consisted of 274 trees
planted in 1938 and 60 trees planted in 1940. Why weren't those 274 trees
plus those 60 trees represented in the 100 with the yield records of 1947?

Mr. Hardy: Dr. Crane knows the answer, so I will let him ask the question
and answer it, too.

Dr. Crane: In 1936 we planted 1,000 trees of the same Peter Liu
selections on the Station farm at Beltsville, Maryland. They were of the
same number and letter designations as others that were distributed to
cooperators. Out of the thousand trees that we planted on the Station farm
some of them came into bearing at four and five years after planting. But
the nuts were small in size and were not much good. With one or two
exceptions, out of that planting there were none bearing satisfactorily to suit
us after ten years. In 1945 we applied the ax, because a Chinese chestnut
tree, from an orchard standpoint, if it's not in bearing in ten years after
planting is not worth keeping. We haven't got time to wait. So out they
came. And in addition to that we have had other trees that have done the
same thing.

Now, out of this 274 plus the 60 at Albany, Georgia, we have three trees
that we now figure are good enough to be raised to a variety status, plus
possibly two or three more. Now, you can figure your percentage of good
trees when you plant seeds.

Dr. Overholser: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question, whether these three
seedlings to which they propose to give variety status have been propagated
in sufficient number that they are able to give distribution in other areas.

Mr. Hardy: Dr. Overholser, they are not available yet in quantity. That
same answer is part of the answer I wanted to make to Dr. MacDaniels. The
present situation in the chestnut industry is that there are very few
nurserymen who know how to propagate nursery grafted trees successfully.
There is going to have to be quite a bit of work done on that. If some of you
here know how to do it, I would like to know, myself. There are a lot of
nurserymen who would like to know, according to the reports I have, how
to graft or bud a nursery chestnut tree.

As long as the situation is that way I would say to recommend seedling
trees because of their low price, but—and every grower who has trees can
fall in line with this—the seeds should be from properly culled-out orchards
of the highest type, leaving nothing in there producing nuts or pollen but
what is the highest type. I think all of you who have more than one type of
chestnut in your plantings should cull them all down to the pure Castanea
mollissima. I don't mean by cutting out the whole tree, but go ahead and
top-work them. If they won't take the top, then cut them out. But if you can
top-work them and the grafting is good, you can increase your planting of
good trees in that manner.

The improved quality of the seed will improve the quality of seedlings
going to the buyer, and the chances of a higher percentage of good
seedlings showing up will be greater. I think it will improve the industry
through a period of years.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think I agree with his position. In fact, that's exactly
what we are telling the inquiries that come in: At the present state of our
knowledge, better try seedling trees.

But I didn't hear anybody get up and say they had an orchard of 20-year-
old grafted chestnut trees. I have tried to get them, I have grafted
successfully, I suppose, 7 or 8 different varieties on many different Chinese

stocks that I have bought, or had given to me, and numbers of grafted trees.
I have nothing left. They grow fine, 7 or 8 feet the first year, 3 or 4 feet the
next year, then they go along for a while and then they die. In other words,
there is an unsolved problem there, so that it seems to me at the present
state of our knowledge we had better admit it and say, "If you are an
amateur, you better get the best seedling trees that you can and wait
awhile."

Mr. J. C. Moore: I just want to give some data on some of the class work
at Auburn with Chinese chestnuts. We were studying Chinese seedlings, and
we attempted to bud those Chinese chestnut seedlings, and on some of the
larger seedlings we top-worked. We had some 3-year-old seedlings, and we
top-worked the limbs. We put in patch buds, and we put in T-buds or shield
buds, and in practically every case on some of the trees the buds stuck
beautifully.

In June and again in August, with another class, we had the same results,
either with T-bud or shield bud or patch bud. Some of the seedlings
wouldn't take the buds at all. I can't think why one seedling would take 100
per cent of the buds and another seedling growing right by it wouldn't take
any buds.

Mr. Weber: The oldsters here will remember Colonel C. K. Sober, one of
our former members who propagated what he later named the Sober's
Paragon chestnut. It was a grafted tree and apparently it was grafted
successfully on native stocks, and it grew until the blight got it.

Dr. MacDaniels: I am not talking about European or American, I am
talking about Chinese chestnuts.

Mr. O'Rourke: It may affect the nursery industry. The nurserymen are
looking to the Northern Nut Growers Association, Federal bureaus and

State experiment stations to guide them in the propagation of desirable
trees. We know now that the Chinese chestnut is becoming quite prominent,
is becoming quite popular in many sections of the country, and many
nurserymen are now getting requests to supply the public in their states with
Chinese chestnuts. They, in turn, would like to know what they should do.
If they sell Chinese chestnut trees which have been propagated vegetatively
and they only grow five, eight, 10 or 15 years and then die, it's going to
come back on the nurserymen. They should like to know whether they
should do that or whether they should rely upon seedlings which they can
develop into pure lines as best they may.

Now, that really is a serious question. I am wondering from what Mr.
Hardy has told us today if it may not be an understock problem, and if it is
an understock problem—if there are certain strains of understock which are
compatible with certain scions, possibly we should ask for some
investigations, some more research to be done in this direction.

Then possibly, on the other hand, we should also ask that certain
investigations be carried out so that we will have some idea of the
inheritable characters that may be "fixed" through seed selection. I really
think that this seed selection should be very seriously considered, and that
nurserymen in particular and the public in general would benefit greatly by
such consideration.

Mr. Hardy: Mr. Chase, may I make this suggestion: I think it is
something that a number of individuals could try, perhaps they should be
backed up by agricultural institutions, either Federal or State. We are all
interested and concerned with stocks, and I think a large part of our trouble
with grafting chestnuts is a stock-scion relationship.

We have some top-worked trees 13 years old that are just as healthy, just
as normal as they can be. We have some top-worked trees of various ages

below that. The graft-union is good; they are just as healthy and continue to
be as productive and vigorous as the parent tree. Where there is
incompatibility we run into difficulties very shortly. To a large extent I think
we are involved with two problems in the trouble with incompatibility, or
perhaps I should say the dying, of grafted trees. One is a stock-scion
relationship, the other a mechanical problem.

I think there are these two types of incompatibilities. Now, as to the
mechanical part—that can be improved through developing the art of
grafting or budding, whichever works out best. The other will require quite
a lot of study, perhaps the development of certain strains of the root stocks
for certain scion varieties.

I have made this suggestion to two or three. I have started the work
myself by putting out with friends two or three or four trees. After they get
up to a size where I can top-work them, I will top-work with two varieties.
Perhaps I will put Nanking and Kuling on two trees at one particular place.
Two or three miles away I will put Kuling and Meiling on two others. At
another place I will put Nanking and Meiling. I will get reciprocal
pollination, because the chestnut is necessarily cross-pollinating.[15] I can
then plant seedlings from both parents, each pollinated by the other. Then
by grafting those varieties onto those seedlings stocks I can find out
whether there is any reason to go into the work of developing seed orchards
of two varieties whereby Meiling pollinated by Kuling may produce the
best, most vigorous, most uniform seedlings on which Kuling can be
propagated. And by propagating Kuling on such seedlings—the seedlings of
such inheritance—we may get 100 per cent of good grafts.

The industry needs a lot of help, and I think it is a matter of time until
those things are worked out, but it is going to take time and money and

plenty of good effort to work out that problem. I think it probably should be
worked out.

Mr. Bush: I don't like the word "incompatibility", and I hardly believe in
it, and I presume most of you know that. I have Chinese on European stock,
and it has been there for 20 years or more, grafted high. I have Chinese on
Japanese grafted under the ground. I think a good deal of our damage is
done from wind, from cold, and from sun on the graft just above the
ground. I suspect that grafting at that point is what is the matter with many
trees in the TVA plantings and others that had low survival. Of late years
when I did the grafting (in the last five or six years) I cut the stock
underneath the ground and stuck the graft under the ground and seemingly I
got far better results. Some of those graft failures showed up. I laid that
largely to mechanical damage, and again with the Japanese, particularly, I
laid it on the time when the sap comes up. Call it what you will, but the
timing of the growth of the two trees is different and we had trouble there. I
have grafted some very widely different kinds of chestnuts on the tops of
other chestnuts, and am getting them to grow. When we see the break start,
we take a twig from below and break and put it above, cut through the
cambium and nail it on and they will heal over and the defect disappears.
So, again, it seems to be mechanical.

Mr. McDaniel: I believe from observations on a number of trees,
particularly Dr. Richards' in West Tennessee, that a large part of our so-
called incompatibility in this State is due to winter injury to the stock. So
what Dr. Richards meant, evidently, was that he was rather successful in
getting a "take" from last summer's propagation but the stock then failed
below the union this spring. I saw his trees, and they had the typical
discoloration of bark and the dying of various bark areas—these girdling
the whole tree in a number of instances. [See Richards' paper in this report.]
I would agree in general with what Mr. Bush has just said, but there are

certain other instances in which we think the only word for what we see is
"incompatibility."

Mr. Slate: What are the prospects of planting those low-grafted trees
rather deep?

Mr. Bush: I think that if the roots started to die the grafted tree would
start a root above the graft. The sap is going up from the root. It will go
down and the root will start above the graft and go out above the graft, thus
getting the tree on its own root.

Mr. Stoke: Since we got onto grafting, do you mind if I say a word? Here
is a four-branch, top-worked specimen that I chopped off and brought with
me. This first tree limb was still alive and had nuts on it, the second was
dying and a third dead. This fourth union was still alive, but it was badly
damaged, too. That's Illinois 31 -4 on Japanese. Here is another graft of
Illinois 31 -4 on Japanese in a small tree, and if that's poor union, I am no
grafter!

Mr. Hardy: Mr. Stoke, may I ask you this: Is this [small graft] on the
same tree as this? [Indicating larger tree first referred to.]

Mr. Stoke: No. Those four grafts, you see, all went bad. This one is in
perfect condition. But I am having a hard time keeping that Illinois 31 -4
alive. I had a union on mollissima three inches in diameter and as perfect as
this, two years ago. Last year it began to bulge at the point of union. The
top wasn't feeding back to the root, and this year it is in bad condition,—
foliage very small and it put on a very full crop of burs which will never
mature, and it's going to pass out. It is about four inches in diameter now.

Last year to try to beat this thing I cut out the crown of a small
mollissima at the below-ground level and put in several grafts of this same

Illinois 31 -4, and I got a nice growth, at least four feet high. When I dug it
up to transplant it—it was right in my garden—I found I had a large callus
more than an inch and a half in diameter at the union but no roots. I reset it,
and I haven't ventured to see whether it was all right or not. This spring I
tried again.

I have four little trees, one as high as my head, the others smaller. I
grafted each one on branch roots just as they lay in the ground. Didn't dig
them up and they grew nicely, and along in July I went around and spaded
them deeply and thought perhaps that would produce roots. About a week
ago I examined one. I have a magnificent callus but no roots yet above the
union. What the ultimate results will be I don't know.

With that particular hybrid I want to try one more thing. I want to grow
seedlings of the European chestnut, cut them below the ground, graft
Illinois 31 -4 on the root and it may make a union that will not fail, because
the European is a very robust grower, and by being grafted under the
ground the stock will be away from blight organisms.

[Editor's Note: Mr. C. A. Reed is naming this variety (Ill. 31-4)
"Colby" in honor of the originator, Dr. Arthur S. Colby.]

Mr. Hirschi: I would like to say I put on hybrids similar to that Illinois 31
-4 and they grew the first year, and just made a bulky knot right at the point
of union and died the second year.

Mr. McDaniel: What was that combination?

Mr. Hirschi: That was mollissima stock.

Now, speaking about the varieties—this is in Oklahoma—I have tried
practically all the older varieties and I have tried some Abundance grafts

this last year. I have some Abundance grafts that are two years old that are
producing. They have the most vigorous growth of anything, and in our
climate we have to have vigor.

I grafted a lot of the Abundance scions on Hobson seedlings. I started out
to grow an orchard from Hobson seedlings, and I found out that out of 50
splice grafts of Abundance that I put in Hobson seedlings in 1948, forty-
eight grew, and they were put on rather late, in April. That's a little late for
us. I have the idea—I don't know whether I am right or not—that if the
Abundance proves out as our best variety, we can grow seed for stock of the
Abundance and then graft the Abundance back on the seedling from
Abundance. If there is so much to this incompatibility, I should overcome it
by doing that very thing.

Personally I think it is a crime that thousands of trees—almost millions—
are being put out by nurserymen as seedling trees, and if you will note in
their price lists they have "6 to 12 inches" and "12 to 18 inches", "2 to 3
feet" and "3 to 4 feet." I venture to say that those are probably all the same
age. How would you like to plant some of those 12-inch trees? Somebody is
going to get hurt!

Mr. Bush: I'd like to say that you can propagate the Chinese chestnut by
layering if you want to, and that will put it on its own. Put a wedge on it or
girdle it and keep it damp through the summer.

Pres. Davidson: I think Dr. MacDaniels' question is still not answered. I
do think that if a nurseryman sells a seedling he ought to definitely say that
it is a seedling and not merely that it is a "blight-resistant chestnut," or
something of that sort. He should actually tell the public what he is selling.

Now, then, there seem to be reasons why in some instances a man is
justified in planting seedlings when it comes to Chinese chestnuts, but when

it comes to the black walnut or filbert or some of these other things, they
are still selling seedlings without labelling them as such. I think we should
be on record against that practice, because it takes us five or six years, or
ten years sometimes, to find out that we have been gypped, and it is so easy
to gyp the public when you can't find out about it any sooner than that.

Mr. O'Rourke: I quite agree with Mr. Davidson that the nurserymen
should state that a seedling is a seedling when it is a seedling. And I am sure
Mr. Hirschi will corroborate that the American Association of Nurserymen
is exerting all the influence they can to that end. Is that right, Mr. Hirschi?

Mr. Hirschi: Yes.

Mr. Bregger: I would like to ask, if planters for some years yet will have
to rely on seedlings, is there a chance that from certain parents or certain
varieties we can get a larger percentage of good seedlings than from others?
How much has it been studied and is there a known result from the parent
trees in the percent of what their seedlings can do?

Dr. Crane: I wish I could answer that one. It is a matter of time, to find
out the seedling characteristics reproduced by a certain descendant. But we
know that there is a difference in uniformity of trees in the way they grow,
but as far as bearing is concerned, and the type of nut produced, we haven't
had enough time yet.

It's just like this: We have made selections for rootstocks in which we
have selected trees that were good, strong and vigorous—the most
vigorously growing trees that we have known about, and yet at the same
time produced a small nut or medium-sized nut that we could use for the
production of rootstocks. And we have made progress on that, and we have
demonstrated that there is a very marked difference between the graftability
or budability of seedlings from certain parent trees. We have demonstrated

that some varieties are much easier to propagate than are others. But as for
the proper combinations of stock and scion, we still haven't got enough data
to recommend any. We know that there are differences, but it is going to
take quite a long while, at least four or five years or more, before we know.

Now, there is just one other thing that comes up on propagation. We have
found that if you bench-graft and make the graft into the transition zone
between root and top just like the old method that the apple propagator used
when he piece-root grafted and then plant deep, you can get a hundred per
cent of the grafts to grow. In such cases the scion may root and the top will
be on its own roots.

Well, there are a lot of these tricks to learn as time goes on. I don't think
that we should worry too much about this graft union problem. We know
that this Carr variety is a bear-cat. It is the one that gave us so much trouble.
When we tried to propagate that one we had a real, nasty cat by the tail. But
on the other hand, in answer to Dr. MacDaniels' question if we go out to Dr.
J. Russell Smith's plantings up at Round Hill (Virginia), we can see a lot of
the oldest grafted trees that I know of anywhere in the country, and the
unions are just as smooth and just as slick as anyone would want to see.
They are not 20 years old; I don't think there was ever a mollissima chestnut
grafted 20 years ago. The first grafting that I know of was about 15 years
ago, maybe 18.

Mr. Stoke: In 1932.

Mr. R. C. Moore: Thomas Jefferson grafted European chestnuts.

Dr. Crane: No, I am talking about Chinese chestnuts. We didn't get in any
Chinese chestnuts until 1906. We have this problem of incompatibility or
graft union trouble, in apples, but do you hear anybody hollering about it?
We have it in peaches, plums and cherries. One of the most important

diseases they have out in the Pacific Northwest and California on Persian
walnuts, is what is called "black line disease." We mustn't get excited about
graft union failure. That has been used, in my opinion, by a lot of people, to
discourage the propagating of grafted chestnuts. There are thousands of
people in the United States who are spending good money for seedling
trees, and some of them are going to get stung. We in the Northern Nut
Growers Association are going to have this thing backfire on us, just as true
as I tell you. I know there are some nurserymen today that are planting
unknown chestnut seeds, and they are selling the trees as Chinese chestnut.
They are planting seed out of mixed orchards, too, that have C. seguinii and
C. henryi and C. crenata trees in them. The C. crenata Japanese has been
introduced in the United States for over 70 years and it has never made the
grade.

You know, there has been many a thing that has been promoted in the
United States—big for a few days and then she backfired, and then it took
the industry 50 or a hundred years to recover. You can sell people gold
bricks once, but you can't sell them gold bricks all the time!

Mr. McCollum: Last year after Mr. Hemming's speech—you know, he is
the nurseryman who sells seedlings over on the Eastern Shore—I asked him
if he had been selling those long enough to have heard from customers.
"Yes," he said he had, "all satisfied." Now, I don't know anything about that.

Dr. Moss: I am not an expert. They say an expert is someone who, the
more he studies, knows less about practically nothing at all. That's a good
deal my shape. I planted before the war Chinese seed in Kentucky and a
good many of those put on burs in the nursery row. I gave them away in the
community. Out of the whole bunch, some of them 20 feet tall, I know of
one outstanding nut in that bunch and it's off by itself, apparently a self-
pollinizer[16], and puts out a crop of good nuts.

Dr. Cross: I should like to ask Dr. Crane if it would not be possible to
investigate the situation in China rather than wait to work this out.
Certainly, the Chinese have sufficient knowledge of grafting and
propagation to have been working on this long ago, and since these came
from there, let's look into that phase of it.

Dr. Crane: I did investigate the situation in China when I was there.
Unfortunately in China, although it is one of our oldest countries and
longest civilizations, they don't do much grafting. They grow their trees
from seed, but they have certain seed trees that they select their seed from,
and within a community, within a valley, you will have a certain type of
chestnut. They call them varieties. They are not varieties. That's the
situation. Most all of them are different, but they have accomplished the
fixing of certain characteristics.

Now, in South China the nuts are larger in size, they are stronger growing
trees than they are in the North. I think that we will find that that's the
situation in this country. The Chinese chestnut is one that does have a high
heat requirement, just like pecan, and grown under conditions where they
have high heat they are bigger in size and make more growth and probably
they come into bearing sooner.

But I didn't see anything grafted in China, and I was all over the country
from the most northern parts to the most southern parts where chestnuts are
produced. I could make a lot of observations myself, but I had to talk
through interpreters, and sometimes you couldn't tell what the interpreter
meant. But as near as I could tell, they were all seedlings. When he would
tell me there was such-and-such a variety, I would ask him what it meant in
English. He didn't know. When I found how they were propagated I found
they planted the seed. When I found where they got the seed it was from a
certain seed tree.

So we have within the valleys what they call varieties, but they are not
varieties, only seedlings grown from certain seed trees.

Now, with the Japanese, on the other hand, the situation is different,
because they propagated by budding and by grafting. I got a number of the
Japanese publications of propagation methods and their stocks, and so forth,
translated into English, and their problems are just the same as we are going
through right here now. They propagate true varieties by asexual methods,
but the Chinese do not to any extent at all.

Dr. Cross: Have the Russians got any?

A Member: That's the question I ask. Do we have any seed trees in this
country that are better than other seed trees?

Mr. Porter: Could the gentleman tell us whether the Chinese graft any
chestnuts.

Dr. Crane: Yes, they do so, I was told.

Mr. Porter: Well, the industry spends a lot of money, so do other people,
and so on, in a proper way to investigate that. Why don't you find out where
in that country they have been doing it?

Dr. Crane: I didn't see any grafted chestnut trees over there.

A Member: You said they grafted, and then you say, "I didn't see any."

Dr. Crane: That's quite right, and I talked to their best horticultural
authorities that they have. Practically all of it is produced by seed and not
by budding or grafting. It is just exactly as I said with the Persian walnut.
China has no varieties of Persian walnuts, although sometimes you will find
some farmer that will bud or graft his trees.

Mr. Porter: They graft up on the limb?

Dr. Crane: Yes, sir. Once in a while you will find one. They have a few
real horticulturists. I met one man over there that would compare very
favorably with Liberty Hyde Bailey.

Mr. Stoke: Dr. MacDaniels asked for concrete evidence. He wanted to
know where there was an orchard with 20-year-old grafted Chinese chestnut
trees. They haven't been planted that long, but I would like to give him
concrete evidence in my own experience.

In 1932 I got scions from the Department, got what ultimately became
known as the Hobson, from Jasper, Georgia. I grafted a tree in my front
yard which is still bearing nicely, and in fact I have got two grafts on that
tree about four feet from the ground, and it is very nice with perfect union.
At the same time I grafted a Carr right at the side of my house that also has
a perfect union about the same height from the ground. I grafted a scion
sent me by Dr. Morris as Morris' best (which was pretty poor), and it is still
living. At the present time I have perhaps five Carr trees that will average
six inches or more in diameter. The oldest is the one by the side, of the
house. The rest of them were grafted about 1935. One out of those five,
when it got to be about six inches in diameter, in fact, about three years ago,
it went bad. It is girdled and dead. It was grafted about as high as this table
from the ground. The others are sound, and you'd find it very difficult to
find where they were grafted.

I have Hobson, perhaps a dozen trees anywhere from six to 16 years old,
and I have not had a failure on a Hobson that really was once healed over
properly and got to bearing, not one. That's concrete evidence, Doctor, and
that's all I wish to say.

Rev. Taylor (Alpine, Tenn.): Mr. Gravatt was about to answer a question
about our seed trees, wasn't he?

Mr. Gravatt: Would you repeat that question?

Rev. Taylor: Are some seed trees better than others in the high per cent of
good seedlings they produce?

Mr. Gravatt: Well, McKay has done some work and published it to show
that on seedlings of certain trees you get higher percentage of bud takes
than on others.

Mr. Chase: I think the question is a little confused. I think what you are
after is, are there parent seed trees from which seed can be planted that
would produce a good quality of seedlings.

Rev. Taylor: Yes, of good productive seedlings. No grafting to it.

Mr. Chase: I think that was answered. Apparently there are.

Rev. Taylor: Apparently there are in China, as Dr. Crane brought up.

Mr. Chase: He further brought up that those things are in the process of
being tested here now, and he hopes for some information in—what was
that?

Mr. Gravatt: We had Professor Beattie over in Japan, China, and Korea
for two or three years, and he found in Japan that there were certain
selections there, certain grafted varieties that they used for seed stock. We
imported those into this country. We were getting ready to go ahead with
the Japs. We also brought in a hundred varieties of Japanese chestnuts. But
the Japanese varieties didn't do well here. What would produce well over in
Japan didn't produce well here. But a number of those scions that we

grafted in 1932 and 1933 are still living. We have had very good success
with top-working chestnuts in our orchards. We have some grafts there of
pure Chinese chestnuts top-worked on some worthless Japanese. Some of
those have been there for 12 and 14 years, with perfect unions. But we do
receive a number of reports of trees dying from blight and various other and
sundry other causes and when we examine them quite frequently these have
died back to where the trees had been grafted.

Rev. Taylor: I could enlarge on that question just a little bit to tie in with
what Mr. O'Rourke said. If the nurserymen are going to propagate seedling
trees for the trade for some time yet, where should they be advised to obtain
their seed to get the best possible seedling trees?

Mr. Gravatt: In a lot of our regional distributions we sent out mixtures. In
other places we would send out related seedlings, as "MY," "MZ," or
"MAX," to different individuals. We have advised all nurseryman, all of our
cooperators, to eliminate the Japanese; eliminate the hybrids. It gets down
to pure Chinese. We have also advised again and again to take out the more
worthless trees and propagate seed from the beat. But there are a lot of
hybrid seeds with mixed parentage going into nursery trees.

Mr. McDaniel: How many people are going to take out trees now when
they can sell the seeds for at least 50 cents or maybe even $2.00 a pound?

Mr. Gravatt: That's it. However, you take any of those Chinese trees over
there at the Eastern Shore Nurseries, for example—nuts from all 19 of them
have been sent over here, and they are all good eating. I have been over a
lot of the seedlings of Hemming's trees. Mr. Hemming has several hundred
at his own place. I have been over other orchard plantings. There is lot of
variability among those seedlings. They are not as uniform as the parent
tree, for some reason. Why, I don't know.

Mr. Chase: Mr. Howell, as a nurseryman, has propagated the Chinese
chestnut tree. Would you care to make a few comments? Mr. Howell has
Howell's Nursery in Knoxville and at Sweetwater, Tennessee, and I believe
has some of Mr. Gravatt's early seedling trees and has produced a great
quantity of seedlings.

Mr. Bruce Howell: A good many years ago we got from the Department
five trees, and they grew and have all borne good nuts, and all chestnuts we
have propagated since have been grown from seed from those five trees,
and most of them are pretty good. One is a small nut, and among more
recent seedlings we have got two of them that don't bear at all, or haven't so
far. Now, we have got a bunch of them where they were set several years
ago in nursery rows. At each end of each row the trees there bear very nice
nuts, and when you get out through that row, the crowded trees don't bear at
all.

I think those seedlings and those trees practically all make fairly good
nuts and some of them excellent. I have got some samples. About six years
ago I got a pound of imported Japanese I planted. The third year they bore
and they have done very well, and all of them are about the same size
chestnuts. They are as good as any after they are roasted or boiled. That's
about all. A good many years ago, I guess 30 years ago, I grafted Paragon
chestnuts, and they did well until the blight.

Rev. Taylor: Does anybody else have this trouble? In North Central
Tennessee we usually have a warm spell about the Middle of February,
plowing time. We expect it every year. And then these Chinese chestnuts are
the quickest trees to let the buds swell, and the bark softens up all the way
to the ground on the young ones. Then we nearly always have a pretty hard
freeze, afterward. So, for several years after our experimental planting was
set out there they would get killed clear to the ground next year. Is that

something others have the same experience with? How do you go at
correcting that?

After our trees got to be three or four or five inches in diameter they
didn't kill back that way. The bark seemed to be tougher.

Mr. McDaniel: That's very common experience in Tennessee and, I might
say, in north Alabama.

Rev. Taylor: Nothing you can do about it?

Mr. McDaniel: On some sites it is not nearly so bad as it is in other
locations. A northern or eastern slope with good elevation seems to be best.

Mr. Frye: I have had some trouble and maybe, had a good education
about frost pockets. If you get them in high elevations you escape that. I
had that trouble two years ago. I got some Chinese trees from Dr. Smith, set
them out. They were his best seedlings, three of them, and they started
beautifully. I transplanted them. Just about that time they got nipped off.
Did that three times and failed to come out the third time.

Pres. Davidson: One other remedy for that that I remember reading
about, I am not quite sure in which of our Reports—maybe Mr. Becker was
the author, and that is this: He said that he cultivates until August after
which he plants cover crops, and he sows cover crops that grow and they
hold back this vegetative growth in the late part of the year, and it is really
the late vegetative growth that causes the destruction. After he adopted that
plan he had very much less winter killing in his plantation. That might be
one way of helping the situation.

Mr. Hardy: We have had some killing. Usually in the second year or the
first year after we get killing down to the ground, if we will keep the stock

pruned back to one shoot that one will make sufficient growth, become
hardy enough to withstand any cold, or perhaps sun scald. Also wrapping
the trunks of the trees with newspaper helps to prevent the variations in
temperature, which in our section is what causes the cold injury. We don't
have sufficient cold to cause absolute low-temperature injury, but we do
have sudden drops just as you do in Tennessee, apparently, and wrapping
with paper does help iron out those changes.

Mr. McDaniel: Wouldn't you suggest the paper wrap in the summer as
well as the winter and spring?

Mr. Hardy: Yes.

Mr. Stoke: It is not only the planter of the trees that has sorrows along
that line, but the nurseryman does also. I had some nursery seedlings
growing on flat land, and they looked all right, passed the winter. When I
went out to graft them I found that on these small stocks anywhere from the
size of a lead pencil to the size of a finger, the cambium was discolored. It
wasn't black nut brown. Any attempts I made to graft those failed, and yet
many of those same trees grew on. They were stunted somewhat for a year
or two, and they left a brown ring at that annual growth.

I would say that the best guarantee against that kind of thing is to plant
your chestnut orchards—and the nurseries—to plant on land that is well air
drained. Select the same site as you would for peaches.

Mr. Chase: I will say that we should have allowed more time for
discussion. However, we have used up our alloted time for this period.
Supper is at six o'clock, and we are due back here at 7:30. I don't know how
you folks feel about this little session, but I certainly did enjoy it.

[Footnote 14: —Goldsworthy and his associates published several items
along this line in 1948 issues of +Plant Disease Reporter+. His October 15,
1948 item reported a similar result of 25% technical DDT (with 75% clay)
inhibiting growth of seedling peach roots on 1-year budded Elberta trees.
As low as 25 pound per acre application affected growth in quartz sand
cultures, whereas with certain soils, no significant difference was noted
until an 800 lb. per acre level of the DDT was reached. It was surmised that
possibly some unknown constituent in the technical DDT was responsible
for the suppression of new root growth, and consequent slowing down of
top growth. In the case of Blakemore strawberries, and also with peaches,
this effect has persisted for at least two crop years. Goldsworthy and
Dunegan say, "How many other economic crop plants may be injured is
unknown, but it appears certain that some caution is necessary in the
promiscuous use of the chemical on … plants, either as … sprays or as soil
additions…." In these experiments, of course, the DDT-containing material
was in direct contact with all the roots. Spray residues ordinarily would be
present only in the surface layer of the soil, and should have much less
effect on tree roots in that case.—J. C. McDaniel.]

[Footnote 15: —Dr. McKay of the U. S. D. A. found one tree only about
2.5% fruitful to its own pollen.—Ed.]

[Footnote 16: —There is a possibility of pollination from American
chestnut sprouts in his vicinity.—Ed.]

Let's adjourn.

(Whereupon, at 5:30 p. m. the meeting was adjourned, to reconvene at
7:30 o'clock p. m. of the same day.)

+Evening Session+

President Davidson: The meeting will come to order, please. We first
have the pleasure of hearing from Dr. C. A. Moss of Williamsburg,
Kentucky, on Greetings from a Kentucky Nut. Dr. Moss.

Greetings from a Kentucky Nut

DR. C. A. MOSS, Williamsburg, Kentucky

I am glad to see all of these beautiful ladies here this evening. We just
had dinner, and I presume I should make an after-dinner speech. I have
always wanted to attend a Northern Nut Growers Association convention. I
am more or less of what you might call a convention addict and speak on
any occasion on slight provocation. I attended a convention at Quebec
earlier this year, and after that I went on to Rio de Janiero in South America
and attended another convention, but this privilege of being able to attend
the Northern Nut Growers Association tops all the rest.

I am reminded of the tale of the man who rushed into the sheriff's office
in Texas, and his gun was smoking, and he says, "I have killed a man." The
sheriff said, "Who did you kill?" "Oh," he says, "I don't know his name. He
is one of these after-dinner speakers." "You are in the wrong room," the
sheriff said. "Go back in the hallway three doors to the right to the bounty
room. They pay $5 a head for those."

My family fortunes, if there be any, were founded on nuts. My father
when he was 16 years old was raised on Straight Creek near Pineville,
Kentucky, some hundred miles away from Lexington, and they gathered up

a wagonload of the old chestnuts, he and a hired man on my grandfather's
place, and they took an ox team and took them to Lexington to peddle them
out. It took them three weeks to make the return trip.

I come from Whitney County, Kentucky. It was named after old Colonel
Whitney, the man who built the first brick house in Kentucky. It was in the
fall of the year, and the mortar was freezing, and they mixed whiskey with
their mortar to keep it from freezing.

When I get away from home they ask me if I am a Kentucky Colonel.
That's one of the first things I hear, and I tell them that I am. And they want
to know why they put that honor upon a small fellow like me, and I tell
them it was on account of scientific research that I had done, that I had
developed a new way of making egg-nog. I feed the chickens the whiskey
mash and they lay bourbon-flavored eggs, and all you have to do is drop
one in a glass of milk.

They always ask about the Kentucky Derby, and I tell them that the last
I heard Mint Julep was coming in on the home stretch strong.

I am not qualified with all of these experts to get up here and talk about
nuts. They say an expert is a fellow that learns more and more about less
and less until he knows practically everything about nothing at all; and
that's kind of my shape, sir.

Now, seriously, I have had this hobby of trying to grow nuts for a number
of years. I grafted a golf club on a croquet post, and I got some wonderful
golf balls. Before the war I ordered some Chinese chestnuts. I got in touch
with Sakata and Company in Yokahama, and they finally came in. I didn't
have any experience, and about all I had was some imagination, and I
planted them out in the fall of the year like I planted any other nuts. I went

out in the spring and investigated. There wasn't a darn one come up. The
rats had beat me to them and eaten them all up.

I was a persistent cuss and ordered some the next year, and I put them up
in fruit jars and figured I would plant them in the spring, and when the
spring came they all had the dry rot.

So I ordered them the third year, and I made sacks out of fly screen wire
and put those nuts outside, and in the spring they came up and I had a lot of
nice sprouts about this high and put them in a seed bed with a board all the
way around. My father is blind in one eye, couldn't tell a chestnut from a
weed, and he pulled up the weeds and he pulled all the chestnuts up except
one.

The fourth year I had better success, and I raised that year 400-and-some-
odd chestnut seedlings, and I did more or less the Johnny Appleseed stuff
with those. I gave those away in the community. I am, among other things,
a banker, and I figured those would be as good as calendars, and I have not
been able to follow the history of them. However, there is one of them I
think is exceptional. It's a self-pollinator and is bearing heavy crops, and I
intend to follow that particular tree up.

A genius, he is no better than any of the rest of us. All a genius is is a
fellow that's got good digestion so he can eat enough to work long hours
and good eyesight so he don't get tired.

So I was reading in a magazine about the Crath English walnut. They
sent the Reverend Mr. Crath over to Poland before the war, and I got four
pounds of those nuts he collected, and planted them. And every spring a
cold spell would come along and get them before I could cut any grafts off
of them. And I planted a Nebraska pecan and got some grafts from it, and
my wife said that tree never did have a chance because I kept cutting the

prunes off so they couldn't grow. I got several to growing, and then they
didn't fill out the nuts.

I was talking to a good doctor here from Baltimore last night. We ate
dinner, at the same table here, and I told him I didn't see but one thing
wrong with this Northern Nut Growers Association: It needed a lot of
young people in it, because if it didn't they were going to have to hold a
reunion over at the cemetery.

I have done a lot of grafting, and I am not going into the details of that. I
am going to say that I am glad to be here, I give you greetings from
Kentucky, and I hope that I will meet you all again.

*****

President Davidson: That certainly was refreshing, Dr. Moss. We enjoyed
it.

Next on the program is Dr. Aubrey Richards, Whiteville, Tennessee, who
is not here. Nuts for West Tennessee is the subject of that paper, and
Secretary MacDaniel will read it for us.

Nut Trees for West Tennessee

AUBREY RICHARDS, M.D., Whiteville, Tennessee

At the present time I am attempting to grow 14 grafted varieties of
Chinese and Japanese chestnuts, plus numerous hybrids and seedlings, eight
varieties of black walnut, 5 named Persian and 18 unnamed Carpathians, 5
heartnuts, 5 hickory and hickory hybrids, 12 pecans, and 7 hazels and

filberts. The total number of trees, including all varieties, is well over three
hundred. A few of the trees have been under my observation for 11 years on
down to some that I have just acquired.

I shall not bore you with a list of unsatisfactory varieties nor with the
ones that have not had sufficient observation in this section, but shall
confine my remarks to less than two dozen varieties.

Pecans I shall touch only lightly, as they are a highly specialized crop
only a little farther south. Stuart and Success are favorites here. Schley and
Mahan are good if scab can be controlled. Sun scald on newly planted trees
is our greatest problem, which I control by a paper wrap made by cutting
two inch sections from a 36 inch roll of cheap felt-base wall paper. It
gradually weathers away during the second summer. I wrap from the top
down in a spiral, and when I reach the bottom, I place a hand full of earth
on the end of the paper. No tying is required. In this way I have reduced the
mortality rate of young nut trees greatly. I am also a strong believer in cover
crops and mulching, for Tennessee weather is very temperamental.

Although we get ample rainfall per annum, it is often not well
distributed, especially during mid-summer. During the winter we have
several days of balmy spring weather with a drop to possibly below zero
occuring overnight.

Thomas black walnut grows well here, but tends to over-bear, with many
poorly filled nuts on alternate years. I counted an average of 8 nuts per
lineal foot of bearing wood on one tree this season.

Snyder and Stambaugh are excellent nuts, setting about all they can
mature.

Elmer Myers is a beautiful thin shelled nut, but so far a little shy in
bearing. I believe this can be corrected if I can find another walnut that will
shed pollen late enough to catch the Myers pistils. Homeland may be the
one to do it. I have set some grafts of it with the Myers to see.

Carpathian D, and a variety of unknown origin from Haywood County
are the only Persian walnuts I have fruited. This tree of unknown origin
grows alone, is at least 50 years old, is three feet in diameter, has a spread
of 40 feet, and is about the same in height. Some years it produces a heavy
crop, others, nothing. To my knowledge, it has received no care in the past
20 years.

My 18 Carpathians are all growing with varying vigor and resistance to
leaf spot. None has shown winter injury.

Of all the heartnuts, Rhodes is my favorite. The nut does not appear to be
as large as some, but the kernel is just as heavy, due to its compact shape
which causes it to fall out when the nut is cracked. It is self-pollenizing and
also a good pollenizer for all my other varieties, shedding pollen over a
long period of time, although it is the latest of all in producing its pistils. It
grows vigorously on black walnut stock.

Rush seems to be the best filbert for this section. Its catkins are usually
hardy here.

Chestnut trees, like gray ghosts, still reach their naked arms high on
many West Tennessee hillsides, and occasionally one finds a farmer
splitting posts from their remains, for chestnut is an enduring wood. A few
of these tenacious individuals are still sending up sprouts that may reach
considerable size before they are again struck down.

I have had no serious trouble with blight in any of the named chestnut
varieties, either Chinese or Japanese. I have lost some trees by its entrance
into the seedling stock, but not many. My greatest headache has been sun-
scald and winter killing, or to be more exact, "early spring" killing.

One of the juvenile characteristics of oriental chestnuts is the retention of
their leaves all winter. They also grow in a rather sprangling way. This is a
protective mechanism, and when we prune them to an upright form, or
graft, this wood having lost its juvenile characteristics, we are inviting
trouble unless we protect the trunk in some other way. I prefer to use a
paper wrap as described under Pecans, as it is quickly done and is
inexpensive. This also gives protection to immature callus cells at bud or
graft union.

Of the older Chinese chestnut varieties in my hands, Hobson has
excelled, with large chestnuts (34 to the pound in 1948.) Zimmerman also
produces a good nut. Colossal (Hybrid) is very productive and produces the
largest nuts of any chestnut that I have seen grown in Tennessee, but the
quality of the raw nut is not equal to Hobson. It refuses to grow on Chinese
stock, but thrives on Japanese. It is pollen sterile. I have several newer
varieties under observation and although they are growing vigorously I
have not had time to form an opinion on them.

*****

President Davidson: The Reverend Bernard Taylor of Alpine, Tennessee,
will next read a paper on The Marketing of Black Walnuts as a Community
Project. Mr. Taylor.

Marketing Black Walnuts as a Community Project

THE REV. BERNARD TAYLOR, Alpine, Tennessee

The Rev. Mr. Taylor: I suppose that every community where black
walnuts grow wild has a marketing of some kind, some kind of a plan of
marketing, maybe just what every boy or every man who has some spare
time or some of the womenfolks may do to make something out of the
walnuts that are lying around.

In the community of Alpine, which is in Overton County, people used to
go out on the ridge with wagons and bring home wagonloads of walnuts,
and they would sell them either in the shell or they would crack them and
sell them in pretty poor condition, however they could sell them. When we
first began selling walnut kernels in Alpine we got 19 cents a pound for the
kernels, and that was more than they were worth, I believe, because they
were dirty, greasy, and they had mildew gobs in the bunches of kernels. So I
don't know how the rolling stores that came around that way could make
anything out of them trading them in at that price.

Then we began to study the Government bulletins on how to produce
good walnut kernels, and there is a good bulletin on that; all of you are
acquainted with it, probably. When we began to harvest those nuts and hull
them as quickly as we could and wash them and dry them out thoroughly
and then crack them before they got too dry, we organized what was called
the Walnut Club. This Walnut Club mostly was composed of some of the
women of the community who lived up in one little cove where the
limestone outcroppings seem to favor the walnut and the air drainage or
whatever it was seemed to favor the crop yields rather regularly. We don't
have an every-year good walnut crop.

Well, these women got finally so that they could get 35 cents a pound for
their walnut kernels, then 45 cents a pound. Then we found a good friend in

Pennsylvania who would take those kernels, all we could send her, and put
them up in little pound packages and sell them for whatever she could get
and send us all the money. That's altogether contrary to Hoyle I guess.

You merchants, if there are some of you here, who are dealers in walnut
kernels know that our people were just getting spoiled. Anytime now that a
merchant says, "I will give you such-and-such a price for the walnuts and
then I will sell them for such-and-such a price," he looks to them like a
robber. They want to sell them for what the people pay who eat them. That
isn't quite fair, maybe, but we got $1.39 a pound last year for all the kernels
we could produce, and the year before it was $1.40, I believe, and it stays
about that price.

That is about the story of the community project. It is a direct contact by
way of a benevolent friend between people in the mountains in Tennessee
and people in Pennsylvania who say that these kernels taste better than
black walnut kernels in Pennsylvania taste. I don't know whether any
Pennsylvanians here agree with that or not. I think they are wonderfully
mild-flavored, a good many of them very light-colored kernels. Though Mr.
Chase has made some beautiful exhibits of how the color changes
depending on how long a time you leave them in the hull, we still have
some that stay lighter than others. Some of them have rather gray-colored
kernels.

There is one of those trees that Mrs. Ledbetter has, on her husband's
farm. He was about to sell that tree for a log and a stump. They come along
and grub the stumps out and sell the stumps and all for veneerwood. But she
wouldn't let him sell it, and over the course of the last few years they sold
enough kernels more than to pay for that walnut tree and it is still going to
yield a good many years, probably better and better as time goes on.

I think that possibly the community angle of this is a little bit
misrepresenting. It's not the entire community, but it is a little group of the
community who are interested in the wild black walnut.

Last spring we were very fortunate in having some help in grafting some
of the seedlings. This Mrs. Ledbetter's husband got interested in walnuts,
and he planted a whole pasture with walnuts spaced every so often, and this
spring we went there with the help of God and were able to graft those to
Thomas black walnuts. They were just little seedlings, so we hope to go
into the named black walnuts as time goes on.

*****

President Davidson: May I ask, Mr. Taylor, the people, of course, now
comply with the Government regulations on pasteurization and so on?

Mr. Taylor: Never heard of it. You will have to tell me about that after a
while, if you will, please.

President Davidson: Mr. Shadow, the County Agent of Decatur, Meigs
County, Tennessee, will tell his experiences with tree crops in that county.

Experiences with Tree Crops in Meigs County, Tennessee

W. A. SHADOW, Meigs County Agent, Decatur, Tennessee

Mr. Shadow: Mr. Chairman and members of the Nut Growers
Association: As President Davidson announced, I am an agricultural agent.
About twelve years ago I thought it would be good to have a hobby, and
since I was born and reared in the nursery world propagating fruit trees and

ornamentals, and due to the fact that John Hershey came by one day and
talked to me about the tree crops in the Tennessee Valley, it struck me just
right, and I have made that my hobby.

You know, every man who has a job gets fed up on his job and needs to
get out and play with himself, or something else, to forget his troubles. So I
find in propagating nut trees, top-working them, if you will, top-working
trees where I find them to named varieties, is very interesting to me.

John Hershey taught me the technique of grafting nut trees. I had grafted
and budded in all kinds of ornamentals and fruits, but I needed training in
nut trees. So in the spring of 1935, I guess, I grafted about a hundred
Thomas black walnut on trees where I found them in the woodland. At the
same time I grafted maybe a hundred Japanese persimmon of possibly a
dozen varieties on the common native persimmon. I purchased three, four,
maybe five Japanese persimmons and planted these trees in the spring of
1935. All these persimmons, maybe 60 or 70 of them, grew nicely. The
Thomas grew very well, and the winter of 1939 or 1940, I don't recall just
which, was rather severe. We had below-zero weather, and all of my
persimmons were killed—I thought. The next year I found a persimmon
tree up in the woods with maybe a peck of great big nice persimmons and
later I found that that was a Fuyugaki persimmon. All the rest of mine were
winter killed. Those that I purchased were winter killed the first year. I don't
know why. I grafted the persimmon about 5 feet high. Those that were
grafted at the ground I noticed winter killed the first year, and these that are
grafted up about shoulder high seemed to live three or four years before
they winter killed, and the one variety that survived as Mr. Kline and Mr.
Chase, or someone, has told, is Fuyugaki, I believe. I have a Tamopan
persimmon, a great big, nice persimmon about so big, but bitter as the
dickens, and about the only thing I think it is good for is to look at. It is

pretty. But the Fuyugaki is never bitter. It is very tasty even partially green,
and as it ripens my lady thinks it is very good, and I think it is good, myself.

I have about two or three varieties of mulberries. I got them from Glen
St. Mary Nurseries in Florida. They make awfully good pig feed and bird
feed, and I don't mind eating them myself.

There are some honeylocust, Millwood and Calhoun. I purchased several
seedlings of thornless honeylocust from some northwestern nursery and
grafted them to Millwood and Calhoun. I also have four trees that are ten
years old and they have never borne. Last year there was one tree of that
hundred that bore heavily, and the rest of them are barren. It must be lack of
pollenization, or something. I am not getting fruit from my honeylocust.

Someone asked me what I am going to do with all this stuff, and I said,
"Well, the squirrels and I will have lots of fun anyhow, and the cows will
eat the honeylocust if they ever bear."

I have two pecan trees that are bearing nicely. One is a Posey and the
other is a Greenriver, bearing very nicely. They are about ten years old. I
have some Schley and Delmas and Mahan, and they are not bearing. I don't
know why. We are out of the realm of the southern pecan and too far south
for the northern pecan, I am afraid.

My Persian walnut, heartnut and Japanese walnut think it is spring too
quick, and every year they burst out and grow about so long, and then they
fall down and die from freezing, and then they grow out, and this time of
the year you look at them and you say, "That's a beautiful tree," But they
freeze just enough to get the fruit each year.

Mr. McDaniel came by last spring a year ago and left with me a little
scion of a Carpathian walnut, the Bayer selection. I wasn't present, but he

left it with my lady and suggested to my lady that I would know what to do
with it. I put it on a common black walnut grafted about so high, and it is
ten feet high now growing nicely, but this spring I noticed that it, too,
thought the spring was here before it was here. I don't know how it is going
to bear. I may have to take it out on top of the hill and re-graft it on a high
place where it has more air drainage.

Of the Chinese chestnut, I planted about a hundred, but I planted them in
a cut-over woodland that was full of native chestnut sprouts. You know how
the chestnut sprouts will do. They grow up and blight out and die down, and
another sprout comes from the stump. They have been doing that for 30
years over in my part of the country. I planted these chestnuts purposely in
that grove where there was lots of blight. Out of that hundred I have eight
trees that are alive. The rest of them have died from blight. They are bearing
very nicely, but I haven't learned how to care for those fruits so that they are
good a long period of time. Someone just told me that you had someone on
the program this morning who would tell us that. It is a very interesting
subject for me.

And the Thomas walnut is a nice black walnut. The trees are a little bit
peculiar about their bearing; sometimes they bear heavily and again they
forget to bear. The Stabler doesn't bear at all for me. I just know they are
Stablers because someone told me so. I have them labeled. I have Creitz
black walnut. I got five from TVA four or five years ago, and they just
literally bear themselves to death. They're about so high and bear every
year, very nice nuts. I will have to pull the walnuts off long enough to make
them grow up and make real trees. I think they are going to be all right.

Mr. Chairman, I am not an expert. I use my hobby to keep from bothering
about the troubles that I have with other things, and when I get mad at a

neighbor I go to playing on my trees, and it gets me well. I recommend it as
a very soothing hobby.

Now, some day we will make a business out of tree crops when we in
Tennessee get the bugs out of it and get them so we will have the right
varieties to produce. I am not satisfied with the Thomas. Someone
suggested it was a wonderful nut. I am not satisfied with it. We need a better
walnut than the Thomas. But it's the best I have.

There is a native walnut I found in the valley near Watts Bar Dam. I
named it Pineland. It is just a seedling. It is a most wonderful nut if it wasn't
for its hard shell. It's hard as the dickens. It is a wonderful bearer, has borne
every year for nine years. It happens to be in unusually good soil. But I
have grafted a few up away from the river, and the grafted trees are bearing
nicely. The trouble is it is hard, but it is a wonderful good kernel and it is a
big nut.

Groups like this working with tree crops and nuts over a period of time
will develop the right varieties, and if we can get some youngsters
interested—and I am in my county getting some youngsters interested in
grafting—and tell them not to expect too much but get a whole lot of
satisfaction out of the fun of producing something, I think this will be the
beginning. Or rather, you have been going a long time. This is a means of
progress in tree crops that I am well pleased to take a part in. Mr. Chairman,
I think that's about all that I have.

*****

President Davidson: I know we all wish we had more county agents like
that, interested in trees and interested in young folks. Those two things
should go together. I wish you would just sort of propagate that idea when
you meet other county agents, won't you, Mr. Shadow?

Now, then, Mr. Frye of Pleasant Dale, West Virginia, will tell us
something about Nut Hobbying in Eastern West Virginia.

Nut Hobbying in Eastern West Virginia

WILBERT M. FRYE, Pleasant Dale, West Virginia

Mr. Frye: After hearing such wonderful speeches as we have had, with
your reading, Mr. McDaniel, I wish I could be all of us, but as it is, I am just
myself. I don't know how many know where Pleasant Dale is, but anyhow,
you know where Washington, D. C. is; I live just along U. S. 50 and my
section is 103 miles west of Washington, D. C. That will locate where we
are.

This section of the country is composed of a lot of long ridges with steep
hills, narrow valleys, some of them very fertile. These valleys form bases
where you will get the draft off these hills down into the valleys. You must
keep all the fruit and most of the nut trees out of those places, or you have
these frost spots that I have been telling some of you about.

As far back as people can remember that country has been covered with
all kinds of nuts except the European (Persian or "English") walnuts, and
the early people coming in there used these nuts for food, and the chestnut
was their main one. Whenever a person clearing the land found a nice tree
he would save it. Then he would show much pride in having a good tree,
and it kept on going until there became a rivalry as to who had the best
chestnut tree. Some had an orchard of them.

When the blight hit the country I had an orchard of chestnut trees. When
I saw the first blight in the top of a tree I didn't like the looks. I kept
noticing that. It kept on coming down the tree, and it killed the base. The
total result was everybody lost their hobby trees, and then soon they
changed to something else.

Now, when the blight took the chestnut out of the country the people
began to pride themselves on the walnut, who had the best walnut, who had
the best shagbark in the country.

Some distance from where I am is a two-acre grove, a wonderful grove
of our larger nuts. Some places it is called kingnut and some places they
call it under the name of this big one in the show room, shellbark. Anyhow,
there were two acres there and real moist meadows, and every once in a
while the frost would kill those nuts, and the next year they would have a
wonderful crop. So the climate determines whether we have an annual crop
or an intermittent crop on these trees.

Then I always liked to mess around with hobbies with nature. I became
interested, got to wondering who did have the best of the best. Then I began
to go out and visit all of these farms and ask them for a certain number of
the best, and I began to send them around to Mr. Reed and Mr. Zarger and
other people to take their word on it. And, of course, I have located some
that cracked very well. But every once in a while somebody tells me they
have got a better one yet, and the other day I ran across a fellow a hundred
miles away—he happened to hear about me, and I have a neighbor who
knows him—who has a black walnut that looks like a Persian walnut. So
you see, I have a trip of a hundred miles to make to see what he's got. I
wrote to him just before I left. I wrote to him to send me at least 20 of those
nuts, and just as soon as this fellow sends me the nuts I would come up and

see him and later on would try to get some grafting wood and send down to
Mr. Zarger of the TVA group.

My job is not to keep them to myself but to put out the best. So we have
those different nuts, and now it is time to consolidate the best in what we
have and get them in the hands of the nut growers groups and those who
will put them out and really make use of them. But first we want to see
these best trees all over the country. Some of them are not as good for
timber as the others, but I like to incorporate the timber with the nut
production.

We talked about the black walnut earlier today. The speaker was not
saying much about flavor. That's one thing we want to do in all of our nut
work, get as good a flavor as we can. So why not get the best and go putting
it out to give it to everybody. Why keep anything within ourselves? That's
the main thing we can do.

A brother was talking a while ago about this nut job, a community nut
job. Now, two years ago—I will have to use my dad, who is 82 years old, as
a little reference—my dad cracked 83 pounds of black walnuts from just the
best of them, you might say. Sold them at a price of $1.49 a pound. So that
wasn't bad, was it? I thought that was right good.

Last year we didn't have a nut in there because we had a freeze on the
31st of May of around 26 deg. to 28 deg., depending on where you were
and the location. But then in the fall on the 23rd of September we had
another drop just when everything was in full growth, due to a dry spell and
then a rain. But in the fall on the 23rd of September we had a drop down to
20, so that was what happened to all the remaining nuts in that country.
They were just frozen like black mummies.

I had what they call the Texas Thinshell black walnut. I have one tree that
is about eight or nine feet high, maybe ten feet high, had 45 nuts on it, nice
big ones, and they just looked like mummies, and it made me heartsick, of
course. I went out there and looked at the things, and they fell off the tree. I
thought, "Well, I might just as well experiment. I will dig me a little trench
here along the garden, I will put these in and see what happens." To my
surprise 20 of them came up after being frozen. So that might be a question:
Will things sprout or germinate without reaching maturity?[17] I don't know
how much maturity they had. They certainly weren't in full growth when
they were frozen. That's one thing we want to see.

My main aim is just to grow things, for hobby purposes and see just what
will grow. Last year we had such a hectic year from that late spring freeze
and early fall freeze it discouraged me here where I am, in this frost pocket
at an elevation of 1,050 feet. And I said, "Now, on the hill about 4 miles
away and 300 feet higher they have a wonderful place for peaches." I have a
friend who lives up there, and he has so many peach trees missing in his old
orchard. I said, "How about setting out some nut trees in your peach
orchard?" Ho said, "Go to it." I set out a nut tree wherever there is a peach
tree out. So that gave me a chance to see what they would do. Last spring I
started that too late, but I set out 45 or 50 trees, filberts, Persian walnuts,
pecans, chestnuts and persimmons, and I will just see what they will do.

And today my kind friend who gave a talk on the nut trees from down in
Alabama gave me seed to plant. I expect to put a row of those out and see
what they will do. The land I am planting them on at one time was just a
great mass of chestnuts, and this friend there on one of those sections, of
about three acres, had cut 35,000 feet of this dead timber after the chestnut
blight killed them.

That blight was a terrible shock to us. One thing I did note when it came
on, prior to the chestnut blight in that country there were these little
chipmunks, which, everybody knows, eat chestnuts. You couldn't hear
yourself think for the little chipmunks chipping all over the country. You
know, they carried off all the nuts. You had to be smart to beat them to
them. When the chestnuts disappeared, the chipmunks disappeared, and
there were eight or ten years when you were lucky if you got to hear one. In
the meantime those little fellows have changed. They died, a lot of them,
but now they have learned to eat something else, and now they are coming
back.

That little chipmunk always amused me, because I loved to go out and
play with the squirrels and things like that. Anyhow, it's just pure hobby
work, and as Mr. Shadow says you can get over a mad spell and get out
close to nature, because in this nut work you can't get any closer to God's
work than to get out and get something better. I think that's all I have to say.

[Footnote 17: Some other members have reported similar behavior of
frost-bitten and poorly filled black walnuts.—Ed.]

*****

President Davidson: Those of you who know Mr. Frye know that he
works as well as he talks, and that's pretty good.

Is Mr. Tatum here? (No response.) In that case I am told that Dr.
Rohrbacher will read a paper by Mr. Tatum of Lebanon, Kentucky on "A
Look, Backward and Forward, Into Nut Growing in Kentucky." Dr
Rohrbacher.

A Look "Backward and Forward" into Nut Growing in Kentucky

W. G. TATUM, Route 4, Lebanon, Kentucky

The lumberman's ax, the chestnut blight, forest fires, and the "new
ground" hill farmer, together, have destroyed many thousands of our
beautiful Kentucky forest acres. Much of this one time "nature lover's
paradise" is now ugly, barren, and eroded, and too poor to give a living to
either man or beast. Wanton destruction of God-given treasure and beauty is
a sin and a shame. Thanks to the men of vision and foresight of the
U.S.D.A., state agricultural colleges, and our own fraternity of nut tree
lovers, this slaughter is coming to a halt at last. Our fellow citizens are
being awakened to the real value of their woodlands. Much reforestation of
these steep barren wastes is already under way.

We, of THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INC., can
look back to many mistakes we have made in the selection of varieties for
our respective climates and soils. Our dates and methods of grafting,
budding, and transplanting have not always been right. We have gotten hold
of scionwood that we were most sure would not grow when we used it, but
we did use it, hoping, and most of it did fail, as we expected.

In our Association, we have a large group of wise experimenters on
varieties and methods, well placed all over the U. S. and I have every
confidence that, in time, many commercially profitable varieties, and better
methods will reward their research. But in the meantime, we should all keep
ever on the alert for a new and better idea, or variety.

Here in Central Kentucky, of the many black walnuts I have under test,
only Thomas, Victoria, and Eureka have the tendency toward young and
heavy bearing. These three do show great promise in my section as young

and heavy croppers. And they are all top-bracket nuts, according to tests
made by expert testers. There may be newer ones better than these, and we
hope there will be yet better ones turn up continually in the future.

There are at least a few Persian walnuts that show promise in my
location. Of varieties I have of bearing age, only four are worthy of
mention. These are Broadview, Elmore, "Crath-Dunstan No. I" and "Crath-
Edmunds No. 3." All of the above have borne well on two year old grafts on
large black walnut stocks. Their nuts are in my opinion excellent.

Wright and Walters heartnuts seem well adapted here, and are doing
equally well for me on Japanese, butternut, and black rootstocks. These are
the only two I have old enough to bear, and they are bearing their first few
nuts each this season. I would like to add here, that the wild nut crop in
general in my section, is very light, and these nut trees that I mention as
bearing this season, are the more to be noticed for their crops in this year of
bad nut crops. I am trying "buartnuts" and butternuts, which are growing
satisfactorily, but not large enough for a crop.

This is wonderful natural chestnut territory. All of the many Chinese
seedlings I have, and the few grafted ones, are growing nicely, and quite a
number have burs on them when only about belt high to an average man. I
am anxious to get graftwood of superior individuals as they come out, for
propagation here in my own planting. I believe this to be a good home for
any good chestnut. No blight is showing to date in either my seedlings or
grafted ones.

I live on rather deep, fertile upland, and am quite hopeful of good results
from many of the Northern pecan varieties that I am trying. The oldest trees
I have are only five years old, on small seedling stocks and hardly old
enough to yield a crop for at least another five years. Major, Greenriver,
Busseron, and Fisher are my oldest, and are making rapid growth. Stuart, of

the Southern group, is bearing quite well for my friend, Lewis Edmunds, a
few miles southwest of me, and he says it matures its nuts well before frost,
but insects cause a goodly part of the crop to fall prematurely.

I have quite a collection of the better known grafted shagbarks on my
woodland. These are mostly on wild shagbark stocks. They are all growing
well, but I have had no nuts from them as yet. Grainger is the fastest grower
of the lot.

To make my nut tree project complete, I have quite a long row of filberts
and hazels, set hedge row fashion, which include quite a list of varieties.
Those that bear quite regular and heavy crops include four "Jones Hybrids,"
Winkler hazel, two un-named hazels, and Barcelona filbert.

I have persimmons, too, both American and Chinese named varieties. My
Chinese are young and not bearing yet, but doing well. Kansas and
Josephine are my choice of the natives.

I am trying Millwood and Shessler honeylocusts for the first time this
year. They are beautiful grafts, and I am looking forward to the pleasure and
profit of adding them to my hill cow pasture in a year or two.

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, very much, Dr. Rohrbacher. We have 15
minutes before the next order comes on the program. Suppose you take a
recess right now.

(A recess was taken.)

(Mr. William J. Wilson from Georgia showed moving pictures of his
pecan orchard.)

President Davidson: The next order of business, we will now hear a
report of the Committee on Black Walnut Standards and Judging by Dr. L.
H. MacDaniels.

Round Table Discussion on Judging Schedule for Black Walnuts

DR. L. H. MacDANIELS, Chairman

Dr. MacDaniels: During the year your committee has worked on the
problem of setting up a judging schedule for black walnuts, mainly through
correspondence. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to get together for
discussion. Had we done so, I'm sure we could have achieved close
agreement upon essentials. As it is, there are several phases of the problem
upon which we would like the judgment of the association members. As far
as this group here is concerned, I am quite sure that we can't profitably go
into a discussion of the various details and ramifications of a judging
schedule. I do think, however, that we might discuss the problem of
whether our point of view in developing such a schedule should be that of
the value of a variety for the commercial buyer or for home use. As far as
the committee is concerned, Mr. Chase favors the home use angle. Clarence
Reed and Mr. Stoke have not expressed themselves definitely one way or
the other. Mr. Stoke is here, and I expect that he will say something about it.

I would like to open discussion on this question at this time, unless you
want to go back to the consideration of whether it is desirable or possible, to
have any such schedule, at all. May we assume that this is desirable?

Mr. Weber: Could we have a double standard, one for the commercial
grower and one for the home grower?

Dr. MacDaniels: In my judgment it would be better to try one at a time.

Another schedule can be developed later.

Mr. Weber: Have you any particular preference, Dr. MacDaniels?

Dr. MacDaniels: I personally feel that the new and improved varieties
will find their best use as a home proposition rather than in the commercial
orchard, because apparently with a modern cracker the common wild nuts
can be cracked in pieces that are satisfactory for the commercial trade, and
crackability is of little moment.

Have you any comments as to which point of view the committee should
take?

Dr. Crane: I would like to inquire as to the purpose for which this
numerical score or method of evaluating these nuts is to be used. Is it to be
used for show purposes, or is it for determining the value of a variety of nut
to grow?

Dr. MacDaniels: The purpose of setting up a schedule is to provide a
standard by which we can determine differences between samples in
contests, and to give a basis for comparison in determining the value of a
variety for growing in various climatic zones and of different varieties
grown in the same place. For instance, the variety, Thomas, in one zone
would be a very good nut and have a score of, say, 89. In another it might
have a score of only 45, and in another a score of 55. The score would be
directly related to the adaptability of this variety to a climatic zone or to a
system of cultivation or to variation in any other environmental condition.

Mr. Weber: How do the other members of the committee feel about it?
What is their preference? It seems to me that if you are unanimous, all we

have to do is approve your report and leave out the discussion.

Dr. MacDaniels: We are not unanimous. Mr. Reed, who I regret is not
here, rather doubts that any kind of schedule is either possible or desirable.
Would you think that is a fair statement, Mr. Stoke?

Mr. Stoke: Yes.

Dr. MacDaniels: Mr. Chase believes that a schedule is both possible and
desirable and that we should work along the general ideas advanced in the
paper on judging schedules published in the last volume of the report. As I
understand Mr. Stoke's position, he would go along with that in general
with possibly the addition of the factors of taste and color. Is that right?

Mr. Stoke: Yes, taste and color for domestic use.

Dr. MacDaniels: I have already stated my position. I feel that unless we
confine the schedule to characteristics that can be weighed or measured
successfully its value and usefulness will be little.

A Member: Dr. MacDaniels, if a man has a $20,000 machine for cracking
walnuts and he has a choice between the Thomas walnut and a good wild
one, he will pay a little bit more for Thomas walnuts, will he not?

Dr. MacDaniels: The question raised is that if a cracking plant which
cracks thousands of pounds can get more kernels out of a hundred pounds
of Thomas nuts or any other grafted variety, would the operators pay
something more for them? I think undoubtedly they would, but would they
pay enough of a differential over the wild nuts to make it worthwhile to the
grower? I don't know.

Dr. Crane: If you take pecans which are our best example, 95 per cent of
all nuts produced in the United States are marketed as shelled kernels, and

there is a very substantial price differential between seedlings and budded
pecans, and the crackers will pay the difference based on the yield of
kernels. That is their only interest. The thickness of shell, how well it
cracks, or any other factor is of no importance. If the kernels are there, they
will get them out.

Dr. MacDaniels: That is the crux of this whole matter. Are we interested
in developing varieties for cracking in which we care little about the size of
the pieces recovered or about the ease of extraction, or do we want nuts for
home use that will give a high yield of large pieces? These machines, as I
understand it, will crack the walnuts and get the kernels out in small pieces
regardless of how they crack in a Hershey cracker.

Mr. Weber: As I understood Mr. Mullins, he favored having a lot of
Thomas if he could get them.

Dr. MacDaniels: Would he pay the difference? I don't know. Dr. Crane
says he would.

President Davidson: When I talked to him—we passed through there and
saw the plant—he said he thinks well enough of the better nuts to come
here for the purpose of learning where and how to manage a plantation of
his own of Thomas and the other budded varieties for his own cracking
plant. In his own cracking plant the yield for the amount of labor expended
is so much better on the improved varieties that he wants to make a planting
of his own. He will pay more, but just how much more, I don't know.

That brings up another matter. As I have said before, our state authorities
should be urged again and again and again to buy good seed nuts for
distribution to the public so that we can get these better quality nuts into the
woods. Some of them are agreeing to that. Some of them are doing it. But
so far not very much has been done.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think that before your committee goes ahead we must
get a decision on this point, for the approaches are quite different. If you are
developing a schedule for home use, the size of the nuts is of importance. In
general, the bigger the nut the easier it is to handle, the easier it is to shuck
and crack. The percentage of kernel is relatively less important than it is in
the commercial cracking. The size of the particles recovered is more
important for home use. If they come out easily and in large pieces, they are
much more desirable.

On the other hand, in commercial cracking the percentage of kernel is
important. The commercial buyer wants to know how many pounds of
kernels can be expected from a hundred pounds of nuts. He is not much
interested in the size of the nuts or the size of pieces that are recovered. This
is an entirely different approach to the problem. We have got to decide
between the two before the committee goes further.

Dr. Crane: There is another angle to the problem. A lot of the black
walnuts today are used in the bakery trade and in the ice cream trade. But I
visualize a market for black walnut kernels to be eaten out of hand. There
are many people in the United States that like the flavor of black walnut
kernels to eat in this way. I know I am one of them, and I don't want to eat
crumbs. I don't want to eat small pieces. I like to have at least quarters.

I think that if we were to gather from the status of our other native nut
industry that there is going to be a premium paid for the larger pieces, then
cracking quality would enter into the matter. Our pecans are sold on count
of whole kernels per pound or per ounce. Almonds are sold the same way.
Walnuts the same way—that is, Persian or English walnuts. The number of
kernels or pieces per pound is an important matter, notwithstanding the
situation as it exists in the black walnuts today. So I do think that we can't

take the present status of the industry as one which will prevail generally
and in the future.

Mr. Weber: Would the majority report favor the side of the home
consumer rather than the commercial buyer?

Dr. MacDaniels: I think it depends on what Mr. Stoke would think about
the majority. We didn't get a chance to get together, because Mr. Stoke was
so busy with exhibits.

Mr. Weber: We might end by moving the adoption of the majority report
and let it get at that.

Mr. Stoke: I know I brought up that matter of whether we should judge
by standards acceptable to the commercial buyer or to the ultimate
consumer. The confectioner doesn't care about the size or color at all. When
they are put up in candy or in chocolate cookies, color doesn't mean
anything. It's a black walnut, and it doesn't have to depend on anything else.
So I think those two points of view are pertinent.

I never expressed any preference, and I don't know that I have any. I
think it might be just as well to leave that up to this body. But the producer,
or those anticipating producing must be considered. Mr. Hirschi can give us
the word on marketing kernels.

Mr. Hirschi: I do not market kernels. I just crack the nuts and sell them
by the pound cracked.

Dr. MacDaniels: Shell and all?

Mr. Hirschi: Shells and all. I sold about a ton and a half each winter for
the last four or five winters. They are Thomas walnuts. I get 35 cents a
pound with the horse shoe nail in the package.

Mr. Stoke: That man wants good color, good flavor, kernels easy to pick
out, and of good size. That goes with the retail buyer. If the commercial
buyer gets 30 per cent kernels from good nuts compared with 15 per cent
from run-of-mine nuts, he doubtless will be willing to pay a considerable
premium for the better nuts if he can get them. But unless the good nuts are
in considerable quantity they go right in with the others and no more will be
paid for them. That's my point of view. I don't want to express my particular
opinion, because I have no particular opinion. But you might consider both,
the commercial nut, and the home nut.

I think we might vote and determine what action, to take tonight as to
setting up a standard, or if you want to set up a double standard.

Mr. Weber: Mr. Mullins does get a better price for a larger kernel. He
separates them and treats them differently than the general run of small
pieces. It's been my observation that the cracking machines do a remarkably
good job with the ordinary run of seedling nuts. Kenneth Dick gets the
kernels out in rather large pieces, and from what we saw up at Mullins'
place he gets the same thing. He sifts out the larger pieces and gets a better
price for them. So the preference is for the larger pieces. It's like buying
hamburger; you prefer your hamburger ground up out of larger pieces rather
than odds and ends that the butcher has around the shop and grinds it up and
hands it to you.

Mr. Stoke: But isn't it true that he sells the kernels in two separate
classes?

Mr. Weber: But the preference still seems to be, after we see them, for the
larger pieces. They have better kernels; otherwise, they would break up in
small pieces.

Mr. Korn: I believe that as long as there are very few commercial
orchards, we should approach it from the angle of the people who have just
a few pet nut trees around their yards, because I don't think the commercial
orchards of the improved grafted black walnuts are going to be large
enough to color the picture very much for a few years to come. As long as
they haven't been too profitable, I think it is going to be some time before
we have to worry much about commercial orchards. Therefore, we are
interested in getting a superior product in kernel; it has to be large, has to be
of good color and good flavor. It seems to me that would be one of the first
things to consider. Then, if orchards get more plentiful and profitable, we
can take up the other angle.

Mr. Chase: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a few remarks on this business
of commercial cracking and large pieces that I hear mentioned by my good
friend, Mr. Weber. I had hoped to have the two largest shellers in the
country present at these meetings, but was unable to get them here. In this
area the commercial walnut cracking industry is related directly to the type
of machinery necessary to recover the kernels. For example, the two or
three cracking plants in Nashville handle an estimated ten million pounds of
nuts each year and turn out roughly 1.2 million pounds of kernels. These
kernels go directly to confectionary syrup and ice cream plants. Therefore,
they are not interested in size of pieces. In fact, if they are too large, the
commercial users have to chop them up. So what we are doing here, ladies
and gentlemen, is confusing what we want to do in the way of judging nuts,
it appears to me. There is little reason to assume that the Thomas, if they
could get 10 million pounds of Thomas, would be more valuable to the
commercial crackers. But that doesn't necessarily interfere with our judging
system that we are trying to design to tell which nut is the best to grow.

I specifically asked these buyers of millions of pounds of nuts: "If I came
in with some Thomas nuts would I get some more money for them?" Their

reply was, "No, sir. We pay a flat rate per hundred pounds of nuts. We know
that some of them are going to be excellent; we know some of them are
going to be poor, but we intend to get from 12 to 15 per cent kernel
recovery out of them."

In 1940 we brought quantities of improved varieties to the cracking plant
in Knoxville and ran them through Mr. Smalley's machine. He was amazed.
He didn't believe it; didn't believe his eyes. They came out in large pieces.
But under present conditions they'd be chopped up. None of these kernels
moving out of Nashville vicinity go to retail trade, except a few that go to
confectionary stores in 25-pound boxes and are sold a pound at a time for
cooking purposes, not for eating out of the hand.

People like Mr. Korn and Mr. Hirschi, who are interested in selling
kernels at a much higher price than the commercial crackers, have to have
large pieces, attractive kernels, properly cared for, properly colored, and of
mild flavor. Is it this group we are trying to assist by this judging system or
the commercial cracker?

The number of acres planted with Thomas sufficient to yield enough nuts
to operate one of these machines would be tremendous. There are several
examples of where the machine has been purchased to be used on Thomas
but hasn't been used. It has been stored away. They prefer to crack the
Thomas nuts by hand.

So my point is this: It appears to me that we are interested in the grower
of several trees around the farmstead. At least, in this section we are.
Everyone here gathers and cracks walnuts. Our idea of acquainting them
with the Thomas variety is to make their job easier in cracking and picking
them out. It seems to me that's also the problem that we have as a group
elsewhere, and I believe that in order for us to make headway on this
judging schedule, which I think is necessary and desirable, we must view it

from the home viewpoint at this time. That does not shut out the
commercial viewpoint for later years. But now we are primarily interested
in the home raising of nuts, unless I am in the wrong group. Thank you.

Mr. Weber: Mr. Chairman, I agree heartily with what Mr. Chase has to
say, or otherwise we might as well quit now and raise seedling nuts to the
best of our ability and sell them to the commercial crackers and let it go at
that. But, if we do that, what's the use of searching out better varieties?

Dr. Cross: Mr. Chairman: I believe that if a nut acceptable to the home
consumer, one which extracts easily and is attractive and palatable and is
productive—if that type of nut is scored and comes to the attention of a
sufficient number of growers, then I think the commercial people will
utilize it. So I don't believe there is anything to this argument. I believe if
you go ahead on the basis of the home consumer and develop a nut that will
be desirable for his purpose, and if in addition to these factors that have
been discussed it is adaptable and productive, then it is going to be
eventually the nut that the commercial man will utilize, because, after all,
what we are growing nuts for is the kernel.

Mr. Weber: To bring it to a head, I move that we adopt that part of the
report that favors the home consumer as against the commercial consumer,
or we will be here all night talking about it.

Dr. Rohrbacher: I second the motion.

Dr. MacDaniels: You have heard the motion, which was seconded. Any
remarks?

(Vote taken on the motion, carried unanimously.)

Dr. MacDaniels: That will be the basis on which the committee will
work.

There are several other points to be considered. I would suggest the
committee be asked to make further tests with the schedule as proposed in
order to get additional data to determine if it is a usable schedule and can be
used by different people with reasonably similar results, and if it does
differentiate the things that we want to have a schedule differentiate in a
test.

This last year we had hoped to do this, but there weren't enough samples
of nuts available to be worth testing. I spent about $10 personally buying
nuts from this source and that, and there wasn't a good sample in the lot,
except one, which Sterling Smith gave me.

I think that if we have another season to work the schedule that has been
proposed, we at least can demonstrate whether or not it is differentiating
between varieties in a manner which is satisfactory.

I believe a motion is in order to bring this matter to a decision and end
this discussion. Have you any further comment, Mr. Chase?

Mr. Chase: If it is not out of order, I move that we adopt for further trial,
the scoring schedule proposed in the paper by Dr. Atwood and Dr.
MacDaniels in the 1947 Report of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

President Davidson: I second the motion.

Mr. Stoke: May I make one remark? Does not that schedule ignore the
factors of color and taste?

Dr. MacDaniels: It does, as not being objective characters.

Mr. Stoke: In other words, this motion approves something from the
commercial slant rather than from the personal use slant.

Dr. MacDaniels: I wouldn't say that; it simply limits the judging schedule
to those characteristics which can be objectively handled and are not a
matter of opinion or judgment. That's the point here, I think.

Mr. Chase: Mr. Stoke and I don't quite agree—I don't think we are the
only two—on flavor and color. However, in our exchange of
correspondence we fully appreciate the advantage of light-colored, mild-
flavored kernels. But I don't see any method by which we can place a
numerical value on the color and flavor. Can we not describe the color and
flavor along with the rating that describes the kernel and still have you on
our side?

Mr. Stoke: Personally, I think we are splitting hairs. When we can't agree
as to which color class a sample belongs, it must be somewhere near the
border-line. Ordinarily the average human being will agree pretty well as to
a blonde or a brunette or one that's neutral. And I think in the judging of
walnuts, there can be no exact value based on the color. If you consider
color and make a scientific test, your test wouldn't be the same as my test.
But if it is a dark kernel, you can recognize it, and so can I, if we have any
common sense.

Also in the matter of flavor, you and I can tell what we like and what we
don't like. And I think there are those two limitations. We can't do this
scientifically, because the human factor is here. But after all, it's humans
that eat them and produce them for eating! And I rather, in the schedules
last year, brought up objections to it. I didn't say I objected, and, of course, I
don't now.

Mr. Chase: I'd like to just say this, and I am going to call on my good
friend, J. C. McDaniel here, for agreement. A long time ago we prepared,
did we not, various judging systems?

Mr. McDaniel: Yes.

Mr. Chase: We found that—you can correct me if this is wrong—by
manipulating five points for flavor and five points given for color we could
change the position of a variety of a list a great deal, and we also found that
the points given for color were not related to inherently bad color but
simply the result of poor handling, which also affects flavor. This is my
reason for eliminating color and flavor from the schedule: it is not to get
away from the mild-flavored, pretty-colored kernels.

President Davidson: Mr. Chairman, I must say that I am inclined to agree
with Mr. Stoke, for this reason: Even though color and flavor are very
frequently the result of poor handling, we all know that we will say that the
Stabler has the characteristic that is distinctive of quickly coloring up and
quickly becoming rancid as distinguished from the Thomas, which does not.
Now, those things are inherent in the two varieties, I think, and I don't think
this committee should ignore altogether the matter of color and flavor,
although I do think, perhaps, not so much weight might be given to those
two qualities as had been given to them in the past. But they certainly
decidedly influence the marketability for kernels from the point of view of
home consumption. I think there is no question about that. I should be
inclined to agree with Mr. Stoke, that those two qualities should not be
ignored by the committee.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think the point would be to ignore them in their simply
not being objective; you can't weigh or measure them. There is a motion
properly seconded before the house. Are there further remarks?

Mr. Weber: Wouldn't there be just a certain amount of trial and error
connected with it, and as you go along you will either add to or take off, and
then you will get a correct system of judging? You have to start out with
one system and if it is wrong, change it.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think it's a matter of doing something rather than
nothing, for a schedule is always subject to improvement.

Mr. Stoke: I wish to point out we have made some tests together, and
your personal tests and my personal tests ran very close together.

Dr. MacDaniels: That is right.

Mr. Stoke: And one member of the committee is always very
conservative and his tests never run as high on any series as the others. I
make a test and he makes a test, and his are always lower. Maybe, he
doesn't recover as much; perhaps he isn't as expert a cracker. (Vote taken on
the motion; carried.)

President Davidson: Let us adjourn until 8:30 tomorrow morning.

*****

+A Picture from Our Most "Northern" Member+

John Davidson wrote in our 1943 report: "If any man deserves a bright
NNGA medal, it is A. L. Young, of Brooks, Alberta." By planting his trees
near enough to irrigation ditches in his "desert, cactus country," and
protecting them from livestock, Mr. Young is able to get nuts on the hardier
trees, but he reported that the nuts, "while of fair size, do not have fleshy
kernels … Butternuts are very sweet with fair size kernels … Giant hickory
from Ontario seems hardy but particular about the kind of soil …
Carpathian walnuts killed back quite a lot, so did most of my hybrid

walnuts … Some Manchurian walnuts … got a setback with spring frosts
… Heartnuts got a rough deal last winter [1942-43.]" Mr. Young wrote to
Dr. J. Russell Smith in 1948: "I have been using pollen of Broadview and
Carpathian [Persian walnuts] on my blacks and while there are a lot of
hybrid seedlings, none have fruited yet. On Peace River hazel [far
Northern] I have been using Barcelona, Du Chilly and Gellatly pollen.
Some of these hybrids look good, hardy, and produce good nuts … A few
varieties of oak are promising and fruiting."

At his location, Mr. Young expects winter temperature of -45 deg., and
the lowest known [before 1940] was -62 deg.F. Summer temperatures go
above 100 deg.F.

[Illustration: Fruiting black walnut grown at Brooks, Alberta, Canada, by
member A. L. Young. The seed came from Ontario.]

+Tuesday Morning Session+

President Davidson: The only way to get started is to start. We are
going to be given a look at the honeylocust situation in the South by
Professor Moore of the Department of Horticulture of the Alabama
Polytechnic Institute of Auburn. Mr. Moore.

The Present Outlook for Honeylocust in the South

J. C. MOORE, Department of Horticulture, Alabama Polytechnic
Institute,
Auburn, Alabama

Mr. Moore: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: Before I start this
discussion, just in case some of you are not familiar with honeylocust, its
habit of growth, the size of the pods and the possibility of its yield, I'd like
to take time out just to show a few slides, then I will go ahead with the
discussion and give you some data on that honeylocust production. I believe
if you would look at these slides before we start the discussion it would
give you a good idea what the tree looks like, how it grows, the age at
which it starts bearing and something about its general habits; it will help
you a lot to understand what I have to say about it.

(Slides shown.)

This is the Millwood honeylocust. The pods will vary in size from about
12 inches to 14 inches in length, from one and a half to one and three-
quarters inches in width, and the back part of the pod, something that I can't
show on this particular type of picture, is very thick, and this back part of
the pod, the thick part of it, is very rich in carbohydrates. We have the
Calhoun and Millwood selections that have run as high, the Millwood a
little over 36 per cent sugar and the Calhoun a little over 38 per cent sugar.
The Millwood is a much higher yielding tree than the Calhoun. I will bring
that out in a few minutes' time.

This is a borrowed slide and I don't know the history of these trees, but I
judge that the tree is about three years old. We have had good yields on
three-year-old trees at Auburn.

Here is a group of trees growing with a ground cover, and again I am not
familiar with the ground cover, but just judging from the general
appearance it looks like a picture that came from our files. If that is true
then I know the story. The tree in the background is a Calhoun tree and the
tree in the foreground is a Millwood growing in Lespedeza sericea and I

will bring out some points in a few minutes in the general discussion on the
value of these two plants growing together as a combination.

I believe this is another tree that grew on my farm, and the year this
picture was made this particular tree, eight years of age, bore 250 pounds of
those luscious pods.

A close-up again, giving you the general size of the pod, how they are
produced in masses, and you get quite a bit of weight in some of those
thick-backed pods that you don't get from the thin pods that grow normally
on seedling trees. The TVA has done quite a bit of work in selecting and
developing the honeylocust, and I believe we give that particular
organization credit for the development of both the Millwood and the
Calhoun.

I thought it would be very valuable to give you just a glimpse of the habit
of growth of those trees before I start with my general discussion so that
you would understand something about what I am talking about.

Mr. Weber: Are these thornless?

Mr. Moore: These are thornless honeylocusts. The original parent trees of
the Millwood and Calhoun had thorns. By vegetative propagation—they
went out and cut scionwood on the limbs above the thorns and propagated
the thornless twigs on thornless root stock—we now have a thornless
honeylocust.

There has been quite a bit of disturbance in Alabama, especially in the
northern part of the state, caused by native honeylocust. We have two or
three characteristics that I think ought to be brought out about honeylocust.
Some of out trees in the northern part of the state of Alabama have triple
thorns. It is known as G. triacanthos and the "tri-" part of that particular

word, of course, gives us an idea of three thorns, and I have seen thorns at
least 12 inches long that you could catch in your hand and use for a dagger,
and it would be very dangerous. Now, some of those trees growing in the
northern part of the state are very serious pests in pastures. Cows and horses
and hogs are very fond of those lucious pods, and they will go around the
trees and pick up every pod that falls, and occasionally a horse or cow will
get close enough to the trunk of the tree and get speared with those thorns,
and when the thorn pierces the skin there is a little tip on the end that breaks
off and is left inside. When the usual infection that it carries get started
from the part of the thorn that is left in the flesh, you get pus and, of course,
later on the amputation of the leg, if it happens to be in the leg, of the horse.
With the thornless type that is completely eliminated.

Then this other thing that I think ought to be brought out, the thornless or
near-thornless type as a general rule has a better quality of pods than the
ones with the long thorns. Now, it is true that the parent seedling trees of the
Calhoun and the Millwood both had a small quantity of thorns when they
were growing wild. After they were propagated vegetatively the thorns, of
course, were eliminated by taking scion wood from above the thorns. But in
general in our state, the thornless trees—and we do have a lot of thornless
trees growing wild—have a higher sugar content in the pods than do the
trees with thorns.

I just wanted to give you a general idea of what we have done with
honeylocust in Alabama. In 1938 the TVA sent down some Millwood and
Calhoun for test planting. We put those trees in two different types of
planting. We had an integrated planting where we were trying to select at
that time some good pasture plants, and, of course, we had something like a
hundred different species in the one planting. The trees were planted
relatively thick, but the larger trees were planted longer distances apart, and
the intermediate trees intermediate distances apart, and then we had shrubs

coming in under those. It was supposed to have been a three-story type of
planting, black walnut in the upper story, honeylocust as an intermediate
and shrubs for the ground. We were using different types of plums for the
understory; then on the ground we had Lespedeza sericea. But from that we
did get several different plant materials that did look promising, and we put
the Calhoun honeylocust and the Millwood honeylocust in with that
planting for trial, and they did so well that we expanded the honeylocust
into another planting. I am very sorry that this latter planting had to be
taken out.

Hillculture research went under in June of 1947, and the Horticulture
Department took this work over, and they thought they could not support
the honeylocust pasture program in Horticulture, and the plot, of course,
was pulled out and planted in peaches.

Anyway, we do have some information I'd like to give you. The Dairy
Department of the Alabama Experiment Station carried out quite an
extensive feeding test over a two-year period to find out the value of these
pods in the dairy ration. They substituted the honeylocust pods ground.
Professor Eaton of the Dairy Department assures me that none of the seeds
in those pods were cracked. They ground the pods with corn in order to take
up some of the excess honey that is in the back of these pods so that they'd
grind well, and they ground them in a hammermill, and the burrs were
running far enough apart so that he assures me that very few of the seeds, if
any, were ever cracked.

That has been somewhat of a discussion, among feed producers
especially, recently, as to whether or not it would be profitable to grind
those seeds in order to get the protein and fats that the seed has. There isn't
a very high percentage of food in the seed itself, but you do get a little more
protein and a little more fat if you grind the seed itself.

We have found in storage that weevils get in these seeds, but the weevil
doesn't destroy the carbohydrates, and the weevil will only pierce the seed
and make a hole in it. Then the intestinal juices of a cow will go in through
this hole and they can digest the seed. That is something that comes along
with storage.

I'd like to give you just something briefly on what the Dairy Department
of Alabama Polytechnic found out about the general value of these pods.
They found that honeylocust pods could be substituted in a dairy ration for
oats, pound for pound. Now, that means that if you can get a high yield of
honeylocust pods and substitute it in a dairy ration for oats that you just
about have half of the grain problem solved.

I'd like then to follow that up to give you the average yields. Before I
give you these average yields I'd also like to bring out this fact about the
Calhoun and the Millwood honeylocust. Those trees are very peculiar in
their habits of bearing. One year they will bear a heavy crop. The next year
they will bear scarcely anything. They are definitely alternate bearing, and I
think that alternate bearing has a physiological background behind it. How
We can eliminate that physiological reaction is something else. But the
years that the trees are heavily loaded with the fruit the amount of
carbohydrates that it draws from the tree is so great that the tree doesn't
have enough carbohydrates left to produce fruit the next year. I think it is
the carbon-nitrogen ratio from the physiological standpoint, and, of course,
if that is the case, then there is a possibility that you could eliminate or
correct that carbon-nitrogen ratio by thinning during the blooming period.
But when you see these results I think that you will agree that honeylocust
has a place, even if they do bear only every other year.

In our planting we have some trees that will bear this year. Next year they
won't bear, but their sister trees will bear. So we have pods every year from

some of the trees. Over a period of five years, during which these trees were
planted (the oldest trees that we have in 1938, and in 1942) the average
production of the Millwood was 58.3 pounds per tree. In 1943 there were
no pods produced on the Millwood variety. We had a cold spell in the spring
that completely eradicated all of the fruit in that year. In 1944 the average
yield—and that is taking the average yield of 10 trees of the oldest ones that
were put in—the average yield was 146 pounds of pods per tree.

Mr. McDaniel: That's for both varieties?

Mr. Moore: That's just for Millwood. I will give you the Calhoun in a
minute.

Then in 1945 the average yield was 39.5 pounds per tree. In 1946 we had
an average of 180 pounds per tree. In 1947 we had an average of 12 pounds.
Now, note the break there in averages from year to year: 58, none, 146, 39,
180, 12. You get from that that we have almost definitely alternate bearing
in those trees.

Now, this other thing is interesting. If you take the five-year average
from 1942 through 1946 inclusive, and convert that to 35 trees—this is 10
trees—but when you convert that to an average of 35 trees per acre you get
the equivalent of 92 bushels of oats per acre. Now, understand, with this
yield of pods we were cutting two and a half tons of hay from the
Lespedeza sericea each year. So we were getting our hay crop and our grain
crop from the same source.

Now, to give you just briefly what the Calhoun variety did during those
years, in 1942 the Calhoun trees—the same age planted under the same
conditions on the same soil—averaged 26.4 pounds of pods per tree. In
1943 the Calhoun followed closely with the Millwood; on account of a
freeze they didn't produce anything. In 1944 they produced 32.4 pounds of

pods per tree. In 1945 they produced 63.8 pounds of pods per tree. In 1946
they produced 22 pounds of pods per tree, and in 1947 they produced 46
pounds of pods per tree.

Now, if you will take the average of those, contrast it with the average for
the Millwood, you will find that the Millwood tree over a period of five
years produced almost three times as many pods as the Calhoun. The
Calhoun variety has a little more carbohydrates, and it always averages a
little more sugar per pound than the Millwood, but the additional yield of
the Millwood variety makes it very worthwhile.

I have done quite a bit of work on the blooming habits or the fruiting
habits of the honeylocust over a number of years, and I find that there is
quite a variation there in the individual trees. Some trees are typically
males. They never bear anything, but they have staminate catkins. Others
are typically females, never bearing anything but the pistillate flowers. Then
we have an integration there of perfect trees. I know of one tree in Blount
County, Alabama that for nine years never missed a crop. It had perfect
flowers, or rather, both pistillate and staminate flowers on the same tree.
However, the flowers were borne on separate catkins, the pistillate flowers,
catkins, coming out on the same node with the male and producing the pod.
So you do have a large variation in the fruiting habits, and we have found
those variations on Millwood selections and on Calhoun selections, even
though they were vegetatively propagated.

The reason why we can take a bud off a female Millwood and put it onto
a root stock and get a male tree I can't figure out, but they seem to act that
way in that respect. I have had a Millwood tree that never bore anything but
male flowers.[18] That is something for someone else to figure out. I can't
explain it.

Just briefly I'd like to give you the observational work that we have done
with honeylocust. For mules in a feeding test we fed a team of mules for 30
days nothing but honeylocust and hay, and these mules were in fine shape
when they came out at the end of the feeding test. You say that's an awfully
short feeding test. It is, but we had very few pods. Then for cows I have
gone into it more extensively. I have a cow myself, and I have fed that cow
honeylocust pods and that was all the grain she had through the winter
months, and got excellent milk production. You get excellent milk flavor
from these pods and an increase in milk production.

A very interesting thing happened. I went out in the community to gather
pods from the wild trees for a feeding test, and there was a lady who owned
a farm pretty close to our project. I went over and talked with her about
getting the pods from her trees to feed to my cows for feeding tests, and it
was O. K. But when I left she got to thinking the thing over, and she
decided that if honeylocust pods were good for my cow they would be good
for her cow! So I went back in a few days' time—the pods weren't mature
when I went the first time. I went back in a few days and I didn't ask the
lady if I could get the pods, I just stopped on the side of the road and we put
a darky up in the tree to shake the pods off. And we saw a little darky
coming across the field, just a streak. He said, "Missus says come over to
the house." I went over there, and she was just a little bit embarrassed, but
she said, "Mr. Moore, I have decided if honeylocust was good for the goose
it was good for the gander, so I have been feeding honeylocust to my cows."
And she went on with that story and said that she had been selling milk to a
fraternity over in town, and the boys at the fraternity, after she had fed the
cows honeylocust for a week or two, asked her what had happened to her
milk, and she told them—she said honestly she was afraid she was going to
lose the trade, she thought something bad was wrong with it. She told them,
that so far as she knew there wasn't anything. They said, "Have you done
anything to it?" "No, we haven't." They said, "Well, it's the best milk we

have ever had, and we can tell the difference in the taste." And then she told
them what she had done. She wouldn't tell them before.

Now, we have had story after story coming to us to corroborate that.
Now, I have never seen with my cow any difference in milk flavor, either
good or bad, but my wife can definitely tell, and she is very particular about
her butter, because she likes to sell that. I can quit feeding honeylocust a
few days, and my wife will say, "How come you quit feeding honeylocust
to the cow?" It is that definite.

There are two things I want to mention: The value of a combination of a
perennial ground cover with your honeylocust tree, and then I want to
mention the fact that honeylocust planted in a pasture will give no benefit
whatsoever. You are going to have to grow your honeylocust on the outside,
harvest the pods and feed them just like you would corn, or you are going to
have to plant your honeylocust on a barren hillside someplace that doesn't
grow anything else—and I think honeylocust will grow with a little
fertilizer on about the poorest soil you have, the most eroded soil you have,
with a little care—then pasture it after your trees are large enough so that
the cow won't eat the limbs. There is something about the tree itself that a
cow loves. They will chew the bark and chew the limbs right down to the
main trunk.

We have tried planting those trees at four years of age, even, in pastures,
and we just can't get them to survive. In fact, the cows and the mules in our
pasture ate the trees down to the stumps in the wintertime before they ever
started putting out leaves in the spring. So it has been a problem. (See Dr.
Diller's pasture tree-guard paper in this report.—Ed.)

This value that you can get from growing honeylocust and Lespedeza
sericea on the same soil is the same as with honeylocust and alfalfa if you
are in the alfalfa belt, or something like that with other perennial legumes.

These are the benefits that I think you can get from a combination: In the
first place, the soil is completely protected. In the second place, a
concentrate and hay can be grown on the same acreage. Third, a good
grazing and feeding out program can be maintained. If you plant your
honeylocust on a hillside someplace and let the trees get large enough so
that the cows won't eat them up, have your ground cover established, by the
time that you are ready to pasture it you can put your cattle in. We had this
combination, and I think it would have worked out very well if it had not
been destroyed. We had our Lespedeza sericea for our summer grazing
crop; then we had winter annuals planted in the Lespedeza sericea for our
winter grazing, and the honeylocust was the fattening crop or finishing-off
crop.

What we had planned to do was turn the cattle in on this last plot about
January 1st, let them graze crimson clover, or bur clover, or any other
winter ground cover that grows in your section until the Lespedeza sericea
came on in the early summer. Then they'd graze the Lespedeza sericea till
the honeylocust pods started falling in the fall, and they'd fatten off on the
honeylocust, and you'd put them on the market just before the Christmas
holidays.

Then fourth, the management cost is very low. Fifth, the weed problems
in your pasture are controlled. Sixth, you get maximum production from the
soil. You get your grain and your hay from the same piece of land.

Now, that's all that I plan to give on this subject. There may be some
questions come up that we can discuss later.

A Member: What is the sugar content?

Mr. Moore: The sugar content of the Calhoun pods is around 38 per cent,
in the Millwood about 36 per cent.

A Member: Is it different in the two varieties?

Mr. Moore: Not very much, only about 2 per cent different.

A Member: What spacing do you use in planting?

Mr. Moore: 35 by 35 feet is about the correct spacing.

Mr. Fisher: What is your labor problem? You say this is equal to oats.
Can you run a combine over the field and harvest in one operation?

Mr. Moore: This one you don't harvest at all. The cow picks them up off
the ground.

A Member: If you had a few hundred trees, would these pods all come on
at one time, or you mentioned having somebody shake them off. Can you
pick them all up at one time?

Mr. Moore: Yes, you can shake them all off at one time, rake them all up
with the rake, take a pitchfork rake, carry them to the barn and throw them
in storage in a dry place. You don't have to worry about weevils.

A Member: Store them like hay?

Mr. Moore: Hay or corn. I have some that have been stored for three
years, and the weevil gets into the seed, but it doesn't seem to affect it. My
cattle like three-year-old pods as well as the new ones—well, they like them
better.

Mr. Weber: Do the pods heat up?

Mr. Moore: They won't heat up, if they aren't green.

A Member: What about the protein content?

Mr. Moore: I will give you the analysis for that, the complete analysis of
ground honeylocust pods. That might be interesting. Moisture content,
12.47. Ash, 3.14. Crude protein, 8.58. Now, the crude protein has run as
high as 14 per cent. I want to bring that out. This was pods collected in the
wild, and this was a sample that the State Chemist ran for us on that. Fats
2.12. Fiber, 17.73. Carbohydrates total 55.96.

President Davidson: I am afraid we will have to close this if we are to get
on at all. That's the most authoritative information we have ever had, I
think, in this Association about honeylocust. I am sure we have been
enjoying it and have been benefited by it immensely.

On the possibilities of filbert growing in Virginia, Dr. Overholser will
now give you a talk.

[Footnote 18: According to botanical authorities, the honey locust is
polygamo-dioecious; that is, it generally has most of its male flowers on
one tree and most of the female flowers on another tree, but the trees are not
100 per cent pure in this sex division. In my personal observations of
flowers on grafted trees, including Millwood and Calhoun and scores of
seedlings, both "male" and "female," I never found any pollen produced in
flowers of the "female" trees, but nearly all "male" trees in the Tennessee
Valley will have occasional catkins with one or more perfect flowers near
their terminal ends (the basal flowers being staminate on the same catkin.)
The functionally perfect flowers on such "male" trees have been observed
to set from one to many pods in certain years, but such pods are generally
small as compared with those borne on "female" trees in the same locality,
and I have never observed a heavy pod crop on any "male" tree. Grafted
trees of Millwood and Calhoun selections in Tennessee were observed to set
pistillate flowers, but no pods (or very few) matured on them unless there
was a "male" tree in flower within insect-flight distance from them. (At

Auburn, Alabama, there were wild honeylocusts, including "male" trees,
within a half-mile of the Hillculture planting of grafted honeylocusts when I
saw it in 1943.)

I do not argue that no pollen is ever produced by Millwood or Calhoun
flowers some probably is (though its demonstration might require almost
microscopic examination, in contrast with the easy finding of pods on
"male" trees.) But, in the practical culture of fruiting honeylocusts, and in
our present scope of knowledge of their pollination requirements, our
plantings should include a handful of seedling (thornless) trees or else some
grafted trees of a thornless "male" selection such as the Smith, in a ratio of
about 1 Smith to 10, say, of Millwood.

It is unfortunate that the presumed male mutants of the fruiting varieties,
reported above by Mr. Moore, were destroyed when the Hillculture plots at
Auburn were discontinued. Perhaps similar ones will show up elsewhere,
and they will be worth looking for. Meanwhile, the Smith variety (originally
propagated through a mixup in scionwood collection), has been
demonstrated to be a satisfactory pollinator for Millwood and Calhoun, and
it, as grafted, is also a thornless tree. Perhaps any thornless male seedling
honeylocust tree, if its flowering period coincides with that of the fruiting
variety, might serve equally well.—Note by J. C. McDaniel.]

Possibilities of Filbert Growing in Virginia

E. L. OVERHOLSER, Head, Department of Horticulture, V. P. I.,
Blacksburg, Virginia

More than four-fifths of the United States filberts are grown in Oregon
and nearly all the rest are produced in the State of Washington. Prior to

1933, total filbert production in these two states did not exceed 500 tons,
but production has since increased steadily and in 1945 it amounted to
5,320 tons. The value of filbert production in the U. S. in 1945 was about 3
million dollars.[1]

As a wild hazel is native of Virginia and as filberts have been profitably
grown, especially in Oregon and Washington the question is often raised as
to whether hazelnuts or filberts could not be grown commercially in
Virginia. It has been suggested that if varieties now available are not
successfull in Virginia, perhaps new varieties may be originated by
crossing, including inter-specific crosses.

+American Species+

AMERICAN HAZEL. As mentioned, one species, Corylus americana
Walt., is native to much of Virginia. Its distribution is from the northeastern
states and Canada to Saskatchewan and the Dakotas and south to Florida
and the Gulf of Mexico. Its adaptation is much wider than that of the
beaked hazels (C. cornuta Marsh or C. roxtrata Ait. and the far western C.
californica) the two other Corylus species native to the United States and
Canada. This native americana, species appears at least to have value from
the point of view of soil conservation, as food for wild life, and for breeding
purposes.

The American hazel is a large thicket-forming shrub, which sprouts very
freely after cutting, and the foliage is generally dense. It is found growing
on dry, well-drained sites, in both sun and shade. It, however, seldom bears
fruit in the shade. The shrub is relatively hardy, withstanding mid-winter
temperatures of -40 deg. to -30 deg.F. and is easily transplanted.

The nuts are available in the wild from July through September and
occasionally persistent on the plant until December or even February. The
nuts average about 250 per pound, with a germination of about 80 percent,
producing about 60 usable plants per pound of seed.

Three of the best known varieties of C. americana are the Rush from
Pennsylvania, the Littlepage from Indiana, and the Winkler (most hardy)
from Iowa. [See footnote following.—Ed.][19]

Incidentally, Thomas Jefferson in his list of plants native to Virginia, as
published in his Notes on the State of Virginia, which was written in 1781,
and published in 1782, in 1784-1785, and in 1787, lists among other plants
the "Hazelnut (Corylus Avellana)", which apparently should have been
called Corylus americana Walters.

Breeding Filberts in the East. This brings up the question of filbert
breeding in the East. Crane and Wood (1937) have fully reviewed the
breeding program with filberts, and the breeding of filberts, for the East
may be briefly referred to here. Tho pollen from C. californica and C.
americana apparently does not function on the pistillate flowers of
European varieties, (Corylus avellana L. and C. maxima). Since however,
C. americana is useful as a pistillate parent, it is possible that C. californica
may be similarly used.

The workers of the United States Bureau of Plant Industry are primarily
testing first-generation hybrids resulting from crosses with the pistillate
parents Rush,[20] Littlepage, and Winkler of C. americana and pollen from
varieties of C. avellana native of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia,
and of C. maxima, the filbert of southeastern Europe and western Asia.
Other pollen parents were C. colurna, (Turkish hazel, native of southeastern
Europe and western Asia) and C. heterophylla Fisch., (various leaved hazel
from eastern Asia.)

Crane and Wood (1937) suggest that varieties of high merit should be
developed for home plantings over much of the region from lower New
England and Great Lakes on the north, and to the Potomac and Arkansas
Rivers on the south, and that much of Wisconsin, southern Minnesota,
South Dakota, and Nebraska might also be included.

Dr. Crane writes, by letter dated July 27, 1948, that he has as a result of
breeding work, which was started many years ago, two new varieties that
have been placed in the hands of nurserymen for multiplication. These
varieties are at the present time carried under the numbers of 1667 and
2336, These are hybrids between the European filbert (Corylus avellana L.)
and the native American hazelnut (C. americana.) At the Plant Industry
Station at Beltsville, Maryland, these two varieties have been outstanding in
their yielding ability, hardiness, and quality of nuts produced. Dr. Crane
does not think, however, that these varieties may very materially change the
situation as regards commercial filbert growing in the East and in the South.

Because of the conditions prevailing during the last war, nurserymen
have not made as much progress, in propagating these new varieties as had
been originally hoped. Dr. Crane plans to release these varieties for
extensive plantings just as soon as there are sufficient plants in the hands of
the nurserymen to warrant their being called to the attention of the general
public.

HILLCULTURE PROJECT. The Department of Horticulture of V.P.I, has
what is called a Hillculture project, with Professor R. C. Moore in charge.
Among the materials planted in connection with these studies are filbert
varieties to determine their possible value on hill farms in the mountainous
regions of Southwest Virginia as a source of additional food and
supplemental income for such families. The Forestry Division of TVA has

co-operated in supplying not only propagated plants of filberts, but also of
walnuts and seedlings of chestnuts.

Among the filberts now being grown are six German-named varieties
from the Hillculture Division of the Soil Conservation Service, Glenn Dale,
Maryland, planted as rooted cuttings in 1941. The German varieties, are as
follows: (1) Barr's Spanische; (2) Neue Riesennuss; (3) Fruhe von
Fruendorff; (4) Schliesserin; (5) Eckige Barelloner; and (6) Vollkugel.

In addition five varieties, including two of the Jones numbered seedlings
from crosses between the American hazel and the European filbert,
purchased from the J. F. Jones Nursery[21] of Lancaster, Pa., were planted
in 1947. These are the following: (1) Jones 185; (2) Bixby (a Jones hybrid),
(3) Cosford, (4) Italian Red; (5) Large Globe and (6) Medium Long.

Seedlings of the American hazel have also been planted. Dr. Crane may
be able to send the V. P. I. Department of Horticulture a few plants of his
seedlings 1667 and 2336 to include among the variety plantings.

+Some Limitations of Filbert Growing in Virginia+

DISEASES. Possibly the present most serious limitation to commercial
production of filberts in Virginia is the Filbert Blight or Black Knot
(Cryptosporella anomala. (PK) Sacc.). While this fungus results in little
damage to native species (C. americana) it does spread rapidly and with
serious results to European varieties in the State. Possibly the seriousness of
the disease has been lessened by the eradication of native hazel plants on
roadsides, fence rows, and in the wild nearby, which serve as hosts for the
disease.

It is present on the American hazel, but does little damage to the plant.
The disease, however, as mentioned, is a serious menace to either European
varieties or to the present hybrids resulting from C. americana x C.
avellana. The control to date is to prune off and burn affected parts. Mr.
George Slate has mentioned that Mr. S. H. Graham of Ithaca, New York,
has a number of hybrids between C. americana and C. avellana that have
been subjected to severe attacks of Filbert Blight and a few of these have to
date escaped, although the others have been destroyed by blight.

The bacterial blight present on the Pacific Coast apparently does not
occur in the East.

INSECTS. A second limitation is the problem of the attacks of insects.
Dodge and Rickett (1948) report that Corylus may be affected by a leaf-
damage from the feeding of leaf-hoppers (Phepsins ishida; P. tinctorius),
which may involve less than half the leaf or may extend to the entire leaf.
The first leaves to be infested are those next to the ground, which are
affected early in July. Most of the damage ceases by the first week of
August. Control is by spraying with nicotine sulphate and soap on the
undersides of the leaves in late June or early July, repeating at the end of a
week.

Certain nut weevils (Balaninus spp.) attack the native hazels, but Slate
(1930) reports they do not attack the European filbert (C. avellana). Mr.
Slate reports that in Geneva where nuts are carefully picked up they do not
have much of a problem with weevils.

Dr. Crane reports that the Japanese beetle severely damages the filbert.
While the Japanese beetle has not yet become widely established in
Virginia, it undoubtedly will eventually become a problem throughout this
state. The Japanese beetle can be destroyed by using four pounds of 50%
wettable DDT or two pounds of actual DDT per 100 gallons. Such sprays

should be applied as the Japanese beetles begin to cause injury, and usually
two applications may be sufficient.

Mr. G. F. Gravatt has reported that his filbert plantings, surrounded on
three sides by woods, are badly attacked by stink bugs that sting the nuts.
DDT as suggested for Japanese beetles may also be used for stink bugs.

Another serious insect pest on hazelnut is the curculio. Clean cultivation
has been reported as a supplementary measure for curculio control, as they
depend, upon unbroken soil in the fall for their metamorphosis. Some
hybrids are reported as being relatively immune to the attacks of curculio
(Weschcke, 1946). Benezene hexachloride has shown promise with other
plants in curculio control and may have possibilities on the filbert.

LACK OF HARDINESS. A third limitation has been lack of hardiness in
the case of European varieties. With the European varieties the staminate or
the pistillate flowers or both are likely to be killed by winter temperatures.
In fact, occasional unduly low winter temperatures may kill the tree tops or
even the tree trunks to the ground. The Winkler variety (C. americana) has
been reported as more hardy in New York State than the Barcelona (C.
avellana) or the Jones hybrids (C. americana x. C. avellana) (Ross Pier
Wright, 1944).

Under western New York conditions, Slate (1930) reported that the
blooming period starts about March 20 to 25 at Geneva, and lasts about a
month. In central Virginia this may well be several weeks earlier. Slate
(1930) also reports that the flowers in bloom will withstand considerable
frost, and that even with temperatures of 16 deg.F. during the blooming
season, neither female nor male flowers, may be injured. Nevertheless, with
filberts coming into bloom in late February to early March, they would be
subjected to temperatures that might result in injury especially to the
catkins.

Some of the more hardy varieties as reported by Slate (1930) include the
following: (a) White Lambert (not of value) (C. maxima); (b) Red Lambert
(C. maxima); (c) Cosford; (d) Purple Aveline (C. avellana); and (e) Early
Globe (of little value).

Some of the varieties upon which both the staminate and pistillate
flowers tend to bloom relatively late are (a) Althaldensleber, (b) Kentish
Cob, (c) Red Aveline, (d) Purple Aveline, and (e) Bolwiller. Late blooming,
however, does not necessarily insure escaping injury from low spring
temperatures. The Cosford, Italian Red, and Medium Long are considered
by Slate as good for New York. The Bixby and Buchanan are the result of
crossing C. americana x C. avellana, and appear to be of promise for home
plantings in the East. Mr. H. F. Stoke is growing the Italian Red and Du
Chilly (Kentish Cob) with Daviana for pollination purposes in the Roanoke
area.

CROSS-POLLINATION. A fourth limitation is the fact that varieties are
nearly entirely if not fully dependent upon cross-pollinization by other
inter-fertile varieties that bloom at about the same time in order to insure a
set of nuts. This limitation may be overcome by the proper planning of
hardy varieties are inter-fertile. Colby (1944) has reported that the Winkler
variety is self-fertile.

SUCKERS. A sixth limitation is the tendency of the C. avellana or C.
maxima to sprout about the base and the labor and expense of keeping these
sprouts pruned out. It is possible that this factor may be overcome by using
Turkish hazel (C. colurna L.) as an understock and grafting or budding
thereon the varieties that sprout when on their own roots. The Turkish hazel
does not sprout as badly as the two other species.

Note by Editor: An Oregon nursery, which formerly propagated
European filberts on the Turkish understock, now has abandoned its use.

The grafted filbert tops did not seem to survive and bear as consistently as
those on their own roots, after a period of several years in orchards.

PLANTING IN VIRGINIA. In a letter dated May 17, 1948, addressed to
R. C. Moore, Assistant Horticulturist, V.P.I., H. J. Pettit, Assistant Secretary
of the Planters Peanut Company, Suffolk, Virginia, reported that some years
ago they planted several thousand trees of filberts, which they obtained
from the states of New York and Oregon. From their experience it appears
that late spring frosts destroyed the flower parts, which developed early,
with the result that the yields were too low to be profitable. Hence, the
filberts were removed and the land otherwise utilized. Mr. H. F. Stoke,
however, in the Roanoke area has not found lack of hardiness as serious as
the problems of diseases and insects of filberts.

An important nursery in Maryland has provided information to the effect
that during this past 1947-48 season it sold for planting in Virginia a total of
34 filbert plants in lots of from one to ten. Its 1947-48 catalogue lists
varieties of filberts for sale as follows: Barcelona, Daviana, Du Chilly, and
American hazel.

Dr. H. L. Crane, Principal Horticulturist of the USDA, writes in a letter
dated July 27, 1948, that he knows of no substantial plantings being made
anywhere in Virginia. He has observed a few bushes or trees scattered about
the homesteads, particularly in the northern or more mountainous part of
the state. In most cases the performance of these filberts has not been
entirely satisfactory because of leaf scorch during the summer, due
apparently to high temperatures or unfavorable moisture conditions or to
the winter killing of the catkins, or in some cases winter injury of the
shoots. The largest plantings in Virginia that have yet come to the attention
of the V.P.I. Department of Horticulture are those of Mr. Stoke in the
Roanoke area.

Dr. Crane has observed the planting of a few bushes of the American
hazelnut in Virginia. Their performance has been somewhat better than has
been that of the European filbert, especially as to hardiness, and these
American hazelnuts have borne more satisfactory crops of nuts than have
the European filberts. The nuts produced by the native varieties, however,
are small in size, thick shelled, and the kernels are small and lack quality.
Observations by Dr. Crane, which have been made in the State of Virginia,
lead him to believe that with the material that is at present available from
nurserymen, there is not much hope of successful commercial filbert culture
in the State of Virginia. When, however, seedlings 1667 and 2336 may
become available, two varieties that are hardy and productive of fairly high
quality nuts may provide material for home plantings or for local markets.

Ornamental Value. The filbert, however, also has possible value for
ornamental plantings with its attractive foliage, or as a hedge, as well as for
nut production, providing the home owner will control insects and diseases
and maintain favorable growing conditions for our best known varieties.

Future Outlook in Virginia. With a further breeding program to combine
the hardiness of the American hazel and its tolerance to Filbert Blight with
some of the better qualities of the European and other species to obtain self-
fertile varieties better adapted to Virginia conditions and with the better
insecticides and fungicides now becoming available for insect and disease
control, it may be that filbert growing in Virginia has a brighter future
outlook than now appears to be true.

[Footnote 19: Tree Nuts, Acreage, Production, Farm Disposition, Value,
and Utilization of Sales, 1909-45. USDA Bureau of Agr. Eco. Crop Rept.
Brd.: 1-25 Oct. 1947.]

[Footnote 20: Rush, itself, is now considered a natural hybrid of
American and European filberts. Many of the European varieties are

derived from hybrids between +C. avellana+, +C. maxima+, and possibly
other
Eurasian species.—Ed.]

[Footnote 21: Now located at Erie, Ill.—Ed.]

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, Dr. Overholser. We have a paper from
Mr. Elliott. Mr. Elliott is not here, but we are already behind our program,
so I am afraid you are going to have to have that in printed form later on.

Filberts for Food and Looks in Kentucky

N. R. ELLIOTT, Extension Landscape Specialist,
Department of Horticulture,
University of Kentucky

Those of us interested in the landscape phase are always thinking of as
many different kinds of plants as possible that may be used to create
pleasing effects. Perhaps we might be criticized for overlooking several
plants that would not only assist in creating pleasing effects but at the same
time produce edible fruits of good quality. In my own experience I have
often recommended the use of grape vines on a trellis to create a screen and
at the same time produce fruit. Also in border plantings, like the shrub
border, the gooseberries and currants make attractive shrubs and in addition
supply fruits. In making these suggestions for plantings one needs to depart
somewhat from the usual run of plants and in most instances the
homeowner has never thought of using plants for effects as well as fruits.

+Filberts Good Dual Purpose Plants+

Filberts are certainly outstanding dual purpose plants, and I feel that they
have not been used nearly as much as they should be. If we think of
landscape from the broad point of view, we realize that screen or border
plantings make up one of the most important parts of the set-up, especially
in rural parts. Practically every farm home has some unattractive view near
by that needs to be screened out, either partially or entirely. This view may
be caused by a lot where farm animals are kept, an old, unattractive barn, or
even a gullied field. Lots where animals are kept and the barn are necessary
parts of the farm operations, and the gullied field may result from neglect,
but regardless of the cause for the undesirable view it can and should be
screened from view from the home.

In making a screen planting, two plans are possible—one, the shrub
border, and the other the hedge row, and filberts are excellent to use in
either planting. Where space is at a premium, the hedge offers the best form
of screen. Filberts planted two and a half feet apart and pruned in such a
way as to make them have a shrub appearance will make an ideal hedge and
produce lots of nuts of good quality. This hedge can be counted on to be
effective up to twelve feet in height.

In the shrub border filberts are allowed to produce many stems and to
grow into small trees. This is done by pruning and by using groups of two
or three plants in a place, planted some five or six feet apart. Different
varieties may be used for different groups, thereby producing a variation of
foliage. The filberts will take their places with the well known small trees
like the dogwood and the redbud, when used in this way.

Still another use for filberts in landscape work is to use them for small
trees as lawn specimen plants. They have a size, shape, and foliage that
makes them attractive when used in this way.

+Cross Pollination Necessary+

Our experience has been that there is need for cross pollination to get
maximum yields of fruit; therefore, we suggest that different varieties be
used in a planting. Barcelona, DuChilly, and the Jones Hybrids seem to us
well suited for this. Of course, there are others, but our experience with
varieties is limited.

When it comes to the soil for filberts, we find that a fairly rich soil that
has plenty of moisture is the best. Of course, the soil must drain well
because the roots of filberts seem to be very susceptible to poorly drained
soil conditions. If there is a lot of sand in the soil, give the filberts more
moisture and food because they are rapid growers.

So far, we have not had many complaints about filberts suffering from
winter injury. This may be due to the fact that so far Kentucky is not using
great quantities of these plants, or it may be due to the fact that the varieties
used have been reasonably hardy. The little winter injury seen so far has
been in the terminal twig growth, and removal of these twigs in the spring
has not meant altering the normal shape of the plant.

I do not know whether there is any significance to it but the filberts that
have been fed by using well rotted manure applied in the fall and spaded
into the top four inches of soil next spring have made the best growth and
produced the most fruit.

So far the filberts that we have had experience with have been free from
insects and diseases. One never knows how long that condition will last.

Now, when it comes to discussing filberts as a food, all that I want to say
is that at Christmas time when you buy mixed nuts you usually get a few of
the filberts in the mixture. These nuts are good eating, and when the plants

are grown on the home grounds everyone who has them says they are much
enjoyed by all members of the family. Our experience has been that filberts
yield annually and, if given reasonable care, in good amounts.

In conclusion we would like to say we feel there is not only a place for
filberts in landscape work, but there is an absolute need for greater use of
these plants especially in rural plantings. At present, the professional
landscape artists are not inclined to recommend them as often as they could,
simply because they have not been trained to think of dual purpose plants.
Greater publicity as to the value of these plants would undoubtedly mean
greater use of them.

*****

President Davidson: We also have a paper from Mr. Reed, which is of
quite a good deal of importance historically on the work of Mr. Jones. I
wish you could have that. Probably you will have to read that, too.

J. F. Jones, Introducer of Many Nut Varieties

CLARENCE A. REED, Collaborator[22]

The name of J. F. Jones was once one of the best known and most highly
respected in eastern nut culture. It was from Mountain Grove, Wright
County, Mo., that he was first heard from in 1900, when he discovered and
introduced the Rockville hican, which he named after the nearest town. It
never proved of value, but that fact did not detract from the importance of
being first, a habit which remained with him till his death. In 1902 he
moved to Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida; five years later he moved

to Jeanerette, Iberia Parish, Louisiana; and in 1912, he moved to Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, where he died in January, 1928.

[Illustration]

In 1903, while at Monticello, he successfully graft-propagated the Rush
Persian (English) walnut and the Weiker hickory, an intermediate form
between shagbark and shellbark. Both were from Lancaster County, and he
used scions sent him by J. G. Rush, of West Willow, south of Lancaster. Mr.
Rush is credited with introducing the walnut bearing his name, while credit
went to Mr. Jones for the Weiker hickory. Some years later, on two
occasions, Mr. Jones took a visitor to the Weiker parent tree when the
branches were laden with nuts so that they hung down in a manner
suggestive of plums. For some reason, never explained, no other tree of the
variety, so far as is known, ever bore as much as a quart of nuts, although
the trees frequently flowered profusely. The variety was, however, markedly
dichogamous. The parent tree, which stood in the yard of Mr. Christ
LeFever of Lampeter, about two miles east of the Jones home, was blown
over in a heavy gale many years ago.

Mr. Jones graft-propagated a considerable number of Hales shagbark
while at Monticello, with scions that came from the original tree near
Ridgewood, New Jersey. However, this variety was first propagated by
Henry Hales of Ridgewood, in 1879. He also had Kirtland from Yalesville,
Connecticut, but like many others since that time, both it and Hales proved
to be light bearers. Other hickories may have been propagated by Mr. Jones
while at Monticello but these are the only ones of which there is record. The
Kirtland was first propagated in 1897.

[Footnote 22: U.S.D.A. Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural
Engineering, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.]

+First Carload of Grafted Pecan Trees+

When he went to Florida, there were few pecan trees of bearing age in
either that State or Georgia and none to speak of in the Carolinas. The "fast"
trains went no more than 30 or 35 miles an hour, and a minimum of three
days was required to see even an occasional planting or a single tree. Within
the next few years, nurserymen everywhere propagated their own varieties
and listed them in their catalogs. Mr. Jones was discriminating and
propagated only varieties that then had the best reputation, such as Schley
and Stuart, and some others that have not stood the test of time. In one way,
he was distinctively first; he shipped the first carload of pecan trees ever to
go to one address. This was in January of 1906, when 10,000 trees were
shipped to Professor H. E. Van Deman who was then establishing a 900-
acre orchard near Ferriday, La. A picture of the car appeared in the
American Nut Journal, published by W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va., Vol. III,
No. 50, March 1906, (Van Deman had been the first Pomologist in the
Department of Agriculture, 1886 to 1892).

Mr. Ray Simpson of Vincennes, Ind., went to Mr. Jones to learn how to
graft pecan trees. He offered to work without pay if Mr. Jones would teach
him the art. He had graduated at Cornell in 1905, and had been inspired by
John Craig, Professor of Horticulture there. Craig himself later invested
somewhat heavily in pecan orchards both near Monticello and at Albany,
Georgia. Mr. Simpson was taken on and proved as good a propagator as the
best hand and received the same pay.

While at Monticello Mr. Jones began to feel that the region might not be
the best place for pecans. Perhaps he had made a mistake. It was 300 miles
to middle western Alabama, where there were the nearest native trees. A
disease was appearing among many of the trees planted in the East, which
was then poorly understood (rosette). Pecan wood for budding and grafting

was scarce and Mr. Jones would trust no one to cut it for him. He went to
the trees himself.

One man who then had an abundance of wood and who could be relied
upon was B. M. Young of Morgan City, La., and Mr. Jones went to him for
wood several times. Once he became confused as to the trees from which he
had cut a couple of bundles, so both were thrown in the river and he went
back for more. Mr. Young was greatly impressed, so much so that he
remembered the incident, as we shall see.

+The Move to Louisiana+

Back in Florida Ray Simpson wished to buy and Mr. Jones wished to sell,
so a deal was soon made. Mr. Jones went to Louisiana where the pecan is
native and there were many large trees, probably as many as could be found
in any one place in the entire South. Mr. Young knew of a group from St.
Paul, Minnesota, who were about to buy and plant a thousand acres near
Jeanerette and who were looking for an experienced man to take charge.
Mr. Jones was recommended and was soon at work. For another five years,
he worked harder than almost any other white man in the State. Great odds
were against him. Being from the North, he did not associate exclusively
with whites, and presently the southern white people left him severely
alone. That was not all; he could not raise as good nursery trees as he had in
Florida. The trees grew slowly in the cold, heavy soil of Louisiana, and the
fibrous root system failed to materialize. The excellent reputation he and his
trees had enjoyed in Monticello began to deteriorate. He worked harder
than ever and waited for a break. When it came, he did not hesitate.

+Jones Shifts to Pennsylvania+

The St. Paul crowd fell into a squabble and divided into two factions,
each wishing control. A man went south to see if Mr. Jones would sell his
stock. Would he? He knew when to keep his mouth shut and he meekly
made a deal. He was probably never more glad over anything in his life. He
came north, lock, stock, and barrel. But he was far from being without a
place to land. Since his Monticello days, he and Mr. Rush had been good
friends. Mr. Rush knew a farm of 20 acres with buildings, which could be
had for $8,000. It was four miles south of Lancaster, and at a point where
two main highways leading into the city came together. It sloped eastward
enough so that it did not get the full force of west winds. It was two miles
from Mr. Rush's home, with the town of Willow Street between.

Mr. Jones then began eight or 10 years of lean hard work. He modernized
buildings, planted an orchard of nut varieties most of which were purchased
from W. C. Reed of Vincennes, Ind., and W. N. Roper of Petersburg, Va.
From Roper he bought both seedling and grafted trees. Some of the
"seedlings" had been budded and then not cut back to force the buds. The
latter were still dormant and when the trees were properly cut back, the
buds pushed forth. T. P. Littlepage, of Washington, and Prof. W. N. Hutt, of
Raleigh, N. C., had a good laugh at Roper, but as the trees bore no labels,
they were no more valuable than seedlings and were treated as such. All
three men are now deceased.

Thomas black walnut trees came from E. A. Riehl, Godfrey, Illinois. The
variety had originated in eastern Pennsylvania and was first grafted in 1881
by J. W. Thomas and Son, at King of Prussia, Pa. The parent tree had been
destroyed some time before by the Pennsylvania Railroad, in extending its
lines. The Thomas is today the most widely planted variety, although it has
rarely borne well. Mr. Jones selected and grafted the Ohio walnut, but the
owner of the seed-parent tree was given credit for its introduction, although
she probably knows nothing of the incident, to this day. She was a Miss

Clark, McCutcheonville, Ohio, and it was felt that it would help more to
give her name as originator if one were ever to locate the tree.

[See Ohio black walnut original tree photos, NNGA Rept., 1946.—Ed.]

The Stabler eastern black walnut, introduced in 1916 by Mr. T. P.
Littlepage by means of a paragraph inserted in the Country Gentleman, was
also propagated by Mr. Jones, but he early found it disappointing in its
habits of bearing. He also found that about 80 percent of the nuts from the
parent tree had single kernels, while with young trees 80 percent had double
kernels. Most planters have long since discontinued using this variety.
However, Mrs. Jane Baum, Douglassville, Pa., reports that her customers
like the Stabler best. Others she has are Thomas, Ohio, and Ten Eyck.

Other varieties were tested by Mr. Jones, but he pushed none of them,
rightly thinking that 4 leaders were as many as a nursery could afford to
carry. He insisted that a new variety would have to prove its superiority
before he would insert it in his catalog. Among other varieties was the
Peanut from southern Ohio, the nut of which had single lobes; but
apparently there was some mistake along the line, as nuts from grafted trees
were indifferent and had 2 half kernels. He also had Creitz from Indiana,
which Mr. H. F. Stoke, 1436 Watts Avenue, Roanoke, Va., thinks well of at
this time. It was a prize winner in the 1926 contest of the NNGA. Neither
Creitz nor Peanut was a Jones introduction.

+His Work with Hickories+

Among the hickories, there was the Stanley from Indiana in 1916, which
was quite a favorite with Mr. Jones for some time. But did any one ever see
a shellbark that bore well and filled the nuts? Shellbark trees are beautiful to
look at, have enormous leaves, seven to nine leaflets, but they leaf out early

in spring and the flowers are frequently killed back by spring frosts. Part of
its flowers are killed outright with too great frequency for it to be worth
growing for the nuts. These are very large, the hulls split entirely to the
base, and what kernel there is, is of sugar-like sweetness. The shells are
mostly thick and the kernels seldom well-filled.

The Glover shagbark hickory, from Connecticut, which was introduced
by Mr. Jones in 1918, is undoubtedly one of the best shagbarks yet
propagated. The nuts are of medium size and shell thickness. The flavor is
very good. Most shagbarks have five leaflets; this one has seven quite as
often, and the leaf is about a foot long.

There were other hybrids, or what are supposed to be hybrids. The Pleas
hickory, introduced in 1916, was perhaps first successfully grafted by Mr.
Jones, but credit for introduction went to the owner of the parent tree, Dr. E.
Pleas, Collinsville, Oklahoma. It was a beautiful tree, shapely, with an air of
considerable refinement, making it a graceful lawn tree. It bore fairly well,
although not heavily. The nuts were thin-shelled and also had thin hulls that
split entirely to the base. So far as most laymen are concerned, the Pleas
may be but an edible, or semi-edible bitternut. On the grounds of the Plant
Industry Station, at Beltsville, Md., there were once two trees of Pleas, but
they were given to the Wild Life Service for planting 10 miles away,
although there are many native bitternut trees just over the line fence in
neighboring woods. We fancied that we could detect bitternut flavor in good
shagbarks about the plantings, due to xenia influence, as in the case of
chestnuts.

Burlington was another hican first propagated by Mr. Jones, in 1915. It
came from eastern Iowa, and for a time was confused with Marquardt,
which never was propagated, or apparently not. Burlington makes a fine
appearing tree and serves well for ornamental purposes. It bears fairly well

while young, but soon develops faulty nuts, few being well-filled and the
majority weevil infested. It is also subject to shuck-worm and twig girdler
injury.

Mr. Jones once wrote that he had given up with the hickories "in disgust."
So far as is known, he never used any stock for hickories other than pecan,
which grew well, made good unions and generally outgrew the scions. John
Hershey, however, says this is not a good combination, but there are too
many trees of Jones' propagation about the country, to accept Hershey's
verdict altogether. Carl Weschcke[23], of St. Paul, uses bitternut largely or
entirely; if it is a mistake, it will be expensive. Hickories are slow to grow
and one gets too few nuts at best. It takes a lifetime to get even small crops,
and for our part, we want no bitternuts on the place. Too often shagbarks
fail to unite with bitternut and frequently they are short-lived.

In 1916 Mr. Jones propagated and introduced the Beaver hickory, from
central Pennsylvania, a supposed bitternut-shagbark cross. It proved of little
value and soon disappeared. The Fairbanks from northeast Iowa, a similar
cross, was introduced the same year. It was one of the prettiest of all
hybrids and stood up about the longest, but it had too much bitterness in the
pellicle encasing the kernel and was much subject to weevil injury.

+Efforts with Persian Walnuts+

Many varieties of Persian (English) walnut were propagated and brought
into bearing. Mr. Jones included a majority of the varieties brought into the
country from France by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, Calif., as early as
1870. There were Franquette, Mayette, Meylan, Parisienne, and a cutleaf
variety which appears to have had no other name. A California variety of
which he thought well for a number of years was Eureka, a western
introduction of 1908. He propagated a number of eastern varieties such as

Lancaster (Alpine) in 1913, although credit went to Mr. Rush; Boston, from
Massachusetts, also in 1913; Ontario, from Canada, in 1914; and probably
others. He obtained Chinese walnuts, from P. Wang, Kinsan Arboretum,
Shanghai, and sold seedlings at wholesale. These were an Asiatic form of
Juglans regia. He limed the soil, and thought the effects were beneficial. In
this he was warmly supported by T. P. Littlepage and more recently by
growers in Northern Ohio; but lately liming has not been found beneficial
in Italy. All in all, however, the Persian walnut was not particularly
dependable, and during the last few years the nursery which he left
discontinued selling Persian walnut trees. In the East, the trees of older
varieties usually were little more than interesting novelties.

+He Tried the Chinese Chestnut+

The Chinese chestnut was tried for a few years; but as so often happens
with this species, nursery trees died badly in winter and Mr. Jones thought it
due to blight, a disease which was then sweeping his part of the country,
taking its mortal toll of both American and European species. However,
blight does not seriously attack young trees and it is more likely that death
was caused by a combination of summer drouth and winter cold; but no
matter, the trees perished and the result was the same.

+First Heartnut Grafts+

Mr. Jones tried the butternut and there is still one tree in the experimental
planting east of the residence. It is Aiken, from New England, and was first
propagated by him in 1918. It proved disappointing. He grafted the first
heartnut ever grafted of any kind insofar as is known, the Lancaster, in
1918. The only other heartnut for which he received full credit for first
propagation was Faust, obtained from a dentist, Dr. 0. D. Faust, Bamberg,

S. C., in 1918. Others that he was doubtless first to propagate, but for which
credit went to the owners of the parent trees, were Bates and Stranger in
1919, both from R. Bates, Jackson, Aiken County, S. C., and Ritchie, a
Virginia variety found by John W. Ritchie of Flemington, N. J., in 1918.

However, heartnuts are seldom heavy bearers and the trees do not grow
large or live long. In Japan the wood is sometimes used for gunstocks but
only because better material is unavailable. Heartnuts have practically no
market where other kinds of nuts can be had and the trees are much subject
to "bunch" disease. To an enormous extent the trees have been sold to
unsuspecting people of the South and East as "English" walnuts.

[Footnote 23: See Weschcke's paper, elsewhere in this report.—Ed.]

+The Filbert+

Mr. Jones had a tree or two of the Turkish filbert, a species sometimes
reaching a height of 60 feet and attaining a trunk diameter of three feet or
more. Bixby found the species hardy in central New Hampshire. Mr. Jones
obtained his seed from three trees in Highland Park, Rochester, New York,
which are believed to be the oldest in the country. In some years, the
Rochester trees bear freely, while in others there is not a nut. This is a
valuable ornamental species, as it is green from early spring till the last
thing in fall; specimens must be selected for such use, as often the trees are
unshapely. Like all filberts, they are subject to Japanese beetle attack and
must be sprayed or otherwise protected in beetle infested zones. Filbert
foliage may be destroyed by these insects as many as three times in a
summer and the trees die down to the ground. The nuts are too small to be
of value; but the wood is white, very hard, and makes good turned articles.

+His Greatest Contribution+

It was with the filbert that Mr. Jones made his greatest contribution to nut
culture. In 1917 he tried crossing European varieties with pollen of the
native Rush. There were no results, and he tried again in 1918 with no
better luck. In 1919 he reversed the order of crossing and nearly every nut
set. He had discovered that native pollen was not effective on European
stigmas, but that the reciprocal cross worked. By 1924 he had a fine lot of
fruiting plants. The great majority were of no value, but his No. 200
apparently was well worth while. It was named Bixby in 1937, four years
after another seedling, No. 91, had been named Buchanan. The explanation
of this belated selection is that the soil about the Bixby tree had so eroded
that the tree was starved for a time; but with a couple of years of heavy
application of stable manure, it came back, so much so that it is now
considered the better of the two. Both are rather small as compared with the
large filberts of the Pacific Northwest; but when fully mature, they are
sweet and agreeable.

After Mr. Jones was gone, the place was managed by his daughter, Miss
Mildred Jones. She kept plants of her father's filbert varieties and the best of
the crosses. The latter are now called the Mildred filberts, a name applied in
Standardized Plant Names to the entire group of crosses between Rush
American and any European filbert. Mr. Jones hoped to have these called
after himself but there was an old variety of Jones "hazel" and so his own
name could not be used. He once sent specimens to Dr. C. S. Sargent of
Arnold Arboretum and somehow gained the impression that the name Jones
was given to the cross. Later, however, Sargent's successor, Mr. Alfred
Rehder wrote that Sargent had not used the name in either correspondence
or on specimens placed in the herbarium.

The example of Mr. Jones in breeding filberts has since been followed by
others, as the Department of Agriculture, the New York State Agricultural
Experiment Station at Geneva, and. Mr. Carl Weschcke of St. Paul,
Minnesota. The last has copyrighted his crosses under the designation
"hazilbert," which is a good name; but with the issue of Standardized Plant
Names in 1942, the name "hazel" was dropped for all members of the
family. For a time, an effort was made to distinguish between the two by
calling small-fruited ones "hazels" and those with large fruits "filberts," but
there is not exact dividing line and so now all are called filberts.

Buchanan and Bixby are the only varieties of Mildred filberts thus far
fully released by anyone and although neither variety is entirely hardy in
the northernmost parts of the country, they do well as far south as eastern
Tennessee. The nuts of both are too small to compete in the market with the
large filberts of Oregon and Washington, but that is not the purpose for
which they have been bred. It is for home planting, a use for which they are
admirably adapted. Neither variety should be judged until after they have
cured fully, at least a month or more. Then the flavor is excellent.

Of the various introductions made by Mr. Jones, the ones most likely to
endure are the Ohio black walnut, the Glover shagbark hickory, and the
Mildred filberts. The first has already lasted 32 years; the second 30 years;
and the Mildred filberts are only nicely started.[24]

[Footnote 24: Except for the last two paragraphs, this paper was read and
approved by Miss Mildred Jones in Pavilion, N. Y., on September 2, 1948.
The following day, or September 3, she became Mrs. Wesley Langdoc, of P.
O. Box 126, Erie, Illinois.]

+Mr. Reed Comments on Seedling Trees+

+Editor's Note:+ The next two paragraphs should be read in connection
with the "Round Table" on chestnut problems, elsewhere in this volume.

In a broad sense, it must be remembered that every variety of seedling
tree, of any species and every hybrid form that has ever been planted, or
grafted on another tree, has been worth something. This is still a free
country and every man has the inalienable right to plant whatever he
pleases. Even the hybrids of various forms, hickory, walnut, and chestnut,
are all worth something. All are trees and it is better to plant a poor kind of
tree than not to plant anything, particularly if it is a nut tree. Whatever
prompts a man to plant a tree is worth while.

Hybrid chestnuts bred by crossing Chinese chestnuts of unknown
performance record as to habit of bearing, size or flavor of nut, shape of
tree, resistance to blight, or spring freezes, and other characteristics which
combine to make good nuts, with the inferior and largely inedible Japanese
chestnuts, are unlikely to do the damage to the industry that is sometimes
predicted. They are now so mixed up that few will be planted by
themselves, and there is considerable evidence that the xenia influence of
good Chinese chestnuts with which the trees are being planted will render
nuts from these hybrid trees fit to market and eat.

[Illustration: MILDRED AND WESLEY LANGDOC]

President Davidson: The value of nut trees in Tennessee, then, will be
discussed by Mr. F. S. Chance of the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment
Station in Knoxville.

The Value of Nut Trees in Tennessee

F. S. CHANCE, Vice-Director, Tennessee Agricultural Experiment
Station,
Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mr. Chance: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: As a representative of
the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Tennessee I want
to say it is a great honor to have this distinguished group meet here in
Tennessee, especially on the banks of beautiful Norris Lake, which is one of
the tributaries to the dammedest river in the country. We are something like
600 miles from the Gilbertsville Dam, or Kentucky Dam near Paducah,
Kentucky, and this area here is the beginning of a chain of lakes that run
just about that far.

For those of you who are from a distance, you may know that in making
a chain of lakes out of this great Tennessee Valley that we covered up lots of
good land. We have developed lots of good power. Now, I am not just sure
why I was put on this program, because, really I am not a nut tree specialist,
as I see most of you people are. I will admit that I have been associating
with experimentation for the last eight or ten years and have become
slightly nutty, but really my big interest is timber. I am still a blockhead. So
in discussing and talking with you this morning for a few minutes about the
value of nut trees in Tennessee I want you to just keep in the back of your
minds that the thing in the timber world that I think is the prettiest when it
comes to furniture is black walnut.

So in some plantings that we made several years ago with the help of
Spencer Chase at our various substations and at the parent station at
Knoxville, when we began to prune those trees I wanted to go to pruning
for timber and he wanted to go to pruning for nuts. He won. So as we
developed these plantings we are sure that we are going to have some very
excellent nut trees.

Tennessee ranging in altitude from something over a mile high down to
some 300 or 350 feet at Memphis on the Mississippi gives us a very, very
wide range of climate. This wide range of climate gives us the possibility of
growing a very wide range of timber trees. A great part of that area is soil
from a limestone formation. Nearly all parts of Tennessee are well adapted
to the production of the black walnut. The tree as a nut tree has not in the
past been looked at with such great interest. However, there are farms in
Tennessee that have been purchased with walnut kernels. Over the period of
years, why, thrifty families, especially in Eastern Tennessee sections, have
gathered up the walnuts in the neighborhood round about, cracked them and
sold the kernels and from year to year made certain accumulations of that
kind, funds, and saved them with enough in the bank or in the sock to buy a
farm. I knew one particular person who bought a nice farm in just that way.

Now, a great many of the people in the same neighborhood did not save
their walnuts. These walnuts were gathered from everybody's trees without
any objection on the part of anyone. But it was a means of those people
getting ahead with their savings from their other farming operations, and
this wintertime work that they could put in, why, that kind of thrift is the
kind that gets people ahead who want to get ahead and have vision.

I might say a few words about pecans in Tennessee. We have throughout
the state quite a few scattered native pecans that are used, especially in all
except the more western sections of the state. As a whole they are for home
use. Now, in the extreme western section of the state we have a certain
amount of seedling pecans, mostly, that produce a considerable income to a
limited number of people. In the 1945 census something over 4,000 farms
reported some income from pecans—this was mostly in the western section
of the state—the value of which was something over $32,000, which at the
present time would be a considerable under-valuation.

This tree is found, I might say, throughout the state. I recall a few years
ago coming off of the Cumberland Plateau down in Warren County into the
cove there around Viola and seeing a beautiful grove of pecans along a
stream. I hadn't been through that country before, but I had known a family
that lived there, and I stopped at a house to see just what those pecans
meant. And there was an old lady on the porch who owned the property, and
I asked her some questions about it, and she told me how they got there and
knew when they were not there. She had been raised on that place but she
said, "I want to show you something." So I went with her around the side
yard into the back yard, and she had a couple of pecan trees there that were
loaded with pecans until the limbs were hanging over just like pear tree
limbs, heavily loaded pear tree limbs. I said, "My, what a crop of pecans
you have here. That's really wonderful." Those were the budded pecans, the
type that is grown farther south of us. She said, "Just wait a minute, now. I
don't know whether I have any pecans or not." I said, "What do you mean?"
She said, "If the frost is two weeks later than usual we will have a
wonderful pecan crop, if we have a late frost. If we have an early frost we
don't have any pecans."

It was quite interesting to me to see that wonderful crop hanging on the
tree and yet she wasn't at all assured that anything of value would come
from it.

We have on some of our holdings at the University experimental Stations
some wonderful Chinese chestnut trees. I can't get overly excited over them,
remembering the chestnut as we had it once in Tennessee with the long,
slender body, wonderful telephone poles and wonderful timber of other
kinds, and to see that a tremendous economic loss has come to this country
through disease that was and probably is not controllable. But from the nut
standpoint we have at the present time some trees that look as though they
are going to be the equal of our own native chestnut that covered Tennessee

from the mountain top to the river bank. So we are very much in hope that
again Tennessee will have a supply of chestnuts which will be equivalent,
probably, to the harvest of chestnuts we once had. However, that's going to
be many, many years off.

From the experimental standpoint I have been very much interested in the
timber type of tree, hoping that our native chestnut trees, at least one out of
the billions, maybe would prove to be resistant. However, watching these
growths come up from time to time and attain an age sufficient to produce
nuts and then have my hopes blighted by going back the next year and
finding that the tree was blighted has become rather discouraging. I hope
that some of you people will find just such a tree, one that will bear an
excellent nut and at the same time produce excellent timber.

Now I am coming to our big asset in the way of nut trees in Tennessee, as
I see it. I was rather interested here in Professor Moore's discussion of the
honeylocust, that detestable tree which was such a thorn in my flesh as a
child, and having heard someone championing it with such a story as he
had, I have heard everything now. Everybody, though, has a champion.
Even my mother loved me, regardless.

Black walnut is, as I said in the beginning, native to all sections of the
state, and I think that through the collection of the better yielding or better
cracking nuts by the Tennessee Valley Authority we are going to find in this
crop a very potent asset to the state of Tennessee through the income from
sale of nuts. We have in the state about four cracking plants. One of them is
located in Morristown. Down in the basin part of the state where walnuts do
particularly well, three others are in the city of Nashville. There were
something like 10 million pounds of walnuts in the shell delivered in
Nashville this last year, yielding about 1,200,000 pounds of kernels. Now,
this is no mean return from a crop which was really just gathered up with

very, very little attention given to the planting. It is just one of these free
crops, so to speak.

If we were to add to that income the great income which we have been
receiving through the years from the sale of timber trees, we would run the
value of the black walnut into considerable proportions, with income from
the sale of black walnuts in the kernel and in timber.

I see no particular reason why that crop cannot be increased ten, twenty
or a hundred fold by just a stimulation of interest in the black walnut. I
recall back just previous to World War I, or about that time, there was a
tremendous demand, as usual, for black walnut for gun stocks. I happened
to be free for a month or so at that time so I could give some attention to the
purchasing and delivery of both veneer stock and walnut for gun stocks. It
was quite interesting to me as I went over a couple of counties in which I
made some purchases, to see that someone in the 40, 50 or 60 years back
had had a vision of what the walnut tree would be worth to them on their
tracts of land and how we were at that time reaping the harvest of the
person who had a vision of the value of the walnut tree. A great many of
those trees were trees that had been set or walnuts that had been planted
years before by some far-seeing person, and it had gone on without any
interruption, probably without the slightest bit of protection, until the time
that it was needed and desperately needed for economic purposes.

We have some work going on also in connection with the planting of
walnuts in pasture fields. The returns from the pasture in the planting of
walnut trees have been just practically the same, maybe a little bit better in
favor of the walnuts than where we did not have walnuts in the pasture.
This work is being conducted down at the Middle Tennessee Agricultural
Experiment Station of the University of Tennessee at Columbia. We are
using the walnut tree and also the black locust in this experiment. We don't

know what the future of it is going to be, but those walnut trees have grown
large enough so that they have had to be thinned to keep them from putting
too much shade over the ground.

I made a statement several years ago in the presence of quite a
distinguished agronomist or horticulturist that I had never seen a walnut tree
growing in the open, whether it was in the blue grass region or outside of a
blue grass region that did not have blue grass growing under it. He looked
at me askance, and I said, "Do you believe it?" "Well, I don't know," he
answered.

So we happened to be coming out of Quincy, Florida, up through
southern Georgia outside of the blue grass region, and we were both sitting
in the back seat of the car. Our driver drove up to a filling station, and I saw
this fellow looked up at a walnut tree over in the yard not very far away, in
fact, the next yard to the filling station. I somehow or other sensed what he
was thinking. He pushed his door open, got out. I pushed my door open,
went around the car and followed him. He walked up to that walnut tree,
turned around and said, "Well, it's there." He turned around and walked
back.

Now, of course, a condition may prevail in dense shade, where that does
not happen in young walnut trees, but I just happened to be right. There is a
symbiotic relationship between plants—I don't want to get into that subject
—but this one thing I am thinking, and that is that the reason why they were
able to get this good grazing from under these walnut trees is that there is a
relationship there between those two plants that makes it ideal for the
production of pasture grass, and blue grass over a great many of our states
is our leading grass.

I might say to the gentleman from Virginia that I had a letter from up
there a few days ago. I don't know why they wanted to write to me, wanting

to know if the walnut tree was a legume. So I presume that that was the
reason, that the grass grew very nicely under those trees.

I have taken too much of your valuable time. It certainly has been a
pleasure and an honor to be here and talk to you these few minutes. Thank
you.

*****

President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Chance. We will take a short recess.

(Recess taken.)

President Davidson: The meeting will now come to order, please. The
embryo development of the black walnut will be illustrated and discussed
by Dr. L. H. MacDaniels of Cornell University.

(Paper to appear in next volume.)

Dr. Crane: I was very glad Dr. MacDaniels' paper preceded mine,
because it does give you a very much better picture of the development of
all of our oily nuts, excepting the filbert and, of course, the almond to some
extent. But we take in pecans and the hickories and for the walnuts the
situation is quite general.

Now, this paper that I am going to read is one that our staff in nut
investigations has been working on for the past twenty or more years, and
we feel we know a lot about the growing and the development and filling of
nuts. And there is a lot in this paper that I think will be of value to all nut
growers regardless of the kind of nuts that we are trying to grow.

The Development and Filling of Nuts

H. L. CRANE, Principal Horticulturist, United States Department of
Agriculture, Agricultural Research Administration, Bureau of Plant
Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, Division of Fruit and
Vegetable Crops and Diseases.

All nut growers are confronted with the problems involved in the
production of nuts of large size with well filled kernels that are "bright" or
light colored. Unsatisfactory development and filling of the kernels is more
often a cause of complaint by growers than any other single factor affecting
nut production. This is because all of our commercial nuts now sold in the
shell are priced on a basis of size and the degree to which they are filled.
The size and degree of filling of the nuts varies not only from year to year,
but from district to district, orchard to orchard, and even in the same
orchard, because nuts of one variety may fill well and those of another
poorly. This is true even though the kind and variety of nut being produced
is grown in a locality usually having suitable climatic conditions for normal
nut production.

+Climatic Conditions+

Prevailing climatic conditions in any locality determine how well a
particular kind of nut will fill. For example, the pecan is native to the
southern part of the United States and a small area in northern Mexico. In
its native habitat the summers are long and the day and night temperatures
are uniformly high, with little difference between maximum and minimum
daily temperatures. When the pecan is grown under conditions of shorter
summers, or where there is a marked difference between night and day
temperatures, the nuts do not grow to proper size and the kernels fill poorly,

if at all. Although pecan trees are quite hardy and may be grown
successfully well north of their native limits, the normal development of the
nuts and the filling of them cannot be expected there.

Good examples of the climactic effects can be cited. At Davis, California,
the pecan tree grows, flowers, and sets fruit satisfactorily, but the nuts fail
to grow to proper size, fill poorly, and may not mature before frost. At
Davis there is an average length of growing season of 242 days; the day
temperatures are high, but the night temperatures are comparatively low.
Pecan trees are hardy even in Connecticut, but the trees fail to bear because
of the short growing season and the great difference between day and night
temperatures. The pecan is truly a hot weather crop and is not suited for
culture under mountainous conditions. On the other hand it cannot be
grown under subtropical conditions because of insufficient cold during the
winter to meet the chilling requirement of the trees. Under such conditions,
tree growth starts very late in the spring, and, although the trees may flower,
few nuts may set and those that stick may be very poorly filled at harvest if
they mature.

The pecan is probably more exacting in regard to its climactic
requirements than are our other kinds of nuts, but the filbert or hazlenut is
probably a close second in this respect. The filbert, however, represents the
opposite extreme in that it does best under conditions of mild winter and
moderate summer temperatures. These differences are pointed out for the
reason that many amateur nut growers want to grow certain nuts outside of
their native range in places where unsuitable climatic conditions prevail,
and they cannot understand why success is not possible.

+Growth and Fruiting Habit of Nut Trees+

Since the growth and fruiting habits of our different kinds of nut trees are
closely related, it is desirable to point out some of these relationships. All of
our different species of walnuts, the pecan and all hickory nuts, as well as
hazelnuts and filberts, are borne terminally on shoots of the current season.
In other words all walnut species, pecan, and all hickory species bear the
pistillate flowers that develop into nuts at the terminal end of the shoots
produced the same year that the nuts mature. The staminate or pollen-
producing flowers of all these species arise from lateral buds on shoots that
grew the previous year. In the case of hazelnut and filbert the pistillate
flowers are borne in lateral buds on shoots of the previous season, as are
also the staminate flowers or catkins. In this case, however, the pistillate
flowers are formed and pollinated before the current year's shoot growth is
made. Almonds are borne laterally on shoots produced the previous season.
All chestnuts are borne laterally on shoots produced the same season as the
nuts.

The chestnut bears most of the staminate flowers separately in staminate
catkins whereas the pistillate flowers are in mixed catkins, but all are
formed laterally on shoots of the current season. The almond, which has
perfect flowers, produces these in lateral buds on shoots of the previous
year. Both the hazelnut and the almond flower before any current-season
growth is made, whereas all of the other kinds of nut trees mentioned
produce almost all normal shoot growth before flowering occurs. These
differences in growth, flowering, and fruiting habits provide a basis for the
explanation of why growth of almond trees, for example, is harder to
maintain than is that of walnut or pecan. Flowering and early development
of the fruit before shoot growth is made tend to check such growth, so that
flowering and fruiting trees will not make as much new growth as they
would have made had flowering and fruiting been prevented.

In general, it can be stated that, in the case of bearing trees, the longer the
shoot growth and the greater its diameter in proportion to length, the greater
is the number of pistillate flowers that may be formed at its terminal.
Furthermore, the set of nuts and the size that they attain are in proportion to
the length and diameter of the shoots bearing them. In other words, the
number of flowers formed, the nuts set, and the size that they attain are
directly correlated with the vigor and growth of the trees. As trees attain
age, fewer long, strong shoots and more short, weak shoots are formed.
Hence the average size of the nuts produced decreases because of the
reduction in average shoot growth. Furthermore, under normal conditions,
the degree to which the nuts are filled is related to the vigor as it is
measured by the length and diameter of the shoots bearing them. Strong,
vigorous shoots usually produce the best filled and earliest maturing nuts.

+What Is a Nut and of What Does It Consist?+

Webster gives a general definition of a nut as "a fruit consisting of a
kernel or seed enclosed in a hard woody or leathery shell that does not open
when ripe, as in the hazel, beech, oak, chestnut." Technically speaking, it is
a hard, indehiscent, one-seeded dry fruit resulting from a compound ovary.
In horticultural language the fruit consists of the hard or leathery nut
containing a kernel, together with the husk, hull, or bur that surrounds the
nut shell. This kernel consists of the embryo plus the endosperm or its
remains. In all of our important nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, hickory nuts,
almonds, and filberts, the kernel is essentially the embryo with its thickened
cotyledons or seed leaves, as the endosperm has been absorbed except for a
thin membrane.

At the beginning of its development, growth of the embryo is slow, and
in very early stages it is merely a rounded mass of cells. Later, the
meristems of the epicotyl (stem or top) and root axis develop, but the whole

embryo is still microscopic in size. Still later the cotyledons (seed leaves)
start development from the apical meristem and their growth in length is
rapid, but they are very thin and follow the contours of the seed coat.
Growth in length of the cotyledons may be arrested by unfavorable
nutritional conditions during the time of elongation. In such case, the lobes
of the cotyledons may not attain the full length of the seed coat, or pellicle,
which surrounds them. After the cotyledons have attained full length,
growth in thickness begins in the area nearest the epicotyl and proceeds
toward the margins. This growth in thickness results from cambium-like
meristem with the formation of new cells. The formation of well developed
or solid kernels that completely fill the cavity within the shell is dependent
upon meristematic activity continuing almost to maturity. The weather
conditions, the nutrition of the tree, or other factors that affect the synthesis
and translocation of elaborated food materials from the leaves and shoots to
the kernels at this time determine the degree to which the cotyledons are
thickened, or in other words how well the nuts are filled.

+Periods of Development+

In the development of the nuts there are three periods or stages: (1) The
period of growth in size; (2) the period of nut filling or development of the
kernel; (3) the period of maturing.

What takes place during these periods of development determines the
size the nuts attain, the degree to which they are filled, and finally the
quality at harvest. These three developmental stages are interdependent,
because the size of the nuts may affect the degree of filling, and that, in
turn, the time and nature of their maturity. They are not entirely separate
and distinct but overlap in that there is more or less development of the
kernel, varying with the species, while the nuts are growing in size. In

general, however, there is not appreciable kernel development until after the
nuts have attained approximately full size, except in the chestnut.

The outstanding example of this situation is the pecan. There is
practically no growth of the kernel until after the shell of the nut has started
to become hard. At that time growth of the embryo, which constitutes the
kernel, become rapid. The major portion of the kernel is formed during a
period of approximately one month, starting at Beltsville, Maryland about
the middle of September. The final stages of filling occur just before the
nuts mature, and the first nuts to fall usually have the best filled kernels.
Later maturing nuts are generally poorly filled; their shells and kernels are
often discolored, and the shucks fail to open properly, if at all.

The development of walnuts, hickory nuts, and filberts, so far as is
known, is in all essentials the same as that described for the pecan nut
except that the kernel or embryo begins to grow somewhat earlier in the
season. However, the major portion of the filling, which consists in the
thickening of the cotyledons, takes place late in the season, and only a
month or a little more before the nuts mature.

The period of the maturing of the nuts generally closely follows the
completion of the filling of the kernels. During this period in the pecan,
certain other species of hickory, the Persian walnut, chestnut, and others,
food reserves are transferred from shucks, hulls, or burs to the nuts.
Abscission layers are formed and shucks, hulls, or burs split open on drying
out, thus partially or wholly releasing the nuts. There is a very direct
relationship between the degree to which the nuts are filled and their time of
and normality of maturing; well filled nuts mature early and normally,
whereas poorly filled nuts mature late, if at all, and shucks, hulls, or burs
fail to open properly.

+Growth in Size+

The size of the nuts produced by a tree is determined by a number of
factors, one or all of which may operate during the course of the season.
These are: (1) Age of tree; (2) position of the nuts on the tree; (3) fertility of
the soil and moisture supply, or the nutritional status of the tree; (4) size of
the crop borne.

In general, old trees bear smaller nuts than do younger trees. Hence size
of nut for a particular variety is only relative. The first few crops produced
by a tree usually consist of nuts large in size for the variety; and then, as the
tree attains age, nuts become smaller in size. Young trees make longer and
thicker shoot growth than do older trees. There is, then, under normal
conditions, a direct relationship between the growth made by a tree and the
size that the nuts attain. The more vigorous trees not only produce larger
nuts than those produced by less vigorous trees, but the hulls and shells of
such nuts are thicker and constitute a higher total percentage of the total
weight of the fruit.

The position of the nuts on a tree has an important effect on the size that
they ultimately attain. In general, the nuts in the top are larger than those
nearer the ground; and those on the strongest and most vigorous shoots of
the top or lateral branches will attain a larger size under normal conditions
than those located on weaker and shorter shoots or on the inside of the tree.
Here again there is a direct relationship between growth of the tree and
growth in size of nuts. All normal trees make longer and stronger shoot
growth in the top than they do on the terminals of lateral branches, and the
shortest and weaker shoots as well as the smallest nuts are generally on the
lateral branches inside of the tree top.

Fertility of soil and moisture supply determine in large measure both the
growth made by the tree and the size of nuts. The nuts borne on trees

growing on fertile soils adequately supplied with moisture are generally
much larger in size than those borne by trees on infertile soil or soil poorly
supplied with soil moisture. Deficiency of either nitrogen, or moisture, or
both is particularly effective in limiting the size of nuts produced. Pecans
grown under soil conditions in which both nitrogen and moisture were
deficient have been known to attain only about one-fourth the size of nuts
of the same varieties grown in the same orchard but under conditions of
clean cultivation and supplementary nitrogen applications. A prolonged
drought during the time that the nuts are increasing in size very frequently
causes them to be much smaller than they would have been had the
moisture supply been adequate.

The size of the crop borne by a tree determines in a very large measure
the size that the nuts attain at maturity. There is generally an inverse
relationship also between the number of nuts borne in a cluster on a shoot
and the size they attain. In this respect nut crops are little different from
apples and peaches, which, too, are sold on the basis of size. In order to
produce fruits of large size having a high market value, the crops are
thinned in years of a heavy set of fruit. In the case of pecans, for example,
thinning the crop at the time the nuts are growing in size on heavily
producing trees is a very effective method of increasing the average size of
the nuts allowed to remain on the trees. The earlier the thinning is done the
more effective it is; however, it will increase the size of the nuts even when
done as late as when the shells have started to become hard. No practical
and economical method of thinning the crop of nuts has as yet been found;
nevertheless it is well to bear in mind that a large crop borne by a tree
generally means reduced average size of the nuts at harvest.

+Filling or Development of the Kernels+

In general, the fruits (nuts) of a nut-bearing tree are what might be
termed storage organs. In them are stored mineral elements and such
elaborated food materials as carbohydrates (sugars and starch), oil, amino
acids, and proteins that have been removed from the leaves and wood of the
tree. These materials are stored for future use of the embryo in the nut to
sustain respiration, to permit germination, and to maintain the seedling until
it has produced enough leaf area to become self-sufficient.

The question may be asked, why is it so important that nuts be well
filled? The answer is very simple, because the quality of the oily nuts is
determined by how well the kernels are filled. All but one of our most
important nuts—almonds, filberts, hickory nuts, pecans, and walnuts—are

oily nuts; and well filled kernels contain from 50 to 75 percent or more of
oil, depending upon the species. Chestnuts are starchy nuts and contain less
than one percent of oil. The relationship between the degree of filling and
the composition of the kernel in oily nuts is outstanding, in that the better
filled nuts have a higher content of oil and a lower content of protein,
carbohydrates, water, and undetermined constituents than do poorly filled
nuts. Highest quality of the kernels is directly associated with highest oil
content and highest degree of filling. Nut kernels that are poorly filled are
often hollow, shrunken, shriveled, and chaffy. When eaten they may taste
sweet, but are lacking in the oily flavor characteristic of the particular
species of nut eaten. It is only in the best filled nuts that highest quality,
flavor, and oil content are found.

The degree to which nuts are filled or how well the kernels are developed
at harvest is determined by a rather large number of interrelated factors: (1)
Size of crop, or ratio of number of leaves per nut; (2) average size of nuts;
(3) condition of leaves; (4) amount of second growth of the trees; (5) size of
preceding crop and how well the nuts produced were filled; (6) disease and
insect injury to the nuts; (7) weather conditions; (8) heterosis or effect of
cross-pollination on embryo size.

+Size of crop:+ Nut growers want their trees to bear large annual crops of
nuts. It is very seldom that one hears a nut grower express the opinion that a
certain tree is carrying too many nuts for the crop to attain proper size and
fill well, yet this is very often the case. Furthermore, the production of a
large crop of poorly filled nuts one year is almost certain to result in a light
crop or none at all the following year. There is a very close inverse relation
between the size of the crop produced and the degree to which the nuts are
filled at harvest, namely, the larger the crop the less the nuts will be filled. It
has been pointed out above that nuts are storage organs, and the food
materials required to grow and fill them must be made in the leaves. When

too many nuts are set and carried through to the filling period, in proportion
to the number of leaves or the leaf area of the tree, it is not possible for the
leaves to synthesize the large amount of food materials required to fill the
nuts. In pecans, for example, it has been shown that six to eight leaves are
required normally to fill a nut properly and 10 or more leaves per nut if the
tree is to flower and set a crop the following year. Other ratios for number
of leaves or leaf area exist with other kinds of nuts. It is general experience
that large crops of nuts remove such large amounts of food materials and
minerals from the trees that a light crop or no crop at all is produced the
following year. This is especially true if the nuts are not especially well
filled in the "on crop year."

+Size of nuts:+ Almost everyone prefers large nuts to small ones, and
that is one reason, why the larger sizes command a higher price on the
markets. Many remember how popular the McCallister hican was a number
of years ago because of its extremely large size. Such varieties of the pecan
as Nelson and Mahan were very popular because the nuts produced were
generally much larger than those of other varieties. These varieties
remained popular until experience in growing them showed that they were
very often poorly filled at harvest. As a general rule, large nuts are more
difficult to fill properly than small nuts. This is obvious, because much
more food material must be made by the leaves and transported to fill the
kernels of large nuts than is required to fill an equal number of nuts of
smaller size. In seasons with conditions favorable for both tree growth and
growth in size of the nuts, it is often the experience that the nuts are poorly
filled at harvest. On the other hand, if the weather is dry during the period
in which the nuts are growing in size, they are much more likely to be well
filled at maturity. In fact, the writer has seen several instances in which,
because of severe drought in the spring, pecans were undersized, yet the
kernels developed and filled so well that the shells of the nuts cracked at
maturity.

+Condition of leaves:+ To produce well filled nuts, nut trees must bear a
large leaf area and the leaves must be in good health and vigor. If they are
to produce annual crops, the trees must carry their leaves until cold weather
in the late fall, undamaged by insects or diseases. The importance of a large
leaf area free from injury or abnormal condition is so great that it can hardly
be overemphasized in connection with nut production. It can be definitely
stated that under normal conditions the size of the crop produced and the
degree to which the nuts are filled is directly related to the leaf area and the
length of time it is carried by the tree.

If the leaf area is to be large, the trees must make good, strong, vigorous
shoot growth, and this means that proper attention must be given to
fertilization to insure that the trees have adequate amounts of nitrogen,
potassium, magnesium, zinc, and boron, as well as all other essential
elements. The elements mentioned have been found most likely to be
deficient in the soils of eastern and southern United States. In those regions
their lack may be expected most frequently to limit tree growth or the filling
of the nuts because of their effects on the leaves and the consequent
inability of the leaves to make food materials. Deficiency of one or more of
these elements results in leaves that are not able to make food materials in
anywhere near such amounts as do normal leaves well supplied with all
essential elements. In severe cases, deficiency of one or more of these
elements results in chlorosis of the leaves, still later in leaf scorch, and
finally in premature leaf fall. Trees having leaves in such condition cannot
be expected to fill the nuts borne by them.

Most nut trees grown about home or farmstead are deficient in nitrogen,
as the trees must compete with grass, weeds, shrubbery, or other trees.
Frequently there is not enough plant food for all. A deficiency of nitrogen
limits the growth and the leaf area carried by a tree. A deficiency of
potassium or magnesium very greatly limits the amount of food material

made by the leaves and hence greatly decreases the filling and the oil
content of the kernels. Zinc or boron deficiency has a similar effect.

Hence, to insure the production of well filled nuts, one must be certain
that the trees are well fertilized and that the fertilizer elements applied are in
proper balance one with the others.

Injury to the leaves resulting from attacks by diseases and insects is one
of the most common and important causes of poorly filled nuts. Every
species and variety of tree nut suffers from at least one disease or insect pest
that damages the leaves and hence limits or curtails the amount of
elaborated food materials they can make. In most cases the fungi or bacteria
causing foliage diseases infect the leaves in early spring at the time they are
unfolding and growing in size, although the infection may not be noticeable
until later. These infected areas, even though they are small and not
numerous enough to cause the leaf to fall, seriously impair the functioning
of the leaf out of all proportion to the area directly affected. Should the
infection be so severe as to cause premature defoliation, the damage will be
great even though only a small percentage of the leaves falls. The disease of
eastern Mack walnut known as leaf spot, or anthracnose, is one of these
defoliating diseases that causes untold damage from poorly filled nuts in the
current crop year, and results in a small crop or none at all the following
year. The development and spread of these diseases is gradual, and
unsuspecting growers do not realize the damage they cause.

On other hand, the injuries caused by such insects as the webworm, the
walnut caterpillar, the pecan leaf case-bearer, the Japanese beetle, and
others are somewhat spectacular in that the leaves may be partly or
completely consumed on portions of the trees. The injury caused by the
walnut aphis, the walnut lace bug, the pecan black aphis, and others, on the
other hand, is less conspicuous; but the end result is far more serious than it