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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.
NORTHERN
NUT GROWERS
ASSOCIATION
INCORPORATED
39th Annual Report
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.
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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
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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.
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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. |
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