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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.
44th Annual Report
OF THE
Northern Nut Growers Association
Incorporated
AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
* * * * *
Annual Meeting at
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
August 31—September 1, 1953
Table of Contents
Officers and Committees 1953-54 4 State and Foreign Vice-Presidents 6 Constitution and By-laws 8 Call to Order, 44th Annual Meeting 11 Address of Welcome—Wilbur Wright 12 Business Session—Secretary's Report—Treasurer's Report 13, 14, 15 Blossoming Habits of the Persian Walnut—H. F. Stoke 18 President's Address—Richard B. Best 22 About Nuts—Ira M. Kyhl 28 Natural Variation Observed in Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch. in Central New York—David H. Caldwell 29 The Control of the Hickory Weevil (Curculio caryae) 39 Round Table Discussion—What's Your Problem 43 The International Chestnut Commission and the Chestnut Blight Problem in Europe, 1953—G. Flippo Gravatt 52 Rooting Chestnuts from Softwood Cuttings—Roger W. Pease 56 Evaluating Chestnuts Grown under Forest Conditions—Jesse D. Diller 59 Panel Discussion—Chestnuts 62 Development of the Nut Industry in the Middle West—J. F. Wilkinson 70 Some Aspects of the Problem of Producing Curly-Grained Walnuts—L. H. MacDaniels 72 Late Rev. Paul C. Crath—L. K. Devitt 80 The Eastern Black Walnut as a Farm Timber Tree—John Davidson 84 The McKinster Persian Walnut—P. E. Machovina 89 Carpathian Walnuts in the Colombia River Basin—Lynn Tuttle 94 Walnuts and Filberts in Southern Wisconsin—C. F. Ladwig 95 Biology, Distribution and Control of the Walnut Husk Maggot—F. L. Gambrell 98 Panel Discussion: The Persian Walnut Situation 104 Banquet Session—Resolutions Committee Report 109 Walnuts in Lubec, Maine—Radcliffe B. Pike 115 My Thirty Years Experience with Nut Trees—Carl Weschcke 116 Growing American Chestnuts and Their Hybrids Under Blight Conditions—Alfred Szego 119 Experiences and Observations on Nut Growing in Central Texas—Kaufman Florida 121 Propagation of the Hickories—F. L. O'Rourke 122 A Root Disease of the Persian Walnut—G. Flippo Gravatt 127 Factors That Influence Nut Production—W. B. Ward 129 Pictorial Record of Grafting at Climax Michigan—W. M. Beckert 134 Rock Phosphate for Nut Trees—Harry B. Burgart 135 A Report from Southern Minnesota—R. E. Hodgson 136 Chestnut Breeding—Report for 1953—Arthur Harmount Graves and Hans Nienstaedt 136 Dr. W. C. Deming—John Davidson 144 The Nomenclature of Nut Varieties—George H. M. Lawrence 145 The New Code for the Naming of Cultivated Plants—J. S. L. Gilman 149 Exhibit at the Harvest Show of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 158 Attendance Register, Rochester, N. Y. 1953 159 Membership List 160
Officers for 1953-54
President Richard B. Best, Eldred, Illinois Vice-President Gilbert Becker, Climax, Michigan Secretary Spencer B. Chase, Knoxville, Tennessee Treasurer William S. Clarke, Jr., State College, Pennsylvania Directors Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Ithaca, New York Dr. William Rohrbacher, Iowa City, Iowa Dean of the Association Dr. W. C. Deming, Litchfield, Connecticut
EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS 1953-54
Program Committee: Dr. Lloyd L. Dowell, Royal Oakes, Dr. J. W. McKay, Roy D. Anthony, J. G. McDaniel, Lewis E. Theiss, W. B. Ward.
Local Arrangements: Mrs. Herbert Krone, R. P. Allaman, John Rick, Elwood B. Miller, Victor Brook.
Place of Meeting Committee: To explore meeting places for three years, Michigan and Connecticut as possible places for the 1955 and 1956 annual conventions. W. M. Beckert, R. P. Allaman, Carl Prell, Lloyd L. Dowell.
Publication Committee: Professor George L. Slate, Dr. L. H. MacDaniels.
Varieties and Contests Committee: J. C. McDaniel, Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Sylvester M. Shessler, H. F. Stoke, Royal Oakes.
Standards and Judging Committee: (Section of Varieties Committee) Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Dr. H. L. Crane, Louis Gerardi, Spencer B. Chase, Professor Paul E. Machovina.
Survey and Research Committee: H. F. Stoke (With all state and foreign vice-presidents).
Exhibits Committee: Dr. L. H. MacDaniels, Fayette Etter, H. F. Stoke, Royal Oakes, J. F. Wilkinson, G. J. Korn.
Understock Committee: J. C. McDaniel, Albert B. Ferguson, Dr. Aubrey Richards, Louis Gerardi, Dr. A. S. Colby, Max Hardy, Gilbert L. Smith.
Auditing Committee: Raymond E. Silvis, Sterling A. Smith, Edward W. Pape.
Legal Advisor: Sargent H. Wellman, Esq.
Finance Committee: Carl F. Prell, Ford Wallick, Sterling A. Smith.
Necrology Committee: Mrs. H. L. Crane, Mrs. C. A. Reed, Mrs. Wm. J. Wilson.
Nominating Committee: (Elected at Rochester, N. Y.) Paul E. Machovina, Raymond Silvis, George Salzer, Dr. H. L. Crane, Ira M. Kyhl.
Membership Committee: Gilbert Becker, Raymond E. Silvis, Edward W. Pape, Gordon Pulliam, Hon. Paul C. Daniels, Max B. Hardy.
Publicity Committee: Paul E. Machovina, Wm. J. Wilson, Carl F. Prell, Frank M. Kintzel.
Change of Name Committee: Elwood B. Miller, John Davidson, Dr. J. W. McKay, Dr. H. L. Crane.
State and Foreign Vice-Presidents
Alabama Edward L. Hiles, Loxley Alberta A. L. Young, Brooks Arkansas W. D. Wylie, Univ. of Ark., Fayetteville Belgium R. Vanderwaeren, Bierbeekstraat, 310, Korbeek-Lo British Columbia, Canada J. U. Gellatly, Box 19, Westbank California Thos. R. Haig, M.D., 3021 Highland Ave., Carlesbad Colorado J. E. Forbes, Julesburg Connecticut A. M. Huntington, Stanerigg Farms, Bethel Delaware Lewis Wilkins, Route 1, Newark Denmark Count F. M. Knuth, Knuthenborg, Bandholm District of Columbia Ed. L. Ford, 3634 Austin St., S.E. Washington 20 Florida C. A. Avant, 960 N. W. 10th Ave., Miami Georgia William J. Wilson, North Anderson Ave., Fort Valley Hawaii John F. Cross, P. O. Box 1720, Hilo Hong Kong P. W. Wang, 6 Des Voeux Rd., Central Idaho Lynn Dryden, Peck Illinois Royal Oakes, Bluffs (Scott County) Indiana Edw. W. Pape, Rt. 2, Marion Iowa Ira M. Kyhl, Box 236, Sabula Kansas Dr. Clyde Gray, 1045 Central Ave., Horton Kentucky Dr. C. A. Moss, Williamsburg Louisiana Dr. Harald E. Hammar, 608 Court House, Shreveport Maryland Blaine McCollum, White Hall Massachusetts S. Lothrop Davenport, 24 Creeper Hill Rd., North Grafton Michigan Gilbert Becker, Climax Minnesota R. E. Hodgson, Southeastern Exp. Station, Waseca Mississippi James R. Meyer, Delta Branch Exp. Station, Stoneville Missouri Ralph Richterkessing, Route 1, Saint Charles Montana Russel H. Ford, Dixon Nebraska Harvey W. Hess, Box 209, Hebron New Hampshire Matthew Lahti, Locust Lane Farm, Wolfeboro New Jersey Mrs. Alan R. Buckwalter, Route 1, Flemington New Mexico Rev. Titus Gehring, P. O. Box 177, Lumberton New York Stephen Bernath, Route No. 3, Poughkeepsie North Carolina Dr. R. T. Dunstan, Greensboro College, Greensboro North Dakota Homer L. Bradley, Long Lake Refuge, Moffit Ohio Christ Pataky Jr., 592 Hickory Lane, Route 4, Mansfield Oklahoma A. G. Hirschi, 414 North Robinson, Oklahoma City Ontario, Canada Elton E. Papple, Cainsville Oregon Harry L. Pearcy, Route 2, Box 190, Salem Pennsylvania R. P. Allaman, Route 86, Harrisburg Prince Edward Is. Canada Robert Snazelle, Forest Nursery, Route 5, Charlottetown Rhode Island Philip Allen, 178 Dorance St., Providence South Carolina John T. Bregger, P. O. Box 1018, Clemson South Dakota Herman Richter, Madison Tennessee W. Jobe Robinson, Route 7, Jackson Texas Kaufman Florida, Box 154, Rotan Utah Harlan D. Petterson, 2076 Jefferson Ave., Ogden Vermont A. W. Aldrich, R. F. D. 2, Box 266, Springfield Virginia H. R. Gibbs, Linden Washington H. Lynn Tuttle, Clarkston West Virginia Wilbert M. Frye, Pleasant Dale Wisconsin C. F. Ladwig, 2221 St. Lawrence, Beloit
CONSTITUTION of the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED (As adopted September 13, 1948)
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, a 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 I. ANNUAL MEMBERS. Persons who are interested in the purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Three Dollars ($3.00).
ARTICLE II. Contributing members. Persons who are interested in the purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Ten Dollars ($10.00) or more.
ARTICLE III. 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 IV. 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 V. 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 I. 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 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 II. Vice-president. In the absence of the President, the Vice-president shall perform the duties of the President.
ARTICLE III. 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 IV. 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 V. 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 I. 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 II. 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 III. 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 IV. A quorum at a regularly called Annual Meeting shall be fifteen (15) members and must include at least two of the elected officers.
ARTICLE V. All classes of members whose dues are paid shall be eligible to vote and hold office.
SECTION IV.—FINANCIAL MATTERS
ARTICLE I. The fiscal year of the Association shall extend from October 1st through the following September 30th. All annual memberships shall begin October 1st.
ARTICLE II. 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 shall be mailed to delinquent members on or about December 1st.
ARTICLE III. 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 I. 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 I. The Association shall publish a report each fiscal year and such other publications as may be authorized by the Association.
ARTICLE II. The publishing of the report shall be the responsibility of the Committee on Publications.
SECTION VII.—AWARDS
ARTICLE I. 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 practical 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 I. 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 II. 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 I. 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
44th Annual Meeting
Northern Nut Growers Association
Rochester, New York
August 31—September 1, 1953
MONDAY MORNING SESSION
PRESIDENT BEST: We are opening this 44th Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association with this historic gavel which was made from wood grown in the Thomas Littlepage pecan grove near Washington, D. C. Opening each session with this gavel has been a custom of this organization for many, many years.
We are very anxious to have you folks meet some of the men who have made our meeting possible here at Rochester. I would first like to introduce Mr. W. Stephen Thomas, Director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences. Mr. Thomas.
MR. THOMAS: Thank you, Mr. Best.
We are always glad to welcome groups such as yours. You represent a unique organization to us with interests not in our field. We are a public institution, and are glad to have you here.
I feel there are many things of interest in this museum and in our program to interest you, because you are horticulturists and people interested in the out-of-doors.
This museum is owned by the City of Rochester. By the way, there are only about 12 museums throughout the country that are supported as we are. We get 98 per cent of our funds from the City of Rochester. It is not endowed. It is the people's museum. In the exhibit upstairs are three dimensional models showing the evolution of the Genesee Valley in New York from early times to the present. Here you will see a beautiful panorama of what it looked like two hundred million years ago right where we are sitting and standing now when the seas overlay the area during the Devonian and Silurian times. We have reconstructed the little sea creatures that lived in the rocks in their natural colors.
Another exhibit is the Indian story, primitive man, not just before the white man came, but going back 1500 years. On the top floor you may see how the pioneer man worked here as a woodcutter and running flour mills and how the city came about. The whole story of our region is in the museum.
But more important than these exhibits is what we do through the educational system; adult lectures, and so forth. That is just a little background of our work. I know you have your important business at hand, but I hope you will have a little time to view the exhibits. We want to help you in any way we can. If there is anything we can do, don't fail to ask.
PRESIDENT BEST: Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Most of you met Mr. Wilbur Wright last night out at the park. He is going to make an address of welcome from the City of Rochester and from the parks. Mr. Wright.
MR. WRIGHT: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the City of Rochester and the Park Department, we want to welcome you to The Friendly City. We want you to feel that Rochester has its hand out for a wide open welcome for anything we can do to make you happy while you are here.
The parks are particularly interested in the fact that you have chosen Rochester as your conference city for 1953. The parks, as you know, are a good deal like the museum. They are botanical collections in the heart of the city, the money coming from the city; the taxpayers pay the bill. We have a tremendous botanical collection here, and are known the country over for our lilac and other collections.
We have, in the past two years, appointed Bernard Harkness to take charge of our plant collections, with the title of taxonomist. It took quite a bit of backing to get Civil Service to break down and make such a title. There wasn't such a title in the State of New York, and they couldn't understand why they should give it.
Mr. Grant is another good Cornellian coming along as Assistant Superintendent of Parks, and he is, again, looking after the maintenance and upkeep of the various plant materials that we have.
We have a very large organization here, the Parks Division includes the cemeteries, 90,000 street trees, 56 playgrounds, and about 2,000 acres of parks. Our peak employment is 756 people. All-in-all we have a tremendous amount of interest in our parks, and they are increasing. We are exchanging plants with about 25 foreign countries right now, and we expect to expand that now with the various facilities we are setting up at our new herbarium, which you visited last night.
We are proud of Rochester, and the park system. We are doing our best to continue the excellent work of Dunbar, Laney, and Slavin who built up the park collections. Our aim is to increase the collections, and make the park system better for the people to enjoy. We hope you have a fine time while you are here. Thank you.
PRESIDENT BEST: Dr. MacDaniels, ex-president of our Association will give our organization's response.
DR. MACDANIELS: Chairman Best, Director Thomas and Director Wright, I don't know whether I am particularly well qualified for this particular assignment, but I am certainly very happy to express the thanks of the Northern Nut Growers Association for the excellent cooperation in arranging the facilities which we have found here in Rochester. Few of us can recall any situation in which the Association has been helped all along the way, as they have been here, and we feel most welcome in this truly friendly city.
Before the meeting I thought I was going to be able to claim a sort of paternal interest in the training of Director Wright in that he studied just prior to the war in the Department of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture at Cornell University where I am stationed. Although we saw a good deal of him after the war, he came directly here, so I can't say that I knew him "way back when" he was an undergraduate student. Still we do have a proprietary interest in all Cornellians, and we like to see the home team make good as has certainly been the case here.
Fortunately, Ithaca is close enough to Rochester, so that our classes can come to the Rochester parks on field trips where we have always received the most friendly cooperation and help just as the Northern Nut Growers is receiving today. I assure you that we are most grateful.
PRESIDENT BEST: We will proceed with the business of the organization. On the Resolutions Committee which will give us resolutions for adoption at our final night session, I appoint Mr. Davidson, Mr. Allaman, Mr. Oakes and Mr. Snyder.
The next item of business is the election of a Nominating Committee. This committee is to nominate the officers which will be elected at our next annual meeting. Nominations are now in order.
DR. MCKAY: I nominate Mr. Machovina.
MR. DAVIDSON: Mr. Silvis.
DR. CRANE: I'd like to nominate Mr. Salzer.
MR. DAVIDSON: I think Dr. Crane ought to be nominated.
MR. STOKE: I nominate Mr. Kyle from Iowa.
DR. DOWELL: I move nominations be closed.
PRESIDENT BEST: Is there a second to Dr. Dowell's motion that nominations be closed? (Motion seconded and passed.)
PRESIDENT BEST: Nominations are closed. Those in favor of this list, Mr. Kyle, Dr. Crane, Mr. George Salzer, Mr. Silvis, Mr. Machovina, for Nominating Committee for next year make it known by saying "Aye." (Chorus of "ayes") Opposed? (None.)
PRESIDENT BEST: May we have the report of the Program Committee. They have been at work, we can see that. The evidence is on every hand. Dr. McKay?
DR. MCKAY: The program you have in your hands represents the work of the Program Committee. The work of the Program Committee is done prior to the meeting and I want to say that this year I really did have fine cooperation from the members and from the members of the committee in responding to requests for numbers on the program. That always makes the work of a committee easy. Because of this fine cooperation I can say truthfully that the effort on my part was relatively small.
As all of you know, we now have a larger group of people to draw from for our programs than formerly. We always go back, of course, to our tried and true members who, year after year, give us numbers for the program, but we also like to give the new members a chance and recruit from new sources whenever possible. I haven't analyzed the program enough to know exactly how many new members are listed on the program this year, but I think you will find a few, and as the organization continues to grow, it will be desirable to use these new sources of information for items on the program as much as we can.
PRESIDENT BEST: That's fine. I don't think we can emphasize that too much, this new-member proposition.
We are ready now for the report of the Secretary, Mr. Chase.
MR. CHASE: About the only report that I have to make is one that was prepared by Mr. Carl Prell, and I don't see why in the world he didn't give it, since it's such a fine job of getting together the information on membership. I am going to try to sum this up for you, in order that you will know the progress we made in the membership drive to which so many of you contributed.
On the books as of today we have 1013 paid up members. (Applause.) In addition to that, we have 15 more who will begin membership the beginning of our fiscal year, and in addition to that, there are ten more too new to be acknowledged yet. So we are in pretty good shape on membership.
New members total is 455, which is, I think, just about double from last year, if my memory serves me correctly. Leader in the members by state is our good, old friend Ohio with 126. They produced 42 new members this year. Second on the list is Illinois, with 102, and they came up with 38 new members.
DR. MACDANIEL: I think this is the first year we have had a hundred members from any state.
MR. CHASE: Pennsylvania has 83, with 26 new members. New York 78, with 27 new members. Indiana 70 with 31 new members. Michigan 58 with 28 new members. That covers the top six states.
During the year we lost 71 members. That breaks down to five deceased, 12 resigned and 54 that we haven't heard from. Out of the 12 that resigned, seven were one-year old and only 5 older members. Now, of the 54 not heard from, 40 were one-year members and 14 were older members. Total loss is 71, actually. We had 14 reinstatements this year.
Does anyone have a question on membership? There are quite a few folks in the Association who are really working hard to get new members, and a great number have come up with at least one. But, actually, I believe, Carl, it's a very small percentage of the membership that's really working, is that correct?
MR. PRELL: I am afraid so.
MR. CHASE: And the 71 lost, you considered about normal, didn't you? We have to figure on losing about 10 per cent. Well, we can't afford to lose a hundred.
I don't have too much to report as Secretary, except we might briefly review this hectic year since the little sub-zero walnut story appeared in the Farm Journal. In June a year ago I received a request for an article on the hardy English walnut. I handled it as a routine request and sent it to the Farm Journal. Of course, Joe McDaniel was secretary, and I referred all the interested readers to him for further information. The first batch of mail hit Joe right after our meeting in Rockport, and he had 1500 inquiries within two weeks. I forgot to warn him that this might be coming up, and he went ahead and handled about 1500 of these inquiries, and then I don't know what happened to him, he started sending them down to me. Between myself, my secretary, my wife, and my boy we handled the other 4,000, and they are still, as Joe says, actually coming in.
To handle that, took some of our funds as you see under "promotion business", in the treasurer's report. The mimeographing was gratis, also the assembling and mailing, but the postage we had to pay for.
So all we have to show for that is about how many members, Carl?
MR. PRELL: I will say 200.
MR. CHASE: That's about right. As these inquiries came in we compiled lists of names and sent them to Mr. Best. Then Mr. Best mimeographed a letter and some other material, along with an application folder and followed up these inquiries except the last 500. So we hit them once with a three-page information sheet from the Secretary's office, then Mr. Best at least once again with a follow-up letter, and out of almost 5,000 we get about 200 members, which is pretty good. And there are a lot of other folks I know would join if somebody would contact them.
MR. CHASE: So ever since last October I don't know what side is up so far as N.N.G.A. is concerned. I don't pretend it hasn't taken a good deal of effort and a lot of time from some things that I should have done, but I enjoyed doing it for the Association, and I have no regrets. The only thing I am sorry about is that we didn't get 500 instead of just 200 members.
PRESIDENT BEST: Thank you. Spencer. (Applause.) That's a fine report.
May we hear from our Auditing Committee, Mr. Silvis.
MR. SILVIS: The report of the Treasurer, which I have just had an opportunity of inspecting, is the most professional document I have ever had the pleasure of examining as a member of this Auditing Committee on which I have been several times. And I think a testimonial is due our Treasurer, Mr. Carl Prell, who has combined the rare talents of bookkeeping and comparative reporting.
The Auditing Committee, composed of Sterling Smith, who was not able to be here, Mr. Pape of Indiana, and myself, accept this report of Carl Prell on behalf of this Northern Nut Growers Association,
PRESIDENT BEST: Let's have the Treasurer's report. Mr. Prell
Report of the Treasurer
CARL PRELL, South Bend, Indiana
At the beginning of this fiscal year it seemed likely to your Board of Directors that the Association's investment in government bonds would have to be converted into cash to meet the year's expenses. There was barely enough money in the treasury to pay for the 42nd Annual Report, which should have been billed the preceding year.
Normally, the treasurer collects only enough money to pay for one report, plus the year's operating expenses. The problem this year was to pay operating expenses and to discharge our obligation on two reports.
Anticipating this problem, and in an effort to correct recurring deficits, your Board made plans back in 1951 for a drive to increase membership. Some momentum was gained by the end of last year, which carried into this year with increasing force. The result was the substantial gain in membership reported upon by your Secretary—with a substantial increase in revenue.
Membership drives, of course, are a mixed blessing. They may produce more dues; but they certainly cost money. Our promotion expenditure jumped from practically nothing in 1951 to $115 in 1952 to $620 in 1953. However, our dues collection from new members thus gained, were more than $1200 in 1953 alone—twice as much as was spent. And it is important to note that an expenditure to gain a member is made only once, whereas the member's dues continue year after year.
In any event, increased membership was a factor in keeping us from cashing our reserves.
Another important factor was the very generous response of the membership to a plea for Sustaining and Contributing dues. Thirty percent of our old members responded with $10.00 payments for Contributing Memberships or $5.00 payments for Sustaining Memberships. This help was needed. It is deserving of special mention in this report.
One other factor contributed to successful operation this year, as it has in other years. This factor does not show up in figures in a financial statement for the simple reason that the figures are modestly withheld from the treasurer. I refer to the out-of-pocket and unreported expenditures of officers and committeemen, which expenditures sometimes are sizeable. Certainly they were this year. The fact that such contributions were made should be noted.
The sum total of all this is a financial showing for the year that may be considered satisfactory. Our debts are all paid. No bonds were cashed. Nothing was borrowed. And we have money in the bank.
At this time last year we had a cash balance of $1313.78. Today our balance is $303.70. We spent $1,000 more than we took in. But we paid for two Annual Reports. The lesser report cost $1200. If this were subtracted from this year's business, where it does not belong, our cash balance would be $1500.00. In short, on this year's business—even with all its unusual expenses for promotion—our income was more than our disbursements—by $200.00. This reverses the deficit trend of recent years.
RECEIPTS Membership Dues $3,638.05 Sale of Annual Reports 394.00 Advertising in Nutshell 110.00 Contributions 39.00 Interest on Government Bonds 37.50 TOTAL $4,218.55
DISBURSEMENTS 42nd Annual Report (Urbana) $1,205.53 Printing (1000 copies) $1,050.00 Reporting (addi. billing) 97.05 Postage & Addressing 58.48 43rd Annual Report (Rockport) $1,760.72 Printing (1200 copies) $1,477.42 Envelopes, 800 19.60 Reporting 100.00 Postage & Addressing 163.70 The Nutshell Printing, 4 issues 353.11 American Fruit Grower 39.00 73 Subscriptions at 50c 36.50 2 Subscriptions at 75c 1.50 1 Subscription at 1.00 1.00 Association Promotion 620.47 Application folder, printing 11,200 164.28 Stationery for Sub-Zero and V. P. campaigns 337.24 Mimeo Sub-Zero and follow-up, 1500 59.00 Postage, Things of Science 59.95 Secretary's Fee, 50c per member 517.50 1952-53 Fee to date 506.50 Balance of 1951-52 11.00 Stationery and Supplies 268.22 Secretary's Expense 315.87 Treasurer's Expense 143.21 Dues, American Horticultural Society 5.00 TOTAL $5,228.63
Cash on deposit, First Bank, South Bend $ 303.70 Disbursements 5,228.63 $5,532.33
On hand, August 18, 1952 $1,313.78 Receipts 4,218.55 $5,532.33 U. S. Bonds in Safety Deposit Box $3,000.00
MR. PRELL: I am going to close right now with this information which the Association, I think, should have. The membership promotion consisted of a campaign called the "Vice-president's Campaign" sparkplugged by Mr. Best. Thousands of letters were sent out through the vice-president's and from the president's office to the membership. You may have received some of them. In addition to that, thousands of other letters were sent out to people who had responded to a story that appeared in Farm Journal wanting to know about the Association. I can't calculate how many went out, I have never been told, but I would guess about 5,000 of them. And those all went out from Mr. Best's office. In addition, our addressograph plate system was not in very good shape, due to the fact the organization was too poor to keep it up. Mr. Best supplied addressograph plates for the whole list.
I wrote to Mr. Best on April 27th, as I wanted all the bad news, and I wrote to some other people. I said, "You have not yet rendered a bill for postage on your mailing. Will you please make your request?" And he answered,
"I was surprised you asked about the postage charge from here. It has been my intent from the beginning of the campaign to carry the postage charge myself."
Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT BEST: Carl, I know you have done a lot of hard work, and I'd like to say for the organization that we do appreciate what you have done for us.
I see Mr. Slate has come in back here. Mr. Slate have you a word from the Publications Committee?
MR. SLATE: I have no formal report. The part of the Publications Committee with which I am concerned is the proceedings. The speed with which that job was done depends upon how fast the papers come in and the transcript of the proceedings finished. The transcript is rather complicated and a lot of things are said that shouldn't go into the report. It takes a lot of work with the blue pencil to boil the material down to something that's useful and worth paying a printing bill for.
One other thing that I should mention is the cost of mailing. I don't know whether that has been mentioned previously or not. We had a little difficulty with the Post Office Department. Carl Prell can tell you about that.
PRESIDENT BEST: Yes, he did. I have heard only good reports of your fine job. I think we all agree that it was a scholarly production.
Do we have anything from the Survey Committee?
Blossoming Habits of the Persian Walnut
H. F. STOKE, Roanoke, Va.
The Survey Committee, as its project for the current year, has undertaken a study of the blossoming habits of the Persian walnut. The prime object of this study is to solve the problem of pollination, so that the planter may be reasonably sure of a satisfactory crop, whether his planting be a single tree or an orchard.
While this study has dealt exclusively with the Persian species, Juglans regia, the habits and principles involved apply equally to all walnut species.
In most plants the reproductive function inheres in a single bisexual flower, consisting of both male and female elements. In walnuts, as well as most other nuts, the male and female functions are performed by unisexual flowers of very different type and appearance.
Both the male or staminate flower and the female or pistillate flower spring from buds that are formed in the axils at the base of leaves of the previous season's growth. In the Persian walnut they may be detected as early as July. The staminate bud that forms the pollen-producing catkin of the next season, can be distinguished by its checkered appearance, something like a tiny pine cone. They occur in the axils of the lower leaves of the shoot of the current season.
The pistillate bud, which produces the nut, occurs at or near the tip of the growth of the current season. It can usually be distinguished from leaf buds by its larger size and plumpness.
When these blossom buds develop the following season, the male or staminate blossom assumes the form of a catkin, which elongates rapidly a few days before maturity. As the pollen is shed, beginning at the stem end, the pale yellow-green of the bursted pollen capsule turns dark or black, proceeding to the tip of the catkin. This change readily shows that pollen is shedding, which may be confirmed by touching such a catkin with the tip of the finger, and noting the yellow pollen that adheres, or rises in a tiny cloud.
Making note of the date when a given variety begins shedding pollen, and the date when all catkins on the tree have opened, gives the period during which that variety is effective as a pollinizer.
The female, or pistillate flower, does not, like the catkin, spring directly from the wood of last season's growth, but occurs at the end of the new growth of the current year, being preceded by a number of leaves which nourish the young nut to maturity.
The pistillate blossom assumes the form of one or more tiny nutlets with little sharp-pointed tips. When the blossom has become receptive to pollen, each tip has separated into two separate pistils which spread apart and present fresh, slightly sticky surfaces, which are known as stigmas. This is the time that pollination can take place, which period continues until the stigmas have lost their freshness and stickiness. This period marks the time during which pollination can occur.
In many cases Persian walnut trees remain barren when planted alone, not because of incompatibility between the pollen and the pistillate flower, but because pollen shedding and receptivity do not occur at the same time. Sometimes pollen shedding is over before pistils are receptive. Such blooming is termed protandrous by botanists. In about an equal number of cases the pistils lose their receptivity before pollen is shed. Such blooming is termed protogynous. There are quite a number of varieties, however, that mature both types of blossoms simultaneously, in which the variety is self-fertile and will produce crops, even if isolated from other trees of the species. Of these Hanson and Bedford are representative. On some other trees there is some overlapping of the shedding and receptive periods, enough to produce partial, but not full crops.
Warm weather hastens blooming; cool cloudy weather retards it. A warm spell may start blossoming early, but if broken by a cool wave the period of bloom may be greatly extended.
A southern exposure with a light soil will cause a variety to blossom earlier by some days than in the same locality in heavy soil. The blossoming period is generally shorter in the North than in the South.
Climax, Michigan reports blooming beginning May 10 and ending May 31, a period of 21 days. Millerton, N. Y., and Massillon, Ohio, report the same.
Urbana, Ill., reports blooming beginning May 5 and ending June 1, a period of 27 days.
At Roanoke, Va., the period begins April 9 and ends May 10, running 31 days.
At Greensboro, North Carolina, the season began April 2 and ended May 5, a total of 33 days.
The report of Mr. Royal Oakes of Bluffs, Ill., is unique in the shortness of the blossoming period, both of individual varieties and as a whole. Blossoming began April 29 and ended (estimated) May 13, a period of only 14 days. The reason may partly lie in the weather and partly because the planting is on high bluffs overlooking the broad Illinois River valley, affording excellent air drainage.
One major difficulty the Committee encountered in tabulating the reports was the fact that so few of the same varieties were being grown by the various reporters, making it difficult and sometimes impossible to synchronize the blossoming period of the various varieties from different places with sufficient accuracy. Because of this, two tables have been prepared.
Table Number 1 shows named varieties, for the most part.
Table Number 2 shows varieties that are being propagated asexually, but have not yet been given variety names. Seedlings not propagated by budding or grafting, if recognized have been omitted because of individual variability.
Each table consists of five vertical columns, earliest to the right, successively later towards the left.
Varieties above the dividing line are shedding pollen at the time varieties in the same column below the line are receptive. A variety like Hanson, appearing in the same column both above and below the line, is self-pollinizing. Varieties appearing in more than one column indicate a long blooming period.
MR. BECKER: The Crath No. 1 I have been able to propagate is what Mr. Neilson gave to me as Crath No. 1—I guess he called it Crath.
MR. STOKE: We may have to discard a number of other Crath No. 1's, because the variation between them indicates a mixture of several clones with the same name.
PRESIDENT BEST: The next thing to consider is this resolution which is given word for word on page 26 of our 1952 annual report.
TABLE 1.
——————————————————————————————————— Broadview Bijur Carpathian D Beckman Parnell Lancaster Cutleaf S Bayer Bedford Watt McDermid Fort Custer Beckman Caesar [symbol: male] Hanson Breslau Etter Hilltop Caesar Eureka Ill. No. 23 Eureka Lake Mundt Grande S-24 Metcalfe James Lancaster Littlepage McKinster ——————————————————————————————————— Caesar Beckman Bijur Bayer Burtner McKinster Bijur Cutleaf Bedford Dewey Breslau Colby Broadview Etter Fort Custer Fickes No. 22 Etter Eureka Carpathian D Hanson Fort Custer Franquette Colby Hilltop Grande Mayette Cutleaf S Jacobs Ill. No. 23 L-2 [symbol: female] Fickes No. 22 James Lake Hansen Lake Lancaster Jacobs Lancaster Mundt Keener S-24 S-24 McDermid Metcalfe Metcalfe ———————————————————————————————————
TABLE 2.
——————————————————————————————————— Early Medium early Midseason Medium late Late
S-6 S-6 S-12 S-22 S-17 [symbol: male] S-12 S-12 S-22 S-24 S-57 S-33 S-66 S-24 S-25 Littlepage S-XD S-25 S-29 S-29 S-32 S-33 S-41 S-35 S-45 S-66 S-66 S-XD ——————————————————————————————————— S-5 S-5 S-6 S-6 S-7 [symbol: female] S-25 S-17 S-17 S-12 S-12 S-29 S-22 S-22 S-17 S-33 S-32 S-24 S-32 S-35 S-35 S-25 S-38 S-46 S-66 S-29 S-41 S-57 S-35 S-45 Littlepage S-38 S-46 S-41 S-48 S-45 S-XD S-48 Littlepage S-XD Littlepage ———————————————————————————————————
It was made by Mr. Dowell of the Ohio group, although it is of interest to every state that has an affiliated group or a chapter. Last year the matter was referred to the Board for their consideration. The Board carefully considered the resolution of the Ohio group, and the spirit of the Dowell resolution, was approved.
The matter was finally left with a committee made up of J. C. McDaniel, Mr. Carl Prell and Mr. Machovina. It is now in order to hear from these men the changes necessary in our by-laws to create the right atmosphere for the formation and operation of our state organizations, because we do want to encourage them. After hearing the proposals, a motion will be in order that they be approved. If approved, a year from now we will vote on the amendments to the by-laws. Mr. McDaniel will give the report of the committee.
DR. MACDANIEL: Your committee agreed on the suggested revision of Section IX, which covers chapters and affiliations. If this meets with the approval of the members here, final action must be deferred until the 45th annual meeting. Proposed amended Section IX of the by-laws reads as follows:
"Section IX.—Chapters and Affiliations.
"Article 1. The Association shall encourage the formation of regional groups of its members into chapters, which may elect their own officers and organize local field days and other programs. Such chapters need not limit their membership to members of the parent organization. They may publish their proceedings and selected papers in the proceedings of the parent society subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.
"Article 2. Any independent association or society interested in nut tree culture may affiliate with the Northern Nut Growers Association by payment of an annual affiliation fee of $5.00. Selected papers presented at the meetings of such an affiliated society may be published in the proceedings of this society subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications."
It is the thought of this special committee that the new wording simplifies and clarifies these two articles in regard to organization of chapters or sections, and second, affiliation of independent organizations. We thought we shouldn't limit it to affiliation of nut growers associations as such but to extend affiliation possibility to any society from garden club on up which is interested in nut growing. And under Article 1, whether we call this state group a chapter or a section doesn't seem to matter materially. I believe the Michigan group prefers to be called a chapter. The Ohio group, I think, will take it either way. At the present I think we have called that the Ohio Section of the Northern Nut Growers Association.
Any discussion? I submit this proposed amendment, Mr. President, to be printed in the 44th annual report for action at next year's meeting, the 45th annual meeting of this Association.
PRESIDENT BEST: Do we have a motion to accept the report? (The motion to accept was made by Dr. Crane, seconded and passed without dissent.)
PRESIDENT BEST: I was in hopes that we wouldn't have time for the next feature, but since some of the committees haven't reported yet, I am afraid that we have. That is the address by the president.
President's Address
RICHARD B. BEST, Eldred, Ill.
The task of setting down ideas for the reflection of the NNGA fills me with consternation. My scanty rills of thinking are inadequate.
You remember the old Arabian tale of the poor student who was shut up in an enchanted room in the bosom of the earth. You remember how the earth opened only once each year. The student was waited upon by demons and spirits who furnished deep and dark knowledge. When the door opened, the student emerged, loaded with great lore and pertinent facts. Like this Arabian student, by delving into antiquity and our old annual reports of the NNGA, I have put together some thoughts from men living and dead.
Irving says: this pilfering disposition which some of us have may be implanted in us for a good reason. Maybe through us pilferers or borrowers, Heaven takes care of the seeds of knowledge and wisdom from age to age. The worthwhile thoughts which some of our early members gave us may be purloined by me and made to sparkle again in today's light, even though the early members' general idea is obsolete.
So, just as nature has provided for the distribution of her plant varieties through the maws of birds and animals, so it may be that Heaven has provided for the fine thoughts of our old members to be caught by us predatory individuals and made to bear fruit again in this new day. Really this is one way we exist and go forward in our organization.
A crop of "tares" which we read about in the scripture enriches the soil for the next crop. As a forest dies, a new crop of trees spring up. Even a dead tree gives rise to a whole creation of countless bacteria and fungi.
So on "ad infinitum." Members who have talked and studied our problems in the past have made possible our work here today. So, likewise, our words will sleep with the others from whom we have borrowed. So, to escape with a good conscience, to avoid having fingers pointed at me, of hearing cries of—"you stole this from me," I will try to give credit where credit is due.
Otherwise, I might be, figuratively speaking, stripped of my material here piece by piece, and I would finally stand before you with hardly a loin cloth of an idea which I could call my own.
There is a popular appeal to the nut business which most of us are susceptible to,—like wanting to produce large nuts,—and of seeing the first nut,—and to again gather nuts like we did as children. Ask a man how large a nut he found and he will lie as he will about a fish he has just caught.
Then, there is the romantic visionary who would transform the whole universe into a sort of fairyland nut grove—where there are no insects, diseases, or squirrels,—and where the nuts fall polished into open bags.
Then, there are those of us—and I am one—who reasoning that the "groves were God's first temples," flee to a twilight hill top or to a forest shade, and, as Mr. Stokes said, "Sit humbly at the feet of the great mother of us all. There is wisdom and healing in the shadow of her wings."
We need this philosophical attitude to generate encouragement and inspiration to withstand the hard knocks that we have had—and will have coming. But, the NNGA must be more realistic and really do some grappling.
Read the experiences which all our reports are filled with. Mr. G. A. Miller on page 99 of the 1940 report handles this matter of success and failure very well. We live on our successes and not on our failures. Nut culture is pioneering, and it is well to be fully aware of the possibility of failure so that we may be steeled for it when it comes. Failure makes our successes sweeter.
Abraham Lincoln's life was a series of failures. Thomas Edison usually failed. Plant breeders at our stations nearly always fail. But, once in a while they succeed. In the nut business, if we succeed 1 in 10,000 times, success may be cheap at that.
Dr. MacDaniels stated so many important aspects of the NNGA that I want to list his outline here and then simply hang some thoughts on the skeleton of his report. For your own enjoyment and understanding, please read again Dr. MacDaniels's address "The Forward Look," which is found on page 27 of our 1952 report. I just mention his subjects and comment on them for emphasis.
1. Variety Evaluation
The Ohio Nut Growers did a fine job of getting this job of evaluation in the groove. Read about it on page 29 of the 1946 report. How many of us here have wasted years on varieties that good evaluation might have discarded, before we started to plant the nut.
2. Judging Standards
Which covers such things as—
(a) Sealing of nuts (b) Recovery of halves (c) Size, quality, etc.
Evaluation and judging include all those fine things we look for in a nut.
3. The Naming of Varieties
Many of us have the same tree growing but calling it a different name.
4. Securing New Varieties
And getting them into as many channels. Mr. Wilkinson started several "Chief" pecan trees last year and gave them all away. Chief is a fine new variety of pecan. If we had a few more Ford Wilkinsons in this organization, "God bless him," we wouldn't have so many problems.
5. The Work of Individuals
There is always the possibility of finding the "perfect nut," so we need to continue our search through the earth for better varieties.
Scientific techniques must be applied before we breed better nuts.
We simply cannot have nuts put in our coffins expecting to continue our work in the next world; so we need to do the next best thing to this—that is of instructing our sons in the little we have found and where our different varieties are planted. Then, some of our sons will start where we left off.
Private research is playing a more important part in the world today. Private research, using the large amount of basic research available, could accomplish wonders in the nut world.
I am deeply grieved when I see vast estates which have had a fortune spent in plantings that had little practical value. The men who spent this money would gladly have furnished the land, labor, capital and management for a nut breeding program had we been there to have sold them on nut trees.
As Mr. Churchill said—"Too little and too late."
But members of the NNGA forget "what might have been." New estates are developing and younger men are wondering how they can immortalize their lives and work. Men pass away; their names perish from record and recollection; their history is only a tale and their tombstone becomes a ruin, but a good nut tree bearing a man's name, gives that name immortality.
6. Work of the Experiment Stations.
In the most practical vein, our basic research and most of our actual breeding must still be done by our Experiment Stations.
Any nut project is a long-time program and it lends itself best to an Experiment Station which is not set up on "a three score and ten" basis like we as individuals are. Stations also have trained workers and information at hand.
7. The Real Aim of the NNGA
Is better living on the farm and the improvement of the garden and farmstead. Almost every farm and home, especially in the great corn belt, needs shelter, shade trees, and the beautifying effect of trees.
Psalm 19:1-4 says: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."
8. Nut Growing as a Hobby.
For people who like to see things growing, there are few projects that yield more genuine satisfaction than hardy-adapted varieties of nut trees.
Few people know what a heart nut or chestnuts are, and most have never cracked a butternut. Most of us have never tasted a good persimmon, and the paw-paw is practically unknown. We of the NNGA have something to offer our members.
9. Keep our Organization Solvent and Functioning.
All costs have increased. Our strength lies in our letters, reports and information which we send to our membership. To keep this information coming through letters and our annual report takes money.
10. How to Finance the NNGA. Dr. MacDaniels makes the following suggestions after stating that we have reached the point where increasing the dues will not give us more income, because of loss of membership.
(a) Increase our number of members. (b) Provide different types of membership to encourage contributions. (c) Gifts. (d) Special fund raising projects.
Increasing the membership seems to have the most promise in the future.
We are now at the cross roads. Do we want a strong, hard-hitting organization, capable of doing these things which we know NNGA can do, or do we want to ease down the other road to a whimpering senile existence, in the plant society world?
We have increased our membership 40% the past year, and after hurriedly congratulating ourselves, let us hurry on to this problem of setting ourselves another goal for 1954.
What shall our new goal be? 30%, 50%, 100%—let us think "high." It is easier to come down than to go higher.
I'd like to have someone's idea in the audience here. Does anybody have some figure we should hit at? 10%, 20%, 25%?
MR. KINTZEL: I think since we have a thousand members, for each of the thousand to bring in one more member and make it a hundred per cent.
PRESIDENT BEST: Now, the high man is going to win here, you know. Is there anyone that can raise this man, that can say that we increase our membership more than a hundred per cent? If not shall we take that as a goal?
We have now reached the point in this discussion of goals where we can make the following profound deduction—"Nothing is worth two cents until it is sold."
Our church bells ring to tell the world that something good is being offered and that the church has something to sell. Everything in this world must be sold. The NNGA is competing not only with the resistance people offer it, but also against every other human activity. People buy what they think will give them the most satisfaction.
We are living in a cold-blooded society and people are not going to choke with emotion when we mention the old hollow tree where the possums hatched, or the wide spreading chestnut. People may not even want to join our NNGA. This is a free country and people can just sit in the sun on the bare ground if they want to. They may not want trees and can eat grape nuts if they want. We know they need the hobby—the shade—the beauty—the protection or even nuts which nut trees will bring them.
Because we know people need these fine things, then we must ask them to join the NNGA. If everybody knew what you know about the NNGA, we would have a membership of 100,000 members. But they do not.
This is what we mean by selling our organization. Indirectly as we sell our memberships to help other people, we help our organization.
Finally, let me suggest that we build up a backlog of ideas here at Rochester to add to what we have on increasing our membership.
Give your ideas to our Vice President, Mr. George Salzer and his publicity committee and you will be helping to solve our NNGA problems.
MR. DAVIDSON: It seems to me the most successful thing that was done during the past year, as far as the raising of membership was concerned, was done by Mr. Chase, when he wrote that article on Persian walnuts that survived sub-zero temperatures. That had a tremendous impact on the public imagination, and it got a tremendous number of inquiries. I think it had more effect than even the work of individual members, so I would suggest that anybody who has an idea that can be sent to a magazine that would have a public appeal should do that thing.
MR. MACHOVINA: The thought strikes me that in addition to the goal for new members, we should also work to keep these members we have picked up this year. That means the older members should contact the newer members, help them, give them trees. Otherwise, a lot can be lost quickly.
PRESIDENT BEST: In this world no matter whether we are selling seed corn—if you will pardon that little plug—or you are running a restaurant or any form of human activity, you can figure each year about a 10 per cent loss in your clientelle or your customers, whatever you want to call them, and we of N.N.G.A. are no exception to that rule. We do have to keep working for that replacement; otherwise, in 10 or 12 years we are going to be out of business entirely.
MR. KERR: I am a Spanish War veteran. At the national convention in Portland, Oregon, in 1938, one of my comrades showed me a walnut tree that he planted before he went to the Philippines during that war. It was on the banks of the Willamette River where he had planted three nuts. Two were so near the river that a log boom had torn them out, but one was left. It was 80 feet high, four feet in diameter, and on one occasion had produced almost a ton of very good nuts.
I told that to the science editor of the Associated Press, and he put a little article in the local paper, but no picture. If he had a picture with that article, everybody would have read it. I think we need more publicity on these old trees that are bearing nuts. I live in Plymouth, Mass., where the Pilgrims settled. In their settlement papers they mentioned the groves of walnuts and other wild nuts in the territory. We found a low-branched walnut 5 feet in diameter and over 450 years old.
MR. BROOK: Let me suggest Mr. Kerr write such an article for such a magazine, because he is just the person.
MR. KERR: I have already written a few articles for several men's clubs, and I am writing another article.
MR. BROOK: When are you releasing it?
MR. KERR: Pretty soon. The Northern Nut Growers will get a copy.
PRESIDENT BEST: The report of the Place of Meeting Committee, Mr. Allaman?
MR. ALLAMAN: A year ago this summer I went to Lancaster to visit the Franklin Marshall College to see if we could hold our convention there next year. They considered it quite an honor to have us there, feeling that it is an educational feature. They can furnish us a nice auditorium with a cafeteria nearby. Sleeping quarters would be scattered throughout the grounds. They can furnish our meals and a banquet. About ten days ago I checked to see if things were still all right, and they said, "Come ahead," so I am suggesting that the Association hold its next annual convention at Lancaster, Pa. at Franklin Marshall College.
Our field trip at Lancaster would be to Mr. W. W. Posey's orchard. He has by far the biggest planting in the state with trees of various ages and many different varieties. He entertained the Pennsylvania group a year ago. He has a nice pavilion up on the hill, where we can have our lunch. We had a most enjoyable time, and he is delighted to have us. Mr. Posey is owner of the Posey Iron Works in Lancaster.
For 1955 we were thinking about Michigan, probably Michigan State College. For the following year we were wondering about Connecticut. Just the place in Connecticut has not been given any thought.
Session adjourned.
MONDAY AFTERNOON SESSION
PRESIDENT BEST: In the morning session Mr. Allaman proposed that we hold our next convention in Lancaster, Pa. Is there a motion to that effect?
MR. RICK: I move that our next meeting, 1954, be held in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. That is supposed to be one of the garden counties in the country. It has stood first and second in production. I don't know what it stands now, but it wouldn't be far from the top. It would be most interesting to all our members, I am sure, to pay Lancaster County a visit. Motion seconded by Mr. Ellis and passed.
PRESIDENT BEST: According to the by-laws, we get a report of the Nominating Committee at this time. We have our election at the last business session.
MR. SLATE: The Nominating Committee, consisting of Max Hardy as chairman and some others, including myself, presents the following candidates: For President, R. B. Best. For vice-president, Gilbert Becker; for Treasurer, W. S. Clark; and for Secretary Spencer Chase.
PRESIDENT BEST: Are there other nominations? (No response.) You will have a chance for further nominations at our last business session.
PRESIDENT BEST: Now, then, we have an opportunity to hear from a group of what we might call authorities in their various fields. We have quite an assortment. The only way I know of to express it is to say we have the wise men out of the east and the wild men out of the west. I think we first might hear from Mr. Kyhl of Sabula, Iowa. Mr. Kyhl, you come up and give us your version of the nut business.
About Nuts
IRA M. KYHL, Sabula, Iowa
What we all have in mind at this time is nuts and more nuts. One way to get them is to plant more nut trees. Why not start a campaign in this direction? Where I live in the midwest the black walnut is at home and likewise the hickory, hazel, etc. Farmers may be reluctant to set aside acreage for this purpose but they could be planted along fence rows around the entire farm and would produce shade for livestock, an abundance of marketable nuts, and later a fortune in saw logs. The average size farm of 160 acres could support a great many black walnuts if planted along fence rows which ordinarily grow up to brush and weeds. Seedlings are cheap or one could buy 2 or 3 bushels of Thomas nuts and raise their own. One could also plant hickories, heartnuts, filberts and chestnuts if variety is desired along fence rows, but the main thing is to get this work started. We could no doubt get cooperation from County Agents and Conservation Departments because of wind breaks and erosion control. Farmers who could be induced to do this work would no doubt become nut enthusiasts in due time.
I feel that at this time it may be in line to pay a slight tribute to our friend the squirrel. I wonder how many of us gave a thought as to who was responsible for all of our wild trees, such as black walnuts, butternuts, hickories, hazels and so forth, and how they came about. The answer is simple, the squirrels, of course. They have been planting nuts for centuries and without their good work in the past, there would be very few wild nut trees.
The squirrel has been wrongfully condemned for his apparently good work and has even been cussed a little for living on the efforts of his own labor, and due to my appreciation of his good work, I have grafted or rather topworked some of the trees he planted to Persian walnuts, pecans, etc., so that he may have more of a variety of nuts. Someday I expect to have some of the largest and fattest squirrels in America. I cover some of the choice varieties with stove pipe. They seem to take the hint and don't bother the nuts. One more thing, there does not seem to be enough nuts to go around, that is, enough for both the squirrels and ourselves. So let's plant more trees so that the squirrels can't possibly eat them all and when we have done that, then let's plant a lot more.
We now have many species of nuts and many varieties of each species, many of which have proven hardy in cold climates. It is very encouraging to note the good work that is being done to produce better and more varieties. One very fine nut that doesn't seem to have had much work done on it is the hard shell almond. It does very well for me, is self-pollinating, bears very heavily, and can be grafted on peach stocks with good results. I have also had very good success with Persian walnuts, heartnuts, filberts, chestnuts, hickories, pecans, hazels and black walnuts.
Natural Variation Observed in Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch. in Central New York
DAVID H. CALDWELL, N. Y. State College of Forestry, Syracuse, N. Y.
The shagbark hickory has been extremely important in the economy of the United States during its period of early development. The handles of the axes which leveled extensive forested areas in Colonial days were frequently made from sturdy hickory wood. The nuts furnished food for man in the form of oil or nutmeats and often hogs were fattened on hickory nuts, beechnuts and chestnuts. As settlement progressed, the demand on hickory as wood for wagon parts increased while the use of the thick-shelled nuts for food decreased except by the country boy or girl who wandered from tree to tree in the fall collecting nuts for cracking by the fireside in the wintertime.
The author remembers bounding out of bed as a child in the fall before dawn on the nights when there had been a frost or a heavy wind, in an effort to beat the squirrels in the race to obtain the rich harvest of hickory nuts to be found lying beneath the fine old trees near Herkimer, N. Y. By some coincidence, both the boys and the squirrels knew of the same trees which were most sought after for their crops of nuts. It was at this time that the variability of hickory nuts was first observed. Thus it was that the nuts of certain trees were never gathered, while the grass beneath other favorite trees was gleaned carefully for all fallen nuts.
The present investigation of the shagbark began in the fall of 1949 and continued through the summer of 1953. It was initiated with the previous knowledge of the extreme variability to be observed between the nuts of individual shagbark hickory trees and was conducted for the purpose of determining whether or not that variability was also expressed through other features of the tree such as buds, leaves, bark or form. Consequently, a systematic study was begun of individual trees totaling 158 found mostly in Onondaga County, New York plus the edges of surrounding counties. The trees were observed throughout the growing season so that the various tree parts could be observed for comparison. It was a preconceived idea by the author that there might be several or more distinct subdivisions into which individuals of shagbark might be placed through the use of macroscopic characters.
Observations were made over a period of three growing seasons on the following characters of each tree:
(1) bark (2) buds and twigs (3) leaves (4) flowers (5) fruit
Each character was observed more than once for each tree as a check on possible yearly variation for specific characteristics in the trees from which data was collected.
The generalized description for shagbark hickory is as follows:
SIZE—a tree ranging at maturity from 50 to 100+ feet in height, generally 2 to 3 feet in diameter and very occasionally reaching 4 feet in diameter.
BARK—usually under 3/4 of an inch in thickness, occasionally up to 1 inch thick with a characteristic light or smoky-gray color when dry and breaking up into long plates or strips loosely attached to the trunk near the middle of the plate.
BUDS—terminal buds usually 3/8 to 3/4 of an inch long, subglobose to narrowly ovate, with 8-10 imbricate scales, the outermost of which are a blackish brown with dark brown tomentum, and a short mucronate or attenuate apex, inner scales light brown with longer lanate pubescence and apex acute to obtuse; lateral buds smaller, about 1/4 of an inch with tightly appressed scales.
TWIGS—angled or rounded, reddish brown to yellowish brown, or gray, turning more or less gray with age; pubescent the first year.
LEAVES—compound—ranging from 3-7 ovate to oblong lanceolate leaflets, usually 5, terminal leaflet as large or larger than the first two laterals, usually 4-8" long, generally glabrous on both surfaces but with a finely serrate, ciliate margin; total leaf size ranging from 8-15" for mature leaves.
FLOWERS—(a) female—occurring in 2 to several flowered spikes, with a one-celled ovary, about 1/4 to 1/3 inch long covered with tomentum; flowers rusty to yellowish green in color; stigma with two stigmatic lobes; bracts much longer than the lateral bractlets. (b) male—in three parted or branched aments, each flower usually containing 4 stamens with a 2 or a 3 lobed calyx; aments 3-4" long with glandular hairs.
FRUIT—oval, globose or pear shaped, consisting of a woody husk 1/4 to 1/2" thick breaking usually along 4 lines of suture exposing a flattened nut generally 4 ridged, smooth or slightly roughened; usually white or cream in color, seed sweet with 2 cotyledons.
RESULTS OF FIELD OBSERVATIONS
BARK—Most of the shagbark hickory trees observed were found to have a smoke-gray, shaggy bark from 20 years of age to maturity. However, among the 158 individual hickory trees observed, there were found 7 trees which had a bark much more blackish than the normal shagbark type and with closely furrowed bark consisting of inter-lacing scaly ridges more similar in character to that of Carya ovalis (Wangenh.) Sarg.
The trees found growing under timberland conditions rather than as open field or hedgerow trees did not have the characteristic shaggy bark except for the upper trunk which had been exposed to the weather conditions of the forest canopy. Where the trunks of the trees were somewhat protected from direct rays of the sun and force of the wind, the bark was smooth, gray and but slightly plated with none of the shagginess typical of open field grown shagbark.
BUDS AND TWIGS—The buds of shagbark were observed to divide themselves into two general groups based upon terminal bud shapes and two more groups based upon the sizes of the attenuated apex of the outermost bud scales. In all cases the bud scales were observed to be pubescent though the degree of pubescence varied considerably in the outer scales only.
The two general bud shapes were globose-ovate and narrowly elliptical. The broadly oval (Fig. 1a) type of buds were smaller, generally under 1/2 inch in length while the elliptical (Fig. 1b) type of buds were usually over 1/2 inch in length.
The long attenuated apex on the outer bud scales of the elliptical type of buds is evident in Figs. 1b and 2b.
The number of lateral buds at one position varied considerably with the usual number being one (Fig. 3a) bud located just above the lobed leaf scar. On exceedingly vigorous sprout growth, or on very vigorous terminal growth twigs, it was found that 2, 3, 4 and occasionally 5 superposed buds might occur (Fig. 3b).
Twigs of shagbark varied considerably both in the rapidity of growth and in color. Frequently the color seemed to be associated with the incident rays of the sun and orientation of the twig on the branch seemed to largely control color.
Twigs upon the same tree would vary from gray to reddish brown to yellowish brown or tan. The majority of observed trees had a reddish brown as the predominant color. Terminal shoot growth of as much as 40 inches was observed and as little as 2-3 inches in very slowly growing mature trees.
The degree of pubescence on the surface of the twigs varied considerably and was found to frequently follow group location patterns. Thus nearly all of the individuals growing in one field might be found with dense pubescence on the twigs while a similar group several miles away might have, for all practical purposes, no pubescence on the twigs. In general, the most rapidly growing trees (or twigs) had the least amount of pubescence on the twigs.
LEAVES—There was extreme variability found with the leaves of the 158 individual trees observed. All trees were found to have compound leaves, but the leaflet numbers varied greatly. The typical number for shagbark is 5, but 3 to 7 were found; three leaflets were common, 5 were abundant and 7 leaflets were rare. Six cases of leaves with 7 leaflets were obtained from the vast number of leaves checked on the 158 trees; thus the frequency of occurrence is quite low for the group as a whole. Where 7 leaflets were observed, 5 of the leaves were normal pinnately compound leaves (Fig. 4a), while one leaf consisted of five palmately arranged leaflets plus two normal pinnately compound leaflets (Fig. 4b). The leaflets on each tree were fairly uniform in shape but the shape of leaflets between trees varied considerably. Thus one tree might have 5 leaflets quite broadly ovate to obovate in shape while another equally valid shagbark would be found with narrowly elliptical to lanceolate leaflets similar to those of red hickory (oval pignut hickory), Carya ovalis (Wangenh.) Sarg.
The margins of the leaflets were generally finely serrate and disposed to be ciliate—i.e. with a fringe of hairs along the serrate margins. The presence of cilia tend to differentiate shagbark hickory from red hickory in the field. This feature is a consistently good one if a hand lens is available but the degree of ciliation varies considerably from tree to tree and during different parts of the growing season. The presence of cilia on the margin of the leaflets should not be used as a means of differentiating shagbark from shellbark hickory, Carya lacinoisa (Michx. f.) Loud., since shellbark also has a ciliate margin on the leaflets.
FLOWERS—The female flowers of shagbark are found on short 1 to 5 flowered spikes produced on the current season's growth. Most of the flowers are around 1/3" long, sessile and covered with a tawny tomentum. Each flower tends to have two yellowish green stigmatic lobes but three-lobed stigmas may be found and one case of a 4-lobed stigma was observed. Various amounts of an amber, or yellow scurfy, substance was also observed on the new flowers. The male flowers occur on 3 parted, slender, glandular-hairy aments from the basal portion of the current season's growth. The aments are usually 3-4 inches long with individual flowers consisting of 4 stamens with their surrounding bract and calyx lobes. The anthers are yellowish or greenish yellow. Occasionally a two branched ament may be found but this seems to occur when one branch of the ament has failed to develop due to an injury of some sort. One case of an unbranched ament was observed.
Both female and male flowers are found to be mature after the leaves have grown to nearly their fully expanded mature size. There are more male aments to be found on the lower branches than female spikes of flowers, which would tend to aid in cross pollination of the flowers by wind action. In general the stigmatic lobes are not quite mature at the time that the bulk of the pollen is being shed, yet individual trees, at a considerable distance from another pollen bearing shagbark tree, will bear considerable quantities of nuts indicating self fertility.
FRUIT—The husk of the shagbark is extremely variable in size, shape, thickness and opening habits. In general the husk consists of 4 segments which split along 4 sutures and fall apart at maturity dropping the nut to the ground. In many cases the husk falls to the ground with the nut and does not break apart until it reaches the ground. A few of the trees examined had husks which were not quite deciduous to the base and were retained on the tree until after the nut had been released. One tree among the 158 examined consistently had a 5 parted husk.
The husks varied considerably in thickness, the dried measurements ranging from 1/8 to 1/2 inch with the bulk of the measurements averaging around 1/4" thick. Two trees had husks so thin as to be more typical of red hickory while only 6 trees had husks 1/2 inch thick or more.
The overall shape of the husk around the nut ranged from globose (Fig. 5a) to ovoid (Fig. 5b) to obovate (Fig. 5c).
It would seem that the shape of the nut enclosed within the husk might be predetermined by examination of the husk itself. The obovate husk shape could most frequently be depended on to produce either elliptical or obovate nuts but this was not an absolute certainty. The thickness of the husk effectively concealed the true shape of the nut beneath; the thinnest husks most nearly conforming to the true nut shape.
The size of the mature shagbark hickory nut and husk ranged from as small as one inch in a tree which had a seed barely 3/8" wide to as large as 2-1/4 inches. The size of husk and nut is variable and adjacent trees which may have developed from the same parent seldom have similar nuts in the area examined.
The nut itself exhibited the greatest variability of all features examined on the test trees. These trees exhibited striking dissimilarities in:
(1) nut size (2) nut shape (3) shell color (4) thickness of shell (5) sweetness or palatability of nutmeat.
One tree was discovered with a nut which might have caused a taxonomist to coin the name Carya ovata var. microcarpa due to the very small dimensions of about 3/8 x 3/8 x 3/4 inches in width, thickness and depth. Even the squirrels of the area did not feel that this tree deserved their attention The largest nut obtained had overall dimensions of 1 x 3/4 x 1 inches in width, thickness and depth. The majority of average sized nuts were roughly 3/4 x 1/2 x 3/4 inches.
The nut shapes have fallen into a general pattern which include the following normal types:
Type A—The normal 4 angled nut, nearly rectangular in cross section (Fig. 6a).
Type B—An elliptical form, nearly oval in cross section (Fig. 6b).
Type C—A smooth oval nut, oval or elliptical in cross section (Fig. 6c).
Type D—An obovate nut, oval to angled in cross section (Fig. 6d).
Type E—A fat globose nut, broadly oval to orbicular in cross section (Fig. 6e).
In addition to the afore mentioned 5 normal types, three abnormal types were encountered:
Type F—A smooth or angled nut, triangular in cross section—found in the same trees as normal nut forms (Fig. 6f).
Type G—A smooth or angled nut square in cross section—found on the same trees as normal nut forms (Fig. 6g).
Type H—A Siamese twin form occurring very rarely on the same trees as other normal forms (Fig. 6h).
Type A was the commonest form of nut found in the Onondaga County area. It roughly exceeded Types B, D and E by a 2:1 ratio. Type C exceeded Types B, D and E with a ratio of about 7:5 in frequency of occurrence. Types B and D were the two most easily cracked nut forms when using a hammer and anvil for a cracking device. It should be noted at this time that all of the abnormal fruit types were found in conjunction with normal fruit types. Thus, one individual tree used as a collection might produce both a normal nut type (A, B, C, D or E) and an abnormal nut type (F, G or H). Occasionally a few nuts in a collection from one tree might be classed as a second normal type. This was rare however (5 cases) and only occurred in "borderline trees" which were then classified and recorded as per the dominant nut type for the tree. It should be noted here that the nut type did not vary from year to year for the trees examined. Also the frequency of nut crops varied considerably; less than 1/4 of the sample trees produced nuts each year. Most of the trees produced crops in alternate years, and a very few have not fruited in the third year following a heavy nut crop.
The 158 trees examined provided the following distribution by fruit types: -+ + Number of Number of abnormal types found Fruit Type Individual Trees in conjunction with normal types -+ -+ + F G H -+ -+ + Normal A 54 5 2 1 B 23 2 1 C 36 1 2 D 21 7 1 E 24 4 1 - -+ + 158 collections -+ -+ + Abnormal F 15 15 G 8 8 H 4 4 -+ + 27 collections
Shell color of the nuts varied between a brownish white and a pinkish white color when fully dried. From the trees used as a sample, there were 14 which might be classed in the brownish white categories, and the remainder (144) as pinkish white or creamy white. Types B and C were the ones which most frequently were found with the brownish white nutshell color. Type A was typically pinkish or creamy white in color.
Nutshell thickness varied somewhat. In all but 2 cases, the nuts were too hard to crack with the teeth. The thin-shelled ones are comparatively thin only, being about like paper-shelled pecans with the shell thinnest on the sides of the nut. It is not suggested that these two thin-shelled nuts be exploited as paper-shelled shagbarks since they are poorly formed nuts and of small size. One of the two trees might be a hybrid since it does not have a ciliate leaflet margin although the buds, bark and leaves are typical of shagbark hickory. The minimum shell thickness observed for the side of the nut was 1/2 a millimeter (0.5 mm.) and the thickest was 2.0 millimeters. As previously stated, nut types B and D (the elliptical and obovate nut forms) were the easiest to crack. Nut type A was the most difficult and had generally the thickest shell.
The seed coat color range was from a light tan to a bronze color. The seed itself was in all cases sweet although certain of the nuts had a more pleasing taste than others. The nuts eventually became rancid though 3 years of storage in a heated room did not cause the bulk of the test samples to change in flavor. This is unlike the pecan which, stored in the same room with the hickory nuts, became rancid by the following year after collection. |
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