NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING

EVANSVILLE, INDIANA AUGUST 20 AND 21, 1914

CONCORD, N. H. THE RUMFORD PRESS 1915



TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Officers and Committees of the Association 4

Members of the Association 5

Constitution and Rules of the Association 10

Proceedings of the Meeting held at Evansville, Indiana, August 20 and 21, 1914 11

Report of the Secretary-Treasurer 17

Proposed Score Card for Judging Nuts 20

Status and Possibilities of Nut Culture in the North, T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. 23

Discussion on Cultivation and Fertilizers for Nut Trees 31

Personal Experiences with Hybridization of Nut Trees, Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York 37

The Use of Dynamite in Tree Planting, C. D. Evans, Delaware 43

Demonstration of Grafting and Budding Nut Trees, R. L. McCoy, Indiana, and Paul White, Indiana 47

Discussion on Seedling Trees 52

Seedling Nut Trees. The Nomenclature of Northern Pecans, Dr. J. Russell Smith, Pennsylvania 54

Practical Suggestions on the Production of Nut Orchards, Dr. C. A. Van Duzee, Georgia 61

The Function of the Class Journal, Ralph T. Olcott, Editor American Nut Journal 65

Discussion on Top Working Large Nut Trees 68

Report of the Committee on Nomenclature 73

Report of the Committee on Exhibits 74

Report of the Committee on Resolutions 74

Session at Enterprise 75

A Plea for the Planting of Nut Trees, Colonel C. K. Sober, Pennsylvania 85

Discussion on the Hazel or Filbert 88

Appendix:

The History of the Persian Walnut in Pennsylvania, J. G. Rush, Pennsylvania 93

A Comparison of Northern and Southern Conditions in the Propagation of Nut Trees, J. F. Jones, Pennsylvania 96

Top Working Large Walnut Trees, W. C. Reed, Indiana 101

Interest in Nut Growing in the Intermountain States, Dr. L. D. Batchelor, Utah 104

Report from G. H. Corsan, Canada 105

Distribution of Persian ("English") Walnut Seedlings in Michigan 107

Examples of Some Recent Correspondence 109

Preliminary Report on the Persian Walnut, by the Secretary 114

Correspondents and Others Interested in Nut Culture 118

Some Recent Literature on Nuts and Nut Growing 124

Present at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association 126

Annual Meeting in 1915 127

OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION

President J. RUSSELL SMITH University of Pennsylvania Vice-President W. C. REED Indiana Secretary and Treasurer W. C. DEMING Georgetown, Connecticut

COMMITTEES

Executive T. P. LITTLEPAGE R. T. MORRIS AND THE OFFICERS

Nomenclature W. C. REED R. T. MORRIS E. R. LAKE C. A. REED R. L MCCOY

Membership W. C. DEMING LEON D. BATCHELOR C. H. PLUMP

Hybrids R. T. MORRIS J. R. SMITH C. P. CLOSE

Promising Seedlings T. P. LITTLEPAGE C. A. REED J. RUSSELL SMITH

Press and Publication RALPH T. OLCOTT T. P. LITTLEPAGE W. C. DEMING

STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS

Arizona C. R. Biederman Garces California Claude D. Tribble Elk Grove Canada G. H. Corsan University of Toronto Connecticut Newman Hungerford Torrington, R. 2, Box 76 District of Columbia T. P. Littlepage Union Trust Building, Washington Florida H. Harold Hume Glen Saint Mary Georgia J. B. Wight Cairo Illinois E. A. Riehl Alton Indiana R. L. McCoy Lake Ireland Dr. Augustine Henry 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin Kentucky A. L. Moseley Calhoun Maryland C. P. Close Department of Agriculture, Washington Massachusetts James H. Bowditch 903 Tremont Building, Boston Michigan H. L. Haskell 209 North Rowe St., Ludington Minnesota C. A. Van Duzee Minneapolis Missouri Alfred E. Johnson McBaine, R.1 New Jersey C. S. Ridgway Lumberton New York Dr. Ira Ulman 213 West 147th St., New York City North Carolina W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist Raleigh Ohio Harry R. Weber 601 Gerke Building, Cincinnati Pennsylvania J. G. Rush West Willow Tennessee Egbert D. Van Syckel Trenton Utah Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist, State Agricultural College Logan Virginia John S. Parish Eastham West Virginia B. F. Hartzell Shepherdstown



MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION

ARIZONA C. R. Biederman, Garces

CALIFORNIA Tribble, Claude D., Elk Grove Tucker, T. C., Manager California Almond Growers' Exchange, Sacramento

CANADA Corsan, G. H., University of Toronto Crow, J. W., Professor of Pomology, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph Dufresne, Dr. A. A., 217 St. Christopher St., Montreal Fisk, Dr. George, 101 Union Ave., Montreal Henderson, Stuart, Victoria, British Columbia, Box 77 Saunders, W. E., 352 Clarence St., London, Ont.

CONNECTICUT Barnes, John R., Yalesville Deming, Dr. W. C., Georgetown Deming, Mrs. W. C., Georgetown Hungerford, Newman, Torrington, R. 2, Box 76 Ives, Ernest M., Sterling Orchards, Meriden Miller, Mrs. Charles, 32 Hillside Ave., Waterbury Morris, Dr. Robert T., Cos Cob, R. 28, Box 95 Plump, Charles H., West Redding Pomeroy, E. C., Northville

DELAWARE Evans, C. D., care of DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington Lord, George Frank, care of DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Close, Prof. C. P., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington Lake, Prof. E. R., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington +Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Building, Washington Kinsell, Miss Ida J., 1608 17th St., Washington Orr, Herbert R., Evans Building, Washington Reed, C. A., In Charge of Nut Culture Investigations, Department of Agriculture, Washington *Van Deman, Prof. H. E., Washington

FLORIDA Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary Prange, Mrs. N. M. G., Jacksonville Simpson, Ray C., Monticello

GEORGIA Wight, J. B., Cairo

ILLINOIS Aldrich, H. A., Neoga Heely, Dr. O. J., St. Libory Poll, Carl J., 1009 Maple St., Danville Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion Riehl, E. A., Alton Spencer, Henry D., Room 1, Opera House Block, Decatur Webster, H. G., 450 Belmont Ave., Chicago

INDIANA Baldwin, C. H., State Entomologist, 130 State House, Indianapolis Burton, Joe A., Mitchell Hutchings, Miss Lida G., 118 Third St., Madison Knapp, Dr. A, J., Evansville Lockwood, E. E., Poseyville McCoy, R. L., Lake Niblack, Mason J., Vincennes Reed, M. T., Vincennes Reed, W. C., Vincennes Schmidt, Hugh C., Evansville Simpson, H. D., Vincennes Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport

IRELAND Henry, Dr. Augustine, 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin

KENTUCKY Matthews, Prof. C. W., Horticulturist, State Agricultural Station, Lexington Moseley, A. L., Bank of Calhoun, Calhoun

MARYLAND Holmes, F. S., Agricultural Experiment Station, College Park

MASSACHUSETTS +Bowditch, James II., 903 Tremont Building, Boston Hoffmann, Bernhard, Overbrook Orchard, Stockbridge Knight, Charles F., Rowley Mason, Harry R., Falmouth Rich, William P., Secretary State Horticultural Society, 300 Massachusetts Ave., Boston Smith, Fred A., 39 Pine St., Danvers Vaughan, Horace A., Peacehaven, Assonet White, Warren, Holliston

MICHIGAN Haskell, H. L., 209 N. Rowe St., Ludington

MINNESOTA Powers, L. L., 1200 Lexington Ave., N. St. Paul Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul

MISSOURI Johnson, Alfred E., McBaine, R. 1

NEW JERSEY Dietrick, Dr. Thomas S., 12 West Washington Ave., Washington Foster, Samuel F., Secretary North Jersey Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 100 Broadway, New York City Marston, Edwin S., Florham Park, Box 72 Mergler, C. W., Hackensack Road and Mt. Vernon St., Ridgefield Park Putnam, J. H., Vineland Ridgeway, C. S., "Floralia," Lumberton Roberts, Horace, Moorestown Steele, T. E., Pomona Nurseries, Palmyra Walter, Dr. Harry, Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City

NEW YORK Abbott, Frederick B., 419 Ninth St., Brooklyn Ackerly, Orville B., 243 W. 34th St., New York City Baker, Dr. Hugh P., Dean of State College of Forestry, Syracuse Baker, Prof. J. Fred, Director of Forest Investigation, State College of Forestry, Syracuse Brown, Ronald K., 320 Broadway, New York City Bruce, W. Robert, Brick Church Institute, Rochester Church, Alfred W., Portchester Ellwanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester Fullerton, H. B., Director Long Island Railroad Experiment Station, Medford, L. I. Hickox, Ralph, 3832 White Plains Ave., New York City Hans, Amedee, Superintendent Hodenpyl Estate, Locust Valley, L. I. Haywood, Albert, Flushing Hicks, Henry, Westbury, L. I. Holden, E. B., Hilton +Huntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., New York City Keeler, Charles E., Chichester and Briggs Aves., Richmond Hill Miller, Mrs. Seaman, care of Mr. Miller, 2 Rector St., New York City Murphy, P. J., 115 Broadway, New York City, care of Ford, Bacon & Davis Olcott, Ralph T., Ellwanger & Barry Building, Rochester Pomeroy, A. C., Lockport Reynolds, H. L., 2579 Main St., Buffalo Rice, Mrs. Lillian McKee, Adelano, Pawling Stephen, Prof. John W., Assistant Professor of Silviculture, State College of Forestry, Syracuse Storrs, A. P., 117 Front St., Owego Teele, A. W., 30 Broad St., New York City Teter, Walter C., 10 Wall St., New York City Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City Turner, K. M., 220 W. 42nd St., New York City Ulman, Dr. Ira, 213 W. 147th St., New York City Wile, Th. E., 1012 Park Ave., Rochester Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., New York City +Wissmann, Mrs. F. deR., Westchester, New York City

NORTH CAROLINA Glover, J. Wheeler, Morehead City Hutt, Prof. W. N., State Horticulturist, Raleigh Van Lindley, J., J. Van Lindley Nursery Company, Pomona

OHIO Dayton, J. H., Storrs & Harrison Company, Painesville Denny, Mark E., Middletown Ford, Horatio, South Euclid Johnston, I. B., Cincinnati, Station K Miller, H. A., Gypsum Rector, Dr. J. M., Columbus Weber, Harry R., 601 Gerke Building, 123 E. 6th St., Cincinnati Witte, O. F., Amherst Yunck, E. G., 710 Central Ave., Sandusky

PENNSYLVANIA Ballou, C. F., Halifax Doan, J. L., School of Horticulture, Ambler Druckemiller, W. C., Sunbury Fagan, Prof. F. N., Department of Horticulture, State College Foley, John, Forester, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 513-A, Commercial Trust Building, Philadelphia Hall, L. C., Avonia Hildebrand, F. B., Duquesne Hoopes, Wilmer W., Hoopes Brothers and Thomas Company, Westchester Hutchinson, Mahlon, Ashwood Farm, Devon, Chester County +Jones, J. F., Lancaster, Box 527 Keely, Royal R., 1702 Mt. Vernon St., Philadelphia Knipe, Irwin P., Norristown Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks County Martz, Walter C., Lebanon, care of Lebanon National Bank Meehan, S. Mendelson, Thomas Meehan & Sons, Germantown Moss, James, Johnsville, Bucks County Preslar, C. F., 524 Grand View Ave., Pittsburgh Rush, J. G., West Willow Schmidt, John C., 900 So. George St., York Smitten, H. W., Rochester Mills, R. 2 +Sober, Col. C. K., Lewisburg Thomas, Joseph W., Jos. W. Thomas & Sons, King of Prussia P. O. Twaddell, E. W., Evergreen Nurseries, Westtown Webster, Mrs. Edmund, 1324 So. Broad St., Philadelphia Wister, John C., Wister St. and Clarkson Ave., Germantown Wright, R. P., 235 W. 6th St., Erie

TENNESSEE Van Syckel, Egbert D., D.D.S., Trenton

UTAH Batchelor, Leon D., Horticulturist, Utah Agricultural College, Logan Pendleton, M. A., 3 Mozart Apartments, Salt Lake City

VIRGINIA Crockett, E. B., Lynchburg Parish, John S., Eastham, Albermarle County Roper, W. N., Arrowfield Nurseries, Petersburg Shackford, Theodore B., care of Adams Brothers-Paynes Company, Lynchburg Smith, Dr. J. Russell, Roundhill Von Ammon, S., Fontella

WEST VIRGINIA Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown

+ Life member * Honorary member



CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION

Name. The society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION.

Object. The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their products and their culture.

Membership. Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence or nationality, subject to the approval of the committee on membership.

Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a secretary-treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which the president, vice-president and secretary shall be members; and a state vice-president from each state represented in the membership of the association.

Election of Officers. A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the subsequent year.

Meetings. 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 executive committee 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 executive committee.

Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars.

Discipline. The committee on membership may make recommendations to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.

Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees of three members each to consider and report on the following topics at each annual meeting: first, on promising seedlings; second, on nomenclature; third, on hybrids; fourth, on membership; fifth, on press and publication.



Northern Nut Growers Association

FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING

AUGUST 20 AND 21, 1914

EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

The fifth annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association was held in the Evansville Business Association Hall at Evansville, Indiana, beginning August 20, 1914, at 10 A. M., President Littlepage presiding.

THE PRESIDENT: The fifth annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association will now come to order, and I have the pleasure of introducing to you Dr. Worsham who represents the Mayor of Evansville.

DR. WORSHAM: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Northern Nut Growers Association:

Some men are born to greatness and others have it thrust upon them. I stand in the position this morning of a man that has had his greatness thrust upon him. The secretary of the Evansville Business Association, who frequently takes liberties with me, told me a few minutes ago that, in the absence of our Mayor, I was to welcome you.

We extend to you a most cordial welcome to our thriving city. We are always glad to have associations of this kind meet with us, because they bring to us new ideas and new thoughts.

As I looked upon those nuts this morning my mind returned to the time when I was a boy, when my father, although a splendid business man who took advantage of most of the opportunities that presented themselves to him, neglected one of the best he had in selling one hundred and twenty-five acres of land across the Ohio River here, upon which there grow a number of native pecans. The only time we ever had any pecans from that place was when we got a German over there, direct from Germany. He couldn't speak a word of the English language but my father said to him, "Keep the boys out and get some pecans." He went down there with a dog and a gun and we got more nuts that year than ever before or since.

This city has the distinction, as I have learned since I came into the hall, of being the center of the nut growing district of the northwest. Another honor that our splendid city has. As you know we are here in the largest hardwood lumber market in the world; we have the cheapest and best coal of any place in the world; we have the greatest river facilities of any city along the Ohio River; we have six main arteries of railroad into our city, so it is easy to manufacture, easy to ship and easy to dispose of the products of our business in this grand, beautiful and well situated city.

Now gentlemen, remember that Dr. Worsham's telephone is 213, that I am representing the Mayor and Business Men's Association, and that we are perfectly delighted to have you with us. I hope you will have a good time. I thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Robert T. Morris will respond first to Dr. Worsham and afterwards Mr. Potter.

DR. MORRIS: Mr. Chairman, Representatives of the Business Men's Association, Ladies and Gentlemen: In Chicago, I met an Englishman who told me he was going to "Hevansville." I did not know just where he meant but after hearing Dr. Worsham's speech, I understand.

This is no doubt one of the coming cities of the world. You have here the field that was fought for by the early settlers and the Indians, and the field that is to be the scene of many wars in days to come.

In the days to come, perhaps a thousand years from now, there may be four or five people to the acre living under conditions of intensive cultivation. This is just the sort of land that will support a population to the best advantage, and you have here conditions suitable for the crop that is to be the crop of the future. People do not fully utilize nature's resources until there is need for doing so. We have depended upon the cereals and the soft fruits and things of that sort, just as the early Indian depended upon the deer and the beaver. The time came when his beaver and his deer disappeared. We, like the Indian, take up first the development of simplest things in plant life. Later, under intensive cultivation, we shall be enabled to support a very much larger population on fewer acres.

We find that nuts contain starch and proteids in such proportion that they will fairly well take the place of meats and of other starches.

Now, this is not an opinion which is individual alone, but is the conclusion of authorities after examination of data. Chemical examination of nuts has been made by our Department of Agriculture at Washington and by chemists elsewhere. The nut crop, then, is to be perhaps the staple food crop for the people of the United States one thousand years from now, when we are depending upon methods of intensive cultivation for the annual plants.

It is true, of course, that three thousand years before Christ, the Emperor Yu developed in China a system of agriculture that is better than any European or American system today both as to production and transportation—perhaps including distribution. At the present time China is supporting a larger population to the acre than any other country.

All this comes to mind in response to the address of welcome by Dr. Worsham. Here at this point of our United States, there is already a center of the new movement for the development of the great future food supply of the world, a nut nursery center. Here we find also another feature of great consequence from the economic and politic side. We find honest nurserymen. That is a very important matter. As nations advance in culture the moral side develops, and as the ethical side develops there will be better representatives in the trades and in all callings. The nursery business is near to nature and for that reason simple people have assumed that nurserymen were nearly as white as snow. Those of us who have had some experience with them, know what it means to find honest ones. We deeply appreciate the fact that in this part of the country honest nurserymen are making a name for themselves and for America.

I know Evansville not only in this way that I have been speaking of but also in a professional way because of its doctors. There are two or three or four of the Evansville doctors—you do not know that as members of this Association, but I know it as a member of our great profession—who have placed Evansville upon the map. This city is best known throughout the United States in the medical profession because of some three or four Evansville doctors of the present and past.

Therefore it is with a double pleasure that I respond to the address of welcome given by Dr. Worsham.

THE PRESIDENT: We will now hear from Hon. W. O. Potter of Marion, Illinois.

MR. POTTER: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: This meeting to me is something out of the ordinary. I can remember that when I was a boy I knew every good hickory nut tree in the community where I was raised, but after I left my native heath and went into the practice of law and got into politics, I forgot all about the hickory trees until just a few years ago when, by accident, I picked up a nut journal. I don't know how it came into my possession but I got it and I read some article on the Indiana pecan, and I read an article on the development of nut trees in the south, and I got interested and commenced studying the subject. I wrote to the Department of Agriculture and got some articles on nut culture from Mr. Reed and others and became still more interested.

However, nut culture doesn't mix well with politics or law, and, therefore, it is more or less of a side issue with me. I have gone into nut culture only on a small scale. On my lot in the city of Marion where I live I have set out some pecan trees, and after a hard battle in court all day it is quite a pleasure to get home in the evening and to pull off my coat and to get on some old clothes and go out among my trees. There is nothing better to get one's mind off the daily combat of life.

I was very much impressed with Dr. Worsham's address of welcome and also Dr. Morris's response. I believe that this country is beginning a new era; we are going to experience a metamorphosis. I think we will shed this old shell, take on a new dress and start afresh.

I presume it is here as in Illinois where I was raised. Our farmers came from the south principally, and about all they knew of farming in those early days was to raise corn and some tobacco, but mostly, through our section, corn, and in a few years they corned the land to death. You can go through our country and see old hillsides red with clay and farmers barely eking out an existence. Those people will never be much better off than they are now, but as they pass off and the newer generation comes on, departments of agriculture and horticulture will be organized in the universities, where it has not already been done, and the farmers will be a class of people right up to date. Modern civilization tends to drive the sons back to the farm and that is overdone sometimes. People think they want to go to farming when they don't. We ought not to take up this idea "back to the farm" too largely at once but gradually grow into it. I know what it is to be on the farm and work hard day after day; there is no chance for us under the old conditions; but in higher forms of agriculture or horticulture the American people will find the greatest benefits and pleasures. It gets monotonous for a man who has a profession to stick to that all the time, day in and day out without change, week in and week out, year in and year out, and he gets to driving in a rut. If he will take up a side line it will do him much good. I have gone into nut growing for recreation, not profit, and I think it is an occupation most conducive to a strong mind and a healthy body.

This country is getting to a point where we are going to have more producers. We have too many consumers in this country. We talk about the tariff and whether it raises or lowers the price of articles. That is neither here nor there. The thing that will control the prices of foods is the amount of food produced. As Dr. Morris said awhile ago we don't need so much meat as we used to think we needed nor so many other kinds of foods. All the food elements that keep man alive and his body in a healthy condition are contained in nuts, fruits and things of that character, and this to a great extent will eliminate the need for meats. Meat is getting scarce and high. Beef steaks and pork chops are a great deal higher than they formerly were and some of us who are not making as much money in our professions as we need will have to find something else to take the place of them. It seems to me that the solution of the problem is in the production of nuts. The peanut is being manufactured in a great many ways and we are using them on our tables daily, and it will only be a few years when the pecan will be fixed up in as many different ways.

The hickory nut I think is another great nut of this country and great attention ought to be paid to it. Its culture is still in its infancy. I believe that in a few years the hickory nut and pecan will help solve the food problem.

I would not know how to graft any kind of a tree. What trees I need I buy from some good responsible nurseryman and let him do the work of grafting.

I am glad to be a member of this association, although this is the first meeting I have ever attended. I get a lot of enthusiasm from the other members and I have had lots of information from being a member of this association.

I want to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for listening to my remarks which I had no thought of making. What I have said has been at random.

DR. MORRIS: When I was speaking a minute ago I left out one idea that is clever, and I want to get it in although it belongs to Professor Smith. When we get to the point of intensive cultivation we are to have the two-story farm. We will have the tree which will be the second story and will furnish our meat, and underneath we will have our small crops. In that way we will have a two-story farm.

THE PRESIDENT: That is a very good idea, Dr. Morris, and I am glad you got it in. We are very glad to have the remarks by Dr. Morris and Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter has been in the legislature and we are pleased to know that there is one member of a legislature in the United States who does not know how to graft.

MR. POTTER: I am sorry you said that. I wish you had left that out. I was there when Lorimer was elected.

THE PRESIDENT: There is nothing that would cure a legislature of grafting quicker than horticulture.

The chair desires to make an announcement of the program. This morning, there will be the usual talks and papers. We will adjourn at 12 o'clock and meet again at 1 o'clock for the afternoon session until 5 o'clock, at which time the members of the Association and visitors are invited by some of the citizens to take an automobile ride to see the city and the different industries, which I am sure we will all be glad to do. This evening at 8 o'clock there will by a lecture by Mr. C. A. Reed of the Department of Agriculture and he will us show one of the best collections of lantern slides in existence. Everybody is invited, whether members of the Association or not, including the ladies and children.

Tomorrow morning at 7:15 we will take the Rockport traction car here, getting off at Sandale, at which place we will be met by wagons and we will go to Enterprise where you will see a great number of seedling pecan trees of all ages. They are bearing, the limbs hanging down close to the ground, and there will be an excellent opportunity to see the nuts on the trees at close range.

A gasoline boat will meet us at Enterprise between 12 and 1 and we will return to Evansville tomorrow evening, via the river, stopping at proper points, and be in session again at 8 o'clock, finishing up the business of the Association with a lecture by Col. C. K. Sober of Pennsylvania, the great chestnut producer. He has a great many lantern slides and will tell you many things of interest. He is one man who is working earnestly and tirelessly to combat the chestnut blight.

The next thing on the program this morning will be the report of the secretary of the Association, Dr. W. C. Deming.

THE SECRETARY: I have the honor to report as follows:



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER

Deficit, date of last report $105.05

Expenses: Washington meeting 10.46 Reporting convention 45.00 Printing report 217.58 Miscellaneous printing 23.25 Postage and stationery 42.84 Membership A. P. S. 2.00 Stenographer and multigraphing 7.20 Express, carting, freight 3.36 Exchange on checks .90 Telephone .25 ———— $457.89

Receipts: Dues $273.00 Postage 5.07 Advertisements 69.05 Contributions 104.00 Sale of report 4.00 Bills receivable 10.00 ———— $465.12 Balance on hand $7.23

It was necessary to take out a membership in the American Pomological Society in order to be eligible to receive the bronze Wilder medal awarded for meritorious exhibit of nuts at the Washington convention.

In response to an appeal sent out by the secretary for assistance in defraying the expenses of publishing the report, thirteen members contributed. There was one contribution of fifty dollars, one of twenty-five dollars, several of five dollars and others of lesser sums.

Two advertisements are still not paid for.

It is evident that the income of the association from regular sources is not at present sufficient to pay the expense of printing the annual report, in addition to the necessary expenses of maintenance. It may be possible to reduce the expense of printing the report by omitting cuts and by printing a smaller number of reports, though the saving from the latter expedient would be small.

It seems to be the opinion of some of our members, and it is certainly a good business principle, that we should not undertake the issuing of an annual report until the funds for paying for it are in hand. I would renew my suggestion of last year that a proper committee be authorized to take measures for collecting the funds necessary for this purpose. During the past year a few of the members voluntarily constituted themselves a committee and succeeded in collecting a considerable sum from advertisements which appeared in the report.

It would certainly be a pity to interrupt the regular appearance of the report of our annual meeting.

Seventy-five new members were added during the year, or rather during the nine months elapsed since the meeting at Washington. Since the organisation of the Association 212 persons have become members. We have now 132 paid-up members. I feel certain that some of those who have not paid up do not desire to sever their connection with the Association. There have been but three resignations, one of whom gave as his reason "persistent knocking by members of the Association of pecan promotions in the South." No death among our members have come to the secretary's knowledge.

Many new members came in at the Washington meeting. A number of others joined as a result of the publicity given the Association by several articles from the pen of one of the members which appeared in various publications. A still larger number appeared to be attracted by the offer which the secretary took upon himself to make, of the two first reports as a premium for new members on the payment simply of the postage for forwarding them. This action of the secretary was generally approved by the members of the executive committee, though there was some criticism from one or two members of the Association. But it seemed to the secretary better to make this attraction for new members, and to get out the reports where they might do some good, rather than to have so many of them sagging the beams in his attic. The secretary would suggest that in the future he be authorized to offer a complete set of the reports to all new life members, and to other new members the opportunity to buy the back reports at a reduced sum, say 50 cents, or even 25 cents each. This would give a little income toward the expenses of the Association. The copies of our reports are assets and should be realized on.

The field meeting held at the farm of Dr. Robert T. Morris at Stamford, Connecticut, on August 4 was well attended and was instructive and enjoyable. A full account of the meeting will appear in the American Nut Journal.

The recent establishment of this journal, partly through the efforts of members of the Association, is a cause for congratulation. We have once more a high class and attractive monthly periodical in which to exchange experiences and by which the public may be reached. Every member of the Association should feel a personal interest in making this journal a success and should seek the opportunity to send to the editor any items of interest to nut growers. Anything relating to this subject is of interest to the enthusiast. The more personal such a journal is made the better. It should not be monopolized by the so-called experts. Everyone interested in nut growing ought to feel it a duty, and consider it a privilege, to communicate scraps of information, little suggestions and, above all, questions and requests for information and advice. Even a little controversy would add spice. Too much harmony becomes insipid. This journal is as much for scrappers as for the men of peace. And, let me quickly add, the women too, suffragists, suffragettes, and antis and those who don't care. Twelve women are members of the Association and women are going to take a large share in nut growing and find in it a profitable and interesting occupation.

Arrangements are being made with the publishers of the American Nut Journal whereby membership in our Association may include subscription to the Journal at a very small increase in the cost of membership. If we can offer membership and the Journal for $2.50 in advance and the back reports for 50 cents apiece, or the three reports for $1, and send notice of this to our list of about a thousand correspondents, we ought to increase considerably our membership and do good to the world.

Our rule that membership shall begin with the calendar year always gives rise to some misunderstanding. Those who come in at the time of the annual meeting, or between it and the end of the year, do not like to pay another fee along in January. If there is no objection the secretary will hereafter inform each applicant for membership that membership expires with the calendar year, that membership may be taken out for the present or the coming year, and that membership entitles necessarily only to the publications issued during the year for which membership is taken out. In other words the proceedings of this meeting will be published in 1915 and members for 1914 will not be entitled to it unless paid up for 1915.

The investigation of the Persian walnut trees in the East is still going on but the results have not been collated.

I suggest the appointment of a committee to revise our constitution and rules. These have so far served our purpose fairly well but, in the opinion of the secretary, they now need modification and amplification.

I would recall to the attention of the members our present rule that all papers read before it are the property of the Association.

In conclusion the secretary would like to ask each member to help increase the prosperity and the usefulness of the Association by getting new members, by getting advertisements for the annual report, and by paying his annual dues promptly. It is a waste of any nut grower's time to have to dun a lot of careless people.

THE PRESIDENT: The chair will now entertain a motion to approve the secretary's report.

PROFESSOR SMITH: The Northern Nut Growers Association has been very fortunate in many things and especially in its selection of a secretary. The services he has so faithfully rendered are very much appreciated by the Association, and I move the report be accepted.

[Seconded and carried. Also moved, seconded and carried that the secretary be authorized to sell back numbers of the reports at a reduced price.]

DR. VAN DUZEE: I would like to say that a most important thing has been overlooked, and that is that the chair should appoint a committee to lift the load of financing the work of the Association from the secretary's shoulders.

THE PRESIDENT: It is very flattering to suggest that the chair is competent to appoint that committee. Do you make it in the form of a motion, Dr. Van Duzee?

DR. VAN DUZEE: Yes sir, I make that as a motion.

[Seconded and carried.]

Professor Close read the following report on score cards prepared by Prof. E. R. Lake of the committee.



PROPOSED SCORE CARDS FOR JUDGING NUTS

Score-Card (Plates, Trays or Cartons)—Black Walnuts, Butternuts and Hickorynuts

General Values: Size 10 Form 5 Color 5

Shell Values: Thinness 15 Cracking 20

Kernal Values: Plumpness 5 Color 10 Flavor 10 Quality 20 —- 100

Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-10 points.

Score-Cards—Chestnuts

General Values: Size 20 Form 5 Color 10 Freedom from fuzz 10 Size of basal scar 10

Kernal Values: Flavor 10 Quality of kernal 25 Thinness and quality of inner skin 10 ——- 100

Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-20 points.

Score-Card—Filberts

General Values: Size 15 Form 5 Color 5

Shell Values: Thinness 15

Kernal Values: Plumpness 10 Freedom from fibre 10 Color 5 Flavor 15 Quality 20 —— 100

Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-10 points.

Commercial Pecans

General Values: Size 20 Form 5 Color 5

Shell Values: Thinness of shell 10 Cracking quality 20

Kernal Values: Plumpness of kernal 20 Color of kernel 5 Quality 15 —— 100

Score-Card (Plates)—Persian Walnuts

General Value: Size 10 Form 10 Color 10

Shell Values: Thinness of shell 10 Smoothness of shell 5 Sealing 10

Kernal Values: Plumpness 5 Color 10 Flavor (sweetness, nuttyness) 10 Quality (crispness, richness) 20 —— 100

Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-15 points.

* * * * *

DR. MORRIS: I would say that this is a very excellent system as a basis for judging. We must at all times have in mind the idea of working to keep the quality very high. The reason for that is because the tendency has been in the other direction. Appearance has been rated very high, especially on the Pacific Coast, which is one of the centers in nut raising today. I observed, while on a trip from southern California to Washington and Oregon, that people all spoke about the beauty of the nuts, and said little of quality. They will show you great, handsome, bleached nuts, and some of the very poorest in quality are the ones about which they talk the most, and they recognize this fact among themselves. I haven't been looked upon with favor when telling them frankly that a certain walnut ought not to be put on the market at all on account of its quality. They resented that attitude on my part, but later when I was standing nearby I overheard rival walnut growers talking to each other. One said to another, "That is a handsome walnut, but you will have to hire an awful good talker to get it on the market." They resented my criticism and my judgment but among themselves said, "You have got to have an awful good talker to get that nut on the market."

It is this matter of quality that must stand first among nuts as among men. Many know that there is no better pecan than the San Saba. That is standard for quality, yet it is not regarded as being so desirable as some of the others because of its small size. We must always keep in mind the quality rather than size and appearance. Of course, we like things that look well but that side will be taken care of incidentally in the course of the development of the subject.

PROFESSOR SMITH: Dr. Morris, I should like to ask you a few questions. Is it not the same as it is in the apple and peach market? You know in that appearance counts for a great deal. Are you sufficiently acquainted with the subject to say we will be safe in growing a nut that is second class in appearance but first class in quality?

DR. MORRIS: I am glad Professor Smith brought up that point. There is just one way to approach the matter. Take a fine, handsome, large English walnut, that has been bleached, and has lost quality in the process. Growers have gone to a great deal of trouble to get it on the market. Put alongside of it a small, thin-shelled, high quality walnut that has not been bleached, and tell the dealer who is to sell those two nuts that the great big handsome nut is to sell for 15 cents a pound, and the ugly little one is to bring 30 cents a pound. That will attract the attention of people to the good nuts. You can force people into having good sense, through the exercise of a bit of dexterity in applied psychology.

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Morris's remarks are very well taken, because nuts are to be eaten and not to be looked at. Is there any further discussion on this subject? If not, we will pass to the next.

THE SECRETARY: The next thing on the program is the appointment of committees. The advisability of amending the constitution and rules has been already referred to. They have served our purpose pretty well up to now but we have outgrown them. In order to expedite matters and get to the real business of this Association, as this constitution is going to be amended anyway, I would like to move that the rules about the appointment of committees be suspended and that the chair be authorized to appoint the necessary committees. This includes the committees which the rules direct shall be elected, but that takes a long time and I move that the chair appoint these different committees.

THE PRESIDENT: Do I hear a second to that motion?

A MEMBER: I second the motion.

THE PRESIDENT: It has been moved and seconded that the rules requiring that these committees be elected be suspended, and the chair be authorized to appoint the different committees. The chair holds that it will take three fourths of the members present to suspend the rules. Is there any discussion about this?

MEMBERS: We are ready for the question.

THE PRESIDENT: All in favor of the motion made by Dr. Deming, make it known by saying aye.

[Vote taken.]

THE PRESIDENT: Those opposed, by the same sign.

[None.]

THE PRESIDENT: The motion is carried that the chair appoint the different committees, and they will be announced at the proper time.

The next thing on the program is a paper by the President. I will ask Dr. Morris to take the chair while I read what I have to say.



STATUS AND POSSIBILITIES OF NUT CULTURE IN THE NORTH

T. P. LITTLEPAGE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

The purpose of the Northern Nut Growers Association is to stimulate the production of nuts in the North. We distinguish the North from the South in this regard not because we feel any less interest in the nut industry in the South. The man who once becomes a nut enthusiast is no respecter of Mason's and Dixon's Line or any other line that separates him from an interesting nut tree or from a section in which nuts may be successfully grown. His local interest, however, will naturally be around his own dooryard and neighborhood. So we speak of northern nut culture and northern nut trees because we live in the North and because this is the section of the United States that needs at the present time the most intelligent direction. The South has been forging ahead for a number of years in this field. In fact, pecan culture promises to become second only to the cotton industry in many sections of that country and interest in its possibilities has attracted to it many conscientious, able and prominent horticulturists who are today engaged in pecan growing in the South and who are doing much to put the pecan industry on an honest and intelligent basis. These men have become specialists in the pecan industry and they know more about it than we do in the North. Consequently they do not need our assistance, even if we were able to give it, and, therefore, without any fear of our being criticised for using the adjective "northern" we can limit our investigations and discussions to nut culture in the northern part of the United States with a full knowledge that our southern brethren can take care of themselves, and, in addition, can render us much valuable assistance which assistance we most cheerfully invite.

At this point, however, in connection with the use of the terms "northern" and "southern," it may be relevant to make a few observations as to the possibilities in either section. While it is true that the South has a long start of the North in pecan culture, yet the North affords an opportunity for the cultivation of nuts which is not possible in the South. The South is today the home of the delicious varieties of pecan which are a delight to the consumer and a source of fascination and profit to the intelligent producer, but it must be remembered that the northern pecan belt has many excellent varieties that are "good enough." In addition to this, the North is the home of the black walnut, the fine shagbark hickory, the butternut, the chestnut, the hazel-nut, and the chinkapin, and is also adapted to the hardy varieties of the English and Japanese walnuts. All of the nuts just named certainly offer an ample field for our interest and enthusiasm, and, in addition to the keen delight which comes from the successful growing of these trees, there is a possibility of profit which I do not think is excelled in any horticultural undertaking today.

First then, what word of advice or instruction can the Northern Nut Growers Association bring to the prospective nut grower which will be of help? For, after all, the success or failure of this association depends largely upon its ability to help the grower or prospective grower. Before we undertake to give suggestions about the development and culture of nut orchards or to make prophecies as to possibilities, let us stop and take stock for a moment of the present status of the nut industry in the North and consider what we have to build upon and what materials we have with which to work. Mistakes have been made in the past by the prospective nut growers because they did not stop to consider the possibilities of the nuts that were native in their own locality, but looked abroad for something else. This is characteristic of many people. "Distant fields look green," and, of all the imported nut trees, none except the English walnut have been of any success here whatever, while, in one instance at least, their importation has resulted in introducing into this country the fatal chestnut blight, which probably came in on uninspected stock from Japan. We have better native chestnuts in this country than any foreign chestnut and the blunder of trying to get something different is costing the country millions of dollars through the scourge of the chestnut blight, which threatens to wipe out the industry. It reminds me of the epitaph on the tombstone which read: "I was well and wanted to be better, took medicine and here I am." Therefore, let us consider what nuts we have worth while.

The Pecan

First, we have the northern pecan which is native in certain portions of a belt approximately 150 miles wide, with Evansville, Indiana, on the 38th parallel, as the center. I do not mean to say that the pecan will succeed in all portions of the northern half of this belt or that it may not succeed in many sections farther north. The question of climate, as modified by proximity to oceans and large bodies of water or as made more rigid by absence of these protections, may decrease or increase the latitude at which the pecan can be successfully grown. The orange, for instance, is one of the tenderest fruits and yet, on the western coast, orange groves are flourishing at the same latitude as Philadelphia, which is nearly on the 40th parallel, although it is unnecessary to say that an orange grove would not survive within four or five hundred miles of the 40th parallel any place else except on the favored western coast. The southern varieties of pecans will not flourish in the north and we do not know whether the northern varieties will flourish in the South.

The pecan is a hickory and the northern trees are very hardy and thrifty. Many varieties have been discovered the last few years which are thought to be worthy of propagating. Among them are the "Indiana" and "Busseron," from near Oaktown, Knox County, Indiana; the "Niblack," from Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana; the "Warrick," "Green River," "Major," "Kentucky," and "Posey," all from the Evansville section; the "Norton" from Clarksville, Missouri, and several other varieties.

English Walnut

The next most important nut, and probably competing very closely with the pecan for popular favor, is the English walnut, which is perhaps the only nut that has been successfully imported for growing. Since the earliest Colonial days, seedling nuts have been brought from France, Germany and other parts of Europe and have been planted up and down the Atlantic Coast. Most of the trees from these plantings have not been able to permanently withstand climatic conditions, but, scattered here and there throughout the North and East, are individual trees of apparent hardiness which bear nuts in size and quality comparing favorably with the English walnuts we see on the market. Among the various hardy varieties of the English walnut are the "Rush" and "Nebo," from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, introduced by Mr. J. G. Rush, the pioneer propagator in the Eastern States. Another is the "Hall" from the shores of Lake Erie, the "Pomeroy" from Lockport, N. Y., a short distance from Niagara Falls; the "Rumford" from Wilmington, Del.; the "Ridgway" from Lumberton, N. J.; the "Holden" from Hilton, N. Y.; the "Boston" from Massachusetts; the "Potomac," "Barnes" and "Weaver" from Washington, D. C.; and a number of other varieties. The location of the parent trees just named will give some idea of the probable hardiness of these varieties.

Shagbark Hickory

The thin-shelled shagbark hickory is a nut that is coming more and more into favor and is well worthy of propagation. The first shagbark recognized as a distinct variety was the "Hales," located and named by Henry Hales of Ridgwood, N. J., about 1874. This is a very large, attractive, thin-shelled nut, but has been somewhat superseded by other and superior shagbarks. Dr. Robert T. Morris of New York has been making a systematic search for several years for trees bearing shagbarks of high quality and merit, and has been very successful in bringing a number of such nuts to public attention, including the "Taylor" and "Cook." The "Swaim" from South Bend, Ind., is an excellent shagbark; the "Weiker," from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; the "Kirtland," from New England; the "Rice," from Illinois; and another very superior and fine shagbark from northern Kentucky which was brought to public attention by R. L. McCoy of Lake, Ind.

Black Walnuts

Throughout the whole north are tens of thousands of seedling black walnuts, many of which are of excellent quality, but, so far as is known, there are but two recognized varieties, the "Thomas," introduced during the eighties and propagated to a limited extent, and another from Lamont, Mich.

Butternut

The butternut is also quite common in much of the same territory as is the black walnut and even in regions farther north, but, so far as I have knowledge, not a single variety has been named.

Japanese Walnuts

Seedlings of two species of Japanese walnuts are quite common along the Atlantic Coast and as far inland as the Mississippi River. They are also grown on the Pacific Coast to some extent, but apparently no varieties have been recognized.

Another nut which is confused with the Japanese walnut is botanically known as Juglans Mandshurica. In character of growth the tree quite resembles the Japanese species, but the nut resembles more our American butternut and sometimes they are confused. A short time ago a gentleman in New Jersey who had planted some nuts of the Japanese varieties later cut down the mature trees because he thought they were American butternuts.

Hazel-nuts

It is never safe to use the term "hazel" without explaining that it correctly applies also to the species brought from Europe and more commonly called filberts. According to the late Mr. Fuller, the Germans discriminated between hazels and filberts entirely by the shape of the husk. A nut having a husk which extended and came together beyond the end of the nut was called filbert, meaning beard. Those having shorter and more open husks, so that the nut protruded, were called hazels after the German word "hassel,"—hood, in English. It will readily be seen that once the nuts were separated from the husks, it would be impossible by their classification to determine whether they were hazels or filberts. The Americans generally accept the use of the term hazel to apply to both the American and European species.

In the early history of our country extensive and persistent efforts were made to introduce the European hazels, and no wonder, for of all nut trees this species seems to yield most readily to garden culture. They are readily capable of adapting themselves to most any kind of soil and even to rocky ledges which would be impossible to cultivate. They attain their greatest perfection in good soil and, under proper cultivation, the trees come into bearing early and the nuts mature early in the fall, well in advance of other species. The hazel, however, like the chestnut has met with a fatal disease. It is a blight which seems to exist everywhere except on the native species, which are so far immune as to show little or none of its effects. The American hazels, however, act as host plants to the blight, which thus quickly spreads, with fatal results, to the European species. Of all the plantings which have been made during the past one hundred and fifty years, it is safe to say that there are less than half a dozen hazel orchards in the eastern states which have not succumbed. It seems quite probable that a golden opportunity is awaiting someone who is willing to go through the forests of our eastern states, especially those in lower New England, in search of individual hazels from which to propagate new varieties. Among the heavy bearing shrubs, which exist in the section referred to, it is certain that many hazels could be found well worth propagating.

* * * * *

Turning now from this brief history of northern nut trees, let us consider the future of the industry as viewed in the light of sound theory and actual observation. It is unnecessary to present any argument why nut trees should be planted. Nuts afford the highest grade food known to science. They are wholesome, healthful, strengthening,—in fact, without a single objectionable feature so far as I know as an article of food and, when one considers that food is the basis of human existence, no further argument is necessary to warrant interest in one of the best foods known.

Then how shall we advise the prospective grower of a nut orchard? First, let him determine what kinds of nuts thrive in his vicinity. The prospective grower in the latitude of Evansville can indulge himself to his heart's content, for he can grow successfully the pecan, English walnut, black walnut, butternut, hazel and, up to date, the chestnut. But, success in growing any of these trees depends upon proper information, proper varieties, proper soil and proper care. Suppose a man, in the Evansville latitude, for instance, desires a pecan orchard. What should he do? His quickest way, if he has wild seedling pecan trees growing on his farm, would be to have the wild trees top-worked to well-known varieties. If he has no seedling trees, then his next best plan is to purchase budded trees of good varieties from some honest nurseryman, set them not less than sixty feet apart and cultivate and care for them. Will they grow around fence corners and creek banks? Yes, if you have plenty of time to wait. They will not, however, be in a hurry, and it may be your grandchildren who will gather the nuts. But, a cultivated orchard of budded pecan trees of the right varieties ought to come into commercial bearing as soon as does an apple orchard. Mr. W. C. Reed of Vincennes reports Busserons that were budded fourteen months ago setting as high as sixteen nuts this year. That is, the second summer after they were budded. If the trees are of the right varieties, well cultivated, in good soil, and if you care enough for them to throw some fertilizer around them, they will please you by their growth and soon become very profitable.

Now suppose one wants an orchard of English walnuts. Almost identically the same instructions hold true. If you have wild black walnut seedlings on your farm, by all means have them top-worked to fine varieties of English walnut, for the black walnut is the best root for the English walnut. If you have no seedling trees, go to some reputable nurseryman and buy known varieties of hardy English walnuts budded on hardy black walnut stocks. Set them not less than fifty feet apart and cultivate and care for them. Mr. Rush reports one of his budded Rush trees four years old bearing fifty-seven walnuts this year. I saw a Rush in Washington City the other day, two years old, carrying about a dozen walnuts; also a Hall, of the same age, carrying about the same number. Both trees were thrifty and not much over waist high, and every terminal twig had from one to two nuts on it.

If you have wild hickory trees growing on your farm, have them top-worked by the slip-bark or budding method to fine varieties of shagbarks. In the absence of wild hickories, I believe the future will prove that the next best method of starting an orchard of budded shagbark hickories is to buy them budded on hardy northern pecan stocks. The hickory is not the best stock for the pecan because it is of slower growth, and for the same reason the pecan ought to be the better stock for the hickory. But the hickory does not grow as rapidly as does the English walnut or the pecan and requires more patience.

The hazels are going to afford a great field for the nut grower, as they are native to a wide territory embracing the Middle West, the North and the East, and ought to be profitable. A few years ago I found a very fine large hazel growing on my farm in Warrick County, Indiana. I dug up some of the roots of this bush and planted them in my garden at Boonville, and in three years they were bearing fine clusters of hazels larger than those borne by the parent bush. I think farmers would find it profitable to set out hedges of native hazel bushes around their fields and fences and on hillsides.

Butternuts, black walnuts and beechnuts also offer a fertile field for experiment. Any varieties of butternut or black walnut can be propagated by budding or top-grafting them on seedling stocks.

I should like to suggest that every farmer in the nut growing belt set aside at least ten acres of land for a nut orchard. It will give him a new interest in life and afford him more pleasure and relief from the ordinary monotony of farm work, I believe, than any other line of work he can pursue. If Ponce de Leon had planted a nut orchard in this country instead of wasting his time searching for the fountain of perpetual youth he could have spent his old days in interesting, profitable and fascinating work instead of in despair and disappointment.

But some of the practical questions asked are, "What is the cost of a nut orchard?" and, "How soon will it bear?" and "What will it be worth when it does bear?" No man can answer these questions with any degree of certainty, for everything that man attempts has its drawbacks and disadvantages. First-class budded nut trees cost from one to two dollars apiece. The balance of the cost depends largely upon the intelligence and efficiency of the labor applied in setting and cultivating. When will they bear? That depends altogether upon who owns them. If properly cared for they will begin setting some nuts in a few years and will increase the crop as the years go by. A pecan tree ought to bear successfully for fifty years—possibly longer, and ought to be bearing nicely in eight years if properly cared for. But, success depends upon the care and intelligence with which the original selection of trees and soil is made, and upon proper cultivation. I have set an orchard of northern varieties of pecans budded from the parent trees in the Evansville section on my farm in Maryland this spring. The land cost me sixty dollars per acre. When they are ten years old they ought to be worth at least five hundred dollars per acre. I do not know how much more this grove of nut trees will be worth in ten years, but I would not option them at the present time for that price. I have about the same confidence in the English walnut.

I have always been conservative on these matters and always expect to be because in conservatism lies safety. These figures I have given you are merely my personal opinion. I have seen pecan groves ten and fifteen years old for which I would not have given any more than the land was worth on which they were growing. If any one has a notion that he can make money in nut culture, without intelligent exertion, he had better go into some other line of business in which there are men having a fair degree of success with unintelligent effort. I know of no nut grove in the whole United States that is succeeding without intelligent application, and on the other hand I do not know of a single grove which with intelligent application is not succeeding. I am a "conservative-optimist." I have been talking nut culture for a number of years and expect to see every hope and estimate which I have expressed fulfilled, and after all has been said and considered my final advice is to Plant Nut Trees.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: The chair invites a very active discussion of this paper.

PROFESSOR SMITH: It would be unkind to criticize so very instructive an address but there is one thing laid down in that paper I wish to speak about. I believe we were told we must cultivate our nut trees. I believe the fact is that in the greater portion of the United States, we can grow trees, even nut trees, without cultivation. If anybody doesn't believe that, go to Washington by the Chesapeake Railroad and you will see thousands of walnut trees along the way. I believe the human race can grow trees on a hillside without cultivation, and I want to suggest to persons putting out nut trees to put out a few in places where they don't have to be plowed, and see if they don't get good results. Cultivation is not a fundamental element of agriculture or plant life, but is the quick way to get results.

In many places in Ohio the state experimental work in horticulture, especially that carried on by F. H. Ballou, has done some wonderful things in waking up apple orchards that had not grown a quarter of an inch in years. Merely giving them food has caused them to wake up and bear. I have seen them, and know. The books say that while apples may grow without cultivation, peach trees must be cultivated in order to bear. I have peach trees that are three years old in a rocky piece of ground. I can't plow it but I have fed some of the peach trees and a few I did not, that is not much, and the ones that were fed as they should be are much the biggest and are bearing well. My point is this, keep the grass well scraped away to prevent trunk injury, and feed even a peach tree and it will do well. I think the same is true of the nut tree.

Whether a tree that is set out, liberally fed, and the grass kept away will do as well without cultivation, is a subject worthy of your consideration and experiment.

THE PRESIDENT: The chair especially desires to call attention to Dr. Smith's remarks because he has made a very careful study of this question and his suggestions are worthy of very great consideration. I have talked these things over with him a great deal and I commend his remarks especially to the Association for discussion.

DR. MORRIS: In connection with the matter of cultivation I would also like to have Mr. Reed discuss that. I want to say, however, that, in using fertilizers, you will often very easily overdo the matter. Sometimes in my experience professionally, I give a patient medicine enough to last a week, with directions that a teaspoonful be taken twice a day, and the patient may believe if she takes the entire bottle at one dose she will be well in an hour, and consequently suffer from an overdose. That same idea is sometimes carried out in the fertilization of trees by horticulturists. You don't intend to do it but sometimes you can kill with kindness and be too good in feeding your trees if you don't understand how much fertilization the tree needs. That is the idea, you have got to give your trees the ratio that they need. If you give them too much pie or pudding, your trees will have indigestion and will not thrive and may die. I have lost a great many good trees, and a great many nut trees, and have checked the growth of a great many by not realizing this. I wish Mr. Reed would speak to us about it.

MR. POTTER: I want to state some experience I have had and when Mr. Reed talks, I wish he would give me some information. I set out some pecan trees on my lawn in the front yard, and of course there is not much cultivation there except around the trees. It is like most other lawns in southern Illinois, mostly clay and what other soil we put on top. Now the clay is very hard and in setting the trees I had my man dig a hole three feet deep and two feet across and in setting the trees I packed good dirt around them. The question is how should I feed those trees? I have put barn manure around them and they are now growing and doing very nicely, I want to know if I have pursued the right course.

MR. MCCOY: I believe this question of growing trees in fence corners and on hillsides is not so large a question. The main thing is to give them plenty of water. There is very little land in the Mississippi valley that won't grow pecan trees or most any other kind, if you will give them sufficient mulch and plenty of water, because they take their food in the form of soup. Unless they have water, they won't grow. I believe the best cultivation you can give a tree of any kind is a good mulch of straw and manure. You that have had experience in this part of the country know that is the best way to cultivate trees.

I grew a peach orchard once in one year, but I have quit that, I have learned better. It is simply a question of water and plant food. If you will mulch any kind of a tree, nut tree or any kind, with ten or fifteen inches of straw and stable manure, you will have a steady growth from early spring until late in the fall, and it will make a strong tree.

PROFESSOR SMITH: While we are waiting for Mr. Reed I want to take up Mr. McCoy's soup suggestion. Water doesn't make good soup without something in it. Experiments show that you can mulch ground in some places and not wake up the tree, but fertilizer will wake it up the first year.

MR. POTTER: What kind of fertilizer did you use?

PROFESSOR SMITH: One must experiment to see what his land is short on. Sometimes you can fertilize your trees without any result. Sometimes potash will not do any good and sometimes it will. You will have to see what your ground needs. For young apple trees I found in my particular situation that nitrate of soda is all I want. I have what is called a Porter's clay soil on the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I use that and then my trees get busy and grow. They make rapid growth even the first season with a handful of nitrate and for my three year old trees half a pound is enough. That is what my soil seems to need and we must use what the soil is short on. That is my interpretation of my situation and it works.

THE PRESIDENT: Who can tell us whether nitrate of soda is good for nut trees? Can you, Mr. Simpson?

MR. SIMPSON: In the South, we do not think so.

THE PRESIDENT: The reason I asked, is that I have been studying that. I wrote Mr. Potter a letter suggesting that he use some on his young nut trees to see what it would do, and later I found out that all through the South it was not regarded as desirable. It seems they claim it starts pecan trees into an active growth but when they stop they make a very sudden stop and don't start growing any more. I want to get this in the record right here. You understand that is the general belief throughout the South, do you not?

MR. SIMPSON: Yes sir, it is not considered good.

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Smith has made a very careful study of fruit trees and knows its effect on them from experiments, but it is well perhaps to consider fruit and nut trees separately.

PROFESSOR SMITH: I should suggest to anybody who is thinking of working with trees, to get some seedling pecans and plant them and then fertilize some of them and others not, in the same kind of soil. In that way he can get his own fertilizer conclusions at a small expense and then he will know what his own soil needs.

MR. MCCOY: We fertilized seedling pecans in a clay soil and we decided the trees we did not fertilize got along better than the ones we did. Of course that ground is better where the trees are than on the average farm. We used nitrate of soda and potash but we decided the ones we didn't fertilize did the best.

MR. POTTER: I put two pounds of nitrate of soda around each tree and the English walnuts I used it on budded out very shortly after using it, but along about June they died. The pecan trees we used it around grew fairly well, but some of them, one in particular, appeared to remain dormant, almost, until about two months ago when it commenced growing and is now growing very rapidly. So you see I don't know where I am at.

THE PRESIDENT: In writing you I did not understand the size of the tree. On some trees I have been using a tablespoonful, about that, and I was afraid I got too much.

MR. POTTER: Evidently I got too much.

THE PRESIDENT: Evidently we got mixed up on the quantity. I know I never used more than two tablespoonfuls at any time and I should imagine two pounds would be a big overdose. I remember talking to Dr. Smith about that time about some old apple trees around which you can use five or six pounds of nitrate of soda and I suppose that is the way we got mixed up. I must have had that in mind as I did not intend to advise that amount for young nut trees.

MR. POMEROY: How long a season should the tree keep growing? From early spring to late in the fall? My experience is they will stop about the first of August, and let the wood ripen up and harden for the cold weather. Some might keep the trees growing longer, but you will hurt the trees I think.

THE PRESIDENT: We have not heard from Mr. Reed yet.

MR. C. A. REED: I am glad the discussion has proceeded as it has since it has given me time to reconnoitre. I hardly know what to say on this subject that Professor Smith has brought up. I guess he knows what he is talking about so far as his experiments have taught him. The department does not like to discourage a good thing nor to encourage a thing that is too risky. There is one thing quite sure and that is that so long as nut trees are selling for from one dollar to two dollars apiece, very few people are going to buy them and plant many of them on these hillsides and experiment with them. People cannot afford to do that. We have found, taking the country over, that nut trees thrive best when they are given treatment; that is they must be given cultivation and fertilization; be given some degree of attention the same as an apple or peach orchard. Colonel Sober, however, will show you quite a different thing. He will show you chestnut trees that are not cultivated at all, so there is a staggering blow to my argument, and yet Colonel Sober gets something like three and a half bushels to the tree. You don't fertilize those trees, do you, Colonel Sober?

COLONEL SOBER: No sir, not at all. Haven't yet.

MR. REED: So there is an argument that silences me and still it is true that we can't safely plant hickories and pecans without some degree of cultivation. I don't think Professor Smith has planted any on these hills.

Still we all agree with Professor Smith in a way. Something ought to be done to the surface to prevent the land from washing, and there is no better way of doing that than by planting trees. Then the roots will prevent washing and they can take care of themselves better than a surface crop. Especially is this true on the hillsides, so there is a good deal in Professor Smith's argument. And yet there is the danger that those trees will be infected with disease and insects. On plants and trees that are attended to and cultivated we find those pests will be kept in check. So there are two sides to that argument.

PROFESSOR SMITH: The point I raised was this, that it is possible in some places to attain by fertilization the advantage that comes by cultivation in other places. Great things have been done without fertilization. There are chestnut orchards in Corsica of grafted trees, ranging from the size of my wrist to eighteen to twenty feet in circumference. They have not been fertilized in centuries, and they yield enough to support the entire population.

THE PRESIDENT: We would like to hear from Col. Van Duzee, and I want to say that, as President of the National Nut Growers Association, he is well acquainted with these things. I commend him to you and promise that whatever he may have to say to you is worthy of your very careful consideration. I have the honor to belong to the association of which he is the president, and know it is seldom we have an opportunity to hear men like him.

COL. VAN DUZEE: Gentlemen, I am going to side step this argument for I do not think it worth while taking up the time. We are here for other purposes. Personal experiences are not the general rule because each one's experience differs from that of others. We might all tell our personal experiences and after we were all through we would not have accomplished anything. I want to take you back to the point from which we started this, in order to know what we are talking about. To illustrate what I want to say to you, we can take the root pasture of a tree and analyze it in every possible way so as to bring to bear upon it the best judgment we have from all sources. The tree grown upon a hillside has a root pasture which is entirely different in many ways from the root pasture in the river bottoms. If we have a tree growing on a hillside in a soil that easily transmits moisture and it gives that tree constantly a stream of pure water going through its root system, and there happens to be enough fertility in that vicinity, that moisture is impregnated with plant food, and the tree will get all it wants. You can't speak in the same breath of the tree growing in the river bottoms whose entire root pasture is entirely different. The root pasture may become contaminated by various things which may cause, so to speak, ptomaine poison. Therefore I say that every locality, every soil, every climatic condition, every variety of tree must be taken as individual. What would be good for an apple orchard in Virginia might be fatal to an apple orchard immediately south of Lake Brie in Ohio. The use of commercial fertilizer that would be good in one locality would be bad in another. Therefore I disapprove of this kind of a discussion, because we are not speaking to a definite point. I want to bring your minds to this point, that every individual tree and its locality, and the man that is responsible for its welfare, must be analyzed before you can speak intelligently about what must be done.

I am going to tell you the same story I told the societies at Pharoa, Alabama. They wanted me to talk on this subject and I said, "You remind me of a backwoods character I have come in contact with in the woods of Florida who is ill and doesn't know what is the matter with him. He knows he needs medicine and he goes down to the general store and buys a bottle of patent medicine recommended by the groceryman and he takes it and maybe it helps him and maybe it don't, but if he don't get better he goes and gets advice from some other man like the grocer." I said, "That is the way you are demonstrating fertilizer." The first thing I would advise would be this: to analyze the individual pasture of the individual tree and take everything that enters into the history of that tree and everything that bears upon it. All the accumulated wisdom of others won't help us very much. We have to use common horse sense. We can't talk about these things generally. In poor soil and under bad conditions the pecan tree will do nothing. There are trees I know twenty-six or twenty-seven years old that are not as large as my wrist, that have never borne a nut and never will. I can also show you trees in that immediate vicinity, planted at the same time from the same nuts with favorable conditions, that are seventy or eighty feet high and bearing good crops of nuts. Those nuts came out of the same bag the same day, and were planted by the same man in the same locality, and that proves, as I have said before, that you cannot discuss things of this kind in general terms and it is a waste of the time of the association to do so. I would be glad to answer definite questions as to definite points.

THE PRESIDENT. The next will be a talk by Dr. R. T. Morris of New York.

DR. MORRIS: Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Association: My subject relates to personal experiences with hybridization work. This is work which is to be done more and more by various members of our association, and we are thus to create new species of trees. Nature's whole endeavor is to preserve the mean type among races of organisms. There are mutants among all trees, among the hickories and walnuts, as well as among the peaches and pears. In fact all species undergo mutation. We select the most desirable mutants and we try to fix a given type by grafting and propagating. Seedlings will go back toward the mean type. The mean type hickory, walnut or chestnut is the type that nature wishes to preserve, but these are not best for man's purposes. What is best in nature's plan is not always best in man's plan. We have got to dynamite nature. We have got to put a charge of dynamite under nature's seat and blow her up, in order to get what we want for our own purposes. How do we do it? How do we break up the mean type of a variety or species? By crossing the flowers and bringing together the parents we wish to unite in the hope of growing new forms, among which will be some that are particularly desirable for our purposes.

Now in doing this work, I have had to get by experience a number of points which will be of value to members of this association. First, in regard to collecting pollen. Sometimes species, which we wish to cross, flower at widely different times. They bloom perhaps two or three or four or even six weeks apart, and it is a question how long we can keep the pollen viable. What can we do about it? There are two good ways. First, get your branches of male flowers before they are open, put them in cold storage, or in an ice house, or in a dark room, and keep them anywhere from one to six weeks dormant. When you want to use them, and your trees of the pistillate flowers are ready, take the branches of staminate flowers out of the ice house and put them in jars of water in a warm room in the sunshine. They will blossom and make good pollen shortly. Another way is through correspondents living at a distance. These correspondents will send you pollen from a species which blossoms later further north or earlier further south, at the time which you wish for your pistillate flowers. For instance, in crossing chinkapins with oaks, the chinkapins will blossom about the 12th of June in Connecticut but most of the oaks are through blossoming by the 12th of May. There we have a month's difference. How can I use oak pollen upon my chinkapin trees? I do this by sending away up to the northern limits of the growth of the oak tree, up in Canada. The red oak tree blossoms there in June, the same species that blossoms with me early in May. Pecan pollen that I wish to use upon shagbarks and walnuts I get from Texas. Now how are we to keep pollen when we have collected it, if we are not ready to use it immediately? I have had pollen sent to me from a distance in tightly corked bottles. It was probably ruined at the end of three or four days, because it could not breathe. Every grain of pollen has to breathe just as surely as a red squirrel in the top of a tree has to breathe. The pollen grain is a living organism, and if it is sent in a closely corked bottle it smothers and dies. You must have it sent in paper or wooden boxes in order to have it in good condition when it arrives, and it must be kept in a cool place, not too dry and not too damp. If it is kept in a place that is too damp, various fungi appear, and begin to attack it at once. If it is too dry, it loses its water content, and its protoplasm does not make combination with that of the other flower. So we must keep our pollen in a cool place, not too dry, not too warm and not too moist, and where it can breathe. We may put it in cold storage but not at a temperature below freezing. We may put it into the cold storage which florists use, and keep it for a long while. Some pollen will keep, viable for three weeks, under these conditions, possibly longer. It is important to keep your pollen boxes open at the top. They must be kept where the wind doesn't blow your pollen from one box to another. I had not been impressed by that point until this year. I had eight different kinds of pollen about the farm house, in different rooms, in order to be sure to keep them far apart. One day on my arrival from town ready for pollenating a number of trees, I found that a very neat housekeeper had found it undesirable to keep such boxes scattered about in so many places. She had put them all neatly together in a closet on one shelf, and there was none of the pollen that I could use, because the wind had mixed the kinds all up. I had eight kinds of pollen across which one kind of wind had blown.

There is one practical point in cross pollenizing flowers that I have recently learned. Pollen of one variety may not combine with the ovule of another variety or species but may stimulate the ovule to go on and develop all alone, without taking to itself the added pollen. That is a very important point, and possibly a new point. I was deceived, and reported that I had crosses of certain trees, and that such hybrids were growing. I knew that the flowers of parent trees had been properly protected from their own pollen. Now when these young trees are two years of age, I find they are true to one parent type; so true that they are evidently not hybrids. They have developed from the pistillate parent only. In ordinary parthenogenesis the fruit grows without any pollen influence at all. This forced parthenogenesis which I have described seems to be a phenomenon with which botanists are unfamiliar. Until I learn that it has been described and named by others I shall call it Allergic Parthenogenesis (Allos, ergon). The pistillate flowers accept absolutely no pollen, but go on and develop because of its impulse given. In cross pollenizing flowers, I find one point of great practical consequence. When covering the female flowers with paper bags to protect them from their own pollen you give protection to a great number of insects. The insects remain inside these bags and destroy the leaves and flowers. They are protected there from their enemies, predatory insects and the birds. When the bags are taken off, perhaps a week later, for the purpose of adding pollen to pistillate flowers, insects may have destroyed the leaves and even the flowers. Consequently, I find it best to sprinkle the leaves with Persian insect powder and to put some of it in the bags that are to cover the flowers. Insects can't live in an atmosphere of this insect powder. They sneeze themselves to death. I have taken the bags from leaves and flowers which were so badly injured by insects you could distinguish them at a considerable distance. Those are all the points that I jotted down for this address today, but no doubt many other points will be brought out in the subsequent discussion.

MR. MCCOY: I would like to inquire how far it is possible under a microscopic examination to determine the species of the pollen.

DR. MORRIS: It is possible to determine the species but not the variety so far as I know. It may be possible to determine a variety but I don't know the extent to which that is possible, from microscopic examination of the pollen. If we wish to know whether pollen is still good or not we may in twenty-four or forty-eight hours cause it to "sprout," and in that way know whether it is viable and good. We may save ourselves a good deal of trouble by making this examination and determining whether or not a given lot of pollen is viable before putting it on the flowers. We can cause it to sprout in a sugar solution.

THE SECRETARY: What is the strength of the sugar solution?

DR. MORRIS: That is technical work and must be done by a plant physiologist. He will do it for us at the State Agricultural College and telegraph his report.

MR. DORR: Is this work you have outlined of sufficient definiteness to get results? That is the important thing. We farmers sometimes discover a plan accidentally that will outclass anything we can get in an agricultural college.

DR. MORRIS: That is very important. We are to produce nuts that are better, and also in greater quantities. The question if hybridizing work is valuable has been already answered in the case of roses and soft fruits. Our best types are largely the ones which have been secured by hybridization and the same will be true of nuts. The subject has not been so largely taken up as yet with nuts. Very few of us are doing with nuts what has been done with other fruits.

THE PRESIDENT: The chair wishes to say that the members of this association have a very great and rare opportunity to secure information on this subject. Dr. Morris has made a very careful study of it.

DR. MORRIS: The more study I make, the less I seem to know. Consequently I shall be very modest in my replies.

MR. DORR: I have been working with different things and find so many things I can't get at the truth. In the last year I have made experiments in breeding cattle to get colors, and I was agreeably surprised with my own success. I want to know if you can get similar results. I can observe the results so readily that I know exactly how I get them.

DR. MORRIS: As a general statement the same thing you get from working with animals we may expect to get in working with plants. The protoplasm of plants is now known to act like that of animals, but not quite so quickly or freely in response to cultural methods. We can breed to size and breed to quality and character of fruit, and we find we may do with plants just about what we do with animals, only not quite so quickly, because animal protoplasm responds more readily.

MR. W. C. REED: I would like to ask if in a cross between the Persian walnut and the shagbark hickory there is a cross pollenization, or is it an increased vitality given by the pollen? Is there really a cross there?

DR. MORRIS: I made one cross between the Persian walnut and the shagbark hickory that was evidently a good hybrid. It showed character of both parents, but I lost that entire lot. I wasn't careful enough in protecting them. I have another lot of crosses between these two flowers in which the type often is so definitely shagbark hickory that I doubt if there is any walnut there at all. Under certain conditions we may get hybrids, yet miss it at another time, even when working with the same parents. Somebody has probably made a better study of this point and recorded better ideas. I think we may safely say that we may expect an actual cross between some walnuts and hickories.

MR. MCCOY: Would it be possible to cross the English walnut and the black walnut and produce a nut of superior quality?

DR. MORRIS: Yes, it is possible to cross them, but you do not often get a nut of superior quality. The tendency seems to be to have a nut of thick shell and of not high quality, but if you make a thousand of those crosses, out of the thousand you may get a few of just what you want.

PROFESSOR CLOSE: I want to ask if you are always careful to apply the pollen when it is well ripened?

DR. MORRIS: Yes, I have always been careful to apply it at just the time when it was well ripened, and that is of great importance in its bearing upon Mr. Reed's question. If I have pollen which is quite ripe I may perhaps catch it upon an ovule, but if it is not ripe I won't got the cross. I may add it a little too early or too late when the pistillate flower is unprepared and I won't get a cross. If I get my pollen just at the right time upon the pistillate flowers I may have a good cross, between varieties which do not cross readily.

PROFESSOR CLOSE: In my experience in breeding apples, formerly I always waited until the pollen was ripe, and that meant I had to cover the blossoms with bags and depend on the weather for conditions favorable to pollenation. But four or five years ago I began pollenating much earlier and I have had good results.

DR. MORRIS: That is a very important point.

PROFESSOR CLOSE: By doing that I know it is pollenated. I have been failing so many years I felt it was a loss of all the first part of the work.

DR. MORRIS: It is a great convenience to be able to pollenate at the same moment when you emasculate.

A MEMBER: I would like to have you kindly explain to what extent cross pollenation can be made practical to the ordinary grower.

DR. MORRIS: Let's say that in case of the butternut we wish to experiment with removal of the thick shell, and also to obtain less of that strong oily flavor; we wish to get rid of those two things. In order to do that I would first think of the Japanese walnut, juglans cordiformis, which has a much thinner shell and is less oily and more bland. Crosses between this Japanese walnut and the butternut we may fairly expect will sometimes give us a large, thin shelled butternut of good character. The next question is, who is going to do it? The men about my place are pretty busy, and this is rather delicate work. It is going to be a most inspiring field for the young folks and the ladies, because it is nice, pretty, ladylike work, and beside that its returns may be large. If your little daughter, ten years of age, knows that she may get $2,000 for a single cross that she has made, it is stimulating, because it is not every child ten years of age who can put $2,000 in the bank, as personal earnings of increment.