Of the cultural practices, the most important is probably pruning. Sawing off the limbs growing on the trunk makes all wood produced thereafter free of knots. When the trees reach about six inches in diameter, one should select those he is going to call "crop trees"—about 200 of these per acre—and spend his time getting them to timber size and quality. The other trees are removed over a period of several years, so that you finally have only the 200 high quality crop trees left. The reason I suggest starting the pruning when the trees are six inches in diameter, is that that is the size of the veneer core left after the veneer manufacturer has turned the log for the thin sheet of furniture veneer. Remove the limbs and improve the quality so you get a 16-foot log free of limbs and knots. That is what the buyer is looking for.

I know practically nothing about growing trees for a nut crop, but we seem to have something in common in growing trees both for nuts and timber. Just a lot of it is "horse sense", with a few rules of thumb based upon scientific principles. You must give the crop trees space, give them plenty of room to grow. In the woods they start to grow in a dense undergrowth. The young trees soon reach a height where they begin to dominate their neighbors. There you pick the straight, thrifty-growing trees for crop trees and favor them in your thinning and pruning operations. Tree density influences diameter growth of the trees. In thick stands, trees are usually small and spindly. So plant a large number to give the crop trees good form, then thin the plantation carefully to make it grow.

Grazing and fire are very harmful to tree plantations. Most of the plantations we studied were grazed. A good many were burned. I don't think nut growers would periodically burn their stands to improve the nut production. It is the same with growing a crop of wood. Once the livestock begin to trample or compact the soil, tree growth slows down and when that happens it makes the tree more susceptible to attack by insects and fungi.

As to marketing trees, let's assume you have some material you want to sell. The one thing you want to know is, "how much is it worth?" That is like me asking you what my house is worth. I understand there are persons here not only from Illinois and Iowa, but from New York, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. Prices on wood products vary not only from state to state but also within a state as well. The things you ought to know are the sizes and the grades of the timber that you want to sell, since they determine price. Now, there are publically employed foresters available to help you. They know your local conditions. The manufacturer's markets determine what he can afford to pay you.

For example, we organized some walnut marketing pools in Illinois during the war. I suppose a half million board feet of Illinois walnut was sold for gun stock material. One company was buying most of the product of the pools. Later we found that this company had a market for low grade stump veneer. Most of the other companies would mark a half dozen trees for their stumps. This company would buy 35 to 40 stumps. Every buyer looked at the same quality and quantity of material, since the trees were all marked. In this case, however, the difference in markets determined the price the manufacturer could pay.

Another thing that concerns price is what we call "logging chance" or how easy is it for the buyer to harvest those trees. I imagine anyone buying trees in Pennsylvania would have considerably more difficulty in getting them out than he would in Illinois. The differences in equipment and methods used to harvest the trees all have a bearing on the price paid the timber owner.

Hickory is commonly sold for handle stock. Wood for striking-tool handles has a definite restriction in the specifications on the number of rings allowed per inch of growth. The Federal Government grades handles on the basis of growth rate. From 17 to 22 growth rings per inch is specified. Timber buyers don't want logs grown any slower than 22 rings per inch and those grown a little faster than ten rings per inch may be acceptable.

Now, as to determining the trees to sell. I mentioned a 16-inch diameter limit. A few trees smaller than this with logs shorter than 8 feet in length may be accepted if a large quantity of wood is to be sold. It has to be economically worth while for the buyer to harvest and transport the wood, or he can't afford to buy it. Each buyer of course has a different set of specifications. You ought to measure and mark those trees you want to sell and ask the buyers to bid only on those marked trees.

Buyers like to approach the timber owner with, "You have some timber I can use. I'll give you $100 for what I can use." That is the same approach as if I were to offer $100 for your entire nut crop. You would probably say, "Let's weigh those nuts so we will have a basis for coming to an agreement." It's the same way with timber. There are two ways you can sell your timber. You can either measure your trees and sell on a volume basis, or you can mark certain trees and state to several buyers, "I have marked 25 trees for sale. What is your best offer for them?" Each buyer looks at the same trees, and you have a common denominator for comparing the fairness of each bid.

For example, we had a farmer in Woodford County, Illinois who had walnut trees, wild trees, but growing in a pasture grove. I jotted down the bids that were made. One buyer offered $200 for 27 trees, another bid $225 for 35, a third bid $265 for 40 or $165 for 35, and the last buyer offered $425 for 25 trees. The point I am trying to illustrate is that the farmer, without that extremely high bid, would have been unable to compare the bids because someone bid on 27 trees and someone else on 35 trees. If all buyers had bid on 27 marked trees, he would have had a basis for comparing the bids.

Sell on contract. Farm foresters have simple contract forms which they will give you. The forms can be filled out so that they tell what you agree to do and what the buyer agrees to do. Both parties sign the agreement, so there is less chance for disagreement later.

May I have those slides? (Picture showing large tall tree in dense forest.) This isn't a walnut tree, but I want to show you the kind of condition foresters like to see trees growing under. Nice tall stem, free of any limbs, good diameter. These trees show a rather wide range of age classes. When I talk to my folks about growing timber, they say "70 years is a long time to wait for your money." Here is a tree that started 70 years ago and is ready to be harvested. The crop is sustained yield.

I put this in to show you what we don't like to see. (Picture showing park-like stand of timber.) When these 100 or so trees are gone, there will be no others to replace them. Cattle have grazed this stand to the extent that it will be a long time before any other age classes develop to replace those you see in the picture.

That is a white oak. I told you there weren't many. Good diameter all the way up clear of limbs. When the logger cuts that tree he will have high quality material. The same applies for walnut, hickory, or any other species.

This walnut tree shows you how to mark trees for sale. One mark up here so the buyer knows which tree is designated for cutting, and one down at the bottom so you can assure yourself that that tree was to be sold. It identifies one of the trees you intended to sell; a penalty is involved for cutting any others.

I wanted to show you what a good walnut stump-cut looks like. These trees should be 18 inches or larger in diameter at about two feet above the ground to be worthwhile. The stump will be cut off when it gets to the mill, and peeled for veneer.

This is one of the walnut plantations cut for gun stock material. I put this in to show you how the buyers cut the trees down, and measure off the logs to get the best grade of material. They aren't interested so much in volume as in lumber. They want the best grade of wood, and they want it in that butt log.

I put these in to show poor quality logs that weren't worth taking. This is an open pasture grown tree. No care or attention given it, so the limbs stayed on and grew quite large.

This shows how they load logs with a tractor and chain. This "cross haul" is a trick of the logger's trade. This is the improper way. The tractor was broken down so it took five or six men to load it because they didn't have the tractor. There are some good logs and here are some poor logs.

This is a group of logs, at a railroad siding. Some look small, but at that time—with the market as it was—they could use the smaller logs. You see some of nice length, good form and free of defects. I mentioned metal. Here's a man with an Army mine detector. They tried them out to locate metal. This company uses this mine detector to test all logs for metal content.

Here's what happens. The metal discolors or stains the wood. This tree probably grew in a fence line. The buyers are just a little reluctant to buy them. If they do they cut them off this high so they are pretty sure all fence wire is left in the stump portion.

In this grove of walnut a wire is nailed on every tree. Such a practice ruins the tree.

This shows wasteful practice. This small mill in southern Illinois was buying these short bolts cut from small trees. Be careful that you don't sell trees that are too small and too young. It is like, I suppose, harvesting your walnuts before the kernel develops.

This is the result of fire. That log, from outside appearance, didn't have a blemish. Loggers left this part because it was hollow. The infection developed from a fire scar and rotted out the inside.

This shows the same thing. Fire scarred. Bumping machines used to harvest the nut crop or any defect or injury may result in something like this and decrease the tree's value for timber.

I mentioned hickory. Here are some single-trees that are made out of pecan. Hickory is also used. Hickory grows to a commercial size in southern Illinois but in most states it is too small and knotty. One time the Peoria office of the WPB got a release from Washington indicating that hickory was needed for axe handles. They released it to the newspapers. We answered letters for a month after that. Farmers who had hickory they wanted to sell had to be told that there wasn't enough hickory involved to make it commercially possible to market. In addition, there wasn't a single handle mill in the state at that time.

This is a couple of loads of good walnut logs. They were cut in Illinois and trucked to Indiana to be manufactured into veneer and lumber.

Dr. Colby has asked me if I had any methods of getting rid of stumps. We have worked for five years and we still haven't a method that is economical or easy. We recommend grubbing or burning them out with a small stove, or you can cut them close to the ground and let them rot out. What about the chemicals?—We have worked for a good many years and we have bored stumps until our arms ached, but we haven't found any of them that work.

Discussion

MEMBER: 300 board feet per acre per year?

MR. WALTERS: I said we felt that on good soil and by encouraging nature we can grow that volume.

MEMBER: What are the stumpage prices?

MR. WALTERS: Ranging from about $10.00 per thousand board feet to $300. There is quite a span and each grade is different. There is a prime grade, which is the best grade, which must be 16 inches in diameter at the small end at least. Each company has a little different set of grades. Even with the same grade the prices will range according to the size of the log. Maybe a 16 inch prime log may be worth $200 per thousand board feet and 24 inch will be $300.

MR. CRAIG: Curly walnut would be worth more?

MR. WALTERS: Yes. It is somewhat of a guess as to whether a tree will have a curly figure. If you let them take the bark off a tree, the buyers can tell. I know of one beautiful stump on which the buyer wanted permission to remove part of its bark to see if it had nubby growth. If it had had the figure, it would have been very valuable. The farmer said, "I don't want you cutting on that tree because if it doesn't have the figure and you don't buy it, the tree will be spoiled." Don't let the buyers chop into the tree to see whether it has figure.

MR. CRAIG: I bought two to get grafting wood.

[Editor's note: Mr. Craig refers to the Lamb curly black walnut, article on which appeared in NNGA 39th Annual Report.]

MR. WALTERS: There has been some work done on grafting or stimulating growth for figure. One method was to beat the trees with a rubber hose and try to stimulate figured or curly grain. Not too much has been published on this work as yet.

MEMBER: Do you think the figure could be propagated by asexual propagation?

MR. WALTERS: I don't know. I will say this; in forest trees, the inherited characteristics are the things we depend upon. If a tree has curly figure and the seed carries that characteristic, you may see it in the progeny. An acquired characteristic I don't think you can depend on so much.

MEMBER: Is it thought to be acquired or hereditary?

MR. WALTERS: I just don't know whether it is acquired or hereditary.

DR. ROHRBACHER: One thought came to me on this black walnut timber. It's a long pull, and it is one for our posterity. The thought came to be that it is for those of us who are interested in setting up something for our offspring. The plan has been brought out before of using a grafted known name variety of nuts. Plant those, and perhaps those trees as they grow would first give us that wonderful nut which we were looking for.



Symposium on Nut Tree Propagation

F. L. O'ROURKE, Leader

MR. O'ROURKE: I believe if you get 10 nut people together, you are going to have eight or nine propagators. It is the one thing that people like to dream and talk about.

I went through the list a little bit, and in order to save some time I wrote a resume of what had been done. In order to accumulate that material I had to dig into some of the more or less unused volume. There is a wealth of information in some of those earlier reports of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

MEMBER: You can get them for $15 a set.

MR. O'ROURKE: It's a good investment anyway. At any rate, I think I am going to try to make a bit of an analogy. Suppose this was a church group who had been working on paying off their mortgage. Every once in a while they passed a hat, but instead of dumping that hat on the table they let those contributions accumulate, so that after a while they had the accumulation of 41 years in the hat. Someone has to dump the hat sometime and I tried to do that this summer, and I found all sorts of contributions in that hat. We might say this happened to be the hat. You would find some brand new fresh ten dollar bills, nice new currency, and then you would find some gold pieces (before Roosevelt). They too can be used because they can also be converted. Then you could dig back and come across some stuff, and you didn't quite know what it was. It might be a Spanish doubloon or an old brass button. Right there is where you need a little knowledge. You should be able to tell the difference. I don't know whether I was able to tell that difference. We will, of course, find a lot of slugs and buttons and this and that among the valuable pieces, so possibly we should sift those out and put them in the discard. You never can be sure what to discard.

Just as I said, every nut grower is a propagator at heart. A little wee paragraph may be a lead to something which would be of quite a lot of value.

This little brief resume I passed around yesterday, and now this morning I am using my school teacherish techniques in passing around a sheet of paper. There is merely an outline. Pardon me if I insult your intelligence in getting out that outline. As you notice, we start out with the seedling and end with nursery practice. This outline should fit almost any nut species. It should fit chestnut, hickory, walnut or any. I thought it might be best to have a vote as to which one we talk about first, and then we will run down each particular species. I think we should have our panel come up front.

As I said a while ago, we know that practically every person in this room is a propagator. In order that we have this panel conducted in an orderly way, please raise your hand when you speak. I will get the question and pass it to one of the panel members. Which one shall we take up first?

MR. McDANIEL: Let's take the hard one first, the Chinese chestnut.

All right, chestnut. To be systematic, let's talk about seed. Anyone having any difficulty? No trouble at all. Who grows most of the Chinese chestnuts, germinates most of the seed?

MEMBER: I have trouble with rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs.

MR. O'ROURKE: He wishes to know of something to protect his chestnuts.

DR. McKAY: We don't plant in the Fall. I know of one person who uses red lead. We have never used it. I know that has been done. We store our chestnuts in cold storage over the winter and plant in the Spring.

C. S. WALTERS: May I interrupt? We tried 50 chemicals, treating walnut seed with them or putting them on the seed spot after the nut was planted. The squirrels lifted every nut except those that wouldn't have germinated anyway. The rascals knew the difference. We tried allylisothiocyanate—"tear gas." The squirrels would dig those nuts up and when the vapor got too strong they would go away and allow it to evaporate. Within two weeks they would come back—maybe two or three times—before they finally took the nut. We tried cayenne pepper and n-butyl mercaptan—the main ingredient in "polecat essence." We had squirrels all over our test plots, and the only nuts they didn't take were the bad ones.

MEMBER: I have had every other kind of rodent. I found I have to plant in the spring and always in a tin can, with rock wool over the nut.

MEMBER: We have used rock wool; planted in the spring. They will get them any time.

MEMBER: I did the same thing with chicken wire and no squirrels got them.

MEMBER: I would like to ask Mr. Chase if he has planted chestnuts on a quantity basis.

MR. CHASE: We planted them on a quantity basis and as some of you know our nursery is adjacent to a wooded area where you would assume there would be a lot of rodents and polecats, both kinds—four and two legged. I made that statement once before about never having had any squirrel damage. We don't have any trouble. We do not lose chestnuts. We mulch with composted mixtures.

MEMBER. They claim sawdust will help keep them away.

MR. CHASE: On the other hand, a gentleman wanted to get started with chestnut in the Smokies. We helped him get lined up and he planted in beds and these are perhaps a hundred feet long. We mulched heavily with sawdust. The area had been cut over six to eight years ago and had immense piles of sawdust. We mulched with about four inches and some animal got every chestnut out. We never knew what animal it was. There wasn't any evidence on the top. They got every chestnut which was quite a shock to him. I brought this point out that there was danger and he was going to build the bed up high and cover with wire or he was going to get some of this old camouflage netting type and cover that bed for protection both against rodents and early spring frost. He didn't follow through on that so I don't plead guilty.

MEMBER: Does the Chinese chestnut seed have a rest period?

DR. McKAY: For some years we have had a friendly discussion with the Division of Forest Pathology in regard to whether a chestnut seed has a rest period in the same way black walnut, hickory, or some of the others do, and we are not absolutely set in our opinion on the matter. We have the opinion that the Chinese chestnut does not require a rest period. I will tell you that one species, the Allegany Chinkapin (C. pumila) will germinate very readily as soon as it is matured. It will start growing immediately. When you go into the oak species, you have a number like that. They fall to the ground, and put a root into the soil, become anchored, and grow slowly all winter long. We feel that the Chinese chestnuts are of that type. Perhaps the old American chestnut was that way. It fell to the ground in the fall and it sprouted rather promptly within a month or so and grew slowly. Perhaps the Chinese chestnut is not so much inclined that way. We have done this: we have taken them from storage at various times during the winter and planted them, and have never failed to get reasonably good germination. Others have. The results there vary considerably. Perhaps we can't be too sure about the matter. We simply feel that on the basis of what we have seen and observed, they do not have a definite rest period. Many of the failures that have been obtained have been due to poor storage conditions, where the nut started to spoil and perhaps the workers didn't realize it and planted that nut and the nut spoiled immediately. So you fail, not because of the inability of the seed to sprout, but because it was improperly handled and could not grow.

MR. O'ROURKE: Is it not a fact that ... seed has no true rest period as we know it with trees? On the other hand, about 30 days' exposure to low temperature and moist conditions will cause all those seeds to germinate immediately. It may be somewhat the same with chestnut seed.

MR. STOKE: In confirmation, I furnished a man some seed some years ago and we put them in flower pots and they were a foot high by Christmas.

MR. McDANIEL: The growth is normal from the immediate planting, too. You don't get the suppressed growth later, as in prematurely germinated peach.

MEMBER: The chinkapins will often sprout even before they come out of the bur.

MR. CRAIG: I might say this concerning the California Persian walnuts. Take one at harvest and plant it, and that seed will germinate immediately. You hold it in dry storage and plant in the spring and it will come up in a couple of weeks. I speak from experience.

DR. CRANE: The same thing is true with pecan, in west Texas and Arkansas and California. We have lots of trouble with pecans germinating. It is not uncommon to find a pecan germinated with a root as much as ten inches long grown in the hull. If that nut goes through to maturity and becomes dry, then there is an appreciable delay in germination. They won't germinate as quickly. There has got to be a lot of changes in the kernel after they have once dried out and been harvested before germination will be initiated again.

DR. McKAY: In connection with this question of germinating nut seeds of all kinds, we think it is very important to plant the seed in a well aerated medium. I think that is a mistake many people make. If the soil happens to be of a clay nature, it keeps out oxygen and air and the sprout will rot. That is the reason why, when we plant chestnut seed, we like to plant in sand or the same with any nut seed. Coarse sand has a lot of air in it. That nut has a high demand for oxygen.

MEMBER: In the matter of chestnut seed, don't put too many layers of seeds. One is better than two. Even in rather porous soil, they seem to develop gas. Anyway, I found the bottom ones didn't get enough air and they rotted, whereas on top they didn't. It is better to plant a single layer than more.

MR. SHERMAN: What is the best method of treating the chestnut seeds in the fall to prevent the development of weevils?

DR. McKAY: Of course, there are several ways of treating the nuts for weevils. One is the old hot water method. All of us can heat water. We have to heat it to about 120 degrees. So hot, you can't hold your hand in it. Immerse thirty minutes for an average size nut. Now in connection with the spoilage and rotting that is another matter. We believe in harvesting chestnuts promptly, storing them before they dry out. We of course store our chestnuts in cans. Cans with lids and holes punched at either end.

MR. O'ROURKE: Are there any other questions pertaining to seeds?

MEMBER: I would like to caution persons outside the weevil belt about being very careful if you get nuts that may be infested. Leave your nuts in a small jar and you have the advantage of watching the weevils actually emerging. You can pick the nuts out about February, and you can select all the nuts that are sound. Once in awhile a weevil will live through the winter. One thing we should all be thinking about is that the nurseryman has to produce grafted trees in order to fill a demand, and those nut trees must be produced cheaply and he must use methods which are highly efficient.

MEMBER: Has anyone tried to deep freeze?

DR. CRANE: We tried that just this past winter. For a couple of years back one individual had asked us why we didn't freeze them. Last winter we did. We stored three gallon buckets at two temperatures. One at zero and the other at ten degrees below—hard freezing temperatures. Those nuts stayed frozen from early October until the next April. We brought them out and examined them one morning. The first thing we did was taste them. Those nuts we ate when first opened and you could tell them from no other chestnuts. They were nice eating, sweet. We let those chestnuts thaw evenly at room temperature. That evening we examined them and it's hard to describe what the transformation was in those nuts. In the first place was the deterioration that had gone on as soon as the tissue thawed ... They were dripping water. The tissue had burst and the water just flowed. On the other hand, about an hour after they thawed out, when we first examined them just as they thawed out, you would be amazed at how tender they were. They would melt in your mouth. Freezing apparently breaks down the tissue. The tissue is as soft as it can be. Apparently this freezing transformed some of the starch to sugar. The rub is that it won't keep for even two or three hours.

MEMBER: They might keep if you put them in the soil first.

DR. CRANE: The tissue is ruined.

MR. O'ROURKE: We have now decided certain things pertaining to seed germination. Then we are confronted with the problems of seedling versus clonal rootstocks. I do not know whether or not there have been clonal rootstocks selected for Chinese chestnut. I am sorry to have to ask Dr McKay to talk again but he knows more about it.

DR. McKAY: I can only tell you about the experiment we started this spring on clonal stocks of chestnuts. We have just this year's results. Unfortunately we didn't get good results. We took ten seedling trees. We used nursery trees, large five-year old trees, with vigorous root system, ten seedlings, and got from them 20 roots. We took roots the size of your finger with a lot of feeding roots, and we grafted onto those five times four. We took four per variety. We used five varieties of chestnuts, and all five of those each had four pieces and we had ten of those seedlings. We wanted to find out whether any of those ten seedlings would give us a better set of these five varieties than any other trees. In other words, we are trying to get a start on a clonal rootstock. We used a splice graft. We simply took a piece of scion and spliced it right on the end of the root. We had four of those in the bundle, and we had five per seedling and we had ten of them. That made 20 in all. We planted in a cold frame, with cheesecloth covering to keep the temperature from getting too high. Eventually, if this thing works, we will establish a clonal line. We planted those ten original trees but you will be surprised. We can go back to the original tree if we succeed with clonal lines, so a chestnut variety we hope will be grafted on a line of stock that came from that one original tree. Bear in mind this is the method and it remains to be seen whether it is going to work for chestnuts.

The results are discouraging. Only one or two seedlings gave us six or 8 successful grafts on all the five varieties but by that method of trying all five of these varieties on all ten of the seedings we hope to get a start. We will try them again, and we hope to get at least a start that will work. It may be that we will have to start over again. We may want to take ten other seedlings. That is, in brief, our work so far in that direction.

We took it off the ground. We didn't have long enough side roots.

MEMBER: How about mound layering?

DR. McKAY: We tried cutting off at the ground level and mounding up those sprouts and tried to root them, with no satisfactory results. There was just a small amount of rooting.

MEMBER: Did you try layering?

DR. McKAY: One year we did, but with no success.

MR. McDANIEL: I have seen a few layered successfully but it's a little slow.

MR. O'ROURKE: Shall we move to vegetative propagation and consider cuttings first?

DR. McKAY: Just one thing I think ought to be mentioned at this time. We know that even the use of clonal rootstocks does not entirely eliminate variability. All the work that has been done with these Malling apple stocks shows that, as far as apples are concerned. Now we have an idea which, in a crop like chestnuts, may have very far reaching influence and we feel quite hopeful for it. That is growing seedling progenies of certain parent trees. I want to tell you our experience with it. We started our work on breeding and selection of tung nuts in 1938, and we have tested now over 600 parent trees that were especially selected. Out of those six hundred we have released a total of six horticultural varieties, for asexual propagation. But out of those six we have three trees, the seed of which will produce seedling progenies that come very true to the type of the parent tree. One of those released we know as the Lampton variety. It will produce from 95 to 100 per cent of its seedlings, that are so true to type that you can identify them in the nursery. At the end of the first season you plant 95 to 100 per cent of the remaining trees in the orchard and anybody can identify the trees.

In the case of budded trees we have the variability of the rootstocks, which affects the growth. Since that particular variety has been released there has not been one single nut of that variety crushed. Every single seed is grown to tree size, to plant in a new orchard. It has taken us 12 years to reach that stage, but that one variety is probably the most outstanding thing we have. There is a slight variation in the trees but not as much as you have in other trees.

Now, with Chinese chestnuts, we planted seedlings that were grown from the seed of a parent tree at Beltsville. We planted a thousand trees. There were seedlings grown from seed produced by different parent trees. Out of those thousand there wasn't a single one outstanding. Yet in one lot of seedlings which was planted in Georgia, every one of the seedlings grown from the seeds of that selected tree produced such high quality nuts that we haven't cut out a single tree. There just hasn't been any off types. Now we have gone a step further. We had one called selection 7932 which came into bearing very early. We have had those trees grown from seed. The seedling at three years of age produced a pound of nuts, the seedling having the characteristic of its mother. We have hopes that before many years we shall be able to produce parent trees or clonal lines in which the seed taken from those line and planted will give us uniform seedlings.

I don't want you folks to get the idea we have these parent trees or seed from them that are available. I mention it because a lot of you are growing chestnut trees and planting them from seed. You could make a great contribution if you would take the nuts from each individual tree and plant separately, so that you will know in the future the origin of every one of those seedling trees you have. Some of these days someone is going to find one that is going to give us seedling trees that are good and free from variation.

Elberta peach seed will come practically true to variety from seed, except minor variations of size, shape, color and season. In a peach you are facing a very highly specialized market. But with the Chinese chestnut, color is not so important. What we are interested in is trees that bear and have enough uniformity so that we don't have pee-wees by one and jumbos by another.

We need very badly this sort of thing. We need chestnut varieties planted in pairs in isolated places. Any of you folks could do a great service if you will let us know wherever trees occur in pairs, or just two varieties and no others, and then we know that one variety pollinates the other. When you have a mixed planting of a half dozen varieties the male is promiscuous. Therefore you have a much greater mixing of genetic factors. If we have a pair of trees, we get a much more uniform breeding group of seedlings.

MEMBER: How far removed from other varieties do they have to be?

DR. McKAY: Half a mile or a mile.

MR. O'ROURKE: I think we can go to vegetative propagation of cuttings. I think that we have any amount of evidence that Chinese chestnuts can be rooted from cuttings, but can trees grow on from rooting cuttings?

DR. CRANE: You have summed up the situation perfectly.

MEMBER: Just by accident, in our storage house a couple of chestnuts fell over into a pile of peat moss and they did make roots.

MR. CORSAN: Would you call the Chinese chestnut a second?

MR. O'ROURKE: We should confine this only to propagation. While there are any number of interesting phases of it, we have to stick to propagation or we will never get through. We have had remarks on layers. Any comments on layers?

Let's move on to graftage. We want to have our chestnut produced on a quantity basis so I am going to ask Mr. Bernath to tell us a good method.

MR. BERNATH: I don't graft too many outside, but I do my propagating in the greenhouse. I had more than a thousand graftings growing, some of them this high [indicating] which greatly depends upon the root system and the condition of the soil. I think that is the fastest and easiest way of grafting chestnuts. I do my grafting sitting down.

MEMBER: That's on the potted stock.

MR. BERNATH: That's right.

MEMBER: After you have produced all these grafts, what are you going to do with them?

MR. BERNATH: Sell them.

MR. STOKE: I tried to contact some nurseries. They are selling your seedlings, little chestnut trees for $1.75 and they want to give you 75c or a dollar for grafted ones.

MR. O'ROURKE: Mr. McDaniel has received a letter from Mr. Hirschi from Oklahoma City and there is one paragraph that I think the membership will be interested in. [Letter from Mr. Hirschi is partly reproduced here.]

Oklahoma City, Okla. Aug. 23, 1951 Mr. J. C. McDaniel, Urbana, Ill. My Dear Mac;

... In my work with chestnuts I believe I have had an experience that will be interesting to the membership. As you well know I am a strong believer in selected named varieties. I do not regard seedling chestnuts any more valuable than seedling peaches or apples. The—Nursery, a member of our association, have been customers of mine for a long time. Last year I persuaded them to catalog seedling chestnuts at about half the price of Nanking, Meiling, Kuling, and Abundance. I was anxious to learn the attitude of the public, where they had an opportunity to buy and plant selected grafted varieties, when heretofore only seedlings were available. To my utter amazement the seedlings did not sell at all, but the thousand trees of selected varieties were sold out long before the season was over. I could not supply more, neither could I get them elsewhere. So far as I know Max Hardy and I are the only ones grafting chestnuts in quantities.

It is amazing the volume of business that catalog nurseries do. For instance the above firm does a million dollars gross business annually, and many others do a big business. All would be glad to catalog grafted chestnuts, and the chestnut movement would grow by leaps and bounds. True, they would have to be sold to them at wholesale prices, but they want small sizes, parcel post sizes preferred, which can be produced the second year from seed. Plant the seed in March, the next March graft them, and by fall the grafts will range from three to seven feet as shown by the enclosed photos.

I had the same experience with the above firm with Carpathians, sold them 500, which were sold out long before the season ended and I could not get them any more. They have ordered 2500 for this coming season. Unfortunately we had a poor take on grafts this spring due to cutting scion wood after a November freeze, which killed all other English walnuts. Carpathian wood was not hurt except where used for scions. Where left on the trees they forced out as usual and are producing a good crop of nuts.

I must close. I know you will have a wonderful meeting and I wish I could be with you. I will be with you in spirit, and in the meantime will be doing all I can to promote interest in nut growing.—Very truly yours, A. G. Hirschi.

MR. GERARDI: I don't yet have the greenhouse. I depend on field grafting. I produce my own seedlings. I just use seed from those three best trees. They run pretty uniform as far as growth is concerned. I bark graft in the field, when the buds begin to swell nicely and from there on. You can get a growth like that. [Indicating four to 5 feet.]

MEMBER: He has the same thing. Just as soon as the buds swelled. Sometimes I do go to the trouble if I am covering more ground, to cut them off as soon as they start to swell. A chestnut will peel again in four days. I start in after about four days and set these grafts and I use this bark graft. I have a sample of the method here. This is the plain bark graft which is efficient and fast for the production of chestnuts in quantity. I have to get into bigger production. I am trying to make speed and I am using this method. To start, the first week of April, when the buds start. If I get it done, it's the first week or the second of April.

MR. GERARDI: Four days on chestnuts. In my personal opinion after a few years observation I don't believe it is absolutely essential to cut back. Sometimes weather conditions will be a big factor. Sometimes the temperature is around forty and remains that way four or five days. The weather has taken the place of your cut back. That doesn't always happen, but weather conditions sometimes favor this.

MEMBER: What percent of failures do you expect on a hundred?

MR. GERARDI: Well, it is better to take a thousand trees. Out of a thousand you miss 35 or 40. The percent that takes is high. This is an important factor; you must have good wood. You are running just a little on the small size. From a quarter of an inch up to—. I never set a scion over about 9/16. That is just getting into the rough ... It's hard on the tool and rootstocks.

MEMBER: Do you wax the graft?

MEMBER: By all means you use the proper wax.

MEMBER: Did you ever try not to?

MR. GERARDI: Yes, if favorable weather permits. I use this Acme compound. Last season, it was a little stiff and I mixed a little oil and it cut my rubber bands too quick. That brush wax is about as good as you can get, but customers come in and I am called away and someone is always interfering with the work. I was trying to get a wax that I could just drop and it would be ready when I picked it up again. It is beginning to be an assembly line production. You can go faster if you have a helper or two to do the tying and waxing.

MEMBER: I have a rather crude scion storage method. I have dug out in a hill a reservoir that I keep ice in. If you could keep it at 32 to 40 degrees from the time it is cut in February, or the first part of March and then store it in this until the grafting time, it will keep readily.

MEMBER: In California I built a little house and there was room enough to put in at least 40 bushel boxes, 900 pounds of ice and I packed grafting wood in boxes and kept it until July.

MEMBER: The ice keeps up the humidity.

MEMBER: There are a lot of successful methods. It is what is available for you.

MR. WILKINSON: I have had very little experience in propagation of chestnuts. Mine has been limited. I shoulder my scions. I like to shoulder. My percentage of take varies with the conditions, sometimes it's fairly good and sometimes not so good. I have a specimen union of two inches in diameter and you can see what a nice union it makes. Ordinarily I have had very good success with chestnut grafting.

DR. McKAY: We have done some work on budding chestnuts but it hasn't been successful. We have had indefinite results. As Mr. Stoke says, grafting is so much more simple. We realize more work should be done on budding. We simply do our propagating the way it is easiest. Until the time comes that we have got more information on budding we will go along as we do now. One of the difficulties is that the wood is fluted and it is hard to get a good bud fit. It doesn't make for a good fit. We carried out a little experiment on one year old seedling at the crown. There is a smooth area on the stem as it enters into the root condition. It is a perfectly smooth area and we tried putting sealed buds at that point. We have had good success in putting those kinds of buds in at the time when you would ordinarily bud fruits, in the fall, where growth conditions are still good. Another year we did that same work and we didn't succeed so well. So we don't know exactly what we did wrong. In order to keep a set from those buds we don't know just what the conditions should be.

MR. O'ROURKE: To summarize then, the two successful methods are the greenhouse method and the field method used by Mr. Gerardi.

MR. STOKE: I mostly use a plain splice. The cut is about four times as long as scion diameter, if it is on a stock of the same size. It is the best method. I use also a modified cleft graft with a little trimming. Mr. Jones brought out that modified cleft graft and I have made a little change. Here is the stock, and a modified cleft graft is a side graft with the stock top cut off. You cut in at an angle far enough and you put your scion in here and there is your modified cleft graft. You get contact on all four lines. It takes experience and judgment. You cut your scion wedge and then make your understock cut and you will seldom make a mistake after you get experience. That is a side graft and a modified cleft graft. That makes a flexible portion here and you get a fit on both sides. But with the ordinary cleft graft, if you go to the end of your stock you still have a split and not a perfect fit.

MEMBER: Would you explain that? If your scion is not the same size it might over lap or ... how do you handle that?

MR. STOKE: If the scion is undersized, you don't cut so deep. Sometimes the stock is a little oversize. You simply cut less deep in your stock. If you have a large stock and small scion I'd make a bark graft.

MEMBER: I should like to bring up one point. That is produce more nut trees and do it cheaper. It seems to lie between Mr. Gerardi and Mr. Bernath. Mr. Gerardi can set between six and seven hundred per day, and tie them himself, and Mr. Bernath will graft between seven hundred and a thousand a day with someone else doing the tying.

MR. CHASE: We have tried all these grafting methods with varying degrees of success. Our propagation experiments at Norris have been directed at the development of more economic methods.

Conifer grafts are often placed in a grafting case for rapid callusing. This year we tried some black walnut grafts and found that they callused in 10 to 14 days when placed in a grafting case. These were bench grafted on piece roots, using modified cleft and side grafts. Later we tried chestnut with excellent results. Then we made more chestnut grafts, wrapped them in damp moss and placed them in a lab oven with a temperature of approximately 75 degrees. These callused rapidly and were planted immediately in the nursery. They made good growth.

We think that some adaptation of this method has possibilities in our region. Often our chestnut grafts are damaged by late spring frosts. If we can bench graft, callus, and then hold the grafts until favorable weather, frost damage will be eliminated. It may be possible to handle black walnut in some similar fashion. Then we would be dealing only with successful grafts. A cold frame provided with heating cable should be adequate.



Factors Affecting Nut Tree Propagation

F. L. O'ROURKE, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State College

Propagation of nut trees is primarily involved with the problems affecting the perpetuation of selected clones by vegetative means. It has been indicated by Morris (14), Reed (18), and others that trees produced from seed are of inferior value for nut production. Seed propagation, however, must be practiced to produce the necessary rootstocks upon which the selected varieties are budded or grafted.

Seed Propagation

Barton (1) indicated that while some few seedlings may be produced without prior seed stratification, after-ripening of the seed for 2 to 4 months at 35 deg. to 50 deg. F. markedly increased seedling production with hickory and walnut. Chase (4) found that black walnut seed sown in November yielded more and larger seedlings than when planted at a later date. Chase (5) also reported that nuts containing larger kernels produced larger seedlings, and that planting 1 to 2 inches beneath the surface yielded larger seedlings than deeper placement. There have apparently been little or no observations made on the performance of seedlings for rootstock purposes between different parental strains except for Chinese chestnut as reported by McKay (12).

Clonal Rootstock Propagation

The difficulty of propagating any selection of nut trees by vegetative means has discouraged selections for rootstock purposes. Only filberts offer such an opportunity for selection on somewhat the same basis as the East Malling clones of apple rootstocks which produce different sized scion varieties after grafting. Unfortunately, no non-suckering desirable clones of filberts have yet been reported and even the non-suckering Turkish tree hazel is grown from seed when such rootstocks are used (16).

Propagation by Cuttings

Gellatly (7) quoted the success of the East Malling Research Station in England in rooting cuttings of walnuts grown in the greenhouse and reported on his own experience in producing short roots on dormant cuttings of heartnut and Persian walnut. The writer (15) has occasionally produced roots on softwood cuttings of pecan and hickory set in a mist humidified greenhouse but the cuttings did not survive. Mist humidification has been a distinct aid in retaining foliage on softwood cuttings of filbert and Chinese chestnut until roots were formed but unless the axillary buds were developed sufficiently to make new growth immediately thereafter, little or no survival was secured. Apparently when the cuttings were succulent enough to form roots the buds were too immature to put out new shoots. If one waited until the buds were developed the tissue at the base of the cutting was too highly lignified for root formation. The use of synthetic plant hormones on cuttings of nut-tree species has been of questionable value.

Propagation by Layers

Mound layers are used quite successfully for the propagation of filbert varieties but have not proven of value with other nut-tree species. Chinese chestnut has been reported to layer easily but experiments with both mound and trench layers of selected varieties of this species at the Glenn Dale, Maryland Station of the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave negative results. The writer (15) has occasionally rooted pecan, hickory, and Chinese chestnut by aerial layering. A marcot box containing sphagnum moss kept moist by a glass wick immersed in water from a bottle at the lower end was employed. The time and labor involved were so great that the experiments were discontinued.

Propagation by Grafting

Bench grafting of walnuts and hickories has been adequately described by Bernath (3), Hardy (8), Lounsberry (10), Slate (24), and others. This method has been tested on a commercial basis and apparently should be considered as one of the most efficient ways to produce nut trees quickly and cheaply in large quantities. Greenhouse and storage facilities are required and keen expert attention must be given the newly-made grafts to assure success.

Reports on top-working and field grafting are both numerous and voluminous. Morris (13), MacDaniels (11), Wilkinson (29), and others have demonstrated the value of cutting back the stock a week or more before setting the scion in order to avoid injury from excess flow of sap. Reed (17), Stoke (27), Morris (14), Shessler (21), Sitton (23), and others have described methods of preparing and setting scions in the stock. All writers agree that greater success is secured when dormant scions are set relatively late in the season. Becker (2) stated that greater success was secured when scions were set from time leaves were full-grown until catkins fell. Protection of the scion by waxes, paper bags, and shading has been advocated by Morris (14), MacDaniels (11), Shelton (20), Shessler (21), and others.

Propagation by Budding

The shield or T bud has not been considered suitable for thick-barked trees such as hickory and walnut due to the difficulty of preventing "air-pockets" beneath the bark. Shaving the edges of the bark at the side of the shield may eliminate this difficulty. Joley (9), reported variable success in shield budding of walnut in California. Patch budding, either by the annular method or with the Jones patch-budding tool was described by Reed (17), and is reported by Chase (6), Zarger (30), and others to be the most practical method of propagation with walnuts. Pecans and hickories are commonly patch-budded in summer in commercial nurseries. The thin-barked Chinese chestnut is usually budded by the shield-or T-bud method as reported by Hardy (8) and McKay (12).

Scion and Budstick Handling

Sitton (22) reported that two-year wood of black walnut was superior to either older or younger wood. MacDaniels (11) advocated the base of the scion to be in the two-year wood and the tip in the one-year wood.

Shelton (19) reported that scions could be kept moist until used by storing in a closed container with a small amount of sodium sulphate, commonly known as "Glauber's salt". The usual method of scion storage is to pack in moist but not wet peat or sphagnum moss and place in a refrigerator at about 35 deg. F. Waxes and resins have been used successfully to prevent undue loss from the plant tissues while in storage.

Waxes and Dressings

Propagators seldom agree in their choice of a wax and wound dressing. In a series of carefully controlled tests, Sitton (23), found that a rosin and beeswax mixture with a filler gave results with pecans superior to the so-called "cold waxes" or asphalt emulsions. Paraffin and polyvinyl resin are often used for scion covering and to protect newly set buds. Shelton (20) has indicated certain qualities of a satisfactory wax.

The Rootstock Problem

In the Pacific Northwest Painter (16) stated that some Persian walnut varieties on Juglans hindsi (the northern California black walnut) develop a fatal graft blight due to delayed incompatibility at about 20 years of age. This is the so-called black-line disease. McKay (12) found great differences in survival of buds of Chinese chestnut placed on five seedling strains and Hardy (8) suggested that more attention should be paid to the parental relationship of stock and scion in the chestnut. Weschcke (28) reported that black walnuts grafted on butternuts yielded poor crops and that bitternut was a satisfactory stock for shagbark varieties and shagbark hybrids. Smith (25) advocated shagbark stocks for shagbark varieties but found bitternut to be practically as good. Stoke (26), and Smith (25) found eastern black walnut to be the best stock for all walnut species, including heartnuts and butternuts.

Nursery Practices

Commercial nurseries have adopted various methods to discourage the normal tap-rooting habit of nut trees and stimulate lateral and fibrous root production. Planting seed over screen wire, undercutting the seedling each year in the nursery row, frequent transplanting, and root pruning are methods commonly used. Attention must be given to the production of an adequate root system to help the grafted tree withstand the shock of transplanting to its permanent location.

Summary

The chief obstacle to the large scale growing of selected nut varieties is the difficulty in propagation. Careful workers with a background of knowledge and experience and skilled in craftmanship are successful in a limited way. Quantity production is apparently dependent upon specialized facilities and efficient labor programs. The need for extensive rootstock research is keenly felt by growers of walnut, hickory and chestnut.

Literature Cited

1. Barton, Lela V.—Seedling Production in Carya ovata, Juglans cinerea, and Juglans nigra. Cont. Boyce Thompson Inst. 8:1-5. 1936

2. Becker, Gilbert—Notes from Southwestern Michigan. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:135. 1937

3. Bernath, Stephen—Propagating Nut Trees under Glass. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 37:90. 1946

4. Chase, Spencer B.—Black Walnut Nursery Studies. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 37:40-41. 1946

5. Chase, Spencer B.—Eastern Black Walnut Germination and Seedbed Studies. Jour. For. 45:661-668. 1947

6. Chase, Spencer B.—Budding and Grafting Eastern Black Walnut. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 38:175-180. 1947

7. Gellatly, J. U.—Notes on Nuts and New Combinations of Old Principles. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 29:115-120. 1938

8. Hardy, Max B.—The Propagation of Chinese Chestnuts. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 40:121-126. 1949

9. Joley, Lloyd E.—Personal Correspondence. July, 1951

10. Lounsberry, C. C.—Bench Grafting of Black Walnuts. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:60. 1937

11 MacDaniels, L. H.—Some Experiences in Nut Tree Grafting at Ithaca, New York. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:52. 1937

12. McKay, J. W.—Results of a Chinese Chestnut Rootstock Experiment. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 38:83-84. 1947

13. Morris, R. T.—Top Working Hickories—Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 11:105. 1920

14. Morris, R. T.—Nut Growing. 1931. Macmillan, New York

15. O'Rourke, F. L.—Unpublished data. 1940-1945

16. Painter, John H.—Personal Correspondence. July-August, 1951

17. Reed, C. A.—Nut-Tree Propagation. U.S. Dept. of Agr. Farmers' Bul. 1501. 1926

18. Reed, C. A.—Seedling Chestnut Trees versus Grafted Varieties. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 32:79. 1941

19. Shelton, E. M.—Glauber's Salt for Humidity Control in Scion Storage. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:70-71 1937

20. Shelton, E. J.—A Laboratory Experience in Testing Wax Mixtures for Use in Plant Propagation. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:72-75. 1937

21. Shessler, Sylvester—Grafting Walnuts in Ohio. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 39:145. 1948

22. Sitton, B. G.—Vegetative Propagation of the Black Walnut. Mich. Agr. Expt. Sta. Tech. Bul. 119. 1931

23. Sitton, B. G.—Pecan Grafting Methods and Waxes. U. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. 545. 1940

24. Slate, George L.—Grafting Walnuts in the Greenhouse. Rept. North Nut Grow. Assoc. 39:146-147. 1948

25. Smith, Gilbert L.—Our Experience with Rootstocks. Rept. North Nut Grow. Assoc. 40:62-64. 1949

26. Stoke, H. F.—Nut Nursery Notes—Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 34:96. 1943

27. Stoke, H. G.—Grafting Methods Adapted to Nut Trees. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 37:99-102. 1946

28. Weschcke, Carl—The Importance of Stock and Scion Relationship in Hickory and Walnut. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 39:190-195. 1948

29. Wilkinson, J. F—Preparation of Stocks for Propagation. Rept. North. Nut Grow. Assoc. 28:65-66. 1937

30. Zarger, Thomas G.—Nut-testing, Propagation, and Planting Experience of 90 Black Walnut Selections. Rept. Nut Grow. Assoc. 36:23-30. 1945



Nut Rootstock Material in Western Michigan

Harry P. Burgart, Union City, Michigan

It is only natural that those who propagate by budding and grafting are always hoping to find a rootstock that will accept their scions with the highest percentage of takes and impart vigorous growth to the scion variety. Sometimes in our eagerness to adopt a new rootstock we are likely to neglect a vital point, namely—Future Performance of the root-top combination we are about to use.

It would take years of observation in a test planting to prove whether or not a new rootstock material is safe to use. A rootstock can affect the tree it supports in various ways. Sometimes the rootstock will force to the top too much growth, which is likely to bring about unfruitfulness. In other cases, the rootstock may cause a dwarfing habit in the future tree, with the resulting top being a scant producer of nuts. Then there is the combination where rootstock and top vary too much in their growth rate, thus making an unsightly tree. The ideal rootstock is one that attains a diameter nearly equal to the diameter of its partner, and is capable of producing a moderate amount of top growth, together with the production of heavy crops of nuts. Such a rootstock should also accept buds or grafts readily, and be compatible with the scion throughout the life of the tree.

My first experience with rootstocks for grafting came about in 1926 when I was working at the J. F. Jones Nursery then at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mr. Jones used both bitternut and pecan seedling stocks for grafting shagbark hickories. Pecans and hicans were also grafted on hardy northern pecan seedlings, and Japanese walnut stocks were used for butternuts and heartnuts. Black and Persian walnut scions were set on eastern black walnut seedlings.

When I returned to Michigan I brought back enough of Mr. Jones' trees for a small test planting here at Union City. These trees were planted in a heavy quack grass sod and some were lost, but those surviving show good compatibility between the top and root.

In the intervening years I have made but slight changes in the rootstock material used in my own nursery. I do not approve of the performance of our butternut varieties on the Japanese walnut root, as it results in a weak and dwarfed tree. The use of butternut rootstocks is also unsatisfactory, for they tend to produce trees of low vitality that in a few years fall victim to blight and then perish. I tried our Michigan black walnut seedlings as a rootstock and found that they are very much better rootstock material. The growth at the union is about equal. Top growth is good, and the butternut tops bear early and heavily, with no signs of blight during the ten years I have had them under test.

After years of test I have decided to use the northern pecan seedlings as rootstocks for my shagbarks, pecans, and hicans because they are a fast growing stock tree. They accept the grafts readily, and make good unions more quickly than the bitternut stocks I have tried. Mr. Wilkinson, from whom I obtain my seed, has never failed to send me seed with good viability, just about every seed germinating. The northern pecan seedlings have shown no winter injury here in Southern Michigan during the 20 years I have watched them growing.

An example of the superiority of the black walnut over the Persian walnut as a rootstock is a seedling of the variety Wiltz Mayette growing near a Broadview grafted on black walnut. Both trees are the same age, but the Broadview on black walnut is just about twice the size of its own-rooted neighbor.



Hudson Valley Experience with Nut Tree Understocks

Gilbert L. Smith, Millerton, N. Y.

This report is not based on any planned or well conducted experiments, but is based simply on our observations of results of our grafting work over the years since 1934.

Our first work was with hickories, so I will start with them.

Our first year's grafting was done in a plot of practically pure pignut stocks. This was the seven leaflet pignut, which I believe to be Carya glabra. I have never been sure of the identification of the two species of pignuts. We secured a fairly good percentage of living grafts, which grew well the first summer. The next spring all of the grafts failed to leaf out and later were found to be dead. A few grafts which were put on bitternut stocks (Carya cordiformis) grew well, and are still growing well after more than fifteen years. Several different varieties of shagbark hickory scions were used in this grafting.

The second year, we again grafted as many or more stocks in this same area. The results were exactly the same, except that we used some scions of Davis and Fox. (These varieties were brought to light through the contests of the previous winter). The grafts of Davis grew on pignut stocks, are still alive and doing fairly well. They have been bearing for several years, although the squirrels have stolen all of the nuts. Grafts of all other varieties which were on the pignut stocks died the next spring. One graft of Fox on mockernut lived and has continued to grow fairly well. That same year we started our test orchard of shagbark stocks (Carya ovata) in a different area. Grafts on these stocks have grown very well.

I believe that for some reason grafts of shagbark on pignut stocks cannot stand cold weather. Certainly, incompatibility is very marked.

Our experience with hickory stocks to date is as follows:

PIGNUT (Carya glabra or possibly Carya ovalis). This species is worthless as a stock for shagbark, shellbark, and hybrids of these species. If nut growers have some pignut stocks growing where they especially wish to have some good hickory trees, they can graft them to Davis. We have also heard that Brooks will grow on pignut stocks.

MOCKERNUT (Carya alba). This species is also nearly worthless as a stock for shagbark, shell bark, and hybrids, although many more varieties will live on it than will on pignut stocks.

SHAGBARK (Carya ovata). This species makes the most dependable stock of any we have tried so far, for shagbark, shell bark, and the hybrids. Its greatest drawback is the long time it takes to grow seedlings to a size large enough to graft.

SHELLBARK (Carya laciniosa). We have never had an opportunity to use this species as a stock. I think that it would make a good one and possibly be faster growing than shagbark.

BITTERNUT (Carya cordiformis). We have found that this species makes a very satisfactory stock for shagbark and hybrid grafts. We have not tried shellbark on it, except Berger which grows well on it. Seedlings of this species are much faster growing than are shagbark seedlings, and thus are large enough to graft sooner. We have grafts growing on bitternut stocks since 1935, they are growing and producing well. We consider this species as good or nearly as good as shagbark as a stock.

We have received contrary reports from farther south. These may be due to stock being blamed for something they did not cause or it may be that bitternut stocks grown from seed of more southern origin may not be as good as our northern stock.[18]

PECAN (Carya pecan). Our experience with this species as a stock is very limited and has been confined to grafts of only one variety of shagbark (Wilcox). Results were very disappointing, but we have been told by others that it makes a good stock. It is much faster growing than is shagbark.

Walnut

In walnut grafting, we have found that the eastern black walnut stocks are so much superior to any others we have been able to find, that we have discarded all others.

BUTTERNUT (Juglans cinerea). We have found that it is much harder to secure living grafts on this stock than on black walnut. It also attracts butternut curculio to the nursery.

JAPANESE WALNUT (Juglans sieboldiana and variety cordiformis). We have found that seedlings grown from either of these species are a great attraction to the butternut curculio. They are more difficult to secure living grafts on, and grafts on these stocks are very definitely less hardy than similar grafts on black walnut growing side by side. We have proved this repeatedly.

PERSIAN WALNUT (Juglans regia). We have never used this species as a stock, and in view of the fact that grafts of it grow so well on black walnut stocks, I can see no use in even trying it.

EASTERN BLACK WALNUT (Juglans nigra). As stated above, we have found this to be the ideal stock for all walnut grafting. It is more free from insects than any of the other walnuts. Grafts grow well on it and are more hardy than grafts on some of the others.

We have not had enough experience in grafting chestnuts and filberts even to offer any comment as to stocks for them.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 18: The planting location perhaps has more influence than the seed source. At any rate, the poorest growing pecan in the University of Illinois orchard is on a Wisconsin bitternut understock.—J. C. McD.]



The 1950 Persian Walnut Contest

Spencer B. Chase, Contest Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority, Norris, Tennessee

The nationwide Persian Walnut Contest conducted by NNGA in 1950 attracted 33 entries from 11 states. The contest was judged by H. L. Crane, L. H. MacDaniels, and H. F. Stoke, assisted by S. B. Chase.

The entries were first evaluated independently by the judges. Then each judge made a second evaluation with the knowledge of the findings of the other two judges. The Chairman then arbitrated the differences of opinion among the three judges. This action amounted only to the placing of four entries after the first prize had been unanimously agreed upon.

The following table shows the results of the contest:

Results of 1950 Persian Walnut Contest _____________ Prize Entry Submitted By Nut Kernel Kernel Weight Weight Percentage =========================================================================== 1 030 Mrs. W. H. Metcalfe, 11.9 6.5 54.5 Webster, New York 2 011 (Hansen) S. Shessler, Genoa, Ohio 9.8 5.8 58.5 3 002 (McKinster) Roy McKinster, Columbus, Ohio 12.5 6.4 51.2 4 012 (Jacobs) S. Shessler, Genoa, Ohio 12.9 6.0 47.0 5 006 Lewis Weng, Dayton, Ohio 12.4 6.4 51.9

Honorable Mention 001 Mrs. Gale Harrison, 14.7 6.2 42.2 Pemberton, New Jersey 008 A. C. Orth, Dayton, Ohio 14.7 6.7 45.8 014 (Burtner) Fayette Etter, Lemasters, 10.4 4.6 44.4 Pennsylvania 016 (S-66) G. L. Smith, Millerton, 15.1 6.8 44.9 New York 025 P. F. Countryman, Ontario, 13.9 6.3 45.3

031 (Colby[19]) A. S. Colby, Urbana, Illinois 10.8 5.9 54.1 032 (S-M-9) Royal Oakes, Bluffs, Illinois 15.8 6.6 41.5 033 S. Elwell, Homer, Michigan 19.2 8.3 43.2

A brief history of the prize-winning trees follows:

Entry 030: A Carpathian originally obtained through the Wisconsin Horticultural Society in 1936 (Rev. Crath's selections). In 1950 this tree was 14 years old, 22 feet high, with a trunk circumference of 23 inches. It has withstood 18 degrees below zero without damage. The tree began bearing a few nuts in 1947, 4 quarts in 1948; 1 peck in 1949; and 1/2 bushel in 1950.

Entry 011: This is the Hansen variety which was given second place in the 1949 contest. The origin of this tree is uncertain. It is estimated to be 50 years old and 25 feet high. It has withstood 15 degrees below zero without damage. Just when this tree began bearing is unknown, but it produced 2 bushels in 1947; 3 pecks in 1948; 1 bushel in 1949; and 3 bushels in 1950.

Entry 002: This is the McKinster variety which was judged the best entry in the 1949 contest. It is a Carpathian originally obtained through the Wisconsin Horticultural Society in 1939 (Rev. Crath's selections), and was 11 years old in 1950. It is 29 feet high with a circumference of 22 inches. It has withstood 17 degrees below zero without injury. This tree began bearing in 1943. In 1947 it produced 1/2 bushel; 1 bushel in 1948; 3 pecks in 1949; and 3 pecks in 1950.

Entry 012: This is the Jacobs variety which placed third in the 1949 contest. The nut which produced this tree originally came from Germany some 70 years ago. It has withstood 15 degrees below zero without injury. This is a large tree which has been bearing since 1915. It produced 300 pounds in 1947; 100 pounds in 1948; 200 pounds in 1949; and 200 pounds in 1950.

Entry 006: A Carpathian originally obtained through the Wisconsin Horticultural Society in 1936 (Rev. Crath's selections). In 1950 it was 14 years old, 25 feet high, with a circumference of 30 inches. It has withstood 10 degrees below zero without injury. This tree began bearing in 1949; in 1950 it produced 15 pounds of nuts.

It should be emphasized that this contest was based entirely on nut characteristics. In another year the placing of the same entries might be considerably different, because of seasonal variation. However, it is significant that the McKinster, Hansen, and Jacob varieties which were among the prize-winners in the 1949 contest were also among the prize-winners in 1950.

Contests such as this are valuable as a first step in the selection and development of improved varieties. The prize-winners and those given honorable mention are all very promising hardy Persian walnuts. The next step will be to test these selections to determine their adaptability to our varying conditions.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 19: Named since the close of the contest.—Ed.]



Colby, a Hardy Persian Walnut for the Central States

J. C. McDaniel, Extension Horticulturist, University of Illinois

When the Reverend Paul C. Crath of Toronto imported walnut seeds and scions from his native Ukraine region and adjacent areas of Poland in the 1920s, he started a chain of propagation and selection which promises to establish the Persian walnut (Juglans regia) as a commonly grown nut in southern Ontario and the north central states. The best of his importations, and seedlings from them, are fruiting in such states as Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, showing in many cases a degree of hardiness which must reverse the conclusion of an older generation of pomologists that Persian or "English" walnuts were too tender for successful cultivation in most of the middle west.

The time has now arrived when there are enough fruiting trees of the "Crath Carpathian" walnut seedlings in many states that comparisons can be made and the more promising ones named and disseminated for propagation. The nuts which the Reverend Mr. Crath imported in greatest quantity during the middle 1930s came from more than 100 different seedling trees selected in Poland. Their seedlings exhibit much variability in characters of trees and nuts. Some are much less hardy than others under our conditions. Not all are as large fruited as their seed parents (and some of the parent trees bore small nuts). Though many have smoother shells than Mayette or Franquette, there is also much variation in shape, thickness, and color of shells. Color and flavor of kernel vary from tree to tree. The season of nut maturity, though variable, is generally early enough in locations where the trees are winter hardy. The parents were selected for good filling of kernels, and this character generally has carried over to the seedlings fruited in America. As with other walnuts, some of the Carpathian seedlings are apparently more susceptible than others to fruit damage by the husk maggot. Walnut blight has infected them in some localities.

The COLBY Persian walnut, named in August 1951, and released to nut nurserymen for propagation early in 1952, is the best to date of thirteen Carpathian seedlings (each from a different parent tree) planted at the University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station from 1937 to 1939. It is the first Persian walnut variety to be named at this station.

The name, Colby, honors Dr. Arthur S. Colby of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Illinois, who has been in charge of nut investigations here since 1919. It was given to this variety, with his permission, by members of the Northern Nut Growers Association during their 42nd Annual Meeting, held at Urbana in August, 1951. Dr. Colby is a former president of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

Colby is a seedling of the tree designated as Crath No. 10. The seed was collected in 1934 from the parent tree near Cosseev, in the Carpathian mountain region of southern Poland as then constituted, planted in the nursery of S. H. Graham, Ithaca, New York, and the seedling transplanted to Urbana, Illinois at the age of two years. It has been fruiting annually here since 1942, with crops of up to 1-1/4 bushels in recent years. The accompanying cut shows nuts of the 1951 crop, a little less than 2/3 natural size. They are thin shelled, like the parent Crath No. 10, well filled with kernels of rich flavor, and are medium in size for varieties of this species.



The Colby tree is rather upright in growth, with strong branches, being the most vigorous among the four hardiest Carpathian seedlings at Urbana. It was one of two trees on which most catkins survived the winter of 1950-51, when temperatures at Urbana fell to -19 deg. F. It is among the earliest Persian walnuts to start growth in spring, blossoming at Urbana normally in the first half of May. Flowering is protandrous (male flowers first) but with enough overlap of staminate and pistillate blossoms to secure a large degree of self-pollination from the abundant large catkins. Fruit set might be improved, however, by planting nearby another variety with later staminate catkins.[20] The nuts mature from the middle to the last of September and have not been seriously affected by walnut husk maggot or walnut blight at Urbana. The tree is relatively early in wood maturity, shedding its foliage usually before November, a characteristic shared by the other hardiest Carpathian seedlings in Illinois.

Prior to 1952, scions of the Colby walnut (previously designated Illinois No. 10) were propagated for test by top working on native eastern walnut (Juglans nigra) at two widely separated locations. It fruited in 1951 at Greensboro, North Carolina, where the early growth sometimes is injured by spring freezes. (This is common with Carpathian walnuts in the southeast.) It has survived three winters at Sabula, Iowa with no cold injury and made unusually vigorous growth there. At both Urbana and Sabula, it has been compared with Broadview Persian walnut, a British Columbia origination considered a hardy variety. Broadview has often suffered winter injury at both locations, and in 1950-51 was killed to the understock at Urbana.

The suggested test regions for the Colby Persian walnut include those with a climate similar to central Illinois, and where spring freezes are not generally a problem. The suggested understock is black walnut (J. nigra) though established hardy Carpathian and other Persian walnuts may be satisfactory for top working.

Additional wood for propagation of the Colby will be available in small quantities next August to nut nurserymen and other experiment stations. (Walnut scions cannot be sent from Illinois to California.) Trees of Colby should be available from several cooperating nurseries in the fall of 1953.—Reprinted from Fruit Varieties and Horticultural Digest, 6(4):72-75. 1952.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 20: According to U.S.D.A. workers in walnut breeding, pollen of other Juglans species is not to be depended upon for securing a set of fruit on this species. Several hardy Persian varieties of good quality which have won awards in recent contests are being propagated but have not been grown at Urbana. These include the Lake, McKinster, and Metcalfe among others of Carpathian parentage, and two non-Carpathian varieties, Hansen and Jacobs, which have been fruitful in northwestern Ohio. Before one or more of these can be recommended as a pollinator for the Colby walnut, however it will be necessary to have them flowering in the same orchard for a period of several years.

Among the other Carpathian walnuts which have flowered in the orchard containing the original Colby tree, there is one very hardy seedling, R 5 T 27, which in 1951 and 1952 produced abundant pollen at the proper time to pollinate the Colby. Tree R 5 T 27 an open pollinated seedling of Crath No. 23, is protandrous, but later flowering than the Colby with respect to pistils as well as catkins, and consequently most of its pistillate flowers fail to set fruit in years like 1951 when there was no later Persian walnut pollen available. The R 5 T 27 tree produces an attractive, smooth shelled nut slightly smaller than that of Colby, not quite as sweet in flavor, and slightly earlier in maturity. Because of its hardiness and apparent value as a pollinator for Colby, propagating wood from this R 5 T 27 walnut tree will be available to experimenters, but we do not plan to name it at present.]



Resolutions

Mr. President and members of the Northern Nut Growers Association. The Northern Nut Growers' Association, assembled in its forty-second annual meeting here at Urbana, Illinois, on this the 29th day of August, 1951, desires to express its appreciation and thanks to Dr. George D. Stoddard, President of the University of Illinois, and to Dr. H. P. Rusk, Dean of the Agricultural College, to Dr. C. J. Birkeland, Dr. A. S. Colby, Professor J. C. McDaniel, and other members of the Department of Horticulture, as well as to other members of the staff of the University for the excellent accommodations provided for the entertainment of the members attending and for the meeting place provided, and to Mrs. A. S. Colby and other for their entertainment of the ladies and for the refreshments furnished. Therefore, be it resolved that the Secretary spread this resolution upon the minutes of the Association and send copies to President Stoddard, Dr. Birkeland, and Dr. and Mrs. A. S. Colby.

In the passing of Harry R. Weber, who was a nut culturist, one of the oldest members of the Association, and a past president, we have lost not only a real leader and worker in this Association, but also a very dear friend. This Association is greatly indebted to him and he has been deeply missed at this meeting. Therefore, be it resolved that the Secretary of this Association spread upon the record of this meeting this resolution and send a copy to Mrs. Weber

Signed, Members of Resolutions Committee (s) H. L. Crane, Chairman (s) F. L. O'Rourke (s) Spencer Chase

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 19: Named since the close of the contest.—Ed.]

[Footnote 20: According to U.S.D.A. workers in walnut breeding, pollen of other Juglans species is not to be depended upon for securing a set of fruit on this species. Several hardy Persian varieties of good quality which have won awards in recent contests are being propagated but have not been grown at Urbana. These include the Lake, McKinster, and Metcalfe among others of Carpathian parentage, and two non-Carpathian varieties, Hansen and Jacobs, which have been fruitful in northwestern Ohio. Before one or more of these can be recommended as a pollinator for the Colby walnut, however it will be necessary to have them flowering in the same orchard for a period of several years.

Among the other Carpathian walnuts which have flowered in the orchard containing the original Colby tree, there is one very hardy seedling, R 5 T 27, which in 1951 and 1952 produced abundant pollen at the proper time to pollinate the Colby. Tree R 5 T 27 an open pollinated seedling of Crath No. 23, is protandrous, but later flowering than the Colby with respect to pistils as well as catkins, and consequently most of its pistillate flowers fail to set fruit in years like 1951 when there was no later Persian walnut pollen available. The R 5 T 27 tree produces an attractive, smooth shelled nut slightly smaller than that of Colby, not quite as sweet in flavor, and slightly earlier in maturity. Because of its hardiness and apparent value as a pollinator for Colby, propagating wood from this R 5 T 27 walnut tree will be available to experimenters, but we do not plan to name it at present.]



Northern Nut Growers Association Membership List

As of July 29, 1952

* Life member ** Honorary member Sec. Contributing member *** Sustaining member

ALABAMA East Alabama Nursery, Auburn, Chestnut, pecan and persimmon nurserymen Hiles, Edward L., Hiles Auto Repair Shop, Loxley

ARKANSAS Hale, A. C., Fairview School, Camden Wade, Clifton, Forest Avenue, Fayetteville. Attorney Wylie, W. D., Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Entomologist

BELGIUM Centrale Kas voor Landbouwkre, Diet van den Belgischen Boerenbond N. V., 24 Minderbroedersstraat, Leuven R. Vanderwaeren, Bierbeekstraat, 310, Korbeek-Lo.

CALIFORNIA Andrew, Col. James W., Box 12, Hamilton A.F.B. Armstrong Nurseries, 408 N. Euclid Avenue, Ontario General nurserymen, plant breeders Brand, George (See Nebraska) Buck, Ernest Homer, Three Arch Bay, 16 N. Portola, South Laguna Haig, Dr. Thomas R., 3021 Highland Avenue, Carlsbad, California Fulcher, E. C., 5706 Fulcher Ave., North Hollywood Jeffers, Harold N., Lt. CHC, USN, USS Dixie (AD14) c/o F.P.O., San Francisco Kemple, W. H., 216 W. Ralston Street, Ontario Linwood Nursery, Route No. 2, Box 476, Turlock Pentler, Dr. C. F., 806 Arguello Blvd., San Francisco 18. American Friends Service Committee Pozzi, P. H., 2875 S. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa. Brewery worker, farmer Serr, E. F., Agr. Experiment Station, Davis. Associate Pomologist Stewart, Douglas N., 633 F Street, Davis Sullivan, C. Edward, Garden Highway, Box 447, Yuba City Welby, Harry S., 500 Buchanan Street, Taft. Private and Corp. Hort.