As to the value of nut trees in landscape work, a real estate man told me that when he wanted a good price for a house he planted fruit trees at the back of the house, and nut trees on the sides. He would talk about those trees to the people who came to buy, and has sold many houses in this way.

Then take Arbor Day, and we have one in nearly every state in the Union. If we could get the papers and the forest magazines to talk about Arbor Day, and urge everybody to plant something, and particularly to plant a nut tree, it would not be long before we got results. I could not think of anything much more patriotic than planting avenues of memorial nut trees. Nut trees are better to look at than are many of the monuments erected, and the patriotic societies do not realize the truth in this. There is a case where with a stroke of the pen, the nut trees could be increased all over the country.

Then consider the home demonstration agents in the country. They have the women organized and are in touch with the men of progressive thought and feeling everywhere; and it seems to me that we could make more use of them. It would seem that if this organization could in some way raise the money to have someone talk at these demonstration meetings, it would not be long before the value and the beauty of nut trees would show the use of doing this splendid work. What more effective methods could there be than to go to the state meetings held by home demonstration agents twice a year, and talk nuts to those people? They go home and talk these same things to all of the women in their little organizations and communities. There is no rapid transit method more effective than that. Then, when the women are taking up a subject like that, men are apt to read it also.

Another form of advertising that is equally important is in men's organizations. A number of years ago Mr. Hutt went down through the eastern part of the state on the old farmers' institute work. He took with him a case fixed up to display nuts. He talked about them, and especially about pecans. The people had never seen anything but the little, old, wild pecan, and they became enthusiastic. When you get a farmer enthusiastic you are doing something. The people became quite enthusiastic and planted quite a number of orchards. Mr. Hutt left the department and the new man who came in was not particularly enthusiastic about nuts. Then Mr. Curran came into the work and decided there was nothing he could do better than to urge them to plant nut trees. He is trying to get an unlimited quantity of pecans and walnut trees planted and he hopes to have a large number of trees put in within a few years.

To paraphrase what Mr. Littlepage said this morning, in connection with the raising of hogs, in getting the world to plant more trees, to use more nuts and to appreciate the value of nut trees for both beauty and use, you need 90 percent of advertising; and let the 8 percent be the man and 2 percent be the nut.

* * * * *

DR. MORRIS: Last year, when my experiments with the use of paraffin grafting had apparently been completed, I included what I knew of this subject in a little book, and this brought out letters from all parts of the country, in fact from all parts of the world, reminding me that I had not completed the subject of the use of paraffin in grafting. From tropical countries men complained that my suggestions about the use of one particular kind of paraffin, "Parowax," were not applicable to their part of the country where the paraffin would melt in the summer sun. Then, from some of the regions where the nights were cold, they said the paraffin would crack and leave the stocks bare, owing to the change of temperature.

We are consequently faced with a necessity for extending our information on this subject. My reason for presenting it, before I have completed investigations, is to get suggestions from members of the audience here, and from practical nurserymen. I have written a number of books on various topics, and have never sent one out without feeling sorry that it was not time for the next edition.

The theory is that if we cover a graft completely with melted paraffin, including the entire scion, buds and all, we have accomplished several things. In the first place, the paraffin prevents the graft from drying out before new cells can make union with cells of the scion.

In the second place it fills all interstices where sap would collect.

In the third place it provides an airtight covering so that the free sap pressures, negative and positive, under different temperatures, will be analogous in stock and scion. When there is low sap pressure we assume that some of the sap may be drawn out of the scion. This airtight covering prevents that.

In the fourth place it provides a translucent covering, which allows action by the actinic rays of light, which brings the chlorophyll into activity. All plant growth is conducted under the influence of chlorophyll, and the actinic rays of light activate this. Consequently, I seemed to have a perfect grafting material in this Parowax, which we may find in any grocery store. In my locality this wax worked perfectly and, theoretically, nothing more was to be desired. It melts at 125 degrees farenheit.

I have brought with me a specimen of a pear tree that I grafted in this way in July of this year. You will see that the Parowax covering is still complete. The new shoots have grown about eight inches since July 1, and I do not see how you could imagine anything more perfect than this specimen, from which I wrote my description in the book. As a matter of fact it is by the use of the paraffin method that I seemed to have solved the very great problem of making it possible for anybody to graft anything, and at any time of the year. The most difficult thing to graft is the shagbark hickory, and we have even done that every month of the year, except December and January. This year we are going to try those months, for I believe that the hickory tree may be grafted any month of the year.

Now the point of my remarks will relate to different kinds of paraffin. This Parowax, which melts at 125 degrees farenheit, will be satisfactory in the north temperate regions. We may raise the melting point ten degrees, if we like, by the addition of the carnauba wax, which, however, is highly crystalline. A crystalline wax is not desirable because it cracks and permits the air to enter and we have a desiccation of the scion. The Standard Oil people will furnish paraffin with a melting point of 138 degrees, and that will cover all of our needs for hot countries. But in getting paraffins that melt at 136, 137 or 138 degrees we have a rather definite crystalline element. Mr. Bixby has suggested the use of the earth wax which is mined in Australia. It is really a fossil paraffin and is not so granular. I found that it is not to be had in this country at the present time, however, although various dealers told me that they had it, and I obtained from a firm in New York City a misbranded specimen called "Ozokerite," which they said is a technical term for this particular fossil paraffin. But it was nothing of the sort; it was something they had made up for themselves. Mr. Bixby kindly gave me a pound or so of the real "Ozokerite," so I had the genuine thing to experiment with. We may then settle the question of obtaining paraffines which have a high melting point, by knowing that they may be obtained from any of the Standard Oil people.

Knowing that we must have, in addition, the elastic feature, I found one man who had succeeded by adding something to a high melting-point paraffin. He said that it was a secret, but I soon found that it would be no secret to a bee. It would seem, then, that this quality in beeswax would be valuable, since the secret formula from this same dealer has little more than beeswax in it. Beeswax is a different kind of organic product from paraffin and I would not expect them to mingle naturally when in melted solution, but apparently they do. You will find that the specimens which contain this wax are very smooth to the touch, and apparently are more homogeneous than paraffin.

The subject for experiment then, for members of this audience, is that of finding some substance that may be added to give elasticity, but which will not change the melting point. In the South we may require in addition something to whiten our paraffin. Some men in Southern California wrote me that they had fastened white paper about each graft and put a rubber band over it. I suggested this plan to one or two men in Australia and in Ceylon, who had complained about the melting of the Parowax, and I have not yet received their replies. I have been trying, however, to simplify things in the way of grafting. In addition to the elasticity that we need, we must have whitening, and for this purpose we must add something that will not be poisonous to the tree but will mix with the paraffin readily and give a white paraffin, which will interfere somewhat with the actinic light. I have found that carbonate of lead will mix well with paraffin. Carbonate of zinc will also mix well. They are both heavy, so heavy that they need a certain amount of stirring. A lighter substance is citrate of zinc, which will give elasticity, and which will probably also give a white effect. It melts with the paraffin and, being neutral, it will do no harm to the tree.

I have given you an outline on which I wish discussion, for I hope to get from this audience the information and suggestions that will enable me to make my experiments in the right way so that by next spring we may have no further need for discussing the question as to the correct paraffin method in grafting.

MR. BIXBY: There is another wax that is not so crystalline as the Parowax, and that is Candelilla, which is produced in Texas and New Mexico. It may be obtained from the wax importers in New York City, not from the Standard Oil Co., but the importers. I will find out just where it is from. I can easily get samples. Its melting point is not so high as Parowax, but it is much higher than any of the other waxes.

DR. MORRIS: Then by mixing it with the high-melting point waxes, those of about 138 degrees, we might get good results.

MR. BIXBY: I think so, and without introducing the crystalline element.

Prof. H. H. Hume of Glen St. Mary, Florida was then asked to speak. He said that he uses fresh pine gum from the turpentine cups to make grafting wax stick. This will mix with beeswax and give the elasticity needed for winter work (in the South). Also it is unaffected by a temperature as high as 120 degrees. He uses a mixture of high grade rosin, beeswax and pine gum with which pieces of cloth are saturated. Gum should be obtained in the spring when it is purest. It is thin enough to pour out.

Dr. Zimmerman said that he had tried pine gum with paraffine and it would not mix.

Prof. Hume said that beeswax can be had in various shades up to pure white.

Dr. Morris said that black grafting wax attracts heat and excludes actinic rays. He prefers a translucent wax.

Prof. Hume stated that in the country where Jacksonville, Florida, is there are 100 miles of roadway under construction which will be planted with nut trees where possible. He added that once when he was ill for a long time the doctor finally ordered a glassful of milk and a handful of pecan kernels for his diet. He tried it and it worked.

Dr. Zimmerman said that for grafting wax he had used equal parts of paraffin, stearic acid and beeswax with good results.

Dr. Morris stated his belief that the simple splice graft is the strongest kind.



FRIDAY MORNING SESSION

Sept. 28th.

The chairman of the Committee on Incorporation was called upon for a report and spoke as follows:

MR. LITTLEPAGE: Under the Code of the District of Columbia there is a provision of law whereby any educational, scientific or charitable association can be incorporated and become a body corporate with all of the rights of any other corporation, so far as the corporate entity and liability is concerned. The provision of the District Code is a very liberal one and drafted to encourage such societies as this. The committee therefore thought it better to incorporate under this provision of the law than under that of some other state.

The advantages of incorporating a society of this kind are several. It makes the action of the organization that of a legalized corporation and takes away liability of individual members. If anyone should desire to donate money to the organization, we would have a corporate entity that would be responsible under the law for the safe handling of such funds. Under the law we can hold such funds up to the point where the income is not more than $25,000 a year. In the District of Columbia a corporation can take title to real estate, transfer property and do all necessary things in accordance with its by-laws. We therefore concluded that there could be no objection to incorporating under such laws. So with the consent of the other members of the committee, I prepared in my office the proper certificate of incorporation which, under the requirements of the Code of the District, are as follows:

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, That we, the undersigned, all of whom are citizens of the United States and a majority of whom are residents of the District of Columbia, desiring to associate ourselves for scientific and educational purposes and for mutual improvement; and to organize a corporation under sub-chapter three (3) of the Incorporation Laws of the District of Columbia, as provided in the Code of Law of the District of Columbia, enacted by Congress and approved by the President of the United States, do hereby certify:

FIRST: That the corporate name of this company shall be The Northern Nut Growers Association, Incorporated.

SECOND: The term for which is it organized is perpetual.

THIRD: The particular business and objects of the society are the promotion of interest in nut-bearing plants, their products and their culture, and, in general, to do and to perform every lawful act and thing necessary or expedient to be done or performed for the efficient conduct of said business as authorized by the laws of Congress, and to have and to exercise all the powers conferred by the laws of the District of Columbia upon corporations under said sub-chapter three (3) of the Incorporation Laws of the District of Columbia.

FOURTH: The number of directors of the said corporation for the first year of its existence shall be five.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF we have hereunto affixed our hands and seals this 27th day of September A. D. 1923.

Karl W. Greene (Seal) Albert R. Williams (Seal). Thomas P. Littlepage (Seal).

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO WIT:

I, Alice B. Watt, a Notary Public in and for the District aforesaid, do hereby certify that Karl W. Greene (of the District of Columbia), Albert R. Williams (of the District of Columbia) and Thomas P. Littlepage (of the State of Maryland), parties to the foregoing and annexed certificate of Incorporation of THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED, bearing date on the 27th day of September, 1923, personally appeared before me in the District aforesaid the said Karl W. Greene, Albert R. Williams and Thomas P. Littlepage, being personally known to me to be the persons who made and signed the said certificate and severally acknowledged the same to be their act and deed for the purposes therein set forth.

WITNESS my hand and seal this 27th day of September, 1923.

ALICE R. WATT, Notary Public.

My commission expires December 17, 1923.

The smallest number of members with which corporation is possible, is three; so I secured two members, Mr. Greene and Mr. Williams, who, together with myself, prepared this, and put it in proper form. We then filed it with the Recorder of Deeds, keeping a copy for the files of the incorporation. The Recorder received it, and the fact that he received it was proof that it was satisfactory. We are now, therefore, a corporation.

Of course, we want to put that machinery into action, but in order to do so a board of directors has to be selected. Then will follow the election of officers of the Association. Therefore, I have prepared a report of the meeting of the incorporators, which I will read. As I said, however, we did this to get the machinery into operation. Next year the directors will be elected by the members.



MEETING OF THE INCORPORATORS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED.

The organization meeting of the Incorporators of the Northern Nut Growers Association, Incorporated, was held at Washington, D. C., September 28th, 1923, at 10:00 o'clock a. m.

Present: Karl W. Greene, Albert R. Williams, and Thomas P. Littlepage.

Upon motion, Thomas P. Littlepage became Chairman of the meeting.

Upon motion of Mr. Greene, seconded by Mr. Williams and unanimously passed, the following were elected Directors of the Northern Nut Growers Association, Incorporated, for the first year of its existence or thereafter until the annual meeting of the company in 1924.

James S. McGlennon, of Rochester, New York. W. C. Deming, of Hartford, Connecticut. Willard G. Bixby, of Baldwin, Nassau Co., N. Y. Harry R. Weber, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Robert T. Morris, of New York, N. Y.

Upon motion of Mr. Greene seconded by Mr. Williams and unanimously passed, by-laws of the corporation were adopted.

There being no further business, the meeting of the Incorporators adjourned.

KARL W. GREENE, ALBERT R. WILLIAMS, THOMAS P. LITTLEPAGE, Incorporators.

THE PRESIDENT: The next action, then, Mr. Littlepage, would be to get the report of the nominating committee. I call for that now.

Mr. Littlepage: (Reads as follows):



MINUTES OF FIRST MEETING OF DIRECTORS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

The first meeting of the Directors of the Northern Nut Growers Association, Incorporated, was held at Washington, D. C., September 28th, 1923.

Present: James S. McGlennon, Willard G. Bixby, Robert T. Morris.

Upon motion of Mr. Bixby seconded and unanimously passed, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year, or thereafter until the annual meeting of the Incorporation to be held in 1924:

President, Harry R. Weber; Vice-President, J. F. Jones; Treasurer, H. J. Hilliard; Secretary, W. C. Deming.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.

WILLARD G. BIXBY,

Secretary of Directors' Meeting.

(The report was adopted by the convention).



REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE

By Willard G. Bixby

MR. BIXBY: The finance committee asks the association to instruct the secretary in the printing of the next report to endeavor to reduce the size to one-half of the present report.

(Adopted by the convention).

MR. BIXBY: I move as an amendment to Article Two of the By-Laws, that annual membership be $3, or $5 including a year's subscription to the Journal. Contributing members to pay $10, this including a year's subscription to the Journal.

(Motion seconded and adopted by the convention, and the committee on Incorporation discharged with the thanks of the association).

MR. LITTLEPAGE: I have nearly overlooked the fact that the organization must now have a corporate seal, with an appropriate inscription. An appropriate inscription would be "The Northern Nut Growers' Association, Incorporated." All such seals generally carry some appropriate design, and there are various ones to be had. I move that a committee of three be appointed to determine upon the design of this seal, and then later, if the chairman of the committee will send the design to me, I will have the seal made and send it to the association.

(Motion seconded and adopted, and Dr. Deming, Mr. Bixby, and Dr. Morris appointed as committee by the president).

After considerable discussion New York City was selected as the place for the next convention and the dates Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, September 3rd, 4th and 5th, 1924.

A vote of thanks to the president, Mr. James S. McGlennon, was adopted. The secretary was also instructed to write to Mrs. Hutt expressing the thanks of the convention for her address.

Dr. Oswald Schreiner of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture was then introduced and spoke as follows:

In the successful growing of pecan trees, the proper care of the orchard is of enormous importance. (To illustrate this point, slides were shown of a good orchard and a poor orchard on a rather thin soil in the Coastal Plain Region. In the good orchard, the trees had been well cared for, the soil fertilized by the growing of legumes and cover crops plowed under; in the poor orchard, the trees had been neglected and the soil impoverished by the continuous growing of cultivated crops, such as cotton and corn. The two views very clearly showed which orchard was on a paying basis and likely to prove a profitable investment). It is needless to say that the crop from such a poor, intercropped orchard would be meagre and unprofitable until the methods were changed. The growing of legumes to furnish humus, and even the growing of winter cover crops, such as rye, to be plowed under in the spring, cannot be too strongly recommended as soil improvers.

When nut trees are grown in orchards, they can no longer be considered as forest trees to be left to take care of themselves until a rich harvest of nuts is produced, but must be cared for just as much as any other fruit tree or cultivated crop or the harvest of nuts will never be forthcoming.

The fertilizing of nut trees, however, offers more difficulties than do the annual crops. Experiments on this subject have been few and the information obtainable is rather meagre. Consequently, a few years ago, the Office of Soil Fertility Investigation, which is conducting fertilizer investigations on a large number of the annual crops grown on the prominent soil types or soil regions of the United States, started, in co-operation with the Office of Horticultural Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry, a number of fertilizer experiments on pecan orchards, involving a study of several soil types suitable for nut production and attempting to ascertain the proper fertilizer requirements for the pecan on these soils. While these experiments have been running only five years, which in point of time is very small in the life of a pecan tree, yet the different fertilizers employed already show some highly interesting results, sufficient to indicate that certain fertilizer applications undoubtedly influence the growth of the tree, its productiveness, and quality of the nut produced.

The experimental fertilizer mixtures are all prepared here in Washington in a fertilizer-mixing plant on the department's Arlington Farm, on the Virginia side of the river. The fertilizer house is well stocked with all of the various fertilizer substances used in agriculture, ready for mixing; nitrate of soda from Chili, potash from France and Germany, and our own far western states; cottonseed meal from the South, tankage and dried blood from the slaughter houses of Chicago and Omaha, Tennessee or Florida phosphates, and acid phosphate, ammonium sulfate from the coke ovens of Pennsylvania, Thomas slag from England, in short, all sorts of commercial materials from near and remote sources, for study and use in fertilizers.

(Slides were then shown of the exterior and interior of the plant where literally thousands of experimental fertilizer mixtures are prepared to study the requirements of the various soils and crops, and are then shipped in freight cars to the various experiment places. Two slides showing the application of fertilizer in a large orchard where tractors are employed in carrying on the various cultural operations and also in a small orchard where hand labor is employed, were also shown).

The scheme of fertilizer experimentation adopted in this work is rather complete and so planned as to include fertilizers carrying the principal fertilizer constituents, phosphate, ammonia and potash, singly, in combinations of two elements, and in combinations of three elements, in various proportions in a regularly graded manner. The following scheme illustrates these mixtures of different analyses, the first figure denoting the percentage of phosphate, the second the percentage of ammonia, and the third the percentage of potash in the fertilizer. The various mixtures are numbered consecutively.

1 —- 20-0-0 2 3 —- —- 16-0-4 16-4-0 4 5 6 —- —- —- 12-0-8 12-4-4 12-8-0 7 8 9 10 —- —- —- —- 8-0-12 8-4-8 8-8-4 8-12-0 11 12 13 14 15 —- —- —- —- —- 4-0-16 4-4-12 4-8-8 4-12-4 4-16-0 16 17 18 19 20 21 —- —- —- —- —- —- 0-0-20 0-4-16 0-8-12 0-12-8 0-16-4 0-20-0

It is quite apparent that in this scheme the entire field of fertilizer formulas is covered in a regular way. In addition to this formula plan other experiments are also under way to determine the influence of the different fertilizing materials, carrying the phosphate, ammonia and potash, and the influence of lime, rock phosphate, various green manuring crops, etc. The experiments are carried out in commercial orchards on several soil types and in several localities.

While the years the experiments have been running are yet too few for any final conclusions, and the details too numerous to present in a brief sketch here, there have nevertheless been some very interesting results from the use of fertilizers which is readily shown by a few lantern slides. Here is, for instance, a view of a fertilized and an unfertilized section of one of our experiments in Georgia. The views were obtained in the fall, and one could tell at a glance, not only that the unfertilized trees were not as large, but also quite strikingly that they had nearly lost all of their foliage, whereas the trees on the fertilized section were still in full foliage, thus presenting a very strong contrast. The effect of fertilizers on the foliage is shown also in a series of slides of representative trees, from one of our experiments in Louisiana, likewise taken in the fall. The first tree had not been fertilized, the second had been fertilized with phosphate and the third with potash. The one fertilized with phosphate appeared slightly larger, but it can again be observed that all three trees were, at the time the picture was taken, nearly three-fourths defoliated. The next two trees from the same experiment, fertilized respectively with a nitrogenous fertilizer and with a complete fertilizer, and photographed at the same time, show the influence of these fertilizers strikingly in that they are still in complete foliage, as well as showing a more vigorous growth. Three slides of fertilized and unfertilized trees from still different experiments all show the fuller foliage and better branching of the fertilized trees, especially those fertilized with the nitrogenous fertilizers or the complete fertilizers.

The yields of these trees cannot here be taken up but, in general, these fertilized trees came into bearing earlier and have yielded double and treble the number of nuts produced by the unfertilized trees.

(In conclusion, there was shown a slide of the yield of nuts from an experimental tract of a commercial orchard of about 20 acres, in which the yield from a fertilized acre was compared with the yield from an unfertilized acre. It was noted that the unfertilized acre gave a yield of approximately two barrels, whereas the fertilized acre gave an increase of two bushel baskets more than the unfertilized.)

Dr. W. E. Safford, Botanist, Bureau of Plant Industry, then spoke on the Use of Nuts by the Aboriginal Americans.

DR. SAFFORD: My interest in nuts has been confined almost entirely to those of American origin. For a good many years, I have been studying the plants, and plant products, utilized for food, and for other purposes, by the aboriginal Americans, before the arrival in this hemisphere of Columbus and his companions.

In this connection, there is a striking contrast between the American Indians and the primitive Polynesians. The chief economic plants encountered by early explorers on the islands of the Pacific Ocean were identical with well known Asiatic species. Coconuts, breadfruit, taro, sugar cane, yams and bananas, the most important food staples of the Polynesians, had been known to the Old World for centuries before the Pacific Islands were visited by Europeans; the shrub, from the bark of which the Polynesians made their tapa cloth, was identical with the paper mulberry of China and Japan; and the principal screwpine, or Pandanus, from which the Polynesians made their mats, was a well-known species of southern Asia. A number of these plants had even carried their Asiatic names with them to Polynesia. The Polynesian language itself, with its varied dialects, spoken in Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, Easter Island and on other island groups, can be traced without difficulty to the Malay Archipelago, the cradle of the Polynesian race.

In America, on the other hand, every cultivated plant encountered by Columbus and his companions was new. Not a single Old World food crop had found its way to our hemisphere before the Discovery; not a grain of wheat, rye, oats, or barley; no peas, cabbage, beets, turnips, watermelon, musk-melon, egg-plant, or other Old World vegetable; no apple, quince, pear, peach, plum, orange, lemon, mango, or other Old World fruit, had reached America. Even the cotton which was encountered in the West Indies by Columbus the very morning after the Discovery, proved to be a distinct species and could not be made to hybridize with Old World cottons. Conversely, no American cultivated plants; no maize, no beans, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes; no cacao (from which chocolate is made); no pine-apples, avocadoes, custard apples nor guavas; no Brazil nuts, pecans, or hickory nuts; nor any other American food staple had found their way to the Old World; even the beeches, chestnuts, oaks, and maples were distinct; and the same is true of the New World ground nuts and the grapes, which were the parent species of our delicious American varieties. Quite unlike anything in the Old World were such cultivated plants as the Cactaceae, the capsicum peppers, and the manioc from which cassava is made.

In Polynesia the evidence thus offered by cultivated plants points to the spread of Asiatic culture eastward across the Pacific, while the peculiarities of the cultivated plants of America point to its isolation from all the rest of the world; an isolation which is further established by a radical dissimilarity of all American languages from Old World linguistic stocks. In no language of the New World, for example, is there a vestige of Hebrew, which would support the cherished theory of the migration to this continent of the lost tribes of Israel; nor is there a suggestion of any linguistic element to indicate connection with the Chinese, nor any relationship between the builders of the American pyramids and those of Egypt.

There are many distinct groups of American languages. Very often the language of a tribe is quite unlike that of its nearest neighbors; while at the same time it may resemble the languages of tribes quite remote. This fact indicates former segregation of the various groups speaking the unlike languages and a common ancestry or close association of the tribes speaking the allied dialects. As examples, I might mention the Quichua Indians of Peru, whose language is very unlike the languages spoken by the Arawak and Carib Indians to their northward and, at the same time, quite distinct from the languages of their Brazilian neighbors to the eastward. The Aztecs of Mexico spoke a language differing radically in structure as well as in vocabulary from the Maya language of their Yucatan neighbors; yet there is unquestionably a relationship between the Aztecs and a number of very distant tribes, shown by resemblances of their languages, as in the case of the Shoshone Indians of the northern United States and the Nuhuatl tribes of Salvador and Costa Rica. In the same way, the Algonquian dialects, which differ greatly from those of the Iroquoian, show a close relationship between very widely scattered tribes in North America, from North Carolina to Quebec. Such resemblances and radical differences point to a very remote and long-continued segregation which permitted the independent formation of distinct linguistic stocks; while the antiquity of man in America, both north and south of the equator, is further attested by the development of such a cultivated and highly specialized food staple as maize, whose ancestral prototype we have sought in vain. Its endless varieties, fitted for widely diverse conditions of soil and climate, also point to a long period of cultivation in dissimilar culture-areas, which enabled them to adapt themselves to conditions very different from those of the original stock from which they sprang.

All this evidence points to the peopling of this continent at a very remote time, perhaps as far back as the close of the Glacial Epoch; and it also indicates that the early progenitors of our Indian tribes had left their original homes in the Old World before any of the linguistic Old-World stocks had taken shape; before Sanscrit was Sanscrit; before the languages of China or any other Asiatic people had become established; and just as in this hemisphere the natives developed their own languages from the most primitive elements of speech, so most certainly did they develop their agriculture from the wild plants of the fields, the swamps, the hillsides, and the forests. In both respects, as I have already pointed out, they differed from the Polynesians who brought with them to their island homes not only their language but their agriculture, from the cradle of their race in the Malay Archipelago; cuttings of seedless breadfruit and of sugarcane, fleshy roots of taro and yams; even trees, like the Indian almond and the candlenut.

Here I would like to point out to the members of the Nut Growers' Association the chief difference between nuts and other food staples. Nearly all of our cultivated vegetables, including maize, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes and pumpkins, are annuals, sensitive to frost, which must be raised from seed each year, and which differ so greatly from the primitive plants from which they came that their ancestral forms cannot be definitely determined. Most of these vegetables are in all probability of hybrid origin, the result of cross pollination and selection. In the case of our native nuts the conditions are quite different. We know the original ancestor of the pecan, our hickories and our walnuts. The fine varieties now cultivated are not hybrids but have been selected from wild trees. In connection with nuts I would also point out that in all probability they were the most important food-staple of primitive man, as well as of his simian ancestors. It required no great intelligence to gather them or to store them after the fashion followed by squirrels. Intelligence, however, is required to plant nuts and to transplant nut trees. Still greater intelligence is involved in the process of preparing certain nuts for food. A delicious creamy emulsion, for instance, was prepared by the Virginian Indians from hickory nuts. Cracking them and removing the kernels was too long and tedious an operation; so they developed a method of gathering them in quantities and crushing them in a hollowed log, together with water, pounding them to a paste and then straining out the fragments of shells through a basket sieve. The milky fluid which was thus formed was allowed to stand until the thick creamy substance separated from the water. The water was then poured off, and the delicious cream which remained was used as a component of various dishes. This substance was called by the Virginian Algonkian Indians "Pawcohiccora," a word which has been abbreviated and modified to "Hickory," the name by which we now designate not only the nuts, but the tree and its wood.

It is interesting to note that a similar creamy or butter-like substance was derived by a similar process from various palm nuts in Central and South America. Cieza de Leon describes such a process in his Chronicle of Peru, in connection with a nut which was described as Cocos butyraceae, but which was not a true Cocos, or coconut. Long before the discovery of America, a somewhat similar process was used in the Nicobar Islands for extracting a creamy substance from the grated kernel of the true coconut, Cocos nucifera, which in early times was called Nux indica. This process is still followed throughout Polynesia. Some of the most savory dishes of the Samoans and the natives of Guam are enriched and flavored with this coconut cream, which is a substance quite distinct from the water, or so-called milk, contained in the hollow kernel of the nut, which is so commonly used for drinking.

Coming back to America, I would call attention to the value of some of our native pine nuts and acorns as food staples. Certain Indian tribes of the Southwest live upon pine nuts at certain seasons when they are ripe. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has told of the utilization of acorns by various tribes of Indians in a beautifully illustrated article published in the National Geographic Magazine, 1918, entitled "The Acorn, a Possibly Neglected Source of Food." "To the native Indians of California," he says, "the acorn is, and always has been, the staff of life, furnishing the material for their daily mush and bread." He describes the process of gathering and storing them, shelling, drying, grinding the kernels, leaching out the bitter tannic acid, and preparing the acorn meal in various ways for food. In eastern North America, several species of acorns were somewhat similarly used, including those of the live oaks of our southern states. The Spaniards of Florida sometimes toasted them and used them as a substitute for chocolate or coffee. Chinkapins were used for food by the earliest English colonists. They are mentioned by Herriot, the historian of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony at Roanoke. In addition to these, the early colonists learned to eat the so-called "water-chinkapins", which are fruits of the beautiful golden-flowered American lotus, Nelumbo lutea, a plant closely allied to the sacred lotus of India, China and Japan, whose nuts are even now used as a food staple. The split kernels of the latter may be bought in the Chinese shops on Pennsylvania Avenue in this city. The rootstocks of both the American and the Oriental lotus are also used for food. They resemble bananas joined together end to end, with several hollow longitudinal tubes running through them.

Before I close, I should like to call attention to a plant, endemic in eastern North America, whose tubers were called "ground-nuts," or "Indian potatoes" by the early colonists. The latter name caused the plant to be mistaken by certain early writers for the white potato, which was unknown in North America in early colonial days, but which was confused with the ground nut on account of the resemblance of the descriptions of the two plants. The white potato, Solanum tuberosum, was discovered in the Andes of South America by Cieza de Leon; it was quite unknown in North America or in the West Indies in the days of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake, both of whom have erroneously been given the credit of introducing the potato into England. The "potato" which they observed in the West Indies was not Solanum tuberosum, which we now call the "white potato" or "Irish potato," but a very distinct plant, Ipomoea batatas, which we now call the "sweet potato," but which in early days was known as the batata or potato. The error which has become widely spread, can be traced to John Gerarde, the first author to publish an illustration of Solanum tuberosum. In his celebrated Herball he declares that the potatoes figured by him were grown in his garden from tubers which came from "Virginia, or Norembega." It is quite certain that this statement was untrue, and that, as certain English writers have already suggested, Gerard "wished to mystify his readers." Whatever may have been his motive, the error became widely spread. Even Thomas Jefferson was led to believe that Solanum tuberosum was encountered in Virginia by the early colonists, and Schoolcraft declared that its tubers were gathered wild in the woods like other wild roots. The Indian potato of the early colonists is still abundant in "moist and marish grounds," as described by Herriot. It is a tuber-bearing plant of the bean family, and is known botanically as Glycine apios.

But I fear my talk has become too discursive, in turning from nuts to ground nuts, and from ground nuts to potatoes; but the subject, bearing as it does on the origin and history of cultivated plants, is one which has great attraction for me, and I hope it may have been of interest to the members of this association.

Professor C. P. Close, Pomologist, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, spoke as follows:

MR. CLOSE: The subject I had intended to speak on was "Extension Work in Nut Growing." Many of you know that I am putting in most of my time on the fruit end of extension work, but I am also doing some extension nut work. I was hoping that there would be representatives from many of the states here, because I wanted to encourage them to get in touch with the state extension men, to work up interest in nut culture.

My talk will be very brief, but I would like to mention that very few of the states as yet are doing extension work with nuts, especially in the North. Some work is being done with pecans in the South.

I have been astounded in talking with the landscape men in the North to find that they have not considered nut trees as ornamental trees. But after I mentioned that a walnut or a hickory or a pecan tree is an ornamental tree, and just as much so as the elm, the oak, or the maple, they thought it would be a good idea to use them and agreed to recommend the use of nut trees as shade, lawn and roadside trees. Then I suggested the filbert for clump planting as an ornamental. I hope in the future that nut trees and filberts will be used more extensively by the landscape extension men in their work throughout the country.

In most of the states there are fruit extension specialists but only an occasional landscape extension specialist; so I try to interest the fruit men in the planting of nut trees, and a few of them are doing this, particularly in Indiana, where the fruit extension specialist has been interested in having pecan and English walnut trees planted in school yards. It seems difficult to get people to comprehend and practice nut tree growing and to understand the various uses of nut trees. We can judge from the small audience at this meeting that there are not enough people interested in nut growing. In my journey throughout the country I occasionally run across men interested in growing a few nut trees, and I try to induce them to become members of this association; but it seems to be a hard thing to do.

A few days ago I called on a man in New Jersey who said he would have twenty bushels of hickory nuts and two or three bushels of English walnuts if the squirrels did not take them. He is up against a state law which protects the squirrels but does not protect him.

I wish we could send out word with you to the states to get at least a few people interested in nut culture, and have them write to the agricultural colleges and the experiment stations and arouse some interest along this line at those institutions, not only among the fruit extension men and the teachers, but also among the landscape men as well. There ought to be more interest taken in this work at our colleges and universities, and nut culture courses ought to be organized. The foresters ought to be induced to use nut trees wherever possible.

That is all of the time I care to take at present, Mr. President, but I wish to say that if there is any way of arousing interest in the states, I would be glad to carry the word from Washington and to push it just as hard as possible.

Hon. W. S. Linton, Saginaw, Michigan, spoke on "Roadside Planting vs. Reforestation," as follows:

As a delegate to the National Tax Association convention at White Sulphur Springs, it has been my lot to have been named on both federal and state committees, with the idea of exempting from taxation those who would produce trees for the future. My experience has been that exemption from taxation for the purpose of producing our future forests is a wrong one. The sentiment of the people is against exemption from taxation, and I do not know how it may be practically applied to the growing of the forests that our country must have in the future. But the individual will not carry out the work, and the corporations will not undertake it, so it devolves upon the government of the state to reproduce those forests. The government lives for a long period in between many life-times, and ours should live as long as the earth. It is therefore up to us to reproduce those forests which we once had and, as all things come back to the state, then the state should reforest.

Next the roadways are to be considered. Roadways will grow a better class of timber and trees; they are rich in soil, generally, because they pass through the most fertile regions of the country and, up to this time, they have been waste land. I believe that the farmer is right in his wish that trees which shut in the roadsides should be cut away, that the sunlight should be let in and the roads hard-surfaced. We saw in our trip that where the trees shaded the roads they were almost impassable at times, while in the open places, they were fine.

In Michigan we took up the question of roadside planting, and Senator Penny fathered the bill, the pioneer measure, that caused our state to plant roadways. We have a very competent landscape engineer in charge of one of the departments, and he is planning to grow roadside trees, using nut-bearing trees, so that the next generation will profit largely by the work of today. And this is just because of this association.

When I was honored with your presidency, one of the features of the work we carried on was in getting nut trees from historic places, especially from Mt. Vernon. The Superintendent of Mt. Vernon very kindly told us that we could have the walnut crop from trees that were started there during Washington's time, and the only stipulation was that we should not commercialize the idea; that those nuts were priceless, and that we should not receive any money for them, but should distribute them in the schools and in a public way cause interest in the planting of nut trees. That very movement brought about wonderful results, and today there are from five to ten thousand walnut trees growing in our state, about the height of a man, all of them having come from Mt. Vernon.

On our way through from White Sulphur Springs, we passed through the home of Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, and we found some magnificent nut trees planted by Jefferson. Some of our best trees today are from those given to Washington by Thomas Jefferson; and I arranged at Mt. Vernon to secure some of the nuts from the trees Jefferson planted there.

Just yesterday Mr. Dodge, the superintendent at Mt. Vernon, again said that we could have the crop for this year. We will have a number of bushels from there, although the trees have not been as fruitful this year as usual, and I leave it to you to judge as to what we should do with those nuts this year. Some of you have ideas about this, and I would be glad to adopt them. But when the fact is known that the walnuts can be secured in that way the entire country will want them. At present I have letters from Texas and other places asking for some of Mt. Vernon's nuts. It is a movement that will cause more people, in my opinion, to have nut trees than any other, and we should push it to the limit.

I had a letter from Henry Ford's secretary, asking for a dozen trees which might be planted at Mr. Ford's place in Michigan. Mr. Ford is doing great good, so far as the saving of the forests is concerned. He has immense tracts of land where he is caring for every root and branch.

Letter from C. F. Bobler, Landscape Engineer in Michigan:

The laws of Michigan, as you are well aware, encourage the planting of trees and shrubs by the highway authorities, and protect existing roadside trees from injury or destruction. Under those laws considerable planting has already been done, and in such planting a liberal use has been made of the nut-bearing varieties of trees, especially the black walnut, which is indigenous to much of Michigan.

Besides the economic value of nut trees, on account of their food products while growing and their timber products when mature, they are generally very attractive in appearance, and, therefore, very well adapted to roadside planting.

Roadside development presents a field for considerable study to produce plantings which afford a variety of effects in trees and shrubs, by using varieties best adapted to the soil and climatic conditions, which best harmonize with the local topography and which to a considerable extent have an economic value in addition to their ornamental value. Nut trees admirably fulfill these requirements for roadside planting and while I believe that such other desirable varieties of trees as the American elm, the sugar maple, and others, should be used in proper proportions, I am fully convinced that the varieties of nut trees adapted to our soil and climate should be used liberally in the planting of the roadsides of Michigan.

The plans for the future development of the state trunk line highways in this state, contemplate the planting of the black walnut, butternut, sweet chestnut, hickory, beech, and other varieties of nut bearing trees in considerable quantities, and I am confident that their use will add to man's enjoyment of the highways and that these trees will become an economic asset to the regions where they are planted.

THE PRESIDENT: There is one thing Mr. Linton mentioned that I wish to put special emphasis upon; the distribution of trees grown from Washington's home. Last year Mr. Jones sent out a lot of seedling walnuts and there are quite a few in Rochester. It was delightful to see the interest manifested by the people receiving those seedlings and to hear how the people were succeeding. Some of them have written me.

MR. REED: Possibly it would help if, when any of us here present should chance to visit historic spots, we would get nuts from such places and send them to Mr. Linton; from Gettysburg or any of those places. We should each consider ourselves committees of one to get those nuts and to deliver them to Mr. Linton.

MR. BIXBY: I will see what I can do about it, and will get some of the nuts today.

MR. O'CONNOR: I do not know how Mr. Linton would feel about sending to different schools some of the nuts that were given him by the superintendent at Monticello, and in letting the children have a little nursery, and the means to beautify their home towns, but I will say that if you get the children started in a thing like this, you will have the parents following up.

MR. LINTON: There is another point I wish to mention. Mr. Dodge sent one bushel of the walnuts which he said were taken from a particular tree that he admired. He thought it was the best variety of all of them. That tree, a year ago, was struck by lightning; so he requests that some of the trees produced from the nuts of that particular tree, be sent back to Mt. Vernon, in order that he may have some seedlings from the original tree. It is a fact that those nuts produced the best yields of any that we planted in Michigan, showing that the seeds from the best tree will bring the best results.



ENCOURAGEMENT FROM FAILURES IN GRAFTING

Dr. G. A. Zimmerman, Piketown, Pa.

After improving from an illness of several years, and feeling tired, impatient and at times discouraged with progress in my physical condition, last spring I secured a few bunches of scion wood and turned to my old boyhood hobby for diversion; this time, however, by working on nut trees instead of fruit. In presenting the following at the request of others, I do not claim any originality, but simply draw the attention of interested parties to some possibilities and probabilities. My results have been very variable and many of them show as successful a failure as any one could possibly obtain. The scions referred to in the following tabulated record were put in from May 20th to July 20th and were well "mixed together" in the hope of giving better opportunity for cross pollenization, a few of every variety except the Hales being put in every day. The Hales were all put in late in July. I have grafted many other varieties of fruits and nuts but a record of the hickory only is shown below:

No. Growing Died % Growing % Died Weiker 46 0 46 0 100 One graft to tree 5 3 2 60 40 T.W.T 1-1/4" diameter 5 1 4 20 80 U.W.T. 23 1 22 4.2 95.8 U.W.T. Taylor 5 2 3 40 60 U.W.T. 10" diameter 27 7 20 25.9 74.1 Fairbanks 15 11 4 73.3 26.7 Vest 27 1 26 3.7 96.3 Manahan 22 7 15 31.8 68.2 7 0 7 0 100 U.W.T. 3" diameter Laney 13 6 7 46.1 53.9 15 1 14 6.6 93.4 U.W.T. 6" diameter Beaver 5 2 3 40 60 Scions poor. But one grew 7 ft. 4 in. Kentucky 19 7 12 36.8 67.2 10 1 9 10 90 U.W.T. 5" diameter Kirtland 12 5 7 41.6 58.4 16 5 11 31.3 68.7 U.W.T. 5" diameter 7 1 6 14.2 85.8 U.W.T. Put on late as also the Hales Hales a 6 1 5 16.6 83.4 U.W.T. 3" diameter b 35 0 35 0 100 U.W.T. 10" diameter c 2 2 0 100 0 T.W.T. 1-1/2%" diameter d 4 4 0 100 0 T.W.T. 2" diameter e 3 3 0 100 0 T.W.T. f 3 2 1 66.6 33.3 T.W.T. g 6 4 2 66.6 33.3 T.W.T. —— — —- ——- ——- Total 338 75 263 22.2 77.8

The last two series of the Hales made 100% start also but bugs killed three grafts.

U. W. T. means a tree from which all the lower limbs were cut back to about a foot or eighteen inches and grafted, a few top limbs having been left intact.

T. W. T. means a tree from which the top had been cut, the lower limbs and stub having been grafted, although a few of the lower limbs were not sawed off.

A study of the above record is interesting. All of my stocks are of the mockernut type, varying from three-fourths to two inches in diameter, except a few trees to which I refer specially as T.W.T. and U.W.T. It will be noted that the Weiker and the Vest made the poorest catches. It could not have been due entirely to weather conditions or the condition of the scions, for the scions of these two varieties were equal to anything I had. In view of the fact that they are both very desirable nuts, I always carried a few scions and kept placing them frequently as I placed other varieties. Many Vests were placed at the same time as the Fairbanks, which shows 73.3% catches. The one Vest that did catch, however, made a very thrifty growth, showing that it is possible apparently to do well on the mockernut.

With the Weiker, about the 15th of July, I put five scions on the limbs and trunk of a tree about 1-1/4 inches in diameter, the top having been cut out, with three catches, 60%, against another lot of 46 with 100% failure and 23 more with 4.2% success. Such antics are difficult to understand.

Many of the scions were put in the trunks of the trees; others were put on the small branches with the splice graft. The scions placed on the trunks, or the larger limbs near the trunk, apparently did somewhat better than the splice grafts further out on the limbs. In the walnut and other sappy trees, however, the splice graft out on the small limbs did better.

It is of peculiar interest that all of the large trees from which the lower limbs were sawed and the stubs grafted, the topmost limbs having been left, designated as U.W.T., did badly. While in the case of the five Hales, three had 100% and two had 66.6% catches. These two also had 100% catches but bugs ate the tender shoots and killed three of them. These trees had the tops cut off last fall leaving only a few lower limbs. They were put in on July 20th after the sprouts had well started on the trees. The sprouts were not taken off but their tops were pinched out. These grafts made a growth of from one to two feet or more. At the same time a tree was trimmed (Hales b in the record) and all the lower limbs grafted with Hales, leaving a few top branches only. Thirty-five were set and not a single one grew. The location of this tree was better than any of the five above referred to, because a couple of those trees were standing on the top of a rock where one would wonder how they could exist, and it was so hot when I placed the grafts that I had to quit and get out of the sun. In spite of that 100% grew.

A study of the above record leads to the conclusion that there is very little difference in plant and animal cells and it seems clear that certain old, underlying principles must be dealt with. I need not refer to heredity because, while it is undoubtedly quite possible, perhaps, to influence heredity tendencies so as to get stocks to accept scions more readily, it is not the major issue for most of us just now. Next spring we will take what heredity has given us and be satisfied. However, it appears certain that our results in grafting the various stocks we now have will depend largely on our ability to:

1. Regulate plant circulation. 2. Stimulate cellular activity to a point compatible with wound repair, defensive and growing processes. 3. Control plant cell nutrition.

One of the very first things we physicians do upon seeing a patient is to investigate his circulation. If the pressure is too low or too high, for any reason, we immediately take measures to correct it, because we know that disastrous results will quickly follow if that is not looked after. Plant circulation, or sap flow, is no less important. Mr. Riehl, Mr. Jones and Dr. Morris made great strides when they advanced the ideas of covering the wound and the scion completely to prevent evaporation, thereby also controlling the sap pressure. With the exception of shading, pruning and defoliating, this is about the only method we have of preventing evaporation. Defoliation, of course, interferes with the tree's power of growth. Controlling the humidity is probably not practical on a large scale.

A proper and careful cutting of the tree beforehand is important. It appears that to cut the top completely out while the tree is dormant, so disrupts the routine circulation that the few lower branches which are left intact, are well taken care of and, it seems to me, that this, together with the stimulation of WOUND REPAIR by cutting and allowing time enough for the cells to get into action, was the prime reason for the 100% success in the three Hales and the cause of the 100% failure in the other Hales tree.

Other methods of controlling the circulation are of course drainage, irrigation, mulching, location of the orchard, placing of condensers of moisture, such as stones and other hard substances beneath the trees, and many other contrivances which are in use, and which I shall not discuss.

With reference to stimulation of cellular activity we are considerably concerned. In medicine I have found the subject of wound repair and immunity most interesting, the two subjects seeming to be more or less related. Some animals will repair wounds and immunize readily, while others will not. In a general way young healthy animals and human beings immunize most readily, while older ones frequently fail almost entirely. Interestingly enough plants seem to be strangely similar in this respect, and the thing that stimulates cellular activity for defensive purposes (immunity) apparently stimulates growth and wound repair. The thing that stimulates most actively for a special purpose is the thing itself, the best stimulant for wound repair being the simple injury. To illustrate briefly: In my work last summer I came in contact with two enemies, yellow jackets and copperheads. The copperhead stimulated me to carry a club in defense, while for the yellow jacket the club was of little value and I rather preferred carbon bisulphide. Had I ignored my senses and allowed nature full sway, as a tree does, the snake would have injected his venom and the yellow jacket his toxin, and my cells would have accepted their only alternative and proceeded at once to build up a specific defense, after which they would have been in better shape for development, providing the poison would not have been so great as to prove fatal. Injury to a tree certainly does stimulate wound repair, defense and growth. It is well known that trees with many transplantings, root injuries, transplant much more readily, and the nurserymen use this method of stimulation as a routine procedure. I learn in Florida that in order to transplant a good size palmetto, they are in the habit of digging down on one side and cutting the roots the year before removal. It will then transplant more readily. Pruning has the same cell stimulating effect if done at a time that will retain the stored nutrition. An attack of disease just as surely stimulates cellular activity and growth but it is too frequently followed by disaster.

We have all heard of driving rusty nails into trees (thinking the iron produced the beneficial results), cutting a slit in the bark of the limbs and trunk for "bark bound" so called, etc., all of which have stimulating effects with more or less permanent injury to the tree. Who knows but what the sap sucker, with his ability to dig into the bark and extract a piece of cambium, was not sent to us to aid in preserving our trees by stimulating new growth?

In my work last summer trees that were subjected to slight injury before hand apparently accepted a larger proportion of grafts. I will briefly cite two specific illustrations. A little butternut tree located near the house was the object of my efforts for over two years. During my illness I frequently went out and pruned a few branches or put on a few buds. Something would happen to me and possibly I would not see it again for months, and in the meantime the buds would be strangled or knocked off. Another little hickory tree stood in the roadway. Harrows, plows, wagons and even logs were dragged over it. Grafts on both these trees caught rather readily last spring. In fact two black walnut grafts on this little butternut were two of the very few that I got to grow at all last year. My walnut grafting was almost a total failure. I have this to say, however, that I had no dormant walnut scions, my scions all being cut in May or June.

Mr. Jones, by marking the site of his patch bud several days in advance, admirably carries out this idea by locally stimulating the cambium cells. Dr. Morris's scheme of using white wax, besides regulating sap pressure, allows the actinic rays of the sun to stimulate cellular activity. Cutting the top out of the tree, which disrupts the normal circulation and throws it into the few lower limbs, besides stimulating the cells into activity, has apparently in a large measure accounted for the slight success that I have had. Other methods such as injecting some substance under the bark, applying antiseptics, or some stimulating chemical in a similar way, as "Scarlet Red" is used in skin grafting to increase epithelial growth, may aid materially. Certain chemicals applied to the tree and leaves, as used in sprays, seems sometimes to stimulate growth in a way that can hardly always be accounted for by the checking of the disease for which it was placed.

Much more could be written on cellular stimulation but enough has been said to encourage others to make observation in this connection, for it is highly probable that the lack of proper stimulation of the cambium accounts for more failures in top working trees than we are aware of.



3RD CONTROL OF PLANT CELL NUTRITION

With this topic we are probably less concerned in its relation to grafting than when the growing and bearing stages come. However, certain nutritional disturbances appear early and the more vigorously the stock is growing beforehand the better progress, of course, the grafts will make when they are started. Whether or not they will start more readily have I been unable to ascertain, but I have a bunch of little fellows with a growth of only an inch or so, and so puny that I cannot account for it in any other way than a lack of proper nutrition. Many of these little trees, used as stock, are very old in comparison with their size and they will probably be dwarfs all their lives. It is a question whether many such trees should be grafted at all. Further observations will have to be made to decide that point. Perhaps proper preparation for a year or two would be beneficial.

This topic will largely be left for future discussion under another subject, but it occurs to me that much might be accomplished by proper attention to nutrition, especially when setting out trees for grafting, selection of proper site, fertility of soil, cultivation to aid absorption, etc. I have observed limbs of animals much smaller than normal due to prohibited movements or lack of proper circulation, one side of a tree developed out of proportion, eggs without hard shell due to lack of calcium in the hen's diet, and I know of an old English walnut tree that bears nuts with shells so thin as to be almost negligible. I am told that at one time this tree bore a nut with a much thicker shell. It has never had any attention and it is quite probable that the lack of proper shell building elements causes the trouble. I have grafted a few of these and I want to see what happens by furnishing better nutrition.

Concerning scion wood, I have "ringed" some limbs, similar to the method used sometimes in producing extra large fruit, in an effort to have the scion store up a large amount of nutrition. This experiment I shall continue in the spring.

This article is based entirely on my own ideas, observations and conclusions in connection with old standing principles. As previously stated, I claim nothing new and my only desire is to stimulate others to make like observations.

Carrying out my conclusions in my work next spring I propose to cut the tops out of all my trees, leaving a few lower limbs instead of the top ones, allow them to start growth a little before grafting, pinch the tip from that growth, and, in addition to covering with paraffin or some combination of it, shade the scions on the south-west side, either by tipping branches over them or some other way. Paper bags seem to absorb the paraffin. Double grafting in the case of the Vest and the Weiker will be tried. Whitewashing the stock to prevent sun burn will be used where necessary. Several other experiments based on the idea of cellular stimulation before the scions are placed in position will be tried.

Dr. M. B. Waite, of the Federal Insecticide and Fungicide Board, U. S. Department of Agriculture, spoke as follows:

DR. WAITE: Some of you may recall that several years ago, when you were meeting here in this hall, I gave you a paper on the nut diseases of the northeastern part of the United States, and it would not be desirable to go over that same ground again. At that time, we took up the bacteriosis of the Persian Walnut, and filbert blight, and I outlined a program of proposed treatment for the filbert blight. It might be interesting to note here that Dr. Morris, and I believe also Mr. Bean, put that treatment into practice with success. The situation still remains, however, that we do not know of diseased plantings of any size. If we find a real plantation of filberts we will be glad to attempt control measures ourselves. I have planted about two dozen filberts and they still remain free from the disease. There are very few local hazel nuts, wild or cultivated, around Washington; but we understand that the few hazel nuts are free from this disease.

There are two or three things I wish to mention. One is the repeated inquiries reaching my office with regard to the non-filling of nuts, mostly the cultivated nuts, sometimes the pecan, sometimes the black walnut, and frequently the English walnut. The subject is a complicated one and the disease is not one that we can put under the microscope and diagnose at once. The trouble is due to a complex of varietal and environmental conditions, the effect of the conditions of growth, of soil fertility, temperature, soil, water and humidity, sunshine, etc., on that plant. Very often it is because people get the wrong variety and do not know what they have. They may have an unproductive seedling.

On the other hand a good variety may fail to bear in a locality where it is not suited. Very frequently the real lack is in soil fertility. Of course the success of the pecan trees down South around pig pens is an old joke to you gentlemen, but there is truth in that. For good nuts there is often need for a little extra manure or fertilizer, or perhaps both. Sometimes there are rich pockets in the earth where those trees would like to grow, or rich bottom lands which will produce without manure. I think one of the best ways is to fertilize with manure, if possible. Pollination troubles in connection with the non-filling and dropping of the nuts should be thought of.

Then there is another angle to be considered, and perhaps I can express it most definitely to you by citing the example of the June drop of peaches. Whenever a tree, like the peach tree or the pecan or the black walnut, sets its fruit in the spring, you will find that there are cross-pollinated and self-pollinated fruits. These will begin to drop their nuts or their fruit at definite stages. Furthermore we will find the abortive seeds are not one size. This means that there were definite stages of the pollination and of the fertilization. I should like to work that up and find what the stages are.

The last big step in the dropping of the peach tree is the shedding of the fruit just as the pits are hardening. When they are hard the fruit does not fall. So this June-drop question ties in with the complications of pollination and nutrition. We know from experiments on the sterility of the pear tree, if highly fed and cultivated, such as those I worked on in the city of Rochester, that those highly fed trees will have some self-fertilized pears. In all of the pears we got no pears resulted when pollinized with the pollen of the same variety, except on those well fed trees. We learned this in the East, and have since found the same type of self-fertilized pear occurring naturally in California and other places in the West. In nut production that whole question of setting and filling is tied up in a complicated way with pollination and nutrition.

Aside from nutrition the other thing to be considered is that of disease. The common black walnut around Washington is generally poor from fungus leaf diseases. Those of us familiar with it around here know that they do not fruit well. This is not a good place for the common black walnut. The wild ones are nearly all poor. I was raised in the Mississippi Valley, where there were large nuts and fine ones, and we gathered those which fell from the specially good trees. They do not grow so well here, except the Stabler and a few others.

Leaving that subject, there is another I wish to take up. That is, the great number of complaints about winter-killing of the English walnut. Wherever we have been able to trace that down, as we frequently have, we find that the English walnut suffers more from winter-killing right around Washington, D. C., and in Pennsylvania, than up in Rochester; and we also have complaints of winter-killing as far south as Georgia. A common cause is the variation of moisture. After a dry spring and early summer soaking rains come in August and September, and the trees, brought suddenly into growth at the close of the season, when they should be drying out, the walnut tree in particular, show winter-killing. So I think one of the main troubles with the English walnut in the Eastern United States is the winter-killing. Even in Georgia we may have this trouble with the pecan, young trees two and three years old, and I have photographed them.

As to false stimulation, in the woods, where these trees grow native and under the conditions to which they are necessarily adapted, they are mulched and crowded when young by their competitors. In cultivation we do not get the crowding and the mulching that makes steady growth and proper ripening. So you should, by some process, growing corn, cover crops, or other trees, keep your delicate nut trees a little crowded and, if possible, mulched while young; and then later, cut out the undesirable things and let the trees have room.

I am not fully prepared to speak about the nut work of the Bureau of Plant Industry, because that should be handled by the chief of the bureau. I have charge only of the diseases of fruits and nuts. We have had $8,200 allotted to the project and will have $2,000 more this year, making $10,200. Originally that was $3,000 for nut diseases all over the United States. We started to work mainly on the southern pecan diseases, and partly on the bacteriosis of the walnuts of the United States. But the Southern Pecan Growers' Association got some additional money for the bureau, $5,000 of which was given to the fruit disease investigations, and was tied up with the other $3,000. But the wording of the bill said, "All for pecan diseases." So we transferred more to the project and made it $8,200 for the nut diseases. That means we have done very little work for the nut diseases except on Southern pecans, and I have been warned that one must not stress southern pecans with the Northern Nut Growers' Association.

We have had, however, one man, and will have two men, on the southern pecan diseases in Georgia, on pecan scab and pecan leaf diseases, who are winning out beautifully, and have nearly solved many of the problems, including the pecan scab. One of the difficulties is the occasional late summer rainy spell, bringing diseases and bad conditions. But in general we have solved the problem pretty well.

Then we have the more permanently dangerous disease, pecan rosette, which has taken about half of the pecans in some sections of the South, especially in south Georgia and in Florida. That disease is being experimented upon in the most extensive way of any of our projects. There is only one word to say about pecan rosette, and that is—humus—the disease is cured by the application of humus.

MR. REED: How far north is the walnut rosette disease?

DR. WAITE: As far as Falls Church, Va., but not much in the North.

MR. REED: The question was asked yesterday as to whether it could not be overcome in this latitude.

DR. WAITE: That nobody knows. The soils east and south of Washington are all acid, and the conditions are wrong for rosette. The soils have no tendency to chlorosis. They are, in fact, antichlorotic. Theoretically you could get the rosette conditions in the Piedmont region, but you are almost certain not to find them over this way.

Now in the organization of the Bureau of Plant Industry there are at least two main offices where nut problems would be studied; in the Division of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations and in my office, where the diseases are studied. Remember, also, that the insect pests are studied in the Bureau of Entomology; they have experimented quite extensively with pecan insect pests, and have the organization to handle such pests. Of course there is a Bureau of Markets and the Office of Soil Fertility in the Bureau of Plant Industry, which handle the pecan, incidental to the other studies.

MR. BIXBY: I would like to ask Dr. Waite a question. The association has spent a good deal of time in developing exact methods of measuring quantitatively the various characteristics of nuts which are considered valuable, and that study has given us methods of comparing notes from year to year, comparing the same nut, and I have noticed that it is quite frequent that the kind of nut that is good one year, will not be so good the next year. To take an example, the Clark hickory, which took the prize one year, the next year fell so far down that it would not take any prize. But after a good deal of trouble I found that by careful examination I could pick out from the nuts a few which tested up as they did before. It occurred to me that a condition of that kind would be more likely to be due to difference in the soil than in the fertility of the pollen. Dr. Waite has had more or less experience in noting the effect of the pollen, and I would like to ask if he thought this the cause of the difference in the nuts.

DR. WAITE: I think it might be the cause for a little difference, but we could account for the difference by entirely different things. By environment and other conditions. Take the apples grown in this vicinity; I have observed that certain seasons fit certain varieties. This year it was favorable for Ben Davis, and yet we have had a poor crop of most varieties; the conditions were bad for the Winesap to set, but yet the fruit is good. Every year and every day is different; and plants are subjected to these complications, and the yield, or the result in fruit, is a response to environment. They are so very susceptible to these things. I came here this morning after picking some cross pollenated pears on the Arlington Farm. We have a lot of crosses there where we study the hybrid seedlings. Some will be almost too poor, in certain years, to deserve further attention, and good another season. In other words, these nuts probably do not vary any more from year to year than many of our fruits and vegetables do, and the main factor is probably response to environment, namely, temperature, air humidity, soil moisture and sunshine.

THE PRESIDENT: I might mention that we have had a filbert orchard at Rochester for eleven years, and there has not been the slightest indication of blight there yet.

MR. REED: I would like to ask Senator Penny how the Roadside Bill is taken in Michigan.

SENATOR PENNY: According to the Michigan law, the people along the roadside consider that their property is subject to the right of transportation on the highway; just as a stream is owned by individuals in Michigan, subject to the right of individuals to use it. This bill says, "Give the right to plant trees on the highway," and I think the planting is done with the consent of the owner. The agricultural college has a landscape gardener connected with the landscape department; he will have charge of planting along the roadside, and I think it will be done in a scientific manner; but I believe it is necessary to get the consent of the owners first.

MR. BIXBY: Last evening Mr. Franklin Weims, of Washington, was with me on the state highway of Maryland, coming south from Baltimore. The highway is being constructed at the rate of about eight miles a year, and funds have been provided. Mr. Weims feels that something should be done to see that the new highway is properly planted with trees, preferably nut-bearing trees. I was thinking that the association might, by some resolution, bring that matter to the attention of proper authorities. I would like suggestions.

MR. CLOSE: It might not be out of order to adopt a resolution and address it to the Governor of the state, Governor Richie; and also to the State Forester, Dr. Besly, suggesting that perhaps some of the trees and seedlings might be presented to the state, some of the trees that Professor Linton spoke of this morning. Trees of that sort might carry some weight.

THE PRESIDENT: Suppose we adopt a resolution and name Professor Close to take up this matter with the proper state authorities, speaking particularly of our ability to furnish seedlings from the Mt. Vernon trees.

MR. CLOSE: If it is the wish of the association, I would be glad to do that. (Motion made, seconded and adopted).



LETTER FROM F. H. WIELANDY, ST. LOUIS

Gentlemen:

First of all I congratulate you most heartily on being members of an organization which means so much to the public, as consumption of nuts is largely increasing and I much fear that the present day production is not in line with the demand.

Although only a nut culturist by proxy I have manifested a deep interest in this for many years, which is exemplified by the fact that on my different hunting trips, in which I have indulged for over thirty-five years, in the past twenty-five years I have also made it a point in the fall of the year, to have with me a large pocket full of such nuts as I thought would more easily come up and benefit some one in the future. I usually carried with me black walnuts, hickory nuts, pecans and acorns, and in my rambles through the woods and along the highways, I would plant these where I thought there would be less chance of their being molested if they developed.

In going over the same ground quail shooting, last fall, ground that I had covered more or less for a good many years, I began to see the fruit of my efforts, and felt repaid many fold for what I had accomplished.

Unfortunately we are a nation of destruction, rather than of construction, so far as our timber is concerned, and this is more noticeable in fruit and nut trees than in other varieties; although, being interested chiefly in these I possibly am biased.

When we stop to consider that a country such as Norway began to replant and reclaim their forests before Columbus discovered America, it strikes me that it should be a lesson for everyone in this country. Consider too, if you please, that before the war Germany paid her entire road taxes from nothing but the production of nut trees along the public roads. We also know, although a very small country in area, that it produced enough timber each year to satisfy the need for building and commercial purposes in the form of packing cases, casks, etc. And here we are, a country forty times larger than Germany, and forced to depend on countries such as Canada and Norway for wood pulp out of which we manufacture a great many grades of paper.

Some twenty years ago I had a political friend introduce a bill during a meeting of the state legislature, which made it mandatory for the road overseer to plant nut trees along the right of way all over the state; but like many meritorious bills, it was pigeon-holed until the next meeting of the legislature. It seemed an impossibility to resurrect this and an exceptionally fine forestry bill.

Unfortunately I promised to preside at a meeting of conservationists and it is for that reason that I am unable to meet and be with your honorable body, for I would like so much to be permitted in a humble capacity to assist in carrying on the work which you gentlemen are doing, as it is going to mean so much to future generations. I am sure that each of you feels as I do in this matter and that is that "He who serves others, best serves himself."

When the matter comes up for consideration I would like very much to have your next convention here in the Middle West, either in St. Louis or Alton, Ill., which is only a few miles north of St. Louis and in the vicinity of a splendid nut-producing section, particularly the pecan.