 |
DISCLAIMER The articles published in the Annual Reports of the Northern Nut Growers Association are the findings and thoughts solely of the authors and are not to be construed as an endorsement by the Northern Nut Growers Association, its board of directors, or its members. No endorsement is intended for products mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not mentioned. The laws and recommendations for pesticide application may have changed since the articles were written. It is always the pesticide applicator's responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current label directions for the specific pesticide being used. The discussion of specific nut tree cultivars and of specific techniques to grow nut trees that might have been successful in one area and at a particular time is not a guarantee that similar results will occur elsewhere.
NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 1 AND 2 1915
NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 1 AND 2, 1915
CONCORD, N.H. THE RUMFORD PRESS 1916
CONTENTS
PAGE
Officers and Committees of the Association 4
Members of the Association 5
Constitution of the Association 10
By-laws of the Association 11
Proceedings of the Meeting held at Rochester, New York, September 1 and 2, 1915 13
Report of the Secretary-Treasurer 14
The Relation of Forest Conditions in New York to Possibilities of Nut Growing, Dr. Hugh P. Baker, New York 17
New Tree Crops and a New Agriculture, Dr. J. Russell Smith, Pennsylvania 30
Notes on the Hazels, Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York 36
An Appeal to Owners of Hardy Nut Trees, C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C. 51
Northern Pecan Trees, and Notes on the Observation of Propagated Trees, W. C. Reed, Indiana 58
Walnut Observations in California, L. D. Batchelor, California 63
Pruning the Persian Walnut, J. G. Rush, Pennsylvania 69
Report on Nut Growing in Canada, G. H. Corsan, Toronto 71
Appendix:
Present at the Sixth Annual Meeting 73
Program for Automobile Trips September 1 and 2, 1915 74
Exhibits 75
Resolutions 76
Bibliography of the Year 77
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
President J. RUSSELL SMITH University of Pennsylvania Vice-President W. C. REED Indiana Secretary and Treasurer W. C. DEMING Georgetown, Connecticut
COMMITTEES
Auditing C. P. CLOSE, C. A. REED Executive T. P. LITTLEPAGE, R. T. MORRIS, AND THE OFFICERS Finance C. P. CLOSE, T. P. LITTLEPAGE, W. C. DEMING Hybrids R. T. MORRIS, J. R. SMITH, C. P. CLOSE Membership HARRY R. WEBER, G. H. CORSAN, C. H. PLUMP, LEON D. BATCHELOR, W. C. REED, R. T. OLCOTT, F. N. FAGAN, THOMAS L. ENGLEBY, W. O. POTTER, W. O. RIDGWAY, W. C. DEMING Nomenclature W. C. REED, R. T. MORRIS, E. R. LAKE, C. A. REED, R. L. McCOY Press and Publication RALPH T. OLCOTT, T. P. LITTLEPAGE, W. C. DEMING Programme THE PRESIDENT, THE SECRETARY, THE EDITOR OF THE American Nut Journal, ex-officio; C. A. REED, W. N. HUTT Promising Seedlings T. P. LITTLEPAGE, C. A. REED, J. RUSSELL SMITH
STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS
Arizona C. R. Biederman Garces California Prof. Leon D. Batchelor Riverside Canada G. H. Corsan University of Toronto Connecticut Charles H. Plump West Redding Delaware E. R. Angst Wilmington 527 Dupont Bldg. Florida H. Harold Hume Glen Saint Mary Georgia J. B. Wight Cairo Illinois E. A. Riehl Alton Indiana J. F. Wilkinson Rockport Iowa Wendell P. Williams Danville Kansas Durrett Winsborough Argentine R. 2 Box 118 Kentucky A. L. Moseley Calhoun Maryland Prof. C. P. Close College Park Massachusetts James H. Bowditch Boston 903 Tremont Building Michigan Miss Maude M. Jessup Grand Rapids 440 Thomas St. Minnesota Col. C. A. Van Duzee St. Paul Missouri P. C. Stark Louisiana New Jersey C. S. Ridgway Lumberton New Mexico E. A. Clemens Magdalena New York Th. E. Wile Rochester 37 Calumet St. North Carolina Prof. W. N. Hutt Raleigh Ohio Harry R. Weber Cincinnati 601 Gerke Bldg. Pennsylvania J. G. Rush West Willow Texas R. S. Trumbull El Paso M.S.R.R. Co. Utah M. A. Pendleton Lehi Virginia John S. Parish Eastham Washington Dr. A. E. Baldwin Kettle Falls West Virginia B. F. Hartzell Shepherdstown
MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
ARIZONA C. R. Biederman, Garces
CALIFORNIA Batchelor, Leon D., Riverside Dawson, L. H., Llano Tucker, T. C., Manager California Almond Growers' Exchange, 311 California St., San Francisco
CANADA Corsan, G. H., University of Toronto Dufresne, Dr. A. A., 1872 Cartier St., Montreal
CONNECTICUT Barnes, John R., Yalesville Deming, Dr. W. C., Georgetown Deming, Mrs. W. C., Georgetown Hungerford, Newman, Torrington, R. 2, Box 76, for circulars, Box 1082, Hartford, for letters Ives, Ernest M., Sterling Orchards, Meriden Lay, Charles Downing, Wellesmere, Stratford Miller, Mrs. Charles, 32 Hillside Ave., Waterbury * Morris, Dr. Robert T., Cos Cob, R. 28, Box 95 Plump, Charles H., West Redding White, Gerrard, North Granby Williams, W. W., Milldale
DELAWARE Angst, E. R., 527 DuPont Building, Wilmington, Del. Lord, George Frank, care of DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Close, Prof. C. P., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington Goddard, R. H., Farm Management, Department of Agriculture, Washington Lake, Prof. E. R., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington * Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Building, Washington Orr, Herbert R., Evans Building, Washington Reed, C. A., Nut Culturist, Department of Agriculture, Washington
FLORIDA Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary Simpson, Ray C., Monticello
GEORGIA Wight, J. B., Cairo
ILLINOIS Dickey, Samuel, 4 Chalmers Place, Chicago Fletcher, Joe, Zion City Keely, Royal R. 4720 Clarendon Ave., Chicago Poll, Carl J., 1009 Maple St., Danville Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion Riehl, E. A., Alton Webster, H. G., 450 Belmont Ave., Chicago
INDIANA Burton, Joe A., Mitchel Hutchings, Miss Lida G., 118 Third St., Madison McCoy, R. L., Lake Reed, M. P., Vincennes Reed, W. C., Vincennes Schmidt, Hugh C., Evansville Simpson, H. D., Vincennes White, Paul, Boonville Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport
IOWA Williams, Wendall P., Danville
KANSAS Winsborough, Durrett, Argentine, R. 2, Box 118
KENTUCKY Matthews, Prof. C. W., Horticulturist, State Agricultural Station, Lexington Moseley, A. L., Bank of Calhoun, Calhoun
MARYLAND Darby, R. U., Suite 804, Continental Building, Baltimore Hayden, Chas. S., 200 E. Lexington St., Baltimore Heapes, J., Granville, Street Henshaw, Mrs. H. C., Adamstown Keenan, John N., Brentwood King, W. J., 232 Prince George St., Annapolis Murray, Miss Annie C., Cumberstone Newcomer, Aaron, Smithburg, R. 1.
MASSACHUSETTS * Bowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Building, Boston Gilbert, Ralph D., 9 Ridgefield Road, Winchester Hoffman, Bernhard, Overbrook Orchard, Stockbridge Rich, William P., Secretary State Horticultural Society, 300 Massachusetts Ave., Boston Smith, Fred A., 39 Pine St., Danvers Vaughan, Horace A., Peacehaven, Assonet White, Warren, Holliston
MICHIGAN Copland, Alexander W., Strawberry Hill Farm, Birmingham Jessup, Miss Maud M., 440 Thomas St., Grand Rapids Kellogg, J. H., Battle Creek Linton, Wm. S., Pres. Board of Trade, Saginaw Staunton, Gray, Muskegon, Box 233
MINNESOTA Powers, L. L., 1018 Hudson Ave., St. Paul Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul
MISSOURI Bauman, X. C., Ste. Genevieve Buffam, Frank W., Commissioner of Highways, Jefferson City Johnson, Alfred E., McBaine, R. 1 Koontz, E. J., Richards Stark, P. C., Louisiana (Mo.)
NEW JERSEY Black, Walter C., of Jos. H. Black, Son & Co., Hightstown De Cou, Howard F., Truesdale Farm, Merchantville Dietrick, Dr. Thomas S., 12 West Washington Ave., Washington Henderson, Howard W., 603 Spooner Ave., Plainfield. Lovett, J. T., Little Silver Marston, Edwin S., Florham Park, Box 72 Mechling, Edward A., Wonderland Farm, Moorestown Putnam, J. H., Vineland Ridgeway, C. S., Floralia, Lumberton, N.J. Roberts, Horace, Moorestown Young, Frederick C., Palmyra, Box 335
NEW MEXICO Clemens, E. A., Magdalena
NEW YORK Abbott, Frederick B., 419 Ninth St., Brooklyn Ackerly, Orville B., 243 W. 34th St., New York City Atwater, C. G., Manager Agricultural Department, American Coal Products Company, 17 Battery Place, New York City Baker, Dr. Hugh P., Dean of State College of Forestry, Syracuse Baker, Prof. J. Fred, Director of Forest Investigations, State College of Forestry, Syracuse Baker, Wm. A., North Rose Bixby, Willard G., 46th St. and 2nd Ave., Brooklyn Brown, Ronald J., 320 Broadway, New York City Ellwanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester Felt, Henry W., 238 William St., New York City Foote, Avery L., Newark, Wayne Co. Fullerton, H. B., Director Long Island Railroad Experiment Station, Medford, L.I. Haywood, Albert, Flushing Hickox, Ralph, 3832 White Plains Ave., New York City Hicks, Henry, Westbury, L.I. Holden, E. B., Hilton * Huntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., New York City Jackson, Dr. James H., Dansville Keeler, Charles E., Chichester and Briggs Aves., Richmond Hill Morse, Geo. A., Fruit Acres, Williamson, N.Y. Nelson, Dr. James Robert, 23 Main St., Kingston-on-Hudson Olcott, Ralph T., Ellwanger & Barry Building, Rochester Palmer, A. C., New York Military Academy, Cornwall-on-Hudson Pomeroy, A. C., Lockport Rice, Mrs. Lillian McKee, Adelano, Pawling Stephen, Prof. John W., Assistant Professor of Agriculture, State College of Forestry, Syracuse Teele, A. W., 30 Broad St., New York City Teter, Walter C, 10 Wall St., New York City Thomson, Adelbert, East Avon Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City Turner, K. M., 220 W. 42nd St., New York City Ulman, Dr. Ira, 213 W. 147th St., New York City Wile, M. E., 37 Calumet St., Rochester Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., New York City * Wissmann, Mrs. F. de R., Westchester, New York City
NORTH CAROLINA Glover, J. Wheeler, Morehead City Heely, Dr. O. J., Andrews, R.F.D. Hutt, Prof. W. H., State Horticulturist, Raleigh Van Lindley, J., J. Van Lindley Nursery Company, Pomona
OHIO Dayton, J. H., Storrs & Harrison Company, Painesville Denny, Mark E., Middletown Evans, Miss Myrta L., Briallen Farm, Oak Hill, Jackson County Miller, H. A., Gypsum Weber, Harry R., 601 Gerke Building, Cincinnati Witte, O. F., Amherst, R. 2 Yunck, E. G., 710 Central Ave., Sandusky
PENNSYLVANIA Ballou, C. F., Halifax Corcoran, Chas. A., Wind-Rush Fruit Farm, New Albany Creasy, Wm. T., Catawissa Doan, J. L., School of Horticulture, Ambler Druckemiller, W. C., Sunbury Fagan, Prof. F. N., Department of Horticulture, State College Grubbs, H. L., Fairview, R. 1 Hall, Robt. W., 133 Church St., Bethlehem Heffner, H., Highland Chestnut Grove, Leeper Hile, Anthony, Curwensville National Bank, Curwensville Hoopes, Wilmer W., Hoopes Brothers and Thomas Company, Westchester Howell, Lardner, Girard Trust Company, Philadelphia Hutchinson, Mahlon, Ashwood Farm, Devon, Chester County Jenkins, Charles Francis, Farm Journal, Philadelphia * Jones, J. F., Lancaster, Box 527 Leas, F. C., 882 Drexel Building, Philadelphia, Mountain Brook Orchard Company, Salem, Va. Leeds, Sarah B., Westchester, R. 4 Middleton, Fenton H., 1118 Chestnut St., Philadelphia Moss, James, Johnsville, Bucks County Murphy, P. J., Vice-President L. & W.R.R.R. Company, Scranton Myers, C. N., Hanover O'Neill, Wm. C., 1328 Walnut St., Philadelphia Pelton, Joseph L., North Girard, R. 1 Rick, John, 438 Pennsylvania Sq., Reading Rush, J. G., West Willow Ryan, Charles D., Spring Mount, Montgomery County Smedley, Sam'l L., 902 Stephen Girard Building, Philadelphia Smitten, H. W., Rochester Mills, R. 2 * Sober, Col. C. K., Lewisburg Spackman, H. B., Lukens Iron Company, Coatesville Thomas, Joseph W., Jos. W. Thomas & Sons, King of Prussia P.O. Walter, Dr. Harry, Spring Mount Weaver, Wm. S., McCungie Webster, Mrs. Edmund, 1324 S. Broad St., Philadelphia Wister, John C., Wister St. and Clarkson Ave., Germantown Wright, R. P., 235 W. 6th St., Erie
TEXAS Trumbull, R. S., Agricultural Agent, El Paso & S.W. System, Morenci Southern Railroad Company, El Paso
UTAH Pendleton, M. A., Lehi Smith, Joseph A., Providence (Edgewood Hall) Stayner, Horace, 1844 S. State St., Salt Lake City
VIRGINIA Carver, W. N., Cismont, Albemarle County Crockett, E. B., Monroe Dodge, Geo. P., Lovingston, R. 1 Engleby, Thos. L., 1002 Patterson Ave., Roanoke Lee, Lawrence R., Leesburg Miller, L. O., Miller & Rhodes, Richmond Parish, John S., Eastham, Albemarle County Shackford, Theodore B., care of Adams Brothers-Paynes Company, Lynchburg Smith, Dr. J. Russell, Roundhill
WASHINGTON Baldwin, Dr. A. E., Kettle Falls
WEST VIRGINIA Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown
* Life members.
CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE I
Name. This society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION.
ARTICLE II
Object. Its object shall be the promotion of interest in nut-bearing plants, their products and their culture.
ARTICLE III
Membership. Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence or nationality, subject to the rules and regulations of the committee on membership.
ARTICLE IV
Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president and a secretary-treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting; and an executive committee of five persons, of which the president, two last retiring presidents, vice-president and secretary-treasurer shall be members. There shall be a state vice-president from each state, dependency or country represented in the membership of the association, who shall be appointed by the president.
ARTICLE V
Election of Officers. A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the following year.
ARTICLE VI
Meetings. The place and time of the annual meeting shall be selected by the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made at this time, the executive committee shall choose the place and time for the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seem desirable may be called by the president and executive committee.
ARTICLE VII
Quorum. Ten members of the association shall constitute a quorum, but must include a majority of the executive committee or two of the three elected officers.
ARTICLE VIII
Amendments. This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any annual meeting, notice of such amendment having been read at the previous annual meeting, or a copy of the proposed amendment having been mailed by any member to each member thirty days before the date of the annual meeting.
BY-LAWS
ARTICLE I
Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees as follows: On membership, on finance, on programme, on press and publication, on nomenclature, on promising seedlings, on hybrids, and an auditing committee. The committee on membership may make recommendations to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.
ARTICLE II
Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars.
ARTICLE III
Membership. All annual memberships shall begin with the first day of the calendar quarter following the date of joining the association.
ARTICLE IV
Amendments. By-laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of members present at any annual meeting.
Northern Nut Growers Association
SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 1 AND 2, 1915
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
The sixth annual convention of the Northern Nut Growers Association was called to order in the convention hall of Powers Hotel, Rochester, New York, on Wednesday, September 1, at 10:15 A.M., the president, Dr. J. Russell Smith, presiding, and thirty-two people being assembled.
THE PRESIDENT: Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Northern Nut Growers Association, the meeting will please come to order.
With an organization of this sort, the main purpose of the meeting is the dissemination of information, but it is necessary that certain business shall be conducted to keep the organization going. Some business is dry; usually the reports of our secretary-treasurer are not, and the first order of business, I think, should be to hear from our secretary-treasurer.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I should be glad to have the floor for a moment, Mr. President. In the Congressional Library at Washington City are many very beautiful and attractive inscriptions and quotations, one of which has always appealed to me as a lawyer, and I have repeated it many times:
"Of law there can be no less acknowledged than that her voice is the harmony of the world."
Mr. President, I have noted very many times that the voice of the law is sometimes silent. It speaks only through those in authority and there should always be some emblem of authority. I therefore took the liberty, Mr. President, of having made for you a gavel from the wood of an Indiana pecan tree, where as a youth I lived and learned of this most delicious of all the nuts, and I take pleasure in presenting it to you, and if anyone doubts the hardiness or hardness of the Indiana pecan, I authorize you to demonstrate both.
I am presenting you duplicate gavels, Mr. President, one of which I desire to have you turn over to your successor in office as an official emblem of his authority, to be used at future meetings; the other I am presenting to you as a personal tribute for your most excellent work in behalf of northern nut culture. This gavel I shall ask you to place among the trophies in your beautiful mountain home, where the birds sing sweetly, the sun shines brightly, and the breezes murmur softly; and where the days are made to rest and the nights are made to sleep.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Littlepage, not being prepared for this, and not being naturally eloquent, I am unable to make a speech. However, as a part of the way out of the difficulty, I accept this one officially with great pleasure, and personally accept the other with deep gratitude, and desire to express the appreciation of the meeting.
The pecan is calling the walnut meeting to order. Last year we went to see the pecan; this year we come to see the walnut, which, has done more than any other nut in the East.
We will now listen to the report of our secretary-treasurer.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
Balance on hand, date of last report $7.23
Receipts: Dues $379.30 Advertisements 42.00 Contributions 42.50 Sale of report 22.40 Contributions for prizes 40.00 Miscellaneous 1.05 ———- $534.48 Expenses: Printing report $233.76 Miscellaneous printing 51.80 Postage and stationery 41.09 Stenographer 2.00 Express, freight, carting 3.74 Prizes 10.00 Check J.R.S. expenses, circulars 37.30 Bills receivable 10.00 Miscellaneous 4.55 ———- $394.24 ———- Balance on hand $140.24
This is the best financial report that the treasurer has ever been able to transmit, and this is chiefly due to the efforts of our president who, during the year, has sent out numerous notices of, and articles about, our Association, its purposes, and the desirability of finding and propagating our best nut trees. He also offered three prizes of $5 each for a nut contest and did the work necessary to get publicity for this contest. He sent letters to the members of the horticultural societies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio which resulted in our getting 24 new members, mostly from the state of Pennsylvania. Twenty-five dollars of the cost of this circularizing the president paid out of his own pocket. The rest was more than made up by the fees of new members. The president also had printed an educational leaflet on nut growing for distribution by Mr. Cobb with the nut trees which he sends to the schools and farmers of Michigan. With Professor Close he was on the finance committee which sent a circular letter to the members of the Association for funds to help pay for the printing of the annual report, and obtained advertisements for the report. As stated in the treasurer's report contributions for this purpose amounted to $42.50 and advertisements brought in $42.00.
Prizes
The Association offered last year prizes of $5 each for the best shagbark hickory nut, black walnut and hazel nut sent in.
Something over a hundred specimens were received and the prize for hickory nut was awarded to J. K. Triplett of Elkins, W. Va. The prize for black walnut was awarded to J. G. Rush of West Willow, Pa. Mr. Rush returned his prize to be used for the purposes of the Association. No prize for hazels was awarded as only one or two insignificant specimens were sent in.
Perhaps the stimulation of this contest accounts for our being able to offer such substantial prizes for this year. In addition to the $80 worth of prizes already announced the secretary has received from a life member, James H. Bowditch of Boston, a check for $25 as a prize to be offered by the Association for a hickory nut under such conditions as the Association may decide. A circular announcing these prizes has been sent out to agricultural and other papers to the number of 200, the expenses of which have been borne by another member, Mr. Chas. H. Plump of Connecticut. A committee on competitions should be appointed or the direction of them delegated to some already existent committee.
Membership
Seventy-four members were added during the interval between this meeting and the last, one less than in the previous year. Since its organization 287 persons have joined the Association. We have at present 153 paid up members, 21 more than last year. There are a few members whose dues are unpaid who are active workers and will eventually pay, probably.
Four members have resigned, though none in anger, and we have lost one by death, the late Prof. H. E. Van Deman.
Annual Dues
Some way should be found out of the difficulties arising from the dissatisfaction of members who join late in the year when they receive a notice for dues soon after having once paid.
It is desirable to take in members at all times during the year. At the same time some method should be found to give the late comer something for his money. Shall membership continue to date from the calendar year? Or shall we make some change? Some societies date memberships from the opening of the annual meeting. It would not be impossible to make memberships date from the beginning of the quarter year immediately following date of joining. This would give every member a full year at least before he would again receive a notice for dues.
It would be quite inconvenient to date each membership from the day of joining. It would not be so bad if members paid promptly on receipt of notice.
Or a rebate might be made for each month of the year elapsed before new members' dues were paid.
Meetings
No field meeting was held this year. It has been suggested, and would seem to be a favorable subject for discussion, that it might be well to hold our annual meeting late in the year in some central location, such as New York City, Philadelphia or Washington, for our business and formal program of papers and discussions, and the study of the nuts sent in, perhaps for judging any competition that might be held, if the meeting were late enough for that; and a summer meeting of informal nature at some place where nut trees with their crops growing could be studied.
Nut Journal
Our official organ, the American Nut Journal, has done its part well through the past year and is becoming, as it should, a very important element in the success of the purposes of this Association. Most new and old members of the Association have availed themselves during the year of the offer of membership and the Journal for $2.50. In spite of the reduction of 25 cents on each membership, the receipts for dues have increased from $273 to $331. I would suggest that the membership fee be still further reduced by 25 cents, when combined with subscription to the Journal, if the editor is willing to continue the present arrangement whereby the price of the Journal is reduced to 75 cents when subscribed to with membership, so that the two together will cost $2.25. Another year it may be possible to make a similar reduction. The object toward which we ought to work is membership for $1, and membership with the Journal$2. I should like to hear the opinions of the members as to the advisability of working to reduce our dues to $1 annually.
How Members May Help
At the risk of monotony I will repeat my concluding remarks of last year and ask that each member help increase the prosperity and usefulness of the Association by enlisting new members, by advertising his business in the annual report, and by paying his dues promptly. The secretary would much rather spend his time answering questions and imparting such information as lies in his power, than to have to send repeated notices to members in arrears for dues.
The secretary will be happy at all times to learn of the plans and progress of the members.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: You have heard the report of the secretary. There are two things to be done with it. It is, as you will notice, first a report of the year's business and, second, it has certain suggestions for your consideration. I think that as a business report we can discuss and move its adoption, amendment or rejection. After that we may take up the suggestions.
[Adoption moved, seconded and carried.]
He has brought before our consideration the amount of dues, and the question of their payment. I doubt the advisability of a lengthy discussion in this business meeting. I think it better to refer it to the executive committee. Unless I hear further suggestions, I will take that action. The next piece of business is the matter of the report on the amendments to the constitution. Professor Close and the secretary were appointed a committee for this matter, and as Professor Close cannot be here, we will hear from the secretary on the matter. (See amended constitution.)
DR. SMITH: I am now glad to announce that we have covered the necessary business ground, and now come to the real meat of the meeting. We have with us this morning Dr. Baker, Dean of the State College of Forestry, at Syracuse, who is going to address us on the subject of "The Relation of Forestry Conditions in New York to Possibilities of Nut Growing."
THE RELATION OF FOREST CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK TO POSSIBILITIES OF NUT GROWING
DR. HUGH P. BAKER, DEAN OF THE NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF FORESTRY AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
The forester presumes to come before your organization because he is concerned with one of the greatest of the natural resources of this and other states of the Union and not with the idea of bringing information as to details in nut culture. Possibly nut culture as a business is more closely related to agriculture than forestry. Forestry is not subordinate to agriculture in this country but co-ordinate with it. Together they will come as near solving the soil problems of the country as is possible for man to solve them.
The forester is interested and concerned with the wild nut trees wherever he has to do with the forests or forest lands of the country. Throughout the great hardwood sections of the East there are many native nut-bearing trees, and in the proper utilization of the trees which make up the forests the forester is concerned not alone with the lumber which may come from these trees, but he is concerned as well with the value of the by-products of the forest and the influence of the utilization of these by-products upon the forest.
In view of the forester's interest in all of the trees which make up our forests, my purpose of addressing you today is to bring before you the question of the most effective use of the forest soils of this state. I shall also attempt to make some suggestions to your organization in the matter of interesting the man on the street in nut growing. This profession and the business of forestry have been passing through a period of general educational work in this country. Some of the lessons which we have learned through our efforts to interest the people in their forests may be of help to you in interesting the people both in the consumption and the production of nuts.
New York as a Great Forest State
Twenty-five years ago New York was one of the leading lumber-producing states of the Union. Today some twenty other states produce more lumber than comes from the forests and woodlots of New York. Statistics given out recently by the United States Census Bureau and the Conservation Commission of New York show that, out of the land acreage of over thirty-two millions in New York, but twenty-two millions are included within farms. This leaves something over eight millions of acres outside of farms and presumably non-agricultural. The forests of the Adirondacks and Catskills and the woodlots of the rougher hill counties in the southern and southwestern part of the state come within this vast area of eight millions of acres. Without doubt with increasing population there will come some increase in the use of what are now non-agricultural lands for the practice of agriculture, but with three hundred years of agricultural history back of us in this state it does not seem likely that there will be much change in the relation of non-agricultural to agricultural land during the next half-century.
Out of the twenty-two millions of acres of farm lands in the state but fifteen millions are actually under cultivation, leaving, therefore, from six to eight millions of acres within the farms of the state but lying idle. That is, we have a Massachusetts enclosed within our farms which is non-productive as far as direct returns are concerned. Yet there is really no waste land in New York, as every square foot of the state which is covered with any soil at all is capable of producing good forest trees. It is this great area of idle land enclosed within our farms which seems to have unusual promise in the development of nut culture in the state. There is a great deal of land now idle in the form of steep hillsides or ridges or rocky slopes upon which we may grow with comparative ease our walnuts, butter-nuts, hickories, hazelnuts, in the wild form at least.
The fact that the state is in really rather serious condition financially should be a strong reason for our association to urge upon the farmers of the state the planting of nut-bearing trees that the returns from the farms may be increased by annual sales of nuts which should in the aggregate in the next fifty years be a large sum of money. It has been estimated that the total debt of the State of New York, that is, the state, county and municipal debts, are equal to $47 for every acre of land, good and bad. On top of this condition the legislature last year laid a direct tax of eighteen millions of dollars upon our people, and there is every indication that it will be several years before it becomes unnecessary to lay a direct tax either larger or smaller than that put upon us last year. There is ever-increasing competition among the farmers of the state as the standards in animal, milk and fruit production are ever increasing. In view of the amount of idle land and of our financial condition it seems to be an unusually opportune time for those interested in nut culture to bring before the farmers and other landowners of the state the idea of planting nut trees, the products of which will add to the annual income from the land.
The State of New York is Somewhat Ignorant of the Value of its Forest Lands
When the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse began its studies of forest conditions in New York in 1911 it turned its attention immediately to the very large areas of farm woodlots and woodlands within farms. There has been a good deal of general information current among our people regarding the forest conditions of the state, but there is really very little accurate information except such little as the college has secured since 1911. As a first step in the taking of stock of our forest resources and especially the amount of timber in our farm woodlots and what is coming from these woodlots in the way of annual return to their owners, the State College of Forestry in 1912 began, in co-operation with the United States Forest Service, a study of the wood-using industries of the state. This study has resulted in a very comprehensive bulletin issued by the College of Forestry upon the wood-using industries of the State of New York. From these studies it was determined for the first time that New York was spending annually over ninety-five millions of dollars for products of the forest. Unfortunately for the state, we are sending over fifty millions of dollars of this vast amount out into other states to the south and to the west for timber which New York is capable of producing in amount, at least, in its forests and on its idle lands. The report shows further that New York is producing very large quantities of pine and hemlock and the hardwoods, and, much to the surprise of those interested in forest conditions in the state, it was shown that a large proportion of the hardwoods come from the woodlots in the farms of the state. This would seem to indicate that there is a real opportunity for the growing of such hardwood timber as black walnut, butternut, and hickory, not only on the idle lands of the state which are not covered with forest now, but also in the woodlots of the farms. That is, it would not be a difficult matter to show the farmers through publications and possibly through public lectures that it would be very advantageous to them to favor nut-growing trees and to plant them where they are not now growing, both because of the value of the nuts which they produce and of the value of their wood.
If the people of a great state like New York are more or less ignorant of the extent and value of their forest holdings, how much more ignorant are they of the character and the value of a particular species which make up their forest lands. How few people are able to go into the forest and say that this tree is a shagbark hickory or that that is a butternut or that that is a red pine, and if this is the case, as you will agree with me that it is, is it not time that propagandist or general educational work be done that will bring forcibly to the attention of the wage-earners of the state that it is a financial necessity for the state to consider better use of its forest lands, so that all of the soils of New York may share in the burden of the support of the commonwealth rather than a few of the soils which are now being given up to agricultural use? The wage-earner should know also that nuts used as food are conducive to health and that possibly a more extensive use of nuts with less of meat will mean a considerable difference over a period of a year in the amount that is saved in the living expenses of an individual or a family.
It is often difficult for the forester to interest the average farmer in the planting of trees, even though those trees may add to the beauty and value of the farm or the comfort of the home buildings, but your organization will make a place for itself most decidedly if it will go to the farmer or to a group of farmers and show them that they can actually save money in the purchase of their needed lumber and wood of other kinds if they will cut their woodlots co-operatively and produce in the woodlots trees of greatest possible value and trees which will give such by-products as nuts as well as direct returns from the lumber. Just as soon as you can reach the pocket-book of the average wage-earner, it makes little difference whether it is nuts or books or clothing, they are going to be interested in a thing that will allow them to get more for the amount which they make from their day's labor.
The Association May Accomplish Much by Demonstrating the Value of Nut Trees as Trees and the Value of Their Products as Food
Many organizations in our Eastern States are becoming interested in the beautification of communities and the tremendous development in the use of the automobile is interesting even more organizations in the beautification of rural highways. It would not be a difficult thing for the Nut Growers Association to interest civic associations or women's clubs in the planting not only of forest trees alone along rural highways but a certain number of nut trees. We are literally in the age of the "Movie" and if a man who walks or drives along our highways can see as he passes the growing nut trees and the bountiful harvest which they may be made to yield, he is being convinced that not only elm and maple are of value along our highways, but that the nut-producing trees may give equal satisfaction in beauty of form and comfort of shade and at the same time yield fruit of very definite value.
Even though the fruit of the nut-bearing trees of our woodlands and highways may not give an annual return to the town or village or county it will bring immeasurable joy and possibly better health to the boys and girls of the future. In many ways the children of this country are educating their parents and it is not an impossible idea to think of the parents of the future being converted by the influence of their children to the desirability if not the necessity of growing trees and nut trees, the fruit of which will give pleasant healthfulness and at the same time aid in the saving of the daily wage and in the support of the commonwealth. I wish to emphasize this idea of considering not alone the financial return from the trees and the forests of this state. As the son of a lumberman and as a forester I am, of course, most vitally interested in the growing of trees as a business proposition, but I feel that such an organization as yours, especially, should look at this matter not alone from actual financial returns, but because of indirect benefits such as the making of outdoor people of us Americans. This can be done, I believe, to a very considerable extent by giving our people, especially the boys and girls, a purpose for getting out into the woodlot and the forests wherever they occur in the state.
The women of this state are interested vitally these days not only in their own welfare as possible citizens, but in the improving of living conditions and opportunities of our people. We should have more women interested in the work of this association and interested in seeing that the future value of nuts is appreciated by the wage-earners of the state, both because of their healthfulness and because of the possibility of cheapening somewhat the cost of living. I urge upon the organization a campaign of education, a campaign which will reach through the women's clubs, civic organizations, schools and state associations in a way that will cause the people to demand more nuts for food and more nut trees as an absolutely indispensable part of the complete utilization of both the agricultural and forest soils of the state. The agencies working for agriculture and forestry in a state like New York understand these problems, but often it remains for an organization like yours to bring these forces into active play and to produce the results for which you are working. Before you can achieve lasting results and results commensurate with the time and effort which you are putting into the organization, you must get hold of the man and the woman who spend the dollars for the living of our people.
The State College of Forestry at Syracuse Experimenting with Nut Culture
Soon after the organization of the New York State Forest Experiment Station south of Syracuse the college took up the matter of growing nut trees and of improving the quality of nuts of native species. On the New York State Forest Experiment Station just south of Syracuse, where the college is growing a million forest trees a year, there is a woodlot of thirty acres. In this woodlot were a number of native nut trees and these have been set aside for the purpose of grafting and improving to see what can be done in helping out native nut trees of different ages and sizes.
In 1913 the college purchased a thousand acres of cut-over land two hours south of Buffalo in Cattaraugus County. At the same time it purchased one hundred and thirteen acres lying along the main line of the New York Central Railroad at Chittenango in Madison County. This past spring nut trees were ordered from nurseries in Pennsylvania and planted in the heavy soils on the Chittenango Forest Station and also on the State Forest Experiment Station at Syracuse. At the Salamanca station young nut trees are being staked so that they may be protected and cared for with a hope of developing them as nut-producing trees. The college plans, as a part of its work in the Division of Forest Investigations, to see what can be done in the way of grafting chestnut sprouts and in introducing nut-growing trees for the purpose of demonstrating that idle lands within farms may be used profitably for nut culture. The college will be very glad, indeed, to learn of any native nut trees of unusual value anywhere in New York as it is anxious to get material for grafting to native stock already growing on its various forest stations.
DR. SMITH: It was an exceedingly great pleasure to me to listen to that address by the Dean of the New York State College of Forestry. I want to assure you that his address marks an epoch. He tells us that the State of New York is going to experiment in nut growing, give place, time and money; and this is what I have been long waiting for. I shall defer my discussion until this evening, when I use the screen and lantern.
I rejoice exceedingly that the State of New York is not alone in the march of progress; the State of Pennsylvania is also in line and comes next on the program. Professor Fagan has been making a survey of Pennsylvania with particular reference to ascertaining what it has in nut trees. He will now give us a report.
* * * * *
PROFESSOR FAGAN: The President has caught me rather unprepared. I did not expect to talk at this time. I had our walnut survey tabulated in regard to county locations, so that you could see the results of our work in the state this past summer. This report is in my grip so I will talk only from memory.
The necessity for this work in Pennsylvania has been increasing right along. The State Experiment Station has been receiving letters nearly every week from parties wanting information in regard to the Persian walnut. The calls for information have been increasing more and more each year for the past three years.
Our people ask questions about the right kind of soils for the nuts—what varieties are best suited for Pennsylvania—how to topwork their standing black walnut—and, in fact, almost any question.
The Experiment Station does not have a nut plantation and it was thought best to study the growing Persian walnut trees throughout the state.
A publicity campaign was started through the agricultural press and our daily and weekly newspapers. In this way we have been able to learn the location of some 1,800 to 2,000 bearing trees in Pennsylvania. I tried to visit the trees this summer but time would not permit.
Trees are reported in twenty-five different counties. Erie County reported, likely, the two largest plantings. Here we have two seedling groves, at least one is a seedling grove. The seedling grove is fourteen years old and contains 250 trees. They are seedling Pomeroy trees and this year show their first real crop of nuts.
Since they are seedlings we naturally find all types and variations among the trees. We see a difference in their foliage, habit of growth, shape and size of nuts. The trees show no effects of ever having been winter-killed. The trees have always been farmed so the owner, Mr. E. A. Silkirk of North East, Pa., has been able to receive returns from his land. Grapes and berries have been grown between the trees as intercrops. The trees are planted on the corners of a 50-foot square and cover about fourteen acres.
In four different counties of the mountain section of the state, bearing trees are to be found. From these trees we hope to find something at least fairly good but above that something hardy. Some of these trees have been winter-killed to a more or less degree, but so have the common peach trees in the same sections.
The southeastern part of the state reports the largest number of trees. From Harrisburg east and south the trees become more common. In this section we find Dauphin, Adams, York, Lancaster, Chester, Philadelphia, Bucks, Lebanon, Lehigh and Berks counties. In these counties the Persian walnut is not at all uncommon. They are often called Dutch nuts as well as English walnuts.
Just north of the above section we find Northampton County reporting a large number of trees, and even in the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton section with a higher elevation the nut is growing and yielding good crops.
I asked nearly all walnut tree owners whether or not they thought the business could be developed, and in most cases they believed it possible.
I have come to more or less of the conclusion from what I have been able to see, that the business will not be developed in our so-called mountain land or upon the waste lands. The better soil should be used for the walnut groves.
As time goes on we are going to find more and more groves of the nuts being planted in our state.
I came here to learn rather than to lecture. If I can answer any question I will be glad to do so. Tonight I will gladly show you a few pictures with the lantern.
I might say that the Experiment Station plans to have a small grove in a few years; with this and co-operative work we hope to be able to give to our growers and interested people some idea of the culture and care of the Persian walnut in Pennsylvania.
DR. MORRIS: I don't like to speak so often here, but it is in the spirit of setting a pace rather than of giving expression to my own views.
In the first place, I would like to ask Professor Fagan if he has looked up the matter of the introduction of any of the oriental walnuts into Pennsylvania. According to the knowledge of the botanists, all species of plants from the northeastern Orient are better adapted to the eastern states of America than are any trees from the central or western portions of the Old World. Pacific coast plants do well in England, but not in New England as a rule.
Next I would suggest, apropos of the nature of the seedling orchard reported by the last speaker, that no nut tree of any sort be sold under a varietal name for propagation, excepting that it be accompanied by the statement that it is a seedling. This is perfectly proper and fair to all parties.
Going back to the remarks of Professor Baker, a number of very interesting points arose. One reason why the great waste lands of the state have not been covered with forests of nut trees is because we must leave something for the people who are to come 5,000 years after us. We must not accomplish everything in civilization this year. Be generous; leave something for others to accomplish later. Nut trees grown in forest form say to themselves: "Here are trees enough. We shall store up cellulose." Therefore the trees store up cellulose, make great trunks and timber, and little fruit. A nut tree on the other hand which is growing alone in a field says, "Here are not trees enough. I shall be fruitful," and therefore it bears much fruit. Consequently, nut trees to be grown as forest are out of the question as nut producers, but may be very valuable for timber.
In regard to setting out trees along the highways, that is a beautiful idea theoretically. I happen to see one of my neighbors in Connecticut here in the audience. He remembers when I tried to be public-spirited and set out a number of fruit trees around the borders of my place, in order that the passerby might have some fruit. What happened was that not only the passerby wanted fruit, but he wanted it early, and he brought others from a distance who wanted fruit. They broke down the trees, and also entered my premises and carried off my private supply having been attracted by my roadside bait. I wanted to beautify the highway for a mile and set out 3,000 pine trees. After they had grown to look pretty, people came in automobiles and carried them off. These people could not think of helping to set out roadside trees but when someone else had done it they came and lugged off the trees.
So long as we are in a semi-civilized state, we cannot talk about beautifying our roads, as does Germany. Germany has set an example of efficiency for the entire world, no matter what your opinion may be as to the present conflict. At the present time she is perhaps believing that she is carrying on a utility crusade. One of the German methods is to line the roadways with fruit-bearing trees, including nut trees, in such a way that the income pays the taxes for some villages. But they are under government control.
MR. POMEROY: Dr. Morris's suggestion is very good in regard to marking seedlings. Of course his office is in New York City, though his farm is in Connecticut and New York has a law which fills the bill. A customer can get a complete history of the tree from his nurseryman. If from a barren tree, he must so state. I think this state is about the only state that has such a law.
One other thing. The first big battle fought between the Germans and the Belgians was on a highway along ten miles of which stood Persian walnut trees, and I have often wondered how much damage was done to the trees.
THE PRESIDENT: I will ask the secretary to read the motion Dr. Morris incorporated in his talk.
THE SECRETARY: "No ungrafted nut tree of any sort shall be sent out under a name for propagation purposes except with the statement that it is a seedling."
MR. LITTLEPAGE: That is a matter which I imagine will come before the executive committee, and I would suggest that it be left in their hands and worked out by them. With Dr. Morris's consent I would refer this to that committee.
MR. POMEROY: Just because a tree has been grafted, why is all this necessary? The nurseryman is bound to tell from what it is taken. That is covered by the law. He need not be even a buyer, merely a prospective buyer. What I want to bring out is this. Suppose a nurseryman here in this state sells a tree,—he must have a permit before he can do it; he cannot send even a twig through the post office otherwise. I don't see if a bud is taken from a tree and put on a black walnut tree that it necessarily makes the bud that grows on the black walnut tree any better than the parent.
DEAN BAKER: I told you I wanted to raise a discussion on this subject. I really am a dyed-in-the-wool optimist. I am willing to sacrifice some nut trees to laboratory purposes for the benefit of our young men. We want the individuals to profit by the education. This should be an educational society.
THE PRESIDENT: I will ask the vice-president to take the chair.
MR. REED: At the last meeting a committee was appointed to report on the Persian walnut, of which committee the president was the chairman, and will make his report at this time.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I think you appreciate the chaos at the present moment in the status of investigation of the Persian walnut. When Professor Fagan reports that the number of trees in Pennsylvania exceeds 2,000, most of which he has not seen, this chaos is evident.
The varieties propagated in the eastern United States are experiments. I have done nothing that will compare with Mr. Fagan's work, but have found certain interesting facts.
First: I found in Maryland a Persian walnut which does not come into leaf until June. When the cherries are ripe, it is just coming into leaf; and it has borne regularly for fifteen years.
While going through the orchards at Grenoble in France, I asked a man "What is the matter with that tree?" This was on June 9th. "There is nothing the matter," he told me, "it is only coming into leaf." I want to call your attention to possibilities of a hybrid of that tree and the Maryland tree. The Persian walnuts of the Grenoble tree were of good quality, but low yield. The Maryland tree is a heavy yielder but of third quality.
In this matter of variety, I want to emphasize Dr. Morris's point of the great possibilities of the oriental walnut. Great results are likely to be attained from the introduction of these species into Pennsylvania, New York and elsewhere in this country.
Second: What is a good walnut? They may be divided into three qualities:
1. Positively sweet. 2. Neutral. 3. Those with a little bitterness in the skin of the kernel, which develops as you masticate the kernel.
Most of those which distinguish themselves for good yield here in the East are unfortunately of the third class. I have taken samples of these to commercial dealers. One of the largest walnut buyers in Philadelphia classifies the Grenobles as first class. The California crop he classes second quality but pays more for it. Most of the California quality is second class. Eastern nuts are mostly third class. I found one in New Jersey which was almost first class.
First quality apples are not grown for the market. They are consumed by the growers. They know the market would not pay for them. They sell mostly the second and third class apples. The present market for nuts is like the apple market. The nut dealer told me to send along nuts, like several eastern samples, and he would sell them, even though they were third quality. He has assured me that if he had the nuts he could sell them.
Investigate every good nut tree you hear about. Very good results may come from this. You don't know what you may learn by doing so. If you will ask about it every time you hear of a good nut tree, good will be accomplished. We are going to keep on finding these trees for the next twenty-five years. Will you help the process along?
* * * * *
MR. POMEROY: In the smaller towns, where the grocery men buy of the boys, if they will ask them about the trees from which they get good nuts you will locate many good trees.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I understand in California they have been planting walnut trees for thirty to forty years but have never yet agreed on the matter of varieties. One of the very practical questions before this association is the determination of the best varieties to set. I would like to hear from some of the members on this question of varieties.
MR. RUSH: I would like to say a word about this matter. We cannot be too severe on quality. We might ask ourselves today what is the matter with the peach crop. The physical changes and conditions are responsible not only for the peach crop, but the nut crop as well. The weather has unfortunate effects on certain varieties of the walnut. So we must make allowance for weather conditions.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: Excuse me for butting in so often. I should like to ask Mr. Rush a question. I highly respect his judgment. If he were planting a walnut orchard of 500 trees in the latitude between Philadelphia and Washington, I should like to know what varieties he would plant and in what proportion?
MR. RUSH: Well, that is a question that would require a little consideration. Now we have some very good varieties. You have a very good variety known as the Holden. I would like to know more of it. One I would choose would be the Nebo, and another originating on my place, and called the Rush, is productive and good quality and a most excellent pollenizer. We have another fine walnut in Adams County, introduced by John Garretson, from California. Then we have other types, the Lancaster, and the Alpine. Hall, in Erie County is noted for its good size, not strictly a commercial nut. Something like the Holden, Garretson and Rush Parisienne are my favorite varieties.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I think we are getting some really valuable information now. We must plant the best varieties we have. I think we might start with Mr. Rush's list and have the varieties analyzed. I think this will be of use when we are called upon to advise people.
THE SECRETARY: If I were going to make a choice of the varieties of walnuts, I should name the Franquette, Mayette and Parisienne. Mr. Rush says that his Rush variety is practically a Parisienne. The Garretson walnuts seem to be of these varieties. These have been producing good crops of nuts. It is my opinion that at this time these are the most promising varieties for use in the East.
THE PRESIDENT: I wish to say that a tree of the Mayette variety or one greatly resembling it has been living in Pennsylvania for fifteen years and bearing crops. There is little doubt that the Mayette is the best walnut on the market.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: Well, is there anything really surprising, when you consider the origin of these trees? These varieties originally came from the Grenoble district in France. France lies north of the 42d parallel. This is the northern boundary of Pennsylvania and runs through Michigan. But France has a maritime climate.
THE PRESIDENT: If I may act as geographer for a moment, there are two things in connection with the foreign climate. The maritime climate is cooler in summer and milder in winter. Over here fungus invasion does great harm but the climate there is detrimental to the fungi and keeps them in subjection. I call attention again to that Mayette in Pennsylvania for sixteen years, as a matter of fact, not theory, an achievement on which we can act with some certainty.
The hour for adjournment has come. This afternoon at 1:30 we have been invited to visit nut trees in the neighborhood in automobiles kindly loaned for the occasion. Tonight at 8 we meet here again.
THE SECRETARY: I want to say a word in regard to Mr. Baker's remarks. The purpose of this association is chiefly educational, but in order that we may be educational, and in order that we may give the man in the street some definite information, in response to his inquiries, we ourselves must first investigate these matters, such as the question of varieties. This is a point that appeals to me particularly. People ask me what nuts to plant, and how to plant them. We must advise them. One thing that we may tell them is that it is advisable to plant about the grounds high priced, grafted nut trees. It is not advisable to plant high class, grafted trees along fences or roads. They will usually do badly or fail. Grafted trees require careful attention and proper treatment. The proper thing to do along fences and roadsides is to graft the native nut trees already established there, or to plant native nuts abundantly in order that later we may have established nut trees to graft.
Adjournment at 12:30 P.M.
WEDNESDAY EVENING SESSION
The evening session was called to order at 8:40 P.M. by President Smith. The total attendance of the evening was approximately one hundred.
The evening was devoted to two stereopticon lectures, the first being slides by Professor Fagan, illustrating the lecture of the afternoon on the "Nut Survey of Pennsylvania."
This was followed by an illustrated lecture by Dr. J. Russell Smith, President of the Association.
NEW TREE CROPS AND A NEW AGRICULTURE
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
DR. J. RUSSELL SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
We have all heard of the scientist who made a discovery and exclaimed, "Thank God! This can't be of any possible use to anybody!" This useless aspect of science in a world with so many possibilities of service does not appeal to me. I hope that science and service and utility may go hand in hand.
The conservation of natural resources, the creation of new ones is a topic which combines the qualities of science, service and utility.
Of all our resources the soil is the most vital. Most of the others have some possibility of substitution, but for the soil there is no substitute. The forest burned to destruction can rise again if the soil remains. Some examination will show that the most vital part of the whole conservation matter is the preservation of the soil, and that soil conservation is 99 per cent the prevention of erosion. Soil robbery by unscientific agriculture can go to its most extreme lengths and reduce the soil to the depths of non-productivity; but scientific agriculture can, by the addition of humus and some fertilizer, soon restore such soil to high fertility. In these conditions of exhaustion the loss to fertility by soil leaching is small, because of the non-soluble character of the earth particles. Thus experiments at Cornell have shown that in the average foot of top soil from rather unproductive farms in a low state of production, there was plant food sufficient for 6,000 crops of corn. We have all seen a single thunder shower remove from a hillside corn field the fertility adequate for the making of a hundred crops of corn.
American agriculture is peculiarly soil destructive. Three of our greatest money crops—corn, cotton and tobacco—require that the earth shall, throughout the summer, be loose and even furrowed with the cultivator, which prepares the ground for washing away, and by its furrow starts the gully. The second factor in this peculiarly destructive agriculture is the fact of our emphasis of rainfall in summer. Third in the list of factors of destruction is the rainfall unit, the thunder shower, which dumps water, hundreds of tons per hour on every hillside acre. A little examination of the facts and careful inclusion of the time element will show that the old-world saying, "After man the desert" is quite as true in the United States as in Europe and Asia, where it has been so fearfully proven in the seats of ancient empire.
This soil resource destruction from erosion leads to the destruction of other valuable resources. We appear to be upon the eve of an epoch of waterway construction and experiment. The greatest injury to waterways is channel filling by down-washed mud. Pittsburgh has been praised highly for the energetic action of her Chamber of Commerce and citizens in appropriating money for the careful survey of drainage basins above the river, with the idea of obtaining knowledge preparatory to the building of reservoirs to check floods. They have forty-three reservoir sites, and the early construction of nineteen of these reservoirs is recommended.
A part of the reservoir plan, however, is that the land above it shall not be cultivated; otherwise the erosion from the tilled fields will promptly fill up the reservoirs, as the present condition of many eastern mill dams so emphatically attests. The carrying out, therefore, of the Pittsburgh reservoir plan necessitates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of farmers and the restriction of many farming communities to forest or a new type of agriculture.
We cannot spare all this land from tillage. But fortunately, there are other ways of using it. Land east of the 100th meridian may be divided into three classes: First, which in the absence of better estimate covers one third of the area, is hopeless for agriculture because of hills and rocks. This is mostly now in rather poor forests. The second class, also covering one third—by the same estimate—has been cleared for agriculture, but is so hilly and eroded as to be in a low state of fertility and production. The third class, the remaining third of the land, is suited to the plow and should be plowed and cultivated much more intensively than it now is.
For the first and second classes of land we need a new type of agriculture, the crop-yielding trees. Our agriculture, which depends so largely now upon those members of the grass family which we call grains, is the result of accident, not the result of science. At the dawn of history man had practically all of these small grains, which have probably resulted from the selection and seed saving of the primitive woman, as the race came up from savagery into agriculture. This primitive woman in selecting plants for her garden and little field, did not pick out the best of nature, or the most productive, or the ultimately most promising; she picked annuals because they gave the quickest return. And man has left alone and practically unimproved for all these thousands of years nearly all the great engines of nature, the crop-yielding trees, such as the walnut, hickory, pecan, acorn yielding oak, chestnut, beech, pinenut, hazel, honey locust, mesquite, screw bean, carob, mulberry, persimmon, paw-paw, etc., because their slow growth has deterred us from any attempts at improving them. We have depended upon and greatly improved the quick growing grains, which spend most of their short life in putting up a frame work which promptly perishes; whereas the tree endures like a manufacturing plant. Further than this, most of the grains have a period of crisis, during which they must receive water or the harvest is almost a failure. Thus corn must within a short period receive moisture, or it is too late to produce even husks.
Yet trees are the great engines of nature. The mazzard cherry tree, growing wild throughout the southeastern United States, often yields twenty bushels of fruit. Fifty bushels and upwards are often obtained from the mature apple trees. The walnut yields its bushels, the persimmon breaks with fruit.
Europe shows us an agriculture making considerable use of crop-yielding trees other than the ordinary fruits. Mr. C. F. Cook, of the Department of Agriculture, is the authority for the statement that Mediterranean agriculture began on the basis of tree crops, and there are now about twenty-five such crops in the Mediterranean basin. The oak tree furnishes five, cork bark, an ink producing gall which enters into the manufacture of all our ink, the Valonia, or tannin-yielding acorn, which is an important export from the Balkan states; the truffle worth several million dollars to France; and lastly the acorn. In the Balaeric Isles, I am informed, certain acorns are more prized than chestnuts and the trees yielding them are grafted like apples, and the porker is turned out to make his living picking up acorns where they fall, and enriching his diet with a special kind of fig grown in the same way for his use. We Americans are too industrious; we insist upon putting a pig in a pen and then waiting upon him. The pistachio, the walnut, the filbert and the chestnut are all important tree crops in parts of the Mediterranean countries and many American travelers have probably seen the chestnut orchards of France and Italy, which I have found by examination are able to make the rough and unplowable mountain-side, bristling with rocks, as valuable as the level black prairies of Illinois.
The natural objection may be raised that the utilization of so much hilly land in fruit and nut-yielding trees will give such supplies of new food that people will refuse to use them. The above objection is well founded; but swine, sheep and poultry eat what is given them. I have an example of a farmer of Louisiana, who planted a hillside to mulberry trees. The mulberries held the ground in place by their roots and dropped their black harvest to the ground through three months of summer, and the hogs gathered them up and converted them into pork worth $12 an acre, without any effort on the part of the owner. The mulberry area in the United States is probably close to a million square miles. Over most of the region south of Mason and Dixon's Line the persimmon is a hated tree weed; yet it stands by the millions in fields and fence rows, fairly bending down with a full crop of fruit every other year, which is much sought after by the opossum and other wild animals, and eaten when possible by the American porker from September, the end of the mulberry season, until March, for the persimmon has a habit of dropping its fruit through the long winter period. The oak whose acorns probably made the pig what he is, is almost neglected in America; yet for ages the Indians of the Pacific coast have made their bread from acorns of two species of oak, one of which is now gathered by the farmers of California, put into their barns and bought and sold as stock food. The beechnut and the hickory nut are rich and much prized swine food.
Legumes, of which there are many species, can be grown between nut-yielding trees to maintain the fertility of the soil through the nitrogen gathering nodules upon their roots.
As it often seems desirable to cultivate trees of this character where possible, the tree crops agriculturist is above all others able to adjust his crop and the one device that permits the tillage of hilly land—terracing. Terraces interfere with machinery which is so increasingly essential in the cultivation and harvesting of the present crops. But terracing interferes least of all with the tree crop agriculture, because the trees can stand in the terrace rows and make a fortunate combination of the heavy yielding tree crops and the soil preservation through terracing.
We have an interesting example of tree crop productivity in Hawaii, where the agaroba was introduced from Peru in the last century. It has now spread until it covers considerable area with forests, and information from the Hawaiian Experiment Station is to the effect that it is now the mainstay of the dairy industry of the island. The annual crop of four tons of big beans to the acre can be and is ground into a highly nutritious meal food selling at $25 a ton, an agriculture which, for ease of operation and richness of return, puts Illinois to shame, for, in addition to the $100 worth of animal food, there is a ton of wood per acre every year.
The tree crop agriculture seems to hold the possibility of letting the worst third of our soil (Class 1 as mentioned above) become as productive as the best land (Class 3), while (Class 2) the hill land can probably be doubled in productivity. This is a goal well worthy of much endeavor on the part of the plant breeder.
Tree crops offer equal possibilities for the arid land. The grains with their period of crisis are an uncertain dependence on land of such uncertain rainfall as exists in the United States west of the 100th meridian. This is attested by the fact that some of this land has been settled three times and abandoned twice to the wreckage of hundreds of thousands of private fortunes. Yet the tree with its far-reaching roots and ability to store energy can survive in much of this area where grains are so very uncertain. The mesquite, yet a tree weed over much of this area, has one species which produces a nutritious seed that has been used for bread stuff by unknown generations of Indians. The screw bean, a legume, with a nutritious seed, grows from El Paso to the Imperial Valley; while the broad leafed honey locust, with a seed closely akin to that of the carob, or St. John's Bread, will also grow over wide areas in the arid southwest. Five varieties of the small but productive wild almond have been found by a Government botanist growing upon the shores of Pyramid Lake; while Frank Myer, Plant Explorer of the Department, brings back from Turkestan accounts of wild almonds producing good fruit on mountain slopes with a rainfall of 8 inches a year. These productive plants, several of them legumes, adjusted by nature to this region, with allied species in other continents, seem to hold before the plant breeder the possibilities of hundreds of thousands of square miles of Western orchard ranges of high productivity, rather than the present would-be grass-ranges of low and declining productivity.
I believe that the development of a tree crop agriculture offers one of the greatest possibilities in constructive conservation of natural resources. Individuals cannot be depended upon to do it. The work is too slow. A man might by decades of work create species that would be, if fully utilized, worth a hundred million dollars a year to a state like Pennsylvania; yet he would be unable to realize personal gain from the results, provided he had secured them. Institutions must do it. It is like the Geological Survey and the Census Bureau and Agricultural Experiment Stations, which depend upon appropriations. The appropriations depend upon the realization of the importance of the work. There are interesting examples of similar work already in operation, of which the following might be mentioned: The Agricultural Experiment Station of Arizona has started a twenty-four-year series of experiments in breeding the date palm. In North Dakota, where the blizzards kill nearly all the ordinary fruits, an experimenter has done much work in the breeding of hardy strains of apple, cherry and other trees.
* * * * *
Then followed a display of lantern slides showing scenes from Spain, Portugal, Balaeric Islands, Sicily, Corsica, Italy, Algeria, Tunis, France and southern and central United States. This collection of pictures revealed a surprising amount of tree crop agriculture already worked out but needing wider application.
* * * * *
The meeting adjourned without discussion of either lecture at 10 P.M.
THURSDAY MORNING SESSION
The third session of the convention was called to order at 9:50 A.M. with the president, Dr. J. Russell Smith, in the chair. The opening attendance was twenty-eight persons.
THE PRESIDENT: Owing to the fact that business needs to be predigested, we have decided to postpone the amendments to the constitution until this evening's session. We think it will take but a short time to discuss them. Resolutions, informal discussion on seedlings, the chestnut, and similar topics will also be brought up at that time. This morning's session, therefore, will be devoted to the intellectual, rather than the business end.
I know of no subject in which there is greater possibility of securing knowledge than the question of nuts for the north. A few years ago a friend of mine wrote me he had bought some land, and was planting native walnuts in the fence corners to be topworked with English walnuts. I wrote him, recommending oranges instead, telling him he would lose less money. I was basing this advice upon my own bitter experience. The accumulations of nut knowledge in the last few years and the trees now growing on my own place show how ridiculous was my position of a short time ago. This morning I think we are likely to have somewhat similar surprises in a paper by Dr. Morris. He will give us information on the hazel nut, giving his experience with the European varieties.
NOTES ON THE HAZELS
DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS, NEW YORK CITY
The hazels are descended from an ancient and honorable family. Impressions of leaves found in the Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Yellowstone Valley cannot be distinguished from those of the leaves of our two American hazel species of today.
The hazels belong to the Cupuliferae or oak family. Our American species are only two in number, although there are many varieties of the species. The one which is most prized, Corylus americana, is found over a wide range of territory and abundantly in many places between Canada and the southern extremity of the Appalachians, and from the central Mississippi valley to the Atlantic coast.
This species bears nuts of excellent quality for the most part, but of rather small size and thick shell, excepting in individual plants. The common American hazel, while valuable for hybridizing purposes, will probably never be cultivated to any great extent, because of its habit of growth.
The characteristic life history in the Eastern States is as follows: A hazel plant bears a few nuts in its third year, a fairly large crop in its fourth year, a heavy crop in its fifth year, a very few nuts in its sixth year and it dies at the seventh or eighth year of age. Meanwhile, the plant has been sending out long stoloniferous roots which have surrounded the original plant with a chaplet of progeny, each one of which follows the life course of the parent.
One hazel plant when left free to its own devices may increase in this way rapidly enough to drive cows out of a pasture lot. I have trimmed off stoloniferous roots experimentally from a number of hazel plants, for the purpose of throwing all of the strength into the original stocks, hoping, thereby, to prolong their lives. This, however, appears not to be effective, as the stocks died at their appointed time.
Like many other wild plants, not yet subjected to processes of cultivation, the common American hazel does not respond very readily to cultivation, and too much attention on the part of the horticulturist leads it into confusion.
Some years ago I expended about six weeks in making a study of fruiting hazels and examined many thousands of bushes in Rhode Island, Connecticut and eastern New York state, including Long Island.
In the regions visited, the native hazels are so abundant as to be considered a pest. Out of all the bushes examined, I saved but three for purposes of propagation. The best one of these for size, quality and thinness of shell, I have named the Merribrooke, and young plants of this variety will be sent to any member of the Association who wishes to cultivate them. Bushes of this particular wild variety have had a reputation among the boys of the locality for more than a hundred years, according to legends of the neighborhood. I have recently budded specimens of this variety upon stocks of the Byzantine hazel, in the hope of prolonging the life of an individual plant beyond its normal seven or eight years.
The other American hazel, variously known as the beaked hazel, tailed hazel or horned hazel, was named Corylus cornuta by Marshall (Arbustrum Americanum 37, 1785). Consequently, that is the name by which it should be known instead of the name Corylus rostrata which was bestowed subsequently. This hazel has a much more northern range than the common American hazel and I have seen it in Labrador and in Ontario nearly to Hudson's Bay. On the Pacific coast it is said to reach a height of thirty feet. Although spreading by stoloniferous roots like the common American hazel, these roots are shorter, and it does not extend rapidly enough to dominate the situation when growing in competition with the common hazel.
The nuts, while very good, and sometimes of large size with comparatively thin shell, lack quality, a very important element in any nut. It is probable that this tailed hazel will be valuable for adding hardiness to hybrids with the European and Asiatic hazels, when the time comes for horticulturists of Canada to make fortunes from their hazel orchards.
In Europe and Asia and in the northern parts of Africa several species of hazels are extremely important commercially, sometimes furnishing the chief source of income for large districts, very much as wheat or corn make special crops over large areas in this country.
These foreign hazels have not been raised successfully in our country, excepting very recently on the northwest coast. The reason for failure depends almost wholly upon the presence of a blight, Cryptosporella anomala, which belongs to our native hazels. In the course of evolution, host and parasite have come to be peers of each other, and consequently this blight does not menace our native hazels very seriously. Introduced species, with the exception, perhaps, of the Byzantine hazel, appear to carry a protoplasm which has not learned to resist the attacks of the blight. All organic warfare is fundamentally enzymic in its nature, and it is possible that through process of natural selection some of the foreign hazels would eventually become securely established in this country, without aid from the nurseryman.
As a matter of fact, the hazel blight is very easily managed. Not knowing this at first, I allowed almost all of my exotic hazels to become destroyed, and a number of nurserymen told me of having given up the problem as hopeless. Recently I have learned of the ease with which the disease may be controlled, and now feel very comfortable in its presence.
The blight is of slow development and chooses the larger hazel stems for its battleground. All that one notices at first is a depression of the bark extending in the long axis of a large branch. If one observes more closely, he will find spore-bearing pustules occurring as little round elevations upon the depressed part of the bark. The blight proceeds slowly, and I pass about for examination specimens from two hazel limbs. In the smaller one the blight has been two years under way, and in the larger one three years. These patches of blight were allowed to grow experimentally. Meanwhile, I trimmed out all other blight areas of the bark with my jack-knife. This is very readily done. If one will look over his hazel bushes once a year and simply whip out the few slices of bark carrying the blight, it is done so easily and quickly that we now need to have no fear whatsoever for the future of hazel culture in this country.
If the members of the Association will examine these Cryptosporella specimens which are passed about, and if they will dispose of the blight according to directions, I feel that the hazel question involving a matter perhaps of millions of dollars worth of investment has been settled.
Among the foreign hazels which will thrive in this country the Byzantine hazel, Corylus colurna is by all means the most beautiful. It makes a tree as large as the ordinary oaks, and in Hungary I have seen a trunk three feet in diameter at a short distance above the ground. I have been told that a single tree of this species will sometimes bear about twenty bushels of nuts at a single crop. This presumably refers to the nuts in their large involucral mass,—say four or five bushels of husked nuts. The wood of these species is hard, takes a high polish and is valuable. The tree itself is strikingly beautiful as the members will observe this afternoon when examining the Byzantine hazels which Superintendent Laney will show us in one of the Rochester parks.
This species of hazel in some of the localities about the Black Sea is said to form almost the entire source of income over large districts. The nuts are not large, as a rule averaging about like those of our common American hazel in size, quality and thinness of shell. Grafted or budded stocks may be made to bear large thin-shelled nuts. I am using this hazel at present for grafting stock for choice foreign species and varieties of other kinds, and for the American hazel, although it may be that the American hazel will not respond well to so large and vigorous a stock in the long run. Nuts and nursery stock may be obtained through French nursery firms.
The reason why the Byzantine hazel has not been planted widely in America as yet, is because we have not advanced that far in civilization,—people have not happened to think about it. We must leave something for the people who are to come five thousand years after us, and not think of all good things at once.
The Byzantine hazel appears to be quite free from the blight and this, perhaps, is due to its thick corky bark, which is in itself an attractive feature. In some individuals the corky bark stands out in ridges almost like that of the corky elm. The beauty of the European and Asiatic hazels, in general, makes them extremely desirable for ornamental purposes in parks and in dooryards.
One of the most attractive is the purple variety of Corylus avellana. In many parts of Europe this is held to be desirable for its nuts, but in Connecticut it is prone to flower so early in the season that the elongated male catkins are caught by frost. I have seen elongated catkins in a warm week at the end of February. A very desirable variety of Corylus avellana is one of which I now show specimens. The section of the branch which I pass about carried four large nuts yesterday but I find that one of them has disappeared, and it is probable that last night in the sleeping car a squirrel got in when the porter was looking the other way.
The specimen represents a seedling individual among a lot presented to me by Prince Colloredo Mannsfeld of Bohemia nine years ago. This particular shrub is rather homely, with small unattractive leaves and big bony branches, but it bears heavily of large thin shelled hazels of the highest quality, and the sort which are now bringing fifty cents per pound in the New York market as green hazels. It blossoms very late in the spring. I have not as yet given a name to this individual bush, but as Professor J. Russell Smith caught my description of it and speaks of it as "the bony-bush" we will allow his nomenclature to stand if members of the Association wish to call for any of the wood for grafting or budding purposes. Corylus avellana in its many varieties is the chief European hazel which gives us the cobnuts and filberts of the market, and it is the one which will probably be most widely introduced into this country. The name "filbert" is a corruption of "full beard" and is properly applied only to those nuts in which the husk extends beyond the nut. The shrubs of this species commonly reach a height of about fifteen to eighteen feet, with a spread of the same dimensions. Trimming by the horticulturist allows of the development of a larger bearing surface, very much as it does with peach or apple trees.
In some parts of Europe this species serves for hedge fences, indicating the practical ideas belonging to an older civilization. In this country we make hedge fences of worthless osage orange, privet, or honey locust which steal nourishment from the soil, add little to the beauty of the landscape, and give us no return whatsoever. Such a typical American way of doing things will be changed when we stop to think. Stopping to think is rather a painful process and gives us many jolts, but it has its rewards. When we replace our worthless hedge plants with hazels which yield heavy annual crops of valuable nuts we shall have made one step forward.
A fine hazel is the Corylus pontica. The shrub in itself has beauty, and it bears nuts sometimes as large as those of the average shagbark hickory. The kernel is of good quality, but the shell is so thick that these nuts are chiefly attractive to squirrels and to men who are out of work. I do not know the origin of the nut which is known in the market as the Barcelona hazel, but I imagine the plants bearing this nut are derived from the Corylus pontica. (Specimens of branches and nuts of various species and varieties of hazels are now passed about in the audience.) The nuts are beginning to ripen in this first week in September. |
|
