Mr. Corsan: How about the cattle? Let them keep grazing around?

The Chairman: Oh, my, yes.

Prof. Smith: I think we sometimes let our feelings make us say things that our brains would scarcely approve. I believe Mr. Littlepage's charge against the tree on the roadside is not necessarily substantiated. I don't know just how he is going to take care of his trees, but if it requires a vehicle carrying spray, I submit that a roadside tree is about as well fixed as one in his field. If it requires a man with a stick or a hoe or a ladder, the tree on the roadside is in about as eligible a location as one in the field. If care implies the idea of turning over the soil, the roadside is handicapped, but nature has got along without having the soil upturned. My point is this; there is on nearly every farm in the East a little patch of land somewhere, a little row between a road and stream where a few trees can grow, and if fertilization is required, a few barrels of manure can go there as well as anywhere else. The fact that a tree is put in a place that is not ploughed doesn't mean that it is beyond all care. My point is that with care we can get trees in fence rows without tillage and that, in addition to Dr. Deming's formal and carefully cultivated plot, there is about every farm a place where a man can stick a few trees and give them such care as can be given without tillage.

Mr. Littlepage: I agree heartily with Prof. Smith's theory, but having had some experience, I find those things that he describes are not done; there is just that difference, always, between theory and fact. I read a beautiful book once, written by a woman, entitled, "There is No Death," and I found on inquiry that she had already buried four husbands. (Laughter.) I was much interested in reading, once upon a time, Rousseau's beautiful story of domestic life and I found that while he was writing it, his children were in an orphan asylum. A fellow teaching in the high school in Terre Haute, Indiana, married one of the beautiful attractive young ladies of that town. Shortly after they were married he was busy writing and turned and told her that he didn't love her any more and he wished she'd go home. She was heartbroken and left and it turned out later that he was writing a book on how to get to Heaven. (Laughter.) There's just the difference between theory and fact. This is a beautiful theory. I used to be the strongest advocate of it, but all you've got to do is to go on a farm and try it. The trees won't get big enough to amount to anything in our lifetime, because these things you say you will do to them you don't do; at least, that has been my experience, and I would like to ask anyone to point to any section in the United States today, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, where this theory is carried out successfully; and yet I know it has been advocated for fifty years.

The Chairman: How about school children reporting on trees under their care?

Mr. Littlepage: Whenever you give the proper care to them you solve the problem—whenever anyone will convince me that that will be done. There is no reason, of course, why the tree won't grow in these places, but my experience is that they don't thrive.

The Chairman: I've put out thousands of them for public-spirited citizens, but it would be difficult to find one of them today.

Mr. Rush: In France and in Germany the land is very valuable and they take a great deal of pride in their nut trees. The nuts we have here in the Lancaster market, Persian walnuts, are largely brought from France, Spain, Italy and Germany. The land being so valuable there, they devote much of their waste land to nuts, like Mr. Smith's idea of planting along the wayside, and they plant and cultivate them in their yards and in all corners. They would not, under any consideration, plant a maple tree just for the shade; the tree must serve for both fruit and shade, and those are some of the sources of foreign wealth.

Mr. Harris: I don't think the question is so much one of planting in fence corners as that we have a great deal of waste land on which the soil is very well adapted to growing nut trees. I know that sometimes in growing peach trees it is almost impossible to cultivate them. I know places in western Maryland where the rocks are lying so that you can hardly plough, and yet the soil is fertile and particularly adapted in some places for peach trees, and would be for chestnut trees. They have there a system of cultivation much as if you used the plough, and yet they are on steep hillsides. There is no reason, I think, why nut trees shouldn't grow there as well as on the level field where you can cultivate every inch of soil.

The Chairman: They are looked after, that's the whole thing.

Mr. Gowing: I come from New Hampshire and we have what used to be an old farm, but it is now a pasture and the soil is quite a potash soil, I think, amongst the rocks, and there's some apple trees planted there by the original man that worked this place. It was too rough to plough, but they have borne us as good apples some years as we have had on the place; and on this same piece of twenty acres or so, there's some chestnut trees more than two feet through that were cut off when the land was cleared, and they must have done well, for they grew to be such enormous trees.

The Chairman: The trees are planted on this same old stump land?

Mr. Gowing: Yes, sir.

The Chairman: A great deal of stump land can be planted in this way.

Mr. Corsan: That wouldn't be planting them along roadsides and in fence corners.

The Chairman: No, they would be looked after; the whole thing is looking after them.

A Member: My idea is that there would be very few nut trees planted if every one was to start his own trees. They put off planting the trees even when they can get them at the nurseries, and if they had to start their own nurseries there wouldn't be one planted to where there's 10,000 now; and I think that in the end the nurserymen are going to attend to the planting of trees and the other people are going to attend to growing them. Maybe I'm mistaken but did this Government ever produce any trees? Prof. Smith spoke of appropriating money and letting the Government get us some new variety. Hasn't it always been private individuals who get the new varieties? I have been trying to think of some fruit tree, apple or something, that a state or the Government has propagated.

The Chairman: In this country I believe the Government has never done it, but in some parts of Europe, especially Switzerland, the taxes of some towns are paid by the trees along the roadside; but there every man has to report on his own trees and the proceeds go to support the town, and the taxes of certain small towns are actually paid today by roadside trees; but this is in a country where land is valuable, and every tree is under the direct supervision of a citizen who must report on it, and the product of that tree goes to the Government, he giving his labor instead of paying taxes.

Prof. Smith: I was merely pleading for the continuation and spread of that work, both geographically and in increasing the varieties of trees.

Mr. Lake: I am heartily in favor of that, but I think it ought to be referred to a committee. I want Prof. Smith to write it out in the form of a letter.

Prof. Smith: I am glad you called my attention to that.

Mr. Lake: The Government and the states are now engaged in such work and this ought to give it impetus. I think that the time and labor of the Nut Growers Association, since its organization, will have been well spent if we succeed in bringing to fructification this one resolution. I want also to suggest that Prof. Smith include among the nuts, the beechnut, because there's more meat in beechnuts for the amount of shell than any other nut we grow.

The Chairman: If there is no further discussion, we will have now to spend a short time in Executive Committee work. I think we will ask to have a Nominating Committee appointed first. Mr. Rush, will you kindly read the list of the names of the men you proposed to act as a Nominating Committee?

Mr. Rush then moved that the Nominating Committee consist of Messrs. Lake, Hutt, C. A. Reed, Smith and Deming, and the motion was adopted, after which the Nominating Committee reported as follows: For President, Mr. Littlepage; for Vice-President, Mr. C. A. Reed; for Secretary and Treasurer, Dr. Deming. On Executive Committee: Dr. Robert T. Morris, in place of Mr. C. A. Reed. On Hybrids, Prof. J. R. Smith, in place of Mr. Henry Hicks. On Membership Committee, Mr. G. H. Corsan, in place of Prof. E. R. Lake. On Committee on Nomenclature, Dr. W. C. Deming in place of Prof. John Craig; the other committees to stand as heretofore.

Mr. Lake: I move that the secretary be instructed to cast the ballot of the association for these nominations.

The motion was seconded and adopted and the ballot cast in accordance therewith.

The Chairman: Now I will appoint as a Committee on Resolutions relating to Prof. Craig, Dr. Deming and the Chairman; Committee on Exhibits, Col. VanDuzee, Mr. Roper and C. A. Reed, and they will be here this evening to report on exhibits. Committee on Resolutions, Prof. J. Russell Smith and Mr. T. P. Littlepage. There is no Committee on Incorporation. Will someone propose that we have such a committee?

The Secretary: Isn't it a desirable thing that the society should be incorporated? It was mentioned to me by a wealthy man that if anyone wished to leave, or give, some money to this association, they would be much more likely to do it if the society were incorporated.

The Chairman: I think it would be better for someone to make a motion.

Mr. Lake: I move that a Committee on Incorporation be appointed by the chairman; a committee of three.

(Motion seconded and adopted.)

The Chairman: The Committee on Incorporation will consist of Mr. Littlepage and Prof. Close. This evening we will meet informally here at about eight and tomorrow at ten we have the meeting at the Scenic to hear the papers of Mr. Rush and Prof. Lake and Prof. Reed, and see the lantern slides. We will first meet here at nine o'clock for an executive meeting and to look over the exhibits. The Committees will report at that time.

(After discussion, on motion of Prof. Smith, seconded by Mr. Littlepage, the selection of the place of the next meeting was left to the Executive Committee.)

The report of the Secretary and Treasurer was then read.

(SEE APPENDIX)

The Chairman: You have heard the Secretary's report. We had better take up, first, the question of deficit. What are we going to do about the $66.00? What prospects have we for the balancing of that account?

The Secretary: That account will be easily balanced, and more than balanced, by the dues coming in and then I will proceed to run up a deficit for next year.

The Chairman: You have heard the Secretary's report. If there is no discussion, a motion to adjourn will be in order.

(Adjourned till December 19th.)

* * * * *

The Convention met, pursuant to adjournment, December 19th, 1912, at 9:30 A. M., President Morris in the Chair, and went into Executive Session.

It was moved and carried that the President be empowered to appoint a committee to attend the conference at Albany, called for the consideration of the hickory bark borer, by the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of New York.

The question of the publication of reports of the Convention proceedings in the American Fruit and Nut Journal, was next taken up and it was moved by Mr. Lake and carried that the papers and discussions of this Society shall be used for its own publications exclusively, except as the Executive Committee deems it to the best interests of the industry to furnish them for separate publication.

The Secretary: On November 8th, I received a letter from Calvin J. Huson, the Commissioner of Agriculture of New York, to this effect.

Dear Sir:

At the coming land show in New York this department proposes to have, as a part of its exhibit, a collection of native and introduced New York grown nuts.

Can you give us the names of growers of the better strains of nuts who might be able to furnish material for such an exhibit. Perhaps your association would be able to assist in the matter. The Department will be able to stand a reasonable expense for cost of nuts, expressage, etc. Perhaps a few seedling trees would add interest.... By the exhibit as a whole we wish to show the variety and quality of nuts that may be grown in this state....

Very truly yours, CALVIN J. HUSON, Commissioner.

He wished me to assist in getting up an exhibit, but as he only gave us a week I was unable to do anything. I do not know that there is any action to be taken on that, but I read the letter simply to show that the interest in nut growing is increasing and that this is an opportunity for us to make an exhibit another year.

Mr. Lake: Would the secretary take the trouble to make a collection of nuts covering the territory of the association and submit it for exhibit at a meeting of this character, this land show, giving credit to the donors for material, somewhat as Mr. Reed has done in pecans for the National Nut Growers Association?

The Secretary: I think I'd have a few minutes to spare to do that.

Mr. Lake: I think it would be an admirable thing.

The Chairman: Yes, it would advertise the organization extensively and be a constructive step in agriculture.

* * * * *

Mr. Littlepage, have you any report from the Committee on Incorporation?

Mr. Littlepage: That is a matter that will require considerable thought and attention. It will require attention from several standpoints, as for example under what laws we might wish to incorporate, so I think the committee will reserve its report to make to the Executive Committee at some later meeting.

The Chairman: We have no other business, I believe, and will now retire to the hall where we will have the lantern slide exhibition. The morning session closes the meeting and we are to meet at two o'clock at the Monument and from there go out to see certain trees in the vicinity. Mr. Rush and Mr. Jones are to show us these and their two nurseries.

Mr. Lake: I would like to offer as a resolution, that the secretary be instructed to make arrangements with the publishers of the American Fruit and Nut Journal for the distribution of one copy to each member as a part of his membership fee. The secretary will then be able to reach the members in his published notices without special printers' troubles of his own, and the members will be able to get some live matter right along.

The motion was seconded and adopted, after which the executive session closed and the members adjourned in a body to the Scenic Theatre, where the regular program was resumed as follows:

The Chairman: We will have Mr. Rush's paper first.



THE PERSIAN WALNUT, ITS DISASTER AND LESSONS FOR 1912

J. G. RUSH, PENNSYLVANIA

The year just closing has been full of disasters both on land and sea, though I do not wish it to be understood that I am inclined to be a pessimist on account of these occurrences.

I wish to speak of a disaster which overtook the walnut industry in the northern states. Early in the year we had an arctic cold wave which put the thermometer from 23 to 33 degrees below zero. This cold wave apparently did no injury to the walnut trees at the time but late in the spring it was discovered that the wood cells were ruptured though the buds and bark were uninjured. In cutting the scions in early April the bark and buds seemed in good condition for grafting; but as the time approached to do the work it was readily seen, by its changed color, that the wood was injured, some scions of course more than others. Those that were only slightly discolored were used in grafting. But as time passed the unhappy result came to light that out of about 2,000 nursery trees grafted only one graft grew. After climbing an 80 foot walnut tree to get our scions, and paying a good price for them besides, this was rather discouraging.

This cold wave, which was unprecedented for the time, had wrought other injuries to the nut industry. That was especially to the young trees that were transplanted the fall previous and last spring. The transplanting with a frost injury already was too great a strain on the feeble life of the trees. The consequence was that some of them died outright, and others made only a feeble growth. But where low and severe pruning was practised good results followed and such trees as were established on the original root system escaped the frost injury entirely. The young nursery trees with dormant buds were not affected in the least but made a strong growth of from three to seven feet this last summer.

The intense cold wave was such that some old and young seedling Persian walnut trees were killed outright, and not only the Persian walnut but in a few instances the American black was very much injured; likewise the Norway maple, magnolia, California privet and roses. Also the peach both in tree and fruit.

Now in conclusion let me say, what is the lesson to be learned? First, as to the propagation of the Persian walnut, great care should be taken that only trees that are hardy should be propagated from, as well as having good bearing qualities with a first class nut. Second, after a freeze such as we had last winter, a special effort should be made to save the newly planted tree by close and severe pruning. As, for example, I had a very fine two year old Hall Persian walnut which was referred to me as dead. I cut the tree off about 4 inches above where it was budded on the black walnut stock. It was not long after that signs of new life appeared and eventually it made a very fine, handsome tree. Nature does indeed some wonderful tricks in this respect by which we can learn valuable lessons; and chief of these is close pruning.

Such a cold wave may visit us only once in a lifetime and should not discourage us from carrying nut culture to its highest development. We must not think for a moment that other walnut sections are exempt from similar visitations. They have them in the Pacific Northwest, and in France and Germany.

As regards the walnut industry for Lancaster county or Pennsylvania in general, I am safe in saying that a fair percentage of the farmers are taking hold of it. This is because of the fact that the San Jose scale has practically destroyed all the old apple trees around the farm buildings, and, not wishing to have the building denuded of the customary shade and fruit, nut trees are planted instead. This is in reality the practice prevalent in France and Germany where they utilize every foot of ground to profitable account.

The life of an apple tree is from fifty to sixty years whereas a walnut tree is just in its prime at that age and destined to live for hundreds of years afterwards. Then again the ravages of the chestnut tree blight are destroying the cultivated paragons just as freely as the chestnuts in the forests, which in a few years will be things of the past, thus giving still more room for walnut and other nut trees.

The Northern Nut Growers Association was organized for a grand and noble purpose, that is to stand together shoulder to shoulder to devise ways and means to bring nut culture to a grand and glorious success.

* * * * *

Mr. Corsan: The temperature Mr. Rush spoke of rather surprises me. Last year at Toronto it did not fall lower than 9 degrees below zero. We had summer almost until New Year's and then a very severe winter until April. I didn't notice any evergreen trees killed, but at Detroit, the Bronx and various other places, I never saw a winter so disastrous for killing evergreens.

The Chairman: Not only that but nurserymen all over eastern New England said they suffered greater losses last winter than ever before.

Prof. Smith: I would like to ask Mr. Rush if it would be possible to cut scions by December 1st, so as to escape danger from such great freezes.

Mr. Rush: I really have little experience in keeping scions. This fall I put some in the moist cold earth in the cellar. I think the experiment will be successful because I have known chestnut scions cut in the fall, to be kept under leaves in the grove till spring.

Prof. Smith: I should like to suggest that you try the following experiment; bury them, wrapped up in a gunny-sack or something, entirely underground where they will have absolute moisture and be shut away from the air. I have found that very successful.

Mr. Rush: Sometimes the trouble is they get too moist.

The Chairman: There is a principle here, and we had better keep down to principles as much as we can. That principle is that if the cells of the scions are distended with water a certain chemical process is going on all the while, because a scion is just as much alive as the red squirrel; it is a living organism. Now then, if the cells are a very little below normal dryness the chemical processes mostly cease, and that is better. We have to use nice judgment in avoiding having a scion so dry that its cells perish or so moist that its cells are undergoing chemical processes too rapidly. Our scions are cut, say, the last of November, then covered with leaves enough to prevent freezing and thawing. That will carry scions pretty well through the winter and perhaps is the best way, but we must never forget that in dealing with scions we are dealing with living red squirrels just as when we are dealing with pollen.

A Member: Are the leaves moist or dry?

The Chairman: The driest leaves in the woods contain more water than you think they do. They carry enough to maintain the life of the cells, if they are packed pretty firmly about your scions, and at the same time the scions are still allowed to breathe. I keep them above ground. I put a layer of shingles on the cellar floor, if I've got a bare ground cellar floor, and then a layer of very fine leaves like locust leaves, then a single layer of scions and then a good big heap of leaves over those, packed tight, a good big heap of apple leaves or anything you have at hand. Try it on the basis of principles. It is a complex question. You can't settle any of these questions off-hand. Every man who has had much experience has learned that he needs a whole lot more.

Prof. Smith: Have you had any experience in fixing up a bed of scions like that and putting it in cold storage?

The Chairman: Yes, but you must tell the cold storage people not to let them get too dry. Tell them you want them in moist cold storage, and to keep the temperature about 40.

A Member: We have found with walnuts that if you have the scions too damp they won't keep very long. If you have them just moist enough to hold them you can keep them all winter, maybe indefinitely.

The Chairman: If your cell is full of water the scion will work as hard as an Irishman.

A Member: I find that we have to graft them above ground, in the North, and if they are too moist when grafted they will dry up, but if kept dry they will grow, because they will remain in good condition until the sap comes up in the stock.

The Chairman: Yes, you must choose a position midway between too dry and too moist.

Mr. Littlepage: That is very important; they won't stand dampness.

Mr. Pomeroy: Wouldn't it be well to dip the cut end of the walnut scion in wax to hold the sap?

The Chairman: I am afraid that would stop its breathing. You are dealing with a red squirrel all the while, remember that.

Col. Sober: My method is this: I have a little room about six feet wide with ice packs on both sides and double doors. In that I pack my scions in this way: I take carbide cans made of iron and put damp sawdust, about an inch or so, on the bottom and then I pack my scions in the cans, cut end down, then I put the top on loosely. I have carried them over the second year in that way.

The Chairman: But you let them breathe all the while?

Col. Sober: Certainly, and they have but very little moisture. They are kept in a temperature of about 40 degrees.

Prof. Smith: How often do you wet that sawdust?

Col. Sober: Not once.

The Chairman: Well, that's in keeping with our theoretical basis.

Col. Sober: I cut scions any time between now and March. I don't take them out of storage until we use them. We graft up to the middle of June.

The Chairman: I found some hickory scions that had been accidentally overlooked, kept under leaves, and the buds in the cambium were perfectly good after two years. In regard to winter injury—in the vicinity of Stamford, Conn., the nurserymen reported greater losses of all kinds in nursery stock than they had had before in their experience. I noticed that some small branches of the Persian walnuts had been injured, and particularly where grafts had started a little late and had not lignified quite thoroughly I lost whatever grafts had not had time to lignify. Last winter the injuries in our vicinity consisted chiefly of two kinds; occasional killing of the small branches—this does little harm because, where the branch is killed and dies back for a certain distance, we have three or four more branches starting up, so that perhaps it is not sophistical to say that it does the tree good. We get a larger bearing area than if it were not for this occasional freezing of small branches. Another form of injury occurs in the spring. The sap will start to ascend when we have warm days in February and March; then a few cold days come and, if we have absolutely freezing temperature at night, this sap freezes and when it freezes it expands, as water does everywhere, and the result is a bursting of the bark. That is an occasional happening with all trees but particularly with exotics. One kind of winter injury has been overlooked in connection with the walnut. The very last thing which the tree does in the autumn is to complete its buds for female flowers. That is the very last job the tree has on hand and if the tree cannot complete the buds for female flowers perfectly, then a very little wood killing will make that a barren tree, although it appears to be a good strong tree. That covers the kinds of winter injury I have seen in the vicinity of Stamford, Conn.

(Here Col. C. K. Sober of Pennsylvania showed lantern slide views of his orchards of paragon chestnuts and his methods.)

The Chairman: We will have now Mr. Reed's address with lantern views.



A 1912 REVIEW OF THE NUT SITUATION IN THE NORTH

C. A. REED, WASHINGTON, D. C.

In taking up the question of the present status of the nut industry of the Northern States, we have to do more with what has not been accomplished than with what has been. Very little has been done toward developing the northern chestnut. What has been done has been mostly with the European species and so far that has not been very satisfactory. The European species is quite subject to the blight. The Japanese nut is not ordinarily of a quality equal to that of the American. It is thought, too, that with the Japanese chestnut the chestnut blight has been introduced, which has been so serious to our native species. The walnut has not become well established in the eastern states. So far, most of the European nuts that have been imported have been too tender to adapt themselves to our climatic conditions, and the filbert, when brought from Europe, proves quite subject to a blight that prevails everywhere with our native species, but with them is not so serious. In running over these slides, I will begin first with the chestnut. That is perhaps the best known species in this locality. That shows one of our native chestnut trees as it is familiar to you all in a great part of this territory under discussion, that is, the part of the United States east of the Mississippi River and north of the Potomac. That photograph was taken some time last June or July when the tree was in full bloom. The chestnut is one of the most beautiful of our native nut trees. This tree has the blight in one of the earlier stages and it is shown here merely to call attention to the disease, because no discussion of the chestnut industry at the present time can be complete without at least calling attention to the seriousness of that blight. That tree, perhaps, has not been affected more than two years, possibly one. Is that right, Mr. Pierce?

Mr. Pierce: About two. That's an 18 or 20 inch tree, isn't it?

Mr. Reed: Yes, sir.

Mr. Pierce: It must be an 18 or 20 inch tree to be so badly blighted at the top.

Mr. Reed: Two years, but you see it's pretty well gone. We come now to the Paragon, one of the first trees of that variety ever propagated. It was planted where it stands, by the introducer, Mr. Henry M. Engel, at Marietta, where they had quite an orchard at one time, but the blight is so serious that there are only a few specimens of the trees left. That tree is probably in the neighborhood of twenty-five years old. The next slide shows two trees of the same variety that we may possibly see this afternoon. They are on the farm belonging to Mr. Rush and they are about twenty years old.

Prof. Smith: What have those trees yielded?

Mr. Rush: They yield four, five, six and seven to eight bushels. You can see that they are not far from the barn and the roots run under that barnyard manure pile.

Mr. Reed: What would you consider an average crop?

Mr. Rush: They grow five or six bushels per tree.

Mr. Reed: The greatest attention that has been paid to developing the paragon chestnut in orchard farming has been on the plan Mr. Sober has just shown, by clearing away the mountain side and cutting down everything but the chestnut sprouts. This photograph was taken in a thicket where the underbrush had not been cleared away. Those are a good age now or perhaps a little bit older than we usually graft, aren't they, Mr. Sober?

Mr. Sober: Yes, sir; one or two years old. When they get to be three years old they are past grafting, according to my method.

Mr. Reed: This photograph was taken at Mr. Sober's a little over a year ago, taken in the rain and is not very clear, but it shows the distance between the trees at the time when these trees were four or five years old—is that right?

Mr. Sober: They are eleven year old trees.

Mr. Reed: Do you thin them out after they get that size?

Mr. Sober: Yes, sir, they should be thinned out more, but I hesitated on account of the blight; I have thousands that I could spare, but for fear the blight will take them out.

A Member: Do you cultivate the ground?

Mr. Sober: I don't cultivate it, I just pasture it. The land is fertilized, but not cultivated.

Mr. Reed: That is a photograph of a large chestnut orchard in this county. It is not many miles from here. I understand that owing to the blight and to the weevil, that orchard has not been satisfactory, and I was told two or three days ago that it was being cleared away.

The Chairman: What varieties?

Mr. Reed: Paragon and native stock.

A Member: Was that the old Furness Grove?

Mr. Reed: Yes, sir. That slide shows the congeniality, ordinarily, between the stock of the native chestnut and the paragon. The next slide shows a typical instance of malformation between the Japanese and native chestnut. I understand that this is not unusual at all. The Japanese, ordinarily, does not make a good union with the American sweet chestnut. That slide was taken in Indiana. It is a twenty-five acre paragon orchard owned by Mr. Littlepage and Senator Bourne of Oregon, planted in the spring of 1910. The next slide shows one of the trees in the orchard during its first season. Mr. Littlepage had to have them all gone over and the burs removed. They were so inclined to fruit during the first season that they would have exhausted themselves if the burs had not been removed. They made a very promising start, but I understand from Mr. Littlepage that a number of the trees have since died. Is there anything you'd like to add to that, Mr. Littlepage?

Mr. Littlepage: I haven't yet quite determined the cause of the trouble. Last winter I lost perhaps one-third of the trees with a peculiar condition. The wood under the bark was darkened. I sent some of them to Washington the year before to see if there was any blight or fungus and they reported there was none on any of the trees, but this winter perhaps one-third of the trees died down to the graft. A few, however, would sprout from the scion, giving me, of course, the grafted top again. It seemed to indicate, perhaps, a winter killing and yet I would not undertake to assert that that was the cause, but it was very serious.

Prof. Smith: Was the land low or high?

Mr. Littlepage: High land along a hillside, very excellent land for chestnuts.

Mr. Reed: Sandy loam?

Mr. Littlepage: No, it's a hilly clay with a considerable humus and set in clover.

The Chairman: Which way does it face?

Mr. Littlepage: South.

The Chairman: That is rather bad.

Mr. Littlepage: I don't know. I have some over on the other side of the hill and I don't know whether the killing was greater on the other side or not.

Mr. Reed: We have before us a view of the original Rochester and its originator, Mr. E. A. Reihl, of Alton, Ill. Over in the Court House we have on exhibition nuts of that variety which most of you have seen. You are aware, probably, that it is a native chestnut. It is one of the largest and best of the native chestnuts and originated in southern Illinois, where so far the blight has not spread. It gives considerable promise for the future. We come back now to Lancaster county to a chinkapin tree, a hybrid chinkapin. The original tree stands in a forest in this county, and as you notice there, it is a very good sized tree. You might think from the looks of the photograph that that is a chestnut, but the nuts are small and borne in racemes, so they are typical chinkapins.

Mr. Lake: One parent was a chestnut?

Mr. Rush: We don't know; it's a native tree; it's a hybrid.

Mr. Lake: It's a supposed hybrid.

Mr. Reed: Yes, the chestnut and chinkapin grow close together.

The Chairman: What is the form of the nuts?

Mr. Rush: Round like a chinkapin. I think it was a chestnut on a chinkapin.

Mr. Lake: If it is a chinkapin, what is there to indicate that there is any chestnut blood in it?

Mr. Rush: The size of the tree and the fact that the nut matures with the chestnut. The chinkapin is about three weeks earlier than this variety of chinkapin.

Mr. Reed: That photograph is typical of the Rush hybrid chinkapin. We take up the butternut now. So far as we know, there are no named varieties of the butternut; there cannot be until some good individual tree is found which is of sufficient merit to entitle it to propagation by budding and grafting. It is one of the best known nuts in our field, especially in New England; it is more common there than it is further south.

This slide shows the native butternut in the forests of southern Indiana near the Ohio River. Of course, those trees in forests like that don't mature many nuts. It is not in the forests, ordinarily, that you will find individual trees of sufficient merit to entitle them to propagation. It is the tree in the open that has had greater opportunities than are afforded in the forest.

Mr. Lake: Are there any coniferous trees in that forest?

Mr. Littlepage: No, that's an alluvial bottom, Mr. Lake. There is quite a long bottom by the creek where the butternut grows profusely. We have the same tree on the farm that Senator Bourne and I own. Hundreds of those trees grow in the woods there. It's rich alluvial soil.

Mr. Lake: The fact that it is rich alluvial soil does not usually bar coniferous trees; it may in your section.

Mr. Littlepage: There are none there.

Mr. Reed: The slide before us shows typical black walnuts that are almost as common, perhaps more so, in many parts of the area under discussion, than the butternut. This photograph was taken in Michigan where the trees are growing along fence rows without cultivation or special attention. No one knows whether the nuts of those trees are of special value or not. It merely shows the starting point for improvement in the walnut. We come now to the Persian walnut, which Mr. Lake will discuss more fully in a few minutes. This is one of the trees we will probably have an opportunity to see this afternoon. It is between Mr. Rush's nursery and the station, on the right hand side as you are going out. Just above the top of the fence you will notice a dark line which indicates the point of union. The Persian walnut was grafted on the black stock. The Persian is of slightly greater diameter. Now we have Mr. Rush in his walnut nursery. These are seedling walnuts in their third year.

Mr. Rush: Second year.

Mr. Reed: Second year from the time of planting. You will notice the luxuriant growth. The next slide shows the methods of propagation. This is the first step in the operation. The knife is similar to those on the tables in the Court House. The next slide shows the second stage in the operation where the bark has been lifted and Mr. Rush holds the bud of the Persian walnut in the fingers of his left hand, and the next slide shows the bud in position and being held firmly by a finger of the left hand. As soon as it is in position like that, Mr. Rush lifts the pencil—the instrument that he holds in the right hand and folds the bark back over the new bud and then cuts it on the outside, so that he makes a perfect fit. If anything, the bark of the black walnut overlaps slightly the bark of the bud, and the third step in the operation is the wrapping. Below, right at this point, is a completed operation. That was done in August, using buds of the present season's growth, and in about how many days is it that you take off the wrapping?

Mr. Rush: About two weeks.

Mr. Reed: In about two weeks take off the wrapping; and about how much longer is it before you get a growth like that?

Mr. Rush: About two weeks more, three weeks more.

Mr. Reed: In about four or five weeks from the time of the operation a growth like that is not uncommon.

Prof. Smith: When is the top cut off?

Mr. Rush: When I see that growth is taking place I cut the top off in order to encourage the growth to get strong enough for the winter. Of course our object is to keep the bud dormant until the following season, perfectly dormant, but sometimes they do make a growth and, if they do, cut them off at the top and force them. You will not get that bud to grow next summer, but another bud starts out below that branch and gives you your tree.

Mr. Reed: That one dies then?

Mr. Rush: Yes, sir, invariably dies.

Mr. Reed: There is one of Mr. Rush's own growing of the Rush walnut, a little tree which, in its second season, matured two nuts. That photograph was taken just about the time the nuts were ready to be gathered.

Mr. Corsan: I noticed in the nurseries at the Michigan Agricultural College, a lot of black walnuts that were sun-scalded. They were too far apart. Can anyone tell us anything about this danger of sun-scald to the trunk?

Mr. Reed: Well, in this particular instance, the tree stands right next to a fence, so it is protected from the hot sun during a large part of the season. Perhaps Mr. Rush could tell us whether he has had any trouble with sun-scald.

Mr. Rush: Not at all, none whatever, never.

The Chairman: There is, in some localities, a great deal of danger from sun-scald. In the vicinity of Stamford, Conn., most of the English walnuts will sun-scald more or less unless we look out for that and give them shade; mostly in the trunk below the branches.

Mr. Lake: How about the nuts?

The Chairman: I haven't seen any scalding there.

Mr. Reed: These are all interesting points and I am glad to have them thrown in. Mr. Rush can tell us about this slide. It is one of the cut-leafed varieties of walnut from California that he is propagating. It is more of an ornament than it is a commercial nut, isn't it?

Mr. Rush: It is both combined. It is very productive and very hardy. The nut is not quite as large as the Nebo. It is the cut-leafed weeping walnut. The first tree that came from California cost twenty dollars. It is very ornamental.

Mr. Reed: This is a view of a seedling Persian walnut orchard in Bucks county, this state, some twenty or thirty miles north of Philadelphia. It is now about ten years of age and is owned by Mrs. J. L. Lovett, of Emilie. Some of the nuts of this orchard are on exhibition over in the Court House. The orchard was not given any special cultivation at the time this photograph was taken. The nuts from the trees, of course, are very ununiform, being seedlings, and the bearing of the trees is not especially large, but the apparent thrift and vigor of these trees gives a good deal of ground for looking forward to a walnut industry in the eastern states.

Prof. Smith: Do you know the origin of the seed?

Mr. Reed: No, sir, we do not. The nuts from which those trees were planted were obtained and planted by Mr. Lovett who is now deceased.

The Chairman: One of the most important features, it seems to me, of grafting, is the idea that we can graft from prolific trees. The majority of trees, of walnuts, hickories, anything you please, are not remarkably prolific, but in grafting you select a tree that is prolific as one of the most desirable of its qualities.

A Member: You say that this grove was given no particular cultivation; are they careful to allow all the foliage to remain on the ground where it drops?

Mr. Reed: I couldn't answer as to that.

A Member: Mr. Sober, do you do that?

Col. Sober: Yes, sir.

A Member: The point I wanted to make is that that is probably very much better than any cultivation that could be given.

The Chairman: The matter of cultivation is one we have got to settle in this country. I have been over the walnut orchards on the Pacific coast, in the East and in Europe, and I find three entirely separate and distinct methods of treatment. On the Pacific coast, the rule is to cultivate every year and irrigate where they can, but to cultivate, at any rate, whether they irrigate or not. In the East, where people are supposed to be very industrious, we have adopted the lazier way of letting the trees grow in sod; but that is not so bad if we follow the principle brought forward by Stringfellow of letting the leaves all decompose, and adding more fertilizer and more leaves and taking away nothing. In France and Germany and England, where the trees are cultivated, particularly in France, where they are best cultivated, we find two methods; first, keeping up clean cultivation and adding a little lime every year and, second, add lime without the cultivation. One great feature of the treatment of the tree in France, where the best walnuts come from, is the addition of a little lime every year, even if it's a limestone ground, and that may possibly account for the delicate character of the French walnuts and the reason why they have the first call in the market. I don't know that that is true, but it seems to me, at least, a collateral fact, and collateral facts often mean something.

Mr. Pomeroy: Judging from my own experience I think that that orchard would be producing now two or two and a half bushels per tree each year if put under cultivation and given the care of an ordinary peach orchard.

Mr. Reed: These are seedling trees, you understand, in that orchard we showed. This is a Persian walnut tree in Mr. Rush's front yard. I've forgotten the variety.

Mr. Rush: That is the Kaghazi.

Mr. Reed: Now we come to the original hickories. This is one of the earliest hickory nuts propagated, in fact, it's about the only one so far. That tree is owned by Mr. Henry Hales of Ridgewood, N. J.

Prof. Smith: Have they fertilized it?

Mr. Reed: No, not especially. It stands on good, fertile soil but I think no attention has ever been paid to it in the way of cultivation.

Prof. Smith: Have you its yielding record?

Mr. Reed: It never made large records; as I recall it now, it has never borne more than a few bushels at any one time, perhaps two bushels.

The Chairman: One reason is because it has been cut back regularly every year for scions?

Mr. Reed: Yes, that's true.

Prof. Smith: Over two hundred years old, then?

The Chairman: I doubt if that tree is over fifty or sixty.

Mr. Reed: That's what I should say,—somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty or sixty years old.

Mr. Reed: That slide shows a typical grafted tree in Mr. Hales' garden. It's a nice shapely, thrifty tree about seven years old and only recently came into bearing to any extent. The nurserymen have had great difficulty in propagating it until recently. Now that Mr. Jones has come up from the South and he and Mr. Rush are getting down together earnestly in the propagation of these northern trees, we will probably have more of them, but in all the years that Mr. Hales has been working with that particular variety, he has never been able to get more than a few trees grown in the nursery, so it is not disseminated to any extent.

The Chairman: Do you think that this will be like the pecan and hickory, that some varieties will bear fifteen years after grafting and other varieties two years after grafting, for instance, as extremes?

Mr. Reed: Probably so, the same as it is with other fruits.

The Chairman: It seems to me that that is what we may fairly anticipate.

Mr. Corsan: Like Northern Spy apples and other apples.

Mr. Reed: This slide is a little bit out of order. It's a native Persian walnut tree that stands in this county. It is owned by Mr. Harness. Mr. Rush has propagated it under the name of Geit. That photograph was taken in the fall of 1911. Last year it suffered greatly during the extreme weather, but it came out again and made a very good growth. This is the original Rush tree that we may be able to see this afternoon. And this is the original Nebo that we had hoped to be able to see but will probably not succeed. It is some seven or eight miles from Mr. Rush's home and we will hardly be able to make it this afternoon. The slide before us shows some European filberts that were planted by Mr. Hales and up to the present time they are doing nicely although they have never fruited especially heavily; but there is no blight.

The Chairman: How many years?

Mr. Reed: I think those are ten to twelve years old. Perhaps you have seen them.

The Chairman: Yes. There are two features connected with the filbert that we ought to discuss right here. One is the tendency to its being destroyed by the blight of our American hazel, which extends to Indiana, and another is the fact that it blossoms so early that the female flowers or the male flowers are both apt to be killed by the frost. All the members of this Association ought to get to work to bring out a variety which will have the blight-resisting features and the later blooming of the American hazel.

Mr. Reed: This slide shows a filbert we will probably be able to see this afternoon. It is in Mr. Rush's door yard and is still pretty young. I believe it has not borne of any account.

Mr. Rush: It has borne a little.

The Chairman: How old is it?

Mr. Rush: I think it's about five years old. It is a Barcelona.

Mr. Reed: The next slide is taken in the orchard of Mr. Kerr at Denton, Md. At one time he had a very nice orchard of these filberts, but the blight has gotten in and has about wiped out everything. In a letter from him this fall he said he had very few nuts of any variety, although he did have a few. A letter that came this week from J. W. Killen, of Felton, Md., said he had found filberts to be about as unprofitable a nut, as any he could have grown.

We will spend a few minutes now running over the pecan situation. We can hardly omit it altogether because there are so many people in the northern states who are interested in the pecan in a financial way. The chart before us shows first the native area. This part here is the portion of the United States in which the pecan is a native. You notice how far upward it extends, almost to Terre Haute, Indiana, and across southern Indiana along the Ohio River, and it is right in here, about where the pencil indicates that some of our best northern varieties have originated. Mr. Littlepage and W. C. Reed and others have shown us nuts over in the Court House that originated there. The Busseron and the Indiana are the two most northern. They are a little way north of Vincennes. No varieties so far of any merit have originated in Illinois. While we have the map of Illinois before us, I would like to point out the place where Mr. Riehl originated the variety of chestnut we referred to some time ago. Down in more southern Illinois is where we find Mr. Endicott. This darkened area along the southeastern part of the United States, and extending away up into Virginia, shows the area to which the pecan has been planted with more or less success. This area extending down over the Piedmont and up into Virginia and West Virginia, is the mountain area to which the pecan is not adapted. You never find pecans on the uplands. This thick, heavy area shows the territory within which the pecan has been most extensively planted. It is not common down in southern Florida. You notice, too, that over here in Texas there have been very few orchards planted to pecans. North of these shaded areas, anywhere up in Ohio or Pennsylvania or New York, the pecan has not shown any adaptability or has not shown sufficient adaptability to justify commercial planting. Whatever planting of pecans is done in the area north of the shaded portions there must be considered as experimental.

The Chairman: The southern part of Texas is actually in the tropical zone. It would be interesting to know if we have the pecan actually growing in the tropics.

Mr. Reed: We have more or less vague reports that it is growing down near Brownsville. I think Mr. Littlepage told us the other day of a friend of his who is planting pecans.

The Chairman: Brownsville is very close to the tropics.

Mr. Littlepage: Mr. Yoacum told me he had a grove down there that had not been a success so far. I know that quite a number of people have discussed the question of planting pecans in that section.

Mr. Reed: This is one of the largest of pecan trees; it is the largest that it has ever been my personal privilege to see. It has a circumference of between 18 and 19 feet and a spread of about 125 feet. We estimated that it was about the same height. It stands on the west side of the Mississippi River, some distance south of Baton Rouge.

Mr. Littlepage: What is the approximate water level below the ground?

Mr. Reed: It is quite near the surface.

Mr. Littlepage: I thought so. There are conditions you will observe that are unusual. In lands where the water level is near the surface, there is a tendency in the tree to shove out a lot of surface roots. You can travel all over the pecan belt of Indiana and will never see a pecan tree that does not look as if it had been driven in the ground with a pile-driver, but I have noticed that you find those spreading roots where the water level is near the surface of the ground.

Mr. Reed: It is interesting to know that right near this tree were other large trees, nearly as large, that were blown over, and they showed no tap-roots, but merely the surface roots, This slide shows a pecan bloom. The pistillate bloom is clear up on the terminate growth; the staminate, like other nut trees, is on the growth of last season and comes out somewhat in advance of the pistillate, necessarily.

We come now to the wild pecans of Texas. The recent census figures show that fully three-fifths of all the pecans produced in the United States come from Texas. This photograph shows the native wild pecans along the Colorado River. Here is the pecan as a park tree. This picture was taken in Llana Park, New Braunfels, in west Texas. One of the nuisances in pecan trees is illustrated in the upper part of this photograph; you will notice the Spanish moss that grows so densely on the pecan trees if neglected. Unless the moss is kept out it gets so dense that it smothers the fruiting and leafing surface, so trees that are densely covered with that are able to make leaves only on the terminals. You notice in the rear the leaves of bananas that grow there throughout the entire year.

The Chairman: I have noticed that the mistletoe was a bad parasite on the pecans in some regions. Have you found that?

Mr. Reed: Yes, that is true; that is one of the pests of the pecan. This slide shows a typical Texas scene. The wild pecans have been gathered and are brought into town and are waiting the buyers. You will notice right here is a bag that has been stood up and opened, waiting for a buyer, the same as we see grain in the streets of northern towns, and here are pecans on their way from the warehouse to the car. The next slide shows another step; they are on their way now from Texas to the crackery or the wholesalers. The crop of pecans in Texas alone usually runs from 200 cars to 600 or 700 cars. This year the crop is small and probably not over 200 cars, so the prices are going up. This is the pecan crackery in San Antonio, having a capacity of 20,000 pounds a day. The pecans are cracked by machinery and the kernels are picked out by hand. This slide shows a native pecan tree. The one in the foreground was from across the river near Vincennes. It is one of the first northern varieties that was introduced, but it is now superseded. The next is the original tree of the Busseron. The nuts from that tree are on exhibition over at the Court House brought here by Mr. Reed. The tree was cut back quite severely several years ago to get budwood and has not made sufficient top yet to bear normal crops again. This is the original tree of Indiana. Beside the tree is the introducer, Mr. Mason J. Niblack, the gentleman with his hand by the tree. Now we come to the original Green River, one of the northern Kentucky pecans. It is in a forest more than twelve miles from Evansville across the Ohio River in Kentucky. The trunk of that tree is typical of others in the forest. There is a pecan forest of perhaps 200 acres, from which everything but pecan timber was removed several years ago.

The slide before us shows the trunk of a supposed chance hybrid between hickory and pecan. The next slide shows a grafted tree of that variety. It is interesting to note the vigor of this hybrid. It is quite the usual thing to get added vigor with hybrids. This is one of the most beautiful, dense, dark green trees that I have ever seen in the hickory family. This tree is in northern Georgia, but it is not so prolific as the parent tree.

The Chairman: Does the shell fill down there?

Mr. Reed: No, it does not.

The Chairman: It grows very vigorously in Connecticut. It is a perfectly hardy hybrid, but I am afraid I shall only be able to use the crop for spectacle cases.

Mr. Reed: This shows one of the most common methods of propagating the pecan, the annular system. It is a slight modification of the system Mr. Rush applies to the propagation of the walnut. This shows one of the tools designed especially for annular budding, the Galbraith knife. The rest of the operation you already understand. It is merely placing the bud in position and wrapping the same as Mr. Rush does.

The Chairman: I would like to ask, does it make a great deal of difference whether the bud ring is half an inch long or an inch and a quarter long?

Mr. Rush: It does not make any difference. The union takes place on the cambium layer. It is not made on the cut.

The Chairman: Then the length of the bud is not of great importance?

Mr. Rush: No, it is of no importance at all.

Mr. Reed: This slide may be a little bit misleading. Two nuts matured in the nursery on a scion that was inserted in February. The scion was taken from a mature tree and the fruit buds had already set and had enough nourishment to carry them through the season so that they matured. That is no indication of what may be expected in the way of bearing. It is one of the freaks. This is merely a view of a fourteen-year old pecan orchard in south-western Georgia, a 700-acre orchard owned largely by one person. That is the orchard belonging to Mr. G. M. Bacon, a name probably familiar to some of you. Those trees are set 46 feet, 8 inches apart, each way. There are twenty trees to the acre, just beginning to bear now. That photograph was taken some two years ago showing the first step in topworking. The top has been removed, as you notice, and the next slide shows the subsequent water-sprouts which are later budded. The lower branches were left in the first place to take up the sap while the new head was in formation. They have now been removed. Our next point might be brought out in connection with this slide. One of the typical, sub-tropical storms, not unusual in the Gulf States, swept over this area in September, just as the nuts were beginning to mature and defoliated the trees and whipped off the nuts. The sap was still in circulation, and the varieties that respond most readily to warm weather, that start earliest in the spring, sent out new leaves, so that foliage was foliage that ought to have come on the next year, that is, it was exhausting next year's buds. The same year the tree sent out its blossom buds, so it had no fruit the following season. This slide shows one of the pests in the pecan orchard, the twig girdler, at work. The insect deposits its egg under the bark up at about that point, then goes down below girdles the twig, and it breaks off, goes to the ground, and the insect comes out, goes into the ground and comes out the next season. There are a good many drawbacks that are occurring and more are to be expected the same as with other fruit. There are probably no more setbacks to pecan growing than there are to the growing of other fruit, but this is one of the things. This orchard was set in land bordering the Flint River and at the time this picture was taken the water stood at the depth of three feet. It probably did no harm, because it didn't stay more than a week or ten days. Sometimes it stays longer and in such cases it is a serious matter. In Texas, floods come up like that into the branches of the trees, so high in some seasons after the nuts are formed, that the nuts deteriorate and fall to the ground. In such cases it is a pretty serious thing. (Applause.)

The time for which the "scenic" was engaged having expired, the delegates returned to the Court House and the regular program was resumed.

The Chairman: We will next hear from Mr. Lake.

Mr. Lake: My topic, aside from the slides, was concerning the result of the work at Arlington this year. It is all written out but I don't propose to read the paper at this stage. I have not been a teacher and lecturer for 25 years for nothing, and I don't propose to kill the few friends I have among nut growers by talking them to death when they are hungry and want to see something interesting. I will send this paper in due time to the secretary, and give way now to Mr. Jones. I did want to show you on the slides a few illustrations of cross fertilization between the Japanese and the American walnut, but we will put those in engravings and put them in the Northern Nut Growers' Journal, so that you will see them there with better satisfaction. Now one or two words about these Persian walnuts. These are eastern grown seedlings, the best that I have been able to pick out. Here is an Oregon grown nut. That is the ideal type for dessert walnuts. This is the Meylan. There is only one better, and that is the real Mayette, of which we grow very few in the United States, but we are growing considerable of the Meylan. Whether we can grow this successfully here or not, I am not certain, but it is well worth trying. The better type of our nut seedlings in the east are from the Parisienne. We must get a nut something like this that you can crack between your fingers, not one that is sealed so hard that it requires a hammer, and must get one with a very good quality of meat. One great advantage to the walnut grower in the East will be that he can get his crop on to the Thanksgiving market, which is the cream of the market—something the Western or European nut grower cannot do. So if we can grow a nut reasonably fair in quality we can expect excellent results.

The Chairman: Mr. Jones, will you give us your points now?

Mr. Jones: Dr. Deming yesterday asked me to give a little demonstration of grafting and I have brought along a sort of transplanted nursery on a board, so that I might do so.

(Here Mr. Jones demonstrated methods of grafting the pecan.)

The Chairman: Tell us about the wax cloth, Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones: We use that over the cut.

The Chairman: How do you make your wax cloth?

Mr. Jones: We take a roll of this, possibly three or four yards long, very thin muslin, roll it up and drop it in the melted wax.

The Chairman: How do you make that wax?

Mr. Jones: We don't measure the ingredients, but I think it varies from four to six pound of rosin, to one pound of beeswax and a tea cup full of boiled linseed oil and about a tablespoon of lamp black.

Prof. Smith: What do you use the lamp black for, Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: To toughen the wax so that it will not crack and so that it will adhere better.

A Member: How do you get your excess of wax off the cloth?

Mr. Jones: We just throw the rolls on a board and press them.

Mr. Reed: I believe you would find it easier to tear it up into strips than to put it in rolls. We have been using that method. We ran short of cloth and I went to town and got some and tore off a piece about 8 or 9 yards long and folded it up into strips that wide and dipped it in the pure beeswax and pressed it on a board and it was ready for work.

Col. Sober: I take just a common corn cob and wind it on as you would on a spool, then, while the wax is warm, I dip it in; you can have the cloth half an inch wide or an inch wide just as you please. My way of making wax is, I take two pounds of rosin, one pound of beeswax and half a pound of tallow. I find that stands all kinds of weather.

Mr. Jones: You prefer the tallow?

Col. Sober: Yes sir, I do.

The Chairman: Beef tallow or mutton tallow?

Col. Sober: I prefer mutton tallow; two pounds of rosin, one of beeswax and half a pound of tallow. Then you want to boil it very slowly and thoroughly, and pour it in cold water.

A Member: Do you unroll this roll of cloth?

Col. Sober: I have a machine to turn it on just the same as you would on a spool.

Mr. Jones: The strip goes through the wax?

Col. Sober: No, you wind that, then when your wax is warm, you drop this in but secure the ends, then take it out and lay it by till it's all saturated; then I tear it off as I use it. I find that is the most convenient thing, and I generally get calico, that is pretty closely woven, but is rotten so that it tears easily.

Mr. Jones: Did you ever use raffia for tying your grafts?

Col. Sober: No sir, I have not.

Mr. Jones: We have used it on pecans and walnuts for the reason that it doesn't have to be untied as it bursts off with the growth of the tree.

Col. Sober: This wax I have tried on thousands and thousands of grafts and it stands all kinds of weather. You can get wax that's been there 8 or 10 years and you can take it off now and use it.

Mr. Jones: That is one advantage of using the tallow; linseed oil will dry out.

Col. Sober: Tallow is the best; that's been my experience.

A Member: If linseed oil is not used immediately or very soon, it gets hard.

Mr. Jones: It's all right in wax and all right in cloth, too, if you keep it in a damp place till ready to use.

Mr. Hutt: Can you use parafine in place of beeswax?

The Chairman: Have you tried this method on the other hickories besides the pecans?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir.

The Chairman: You've got shagbark to catch fairly well, have you by this method?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir.

The Secretary: How did your pecans and hickories do last summer?

Mr. Jones: I've forgotten the exact percentage that grew. Some died after they had made a growth of several inches. I think I left too many limbs growing on the hickories. Some of them made quite good growth.

A Member: When is this kind of grafting done?

Mr. Jones: We wait until the sap is up.

The Chairman: What do you cover the top with?

Mr. Jones: With wax. We leave this open at the bottom, for the reason that the sap can get out and not ferment. If it holds the sap, it will sour you know.

The Chairman: How far down does your wax go, Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: Far enough to cover up the wrapping.

A Member: Does that work on pecans as well as hickories?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir. To show the value of this patch, we have grafted rows side by side and got 80 per cent where we used this patch and 34 per cent where we waxed it over solid and left no ventilation or exit for the sap.

A Member: Isn't that to keep the wax out of the cambium layer?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir, it does that too.

Prof. Smith: Are there any fine points about this trimming, other than mere wedge?

Mr. Jones: No sir, only it's thick on one side, as you will see so that it wedges tightly.

A Member: Isn't it a fact that you can use three and four year pecan wood just as well?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir, two year wood or three will give you better results than one year.

Col. Sober: What time in the season do you graft?

Mr. Jones: The 20th of April to the 20th of May here.

Prof. Smith: What stage of stock do you prefer?

Mr. Jones: Well it doesn't matter, you can graft these after they have made a foot of new growth, if you've got a good dormant scion; you could put in a graft any time in the summer, perhaps.

A Member: How long do you leave on the paper bags?

Mr. Jones: Until the scion begins to grow. Sometimes I have made a mistake and left them on until they grew up and curled down.

Prof. Smith: What is the superiority of that over plain cleft grafting?

Mr. Jones: You can do better work and do it quicker. I have put in 1200 grafts in a day.

The Chairman: You don't mind this arch being left up?

Mr. Jones: That ought to go a little deeper, maybe, but it don't make much difference, so long as it is well waxed.

Prof. Smith: The paper bag protects the scion?

Mr Jones: Yes sir. The object is not to protect the scion so much as to keep it dry. You want to keep the scion dry until it gets sap from the stock to start it into growth.

Prof. Smith: Is it necessary that this should be waxed cloth?

Mr. Jones: No sir, we use paper ordinarily, of course we run wax over the paper in waxing the scion and then the paper is as good as cloth.

Col. Sober: Do you find it apt to curl up in windy days—the paper? I tried that and had all kinds of trouble until I got on to the tape.

Mr. Jones: We don't try to tie with the paper; the paper is only to let the surplus moisture or sap out.

A Member: Does this tend to hold that in or is it all held in by the patch there?

Mr. Jones: This doesn't really need any tying, as it is large.

The Chairman: Would you carry the patch around to the other side?

Mr. Jones: No sir, just fill it up with wax.

The Chairman: And the juice runs out of there and will escape anyway.

Mr. Jones: Yes sir.

A Member: Do you wax in addition to the paper you put on?

Mr. Jones: We don't wax the scion all over. We used to take hot wax and run a thin layer over the whole scion, but we quit that and used the bag, because if you wax over a scion tight and it happens to have sufficient moisture, it will start growth with that moisture before it makes the union.

Prof. Smith: Do you wax the tip end?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir.

Prof. Smith: Do you wax this in here?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir; we fill that over with liquid wax. It is possible to have your wax too hot, and burn the scion.

Prof. Smith: Have you found that all the species of hickory take grafts with equal ease?

Mr. Jones: We grafted some here last spring that started very nicely and then died. I don't know whether it was in the hickory stock or whether they were robbed by the sprouts; we didn't pull off any sprouts. There's a whole lot of things we don't know about grafting yet, but will know more in time.

The Chairman: How about using scion wood more than one year old?

Mr. Jones: We prefer two or three year old wood for the scion. We have coming now, 3,000 walnut scions from California and they are all to be two and three years old. I have put in rows of 100 with large two year scions and you could count 100 and not find one dead among them and some of the scions were almost as big as my wrist. It's a job to cut them. You see that scion, being large, has enough vitality to hold it until it can make a union.

A Member: You want one bud on this?

Mr. Jones: We generally have two buds.

A Member: Do you use the same method on the Persian walnut?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir; we got a little stingy one year and cut these all to one bud and hardly got any out of them. You've got to have wood enough to hold the scions dormant; of course there may be one or more buds on the scion.

The Chairman: And got to have food enough in them.

Mr. Jones: Yes sir. Col. Sober grafts chestnuts that way, but I have never been able to graft pecans and walnuts with very short scions.

The Chairman: I have caught chestnuts with one bud, but most of the nut trees want more food and you've got to have a lot in the scion.

Prof. Smith: Have you used that with pecans in the North?

Mr. Jones: Yes sir, this will be our method of propagation.

After Mr. Jones had given further illustrations of the process of grafting, the convention adjourned.



SOME PERSIAN WALNUT OBSERVATIONS, EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS FOR 1912

E. R. LAKE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

The Arlington work for 1912 in the propagation of the Persian walnut consisted in top-grafting three and four year old nursery stock by several methods, as ordinary cleft, side cleft, bark cleft, prong, whip and modified forms of these. For wrapping we tried bicycle tape, waxed cord and cloth, with wax and plasticine for covering.

The work was done during the latter part of April and first part of May. The stocks averaged from 3/4 to 1-1/4 inches diameter, and were cut off from 16 to 30 inches above the surface of the ground. In a few cases bark grafting by modified whip form was performed upon the branches at a height of about 4 feet.

Later in the season from June 12th to August 25th buds were placed by varying methods. In the earlier instances the buds were taken from left-over grafting stock. Of the scion wood received last year all the wood from Eastern growers was frost bitten and wholly failed to take with one or two exceptions.

The Pacific Coast wood was received in excellent condition and operations with it were gratifying, especially with the ordinary cleft graft, and patch bud.

Next year's work in grafting will be confined to the cleft, and the bark-whip processes. This latter is very simple and under careful treatment promises to be a convenient and successful process.

In the budding operations we resorted to a number of methods largely for the benefit of the information obtained from the practice, and not so much for the returns in propagated trees.

However, for 1913 in the work of propagating for stock results we shall confine our practice to the patch method, though we may find from later tests that the hinge method so favorably looked upon by Oregon is better suited to the work.

Various experiments with tying material were tried. Raffia, cotton cord, waxed cloth and bicycle tape were used. The raffia and cord gave best results. A tight tie is needed.

June-budding from the left-over graft-wood gave a very low percentage of "takes." Most of the buds appeared to be drowned. Buds from the current year's growth inserted from early to middle of August are at present apparently in good dormant condition.

Some July buds from the left-over graft-wood placed in the younger branches of a twelve year old American black took well and made from three to six inches growth. The branches were cut back as soon as the buds appeared to be set, a course that would not be advocated if one were doing the work for re-topping. The young wood from these buds is delicate and soft and in order to insure their living through the winter, so far as our efforts may avail, they have been enclosed in strong paper bags. In our budding and grafting operations we had no success with the Japanese or Chinese stocks. We expect to try them further as their rapid growth makes them much to be desired if a permanent union can be effected. So far as we have been able to learn from the southern propagators who have worked along this line, no difficulty has been encountered in effecting a short-life union,—four to six years on an average, though a few have kept alive for twelve years.

The growth of the successful grafts has been very variable. In several instances in which both scions upon a stock grew, the growth was from two to three feet. In other cases the young wood was scarcely a foot long.

The fact that the stocks and scion-wood varied widely in size and vigor and the further fact that the scions were from several varieties of western stock are quite sufficient causes for no uniform results in this respect.

The wood of all successful grafts appears to be in excellent condition for the winter season and we are looking forward to an interesting further growth of these next year, though the trees have just been transplanted. In order to doubly insure ourselves against loss of the varieties now growing one half, or even more in a few instances, of the young wood has been removed and placed in a cold room so that further grafting or budding of these varieties may be made next year.

Nursery trees of the Franquette, Pomeroy, Parisienne and unidentified others, on their own roots are making a pitiable effort at successful growth, while all wood on the black stock is making excellent growth.

In one instance the wood of Mayquette a cross between Mayette and Franquette formed two nutlets. Lack of pollen was all that prevented the fruiting of one-year-old grafted trees. A splendid point for the unit orchard booster, but a point of no value to the real walnut grower.

CROSS FERTILIZATION

Owing to the very vigorous weather of the past winter the catkins on the older Persians at Arlington Farm were killed. In order to study the conduct and product of these trees we sought pollen elsewhere to fertilize their liberal display of pistils. We were successful in obtaining some from the trees of Messrs. Killen and Rosa, and Miss Lea, but though this and some pollen of black, butternut and the Japanese was used no pollenation was successful.

In the case of sieboldiana, however, we succeeded in securing what appears to be fruit of certain definite cross-fertilization, as sieboldiana x nigra; sieboldiana x cinerea and possibly sieboldiana x regia.

Only in one instance did the nuts appear to have other than the usual characters of sieboldiana.

The nuts of the cinerea cross were longer, more tubular and somewhat deeper furrowed and darker.

Unfortunately some conflicting results in the fruiting of the sieboldiana places the possible cross-fruits under a cloud.

A peculiarity of the blossoming of the sieboldiana at Arlington this year was that the stamens and pistils of an individual tree opened at dates of six to ten days apart, and with the tree used for crossing the catkins were all off before the pistils opened. As no two trees are near together, perhaps two to three hundred feet being the closest, natural cross-pollenating was not expected. However, after the cross-pollenations by hand were made and fruits set, and even matured, it was found that some clusters had from one to three more nuts than were hand treated. Many of the clusters had less nuts than the number of pistils treated, which was to be expected.

But how to account for the extra sets is a problem not clear for it is possible that pollenation might have occurred in one of two ways—by stray pollen grains from the hand operations by wind-carried grains from the trees. In any event only the fruiting of the trees from the nuts under consideration will settle it, and as these have been planted we are on the way to the solution.



THE INDIANA PECANS

R. L. MCCOY, INDIANA

The pecan is probably the best nut that grows. It belongs to the hickory family which is indigenous to North America. Since water is its natural distributing agent it is most generally found growing intermixed with the large hickory nut or shagbark in creek and river bottoms. While the hickory is hardy enough to thrive even into the Canadian provinces the pecan is not so hardy and is seldom found in the northern tier of states. It thrives well as far north as the northern boundary of Illinois. The writer has seen a transplanted tree in bearing in Branch County, Michigan, and native trees along the Mississippi River near the mouth of the Wisconsin.

The nuts in the extreme northern limit are not much larger than a hazel nut. But the nuts that grow in Indiana and Illinois from the Ohio River on the south to Rock Island on the northwest and Lafayette on the northeast are much larger. Here are found many superior nuts worthy of propagation. In fact, the writer has before him a great many nuts of named and un-named varieties which he and Mr. Littlepage and others have discovered in their search for worthy nuts in the native pecan woods. There are many thousand acres of these groves on the Ohio, Green, Wabash and Illinois rivers where many trees are found which bear nuts as large as some of the varieties which are being propagated in the Gulf Coast country.

The nuts of the Evansville group are especially noted for their fine flavor. The people of this section will not eat southern pecans if they can get native nuts. This year several carloads of these native wild nuts will be shipped to the Cleveland, Boston, and New York markets. While the finer nuts seldom get into the markets at all but are bought by wealthy men in the locality where they grow. Many men buy from a special tree year after year—its flavor suiting their taste.

The yield from some of these larger trees (and there are many of them four feet in diameter and some as large as nineteen feet four inches in circumference at shoulder height) is very good. The writer has seen a number in the last few days which were estimated to have from four to six hundred pounds, the most of the crop having not yet been gathered. He knows of one tree which bore (17) seventeen bushels and Mr. Louis Huber of Shawneetown gathered 718 pounds from another tree. Two hundred and eighty-five pounds of nuts were gathered and weighted from the Luce tree. These nuts were gathered green for fear of their being stolen and it was estimated that fifteen pounds were left on the tree. Also that the hail storm in early September destroyed fifty (50) pounds more. Hence the Luce bore approximately eight bushels. The Kentucky tree had four and one-half bushels by measurement. The Warrick tree had, the best we can estimate, about 150 pounds. The Grayville, or Posey as Mr. Littlepage wishes to call it, bore at least two hundred pounds by weight. One hundred and sixty pounds were gathered from the Major and two hundred and fifty pounds from the Green River tree. We do not think the Hinton bore to exceed two pounds of nuts. We do not know the amount of nuts gathered from the Indiana and the Busseron trees. The Buttrick tree had some three or four bushels of nuts this year but as a dredge ditch was recently constructed by it, destroying half of its root system, it did not mature its crop. This tree has been in bearing since 1817 and it has not been known to miss a crop previous to this year.

In our search for nuts worthy of being propagated we have found several nuts as yet un-named that are in our opinion much superior to any northern nut that has been brought to public notice. But as we know little of their bearing record and do not wish to burden the nurserymen with too many varieties we will keep these trees under observation for a year or two before naming them.

We have been trying to propagate some of the best varieties at our nursery for about three years. Our first attempt was root-grafting in which our success varied from 15 per cent to 75 per cent under the best conditions. We found after some experience that it was not difficult to root-graft. But last winter, 1911-12, was the coldest winter for some years, the thermometer registering as low as 20 degrees below. Most of our root-grafts were killed back to the ground but few if any of them were killed outright. When spring came they started new growth and are now about four feet high. The fall of 1911 was very warm and wet and they were in vigorous growth until the first week in November when we had a hard freeze which killed the wheat, causing the worst failure in that crop ever known in this section. The winter then following being very cold we had two conditions against spring root-grafted pecans. But we failed to see any budded ones that were injured. However, we only had pecans budded to hickory which was done by Mr. Paul White in May, 1911 and, so far as we know, this was the first hickory top-worked to pecan in Indiana. However, he now has quite a number top-worked last spring that have made a growth of three or four feet. We also have both budded and root-grafted pecans from last spring and summer so that in the spring we will have a better opportunity to see what effect the winter will have on them.

So far as we are able to determine from our observation of a few orchards all pecan trees bought from southern nurserymen and planted in this section have either died out or made very feeble growth. Although some large Texas nuts have been planted here and grown, yet they have either not fruited at all or the nuts have proved no better than our native nuts.

The northern pecan timber is not brash like the southern pecan but is very elastic and tough. An axe-handle made from northern pecan sells for ten cents more than one made from hickory and pecan timber is much sought after by axe-handle makers.

The people in this section have in the last few years awakened to the fact that their swamps studded with pecan trees are about the most valuable lands they possess and many are the inquiries: "Where can we get good budded or grafted pecans?"

The idea of propagating the northern pecan is of very recent origin and while the few attempts at propagation have not as yet met with any very great success, yet we are hoping that the time will be when many acres of our lands shall be set in valuable pecan orchards and our highways lined with long rows of fine pecans, chestnuts, and English walnuts which shall serve the three-fold purpose of beautifying Mother Earth, yielding delicious food, and furnishing a place of rest for the weary traveler.



APPENDIX

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY AND TREASURER

Bal. on hand, date of last report $ 48.73 Annual dues and life membership 178.00 Advertisements in Annual Report 25.00 Sale of report 18.00 Dr. Crocker, paid for list of names 2.00 Prof. Collins, paid for reprints 8.00

Total receipts $279.73

Expenses:

Expenses of Prof. Collins $ 20.85 Printing report and reprints 195.16 Other printing 38.00 Postage 35.75 Typewriting 16.24 Stationery 4.50 Miscellaneous 14.30

Total expenses $324.80

Bill receivable 1.00 Bill payable 22.00 $346.80 $280.73 Deficit $66.07

Our first annual report, embodying the transactions at the first and second annual meetings, was issued in May, and copies were sent to all members, to the principal libraries of the country, to officials of the Agricultural Department at Washington, and to some state agricultural officials, to several agricultural and other periodicals for notice and review, and to various persons especially interested. Eighteen copies have been sold.

About 1,000 copies of each of the two circulars, "Why Nut Culture is Important" and "The Northern Nut Growers Association and Why You Should Join It", have been sent to members and correspondents, and also revised circulars on the literature of nut growing and on seedsmen and nurserymen.

An illustrated article about nut growing and the association appeared in the Literary Digest and many agricultural and other periodicals have had notices of our association and our meeting.

* * * * *

Besides the regular notices sent to members and papers, different notices and brief statements about nut growing, were sent weekly for five weeks before the meeting to 80 different newspapers published in the country about Lancaster in the hope of getting a good local attendance. The Pennsylvania Chestnut Blight Commission assisted in this publicity campaign by sending postal card notices to about a hundred persons in the eastern part of Pennsylvania who were known to have from a few to thousands of cultivated chestnut trees.

The secretary's correspondence has increased so as to become, if it were not for enthusiasm, burdensome. Often several inquiries a day are received and they come from all parts of the United States and Canada.

The following figures are brought up to date of going to press.

Our membership has nearly doubled since the last report was issued, increasing from 60 to 113. We have lost 1 member by death and 2 by resignation. Our present membership standing at 110.

We have members in 27 states, the District of Columbia, Panama, and Canada. New York heads the list with 37 members and Pennsylvania comes next with 12.



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

READ BY PROFESSOR SMITH

RESOLVED:

1. That we extend our thanks to the Mayor and citizens of Lancaster for the welcome and entertainment they have afforded us while here and for the excellent auditorium they have placed at our disposal.

2. That we extend our thanks to Messrs. Rush and Jones and their entertainment committee.

3. That we extend our thanks to the Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission for the attendance of their representatives. We note with keen interest their expressions of hope for the control of this cyclopean menace.

4. That we express our deep appreciation of the great interest and valuable services of Dr. Morris, the retiring President, and Dr. Deming, the Secretary and Treasurer, two officers to whose untiring efforts this Association is largely due.

5. That we express the thanks of the Association to those members and others who have enriched this meeting by their interesting exhibits.

6. That the following letter be sent from this Association to the,—

Secretary of Agriculture, Persons in authority in the United States Bureau of Plant Industry, The Presidents of Agricultural Colleges, The Directors of Agricultural Experiment Stations, And leading Teachers in Agriculture Colleges.

The Northern Nut Growers' Association, by resolution passed at its third annual meeting, held at Lancaster, Pa., in December 1912, calls your attention to the importance of, and need for, the breeding of new types of crop yielding trees. We now have the possibility of a new, but as yet little developed, agriculture which may (A) nearly double our food supply and also (B) serve as the greatest factor in the conservation of our resources.

(A) Our agriculture at the present time depends chiefly upon the grains which were improved by selection in pre-historic times, because they were annuals and quick yielders. The heavy yielding plants, the engines of nature, are the trees, which have in most cases remained unimproved and largely unused until the present time because of the slowness of their generations and the absence of knowledge concerning plant breeding.

We now know something about plant breeding, and its possibilities as applied to the crop yielding trees seem to be enormous. They certainly warrant immediate and widespread effort at plant breeding. A member of this Association has shown that the chinquapin can be crossed with the oak; that all the walnuts freely hybridize with each other and with the open bud hickories, a class which includes the toothsome and profitable pecan. There is in California a tree which is considered to be a cross between the native walnut and the live oak. The Mendelian Law in connection with past achievements in plant breeding, and the experiments of Loeb in crossing the sea urchin and the star fish are profoundly suggestive.

The possibilities of plant breeding as applied to crop yielding trees seem to be enormous. They certainly warrant immediate and widespread effort toward the creation of useful strains which may become the basis of a new agriculture yielding food for both man and the domestic animals.

(B) The time for constructive conservation has come. Our most vital resource is the soil. It is possibly the only resource for which there is no substitute. Its destruction is the most irreparable waste. So long as the earth remains in place the burnt forest may return and the exhausted field may be restored by scientific agriculture. But once the gully removes this soil, it is the end so far as our civilization is concerned—forest, field and food are impossible and even water power is greatly impaired. Our present system of agriculture, depending upon the grains, demands the plowing of hillsides and the hillsides wash away. This present dependence upon the plow means that one-third of our soil resources is used only for forest, one-third is being injured by hillside erosion, and only one-third, the levelest, is being properly used for plow crops.

The present alternative of Forestry for hillsides is often impossible because the yields are too meagre. Almost any land that can produce a forest, and much that has been considered too dry for forest, can produce an annual harvest of value to man or his animals when we have devoted sufficient attention to the breeding of walnuts, chestnuts, pecans, shellbarks, acorn yielding oaks, beech nuts, pine nuts, hazel nuts, almonds, honey locust, mesquite, screw bean, carob, mulberry, persimmon, pawpaw, and many other fruit and nut trees of this and other lands.

The slowness and expense of the process of plant introduction and tree breeding limits this work to a few individuals with patience and scientific tastes and to governmental and other institutions of a permanent nature. The United States Government and each state experiment station should push this work vigorously and we appeal to you to use your influence in that direction. You may find material of interest in our published proceedings and in the Fruit and Nut Journal, the organ of the industry, published at Petersburg, Virginia.



REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ON THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR JOHN CRAIG

Read by Dr. Morris

"The Northern Nut Growers' Association suffered very great loss in the death of Professor John Craig, at Siasconset, Massachusetts, on August 10, 1912.

"Professor Craig, from his many responsible positions in the horticultural world, had acquired a wealth of information which was always at the disposal of his friends and students. His training as a teacher gave such facility in expression of view, that his part in our discussions inspired the audience and called forth the best that others had to offer.

"His type of mind was essentially scientific, and combined with this type of mind there was a rare quality of critical faculty in relation to the relative practical values of horticultural ideas and methods. His interest in the Northern Nut Growers Association belonged to a natural fondness for everything that promised new development, and he established at Cornell University the first course in nuciculture,—so far as we are aware,—that has ever been formulated at an educational institution.

"The personality of Professor Craig, characteristic of that of the scientist, was marked by simplicity and directness of manner, impatience with error due to carelessness or intent, but unlimited benign tolerance of all men who honestly expressed views opposing his own or who made conscientious mistakes. Professor Craig possessed that broad humanity which found quite as large interest in his fellow man as it found in his special study of plants, and his charming personality, strong manly bearing, scholarship, and active interest in whatever engaged his attention at all, will be ever remembered by those of us who had the pleasure and the profit of his acquaintance."

Mr. Littlepage: I would just like to say, in connection with the very appropriate and excellent words which the President used in reference to Prof. Craig, that it certainly meets the most hearty approval of all of us who knew Prof. Craig, that this association go on record in this manner. At the first meeting that was held, by the few of us who met in Bronx Park Museum at New York, to start this organization, you will remember the enthusiasm and the words of encouragement that Prof. Craig gave us at that time. He was there among the first and there was always intermingled with the scientific phase of the subjects that he discussed, the practical, genial good fellowship that made everyone like him; and after all, it is but proper that we stop for a moment and express our deep appreciation. In this life of turmoil and business hustle, I think that we sometimes do not quite realize the shortness of life, the shortness of the time that we have to accomplish any of those things in which we are interested; and it is the men who are giving their time to these scientific subjects, the results of which will inure to all humanity, who are certainly entitled to consideration and a kindly remembrance. That is why it was that I heard with such gratification the words of the President about Prof. Craig.



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXHIBITS

Read by Professor Hutt

By J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.

Persian walnuts, four varieties: Hall, Burlington, Nebo, Rush; plate of mixed, imported varieties; Seedling walnuts, Paradox walnut, black walnuts and rupestris, (Texas); two plates Chinquapins; chestnuts, Giant Japanese; shellbarks: LaFeuore, very good, large, Weiker, fair; two seedlings: Paradise nut; two plates filberts; Lancaster Co. pecans; budding knives.

By Wilmer P. Hooper, Forest Hill, Md.

Seedling Persian Walnut; Sir Clair; tree probably fifty years old, vigorous, hardy, annual bearer. On farms of L. J. Onion, Cooperstown, Md. P. O. Sharon, Md. 1911 crop one bushel; 1912 crop one and one half bushels.

Alexis; tree twenty-eight years old; vigorous, hardy, annual bearer, flavor good. Farm of Alexis Smith, Churchville, Md. Crop 1911 one bushel; crop 1912 one bushel.

Sheffield; tree six years old; bought of Hoopes Brothers & Thomas; hardy, vigorous; 6 to 18 feet high; on farm of Mrs. S. T. Poleet, Cooperton, Md., P. O. Sharon, Md.

Smith; tree forty to forty-five years old; large, hardy; on farm of J. T. Smith, Berkeley, Md.

Beder; fifty to fifty-five years old; large, annual bearer; grown from nut on farm of David Hildt, Janettsville, Md.

Hooker; tree twenty-two years old; origin Franklin Davis; vigorous, hardy, annual bearer, hard shell, fine butternut flavor; from farm of Mrs. Kate Hooker, Vale, Md.

By Mr. Knaub.

Shellbarks, five varieties: three black walnuts, two butternuts; one chestnut.

By Mrs. J. L. Lovett, Emilie, Pa.

Six varieties of Persian walnuts.

By E. B. Holden, Hilton, N. Y.

Holden walnut.

Stock Seed Nuts from J. M. Thorborn & Co., 33 Barclay St., New York City.

Juglans Californica, Juglans cordiformis, Juglans Sieboldi, Juglans nigra, Juglans cinerea, Juglans sinensis, Carya alba (shellbark), Carya porcina (pignut), Carya tomentosa (mockernut), Carya sulcata, Corylus rostrata, Corylus amara, Castanea Americana.