NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Twenty-first Annual Meeting



CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

SEPTEMBER 17, 18, 19, 1930



NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Twenty-first Annual Meeting

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

SEPTEMBER 17, 18, 19, 1930



CONTENTS

Officers, Directors and Committees 3

State Vice-Presidents 4

List of Members 5

Constitution 9

By-Laws 11

Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Convention 13

Nuts and Nut Growers of the Middle West—S. W. Snyder 14

Address of Professor T. J. Maney 20

Methods in Scoring the Black Walnut—Prof. N. F. Drake 23

Nuts in North Dakota—Prof. A. F. Yeager 27

Report on the 1929 Nut Contest—Dr. W. C. Deming 28

New Members' Experience and Questions 31

Discussion on Chestnut Growing 33

The Paraffin Method in Transplanting Nursery Stock—Prof. J. A. Neilson 37

Some Notes on the Japanese Walnut in North America—Prof. J. A. Neilson 39

Thirty Years Experience in the Care of Scionwood—F. O. Harrington 46

Experiments and Observations in Searching for Best Seedling Nut Trees—J. F. Wilkinson 51

More Nuts—Less Meat—Dr. J. H. Kellogg 57

Induced Immunity to Chestnut Blight—Dr. G. A. Zimmerman 68

Plant Patent Act—Thomas P. Littlepage 73

Banquet 77

President's Address 81

Report of the Secretary 87

Business Session 89

Treasurer's Report 91

Harvesting and Marketing the Native Nut Crop of the North—C. A. Reed 92

Beechnuts—Willard G. Bixby 100

The 1929 Contest—Willard G. Bixby 104

Attendance Record 117



OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION

President J. A. NEILSON, HORT. DEPT. M. S. C., EAST LANSING, MICH.

Vice-President C. F. WALKER, 2851 E OVERLOOK ROAD, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO

Secretary W. G. BIXBY, 32 GRAND AVE., BALDWIN, N. Y.

Treasurer KARL W. GREENE, RIDGE ROAD, N. W., WASHINGTON, D. C.

DIRECTORS

J. A. NEILSON, C. F. WALKER, DR. W. C. DEMING, K. W. GREENE, W. G. BIXBY, S. W. SNYDER

COMMITTEES

Auditing—Z. H. ELLIS, L. H. MITCHELL

Executive—J. A. NEILSON, C. F. WALKER, A. S. COLBY, K. W. GREENE, W. G. BIXBY, S. W. SNYDER

Finance—T. P. LITTLEPAGE, W. G. BIXBY, W. C. DEMING

Press and Publication—J. RUSSELL SMITH, R. T. OLCOTT, W. C. DEMING, K. W. GREENE, Z. H. ELLIS, A. S. COLBY

Membership—F. H. FREY, R. T. OLCOTT, J. W. HERSHEY, Z. H. ELLIS, K. W. GREENE, F. O. HARRINGTON

Program—W. C. DEMING, A. S. COLBY, S. W. SNYDER, C. A. REED, C. F. WALKER, R. T. OLCOTT

Hybrids and Promising Seedlings—C. A. REED, W. G. BIXBY, HOWARD SPENCE, J. A. NEILSON, S. W. SNYDER, R. T. MORRIS

Nomenclature—C. A. REED, R. T. MORRIS, W. G. BIXBY, J. A. NEILSON

Survey—C. F. WALKER, W. G. BIXBY, F. H. FREY

DEAN OF THE ASSOCIATION

DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS, OF NEW YORK AND CONNECTICUT

FIELD SECRETARY

ZENAS H. ELLIS, FAIR HAVEN, VERMONT



STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS

Arkansas Prof. N. F. Drake Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville

California Will J. Thorpe 1545 Divisadero St., San Francisco

Canada J. U. Gellatly West Bank, P. O. Gellatly, B. C.

China P. W. Wang Sec'y Kinsan Arboretum, 147 N. Sechuan Road, Shanghai

Connecticut Dr. W. C. Deming 983 Main St., Hartford, Conn.

Dist. of Columbia Karl W. Greene Ridge Road, N. W., Washington

England Howard Spence The Red House, Ainsdale, Southport

Illinois Prof. A. S. Colby University of Illinois, Urbana

Indiana J. F. Wilkinson Rockport

Iowa S. W. Snyder Center Point

Kansas W. P. Orth Route 2, Box 20, Mount Hope

Maryland T. P. Littlepage Bowie

Massachusetts James H. Bowditch 903 Tremont Building, Boston

Michigan Harry Burgardt Union City Michigan

Minnesota Carl Weschcke 98 South Wabasha St., St. Paul

Missouri P. C. Stark Louisiana

Nebraska William Caha Wahoo

New Jersey Miss M. V. Landman Cranbury, R. F. D. No. 2

New York Prof. L. H. MacDaniels Cornell University, Ithaca

Ohio Harry R. Weber 123 East 6th St., Cincinnati

Oregon Stanley C. Walters Mount Hood

Pennsylvania John Rick 438 Penn Square, Reading

Rhode Island Phillip Allen 178 Dorrance St., Providence

Vermont Zenas H. Ellis Fair Haven

Virginia Dr. J. Russell Smith Round Hill

Washington D. H. Berg Nooksack

West Virginia Dr. J. E. Cannaday Box 693, Charleston



MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION

ARKANSAS

* Drake, Prof. N. F., Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville

CALIFORNIA

Crafts, Dr. J. G., Martinez Thorpe, Will J., 1545 Divisadero St., San Francisco University of California, Berkeley

CANADA

Gage, J. H., 107 Flatt Ave., Hamilton, Ontario Gellatly, J. U., West Bank, B. C. Ryerse, Arthur C., Simcoe, Ont. Watson, Dr. W. V., 170 St. George St., Toronto

CHINA

* Kinsan Arboretum, 147 N. Szechuan Road, Shanghai

CONNECTICUT

Bartlett, Francis A., Stamford Deming, Dr. W. C., 31 Owen St., Hartford Hilliard, H. J., Sound View * Montgomery, Robt. H., Cos Cob * Morris, Dr. Robert T., Route 28, Box No. 95, Cos Cob Pratt, George D., Jr., Bridgewater Williams, Dr. Chas. Mallory, Stonington

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Foster, B. G., 805 G St., N. W., Washington Greene, Karl W., Ridge Road, N. W., Washington * Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Bldg., Washington Mitchell, Lennard H., 2219 California St. N. W., Washington Reed, C. A., Dept. of Agriculture, Washington Stiebling, Mrs. Anna E., 1458 Monroe St. N. W., Washington Taylor, D. W., The Highlands, Washington Von Ammon, S., Bureau of Standards, Washington

ENGLAND

Spence, Howard, The Red House, Ainsdale, Southport

ILLINOIS

Anthony, A. B., Sterling Armstrong, Mrs. Julian, Witchwood Lane and Moffet Rd., Lake Forest Bontz, Mrs. George I., Route 2, Peoria Brown, Roy W., Spring Valley Colby, Arthur S., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana Frey, Frank H., Room 930 Lasalle St., Station, Chicago Gibbens, Geo. W., Route 2, Godfrey Knox, Loy J., First Nat'l Bank, Morrison Morton, Joy, Lisle Meyer, Dr. R. C. J., Hillsdale Riehl, Miss Amelia, Godfrey, Ill. Spencer, Mrs. May R., 275 W. Decatur St., Decatur University of Illinois, Urbana

INDIANA

Betz, Frank S., (Personal) Betz Bldg., Hammond Isakson, Walter R., Route 1, Hobart Tichenor, P. E., 414 Merchants Bank Bldg., Evansville Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport

IOWA

Adams, Gerald W., Route 4, Moorehead Boyce, Daniel, Route 4, Winterset Harrington, F. O., Williamsburg Iowa State Horticultural Society, Des Moines Luckenbill, Ben W., Wapello Snyder, D. C., Center Point Snyder, S. W., Center Point Schlagenbusch Bros., Route 3, Fort Madison Van Meter, W. L., Adel Williams, Hugh E., Ladora

KANSAS

Orth, W. P., Route 2, Mount Hope

MARYLAND

Close, C. P., College Park Lancaster, S. S., Jr., Rock Point Mehring, Upton F., Keymar Porter, John H., 1199 The Terrace, Hagerstown Purnell, J. Edgar, Salisbury

MASSACHUSETTS

Allen, Edward E., Perkins Institute for the Blind, Watertown * Bowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Bldg., Boston Brown, Daniel L., 60 State St., Boston Bryant, Dr. Ward C., Greenfield Hale, Richard W., 60 State St., Boston Russell, Newton H., 12 Burnette Ave., So. Hadley Center Wellman, Sargeant H., Windridge, Topsfield Williams, Moses, 18 Tremont St., Boston

MICHIGAN

Bradley, Homer, Care Kellogg Farms, Route 1, Augusta Burgardt, H., Route 2, Union City Graves, Henry B., 73 Forest Ave., West, Detroit Healy, Oliver T., Care Mich. Nut Nursery, Route 2, Union City Kellogg, Dr. J. H., 202 Manchester St., Battle Creek Neilson, Prof. James A., Care Mich. State College, East Lansing Stocking Frederick N., 3456 Cadillac Ave., Detroit

MINNESOTA

Andrews, Miss Frances E., 245 Clifton Ave., Minneapolis Weschcke, Carl, 1048 Lincoln Ave., St. Paul

MISSOURI

Stark Bros. Nursery, Louisiana Windhorst, Dr. M. R., Univ. Club Bldg., St. Louis

NEBRASKA

Caha, William, Wahoo

NEW JERSEY

* Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly St., Jersey City Norton, W. J., 104 Scotland Road, South Orange

NEW YORK

Abbott, Frederick B., 1211 63rd St., Brooklyn Bixby, Mrs. Willard G., Baldwin Bixby, Willard G., Baldwin Ellwanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester Gager, Dr. C. Stuart, Care Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Brooklyn Garber, Hugh G., 75 Fulton St., New York Graves, Dr. Arthur H., 1000 Washington Ave., Brooklyn Harman-Brown, Miss Helen, Croton Falls Hodgson, Casper W., Care World Book Co., Yonkers Holden, Frank H., Care R. H. Macy & Co., New York * Huntington, A. M., 1 E. 89th St., New York Lester, Henry, 650 Main St., New Rochelle MacDaniels, L. H., Care Cornell Univ., Ithaca * Olcott, Ralph T., Box 124, Rochester Pickhardt, Dr. O. C., 117 E. 80th St., New York Schlemmer, Claire D., Islip Solley, Dr. John B., 108 E. 66th St., New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva Steffee, John G., 317 Sixth Ave., Brooklyn Tice, David, 55-56 Saving Bank Bldg., Lockport Vanderbilt, George V., Greenville * Wissman, Mrs. F. de R., 9 W. 54th St., New York

OHIO

Fickes, W. R., Route 7, Wooster Gerber, E. P., Apple Creek Park, J. B., Care Ohio State Univ., Columbus Walker, C. F., 2851 E. Overlook Rd., Cleveland Heights * Weber, Harry R., 123 East 6th St., Cincinnati

OREGON

Walters, Stanley C., Mount Hood

PENNSYLVANIA

Abbott, Mrs. Laura Woodward, Route 2, Bristol Baum, Dr. F. L., Boyertown Deeben, Fred, Trevorton Gable, Jos. B., Stewartstown Gribbel, Mrs. John, Wyncote, P. O., Box 31 Hershey, John W., Downingtown Hostetter, C. F., Bird-in-Hand Hostetter, L. K., Route 5, Lancaster Kaufmann, M. M., Clarion Leach, Will, Cornell Bldg., Scranton Mathews, George A., Route 1, Cambridge Springs Miller, Herbert Pinecrest Poultry Farm, Richfield Paden, Riley W., Route 2, Enon Valley * Rick, John, 438 Penn. Square, Reading Sauchelli, V., 1628 Koppers Bldg., Pittsburgh Schmidt, A. G., Nazareth Smith, Dr. J. Russell, Swarthmore Theiss, Lewis Edwin, Muncy Wright, Ross Pier, 235 West 1st St., Erie * Wister, John C., Clarkson Ave. and Wister Street, Germantown Zimmerman, Dr. G. A., 32 So. 13th St., Harrisburg

RHODE ISLAND

Allen, Phillip, 178 Dorrance St., Providence

VERMONT

Aldrich, A. W., Route 3, Springfield Ellis, Zenas H., Fair Haven

VIRGINIA

Stoke, H. F., 1421 Watts Ave., Roanoke Trout, Dr. Hugh H., Care Jefferson Hospital, Roanoke

WASHINGTON

Berg, D. H., Nooksack Richardson, J. B., Lakeside

WEST VIRGINIA

Cannaday, Dr. J. E., Care General Hospital, Charleston Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown

* Life Member



CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE I

Name. This society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED.

ARTICLE II

Object. Its object shall be the promotion of interest in nut-bearing plants, their products and their culture.

ARTICLE III

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

ARTICLE IV

Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, a secretary and a treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting; and an executive committee of six persons, of which the president, the two last retiring presidents, the vice-president, the secretary and the treasurer shall be members. There shall be a state vice-president from each state, dependency, or country represented in the membership of the association, who shall be appointed by the president.

ARTICLE V

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

ARTICLE VI

Meetings. The place and time of the annual meeting shall be selected by the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made at this time, the executive committee shall choose the place and time for the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seem desirable may be called by the president and executive committee.

ARTICLE VII

Quorum. Ten members of the association shall constitute a quorum, but must include two of the four elected officers.

ARTICLE VIII

Amendments. This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any annual meeting, notice of such amendment having been read at the previous annual meeting, or a copy of the proposed amendment having been mailed by any member to each member thirty days before the date of the annual meeting.



BY-LAWS

ARTICLE I

Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees as follows: On membership, on finance, on programme, on press and publication, on nomenclature, on promising seedlings, on hybrids, on survey, and an auditing committee. The committee on membership may make recommendations to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.

ARTICLE II

Fees. Annual members shall pay five dollars annually, to include one year's subscription to the American Nut Journal, or three dollars and fifty cents not including subscription to the Nut Journal. Contributing members shall pay ten dollars annually, this membership including a year's subscription to the American Nut Journal. Life members shall make one payment of fifty dollars, and shall be exempt from further dues. Honorary members shall be exempt from dues.

There shall be an annual, non-voting, membership, with privilege of the annual report, for all County Agents, Agricultural College and Experiment Station Officials and Employes, State Foresters, U. S. Department of Agriculture Officials, Editors of Agricultural Periodicals, College and High School Students, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Camp Fire Girls and similar organizations, on payment of one dollar as annual dues.

ARTICLE III

Membership. All annual memberships shall begin either with the first day of the calendar quarter following the date of joining the association, or with the first day of the calendar quarter preceding that date as may be arranged between the new member and the Treasurer.

ARTICLE IV

Amendments. By-laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of members present at any annual meeting.

ARTICLE V

Members shall be sent a notification of annual dues at the time they are due, and if not paid within two months, they shall be sent a second notice, telling them that they are not in good standing on account of non-payment of dues, and are not entitled to receive the annual report.

At the end of thirty days from the sending of the second notice, a third notice shall be sent notifying such members that unless dues are paid within ten days from receipt of this notice, their names will be dropped from the rolls for non-payment of dues.



REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS

of the

TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION

of the

NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION

(Incorporated)

September 17, 18 and 19, 1930

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA

The first session convened at 10 o'clock at the Hotel Montrose, President Neilson in the chair.

THE PRESIDENT: We have a long and varied program to present, and inasmuch as we have only one day for the discussions it will be necessary to make the best use of our time. First we will read letters and telegrams from members who are not able to come.

THE SECRETARY: This letter is from Dr. Morris.

"I was counting on getting out to the Nut Growers' Association meeting this year and having the pleasure of seeing all of my old friends once more and getting the inspiration that fills the air at our meetings. I find it absolutely necessary, however, to cut off all distractions until I can get two books finished. Work upon them has been delayed and the line of thought changed so often that it becomes a duty to confine myself to literary work, but I hope to be with you during our next twenty meetings."

This telegram is from Mr. Bixby.

"Have mailed Mr. Snyder abstract of report on nut contest and paper on beechnuts. Regret I cannot be at convention. Crop of nuts here is better than ever before. Best wishes for success of convention. Willard G. Bixby."

THE PRESIDENT: I am going to name two committees. The resolutions committee: Mr. Weber, Mr. Frey, Dr. Deming. The nominating committee: Mr. Frey, Mr. Snyder, Dr. Smith, Dr. Zimmerman, Mr. Hershey. Professor Herrick, Secretary of the Iowa State Horticultural Society, would like to make a few remarks.

PROF. HERRICK: I want to extend to you greetings from the Iowa State Horticultural Society. Mr. Snyder knows that at our state fair we had a wonderful exhibit of edible nuts. It has just closed. We had six tables of good length, 16 feet, well filled, in fact crowded. We never in the history of the society have provided enough room for the edible nuts. We hope this year at the Midwest Horticultural Exhibit at Shenandoah it may be possible for you to send your exhibits. There will be $7,000 in cash premiums. Every one of you will receive an official premium list the first of next week. We have in Southern Iowa a great deal of land well adapted for this industry, and I assure you that the Iowa Horticultural Society is very much interested in the spreading of the gospel.

THE PRESIDENT: We appreciate the invitation that Professor Herrick has given us. One of the inspiring factors in my interest in nut culture came to me some years ago when I came to the Iowa State College to take graduate work. I went to Des Moines with Professor Maney to see the exhibit staged by Mr. Snyder. Our first paper this morning is by Mr. Snyder, "Nuts and Nut Growers of the Middle West."

MR. SNYDER: I will confine my remarks to the newer things that you haven't heard of. I will first note a shagbark hickory that stands in my own neighborhood, an outstanding variety we call Hand. This is very much like the Vest in shape and size and cracking quality. According to my tests, this variety cracks out 50% meat, and since it is a local variety and I know it is hardy and fruitful, I am placing it ahead of the Vest for the Middle West. It is certainly equal to it in every way and hardy and fruitful. While the Vest hasn't yet matured nuts I am rather doubtful whether it will prove of any value here.

There is one nut that I have been drawing attention to in the past few years, called Hagen, that I have frequently said was the best nut growing in Iowa. I have found one we call the Elliott that appears to be just as good, so nearly like it that it is hard to separate them when they are mixed up. The Elliott stands near Oxford, a little south of here.

The best cracker I have found in Iowa is one called Sande. This stands in Story County, about 20 miles north of Ames. I found this on the tables at our state fair and the superintendent of the nut exhibit called my attention to it in particular. Said it had been appearing there for a couple of years back, and that he thought it was very well worth our attention. I took up correspondence with the parties who were bringing it to the fair and they agreed to give me such information as I wanted about it, so I drove up there. When I got there I found they didn't own the tree. They had been stealing the nuts, putting them on exhibit and getting the premiums. They wouldn't take me to the tree because they didn't own it. They did tell me who owned it and I went to see him. I told him the circumstances. He just got red-headed at once. The idea of someone stealing the nuts and getting the premiums! We got right into it. The up-shot of it was I got some scions and some nuts. Just a lick of the hammer and two halves drop out, don't have to pick them out, just roll out. It is an excellent nut. It was a rather young tree and very fruitful. Very good quality with a little thicker shell than other varieties.

We have another one, the Ward. This is another 50% cracker, very excellent flavor. While it appears to be a small nut, after you have cracked it the meats look almost as large it has such a very thin shell. As you might say almost all meat.

DR. DEMING: What do you mean by 50% cracker?

MR. SNYDER: The shells and the meats when separated and weighed just balance each other.

I have looked up another one. At present I haven't any authority for naming this variety. I am just calling it Independence because of the community in which it is found. I will take this up with the parties that own the tree and get authority for naming it if they will consent. This is just a temporary name for a very excellent variety. It is owned by a party named Geisel. They have a well-known nut that has been taking premiums in our midwest. This is another in the same grove that is just as good as the Geisel. It is a very good nut, very fine flavor, good cracker and more than ordinary size.

We have another one that stands in sight of my home, that is called DeWees. This is a large tree that possibly is somewhat over a hundred years old, and its common crop is about five bushels of hulled nuts. It is a free cracker, excellent quality and very prominent in the locality in which the tree stands.

There is another one that appeared in the midwest exhibition here in Cedar Rapids a few years ago, called the Lynch. It was brought out by the Boys and Girls Club and received a good deal of publicity at that time on that account. It is a thin-shelled nut and very good cracker but not of the highest eating quality. I hunted up the tree and got some scions from it and distributed them. I didn't use any of them myself, didn't think it good enough, the eating quality not good enough to suit me. It is an excellent variety however.

DR. SMITH: Something like the Ben Davis?

MR. SNYDER: Yes.

DR. COLBY: The Ben Davis makes the profit though, Dr. Smith.

MR. SNYDER: We have found another one that came out at the Cedar Rapids exposition. I am calling it the Cline. I have no authority to call it that. The tree stands here in Cedar Rapids. I haven't had time to see it since two years ago when it was brought to my attention. If I am any judge of quality this is the finest hickory nut I have ever found. Its eating quality is just ahead of anything I know of in the hickory line, and it's of fair size, a little above medium and a good cracker and a long keeper. I have frequently tested them. I only got a handful to start with. I have tested these time after time to see how long it was going to keep. The last time I tested it was this last spring and it was in excellent condition. There are a good many of our hickory nuts that turn rancid in six months. But a nut that keeps two years, and I don't know but what they are good yet, is going to be a very big item in hickory nut culture.

DR. DRAKE: Have you kept these eighteen months in good order?

MR. SNYDER: Yes.

MR. HERSHEY: Would soil conditions have anything to do with it?

MR. SNYDER: Possibly but I don't think so. The Fairbanks, for instance, from different soils; I can see no difference in their keeping.

MR. HERSHEY: I know that is true of grapes that are grown in different sections.

MR. SNYDER: I can see no difference in the Fairbanks. In a few weeks' time it loses its edible qualities. I wouldn't care for it after it is a few weeks old. After it is thoroughly cured and dried, I don't think the Fairbanks fit to eat.

MEMBER: How about the Stratford?

MR. SNYDER: The original Stratford was cut for fire wood in 1926. Just before it was cut it bore a heavy crop of nuts. Yesterday I cracked one. I was right hungry and needed something to eat. I could eat them yet. It is a great keeper. I know it was four years old or over.

MEMBER: How does it crack?

MR. SNYDER: It is a good cracker and very thin shelled. The Stratford is, I think, a hybrid of the shagbark and bitternut. It is very evident that it is a hybrid by the appearance of the nuts. But it doesn't have that property of the Fairbanks of spoiling as it dries. The two nuts are very different in that. You will find a great range of quality in these hybrids.

I believe that puts me through the list of hickories of which I have made a list. I have a number of others under observation that may in the future be of importance.

I have several black walnuts that have made their appearance since our contest was completed. We now have one called the Finney. This stands in Marshall County right beside the Northwestern Railroad track. I sent this to Professor Drake of Arkansas for testing and he reported it was a little better than Thomas, so I think we have a variety there that is worth taking care of. I received the sample of nuts through a friend, I believe it was three years ago. I didn't see anything particularly attractive in the outside appearance of the nuts, so threw them aside and didn't test them until some months later. I passed it up at that time as not being better than the Thomas, anyway, and some months later I cracked another one of them. I went on that way for the last year until this last fall. I had quite a quantity of them and every time I came across them I would sample them. Finally I sent some of them to Professor Drake, with the results that I have mentioned. So now I have concluded that it is a very worthwhile variety and I have begun propagating them.

DR. DRAKE: Did you call it by another name before?

MR. SNYDER: Well, I believe I called it Brenton.

DR. DRAKE: That is the name I remember.

MR. SNYDER: From the extreme north line of our state, a place called Cresco, I received samples of a walnut. This I considered on its first appearance as being a worthwhile variety and I took it up with the party who sent it to me and we agreed to call it Cresco. It is a very thin-shelled walnut, above medium size, excellent eating quality, and coming from so far north, and ripening and being of such excellent quality, I thought it was worth looking after and we began propagating it under that name.

We have another one that made its appearance in the Cedar Rapids exposition, that has been named Safely. This is of the Ohio type of walnut and I believe will prove to be just as good, possibly better. The first samples received of this were ripened under unfavorable conditions and were not fully up to their best. I think this will be worth looking after, although I have not yet made an effort to propagate it or get scions. It is owned by a cousin of mine so I could get them.

The best thing I have found in the state of Iowa I have authority to call Burrows. This is the finest cracking black walnut I have ever found. Just a crack of the hammer—four quarters. You don't have to pick them out. It stands near the county line of Marshall County, near a little town called Gillman.

THE PRESIDENT: Have you specimens of all of these?

MR. SNYDER: Yes, specimens on the tables. I believe this puts me through the list of nuts as far as anything new is concerned. I am quite an enthusiast about the black walnut. There is a double purpose in the black walnut here in Iowa because our saw mill men tell me, and we have the largest manufacturing walnut mills here in Iowa, they tell me the Iowa grown walnut is the most valuable black walnut and they will pay the best price for it. This alone makes it valuable to plant black walnuts here in Iowa. Another thing, they are easily and quickly grown. Our millers tell us that anyone who cuts down a walnut tree ought to be compelled to plant two. If we all followed this rule the supply would never be exhausted. We know the demand will not be.

MR. HERSHEY: Couldn't we pass a law here, as they have in Germany, that every man has to plant thirty trees before he can get married?

THE PRESIDENT: Have you found a first class butternut?

MR. SNYDER: None, except those that have been listed for a couple of years. The Buckley is the best in the state. Sherwood is next. Those two are the best.

THE PRESIDENT: In Michigan we are interested in getting a good butternut.

MR. SNYDER: By the way, we have on the table a hybrid. This hybrid is a cross between the sieboldiana and the American butternut. We call it the Helmick hybrid. We have propagated it for our own use at home. We have it under restrictions. I have six seedlings that I have produced from seed of this Helmick hybrid that are crossed with the Stabler black walnut. In these seedlings are wrapped up three distinct species, the Stabler (Juglans nigra), Japanese heartnut (Juglans sieboldiana cordiformis) and the American butternut (Juglans cinerea). I know this is the result because when the Helmick hybrid bloomed its cluster containing eighteen nutlets would have perished for want of pollen to fertilize them because it had produced no staminate blossoms of its own. There being nothing on the place with ripe catkins shedding pollen, I was watching them very closely for fear there would nothing else bloom in time to fertilize the nutlets, and the first thing to offer ripe pollen that could be used was the Stabler walnut, from which I gathered a handful of catkins and carried to the Helmick hybrid and dusted pollen over the cluster of nutlets and succeeded in saving six out of the cluster of eighteen. These matured into full grown nuts which were saved and each of them grew into a nice young seedling. I know beyond question that these seedlings represent the three distinct species mentioned because there was nothing furnishing pollen with which to fertilize them except the Stabler walnut.

THE PRESIDENT: The work that Mr. Snyder and Dr. Drake and Dr. Deming are doing in locating good varieties of nuts is certainly very valuable. If we had the whole country hunting for good nut trees we could tell what the country is producing. We have a great many valuable varieties throughout the United States and Canada.

Our next speaker is Professor T. J. Maney of the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames. I am very much pleased that the experiment stations in some of the states are actively interested in the propagating of nut trees. New York, Iowa and Ohio are doing work along this line and no doubt other experiment stations are interested. In quite a number of them there is a great lack of interest, and perhaps I should say of knowledge, about nut culture in general.

PROF. MANEY: During the past six or seven years, during our regular annual short course, we have been having a week for a nut short course and we have been very fortunate in having Mr. Harrington and Mr. Snyder there. That work has already resulted in the establishment of a nut project that will continue to grow during the coming year.

You recall that Mr. Neilson revived the subject of paraffin. I notice that he always wound up with a plea that someone invent an apparatus to apply the paraffin. What I have here is an answer to the plea. This apparatus consists of a two and one-half inch pipe with a spray nozzle attached. The idea is to put into the tube hot paraffin and apply pressure here, and then with a plumber's blowtorch keep the paraffin heated. The handle is covered with asbestos. I didn't spend much time in working this up but I think it works fairly well. There is one difficulty in perfecting your apparatus to apply hot paraffin, and that is the fact that when it comes out it immediately congeals into a sort of snow. You just can't atomize hot paraffin. The only way is through air pressure. I used this on some dahlia roots quite successfully. This did the work very well in that case and I think for applying it to rose roots and plants of that kind it may work quite successfully. Another thing I thought might be of interest to you is some work in grafting by the use of paraffin. Last year I was interested in grafting some apples. On July 12th I made some regular cleft grafts, using the green wood as the scion after removing the leaves.

DR. SMITH: Wood of that year or previous?

PROF. MANEY: That year. The entire graft was covered with paraffin. This picture was taken on September 5th, a period of 55 days later, and during that time growth was 25 inches. I am sure it can be worked very successfully with different fruit trees. It is especially valuable in replacing dead grafts. These grafts went through the very severe winter very successfully. I am sure I appreciate this opportunity to appear on the program, and I hope to continue with the work at Ames and perhaps appear at future dates.

MR. WEBER: May I ask how hot it got that summer?

PROF. MANEY: Oh, the temperature was up to 100, 103 and 104.

MR. WEBER: What kind of paraffin did you use?

PROF. MANEY: Just ordinary paraffin.

MR. WEBER: Did you notice any bad results?

PROF. MANEY: No, apparently no ill effects.

MR. WEBER: Paraffin has a tendency when it gets extremely hot to run down and kill the graft.

DR. SMITH: What would be the effect of putting in some beeswax?

PROF. MANEY: I think that would be all right.

MR. WEBER: Paraffin this summer killed two nut grafts for me.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Are you sure it was the paraffin? I have finally come to the conclusion that when the sun gets hot enough to melt the wax it will kill the graft anyway.

MR. WEBER: I noticed the heat did not kill another one that I did not use the paraffin on. Previous years it simply scorched the tree.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: The heavy coating of wax protects a little from the heat, I thought.

MR. HARRINGTON: In very hot weather I put heavy paper around the graft and a handful of dirt. That protects it from the sun.

MR. WEBER: I have tried that.

THE PRESIDENT: I am very much interested in seeing Professor Maney's spraying apparatus. We also tried to spray and got something like snow. We also found that the wax congealed in the nozzle. Last spring I almost blew my head off. I am now experimenting with a material which acts as an emulsifying agent on waxes and resin. I have developed a formula, paraffin 5 pounds and Pick Up Gum one pound. I dissolve the emulsifying agent and heat the wax. This solution can be sprayed on trees without difficulty when it is warm. When it gets cool, however, we have to heat it again. I hope to have some definite reports to make as to the feasibility of this later on, and possibly on conifers as well. We have been up a tree when it came to spraying wax and we have been at a disadvantage in transplanting conifers. Regarding the comments as to paraffin wax melting, I do have a little difficulty on the south side and sloping to the northeast. The sun's rays would be rather direct. I think the suggestion Mr. Weber made was very good. Two-thirds paraffin and one-third beeswax. Possibly we would have to increase the beeswax where trees are growing on a southern slope.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: I found the hottest place 2 inches above the soil. I shade grafts with a piece of shingle.

THE PRESIDENT: The principle in grafting trees is to regulate the moisture and the temperature factors. As a means of regulating the moisture I use German peat around the graft.

MR. HERSHEY: Have any of you had experience in grafting on the north side of the stock? I found that quite a good scheme, so that the heat doesn't kill the grafts. We grafted on the 15th of June this year.

THE PRESIDENT: Professor Drake has done a good deal of work in locating good varieties of black walnuts in the southwest and I am sure he will be glad to tell you what he has found. Let me repeat what I said about Mr. Snyder's work, that the most valuable work that is being done is the discovering of new varieties of nuts.

PROF. DRAKE: I shall talk about the methods I use in scoring the black walnut in Arkansas. Color of kernel. The way I have determined that is to first make a measuring scale. Get walnuts whose kernels show different color. The lightest I call number one. It is quite easy to divide them into five different groups. I feel that this grading can be pretty well done, except possibly for the flavor, all the way through. Applying this method to different nuts, here is the result that I have obtained with the best ones:

I find the Stabler to rank first, with total grade points of 71.66. For making the test with the Stabler I have had Stabler nuts from a number of different places, Snyder, Reed, University of Missouri and nuts I have grown myself.

The next two will be a surprise to you and I feel quite sure that after further tests they may grade differently. The next highest is the Ogden. I believe it was found in Kentucky in 1926 or 1927. Score of 70.90. The Ogden nuts that I tested were thoroughly dry and gave an excellent cracking quality, and I expect the test would go down a little bit had they not been dried so long. I am sure, however, the Ogden is an excellent cracker. I don't know just how the flavor of the Ogden will be. I have some feeling that the flavor will not be as good as some.

The third is the Adams. This one comes from West Park in the northern part of Iowa. It is one that runs very high in kernel per cent. This gives a total score of 70.87.

While I think of it, there is one point about the method that I use for scoring that is better, I think, than some other methods that have been used, that it gives credit for even a part of a per cent. You will notice that I run these out to the third point.

I can't say about the Adams color. That nut also had been thoroughly dried and I think the cracking quality shows better than it ordinarily would. I think that is a variety that we should keep in mind and especially that it should be used for crossing because of high percentage of kernel.

The fourth comes from Arkansas, that I have called the "Walker." Scored 70. I suppose we can't claim it entirely from Arkansas, although it was planted there about 50 years ago. The owner moved there from Illinois. There are five or six trees, two of them with excellent nuts. The chances are that the score of this would be lowered somewhat if it were more thoroughly tested. Last year when I tested I only got four. He told me that was almost the most complete failure he had ever known for that tree. Of those four only two were good. One of them I tested before it was thoroughly dry and I felt that I couldn't test it properly. The other nut I tested was larger. It weighed about 36 grams. I am sure that size will be cut down when we can get the nuts from a normal crop. This year the tree has a good crop and it can be tested more thoroughly.

The next on the list is the Burrows. I think I only had two nuts for testing this variety. So this score may be somewhat altered. I always try to test at least ten nuts, and another year if I can get a sample I will test them again. The score was 69.79.

Following that is another one of Mr. Snyder's, the Finney, from Iowa. That scored 68.82. After that comes our old standard variety, the Ohio, 68.30. Thomas 67.93. Following the Thomas is a variety, the Bohanan, with a score of 66.89. After that the Asbury, 66.65; and the Iowa variety from Iowa that John Rohwer sent me, 66.36. The Iowa is a little bit better cracker than the Rohwer. Not quite as high percentage of kernel. Slightly larger nut I believe. The Iowa nut is a little rougher on the outside than the Rohwer. Following the Iowa is the Edgewood from Arkansas. This is another of those trees, the parent tree coming from Illinois, score 66. Ten Eyck, score 65.75. Knapke, score 63.73. Very good producer. Following that is the Arkansas variety from my home with a score of 63.11. The next variety comes from British Columbia, the Attick, 62.02. As I have said, of some of these I have not had sufficient nuts, and some of them are more thoroughly dry than others. I am sure there will be some shifting in place. However, for the better walnuts that I have and the ones I have plenty to test with I feel that there will be little change from where I have placed them. I have made another grouping. For large size the Walker scores the highest with 36.20 points. Now as to cracking quality, the Throp 100%, Ogden 94.43%.

MEMBER: What did you crack them with?

PROF. DRAKE: With a hammer.

DR. COLBY: Do you use any fertilizer in your orchard?

PROF. DRAKE: I have some. At first I didn't but afterwards I used some barn yard manure and some nitrate. Of late years I put some bone meal around the roots when I plant them.

THE PRESIDENT: Any further discussion of this interesting paper?

DR. DEMING: Do you use the hammer in cracking entirely?

PROF. DRAKE: Yes, sir.

DR. DEMING: Why do you not use the mechanical cracker? Do you not think the commercial value of the black walnut is best tested by using a mechanical cracker? It will never be cracked with a hammer.

PROF. DRAKE: That point is well taken. In the first place I didn't have a commercial cracker but plenty of hammers. Another thing, the commercial crackers are being developed. Unless we all try them out in the same way there would be no value in it. I thought it would be more accurate to use a hammer.

THE PRESIDENT: Professor A. F. Yeager is unable to be with us. Therefore, Dr. Colby will read his paper.



NUTS IN NORTH DAKOTA

By Prof. A. F. Yeager

The growing of nuts in North Dakota has hardly been considered as a possibility even by the average amateur up to the present time. Nevertheless, evidence is gradually accumulating that some varieties of nuts can be grown as an addition to the home orchard in nearly all parts of the state.

We have no native nut plants except the hazel and our native hazel seldom produces nuts in any quantity in the wild state, hence the possibility of growing them for profit undoubtedly lies some distance in the future.

Nut bearing plants which have been introduced with success are the butternut and the black walnut. Trees of these two species are to be found in small numbers at various points in the state and have in practically every case been grown from nuts planted where the trees are now standing. In the past many failures have been reported with trees grown from nuts sent up from the South. Such trees as are now standing are the hardy remnants of considerable numbers of seedlings started, most of which have fallen by the wayside because of the rigors of our climate. Black walnut trees raised from seed produced on trees which have reached fruiting age in North Dakota seem to possess the necessary hardiness. As to whether the named varieties of walnuts would be a success in this territory remains a question. Their culture has not been attempted.

Butternuts are naturally a more northerly species than black walnuts but have not been so widely planted in North Dakota. Nevertheless there is a sprinkling of bearing butternut trees in some of the pioneer groves. Seed from these was planted at the experiment station in the fall of 1920. The seedlings prospered and some of them bore nuts in 1925, one tree producing 114 nuts that year. Since then there has been a crop each year and the trees have been making a growth of a foot or more per year. This would seem to indicate that the butternut has possibilities, at least as a producer of nuts for home consumption.

Both the black walnut and butternut are subject to damage by late spring frosts which kill off the opening blossoms. While it is not likely that North Dakota will be a commercial nut growing state, we can look forward with confidence to the time when a group of nut trees will be included in the grove which will surround each North Dakota home.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Butternuts and walnuts grow in Manitoba. I know of 47 trees.

MEMBER: Mr. Gall reports that heartnuts have endured the winter in northwestern Manitoba. The black walnut has grown quite well in Swift Current. That part of Canada is much colder.

THE PRESIDENT: Our next paper is a report on the nut contest. Mr. Bixby had planned to be here, but was unable to come. Has Dr. Deming anything to offer?

DR. DEMING: I have no very definite report to make on the nut contest, because it wasn't finished until about two weeks ago and I haven't had time to work on the results. The important part of the report is the result of Mr. Bixby's scientific calculations on the properties of the nuts, and this will be published in the report. The contest this year cannot rank in extent and value with the contest of 1926. One reason for that is that the nut crop last fall seems to have been everywhere very deficient, and in fact many contestants sent in nuts from the year before. The second reason is that we didn't get good advertising. I don't know exactly why we didn't. At first I didn't think we were going to get any nuts at all. But belated notices in the Fruit Grower, and especially in the Farm Journal, finally waked up a lot of contestants. Possibly a third reason why the contest was not as successful as in 1926 was that there were so many kinds of nuts for which prizes were offered. I think that is rather confusing. I think we had better do as in 1926 and offer a prize for a single nut each year, rather than prizes for all the nuts each year. Take one nut one year and another nut the next year, and so on, and then begin over again. At the same time I think we ought to have a standing prize for nuts of each species, that is for any better than those we already have. We have such a prize for the hickory, the Bowditch. At different times other members have offered prizes for other species. I would be glad to offer another standing prize of $25 for some other nut in addition to Mr. Bowditch's for the hickory. Three hundred eighty-eight people sent in nuts. That was many fewer than in 1926. 138 people wrote letters but never sent any nuts. There were 243 different black walnut specimens this year and 1229 in 1926. We had some very valuable black walnuts. Some fully equal to, if not better than, those we already have. Very few came from the South. More came from the northern states. Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan were well represented. We got 94 different specimens of butternuts. Some of these were very good. Most of them were from the North, Vermont and Wisconsin leading. We got 134 specimens of shagbark hickory, 40 shellbarks and 10 others, perhaps hybrids or other species. There was one California black walnut and only 4 beechnuts, very small indeed. Not worthy of propagation at all. There were a few odd nuts. Only 40 chestnuts were sent. I think that was because we did not get our publicity out soon enough. The chestnut crop matures earlier and in many instances the crops were out of the way. Of these chestnuts, 20 were Japanese. When you first tasted them they tasted like potato but later developed a large amount of sweetness. There were 20 American chestnuts. Dr. Zimmerman would call them small because his standards for the American chestnut are larger than my New England ideas. When the chestnuts first came in they were quite green. In a few days they hardened. If I dried them a little and then put them in boxes they began to mold and soon would be a mass of mold. It always seemed to begin at the butt end and would gradually spread over the whole nut and then get inside and spoil it. I washed some in boric acid, others in formaldehyde, and that hardened them. Then I tried packing them in pulverized sugar and in salt. That extracted all the water so that in a few hours you could pour out half a glass of water. I packed them in peat moss and sand and treated them in various ways, and finally packed them in fresh hardwood sawdust. In this they kept in good condition.

DR. SMITH: Did you try sphagnum moss?

DR. DEMING: No. Another writer says an excellent thing is ground limestone.

THE PRESIDENT: Did you get any Japanese walnuts?

DR. DEMING: We got only three, of no merit.

MEMBER: The value of the nut tree is going to be determined by its vigor and its bearing qualities. If it doesn't produce any nuts it isn't going to be any good. Mr. Bixby and Dr. Deming have allowed nothing for the bearing qualities.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: I am wondering whether it might be possible in some way to get these different factors together and judge the nuts from all angles.

DR. DEMING: That, I think, is absolutely necessary. That is, to combine these two scales of judging, the tree characteristics and those of the nuts. Ultimately we have got to allow a large factor for adaptation and productiveness.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: A nut may crack well at one time and not so well later on. The moisture of the nuts is a factor.

DR. DEMING: I don't agree with Dr. Smith that we should not use the mechanical cracker.

DR. SMITH: We also want the hammer. We must crack them in the most favorable way.

DR. DEMING: I think the hammer is of very little value. I think we should crack them all with a mechanical cracker. If you crack with a mechanical cracker, the two plungers come together by compression, which crushes the ends in and makes the sides burst out, thereby releasing the kernel.

MR. HERSHEY: With the mechanical cracker the shells burst away from the kernel.

MR. FREY: My experience is that the mechanical cracker outclasses the hammer. The walls of the nut shatter outwards and save the kernel, whereas with a hammer you mash the nut. I can't see the value of the contest in 1929 when the scion wood for those nuts can't be secured until 1931. There is too much delay. I think if we would establish a permanent award for a better nut of any variety that is sent in we will make better progress. One nut that I know was put in the contest last year. The tree was cut down before they could even write for the scion wood.

MEMBER: I got a shipment of chestnuts at one time. I took a ten-gallon milk can and put two inches of sawdust in it. I originally had 50 pounds of nuts but sold some of them. I had 8 or 10 pounds left. I sealed them up tight, put the lid on, and a year from the next April I opened the can. The ones on the bottom had started to grow, they had tops of 4 or 5 inches long and they had a network of roots. But on top of those the nuts were in perfect condition. I shipped some of them to Washington. I planted some of them. Perhaps 9 out of 10 were in perfect condition and they grew.

DR. SMITH: I would like to suggest another method of keeping chestnuts. Pack them in sphagnum moss, put them in cold storage and freeze them solid.

MR. HERSHEY: Mr. Bixby digs a trench, plants the nuts in it, covers them with leaves and then with an inch or two of soil.

THE PRESIDENT: One of the officers of the Bureau of Plant Industry, traveling in Asia, took some seeds and dipped them in paraffin wax. I know it is an excellent method of keeping dahlia roots.

We have another item on our program, "New Members' Experience and Questions." Possibly we have some new members here who have had experiences and would like to tell us of them.

MEMBER: My first experience was with Mr. Snyder at Ames. I saw on the program a nut lecture, so I went. For the past two years I have been attending the short course and heard Mr. Snyder lecture. A year ago this spring I got some scions from Mr. Snyder. Four scions out of 7 grew. It was the first time I had ever done any grafting at all. I used paraffin for grafting.

THE PRESIDENT: You got very good results indeed. This year I made a miserable failure. I believe I only got about 12% to grow. I hope you always have the same good luck.

DR. SMITH: If he wants to keep his record he better not do any more grafting.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Pretty near everybody this year reports a miserable failure. There must be some reason.

DR. SMITH: It may be the drought.

PROF. DRAKE: I only got three to grow. We had enough rain in the spring.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: My opinion is that last winter was hard on wood. There was an early freeze in the central states. My observation is that the wood was injured through the winter. I think any scion wood was not very good.

PROF. DRAKE: In our part of the country the temperature ran from 24 to 26 below zero.

MR. HERSHEY: If you notice in making the graft little pin points of black on the scions, you can almost bet on a failure.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Some of the worst looking scions at times grow the best. You put them on and they all grow. Another time you have beautiful scions and they all die.

MR. HARRINGTON: There is injury you can't see with the naked eye. The wood was unripened when our winter set in. We had a very severe winter in our section here. My practice has been to store my scion wood in November.

MR. FREY: The cold weather in January wouldn't affect that. I am inclined to think the scion wood injury was done before winter set in.

MEMBER: When is the best time to gather scion wood? Mr. Harrington says in the fall. I have been getting mine in February. Is it better to cut the wood when entirely dormant, or would it grow better if cut when the sap starts in the spring?

MR. HARRINGTON: I want my scions cut early.

DR. SMITH: How early can you cut them?

MR. HARRINGTON: When the scars from the leaves have dried up thoroughly. I have known them even in December to be still sappy. They didn't grow well that year. I often cut them the last week in November.

MR. HERSHEY: I would advise Dr. Smith not to cut too early in the fall.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: From my papaws I cut scions in the fall.

THE PRESIDENT: From the comments made here this morning I have an opinion that the question certainly needs looking into. We could cut our scions earlier.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: I wouldn't cut them at that time if I didn't have to.

MR. HERSHEY: I think that is a good admission. Another thing, if you paraffin your scions you need cat's paws to hang on to them. Dr. Morris said last year, "Melt your paraffin off with hot water." We tried it, got paraffin all over ourselves and cooked the wood. So then we scraped the paraffin off.

DR. DEMING: Dr. Neilson has said if there are any new members we would like to hear from them. If there are no new members there should be some. Our secretary sits at the table, ready and anxious to receive the dues and names of new members. I have always felt that we never treat new members with sufficient deference. I think we should ask them to talk about their experiences, to tell us what they have done, to tell us what they would like to do, to ask us questions, and that we should make them feel more at home.

THE PRESIDENT: That is very much to the point.

DR. DEMING: Why isn't the chestnut more appreciated in this country? Why aren't the farmers acquainted with the possibilities of growing chestnuts here in the middle west? Yesterday Dr. Zimmerman and I were at Mr. Harrington's and there we saw chestnut trees that would make your heart warm to look at. Why can't the people of the middle west, where the chestnut is not native, be awakened to the great possibilities of growing the chestnut commercially? It is easy to grow. It bears early, and abundantly. What can we do to make it better known? I would like to ask Dr. Zimmerman.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Chestnut growers say "We can't keep them." Several years ago I got a hundred pounds of chestnuts down in Illinois. I sold them out to friends of mine. In a few weeks those chestnuts were dry enough to use for roller bearings. That is the reason they don't like the chestnut. I think that hurts the chestnut business more than anything else.

MR. HERSHEY: I would like to ask why insist on introducing the chestnut when we have the black walnut? I would just as soon eat bran as a chestnut. Now the black walnut you can keep for two years.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: In the last few years I have been in intimate contact with chestnuts. I don't see why the people here don't take them up. If you don't do it the people on the west coast are going to plant chestnuts and ship them to the eastern market. You people can raise chestnuts. The eastern markets are full of chestnuts from Europe. What we need is chestnuts like the Riehl's. The large European chestnuts are of poor flavor. Take the varieties you can grow around here and send them to the East and you will get 50 cents a pound for them. Authorities tell us the trees will die off. I tell you you will all die off after a while. You aren't going to quit working because you are going to die off. Within three years you will have trees that will bear. You may get from twelve to fifteen crops off of them before they die. So far as the food quality of the chestnut is concerned it is not a balanced diet, mostly sugar, but it is a splendid food. The difficulty is in keeping it soft. But it is not a difficult thing. Cold storage will keep the chestnut in splendid shape for eating purposes. I would plant chestnuts and plant them now. Sooner or later, if they die off, we in the East will be prepared to replace them, but for the present you will have the whole field east of the Rocky Mountains. I do not know of another opportunity as great as the chestnut. I just wish I could take 20 acres of this land with me back to my rocky Pennsylvania farm.

DR. COLBY: In Illinois the chestnut is not native and people don't realize that it can be grown. Some of the speakers have mentioned the Riehls. I want to mention the Endicott place. Mr. Endicott tells me that it is increasingly difficult to supply the demand for his chestnuts. He sells his nuts sometimes a year in advance. Developing of cleaning machinery and sorting machinery is going on apace. Mr. Endicott is interested in a sorting machine such as we use for apples. It is true we are going to get the blight out here sooner or later. Meantime we are going to try to anticipate it by securing hybrids which are resistant and of good quality at the same time.

MR. SNYDER: I would like to say a word as to planting chestnuts here in Iowa, and especially here north. What has been said is true of the southern part of the state. We may grow varieties there that it would not do to plant in the northern part of the state. I think I can show you tomorrow if you visit my place that I have had considerable experience in planting chestnuts just as an experiment. The first planting mostly has gone out because of our climatic conditions. We have severe winters. We must be careful what varieties we plant and what stocks they are worked on when we do plant them. A few years ago a nurseryman wrote me he would like to go out of business and he had chestnut seedlings for sale. I bought his seedlings. I lost them all the next winter. Why? Because of their mixed parentage, European and Japanese. They were not hardy, that was all there was to it. If the nurserymen here and farther north will be careful in the selection of the varieties they use, we can grow them. There are two factors, the stocks you graft on and the varieties you want to grow.

MR. FREY: In my old home place there are native chestnuts over 60 years old.

MR. SNYDER: If we had time I could take you to visit a grove of chestnut trees, planted by one of the oldtimers, possibly seventy years ago. I haven't been able to learn where the seed came from, evidently from some northeastern country. That is where I get my seeds. Any trees that I have grown from seedlings are dependable trees.

MR. HERRICK: One point should be carried in mind. While we think of Des Moines as located in central Iowa, as far as temperature is concerned it is really southern Iowa. The weather at Ames, which is 30 miles north of Des Moines, is far more severe. At Des Moines we can raise Grimes Golden apples. At Ames it is almost impossible. I think that the reason more people are not planting more of these good varieties of walnuts and other species is that they cannot get the trees. And then they are very high priced. Mr. Snyder says that it takes a long time to propagate these trees. People don't like to pay $5.00 or $6.00 for a tree and then maybe not have it grow. As I understand, Mr. Snyder is about the only nurseryman in the state that furnishes nut trees, I mean new varieties.

MR. BOYCE: Would it be a good plan to plant black walnuts and grow the seedlings right where you want your orchard?

MR. SNYDER: I think that is a very good plan.

DR. COLBY: An excellent way if you can get a man to do the grafting.

MR. BOYCE: What would be a reasonable price for grafting?

DR. COLBY: Mr. Wilkinson has done considerable of that kind of work.

PROF. DRAKE: I have been more successful in budding.

MR. HERSHEY: We can't in Pennsylvania. In the winter the buds kill off.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Hershey's experience is like mine, about $7.00 a graft. I will say that if I give grafting demonstrations, as I have in Michigan, I always tell my audience a little story. Once upon a time there was a wild west show. An old Indian chief on the outside proclaimed the merits of the show. He always finished by saying, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, if you go into this show I positively will not give you your money back." I generally tell my audience I positively will not guarantee anything. If none of the scions grow they can't come back and say, "I told you so."

DR. DEMING: I would like to have our president talk about methods of making the transplanting of nursery grafted trees safer for the purchaser. Dr. Neilson has had a good deal of experience in setting out nursery stock.

THE PRESIDENT: Quite naturally in the progress of time we gain some knowledge by experience. Sometimes that experience is very costly. We remember it more clearly. During the past year I made a few observations on transplanting nut trees. Some of you who were at Ontario in 1928 and New York last year, heard me speak of doing it by means of paraffin coating which has been successful in quite a wide area of this country and in Canada. The difficulty was that during very hot weather the wax melted and ran down and did some injury on the south side of the tree. I did notice that if you inclined the tree to the southwest just a little there was very little injury, whereas if they leaned to the northeast there was injury. I would suggest this, that if you are planting on southern slopes and happen to be in localities where there are very high temperatures, you use 1-3 beeswax and 2-3 paraffin. Beeswax has been proven to be quite safe over wounds and trees in general. This treatment has been used over a very wide area, in 18 states and 5 Canadian Provinces. We have information at hand on 130,000 roses, 15,000 pecans, 2,000 apples. We have had very few complaints from the people who have used this treatment. Because of that, I firmly believe that the principle of applying a protective coating to the upper part of the tree and branches is correct. I have made another observation in protecting roots against devitalizing. Certain kinds of trees, hickory, walnut, are very susceptible to injury to the roots. I tried paraffin on the cut roots and got very good healing. I found that wherever I packed moist peat around the roots there was very good response. Last spring I took about 100 seedling black walnuts and put half in good loamy soil, the other half in moist peat. I got very good results from those packed in peat. In the loam in 7 weeks not one scion had grown. I took those pots and took out the dirt. I later planted them in a cold frame in peat and practically every one of those walnut trees grew. I believe that the peat had some beneficial effect.

MR. FREY: From the time the nut tree is dug until it is planted the nursery should pack it so it will keep moist. The purchaser should not let the wind or sun strike it. I had some trees sent from Texas to Oklahoma. The fellow who did the work heeled them in improperly. Every tree died. Keeping the roots moist is half the problem.

THE PRESIDENT: Very important indeed. Mr. Gellatly shipped heartnut trees to Augusta. These trees were packed in moss and paraffined. They arrived in excellent condition. The trip took six weeks and they travelled 3,000 miles.

DR. SMITH: What season?

THE PRESIDENT: About the first of April, and arrived about the middle of May.

DR. DEMING: Could you make an artificial ball in which the roots of a plant could be packed? Say peat moss, which is light, and send that to the customer and tell him to plant it just as it is.

THE PRESIDENT: I think possibly that can be done. The Wedge Nursery of Albert Lea, Minnesota, have a method of packing roses in sphagnum moss. They soak this material very thoroughly, embed the roots in it, and outside this material they apply some water-proof covering.



AFTERNOON SESSION, SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1930

THE PRESIDENT: At our last meeting in New York, Dr. Deming suggested that it might be well worth while to make a study of the Japanese walnut. His suggestion appealed to me, for I have been interested in the occurrence and distribution of this species. I have not had an opportunity to travel very widely on this continent, so I have had to depend partly on the observation of other people. I sent out a questionnaire to members of our association and horticultural experiment stations throughout the United States and got a good response.



SOME NOTES ON THE JAPANESE WALNUT IN NORTH AMERICA

Dr. J. A. Neilson, Michigan

The Japanese walnut, Juglans sieboldiana, and its varietal form cordiformis, were said to have been introduced into America from Japan about 1870 by a nurseryman at San Jose, California. From this and other subsequent introductions a considerable number have been grown and distributed in the United States and Canada.

A recent inquiry by the writer brought forth some interesting data relative to the occurrence and distribution of this species in North America. This inquiry shows that it has been widely distributed and is reported in the following states: Arkansas, Arizona, Alabama, Connecticut, California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. No reports were received from South Carolina, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, North and South Dakota, Idaho, Georgia, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Wyoming, and negative reports were received from Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

In none of these states is the Japanese walnut abundant in the same degree as other kinds of nut trees, but in some states it was reported more frequently than in others. It occurs more abundantly in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware than in other states.

In Canada it has been reported from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. In Ontario it is found occasionally from Windsor to the Quebec boundary and from Lake Erie to North Bay. There are several fine large trees in southern Ontario, some of which are worthy of propagation. Many of the trees in Ontario and other eastern provinces grew from nuts distributed by the writer several years ago. For five years in succession the writer bought the crop from a large heartnut tree near Jordan Station, Ontario, and distributed the nuts all over Canada to those who were interested. More than twelve thousand nuts were thus distributed and I know from observation and reports that seedling trees are now growing from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I am going to tax your credulity to the utmost and tell you that one of my correspondents reports heartnut trees growing in the Peace River area of northern Alberta. I have no recent report from my friend but I know that the trees came through two winters in that far northland.

Possibly in the days to come a superior seedling or a hybrid may be found in these numerous seedlings which will be worth propagating. Some of these trees have already borne nuts and many have made very good growth.

The Japanese walnut has also been reported from New Zealand and several states in Australia, England, France, Germany and other European countries.

Climatic Adaptation

From the foregoing it can be seen that this species of walnut has been widely distributed and is now growing in countries with a wide temperature range. Reports are on hand which show that the trees have endured temperatures of 40 below zero F. to 110 deg. above zero. From this it need not be assumed that all Japanese walnut trees will stand great extremes of heat and cold, for experience shows that they will not. It does show, however, that some individuals at least have marked hardiness to cold and heat and have endured temperatures much greater than the English walnut. The best results in growth and fruitfulness have been obtained in those regions of moderate rainfall where the apple and sweet cherry grow successfully.

Soil Requirements

The Japanese walnut seems to thrive on many soil types ranging from a heavy clay to a light sand, but does best on what is popularly known as a well drained fertile sandy loam with a friable clay subsoil. It will not do well on strongly acid soils and those who have planted trees on such soils should apply lime in liberal quantities. Poorly drained soils or very light soils deficient in humus are also not suitable.

Tree and Nut Characteristics

The Japanese walnut has several characteristics which make it desirable as an ornamental and as a nut-bearing tree. It grows rapidly, has large numerous luxuriant leaves which give it a tropical effect, and usually has a symmetrical outline. It bears early, sometimes in the second year from the graft, yields heavily and is often reported to yield regularly.

A heartnut tree owned by Mr. Sylvestor Kratz of Jordan Station, Ontario, produced nearly seven bushels of husked nuts one season and Mr. J. W. Hershey reports a yield of ten bushels of heartnuts from a tree near Olney, Pennsylvania. He also reports a cash return of $50.00 from one tree grown by Mr. Killen of Felton, Delaware. These were heartnuts and sold for 50 to 75 cents a pound. Mr. J. V. Gellatly, Westbank, B. C., obtained a yield of ten bushels of unhusked nuts from a heartnut tree of medium size. The yields from the common type, J. sieboldiana, have also been heavy, but since no figures are available no definite statements can be made.

In the Japanese walnut as in other species of nuts there is marked variation in nut characteristics, such as size, thickness of shell, cracking quality, extraction quality and flavor of kernel. Heartnuts have been found ranging from 1/2 in. to 1-3/4 in. in length. The largest heartnut I have ever seen came from Gellatly Brothers of Westbank, B. C. This nut was 1-3/4 in. long by 1-1/4 in. wide and was fully 1 in. thick. I also located a fine Sieboldiana type which is said to be the largest found up to date. (See specimens in jars).

Some of these good kinds possess excellent cracking and extraction quality. Mr. John Hershey of Downingtown, Pa., reports several good easy-cracking strains not yet introduced and Mr. Gellatly has one called O. K. that can easily be cracked with a hand nut cracker. I have also found one that I believe is a hybrid and which has excellent cracking and extraction quality. These specimens came from a seedling heartnut grown by Mr. Claude Mitchell, Scotland, Ontario. The nuts are longer than any heartnut found so far. The kernels in many cases fall out whole or in halves. This strain received the O. K. of Prof. Reed and Dr. Deming and as you know when a nut gets by either of those gentlemen it has to possess some merit. The good result produced by nature without any assistance from man suggests the possibility of getting even better results from parents of superior characters. I believe the Japanese walnut offers interesting possibilities in breeding with the butternut and possibly the black and English walnut. Definite plant breeding work should be done with these species as well as with all other species of nuts.

The Japanese walnuts generally grow fast but usually do not attain a large size. In most cases the trees rarely grow more than 35 feet tall with a spread of 30 to 50 feet, but occasionally specimens attain much larger size. The writer saw a heartnut tree on Mr. Kratz's farm near Jordan Station, Ontario, which had a trunk diameter of 2 ft., a height of 35 ft., and a spread of 64 ft. Near St. Thomas, Ontario, there is a large sieboldiana tree which is 75 ft. across the top and is about 45 ft. tall. Mr. Ricks reports a huge tree near Olney, Pennsylvania, that is 80 ft. across the top and 60 ft. tall and Dr. Deming reports a tree with a spread of 100 ft.

Varieties

Through the efforts of the Northern Nut Growers Association members several good varieties have been found and propagated. These varieties have been widely distributed but have not been extensively planted. The results are variable as might be expected, but generally the reports are satisfactory. In the eastern states the following varieties seem to do reasonably well: Faust, Bates, Ritchie and Stranger. In British Columbia, Messrs. J. U. and David Gellatly have located several very good strains such as Gellatly, O. K., Calendar, Walters and Rosefield. These newer varieties from the West have several good characters and are worthy of a wider trial in the East.

Diseases and Insect Pests

In common with most other forms of plant life the trees are susceptible to some insects and diseases.

Reports of injury by the walnut weevil, Conotrachelus juglandis, and also by codling moth larvae have been received. In some cases the foliage is attacked by rust fungi and some injury is also done by leaf spot. Prof. Reed reports witches broom attacking some trees in the South and one case of this disease was observed by the writer in Ontario on a Siebold-butternut hybrid. Notwithstanding these defects it is believed that the Japanese walnut is less attacked by disease and insects than most other species of nut trees.

Opinion of Observers

The opinion of a group of people on the merits or defects of a tree species or project is worthy of consideration. In order to get an expression of opinion as to the merits of the Japanese walnut the following question was asked: Do you consider the better strains of Japanese walnut worthy of more extended planting? The answers to this inquiry were numerous and varied. The great majority were in favor of increased plantings but a few were somewhat dubious. Nearly every one agreed that the species possessed marked beauty and was worthy of more extended planting as an ornamental. Some gave preference to the nuts over the black and English but the majority thought the quality was not quite up to the standard of these two species. Some observers reported favorably on the heartnut for culinary purposes and as an ingredient of ice cream and candy. With these latter comments I have had personal experience and can heartily agree.

Summary

From the evidence furnished by correspondents and from personal observation the good qualities of the Japanese walnut may be summed up as follows:

Rapid growth, marked beauty of form and foliage, early bearing, productiveness, and more than average hardiness to winter cold. The nuts from superior trees are easier to crack than the butternut, hickory and black walnut, but not so easy as the pecan and Persian walnut. These superior varieties yield nuts with a mild flavor which appeals to the taste of many people, but others think the flavor is not quite pronounced enough.

This species crosses readily with the butternut and offers interesting possibilities for the plant breeder.

The trees appear to be somewhat less susceptible to insects and diseases than other walnuts, but this may not always hold good.

The defects of the Japanese walnut most frequently mentioned are lack of flavor and pollination deficiencies. Some trees produce staminate flowers too early for proper pollination and thus do not yield a crop unless another good pollinator grows nearby.

Susceptibility to sun-scald and to San Jose scale are some other weaknesses. Many of the trees commonly grown are undesirable because of small size of nuts, poor cracking quality and too mild a flavor.

A careful consideration of the good and bad characters of Japanese walnuts suggests the following program before the culture of this species can be placed on a sound basis.

1. A systematic and thorough search of the United States and Canada for productive trees yielding nuts of large size, of good cracking and extraction quality and pleasing flavor.

2. The propagation and wide dissemination of these superior strains to members of the Northern Nut Growers Association and particularly to experiment stations where there seems to be a striking lack of information on this and other species of nuts.

3. Systematic improvement by means of hybridization with the butternut and other suitable species.

A program such as this would yield information of great value and would probably establish the culture of this species on a sounder basis than it now is. Until this has been done the logical course to follow is to plant the best varieties in limited numbers in areas where the black walnut thrives and even in areas too cold for the black walnut.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: I have been connected with experiment stations and colleges for the past number of years but I was quite surprised to find such a general lack of knowledge of nut trees, and especially of this species. The members of the experiment stations who are here do not need to feel badly. My remarks wouldn't apply to them.

MEMBER: Any varieties of this that bloom late?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Mr. Gellatly of West Bank, British Columbia, has a variety that blooms rather late. J. U. Gellatly and his brother David have the best collection of Japanese walnuts in Canada, of heartnuts especially.

Professor Reed was to give us a paper on harvesting and marketing. We have just heard that his paper will be here tomorrow. The next paper is by Mr. F. O. Harrington.



THIRTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN THE CARE OF SCIONWOOD

F. O. Harrington, Williamsburg, Iowa

Prof. Colby wrote me some months ago asking if I would not write a paper for this meeting on "Fifty Years' Experience in Nut Growing." I answered that I had not been particularly interested in nut culture until within a few years, and that I believed I could be of more use to our members by telling them something of the care of scionwood.

I am going to tell you of my method used for thirty years constantly with only slight changes from the beginning. Any man who has had any experience knows that it is important that scionwood should be carefully kept, that it should not be kept in air so dry that the bark would shrivel to any appreciable extent, or, on the other hand, a still worse condition, where it is so damp that the bark will loosen and the buds start.

It is difficult enough in nut tree grafting to obtain reasonably fair success with the scions in perfect condition, where used in late spring, and it is something of a heart breaking proposition to try it with poor scionwood. To the nurseryman, with his winter grafting of fruit trees, the keeping of the scionwood long enough for his purpose in the cold of the winter season is no problem at all. It can be stacked in a pile in any cool cellar (not too wet) and covered over with leaves and blankets, or what not, and it is all O. K. for that period. It is a far different matter to hold small amounts of wood absolutely dormant through the changing conditions from winter to summer, and perhaps as greatly changed conditions of moisture through several months. And how shall this best be accomplished?

Ice house conditions are not, I think, generally very satisfactory. The right cold storage facilities might be satisfactory, but not readily accessible to most of us. I used to use boxes in the cellar, with careful packing with forest leaves and somewhat careful attention to moisture conditions, with penalties for lax attention always enforced.

I know one nurseryman who, beside the regular nursery fruit tree grafting scion wood, kept many scions of nut trees. He had a deep outdoor cellar, or cave, which was always cool and not too dry. In this, in large boxes of sawdust, he kept his scions for spring use. Just how much attention as regards moisture conditions he had to give this I do not know, but through his knowledge and experience with it I think his scions were usually in good condition.

Now I will quote to you on the care of scions from J. F. Jones' paper on "The Propagation of Nut Trees" in the 1927 Report of the Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association, page 104:

"It is not in the selection of scions that the beginner usually fails to make his grafting a success, but in handling the scions. Scions for grafting need not to be put in cold storage. In fact cold storage at the usual temperatures seems to be injurious to scions. Cool storage, that is temperature maintained below the freezing point, is O. K., but in my experience this is not necessary. We store them in a cellar with a ground floor. This is damp and cool and the cases the scions are stored in are without bottoms and set on the damp cellar floor. The cases are lined with tar paper or light roofing, both the sides and the lid. The latter is hinged for ease of getting out scions as needed. No packing is used around the scions and they draw enough moisture from the damp ground below to hold them plump and in good condition. Good scions stored in this way can be kept for weeks, or even months if need be, in excellent condition. Nut scions for grafting are soon spoiled if packed too damp, even if kept at temperatures considerably below that required to cause the sap to flow in trees outside."

Again I quote from Dr. W. C. Deming (1925 Report, page 48), "Top Working Hickory Trees for the Beginner":

"Scions packed away for any length of time are apt to go wrong, either by drying too much, by being too moist and starting to grow, or by heating, molding or rotting. A simple way to keep them is to dig a hole about three feet deep in the ground outdoors in a dry and sheltered place where water can never reach them, as under the back porch. Have the scions in convenient lengths of one to two feet. Wrap them in a bundle, or bundles, in a light tar paper, which helps to prevent mold. Leave the ends open for ventilation. Lay the bundles in the bottom of the hole and cover the top of the hole with an old carpet, or several newspapers. This description gives a general idea of the conditions under which scions should be kept. A man may vary it according to his own conditions, bearing in mind the principles. It is of vital importance to the success of grafting that the scions should be in good condition. The usual mistakes are in keeping them too wet and too much wrapped up. They should be examined frequently to see that they are keeping well."

I have brought to your attention what have been considered the very best methods of keeping scionwood dormant and in best possible condition, and all agree that this is of vital importance for successful grafting. I will now call your attention to a better method than any of these, equally simple and inexpensive, and so much better in its action that scions may be kept by it two and three years in about the same condition as when severed from the parent tree; and to prove this statement I have here with me for your examination scionwood of several kinds of nut and fruit trees that have been kept in the Harrington graft box one year and two years. At the present time I have no older wood in my graft box, for the simple reason that in the summer of 1928 the cover of the box, which had been in several years, rotted so that the top caved in, leaving it open to too much air, thus in time spoiling what wood was in it; and before putting in new wood in November I had to dig out the old box and replace with a new one. For wood will rot in time in the ground. I have had, at different times in the past, scionwood in my box three years old, much of it seemingly still good. I have not used any of it for grafting at three years, but I have with good success the second year old from cutting. I started experimentally with this method and box thirty years ago and there has not been a year since in which I have not used it, so you may readily understand that it is not an untried theory I am giving you. A much valued member of our society, J. F. Jones of Lancaster, Pa., now deceased, wrote me at one time, "You undoubtedly have the best method of keeping scionwood known at the present day," and Prof. Close, head of the Pomology Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., made the same statement to me.

My own box is located in an evergreen grove on dry land, but a shady position to the north of a building might answer fairly well. Until the last eight years my box was for a long period, under and between two large butternut trees growing out in the open, except at the northward. In my opinion it is highly desirable to cut and store all scionwood before severe temperatures of the winter occur, preferably between Thanksgiving and Christmas because very severe freezing is liable to produce some little injury to the cambium layer, at least in some years, and if that injury be even very slight it will usually spell failure when used.

The graft box, as I am using it, is about thirty inches long by eighteen inches deep and fifteen inches wide. It has a solid cover but has a six inch square hand hole through on top in front, covered by a loose board lying flat and about ten inches square and butting back against a cross bar nailed across the box two inches back of the doorway opening. No bottom in the box but it has three cross bars nailed across inside to hold all scionwood up two inches from the earth floor. Any scion that touches the earth floor will either begin to grow or begin to rot. The box is entirely buried two to three inches under the ground except over the trap door. The spot must be perfectly drained. Over the box a space about six feet wide by seven feet long is insulated from temperature changes with straw packing to height, in center, of three feet and protected from rain by a wood roof of boards, shingles, or prepared roofing resembling, a little, the old wedge tent. To get into the box burrow in under by pulling out the straw in front, but not too large a tunnel, and far enough back to get at the trap door cover where it can be slipped off and scions put in, the door replaced and all the straw crowded back into place. Thereafter it is easy to slip the straw out and back to get at the box. In any case the packing is always carefully replaced, as the insulation of the earth near the box is of first importance.

Graft Box Air Conditions

The small amount of moisture coming into the box from sides and earth bottom, in ordinary conditions, seems to be very exactly balanced by the very small amount of dry air that finds ingress to the box from outside through the straw packing and the trap door, although after very long wet spells, at whatever season of the year, it has been my practice to bring all the scions out into the open air and allow both the scions and the interior of box to dry out for as long as seems needful. The reverse condition, that of too little moisture, I have never had to take notice of. Occasionally a little white mold in box and on scions may require a little open air treatment. No other condition seems to require any special care. I do not know how much larger a box than I have used would give equal satisfaction, for I have not demonstrated that feature, but obviously there must be at some point a limiting factor between the desired casualty of moisture and its opposite in the box. I am inclined to think that a box of double that capacity could safely be used, but advise that, where large amounts of scionwood are needed, more than one box be used until a test has been made with less valuable wood to find the size limit.

* * * * *

DR. SMITH: You speak of airing the scions. How long do you do that?

MR. HARRINGTON: It depends on the conditions that require the airing. For instance a thaw in the winter, or a rainy spell. Again in the summer a long rainy spell. In these cases I open up the box, maybe leave it a couple of hours.

DR. SMITH: That kills the mold, two hours' exposure? You never sterilize the inside in any way?

MR. HARRINGTON: I never have. It might be a good idea. The mold doesn't seem to affect the scions.



EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS IN SEARCHING FOR BEST SEEDLING NUT TREES

J. F. Wilkinson, Indiana

Searching for the best seedling began long before the coming of the white man to America, by Indians and animals and the birds which store nuts for their winter food. This search has always been continued through the nut growing territory by the crows, squirrels and other birds and animals.

Go to a pecan grove early in the fall when pecans are ripening and there is no better evidence that a tree is an early ripener and produces a thin shelled nut than to see a bunch of crows feeding from it.

The children living near a pecan grove in early fall will go where crows and birds are feeding to gather nuts that are dropped by them, and later, when all trees have ripened their nuts, these children have their favorite trees to gather from. I have seen the little ones around Enterprise, of before school age, that would have a preference and could select from a basket of pecans the ones from their favorite tree. It is surprising how good their judgment is.

The hunter also watches this in the early hunting season, going to the earlier ripening hickory and walnut trees, for it is there he will find the squirrels feeding.

My own experience in gathering pecans dates back to my first school days, for there were scores of pecans trees near the school building, and as soon as I was large enough to climb a tree I spent many days each fall gathering nuts and soon had a fair knowledge of all trees for a radius of several miles around.

The first trees of the now named varieties, the Indiana and Busseron, were located and brought to notice by the late Mason J. Niblack.

In the summer of 1910 my life-long friend, Mr. T. P. Littlepage, while on a vacation, was camping on the Ohio river near my home and was then very much interested in superior seedling nut trees. It was at that time, in a talk with him, that I became interested in the propagation of nut trees.

At this time he took me with him to locate the "Warrick" tree which stands on Pigeon Creek in Warrick County, Indiana. The next day he, R. L. McCoy and myself went to the Greenriver grove where the Major and Greenriver trees were located. These are now being propagated and are considered outstanding varieties. Also a trip was made to Posey County, Indiana, where the Hoosier tree was located. This variety was soon dropped.

From that time on R. L. McCoy and myself kept up a constant search until he left Indiana in 1918. Since then I have done a lot of work along this line myself.

This work is carried on by arranging with nut buyers and gatherers in the nut growing localities to be on the watch for any unusually good nut and to send in a sample, with the name of the owner of the tree, or the party gathering the nuts, so the tree may be located later. Hundreds of samples have been received, the most of which were eliminated on examination of the nut itself. In the case of any that seem promising a trip is made to the tree for further information. Each fall I receive word of trees producing a superior quality nut and in most cases from the description given, whether it be by letter or a personal talk with the informer, one would believe that a really worthy tree had been found. But generally on investigation it proves to be only just above a good average tree.

A variety to be worthy of propagation must pass a rigid test. First, the nut must be of desirable size, thin shell, plump kernel, good flavor and good cracking quality, and last but not least the tree must be a good and regular bearer.

Accurate records on the bearing of these trees are very hard to obtain as they often grow in isolated places and their product is known to all in that neighborhood, and at least a part of the crop is often taken by some one who makes no report on the amount, so the best information to be had on this is often incorrect. When a promising tree is located the surest way is to visit it each fall for several years just before gathering time and see the crop on the tree.

In almost every instance the size of a nut is exaggerated by the owner or informer unintentionally. They are honest but their imagination gets the better of their judgment. Then their knowledge is often limited to their own trees and those of their neighbors, and the nut they prize may be the best they know of, but when compared with nuts from a greater territory is found to be of only fair size.

The usual way one will describe the size of a pecan is to say it is as large as his thumb and about two thirds the length of his forefinger, and so thin shelled that two of them can easily be cracked in the hand with only a light pressure.

I usually carry some sample nuts of the named varieties on these trips for comparison and it is seldom that the owner or informer of a tree believes any of these to be larger than those produced by his favorite tree until a comparison is made, and then he will often declare they are not as large this season as usual.

This brings to mind many incidents which are very clear in my memory, one especially, when Mr. McCoy and myself had heard of the Kentucky pecan tree which is opposite Grandview, Ind. We went to Grandview to get first hand information on this tree from one who had gathered the nuts from it and while talking to the party he was trying to tell us how large the nut was. I first took a Busseron pecan from my pocket and he said it was much larger than that. I then resorted to some large southern ones none of which he thought were as large as his favorite. At last I produced a McAllister. After some hesitation he admitted it was larger than the Kentucky. At this Mr. McCoy gave a hearty laugh and told him his imagination had the better of his judgment. Almost every one who owns any number of nut trees has one that is better than the rest, and naturally he prizes this one highly and wishes it propagated. I have traveled many hundreds of miles going to trees on reports of others, only to be disappointed. Where the tree is found to be promising and no bearing record is obtainable, then an annual trip for several years is necessary to determine the bearing record. These trips require time, expense and labor for very often a part of the trip has to be made on foot.

Several years ago Claude Luckado, a professional pecan gatherer of Rockport, spent several weeks one fall in a large pecan grove on the Wabash river and brought back several samples of very promising pecans, one especially that I considered very worthy of further consideration. I reported this one to Mr. C. A. Reed, and a year or two later, when on a trip through this section in the fall, he suggested a trip to this tree. I arranged with Mr. Luckado to go with us to show us this tree, which is about seventy miles from Rockport. We left there on the first traction car for Mt. Vernon, Ind. From there we went in a Ford touring car without any top and only one rear fender and drove over nine miles of the worst roads I ever motored over to the Wabash river where we hired a motor driven mussel boat to take us four miles down the river. The remaining three miles we made on foot, reaching this grove about ten a. m., and searched until late in the afternoon without locating the tree. This day and trip I am sure Mr. C. A. Reed well remembers.

Two years later when roads and weather were more favorable, Mr. Luckado and myself left Rockport one morning at four a. m. and drove all the way to the grove, arriving there early in the morning and searching until late in the afternoon and again without results. But when one takes into consideration that this tree is standing somewhere near the center of an unbroken forest of hundreds of acres in which it has been estimated there are near 20,000 bearing-size pecan trees, it is some task to locate a certain tree, though the search for this tree will be made again.

It is very often that two or more trips are necessary to locate a tree and about nine times out of ten when the tree is found it is not considered worthy of propagation. Many amusing incidents and not a few hardships are remembered in these past experiences. During the past three years I have made four trips into southwestern Missouri and southeast Kansas where there are thousands of native pecan trees growing. Some trees in this section have been brought to notice which seem promising. I now have several promising new varieties under test and observation.

The search for new and better varieties must be kept up, for no doubt there are yet unknown as good and possibly better trees than we have yet located.

* * * * *

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Have you ever known anything about the Marmaton, owned by J. E. Tipke at Rockwell, Missouri?

MR. WILKINSON: I have a sample of it.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Mr. Tipke sent that to me. He told me it wasn't as good as others but he said it never missed a crop.

THE PRESIDENT: For the benefit of those who have not been down to Mr. Wilkinson's I would like to say you will find it very worth while to go there. In 1925 Mr. Wilkinson invited me to go with him through southern Indiana, to see some of the large pecan trees he had there. When I got there I really had to take two looks to see the top of some of those trees. I found one tree that I would have to make three spans, in this manner, to get around. One tree is said to be 125 feet tall and 16-1/2 feet around. After visiting that section and seeing the very many interesting trees I concluded that Mr. Wilkinson really hadn't told all that was to be told. Mr. Wilkinson is a very modest person. When he tells you a certain thing you can make up your mind he is not exaggerating in the least.

MR. WILKINSON: Many times in determining the crop we have to climb the tree. For instance, the Major is 65 feet to the first limb. It is very often necessary to climb the tree to make an estimate of the crop.