3. The Naming of Varieties
Many of us have the same tree growing but calling it a different name.
4. Securing New Varieties
And getting them into as many channels. Mr. Wilkinson started several "Chief" pecan trees last year and gave them all away. Chief is a fine new variety of pecan. If we had a few more Ford Wilkinsons in this organization, "God bless him," we wouldn't have so many problems.
5. The Work of Individuals
There is always the possibility of finding the "perfect nut," so we need to continue our search through the earth for better varieties.
Scientific techniques must be applied before we breed better nuts.
We simply cannot have nuts put in our coffins expecting to continue our work in the next world; so we need to do the next best thing to this—that is of instructing our sons in the little we have found and where our different varieties are planted. Then, some of our sons will start where we left off.
Private research is playing a more important part in the world today. Private research, using the large amount of basic research available, could accomplish wonders in the nut world.
I am deeply grieved when I see vast estates which have had a fortune spent in plantings that had little practical value. The men who spent this money would gladly have furnished the land, labor, capital and management for a nut breeding program had we been there to have sold them on nut trees.
As Mr. Churchill said—"Too little and too late."
But members of the NNGA forget "what might have been." New estates are developing and younger men are wondering how they can immortalize their lives and work. Men pass away; their names perish from record and recollection; their history is only a tale and their tombstone becomes a ruin, but a good nut tree bearing a man's name, gives that name immortality.
6. Work of the Experiment Stations.
In the most practical vein, our basic research and most of our actual breeding must still be done by our Experiment Stations.
Any nut project is a long-time program and it lends itself best to an Experiment Station which is not set up on "a three score and ten" basis like we as individuals are. Stations also have trained workers and information at hand.
7. The Real Aim of the NNGA
Is better living on the farm and the improvement of the garden and farmstead. Almost every farm and home, especially in the great corn belt, needs shelter, shade trees, and the beautifying effect of trees.
Psalm 19:1-4 says: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."
8. Nut Growing as a Hobby.
For people who like to see things growing, there are few projects that yield more genuine satisfaction than hardy-adapted varieties of nut trees.
Few people know what a heart nut or chestnuts are, and most have never cracked a butternut. Most of us have never tasted a good persimmon, and the paw-paw is practically unknown. We of the NNGA have something to offer our members.
9. Keep our Organization Solvent and Functioning.
All costs have increased. Our strength lies in our letters, reports and information which we send to our membership. To keep this information coming through letters and our annual report takes money.
10. How to Finance the NNGA. Dr. MacDaniels makes the following suggestions after stating that we have reached the point where increasing the dues will not give us more income, because of loss of membership.
(a) Increase our number of members.
(b) Provide different types of membership to encourage contributions.
(c) Gifts.
(d) Special fund raising projects.
Increasing the membership seems to have the most promise in the future.
We are now at the cross roads. Do we want a strong, hard-hitting organization, capable of doing these things which we know NNGA can do, or do we want to ease down the other road to a whimpering senile existence, in the plant society world?
We have increased our membership 40% the past year, and after hurriedly congratulating ourselves, let us hurry on to this problem of setting ourselves another goal for 1954.
What shall our new goal be? 30%, 50%, 100%—let us think "high." It is easier to come down than to go higher.
I'd like to have someone's idea in the audience here. Does anybody have some figure we should hit at? 10%, 20%, 25%?
MR. KINTZEL: I think since we have a thousand members, for each of the thousand to bring in one more member and make it a hundred per cent.
PRESIDENT BEST: Now, the high man is going to win here, you know. Is there anyone that can raise this man, that can say that we increase our membership more than a hundred per cent? If not shall we take that as a goal?
We have now reached the point in this discussion of goals where we can make the following profound deduction—"Nothing is worth two cents until it is sold."
Our church bells ring to tell the world that something good is being offered and that the church has something to sell. Everything in this world must be sold. The NNGA is competing not only with the resistance people offer it, but also against every other human activity. People buy what they think will give them the most satisfaction.
We are living in a cold-blooded society and people are not going to choke with emotion when we mention the old hollow tree where the possums hatched, or the wide spreading chestnut. People may not even want to join our NNGA. This is a free country and people can just sit in the sun on the bare ground if they want to. They may not want trees and can eat grape nuts if they want. We know they need the hobby—the shade—the beauty—the protection or even nuts which nut trees will bring them.
Because we know people need these fine things, then we must ask them to join the NNGA. If everybody knew what you know about the NNGA, we would have a membership of 100,000 members. But they do not.
This is what we mean by selling our organization. Indirectly as we sell our memberships to help other people, we help our organization.
Finally, let me suggest that we build up a backlog of ideas here at
Rochester to add to what we have on increasing our membership.
Give your ideas to our Vice President, Mr. George Salzer and his publicity committee and you will be helping to solve our NNGA problems.
MR. DAVIDSON: It seems to me the most successful thing that was done during the past year, as far as the raising of membership was concerned, was done by Mr. Chase, when he wrote that article on Persian walnuts that survived sub-zero temperatures. That had a tremendous impact on the public imagination, and it got a tremendous number of inquiries. I think it had more effect than even the work of individual members, so I would suggest that anybody who has an idea that can be sent to a magazine that would have a public appeal should do that thing.
MR. MACHOVINA: The thought strikes me that in addition to the goal for new members, we should also work to keep these members we have picked up this year. That means the older members should contact the newer members, help them, give them trees. Otherwise, a lot can be lost quickly.
PRESIDENT BEST: In this world no matter whether we are selling seed corn—if you will pardon that little plug—or you are running a restaurant or any form of human activity, you can figure each year about a 10 per cent loss in your clientelle or your customers, whatever you want to call them, and we of N.N.G.A. are no exception to that rule. We do have to keep working for that replacement; otherwise, in 10 or 12 years we are going to be out of business entirely.
MR. KERR: I am a Spanish War veteran. At the national convention in Portland, Oregon, in 1938, one of my comrades showed me a walnut tree that he planted before he went to the Philippines during that war. It was on the banks of the Willamette River where he had planted three nuts. Two were so near the river that a log boom had torn them out, but one was left. It was 80 feet high, four feet in diameter, and on one occasion had produced almost a ton of very good nuts.
I told that to the science editor of the Associated Press, and he put a little article in the local paper, but no picture. If he had a picture with that article, everybody would have read it. I think we need more publicity on these old trees that are bearing nuts. I live in Plymouth, Mass., where the Pilgrims settled. In their settlement papers they mentioned the groves of walnuts and other wild nuts in the territory. We found a low-branched walnut 5 feet in diameter and over 450 years old.
MR. BROOK: Let me suggest Mr. Kerr write such an article for such a magazine, because he is just the person.
MR. KERR: I have already written a few articles for several men's clubs, and I am writing another article.
MR. BROOK: When are you releasing it?
MR. KERR: Pretty soon. The Northern Nut Growers will get a copy.
PRESIDENT BEST: The report of the Place of Meeting Committee, Mr.
Allaman?
MR. ALLAMAN: A year ago this summer I went to Lancaster to visit the Franklin Marshall College to see if we could hold our convention there next year. They considered it quite an honor to have us there, feeling that it is an educational feature. They can furnish us a nice auditorium with a cafeteria nearby. Sleeping quarters would be scattered throughout the grounds. They can furnish our meals and a banquet. About ten days ago I checked to see if things were still all right, and they said, "Come ahead," so I am suggesting that the Association hold its next annual convention at Lancaster, Pa. at Franklin Marshall College.
Our field trip at Lancaster would be to Mr. W. W. Posey's orchard. He has by far the biggest planting in the state with trees of various ages and many different varieties. He entertained the Pennsylvania group a year ago. He has a nice pavilion up on the hill, where we can have our lunch. We had a most enjoyable time, and he is delighted to have us. Mr. Posey is owner of the Posey Iron Works in Lancaster.
For 1955 we were thinking about Michigan, probably Michigan State
College. For the following year we were wondering about Connecticut.
Just the place in Connecticut has not been given any thought.
Session adjourned.
PRESIDENT BEST: In the morning session Mr. Allaman proposed that we hold our next convention in Lancaster, Pa. Is there a motion to that effect?
MR. RICK: I move that our next meeting, 1954, be held in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. That is supposed to be one of the garden counties in the country. It has stood first and second in production. I don't know what it stands now, but it wouldn't be far from the top. It would be most interesting to all our members, I am sure, to pay Lancaster County a visit. Motion seconded by Mr. Ellis and passed.
PRESIDENT BEST: According to the by-laws, we get a report of the Nominating Committee at this time. We have our election at the last business session.
MR. SLATE: The Nominating Committee, consisting of Max Hardy as chairman
and some others, including myself, presents the following candidates:
For President, R. B. Best. For vice-president, Gilbert Becker; for
Treasurer, W. S. Clark; and for Secretary Spencer Chase.
PRESIDENT BEST: Are there other nominations? (No response.) You will have a chance for further nominations at our last business session.
PRESIDENT BEST: Now, then, we have an opportunity to hear from a group of what we might call authorities in their various fields. We have quite an assortment. The only way I know of to express it is to say we have the wise men out of the east and the wild men out of the west. I think we first might hear from Mr. Kyhl of Sabula, Iowa. Mr. Kyhl, you come up and give us your version of the nut business.
About Nuts
IRA M. KYHL, Sabula, Iowa
What we all have in mind at this time is nuts and more nuts. One way to get them is to plant more nut trees. Why not start a campaign in this direction? Where I live in the midwest the black walnut is at home and likewise the hickory, hazel, etc. Farmers may be reluctant to set aside acreage for this purpose but they could be planted along fence rows around the entire farm and would produce shade for livestock, an abundance of marketable nuts, and later a fortune in saw logs. The average size farm of 160 acres could support a great many black walnuts if planted along fence rows which ordinarily grow up to brush and weeds. Seedlings are cheap or one could buy 2 or 3 bushels of Thomas nuts and raise their own. One could also plant hickories, heartnuts, filberts and chestnuts if variety is desired along fence rows, but the main thing is to get this work started. We could no doubt get cooperation from County Agents and Conservation Departments because of wind breaks and erosion control. Farmers who could be induced to do this work would no doubt become nut enthusiasts in due time.
I feel that at this time it may be in line to pay a slight tribute to our friend the squirrel. I wonder how many of us gave a thought as to who was responsible for all of our wild trees, such as black walnuts, butternuts, hickories, hazels and so forth, and how they came about. The answer is simple, the squirrels, of course. They have been planting nuts for centuries and without their good work in the past, there would be very few wild nut trees.
The squirrel has been wrongfully condemned for his apparently good work and has even been cussed a little for living on the efforts of his own labor, and due to my appreciation of his good work, I have grafted or rather topworked some of the trees he planted to Persian walnuts, pecans, etc., so that he may have more of a variety of nuts. Someday I expect to have some of the largest and fattest squirrels in America. I cover some of the choice varieties with stove pipe. They seem to take the hint and don't bother the nuts. One more thing, there does not seem to be enough nuts to go around, that is, enough for both the squirrels and ourselves. So let's plant more trees so that the squirrels can't possibly eat them all and when we have done that, then let's plant a lot more.
We now have many species of nuts and many varieties of each species, many of which have proven hardy in cold climates. It is very encouraging to note the good work that is being done to produce better and more varieties. One very fine nut that doesn't seem to have had much work done on it is the hard shell almond. It does very well for me, is self-pollinating, bears very heavily, and can be grafted on peach stocks with good results. I have also had very good success with Persian walnuts, heartnuts, filberts, chestnuts, hickories, pecans, hazels and black walnuts.
Natural Variation Observed in Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata (Mill.) K.
Koch. in Central New York
DAVID H. CALDWELL, N. Y. State College of Forestry, Syracuse, N. Y.
The shagbark hickory has been extremely important in the economy of the United States during its period of early development. The handles of the axes which leveled extensive forested areas in Colonial days were frequently made from sturdy hickory wood. The nuts furnished food for man in the form of oil or nutmeats and often hogs were fattened on hickory nuts, beechnuts and chestnuts. As settlement progressed, the demand on hickory as wood for wagon parts increased while the use of the thick-shelled nuts for food decreased except by the country boy or girl who wandered from tree to tree in the fall collecting nuts for cracking by the fireside in the wintertime.
The author remembers bounding out of bed as a child in the fall before dawn on the nights when there had been a frost or a heavy wind, in an effort to beat the squirrels in the race to obtain the rich harvest of hickory nuts to be found lying beneath the fine old trees near Herkimer, N. Y. By some coincidence, both the boys and the squirrels knew of the same trees which were most sought after for their crops of nuts. It was at this time that the variability of hickory nuts was first observed. Thus it was that the nuts of certain trees were never gathered, while the grass beneath other favorite trees was gleaned carefully for all fallen nuts.
The present investigation of the shagbark began in the fall of 1949 and continued through the summer of 1953. It was initiated with the previous knowledge of the extreme variability to be observed between the nuts of individual shagbark hickory trees and was conducted for the purpose of determining whether or not that variability was also expressed through other features of the tree such as buds, leaves, bark or form. Consequently, a systematic study was begun of individual trees totaling 158 found mostly in Onondaga County, New York plus the edges of surrounding counties. The trees were observed throughout the growing season so that the various tree parts could be observed for comparison. It was a preconceived idea by the author that there might be several or more distinct subdivisions into which individuals of shagbark might be placed through the use of macroscopic characters.
Observations were made over a period of three growing seasons on the following characters of each tree:
(1) bark (2) buds and twigs (3) leaves (4) flowers (5) fruit
Each character was observed more than once for each tree as a check on possible yearly variation for specific characteristics in the trees from which data was collected.
The generalized description for shagbark hickory is as follows:
SIZE—a tree ranging at maturity from 50 to 100+ feet in height, generally 2 to 3 feet in diameter and very occasionally reaching 4 feet in diameter.
BARK—usually under 3/4 of an inch in thickness, occasionally up to 1 inch thick with a characteristic light or smoky-gray color when dry and breaking up into long plates or strips loosely attached to the trunk near the middle of the plate.
BUDS—terminal buds usually 3/8 to 3/4 of an inch long, subglobose to narrowly ovate, with 8-10 imbricate scales, the outermost of which are a blackish brown with dark brown tomentum, and a short mucronate or attenuate apex, inner scales light brown with longer lanate pubescence and apex acute to obtuse; lateral buds smaller, about 1/4 of an inch with tightly appressed scales.
TWIGS—angled or rounded, reddish brown to yellowish brown, or gray, turning more or less gray with age; pubescent the first year.
LEAVES—compound—ranging from 3-7 ovate to oblong lanceolate leaflets, usually 5, terminal leaflet as large or larger than the first two laterals, usually 4-8" long, generally glabrous on both surfaces but with a finely serrate, ciliate margin; total leaf size ranging from 8-15" for mature leaves.
FLOWERS—(a) female—occurring in 2 to several flowered spikes, with a one-celled ovary, about 1/4 to 1/3 inch long covered with tomentum; flowers rusty to yellowish green in color; stigma with two stigmatic lobes; bracts much longer than the lateral bractlets. (b) male—in three parted or branched aments, each flower usually containing 4 stamens with a 2 or a 3 lobed calyx; aments 3-4" long with glandular hairs.
FRUIT—oval, globose or pear shaped, consisting of a woody husk 1/4 to 1/2" thick breaking usually along 4 lines of suture exposing a flattened nut generally 4 ridged, smooth or slightly roughened; usually white or cream in color, seed sweet with 2 cotyledons.
BARK—Most of the shagbark hickory trees observed were found to have a smoke-gray, shaggy bark from 20 years of age to maturity. However, among the 158 individual hickory trees observed, there were found 7 trees which had a bark much more blackish than the normal shagbark type and with closely furrowed bark consisting of inter-lacing scaly ridges more similar in character to that of Carya ovalis (Wangenh.) Sarg.
The trees found growing under timberland conditions rather than as open field or hedgerow trees did not have the characteristic shaggy bark except for the upper trunk which had been exposed to the weather conditions of the forest canopy. Where the trunks of the trees were somewhat protected from direct rays of the sun and force of the wind, the bark was smooth, gray and but slightly plated with none of the shagginess typical of open field grown shagbark.
BUDS AND TWIGS—The buds of shagbark were observed to divide themselves into two general groups based upon terminal bud shapes and two more groups based upon the sizes of the attenuated apex of the outermost bud scales. In all cases the bud scales were observed to be pubescent though the degree of pubescence varied considerably in the outer scales only.
The two general bud shapes were globose-ovate and narrowly elliptical. The broadly oval (Fig. 1a) type of buds were smaller, generally under 1/2 inch in length while the elliptical (Fig. 1b) type of buds were usually over 1/2 inch in length.
[Illustration: Fig. 1a Fig. 1b
Shagbark Hickory Terminal Buds (1-X)]
The long attenuated apex on the outer bud scales of the elliptical type of buds is evident in Figs. 1b and 2b.
[Illustration: Fig. 2a Fig. 2b
Shagbark Hickory Terminal Bud Scales (1-X)]
The number of lateral buds at one position varied considerably with the usual number being one (Fig. 3a) bud located just above the lobed leaf scar. On exceedingly vigorous sprout growth, or on very vigorous terminal growth twigs, it was found that 2, 3, 4 and occasionally 5 superposed buds might occur (Fig. 3b).
Twigs of shagbark varied considerably both in the rapidity of growth and in color. Frequently the color seemed to be associated with the incident rays of the sun and orientation of the twig on the branch seemed to largely control color.
Twigs upon the same tree would vary from gray to reddish brown to yellowish brown or tan. The majority of observed trees had a reddish brown as the predominant color. Terminal shoot growth of as much as 40 inches was observed and as little as 2-3 inches in very slowly growing mature trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 3a Fig. 3b
Shagbark Hickory Lateral Buds (1-X)]
[Illustration: Fig. 4a Fig. 4b
Shagbark Hickory Leaves (1/3X)]
The degree of pubescence on the surface of the twigs varied considerably and was found to frequently follow group location patterns. Thus nearly all of the individuals growing in one field might be found with dense pubescence on the twigs while a similar group several miles away might have, for all practical purposes, no pubescence on the twigs. In general, the most rapidly growing trees (or twigs) had the least amount of pubescence on the twigs.
LEAVES—There was extreme variability found with the leaves of the 158 individual trees observed. All trees were found to have compound leaves, but the leaflet numbers varied greatly. The typical number for shagbark is 5, but 3 to 7 were found; three leaflets were common, 5 were abundant and 7 leaflets were rare. Six cases of leaves with 7 leaflets were obtained from the vast number of leaves checked on the 158 trees; thus the frequency of occurrence is quite low for the group as a whole. Where 7 leaflets were observed, 5 of the leaves were normal pinnately compound leaves (Fig. 4a), while one leaf consisted of five palmately arranged leaflets plus two normal pinnately compound leaflets (Fig. 4b). The leaflets on each tree were fairly uniform in shape but the shape of leaflets between trees varied considerably. Thus one tree might have 5 leaflets quite broadly ovate to obovate in shape while another equally valid shagbark would be found with narrowly elliptical to lanceolate leaflets similar to those of red hickory (oval pignut hickory), Carya ovalis (Wangenh.) Sarg.
[Illustration: Fig. 5a Fig. 5b Fig. 5c
Shagbark Hickory Fruits (1/2X)]
The margins of the leaflets were generally finely serrate and disposed to be ciliate—i.e. with a fringe of hairs along the serrate margins. The presence of cilia tend to differentiate shagbark hickory from red hickory in the field. This feature is a consistently good one if a hand lens is available but the degree of ciliation varies considerably from tree to tree and during different parts of the growing season. The presence of cilia on the margin of the leaflets should not be used as a means of differentiating shagbark from shellbark hickory, Carya lacinoisa (Michx. f.) Loud., since shellbark also has a ciliate margin on the leaflets.
FLOWERS—The female flowers of shagbark are found on short 1 to 5 flowered spikes produced on the current season's growth. Most of the flowers are around 1/3" long, sessile and covered with a tawny tomentum. Each flower tends to have two yellowish green stigmatic lobes but three-lobed stigmas may be found and one case of a 4-lobed stigma was observed. Various amounts of an amber, or yellow scurfy, substance was also observed on the new flowers. The male flowers occur on 3 parted, slender, glandular-hairy aments from the basal portion of the current season's growth. The aments are usually 3-4 inches long with individual flowers consisting of 4 stamens with their surrounding bract and calyx lobes. The anthers are yellowish or greenish yellow. Occasionally a two branched ament may be found but this seems to occur when one branch of the ament has failed to develop due to an injury of some sort. One case of an unbranched ament was observed.
Both female and male flowers are found to be mature after the leaves have grown to nearly their fully expanded mature size. There are more male aments to be found on the lower branches than female spikes of flowers, which would tend to aid in cross pollination of the flowers by wind action. In general the stigmatic lobes are not quite mature at the time that the bulk of the pollen is being shed, yet individual trees, at a considerable distance from another pollen bearing shagbark tree, will bear considerable quantities of nuts indicating self fertility.
FRUIT—The husk of the shagbark is extremely variable in size, shape, thickness and opening habits. In general the husk consists of 4 segments which split along 4 sutures and fall apart at maturity dropping the nut to the ground. In many cases the husk falls to the ground with the nut and does not break apart until it reaches the ground. A few of the trees examined had husks which were not quite deciduous to the base and were retained on the tree until after the nut had been released. One tree among the 158 examined consistently had a 5 parted husk.
The husks varied considerably in thickness, the dried measurements ranging from 1/8 to 1/2 inch with the bulk of the measurements averaging around 1/4" thick. Two trees had husks so thin as to be more typical of red hickory while only 6 trees had husks 1/2 inch thick or more.
The overall shape of the husk around the nut ranged from globose (Fig. 5a) to ovoid (Fig. 5b) to obovate (Fig. 5c).
It would seem that the shape of the nut enclosed within the husk might be predetermined by examination of the husk itself. The obovate husk shape could most frequently be depended on to produce either elliptical or obovate nuts but this was not an absolute certainty. The thickness of the husk effectively concealed the true shape of the nut beneath; the thinnest husks most nearly conforming to the true nut shape.
The size of the mature shagbark hickory nut and husk ranged from as small as one inch in a tree which had a seed barely 3/8" wide to as large as 2-1/4 inches. The size of husk and nut is variable and adjacent trees which may have developed from the same parent seldom have similar nuts in the area examined.
The nut itself exhibited the greatest variability of all features examined on the test trees. These trees exhibited striking dissimilarities in:
(1) nut size (2) nut shape (3) shell color (4) thickness of shell (5) sweetness or palatability of nutmeat.
One tree was discovered with a nut which might have caused a taxonomist to coin the name Carya ovata var. microcarpa due to the very small dimensions of about 3/8 x 3/8 x 3/4 inches in width, thickness and depth. Even the squirrels of the area did not feel that this tree deserved their attention The largest nut obtained had overall dimensions of 1 x 3/4 x 1 inches in width, thickness and depth. The majority of average sized nuts were roughly 3/4 x 1/2 x 3/4 inches.
The nut shapes have fallen into a general pattern which include the following normal types:
Type A—The normal 4 angled nut, nearly rectangular in cross section
(Fig. 6a).
Type B—An elliptical form, nearly oval in cross section (Fig. 6b).
Type C—A smooth oval nut, oval or elliptical in cross section (Fig. 6c).
Type D—An obovate nut, oval to angled in cross section (Fig. 6d).
Type E—A fat globose nut, broadly oval to orbicular in cross section (Fig. 6e).
[Illustration: Type A Type B Type C Type D Type E
Fig. 6a Fig. 6b Fig. 6c Fig. 6d Fig. 6e
Normal Fruit Forms of Shagbark Hickory (1X)]
[Illustration: Type F Type G Type H
Fig. 6f Fig. 6g Fig. 6h
Abnormal Fruit Forms of Shagbark Hickory (1X)]
In addition to the afore mentioned 5 normal types, three abnormal types were encountered:
Type F—A smooth or angled nut, triangular in cross section—found
in the same trees as normal nut forms (Fig. 6f).
Type G—A smooth or angled nut square in cross section—found
on the same trees as normal nut forms (Fig. 6g).
Type H—A Siamese twin form occurring very rarely on the same
trees as other normal forms (Fig. 6h).
Type A was the commonest form of nut found in the Onondaga County area. It roughly exceeded Types B, D and E by a 2:1 ratio. Type C exceeded Types B, D and E with a ratio of about 7:5 in frequency of occurrence. Types B and D were the two most easily cracked nut forms when using a hammer and anvil for a cracking device. It should be noted at this time that all of the abnormal fruit types were found in conjunction with normal fruit types. Thus, one individual tree used as a collection might produce both a normal nut type (A, B, C, D or E) and an abnormal nut type (F, G or H). Occasionally a few nuts in a collection from one tree might be classed as a second normal type. This was rare however (5 cases) and only occurred in "borderline trees" which were then classified and recorded as per the dominant nut type for the tree. It should be noted here that the nut type did not vary from year to year for the trees examined. Also the frequency of nut crops varied considerably; less than 1/4 of the sample trees produced nuts each year. Most of the trees produced crops in alternate years, and a very few have not fruited in the third year following a heavy nut crop.
The 158 trees examined provided the following distribution by fruit types:
———————-+—————————+————————————————
| Number of | Number of abnormal types found
Fruit Type | Individual Trees | in conjunction with
| | normal types
—————-+—-+—————————+————————————————
| | | F G H
—————-+—-+—————————+————————————————
Normal | A | 54 | 5 2 1
| B | 23 | 2 1
| C | 36 | 1 2
| D | 21 | 7 1
| E | 24 | 4 1
—————-|—-+—————————+————————————————
| | 158 collections |
—————-+—-+—————————+————————————————
Abnormal | F | 15 | 15
| G | 8 | 8
| H | 4 | 4
———————-+—————————+————————————————
27 collections
Shell color of the nuts varied between a brownish white and a pinkish white color when fully dried. From the trees used as a sample, there were 14 which might be classed in the brownish white categories, and the remainder (144) as pinkish white or creamy white. Types B and C were the ones which most frequently were found with the brownish white nutshell color. Type A was typically pinkish or creamy white in color.
Nutshell thickness varied somewhat. In all but 2 cases, the nuts were too hard to crack with the teeth. The thin-shelled ones are comparatively thin only, being about like paper-shelled pecans with the shell thinnest on the sides of the nut. It is not suggested that these two thin-shelled nuts be exploited as paper-shelled shagbarks since they are poorly formed nuts and of small size. One of the two trees might be a hybrid since it does not have a ciliate leaflet margin although the buds, bark and leaves are typical of shagbark hickory. The minimum shell thickness observed for the side of the nut was 1/2 a millimeter (0.5 mm.) and the thickest was 2.0 millimeters. As previously stated, nut types B and D (the elliptical and obovate nut forms) were the easiest to crack. Nut type A was the most difficult and had generally the thickest shell.
The seed coat color range was from a light tan to a bronze color. The seed itself was in all cases sweet although certain of the nuts had a more pleasing taste than others. The nuts eventually became rancid though 3 years of storage in a heated room did not cause the bulk of the test samples to change in flavor. This is unlike the pecan which, stored in the same room with the hickory nuts, became rancid by the following year after collection.
Summary of Observations
The following observations concerning shagbark hickory may be made from this study:
(1) The buds of shagbark fall into 2 classes based on bud shape, (1) globose-ovate and (2) elliptical, the latter being the largest bud as a rule.
(2) The buds of shagbark fall into 2 classes based upon the length of the attenuated apex of the outer bud scales. The elliptical form of bud consistently had the longest drawn out apex.
(3) Normal buds of shagbark occur singly on the twigs above the lobed leaf scar; however, 2, 3 or 4 superposed buds may occur on very fast grown sprouts or terminal shoots of vigorously growing trees.
(4) The twigs of shagbark are pubescent but range in degrees from almost none to densely pubescent. The fastest grown twigs are apt to be the least pubescent.
(5) Leaves are compound with 3-5 leaflets commonly found and 7 leaflets rarely found.
(6) Leaflet shapes varied from tree to tree being ovate, obovate or elliptical.
(7) Leaflet margins with one exception were more or less ciliate.
(8) Most female flowers of shagbark have 2 stigmatic lobes, however, 3 stigmatic lobes resulting in triangular nuts are not uncommon.
(9) The typical male ament is three branched but one and two branched aments have been observed.
(10) The husk of shagbark varies in thickness from 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch in thickness when dry. The usual husk is 4-parted but one tree bore 5-parted husks consistently.
The average husk thickness is around 1/4 inch.
(12) There are three general fruit shapes, (1) globose, (2) ovoid and (3) obovate.
(13) There are at least 5 general types of normal nut shapes for
Onondaga County, N. Y. as listed in the text of this paper.
(14) Three abnormal nut types were also encountered growing
concurrently with the normal types.
(15) Nutshell color varied from brownish to creamy white. The darker colors were generally associated with the elliptical, oval or obovate nut forms.
(16) Nutshell thickness varied between 1/2 and 2 millimeters; the more angled the nut, the thicker the shell.
(17) All of the hickory nuts tested had sweet, edible seeds. The seed coats varied from a light tan to a bronze in color.
Conclusions
Within the single species of nut tree called shagbark hickory, Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch., in central New York, there exists a great degree of diversity. However, in spite of these differences, the examined sample trees may be placed without a question in their proper genus and species and the author would venture the opinion that the advisability of placing variety names on portions of the species is a doubtful and hazardous procedure until much more is known concerning the species than is known at present.
MR. PAPE: This paper is the result of the fact that some of us down in Indiana are losing 75 to 95 per cent of our hickory crop each year by the curculio, and what we are trying to do is work up a little interest with this paper, so at the conclusion of this we can get a discussion started and learn the experiences of other people. Maybe you will be able to help us down in Indiana.
The Control of the Hickory Weevil (Curculio caryae)
EDWARD W. PAPE, Marion, Indiana
It is our thought that if some effort were made to bring to this assembly, a digest of what has been done to control the Hickory weevil, we might arouse enough interest to carry on some experiments.
If, at the conclusion of this paper, we can get enough discussion, we will be able to avail ourselves of the knowledge and experiences of others who have made attempts to control this pest, it would be to our advantage.
The Pecan weevil of the south and the Hickory weevil are identical and we learn the following from the experiments carried out by G. F. Moznette, Bureau of Entomology, U.S.D.A.
Pecan weevil damage is of two types—(1) that resulting from attack before the shell-hardening period in July and August and causing all affected nuts to drop, and (2) that resulting from attack after kernel formation and usually causing the shuck of infested nuts to stick tight to the shell instead of opening normally. Weevil-injured nuts of the second type contain grubs which destroy the kernels, or they contain holes about one-eighth inch in diameter which mature grubs have bored and through which they escaped after destroying the kernels. The first type of damage often passes unnoticed and is due to the feeding of early emerging weevils, which puncture the immature nuts with their long lancelike beaks to feed on the juices within. Since all nuts punctured in this way before the shell-hardening period drop to the ground, the entire crop may be lost if weevils are abundant and the crop is light. Such damage may be heavy even when a large crop is attacked. The second type of damage is generally noticeable at harvest-time in October and November, and in seasons when large numbers of weevils have been present practically the entire crop may be wormy at harvest.
Since the weevils do not feed very much on the outer surface of developing pecan nuts, stomach poisons applied to trees have been of little practical value in control. In 1944, however, laboratory tests showed that DDT could kill the adults, and that it was worthy of field trial.
Field tests were made at Fort Valley, Georgia, with DDT and the conclusions drawn from these tests show that the effectiveness of two applications of DDT at the rate of 6 pounds of a 50-percent wettable powder to 100 gallons of water in reducing harvest infestations to 1 percent gives rise to the hope that this treatment, applied for several seasons, will eliminate a pecan weevil infestation in an orchard, or will reduce it to such an extent that spraying every year will not be necessary.
The time of the first application of DDT cannot be based on the time of the first drop of nuts, because other pecan insects also cause the nuts to drop during July and August. However, pecan growers who wish to make the effort can time the first application accurately by spreading a sheet on the ground beneath an infested tree and lightly jarring the branches to dislodge the weevils. When the weevils are disturbed they fall and "play possum" and can be easily collected. When a minimum of six weevils can be taken by jarring the branches on any one tree, it is time to make the first application.
While the above will probably give an indication as to what can be done, using DDT to control the Hickory weevil, for those who have large plantings and can afford the expensive spraying equipment necessary, it will be necessary to look farther for control methods for the small orchard, where expensive equipment is not feasible.
The following is part of a letter from Dr. C. C. Compton, Entomologist for the Julius Hyman and Company.
"It is our thought that since DIELDRIN is so highly toxic to Curculionids it might be possible to take advantage of the habits of this insect and control it by spraying the soil surface. The larval stage of this insect leaves the nuts and enters the soil sometime in the fall. It is believed that the larvae penetrate the soil rather deeply, to a depth of perhaps a foot or more and remain in the soil over winter. In the spring or early summer the larvae transform to adults and emerge to lay their eggs. In some regions at least the adults do not emerge until the second year after the larvae enter the ground.
It is our thought that if DIELDRIN was applied to the surface of the soil that many of the larvae would be killed upon entering the soil or would be killed at some later time when the adults emerge.
Dr. C. L. Fluke at the University of Wisconsin has been working for the past several years with DIELDRIN applied as an orchard spray for the control of plum curculio. In Dr. Fluke's work he applied the DIELDRIN to the orchard floor or cover. He has had some very promising results. Dr. Fluke has used two application rates, namely, six pounds and three pounds of DIELDRIN per acre. Since he obtained a high degree of control at the three pound level, it would seem worthwhile to investigate the possibilities of applying even a lower rate, say one and a half pounds per acre. In Dr. Fluke's work he applied the DIELDRIN to the soil in the orchard using a DIELDRIN emulsifiable concentrate containing one and a half pounds per gallon.
DIELDRIN is now available impregnated on a 30-60 mesh attapulgus clay. Such formulations are now available containing 5%, 10%, and 15% DIELDRIN. The DIELDRIN granules would appear to have certain advantages over liquid sprays where the grove has considerable ground cover. A high percentage of the insecticide is retained by the cover and does not reach the soil. The 30-60 mesh granules have the advantage of penetrating even the densest cover and their application results in a maximum deposit of the insecticide on the soil surface.
Groves or orchards under cultivation can be sprayed or treated with the granules. In either case it is advisable to disc the insecticide into the soil following application.
The granules are free flowing and can be applied quite readily with any fertilizer or distributor.
Without any field experience to go by it would seem that a 5% 30-60 mesh DIELDRIN granule formulation would be most convenient to use. By using a 5% DIELDRIN granule material you would obtain a dosage of 1-1/2 pound of actual DIELDRIN per acre by applying 30 pounds of granules per acre. Likewise, 60 pounds of the granules per acre would give a dosage of 3 pound of DIELDRIN. On the basis of work done with DIELDRIN for the control of the Japanese beetle, 3 pounds of DIELDRIN per acre will control this insect for more than 5 years. While it is not safe to assume that we could expect the same results in the case of the Hickory weevil, it does give us something to go by."
It seems likely that the foregoing will create some interest and that by the time of the next annual meeting we should have the results from the use of DIELDRIN to control the Hickory weevil.
MR. PAPE: It is my thought now if we could get a little discussion here concerning what some of you have been doing to control this pest, we might get somewhere, or at least get enough suggestions or get enough parties interested to carry on some experiments in different parts of the country.
MR. SILVIS: What company makes Dieldrin?
MR. PAPE: Julius Hyman Company is the one that sent the most literature and Shell Corporation local agents handle it. Also in Indiana the Farm Bureau Cooperative store handles it. The cost in small quantities is two pounds for 85 cents.
MR. KYHL: Is Dieldrin poison?
MR. PAPE: It's poison like all of these modern sprays, but it isn't as dangerous as Parathion.
MR. STOKE: In Virginia I have had no experience with DDT, except with chestnut, and it takes three sprays at two-week intervals to control the pest.
DR. GRAVES: What time of the year?
MR. STOKE: Apply the last spray about two weeks before the nuts ripen. That means, with us, starting in late July. You have to figure it for your own region.
MR. GRAVATT: There is literature available from the Bureau of Entomology in Washington on spraying to control pecan and chestnut weevils. They have done quite a bit of research on it.
MR. STOKE: If this ground treatment is effective, I'd like to try it.
It's a lot easier.
MR. PAPE: That would be very nice if you would repeat the work in
Virginia. I know that the Pecan Growers will work on the problem in the
South. If we could get work done in the Central States, it would be an
advantage for all of us.
MR. STOKE: In my area the control of the pest is complicated by the presence of the chinquapin.
PRESIDENT BEST: We have a surprise feature this afternoon. Dr. Graves of the Connecticut Experiment station, who, as you know, is the father of a lot of this work on chestnuts, has consented to discuss with us certain new procedures that he used in grafting chestnuts.
DR. GRAVES: We have worked with this method of inarching blighted chestnuts so long and found it so successful that I felt it my duty to tell you people something about it. It's really a method of cure for the blight on Oriental chestnuts and their hybrids. I have not found it to work well on the American chestnut.
Now, suppose we have our tree, with a blighted area on the trunk. I am assuming that the blight starts near the base of the tree as it usually does.
When you see it, you cut it out with a sharp knife removing the bark to the wood. Blighted trees send up shoots from the base, below the blighted bark. So you take one of these shoots, sharpen it at the top and insert this sharpened tip under the healthy bark at the top of the blighted area. The shoot should be a little longer than the blighted area so that you can get a spring to the shoot as you push its tip in between the bark and the trunk. Even if it goes up above and breaks the bark a little bit, it doesn't matter. This inarched shoot renews the connection between the leaves and the roots across the blighted area.
You know the leaves make the food of the tree, which goes down in the bark to the roots. The reason blight kills these trees is that it begins to girdle and sometimes does girdle the tree and destroys the connection between the leaves and the roots, so the roots eventually die. But by this method of inarching you restore that connection between leaves and roots.
Now, you'd be surprised to see how well that's worked with us. We tried it first in 1937. We have been doing it now for 16 years. Every spring we take our trees that show the blight, our hybrids and Oriental chestnuts, and inarch, and the whole thing doesn't take more than a few minutes. Then after our shoot is inarched here, we tie it with old-fashioned string. The tips of the inarched grafts should be covered with grafting wax or paraffin.
The scion will probably send out shoots which should be removed. And another thing, cut the string when you know the graft has taken above.
If the blighted area is higher up in the tree, you can use bridge graft. This, you can see, is a kind of bridge grafting. But in bridge grafting, the scion must be anchored in the bark both above and below the lesion.
As I say, we have cured our hybrids. There doesn't need to be anybody losing a Chinese chestnut tree ever, using this method. No sense in it. You can usually do this grafting in the spring about April when the leaves and the buds are beginning to show their green.
Any questions?
MR. DAVIDSON: You say you paint the wood?
DR. GRAVES: Yes, with any ordinary paint. There is a tree wood paint, I know, that's better, but we use ordinary paint.
Meeting adjourned at 4:50 o'clock, p.m.
"What's Your Problem?"—Round Table Discussion
Moderator: J. W. McKay
Panel: J. C. McDaniel, D. C. Snyder, Jesse D. Diller, Stephen Bernath
DR. MCKAY: In these panel discussions the moderator usually lays a little background as an introduction to the subject of the evening. This title came from a conversation with Dr. Crane. We were talking about people asking questions about their problems, and decided to have a panel discussion. Right there we chose the title, "What's your problem?"
All of us have problems to deal with in every walk of life. We run up against difficulties, and usually much of our time is taken up in solving or coping with them. At Beltsville we answer a great many letters, and a great many people ask us about their problems. In answering problems, we push the industry forward, because we remove something that is holding it back.
Sometimes the answer to a problem is found by trying to analyze our successes. In growing nut trees we may have an unusually good crop on a particular variety or tree. The question is, why does that tree bear well that particular year, and very frequently it is difficult to understand why. It is very difficult, for example, in the case of one success, to repeat that success, because the second time you try to do it, something else comes in, and you probably have a failure and, well, you don't know why. It is frequently very difficult to analyze our successes. Another way of stating it is, of course, that our successes are often Nature's gift, and we do not know the factors and the forces that go into that gift.
I want to digress here just a little bit by quoting one thing that Mr. Best said. I wish, by the way, that we could incorporate some of his homey philosophy into some of our minutes so as to really benefit by some of his remarks. I was impressed this morning by his statement in dealing with a "fairyland of nuts," you remember that language he used, "no diseases, no insects, no failures."
DR. MACDANIEL: No squirrels.
DR. MCKAY: Wouldn't that be wonderful? I was impressed with another thing he said; I wrote it down here: "People are not going to break down with emotion when we talk about the old hollow tree down in the corner of the pasture where the 'possums were hatched." Language like that, to me, strikes a very harmonious note. I want to continue this digression a little to consider the fact that all of us, in a sense, are hobbyists in nut growing.
Hobbies in this day and age are coming to be more important all the time, because of the fast pace at which we live. We need to leave our regular duties once in a while and get out in the garden or the forest where we can observe nature and get away from some of the stresses and strains that modern living places upon us.
On this trip we were taking a hike along the north rim of Grand Canyon in an organized nature walk. The trees, bushes and flowers were all labelled right down the walk, and we came to this little poem on a regulation label. It goes like this:
"If you keep your nose to the grindstone rough,
And you keep it there long enough,
You will cease to hear the birds that sing,
And the brooks that babble in early spring,
And finally all that your world will compose,
Will be the grindstone and your poor, old nose."
So that little poem strikes a real note about a person's hobby. You keep your nose to the grindstone, you will forget all these things. You need to get away from the grindstone once in a while. I don't mean to neglect your work, but I do mean to at least take a little time to go out and look at your trees and forget your troubles and relax and get away from the stresses and strains that modern living places on us.
Going back now to the subject; we asked you, through the Nutshell and through members of the Program Committee, to send in the biggest problem in connection with whatever nut species you grow.
The seventeen replies received included eight problems as follows: (1) brooming disease of walnut; (2) early vegetating particularly of Carpathian walnut and frost damage resulting therefrom; (3) delayed fruiting of chestnut seedlings; (4) season too short for ripening of fruit; (5) squirrels get the nuts; (6) failure of hicans to set fruit; (7) grafting problems under which are grouped all asexual propagation and cuttings; and, finally, (8) getting hickory trees established.
This is a rather low number, but I think out of those eight problems submitted you have a good representation of some of the things about which members of this Association talk when they come to meetings. I will first ask the audience if there is any one who would like to ask a particular question at this time.
MR. BECKER: At the Weber planting at Rockport, Indiana last year, we saw no nuts on the trees. I would like to know what is the cause for those trees not bearing.
DR. MACDANIEL: I would think that failure to bear was caused by a combination of things; lack of soil fertility, in the first place, soil physical conditions, probably insect damage and diseases like anthracnose keeping the trees from being vigorous, overcrowding now, with many of them, and perhaps to some extent genetic, some varieties that just naturally don't fruit very heavily.
DR. McKAY: Any others in the audience care to comment on that question?
MR. STOKE: Weather conditions, freezing may have caused it.
DR. MACDANIELS: My impression was that the trees were starving to death. Cutting down the competition with the weeds and feeding them nitrate would help.
DR. MCKAY: I think most members felt there that the trees were probably crowding each other.
MR. BECKER: They had never borne, had they?
MR. WILKINSON: I don't like to comment on it. My opinion is it's due to the undergrowth under the trees. Keeping the circulation of the air to the roots of the trees has an effect on its non-bearing. Up until they quit cultivating and pasturing the orchard, it bore, but after they quit, production stopped. There is a two- or three-year growth of grass and weeds, a mat on the ground, and I think it's a lack of air to the roots of the trees.
DR. MCKAY: Mr. Wilkinson, I heard the question raised as to whether the orchard had ever produced heavily or not. Can you answer that?
MR. WILKINSON: Yes, it certainly did for several years. As long as it was cared for, it was a heavy producer.
DR. MCKAY: How long ago was that, could you say?
MR. WILKINSON: That's been eight years and farther back. Nothing has been done for it in the past eight years.
MR. BEST: May I make a comment? Last year in our part of the country, which is a little bit west of the orchard we are talking about, we had almost zero weather in November before the leaves were off of the trees, and I felt that that took all the buds off our trees. We didn't have any nuts even on varieties that would bear every year. There are hardly any. And I think that cold freeze in the fall before the buds really got ready for it did a lot of damage.
DR. MACDANIEL: I believe that was a factor in the light walnut crop in that area last year, though some trees did bear.
DR. MCKAY: Of course, I think many of us fail to realize that a tree is a thing that's confined to one spot, and when it fills the ground with feeding roots and mines the soil of all nutrients near it, it's stymied, so to speak, until we give it some more food. Isn't that right, Dr. Crane.
DR. CRANE: That's right.
DR. MCKAY: And trees, when they reach out as far as they can and can't get any more food and no more leaves are allowed to fall on the ground, nature doesn't add any nutrients anymore, naturally, those trees are in a bad way and will continue to be until fertilizer is applied in some way.
A MEMBER: I'd like to trim my Persian walnuts so I can walk under the lowest limb. Does that have an adverse effect upon the bearing of the tree?
MR. BERNATH: I don't think that's good, to trim them too high. I think the lower the tree the better it handles all along. Take the fruit growers, they aim to have the trees as low as possible to make picking and spraying easy. If you prune a tree, especially the Persian walnut, too much, it will have a bad effect on the tree.
DR. McKAY: What about the effect on bearing?
MR. BERNATH: You won't have fruit for several years until the tree recovers what it has lost in foliage.
MR. KINTZEL: I have followed the orchards in California, and I have noticed they follow the practice of leaving the lower branches on the trees, and I have noticed that the lower branches have a lot of nuts on them, also. The branches are hanging down on the ground.
MR. KERR: In France and Germany, they are crazy to get wood, and so they cut off all the low limbs. I have a Persian walnut that is beside the walk, and they cut off the low limbs because they hit the sidewalk. This year I got a tremendous crop.
MR. SILVIS: I think this man has a tree that he wants to walk under.
Under these circumstances he can cut off the low limbs. I agree with Mr.
Bernath, however, that it will reduce the crop for two or three years.
MR. BERNATH: Yes, but he should start pruning when the tree is young. A tree is just like a child: you have to start to train them while they are young.
MR. STOKE: You must consider the tree at all ages. In the young tree Mr. Bernath is right, it will produce sooner if you leave all the leaves on. But we must consider the mature tree. The branches that are low to the ground have to have the sunlight and if they do not get it they become practically barren during later years. If the lower branches are cut back when they are young and the tree headed higher, the Persian walnut will have a trunk, say, 10 feet to 14 feet to the first limb, but these will produce walnuts ultimately. I think the gentleman is right in having the tree pruned high enough to walk under, and he will get more nuts in the long run than if he lets the lower limbs develop and then eventually cut them down.
DR. MACDANIEL: We had an example of that with that huge black walnut tree with black walnuts starting out 30 feet in the air arching down and touching the ground. But you wouldn't want to do that immediately with a young tree, take all the branches up so high.
A MEMBER: Do you have any control for the stink bug on filberts?
DR. MCKAY: We haven't worked with the control of stink bug, because it is what might be classed as one of our minor problems. The damage is not so great but what we can overlook it at the present time.
DR. CRANE: In pecan and almond growing in California the effective control measure for stink bug is the elimination of the host plants on which the stink bug breeds. Peach growers have the same problem. Stink bug will, if allowed to multiply in a peach orchard, ruin the peaches, making injuries very similar to that caused by the plum curculio. The only satisfactory method of control of stink bug injury is to eliminate the host plants on which they live, such as most legume plants, blackberry briars and other brambles. In an orchard, in a grass sod, stink bug is no problem, but where we have soy beans or cow peas or something like that growing in the orchard, or we have blackberry briars or wild raspberries nearby, stink bug is a bad problem.
DR. GRAVATT: I have filbert trees, and the stink bug gets practically all the nuts. The entomologists looked into the situation, and the condition that Dr. Crane mentioned was borne out. If there are blackberries around, it will be quite a problem to control the stink bugs.
DR. MCKAY: Now I am going to take up the problems that have been sent in by mail. The one dealing with early vegetating and frost damage to Persian walnuts was sent in by the most people.
Mr. Snyder lives in a fairly cold country. I am going to ask him to give us his ideas on this problem and what might be done with it.
MR. SNYDER: I am not qualified to discuss that problem, because we can't do anything much with Carpathian walnuts. We do have some grafted this year, and we will have one, in particular, Carpathian, No. 5—I don't know where it got that number—Crath No. 5, I believe it is, on a young grafted black walnut tree which is ripening up almost ahead of the black walnut, and both have made a remarkable growth. But so far as the spring is concerned, I don't know how they will come out.
DR. MCKAY: Mr. Bernath, what are your views? You live in a fairly cold area. You propagate Persian walnuts. What is your opinion of this problem?
MR. BERNATH: Well, there is a way to help that situation. After the ground freezes, keep that ground frozen. That will delay the growth of that tree, if you have the time and patience to keep the ground frozen.
MR. SNYDER: I don't believe it.
MR. BERNATH: Yes, it will.
DR. MCKAY: It seems to me we have a difference of opinion here between Mr. Snyder and Mr. Bernath. The question is this: During a warm spell in the spring will a tree with frozen roots grow up here in the air. That's the question.
(There was a chorus of "yes"es from the audience).
MR. STOKE: I would say that one good solution is to select late vegetating varieties. Mr. Oakes in a report to me on the blooming habits of Persian walnuts, stated that the variety Schaeffer did not start growth until the 29th of April. That is almost four weeks later than most other varieties. And I know from the tabulations that I have made that some varieties are weeks ahead of others. So let's select the late varieties that are good and worthwhile and plant those.
In my section our latest spring frost averages the 20th of April, and yet I have several varieties that do not bloom until after the first of May. That's the ideal condition.
DR. MCKAY: That's true, Mr. Stoke, but here is another point to consider. Persian walnuts have a short cold requirement, you know that. Hence, in February or early March or any time, even in January, when we have a warm spell of a week or ten days or even shorter, sap will rise in the trees, and they will start to grow.
MR. STOKE: Not all. In plants of some varieties new growth will hardly start.
DR. MCKAY: Perhaps you may have varieties that will not start, but the tendency is to start.
MR. STOKE: If you have one with that early tendency, cut it out.
DR. MCKAY: I'd like to get back to this opinion here on the question of frozen ground, dormant roots and the effect it has on the top of the tree. Now, how about our academicians over here, Dr. MacDaniels or Dr. Crane. Let's hear from one of you.
DR. MACDANIELS: It is my opinion that with a walnut tree of good size the frozen ground would have little or no effect on the buds starting growth. The twigs and the trunk would warm up to the temperature of the air, and when that happens growth occurs. Water is available from that in the trunk and the deeper roots. This would happen regardless of how the surface roots were treated.
DR. MACDANIEL: Or whether the tree had any roots on at the time.
DR. MACDANIELS: The best solution to the frost damage problem is to find trees which vegetate late enough to avoid the spring frosts. Somewhere on this terrestrial globe there must be some, because I remember years ago J. F. Jones sent out some Persian walnuts of Chinese origin. I planted three, and they did not start any growth until about the first of July, and they were still growing strong when frost hit them in the fall. Now, somewhere in between these extremes, somewhere in the climatic analogue of our region we will find Persian walnuts which will have a delayed vegetating period, and that will be the final answer. At least, I think so.