NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING NEW YORK CITY NOVEMBER 17, 1910 NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING NEW YORK CITY NOVEMBER 17, 1910 K2W YC*^-K BOTANiC/rL The proceedings of this meeting were those of organization only A report will be found on pages 8 and 9 of the Report of the second meeting. NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING ITHACA, NEW YORK DECEMBER 14 AND 15. 1911 MR. HENRY HALES OF RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY And the Original Hales Paper Shell Hickory Tree NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING ITHACA. NEW YORK DECEMBER 14 AND 15, 1911 PRESS OF THE ITHACA JOURNAL ITHACA. NEW YORK 19 12 TABLE OF C(3NTENTS Page Officers and Committees of the Association ------ 3 Members of tlie Association - - 4 Constitution and Rules of the Association- ...--- 6 Proceedings of the meeting held at Ithaca, New York, Dec. 14th and 15th, 1911 7 Address of Welcome by Professor Craig ------- 7 Secretary's Report of the Meeting for Organization held in New York Nov. 17th, 1910 8 Secretary-Treasurers' Report for the Year 10 Discussion on Juglans Mandshurica 12 President's Address. The Hickories, Robert T. Morris, M. D. - - 14 Discussion 21 The Chestnut Bark Disease. J. Franklin Collins, Washington, D. C. - 37 Discussion 43 Nut Growing in the Northern States. C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C. - 49 Discussion 56 The Indiana Pecan. T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. - - - - 62 Discussion - - - - 74 Executive Session --•--. 75 The Bench Root-Grafting of Persian Walnuts and Pecans. C. P. Close, Washington. D. C. . . . 79 Discussion 80 The Hales' Paper Shell Hickory. Henry Hales, Ridgewood, New Jersey 85 Discussion 86 Nut Promotions. W. C. Deming, M. D., New York 89 Some Facts Concerning Pecan Trees for Planting in the North. W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Virginia 92 Discussion 95 The Scolytus Beetle. Prof. G. W. Herrick, Ithaca, New York - - 96 Discussion - 99 The Persian Walnut in California. Prof. B. R. Lake, Washington, D. C. 100 Discussion 102 Is There a Future for Juglans Regia and Hicoria Pecan in New York and New England? Prof. John Craig, Ithaca, N. Y. - - - - 106 Resolutions and Executive Session 109 Exhibits 110 Appendix Ill Miscellaneous Notes Ill Report of Committee on Exhibits - - 111 Prize Nuts - - - ----- 112 Report of the Committee on the Nomenclature of Juglans Mandshurica and the Shellbark Hickories 114 The Hickory Bark Borer. Circular and Correspondence - - . ng Resolutions of the Pennsylvania Conference on the Chestnut-tree Bark Disease 122 OFFICERS President Robert T. ^Morris (^Indiana -^L^ Vice-President T. P. Littlepage New Yo^^ ^ • Secretary and TreasurerW. C. Deniing Westchester, New York City COMMITTEES Executive John Craig C. A. Reed W. N. Roper And the Officers On Promising Seedlings T. P. Littlepage C. A. Reed W. C. Deming On Membership W. C. Deming E. R. Lake J. G. Rush W. N. Roper On Nomenclature John Craig R. T. Morris W. C. Deming On Hybrids R. T. Morris Henry Hicks C. P. Close On Press and Publication W. N. Roper T. P. Littlepage "W. C. Deming Connecticut Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Louisiana Maryland INIassachusetts Minnesota New Jersey New York Ohio Panama Pennsylvania Virginia STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS Charles II. Plump H. Harold Hume G. C. Schempp, Jr. Dr. F. S. Crocker R. L. McCoy J. P. Jones C. P. Close Bernhard Hoffman C. A. Van Duzee A. B. IMalcomson A. C. Pomeroy J. H. Dayton B. F. Womack J. G. Rush W. N. Roper West Redding Glen St. Mary Albany, Route 3 Chicago Lake, Spencer Co. Jeanerette Washington, D. C. Stockbridge St. Paul West Orange Lockport Painesville Canal Zone West Willow Petersburg MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION Abbott, Frederick B., 419 9th St, Brooldyn, N. Y. Barron, Leonard, Editor The Garden Magazine, Garden City, L. I. Benner, Charles, 100 Broadway, New York City. Button, Herbert, Bonnie Brook Farm, Cazenovia, N. Y. Chute, Miss Bessie, 1024 University Ave. S. E., Minneapolis, Minn. Clendenin, Rev. Dr. F. ]\I., Westchester, New York City. Close, Prof. C. P., Expert in Fruit Identification, U. S. Dept. of Agri- culture, Washington, D. C. Coleman, H. H., the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Newark, N. J. Craig, Prof. John, New York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y. Crocker, Dr. F. S., Columbus Memorial Building, Chicago, 111. Dayton, J. H., Painesville, Ohio. Representing the Storrs & Harrison Company. Deming, Dr. N. L.. Litchfield, Conn. Deming, Dr. W. C, Westchester, New York City. Deming, Mrs. W. C, Georgetown, Conn. Dennis, Dr. Frank L., The Colchester, Colorado Springs, Colorado. *Hales, Henry, Ridgewood, N. J. Hicks, Henry, Westburj^ Station, L. I. Hoffman, Bernhard, Stockbridge, Mass. Holden, E. B., Hilton, N. Y. Holmes, J. A., 127 Eddy St., Ithaca, N. Y. Hume, H. Harold, Glen St. I\Iary, Fla. Hungerford, Newman, 45 Prospect St., Hartford, Conn. tHuntington, A. :SL, 15 W. 81st St., New York City. James, Dr. W. B., 17 W. 54th St., New York City. Jessup, Miss Maud M.. 440 (40) Thomas St., Grand Rapids, Mich. t Jones, J. F., Jeanerette, La. Kiefer, Louis W., 901 N. Elm St., Henderson, Ky. Lake, Prof. E. R., Asst. Pomologist, Dept. of Agric, Washington, D. C. 'Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks Co., Pa. McCoy, R. L., Ohio Valley Forest Nursery, Lake, Spencer Co., Ind. Malcomson, A. B., 132 Nassau St., New York City. Mayo, E. S., Rochester. N. Y. Representing Glen Brothers. Meehan, S. Mendelson, Germanto^^'n, Phila., Pa. Representing Thomas Meehan and Sons. Miller, ]\Irs. E. B., Enid. Oklahoma. R. 7, Box 471/0. Miller, ]\Irs. Seaman, c/o Mr. Seaman Miller, 2 Rector St., N. Y. City. Morris, Dr. Robert T., 616 Madison Ave., New York City. Moses, Theodore W., Harvard Club, 27 W. 44th St., New York City. Pierson, Miss A. Elizabeth, Cromwell, Conn. Plump, Chas. H., West Redding. Conn. Pomeroy, A. C, Lockport, N. Y. Potter, Hon. W. 0., Marion, 111. Reed, C. A., Div. of Pomology, U. S. Dept. of Agric., Washington, D. C. Riehl. E. A., Alton, 111. Roper, Wm. N., Arrowfield Nursery Co., Petersburg, Va. Rose, Wm. J.. 413 Market St., Harrisburg, Pa. Rush, J. G., West Willow, Pa. Sensenig. Wayne. Schempp. G. C, Jr., Route 3, Albany, Ga. Shoemaker, Seth W., Agric. Ed. Int. Corresp. Schools, Scranton, Pa. Smith, Goldwin, Highland Creek, Ontario, Canada. Smith, Percival P., 108 S. La Salle St., Chicago, 111. Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City. Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul, Minn. Walter, Dr. Harry, The Chalfonte, Atlantic City, N. J. Wentink, Frank, 75 Grove St.. Passaic, N. J. Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., New York City. Williams, Harrison, Erie R. R. Co., 50 Church St., New York City. tWissmann, Mrs. F. deR., 707 Fifth Ave., New York City. Womack, B. F., Ancon Canal Zone, Panama. *Honorarv member. tLife member. Constitution and Rules op the Northern Nut Growers Association. Name. The society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers Association. Object. The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their prod- ucts and their culture. 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 approval of the committee on membership. Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a secretary- treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which the president, vice-president and secretary shall be members; and a state vice-president from each state represented in the member- ship of the association. Election of Officers. A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the subsequent year. 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. Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars. Discipline. The committee on membership may make recommendations to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any mem- ber. Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees of three members each to consider and report on the following topics at each annual meeting: first, on promising seedlings; second, on nomenclature ; third, on hybrids ; fourth, on membership j fifth, on press and publication. The Northern Nut Growers Association SECOND ANNUAL MEETING THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1911, 10 A. M. Room 191, New York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca, New York. President Morris : The meeting is called to order and I will first ask Professor Craig to make a few remarks on behalf of the College Director and the President of the University. Professor Craig: It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome the representatives of the Northern Nut Growers' Association in this, their second annual meeting, to the New York State College of Agriculture. I regret exceedingly that Director Bailey, who has been avoiding out of state engagements this winter quite generally, made one about two months ago for this day, about a thousand miles away, which makes it absolutely impossible for him to be with us. He regretted this very much, and asked me particularly to impress upon you the idea that he was most anxious that this Association should meet here, and that all the facilities of the College of Agriculture should be placed at your dis- posal, for the purpose of making your meeting as profitable and as pleasant as possible. President Schurman, whose time at this period of the year is much monopolized and who is by previous engagements occupied very com- pletely this morning, has asked me to say to you that he hoped to be able to come over and join us informally some time during the afternoon. I wish then to impress the thought that, although ,. the official representa- tives of the University and College are not with us, they have not for- gotten this meeting. As a member of the Executive Committee, in charge of the sessions, I have made up a tentative program for this morning for the purpose of starting the meeting off ; and as the Presi- dent will undoubtedly tell you later on, this program is subject to re- vision and change according to the convenience of the members. It is proposed to occupy this morning with regular program subjects, and it has been suggested that this afternoon we take a couple of hours' leisure which we may use in examining the exhibits or in viewing the University, if you care to consider that an exhibit worth while. It will be our pleasure to furnish guides for those who desire to make an excur- sion around and through the University buildings. 8 Let me say in eonelusiuu that I hope you will make use of the op- portunities and facilities that are at your full disposal. The Depart- ment of Horticulture is located on the second floor. I would like you to make that office your headquarters, and make use of our clerical force, and such facilities as are available, to the fullest measure pos- sible, so that your visit will be pleasant, as Tarn sure it will be profitable. President Morris: The next order of business will be the report from the Secretary-Treasurer, and the report of the last meeting. Doctor Deming : A meeting for organization of Northern Nut Growers was held, on the invitation of Dr. N. L. Britton, at the Botani- cal Museum in Bronx Park, New York City, on Nov. 17th, 1910. Dr. Britton called the meeting to order, stated its purpose and pre- sented specimens. Those present were : Dr. N. L. Britton, Director N. Y. Botanic Gardens. Dr. Robert T. Morris, 616 Madison Ave., New York City. Prof. John Craig, of Cornell University. Mr. T. P. Littlepage, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Mr. A. B. Malcomson, Orange, N. J. Mr. Henry Hales, Ridgewood, N. J. Mrs. Joseph L. Lovett, Emilie, Bucks County, Pa. Mrs. Yardly (with Mrs. Lovett). Dr. Geo. Knapp. (at the request of Simpson Bros., Vincennes, Ind.) 21 Claremont Ave., New York City. Mr. C. A. Schwartze, 92 Stagg St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Nash, of the Botanical Museum. Dr. W. C. Deming, Westchester, New York City. On the retirement of Dr. Britton Dr. Deming acted as temporary chairman and read a number of letters from persons interested in nut culture encouraging the formation of an association. The chairman appointed Prof. Craig, Dr. Morris and Mr. Little- page a committee to draw up a tentative constitution or set of working Tules until permanent organization could be effected. The committee made the following report which was adopted with the understanding that the executive committee should consider the question of constitu- tion and by-laws and report at the next regular meeting. Name. The society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers Association. Object. The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their prod- ucts and their culture. Memhership. ^Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence or nationality. Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, a secretary- treasurer and an executive committee of five persons, of which latter the president and secretary shall be members. Mrctiiigs. The association shall hold an annual meeting on or about Nov. 15 and such other special meetings as may seem desirable, these to be called by the president and executive committee. Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be $2.00. the latter $20.00. In addition to the large number of letters showing a wide spread interest in nut growing, communications of especial interest were re- ceived from Prof. W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist of North Carolina, Mr. W. N. Roper, former editor of the American Fruit and Nut Journal, and from Mr. Henry Hicks of Westbury, Long Island. The election of officers resulted as follows : President — Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York City. Vice-President — ^Ir. T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. Secretary-Treasurer — Dr. W. C. Deming, Westchester, New York City. Executive Committee : Prof. John Craig, Cornell University ; Henry Hales, Ridgewood, N. J. ; Prof. C. P. Close, College Park, Md. Exhibits of nuts, nut literature, trees, grafting methods, a budding tool, etc., were received and shown from nineteen different contributors. A detailed account of these has been published and is on file. The following resolution, introduced by Mr. T. P. Littlepage, was luianimously adopted : Resolved, that the Northern Nut Growers' Association express its appreciation of the attitude of the National Nut Growers' Association in eneo\iraging the organization of associations which have for their purpose the development of the nut industry, and we hereby pledge our support to. and our cooperation with, said National Nut Growers' Association. And be it further Resolved, that we hereby acknowledge our great obligation to the many pineer nut growers of the South who have done so much to put nut culture on a scientific basis, and that ^ve express to them our deep gratitude for the fund of valuable information and data which they have worked out and made available. The meeting then adjourned. 10 The Secretary-Treasurer has received for membership fees $108.00, and expended for postage, printing and stationery, telephone and tele- grams, $59.27. Remaining in treasury, $48.73. The following leaflets were issued during the year : A reprint of Dr. Morris's article "Niit Culture for Physicians." A list of societies, books and other publications devoted to nut culture. A list of some of the chief nurserymen carrying nut trees in stock. The President also published in the Garden Magazine for May an article on nut culture, in which he referred to our organization, as a result of which some 45 letters of inquiry were received by the secre- tary, covering the country from Canada to Texas and from British Columbia to Panama. The leaflets, and notices of the annual meeting, have been sent to about 321 addresses, including the members, agricultural journals, nur- serymen and nut dealers, government and state officials, state horticul- turists, correspondents and persons who it was thought might be interested. The following letter was sent to 21 leading nurserymen : ''The President of our association. Dr. Robert T. Morris of New York, asks me to suggest to you that it might be well for your firm, or some member of it, to join the association, to be present at the meet- ings and to take up the matter of raising such nursery stock as is in constant and growing demand by the members. We need to be in touch with those who are growing things commercially and if they are present at the meetings they will know what we want. The national association is largely made up of professional nurserymen." Nov. 15, 1911. Two nurserymen have accepted the invitation. Evidently the others do not yet think the northern nut grower one whose acquaintance is worth cultivating. "We hope to convince them to the contrary. The following letter has been sent to the state horticulturists of the northern states and the provinces of Canada. "The Northern Nut Growers' Association desires your interest, your aid and advice, your membership and. if possible, your attendance at the meetings. It would also be of help to the association in its work if you would give it information of those persons in your state who are interested in nut culture." Nov. 15, 1911. 11 Cordial replies have been received from M. B. Cmnmings, Secre- tary of the Vermont Horticultural Society ; from Le Roy Cady, Chief of the Division of Horticulture, Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station ; and from J. H. Foster, Professor of Forestry, New Hampshire Agricultural College. Fifty postal card reminders of this meeting were sent to members and others a week ago. The secretary has also made investigation by correspondence on the hickory bark beetle and the identity of Juglans mandshurica. The response from all communications to the various officials of the Department of Agriculture at Washington has been prompt, cordial, interesting and helpful. This should certainly be very encouraging, if encouragement is needed, coming from men likely to be far-seeing as to the needs for, and the possibilities of, nut culture. Prof. Frederick V. Coville is conducting experiments in rooting hickory cuttings sent by the secretary. Prof. Walter Swingle offers his cooperation in experi- ments in propagation. The general correspondence received by the secretary shows an in- terest and an enthusiasm that reveals the growing appreciation of the importance of the purposes for which this association stands. (The following figures are brought up to date of going to press.) Eighteen of our 60 members are from New York, 8 from Connecti- cut, 6 from Pennsylvania, 4 from New Jersey and Illinois, 3 from the District of Columbia, 2 each from Indiana, Virginia and Minnesota, and one each from Massachusetts, Ohio, Georgia; Louisiana, Florida, Col- orado. Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Panama and Canada. Thus seventeen states, the District of Columbia, Panama and Canada are represented in our membership. Eight of our members are women, one of them a life member, nine are professional nurserymen, eight are physicians, six are connected with educational institutions, three are lawyers, five agriculturists, two at least are capitalists, and all expect to be, two are in literature and there are one each of the following : clergyman, painter, insurance, sec- retary, railroads, senator. The national association has 273 members of whom 52 are from the northern states. We ought to have all of these. The secretary is keeping a record of the scattered articles, com- munications to agricultural journals and other literature relating to nut growing. He would consider it a favor if the members would send him information of anything of this kind that may come to their knowledge. Mr. Littlepage : I move that the report of the Secretary-Treasurer be approved. 12 Professor Craig: 1 second that motion. I would like to add just a word, to the etfeet that it seems to me that the Secretary has started out in a very promising manner. He has not merely performed the routine duties of the secretary, but he has studied the ease, and has presented in an analytical and striking form a good many facts not ap- parent on the surface, had he only given us the stereotyped matter in the conventional way ; and it seems to me that this augurs well for the future of the Secretary's office. I trust he can keep up the gait. (Carried.) Professor Craig : May I say that it seems to me there are one or two matters arising out of the Secretary's report which are w'orthy of special action ? One is the question of the invasion of the scolytus beetle; the other is the nomenclature of Juglans inandshurica. It occurs to me that it might be well to appoint committees on these sub- jects to report during the sessions of the society. I might say on the scolytus matter, that I have conferred with Professor Comstock, who has been kind enough to say he would place the matter in the hands of one of his assistants, %vho will present to the society the latest we have on that subject ; and in the event of a committee being appointed, I would suggest that that person, Professor Herrick, be made the chair- man of that committee. President Morris: I will appoint Professor Herrick and Professor Craig on the scolytus committee, and on the nomenclature committee I will appoint Doctor Deming and Mr. Barron. In this connection, I will have to say, however, that I neglected to bring my correspondence' relating to the nomenclature of Juglans maudshurica. I can say a Avord that the committee may wish to use. For a long while. I have been trying to trace the origin of the name Juglans mandshnrica. It is applied to tw^o different nuts. The one de- scribed in the Ignited States government bulletin is the nut originally described by Maxim as Juglans mand^hurica more than thirty years ago. That nomenclature has priority for two reasons : first, because of the date, and in the second place, because of the recognized standing of ]\Iaxim as a botanist. The Yokohama Nursery Company has been sending out a very different nut which they call Juglans mandshurica, evidently of the race of Juglans regia. The Juglans mandshurica of the government bulletin is like the butternut, the Juglans mandshurica of the nursery companies is evidently a race of Juglans regia. I have conferred with Doctor Britton. Sargent, and other authorities, and we have never been able to trace the name given to this walnut of the Juglans regia type. Juglans mandshurica, until by accident I happened to get word from the Yokohama Nursery Company to the effect that tliey had made up that name in the office a few years ago, not knowing 13 that a previous Juglans mandshurica existed and had been named by Maxim. So that traces the rodent to its hole. The name Juglans mand- shurica by i\Iaxim is the proper name for the worthless butternut-like nut from China. De Candolle named the valuable walnut that has been sent out by the Yokohama Nursery Company Juglans regia sinensis. So both of these nuts have been previously named, and by authority. Professor Craig: It is a question, then, of priority. President Morris : Yes, a question of priority ; but really the Yokohama Company had no right to make up that name. It was simply made up in the office as a matter of trade convenience, and they attached to this Juglans regia nut a name that had been applied to an entirely different nut, not knowing that this name had been previously applied. So there is a Juglans mandshurica and a Juglans regia sinensis, re- spectively. Mr. Littlepage: Is the walnut, Juglans mandshurica, which you have been discussing, similar to the ordinary butternut of the Middle West, the Indiana white walnut? President Morris : You can find nuts much alike on first inspection, but the mandshurica nut has six ridges in addition to the suture ridges. The leaf of Juglans mandshurica is sometimes a yard in length, with twenty-seven to thirty-one leaflets, sometimes — an enormous tropical leaf. The nut is usually too small to be valuable. Mr. Littlepage : I have seen the butternut of the Middle AA'^est nearly similar, but it grows on the ordinary tree with white bark, and has small leaves. President Morris : The general outline of the nut is about the same in both, but the air chambers are very much larger in the mandshurica than they are in the butternut and there is a marked difference in the flavor. You can distinguish them readily enough. Mr. Littlepage : The butternut grows wild throughout the Middle West, usually along small water courses and alluvial lands. There are perhaps one hundred and fifty on a creek corner on one of my farms. President Morris : They are very plenty here at Ithaca. In fact, you will find them in Maine and Nova Scotia. Mr. Littlepage: I saw them in Michigan. President Morris : I will state, that from two until four the mem- bers will view the collections, and make the tour of the Campus build- ings. During that time the report on competition, or at least examina- tion of specimens in competition, should be made, and I would like to appoint Professor Reed and Mr. Littlepage on that committee, and I will serve as ex-officio member of the committee. The other committees I can make up a little later. The next order of business will be the President's address. Mr. Littlepage, will you take the chair? 14 THE HICKORIES. Robert T. Morris, M. D. So far as we know, the hickories, belonging to the Juglandaceae, are indigenous to the North American continent only. Representatives of the group occur naturally from southern Canada to the central lati- tude of Mexico, in a curved band upon the map, which would be bounded upon the east by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west roughl}'' by the Missouri River, until that river bends east from the eastern boundary of Kansas. From the angle of that bend the hickory runs approximately southwest into Mexico. The exact number of species has not been determined as yet, be- cause of the open question of specific or varietal differences in some members of the family. Sargent's classification at present includes eleven species: Hicoria pecan, H. Texana, H. minima, H. myristicae- formis, H. aquatica. H. ovata, H. Carolinae-septentrionalis, H. laciniosa, H. alba. H. glabra, and H. villosa. To this list may be added 11. Mexi- cana (Palmer), which so far seems to have been found only in the high mountains of Alvarez, near San Louis Potosi in Mexico ; and H. Buck- ley i from Texas, which was described once by Durand, and since that time overlooked by writers, excepting by Mrs. M. J. Young in 1873, who included the species in her "Lessons in Botany." Professor Sar- gent tells me that the Buckley hickory will be included in the next edi- tion of Sargent's "Manual of the Trees of North America." This brings the number of species up to thirteen. In addition we have well marked varieties : H. glabra odorata, H. glabra pallida, and H. glabra microcarpa, making sixteen well defined hickories that have been de- scribed. Nuts of all of these hickories are in the collection of "Edible Nuts of the World" at Cornell University, with the exception of nuts of the varieties H. glabra odorata and H. glabra pallida. In addition to the sixteen described varieties and species of hickories in America, we have an landless variety of hybrid forms, be- cause cross-poUenization seems to take place readilj' between hickories of synchronous flowering time. Five of the hickories: H. pecan, H. Texana, H. minima, II. myris- ticaeformis. and H. aquatica belong to the open-bud group, while the rest belong to the scale-bud group. The winter buds of the open-bud group resemble the winter buds of the walnuts in a general way, and in artificial hybridization experiments I seem to note a close relation- ship between the open-bud hickories and the walnuts. There is no more promising work for the horticulturist than cross- 15 ing hickories with walnuts, and crossing hickories with each other. Five hundred years from now we shall probably find extensive orchards of such hybrids occupying thousands of acres of land which is now practi- cally worthless. The hickories are to furnish a substantial part of the food supply of the world in the years to come. At the present time wild hickories held most highly in esteem are : H. pecan, H. ovata, H. Carolinae-septentrionalis, and H. laciniosa. Several other kinds have edible kernels, sometimes of excellent character, but not readily ob- tained except by boys and squirrels, whose time is not valuable. In this group we have H. alba, H. glabra, H. villosa, H. glabra pallida, H. glabra odorata, H. glabra mici'ocarpa, H. Mexicana, H. Buckleyi, and H. myristicaeformis. In another group of hickories with temptingly thin shells and plump kernels, we have a bitter or astringent pellicle of the kernel. This group contains H. Texana, H. minima, and H. aquatica. Sometimes in the bitter group we find individual trees with edible nuts, and it is not unlikely that some of them represent hybrids in which the bitter and astringent qualities have been recessive. Among the desirable species of wild hickories there is much varia- tion in character, and selection of trees for propagation is in its infancy. One reason for this has been the difficulty of transplanting hickories. Another reason is the fact that hickories do not come true to parent type from seed. A third reason is the length of time required for seed- ling hickories to come into bearing. Concerning the first reason, the enormous taproot of young hick- ories requires so much pabulum for maintenance that when the trees are transplanted, with destruction of root-hairs along with the feeding roots, transplanted stocks nmy remain a year or two years in the ground before they are ready to send out buds from the top. On this account, the Stringfellow method has in my locality proven of value. This consists in extreme cutting back of root and top, leaving little more than a short club for transplantation. The short club does not reduirr much pabulum for maintenance, and new feeding roots with their root-haii-s get the club under way quickly, because there is little useless load for them to carry. The Stringfellow method further in- ohules the idea that stock should be planted in very hard ground, and seems to be practicable with the hickories. The root-hairs which take up nourishment from the soil find it difficult to carry on osmosis in loose soil. The close contact obtained by forcing a way through compact soil facilitates feeding. On this account, autumn is perhaps a better time for transplantation of hickories, in the northern latitudes, at least. Callus forms over the ends of cut roots at all times when the ground is not frozen, and the more complete the callus formation the more readily are feeding roots sent out. 16 One of the main obstacles to propagation of hickories has depended upon the fact that nuts did not come true to parent type from seed. This is overcome by budding or grafting, and we can now multiply the progeny from any one desirable plant indefinitely. In the South graft- ing is nearly as successful as budding, but in the North budding seems to be the better method for propagation. The chief difficulty in grafting or budding the hickories is due to slow formation of callus and of granulation processes which carry on repair of wounds. The propagation of trees from a dcvsirable individual plant can be accomplished also by transplanting roots. A hickory root dug from the ground, divested of small rootlets, cut into segments a foot or more in length, and set perpendicularly in sand with half an inch protruding, will throw out shoots from adventitious buds. In my experimental work with hickory roots, in covered jars, surrounded by wet moss, but with the entire root reached by light, adventitious buds have started along the entire length of the root, and we may find this an economical way for root propagation, dividing up sprouting roots into small segments. The chief objection to this method of propagation as compared with budding is the length of time required for seedling trees to come into bearing, propagation from roots probably requiring the same length of time as propagation from seed, whereas by budding or grafting the bearing period begins very much earlier. Forty-six years ago Mr. J. W. Kerr of Denton, ]\Iaryland, planted three pecks of large shagbark hick- ory nuts, but of the progeny only about twenty were satisfactory, most of the trees bearing inferior nuts. These trees required from thirteen to eighteen years to come into bearing, and young trees that Mr. Kerr purchased from nurseries and planted were twenty-five years old before they began to bear. Others who have planted shagbark hickories and pecans state that nearly twenty years are required for the trees to come into bearing on an average. When budded or grafted the pecan some- times comes into bearing in two years, and frequently in four years. We may anticipate that other hickories will act analogously. The hickories prefer rich, well drained soil for best development of nuts, and an abundance of moisture, provided the land is well drained. Many of the hickories, however, are so adaptable to various soils that they often thrive in lands that are sandy, and dry, and almost barren. In the latter case, they have to maintain an enormous root system for feeding purposes, and this is detrimental to good bearing qualities. The mocker-nut, pignut, and hairy hickory, perhaps adapt themselves best to sandy soils. This feature may make them valuable species for plant- ing when one has no other soil, because the stocks can be used for graft- ing better kinds. While the hickories prefer neutral or alkaline soil, most of them 17 will grow fairly well even in acid glacial tills. Their preference, how- ever, for neutral or alkaline soils would suggest the use of a good deal of lime in acid soils, when hickories are to be grown in orchard form. All of the trees in the hickory group are intolerant of shade and. of competition with other trees. The more sunlight they can have the better. JNlost of us are familiar with the hickory tree standing alone in the cultivated field, which bears a heavy annual crop, when the neigh- bors at the edge of the forest bear sparingly. Hickories in forest growth put their energies into the formation of wood chiefly, and in the strug- gle for food and light devote very little energy to fruiting. The best method for cultivation of hickories has been worked out only with the pecan up to the present time. With this species, it has been determined that clean cultivation with plenty of fertilization gives best results, as with apples. It is probable that Stringfellow's sod cul- ture method will come next in order, and will perhaps be most generally used hy nut orchardists, because it is less expensive and requires less labor. The sod culture method includes the idea of cutting all grass and weeds beneath the trees, in order to take away competition, allowing these vegetable substances to decompose beneath the trees and furnish food. There is no objection to adding artificial fertilizer, or a still greater amount of vegetable matter. The enemies of the hickories are not many in the forest, where the balance of nature is maintained, but when man disturbs the balance of nature by planting hickories in large numbers in orchard form certain enemies increase, and must be met by our resources. Fungous and bac- terial enemies are beginning to menace some varieties of the pecan in the South, and both in the North and in the South certain insect enemies are becoming important in relation to all valuable hickories. The bark boring beetle (Scolytus) has been reported as destructive to hickories in some sections, the trees dying as a result of depredations of the larvae of this beetle. I find a large borer at work on sonie of my hickories, but have not as yet determined its species. It may be the painted hickory borer (Cylene), or the locust borer. It makes a hole as large as a small lead pencil, directly into the trunk or limbs, and excavates long tunnels into the heart wood. The painted hickory borer is supposed to occur chiefly on dead and dying hickories, but the borer of which I speak is found in the vigorous young hickories in the vicinity of my locusts, which are riddled with locust borers. In some localities involucre borers make tunnels between the nut and the involucre, interfering with the development of the kernel. The hickory twig girdler (Oncideres) is abundant in some localities, but not as yet very destructive. 18 Hickory nut weevils destroy many nuts in some localities, and their colonies increase- about individual trees markedly. In such cases, it is important to collect the entire crop each year from a given tree, taking pains to destroy all nuts which contain weevil larvae. These may be selected in a general way by dumping the freshly gathered nuts into a tub of water. Nuts containing weevil larvae will float for the most part, and in order to make sure of the destruction of larvae in the remaining nuts they may be placed in a closed receptacle, and carbon bisulphide poured over them. One of the bud worms is sometimes very destructive to individual hickory trees which have developed colonies, the larvae destroying the axillary buds, and burrowing into the base of the petioles of leaves. A new enemy which I found this year for the first time is the Conotrachelus juglaiidis. This beetle ordinarily lays its eggs in the involucre of the butternut. With the introduction of exotic walnuts, the beetle has changed its habits, and lays its eggs in the herbaceous shoots of walnuts and hickories. The larvae tunnel into the center of a shoot, and destroy it, or seriously interfere with its nutrition. Among the enemies of the hickory we must not forget the common field mouse, and the pine mouse, which burrow beneath the surface of the ground, and in winter feed freely upon the bark of the roots of the hickories. They have destroyed many thousands of young hickories of various kinds in my nursery, and in digging up roots of old hickories for experimental root grafting I find that mice have been living freely for years upon the bark of some roots. RANDOM NOTES Aside from the facts which have been grouped together in this paper, certain notes may be of interest, as introducing questions for speculation. Are we likely to find more species among the hickories than the ones already described? If so well described a species as the H. Buck- leyi has almost escaped observation, and if H. Mexicana is confined, as it seems to be, to a very limited area, and if most of the hickories grow in regions where few botanists are at work, it seems to me prolmble that several species remain as yet undiscovered. These are likely to be species which lack means of defence, and which are restricted to certain small areas. If we make a parallel with other observations of recent discoveries, one thinks, for instance, in Ichthyology of the IMarston's trout, the Sunapee sabling. Ausable greyling, and the Kern River trout, confined almost to a certain stream or lake, and remaining undiscovered for years by naturalists, althoitgh familiar to thousands of local fisher- men. 19 Sometimes there is a very apparent reason for the check to distri- bution of a species. The men whom I emploj'ed to go into the moun- tains of Alvarez for the I\Iexican hickory tell me that the trees are so loaded down with mistletoe that they rarely bear a crop, and there are few nuts with well developed kernels to be found. Distribution of a powerful species of hickory, like the pecan, seems to be limited in the North by incomplete development of the pistillate flowers. These are borne on the ends of the herbaceous shoots of the year, and the pecan has such a long growing season that in the North the pistillate buds, which are last developed, are exposed to winter kill- ing. Southern limitation of hickories which have a very short growing period, like the shagbark, may be due to the fact that after a period of summer rest, new growth begins in the autumn rains, and this new growth may not lignify for winter rest. By artificial selection we can extend the range of all hickories far beyond their indigenous range, which is limited by natural checks. Ex- tension of range, adaptation to various soils, and changes in the charac- ter of the nut are likel}^ to occur from grafting hickories upon different stocks of the family. Thus we can graft a shagbark, which does not thrive in poor sandy soil, upon the mocker-nut, which does grow in such soils. Some varieties of the species may grow freely far out of their natural range if they are simply transplanted. For instance, the Stuart pecan, which comes from the very shores of the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the hardiest pecans at the latitude of New York. I don't know about its northern fruiting as yet. If the Satsuma orange grafted upon trifoliate orange stock gives a heavy, well flavored fruit, while the same variety grafted upon sweet orange stock gives a spongy fruit of little value, we may assume that similar changes in character of fruit will follow nut grafting. Perhaps the astringent feature of the pecan nut will be found to disappear when the pecan has been grafted upon certain other hickories. Sometimes undesirable results are obtained from such grafting; for instance, the pecan grafted upon water hickory stock has been found to grow freely for four or five years, and then to die back unaccountably. Stocks of rapidly growing hickories, like the pecan and the bitter- nut, may serve to shorten the bearing time of slowly growing species, like the shagbark, when scions of the latter are grafted upon such stocks. At the present time I have shagbark grafted upon stocks of the pecan, shagbark, bitternut. mocker-nut, and pignut, but these are all young, and I cannot at the present time discern much difference in effect of stock upon scion. In cross pollenization of hickories, I have not as yet discovered the best way to prevent the development of aphides and of other insects 20 mider the protection of tlie paper bags (which cover the pistillate tlow- ers) sometimes to the point of destruction of t^owers before nuts are started. It is prt)bable that sprinkling the leaves with Persian insect powder, and leaving a little insect powder in the bag. will settle the question. I havt> not as yo\ learned how to prevent squirrels from getting at liybi'idi/.cil nuts while lliey ai'e still upon the tree. Squirrels cut through mosquito netting whieli is tied about nuts to prevent them from falling t(» the ground, and if wire gauze is used, they eut oft' the branch, allow- ing gauze and all to fall to the ground, and then manage to get the nut out of the gauze. The red squirrel particularly is a pest in this regard, and will ev(Mi cut otf the tape which is tied about the branches for mark- ing purposes, for no api>arent reason aside from pure mischievousness. Xuts whieh ni'c to be planted nnist W kept away not only from the s([uirrels. hut from rats and mice. One of my farmhouses got the reputation of being haunted because of mysterious noises made by rats in rattling hybrid nuts worth a dollar apiece about between the parti- tions. The best way tliat I have found for keeping nuts for sprouting purposes is to have a innnber of large wire cages made. These are set in the ground, nuts are stratitied in sand within these cages, and allowed to remain exposed to the elements during the winter. It is probable that some of the hickories will be grown in forest form in future because of the increased value of the wood of the species. For growing hickories in forest form, it is probable that they should be set not more than six or eight feet apart at the outset. At ten years of age the iirst thinning will give a valuable lot of hoop poles. The second thinning will give turning stock. The third thinning will give wood for a large variety of ]>urposes. I know of no tree which promises to re- turn a revenue more quickly when planted in forest form than hickories like the shagbark and the shellbark, moekernut and pignut. These trees will not be expected to bear nuts, because in the struggle for food and light their energies will be directed toward making trunks. Hickories are undoubtedly to be used for decorative purposes in parks and streets by future generations. The stately pecan, the sturdy shagbark. can be made to replace. South and North, the millions of use- less poplars, willows, and other bunches of leaves, which please the eye but render no valuable annual or tinal returns. The chief reason why this has not been done is because people have not thought about it. President ^lorris: This paper is not to be considered with the respect that is ordinarily due to a presidential address, but is open for discussion, and I would like to have any of my theories disproven. 21 i^rofessor Craig : Doctor Morris has covered a very extensive field ill ills presidential address, and has raised so many interesting ques- tions that I imagine the difficulty with you is to know just where to begin. Personally, and because I am not as thoroughly aware of the field of Doctor Morris' hybridization work as I ought to be, I should like to ask him what combinations of the hickories he has effected thus fai-. The field of hybridizing nuts is an exceedingly interesting one, and Doctor Morris has been the foremost worker in it. I am sure it would be interesting to you, as it is to myself, to know briefly what ground he has covered in the extensive range of his experiments. President Morris: In answering that question, I am speaking from memory and may not speak correctly. I have made crosses back and forth between shagbark, bitternut. mocker-nut, pignut, and pecan. In the crosses I made, using pecans, pollen was received from the South and put upon the others. The number of crosses that are fertile I cannot state as yet, because I have not had experience enough in protecting these nuts, and many of the hybrid nuts were lost. Squirrels and mice destroyed the labor of three of my men and myself during one season. T have secured fertile hybrids between the pecan and the bitternut and between the pecan and the shagbark. If I remember correctly, those are the only fertile hybrids I have between hickories at the present time. In regard to crossing hickories and walnuts, I have crossed back and forth several of the walnuts, our black walnut, our butternut, the Siebold walnut, with the pecan, and with the bitternut, and have fertile hybrids. These are open bud hickories, and the open bud hickories .seem to cross pollenize freely with the walnuts back and forth, while the scale bud hickories do not accept pollen readily from the w^alnuts. I would rather perhaps not make a report to this effect for publication at the present time, for tw^o reasons. In the first place, I am speaking from memory; in the second place, rats, mice, squirrels, small boys, visitors, and high winds have made such inroads upon my specimens, and upon my work, that it is not quite time to report. I am merely speaking off'hand in a general way, stating that the hickories, open bud and scale bud, both seem to cross rather freely back and forth. Open bud hickories and the walnuts seem to cross rather freely back and forth, while the walnuts and the scale bud hickories apparently do not cross so readily back and forth. Professor Craig: In growing your hickories from root cuttings, have you had any trouble from excessive sprouting ? President Morris: Anywhere from one to eight sprouts wall start from adventitious buds at the circle near the ground, and then I break all these off but one, letting that one grow. 22 Mr. Wilcox (Pennsylvania) : How do you prepare your stocks for budding and grafting, in pots? President Morris : I have tried practically every method that has ever been described, and the only successful method that I have now has been topworking vigorous sprouts of oi^e year's growth. That is, I would cut off the tops of the trees now. Next spring those tops send out very vigorous sprouts. I bud those early in August or the latter part of July, or else in the following spring, sometimes, we graft them ; and in grafting, it is quite important to cut longitudinally at one side of the stock, and go clear to the cambium layer. That gives the flexible slice on one side, and adapts itself to the tying. Mr. Wilcox: Have you prepared any stocks in pots at all? President Morris : Yes. I personally have to leave these to others. I tell my men to do it, but it is rather new work for them, and I give them so much to do that things are apt to be neglected; and just a mo- ment of neglect at the wrong time will wipe out a whole year's work. I have not cared very much at the present time for root grafting in pots. I have lost a great proportion of the grafts, and it does not at the present time seem desirable ; but I believe if that is done in hot houses with the ground warmed from the bottom, it is very apt to succeed. Give them plenty of time for granulating. They granulate very, very slowly. Mr. Wilcox : What kind of pots do you use ? President Morris: Some Professor Sargent showed me, long, made for the purpose. Mr. Collins (Pennsylvania) : You spoke of the hairy hickory. What hickory is that? President Morris : Hicoria villosa, that you find from Carolina southward. . "^ Mr. Littlepage : You spoke of the Stuart as being the most hardy pecan in the latitude of New York. I presume you meant of the south- ern pecans? President Morris : It seems to be one of the hardiest anyway. Even Virginia forms don't stand it through the winter as well as the Stuart. Mine are not fruiting as yet. Mr. Littlepage : What varieties have you there ? President Morris: Appomattox and Mantura are northern ones I have. Mr. Littlepage : Have you none of the Indiana varieties ? President Morris: Yes, I have the Indiana varieties on northern stocks, but those have only gone through one winter. They went through all right. I would say that the Stuart is quite as hardy as those. 23 Mr. Littlepage : I have observed the Stuart in Indiana. A friend of mine has a small orchard of several varieties of pecans. I notice some places where the Stuart has lived six or seven years, and then some particularly^ hard freeze has frozen it back. I have a letter from Mr. Jones in Pennsylvania, in which he says they had a recent freeze, and every variety of pecan he had there had suffered, except the Stuart. I don't recall whether he mentioned the Moneymaker in a previous letter or not, but he did mention the Kussell and some other varieties. }*resident INIorris : We have a number of pecan trees about New York that have been grown on private estates. Pecans have been })lant('d in Connecticut and ^lassachusetts. You run across seedling trees here and there, and a good many of them are perfectly' hardy. They are very apt to be infertile. The staminate flowers are apt to be destroyed because they mature so late, and they may not carry any nuts. Pollination is imperfect as a rule, and nuts may not fill. Mr. Reed ("Washington, D. C.) : But trees of Stuart are in bearing? President Morris: I don't know about bearing. Three years they have stood a temperature of twenty below zero, so that is a pretty good test. Mr. Reed : You haven 't seen any nuts yet ? President Morris: No, I haven't seen any nuts; but they mature their wood, and if they mature their wood, they are likely to mature staminate and pistillate flowers. Mr. Littlepage : While it is true they may mature staminate and pistillate blossoms, the question arises whether or not the growing sea- son is going to be long enough at the end to mature the nuts. I notice in going through wild groves in Indiana, once in a while you have a tree which never matures any nuts, though it has bountiful crops. The frost gets them. Professor Craig: There is evidently a lack of summer heat to ripen fruit. Before we get quite away from this subject, I would like to ask ]\Ir. Roper if he has noticed any striking differences in the hardi- ness of Stuart and other northern forms of the pecan in his particular locality. Does Stuart maintain its reputation for hardiness in his lo- cality? We are interested in that question from the northern stand- point. ]\Ir. Roper (Virginia) : 1 think it does, but that is discussed in a paper which I shall read some time here in the meeting. Both the Stuart and Moneymaker have done better with us than any other of the southern varieties when they are budded on hardy stocks. The grafted trees do not do well with us. President Morris : Professor Lake, will you speak on any of these points ? 24 Professor Lake : I am learning much and prefer to continue a learner. I shouldn't know anything about this crossing, except in the <'ase of the Juglans regia and the oaks of California. That is one case that was not mentioned. We have a remarkable hybrid between the native oaks and the Persian walnut. It is remarkable in many ways. It Jias foliage that is perhaps half way between the oak and the walnut, and the nut on the surface looks like a small walnut, and on the inside it is between a w^alnut and an acorn. I had an opportunity to sample the iiesh, but it is not edible yet. They are interested in the work very much, especially at Chico and the Southern California Station. President Morris : It is said to be a cross between the live oak and the walnut. It seems absolutely impossible, but I have seen the nuts, and a photograph of the tree. Mr. Reed : We haven 't devoted a great deal of attention to the hybridization of nuts in our Department work. There is one thing that occurred to me, as I sat here, merely of passing interest. A gentleman in Mississippi sent a specimen of foliage, together with berries, from what he said was a hybrid between the pecan and the China berry; and he had the evidence, because the parent pecan tree stood right there, and the China berry was the other parent tree ! He wanted world wide attention called to that. They were taken to the botanist, and he rec- ognized them as one of the ordinary soap berries. There was a similar -case this fall. A gentleman in Texas exhibited some nuts at the State Fair at Dallas that he said were a hybrid between the mocker-nut, the common hickory there in Texas, and the pecan. He said that the parent trees stood near one another and that the pecan blossomed some years about the same time that the hickory did, and in those years the hickory nut was long, and in other years it was short. Somebody sent one of the nuts to Mr. Taylor, Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry. He sent the nut on to me, and I looked it up. I struck Texas on one of those cold wave days, and drove five miles out and back in a Texas liv- ■ery rig, and found an ordinary hickory that bore nuts just a little dif- ferent from others. That is one way the Department is called upon to ferret these things out. Mr. Littlepage: T would like to ask Mr. Reed what information he lias as to the success of pecans bearing when grafted or budded on ■*-»ther varieties of hickory? I say that because I know from traveling around through the country that there is a widespread impression that it is j)ossible to have very extensive pecan orchards throughout the iSlorth by topworking the wild hickory. I have had some little experi- ence along that line, but I don 't know what the facts are ; and Mr. Reed has made an extensive trip recently for the Department of Agri- culture, collecting data in reference to the pecan. 25 Mr. Reed: The present situation, so far as we have been able to gather the information, is just this. The pecan has been grafted on a good many species of hickory, all the way from Virginia south to Florida, and west to Texas; bvit rarely ever can we find an instance in which they have produced satisfactorily after they have come to a bearing stage. We find that they unite readily ordinarily, and grow rapidly ; but the pecan eventually proves to be a more rapid grower than the hickory, and when it catches up and is the same diameter, then the pecan growth is slower, and while they bear a little the first few years, later on they are not productive. I don't wish to say that is final, but it has been the experience so far. You will find most enthusi- astic advocates of pecan on hickory where it hasn't been tried for any length of time. The men who try it find it unites readily and makes this quick growth, and think the question is solved. But aside from a few instances in Texas, 1 don't find very encouraging reports. It may be due largely to the fact that the right varieties of pecan haven't been used. We know that in the early history of pecan culture the Rome and Centennial and some others that are light bearers were used ; and then the pecan on hickory has been looked at as so much saved, tind they haven't been given much attention. It is still very much a matter of doubt, but is not in a very favorable light at present. Professor Craig : I would like to ask Mr. Reed if he has looked over Mr. Ramsey's work recently at Austin, Texas. Mr. Reed : I was at Mr. Ramsey 's last year, and I don 't recall that that matter came up at all. Professor Craig: Didn't you see his plantation of top worked hickories ? Mr. Reed : I didn 't know he had topworked hickories. He has top worked pecans. Professor Kyle of the Station in Texas has recently issued a bulletin on that ver^^ thing, and he cites a number of cases in M'hich he concludes that there will be a favorable outcome ; but for some reason, in the instances which he cites, the trees haven't borne very much. They attribute it this season in one instance to the fact that they had a storm at pollinating time, and last year some other acci- dent happened that prevented them from maturing after a quantity of nuts had set. Mr. Littlepage : I mention this at this time because I want to get Mr. Reed's testimony in the record, because I think that every prospec- tive nut grower must go through this stage. A year ago I undertook on my farm in Indiana to bud the pecan into other varieties of hickory — I have a great many wild hickories growing all over my farm, — shag- bark, shellbark, and different varieties of those even. So I went to work and budded perhaps one hundred of those trees, and for a while 26 it seemed that there was going to be a great degree of sueeess. I budded them all upon the limbs where the bark was thinner, and tied the bud in with waxed cloth very tightly ; and by absorption the majority of the buds lived a week or ten days. After that, there was perhaps a third of theui alive. For the next two weeks, we could find an occasional bud that remained green, and then the number became so very small that I gave up the idea that any would live. But this spring I found a few of these had started to grow, but I had tied them so very tightly that in .some instances where there had been a growth of an inch or two. the bud part had been cut in two. Then I undertook it on a much smaller scale. I cut back eight or ten small hickory trees three to four inches in diameter, let them throw up water sprouts, and budded into these. The bud wood I used stuck very tight, and I examined the buds in Novem- ber, and there were quite a number alive of the Greenriver and Hunt- ington varieties of pecan. Whether they will grow finally remains to be seen. (A discussion then occurred as to holding the afternoon session and it was decided to continue the business during the afternoon, in- stead of visiting the Campus.) President ^Morris : I would like to comment on one point made by ^Ir. Littlepage. He has given us perhaps the reason why pecans die back when grafted upon other stocks. ^Nlr. Reed, that is an extremely important point. He has shown that the pecan grows so much more rapidly than other hickories that when it has arrived at a proportion to be supported by the root of the other hickory, it then ceases bearing because all the energj^ is required for maintaining this new pecan top that tries to grow faster than the hickory, if that is my understanding of this point. ^lay Ave not graft freely back and forth hickories of kinds which have about the same rate of growth, and may we not graft other kinds of hickories upon pecan stock, for we don't care how much nourish- ment is given to a fine young shagbark? !Mr. Littlepage: That is a fine point. President Morris : I am very glad ^Nlr. Reed brought up that point. It is going to save thousands of dollars if it is a fact recognized in time, because many would go to putting pecans upon other hickories. We may learn that certain kinds of hickories can be grafted to advantage upon other stock, however. ^Ir. Reed : There is another point right there I would like to have your views on. and that is, the smaller the hickory is at the time the pecan is grafted on it. the greater will be the influence of the pecan on the hickory. 27 President ^Torris: It can drag the stock along perhaps. It has been proved. I think, that a graft has a certain influence upon the stock, and in some cases can drag it along willy nilly to a certain extent. The root and the top get to balance each other fairly well if the root is very small at the time the graft is put on. Most of the trees that have been topworked to pecan have been various kinds of large hickories. Perhaps if you were to take a shagbark hickory one to two years of age and graft it. the pecan top would dominate or control that root, no mat- ter whether it wanted to grow or not. ]\Ir. Reed : The claim is sometimes made that if the pecan is grafted on other hickory young enough, it will transform the hickorj' com- pletely. It will make a sufficient root system to feed the pecan as well as the pecan root would. But I have never seen that demonstrated. President Morris : That is speculative. It is a very valuable point, one of the sort of points that would naturally be brought out at a meet- ing of this kind. Mr. Reed : Have you seen that with other fruits, Professor Craig ? Professor Craig: Yes. Each variety of apple produces its owti kind of roots without reference to the seedling stock. That is to say the scion overrules the root in budding or grafting upon one or two year old seedlings. President Morris : A parallel that comes to mind now is the graft- ing of Burbank's Royal walnut upon ordinary walnut stock. When that was done, his Royal walnut was said to drag the other walnut along. Professor Craig: I think it is a very valuable suggestion. I am not sure I will go as far as the President has gone ; but I think it is exceed- ingly suggestive, and worthy of careful consideration. ]\Ir. Rush (Pennsylvania) : I find the same experience in some instances, that the graft outgrows the stocks. That is a peculiar in- stance of the work of improper unions. Eventually the stock pushes up and forms a perfect union in growth, with the Persian walnut. This is particularly applicable to pecan and hicko^J^ I suppose jNIr. Reed will bear me out in that, with regard to English walnut and black wal- nut. Mr. Reed : Oh, yes. President jNIorris : You occasionally see a variety of apple grafted on another in which the graft part gives the tree a sort of slipshod ap- pearance. How about the bearing in that kind of a tree ? Professor Craig : They usually bear heavily where the food supply is restricted. Mr. Reed: That would make our pecans bear more heavily on hickory stock than on their own. Professor Craig : As a matter of theory, they ought to. The bear- 28 ing ought to be increased, because it is a system of girdling, or brings about the same effect, — in other words it restricts the return tlow of the elaborated food. The food is checked at the point of union. Another parallel is in the case of Pruniis domestica, the European plum, when worked on PruHus Americana, the Amefiean plum. In that case, the top always outgrows the stock, and in ten years it presents a very curious appearance. It presents the appearance of a very top-heavy liead on a very spindling stem. The bearing is usually encouraged, but the fruit is usually small. The amount of fruit measured by numbers is increased, but the amount of fruit measured by the size of individual specimens is decreased. ]\Ir. Collins: Isn't the size of the fruit increased in the case of apples ? Professor Craig: By topworking, usually, it is, but that doesn't contemplate such an extreme case as that. It means when the union is reasonably uniform, when there is a reasonable affinity between stock and scion. But in extreme cases we get the opposite result. Reproduc- tion is encouraged, but size of fruit is checked. President Morris : I would like to hear from Mr. Rush or Mr. Pomeroy in connection with the hickory. Mr. Pomeroy: I haven't ever tried any experiments with the hickory. President Morris : We will discuss further some of the points that have been suggested in this paper, because it seems to me we are along a good line of cleavage, and this line of cleavage may dispose of some questions that we haven't discussed. One question brought up was if the bitter, astringent qualities are likely to be recessive among hybrids in the trees which have bitter nuts. Mr. Littlepage : I made a trip through Missouri and Arkansas a year ago, and while there, took occasion to go into the forests, and in- vestigate to some extent the Arkansas and Missouri hickory and pecan. Among other things, I found two hybrids, one of the pecan and one of the pignut, one of which was bitter and inedible, the other a fairly good nut. I have both of them with me here today. One of them was very astringent and bitter, the other had taken more the quality of the pecan as to meat, and was a fairly good substitute. I don't know what the reason for it is, that one is fit to eat, and the other isn't, when they are both hybrids between the pignut and the pecan. Doctor Deming: How did you know they were hybrids, by the appearance 1 Mr. Littlepage : Yes, the appearance is unmistakable. The pignut characteristics are very prominent, also the pecan characteristics. 29 President Morris : Have the members anything to say about the Stringfellow method of transplanting hickories ? Doctor Deming : I have had very little experience in transplanting hickories, but I set out two Hales hickories I got from Meehan, and they are both living, although they have made little growth in some three years. Can you tell us what stocks the Hales hickory is grafted upon*? Mr. Brown (Pennsylvania) : Upon the bitternut. All there are have been upon the bitternut from the start. Doctor Deming: Mr. Littlepage, what do you think of the future of topworking our seedling hickories in the North with improved varie- ties of hickory or pecan, — the commercial future ? Mr. Littlepage : It is largely speculative. I suppose it is the province of every nut enthusiast to have an opinion about these things. In fact, I find it is encouraging to talk to the fellow who has an opinion. My notion is that there is a great future for topworking the various varieties of the hickory in the North to the desirable forms of the hickory, that is. of the hickory other than the Hicoria pecan. On my farm I expect next year to devote some time to topworking the various hickories I have to the desirable varieties of the shagbark. 1 think that can be done throughout the whole country. The shagbark seems to be indigenous to such extensive latitudes, that it seems to me there are great possibilities along that line. I observe that around here we find many of those trees. I havi^ some very beautiful shagbarks that came from Canada. ^ly opinion is that it will be successful. I think the reason the pecan has not proved very satisfactory upon the other species of hickory is that most of those hickories have a close grained wood, and that the distribution of available food depends largely upon the amount of sap. The Hicoria pecan is a much coarser grained wood. The flow of the sap u{)ward is facilitated much more than the flow of the sap upward through the hickory stock of other varieties. I believe that is the reason the theoretical rule would probably not work in this case, simply because the distribution of sap cannot take place fast enough through the tight, close grained stock of other varieties of hickory. Otherwise, I don't see why the rule would not obtain, as with fruits. The experiences Mr. Reed gives, I think, are generally recognized by those who have experimented with them to any extent. I noticed in visiting Mr. Roper's nursery he had one very beautiful specimen of the pecan grafted on a hickory. That was the Stuart, was it not? Mr. Roper : The Moneymaker. It had made a growth of four or five feet in two years. Mr. Littlepage : Do you know the variety of hickory that it was topworked to? j\Ir. Roper : Just our common hickory, I suppose the pignut. 30 Mr. Littlepage: II made beautiful growth from the wood stand- point. Mr. Roper: Mr. Reed's point was that it would do that till it got by the period of good nutrition from the root. Professor Craig says the elaboration of food from the pecan top more than overcomes the deficiency. Professor Lake : I would like to question Mr. Littlepage 's physio- logical ground for the lack of proper fusion of liquids between the pecan and the other hickories. I believe it is not authenticated that the water supplies from the earth would not distil as fast in the close grained hickories as in the more open grained pecan. At least, the very close grained, firm woods of the tropics transmit a tremendous amount of water, much in excess of many of our fine grained woods of the North. And it seems to me I wouldn't like to have this Association go on record as vouching for this explanation exactly. It seems to me there are better explanations. Lack of fusion is not due to the amount of water that is carried up, but rather to the fact that the root system of the hickory does not develop fast enough to collect water to transmit. Mr. Littlepage: I am very glad to hear Professor Lake's state- ments. My suggestions were given only as a possible theory that oc- curred to me, and I don't vouch for their accuracy. There must be some explanation to controvert the general rule which Professor Craig has given us. Professor Craig: May I add one word? When a stock and scion unite, the union is really a mechanical one. It is a union of cells, and in that respect it is simply mechanical, not a physiological union. The different life types or character of the scion and top do not fuse, but we have a mechanical union of cells, and that mechanical union is as clearly shown foi'th as po.ssible when we make a section through the point of union. If your type of cell in the stock differs very materially from the type of structure in the scion, the union is unsatisfactory. If the types of tissue are much alike, the imion is good and you do not have either overgrowth of stock or undergrowth of scion very much, but you have what is called a good union. It is to some extent a question of mechanics, in my judgment, influenced by the cell structure of stock and scion. If you have a good, smooth union, the two grow equally. Where you have overgrowth of scion, you usually have a starved root, because the food which is to be returned elaborated is checked at the point of union, the root is starved, and you have a short lived tree, be- cause your root system, which ought to receive its share of the dis- tributed food, is underfed, finally weakens, and the whole structure fail^?. , Professor Lake: You mav have mechanical union, but you can't 31 have the after fusion in which you are going to have proper function of stock and scion. Professor Craig: Each cell functions after its own kind. It is a question of passage or transmission of food through that carrier, after the union is effected. If the character of the two types differs very much, the transmission of food is checked and is difficult. President Morris: There is another mechanical point I'd like to ask about. When the two types of cells differ, will the difference in degree of capillarity regulate the amount of pabulum distributed, or does it depend upon negative and positive pressure? Professor Craig: That is a very dilficult question, because it isn't settled at the present time what credit we should give to capillarity and what to root pressure in sap circulation. Mr. Reed : There is another question I would like to ask Professor Craig. Supposing you have a mechanical union perfected, what is the difference in the food that different species of the same genus transmit ? Has that been worked out? Professor Craig: I don't think so. Of course, there is a difference in the food. That is proven, because there is a difference in the quality of the food. The tree machine, the tree factory speaking individually, evidently makes different products, and that is shown by the different quality of nuts. That is all we know about it. Professor Lake : That part below the scion still continues to be normal hickory, and that part above, pecan, so really it is not a matter of distribution of water supply by gravity or other pressure, but rather a distribution of the proper amount of elaborated food ; and that is transmitted through the cell itself, not the cell walls. Because this top makes a food that is different from the normal requirements, or because the latent character of those cells below does not respond to the food supply as actively as the part above, is the whole question, it seems to me. If the cells below functioned as the cells above, there would be no question about the stock and scion being the same. Mr. Littlepage : Of course there must be sufficient flow of sap to distribute food. The hickory root might not send the flow of sap as fast as the pecan top would like. Mr. Heed: Is ]Mr. Lake's point always true, that the stock below the point of imion remains a normal hickory ? Professor Craig: I don't believe there are more than one or two exceptions noted to that, and those exceptions are recorded under graft h^'brids. Mr. Reed : A seedling pecan tree owned by Mr. B. ]M. Young of Morgan City, Louisiana, was top worked with scions from the McAl- lister hican some seven or eight feet above ground, and later on the bark 32 of the pecan trunk below the point of union became scaly like that of the hiean above. Professor Lake: That would suggest something worth while, if that part below would produce fruit like the part above, but I would want to question a little the modification in bark characteristics being a direct result of cross grafting. Mr. Reed : Of course, it was no check — only one instance. Professor Craig: There are one or two others that are authentic. I have known a ease of plum. Here we have the plum stock, we will say it is Primus Americana, grafted with Primus triflora, the Japanese, then later on. Primus domestica is put on top. I have seen a sprout from tritlora bearing Japanese plums, while the top of the tree bore Primus domestica, although there was only a small section of stem in there between our two distinct species. They were perfectly normal. President Morris : Each elaborates its own kind of food in its own kind of cell. I would like to hear from ^Ir. Brown and Mr. Wilcox on this matter of grafting — the influence of stock on scion. Mr. Wilcox : We had a good show of stocks, but instead of allowing them to become established in the pots, we grafted them as they started into growth after rooting. Had they been established, we would have expected better results. Professor Craig : What method do you employ ? ]\Ir. Wilcox : Side grafting. Professor Craig: Do you mean whip grafting? Mr. Wilcox: Side whip grafting. Doctor Deming : I would like to ask Doctor Morris what he thinks of the practical future of grafting our hickory seedlings with improved varieties of hickory or pecan, and the method most likely to succeed, — whether grafting or budding, and at what season. It is important to learn whether we can so graft or bud our hickory sprouts that within a few years we can hope to get something from them. President ^lorris : AVe can only make a parallel with the pecan. If we know that it requires fifteen or twenty years for coming into bearing as a seedling tree, and if we laiow that it bears frequently in two, three, or four years after being grafted we can anticipate analogous acticm with other species of hickories. I haven't been able to get testimony from men who have grafted hickories. One man told me he thought shagbark grafted upon other shagbark, topworked, came into bearing in seven or eight years. Another man told me that his came into bearing in a much shorter time than it would otherwise, while with one par- ticular variety, the Hale, I think that twelve years has been re(iuired for the tree to come into bearing. Doctor Deming : I have a communication from Mr. Hales in which 33 he speaks of a tree grafted in 1880, but doesn't say when it began to bear. Mr. Littlepage : He told me it has taken some of them twenty years. Doctor Deming : But the pecan on hickory has been known to bear the second season, that is, topworked. Can we expect such results irn top working our own hickories ? Mr. Littlepage : I think so. Doctor Deming : Are we going to have success in topworking, and bj^ what method? President Morris: I believe in the South they can graft, but in the North we have got to do it by budding. My best results have been late July or early August. I believe herbaceous budding promises a good deal. ]\Ir. Rush : Were those buds then of the year previous 1 President Morris : Those were buds from the year of the scion, and herbaceous stock of the year. Doctor Deming: ^Ir. Littlepage has had some success in budding hickory very early, haven't you? Mr. Littlepage : I was just stating that I started in last year to bud. I think it would be possible to make a pecan orchard bear early by budding into these hickories, ten, fifteen, or twenty years old. This next year I am going to try hickory on hickory. I am going to try three processes. I am going to try bark grafting, and whip grafting in the body of the tree which has been cut off. Then, I have quite a number of hickories each four or five inches in diameter that I have sawed off and allowed to put up clusters of water sprouts, and I am going to whip graft some and put paper sacks over them, and see which is the best. President Morris : I have found budding the best. ]\Ir. Reed : Doctor Morris referred to the analogy of the pecan grafted on pecan as coming into bearing in two years. Do you account for that in the fact of its being a graft, or the fact that the wood you selected came from a tree that had the characteristic of early bearing? President Morris: No doubt that characteristic was transmitted, and further, no doubt the grafted stock was used from bearing wood. Those points are all of interest. ]Mr. Reed : Does the mere operation of grafting or budding influ- ence earliness of bearing? President Morris: Yes, if I understand the question rightly. A tree that might not bear for fifteen years as a seedling may bear in three years grafted. Mr. Rush: I have Persian walnuts that bore two fine luits the second year. I have young trees, one about thirtv inches, and I am 34 sure it will be full of nuts next year, unless some providential mis- fortune should intervene. Mr. Reed: At what age did the original trees begin to bear? Mr. Rush : Those were buds shipped to me from California. Mr. Littlepage: I am firmly convinced that there is something in the process of budding or grafting that stimulates the growth. For example, I have scions that were not over four to eight inches long grafted on one year seedling pecans which, at the end of this season's growth, were as much as thirty inches high. All along in the same row where seedling pecans were not grafted, there is none over eighteen inches high. Mr. Reed: To have made exact comparison, you would have had to take buds from your seedling nursery trees, and graft on other trees. You are comparing these buds from one tree with seedlings of another. Professor Lake: I would like to ask if you didn't bud or graft the best stocks in the row too? Mr. Littlepage : We took the whole row, as we came to it, but that particular tree might have been on some particularly favorable stock. It is a matter of a good deal of interest to see why a seedling which wasn't budded at all didn't grow as high as a scion which was budded in summer, stratified all winter, then put into the ground in an un- natural position. Professor Craig: It is the same principle, I think, which we dis- cover in pruning. If we prune heavily during the dormant season, the effect is increased vegetative growth. If we wish to stimulate the growth of an old tree somewhat debilitated, we go to work and cut off a large portion of the top. We don't disturb the root. The effect is that with the same amount of pushing power from the root, we have a decreased area over which that energy is spread, and it results in ap- parently increased growth. I am not cpiite sure if we were to measure it up in a scientific way, we would actually find it was increased growth. There are fewer branches, but they have made greater length. In the case of grafting our pecans, we cut off our tops, set a two-bud scion in the root, and usually but one starts and receives all the vigor from the established root, instead of the vigor being distributed over several buds on the original seedling top. We have as a result of that concentration of vitality increased grow'th. I think that theoretical explanation will stand fairly well, because it seems to be directly in line with the effect of winter pruning. Mr. Reed: I would like to ask Professor Craig to what extent he w^ould select seed for nursery purposes? What influence would the characters of the parent tree from which the seed came have on the grafted tree? 35 Professor Craig: I don't believe that we can expect the characters of our stock to affect the scion to any extent. I think what the nursery- men should have in mind and keep in mind is a good, vigorous stock, and as many stocks as possible, — as he can get out of a pound of nuts. Otherwise, I don't think it cuts much figure. In that connection there is a principle which I have discovered by experience, namely, that if you are growing stocks it is wise to get your nuts as near your own locality as possible. My experience last year in planting five hundred pounds of northern grown nuts in a southern locality, and five hundred pounds of southern grown nuts in the same locality, gathered in that locality, is that I got fifty per cent more trees from my southern grown nuts than northern, and trees that were fully thirty per cent better. Mr. Littlepage: Where were your northern grown nuts stratified? Professor Craig: They were not stratified. They were planted as soon as they were received, and they were received within two weeks from the time they were taken from the trees. Mr. Littlepage: I am inclined to believe that if your northern grown nuts had been stratified in the North, and undergone the custo- mary freezing and thawing, then had been taken up in the spring, you wouldn't have seen that difference. Professor Craig: I think that point is well taken. President Morris: There is no doubt about that. In that same connection — I would choose nuts for .seed purposes of a mean type, for the reason that nature is all the while establishing a mean. The big pecan is a freak. If you plant big or small nuts, you don't get big or small nuts in return. You get both big and little seeking a mean. Mr. Roper: The large nut will give a better tree. We have tested that out. President Morris: Does that work out logically in that way, is it a comparative matter all the time? Mr. Roper : We haven 't worked that out in the bearing, but in the nuts in the row, the small nuts did not produce as large trees as the large nuts. We never tested the mean nuts. We did select some of the very smallest we had, and planted one of the northern and one of the southern type. They came up, but the trees amounted to nothing. President Morris: The idea I meant to convey was that both very small and very large nuts are freaks, and neither likely to give as good a tree as mean types. What would you anticipate. Professor Craig? Professor Craig: I think that would resolve itself on a practical basis from the practical standpoint. I think the mean or average sized nut would give you the best results. There is no doubt, as Mr. Roper said, the very small nut would give you weak seedlings. On the other hand, you couldn't afford to use the very largest, so that a mean be- 36 tween large and small would be the natural thing to choose. But we should do nothing to discourage the planting of the finest specimens, with the possibility of getting something unusually good. That is cer- tainly the work for every amateur. Professor Lake: Does that statement, that you think it doesn't make much difference about the parent of the nuts for stock, apply to walnuts ? Professor Craig : I haven 't had any experience in walnuts. Mr. Littlepage : I would like to ask Mr. Roper if he knows of any examples where selection of fine varieties, of seed has not resulted in getting a more productive variety of the plant which he was producing ? Mr. Roper: Only one, and that wasn't in a tree. President Morris : In regard to coming true to type, I think rec- ords have been made of many thousands of pecans, and I don 't know of any instance where the progeny resembled the parent closely. Mr. Pomeroy : Maybe someone could explain one of my failures a few years ago in planting some Persian walnuts. I went to another tree in western New York, and got a peck or more. They were planted the same day, in the same ground, and all came up. Those I got from another tree resembled a hill of beans, and stayed that way for three years. Why wouldn 't those grow ? In soil three feet from those, there were trees growing. Those nuts never did make trees. The nuts were of good size. Colonel Van Duzee: As a practical nurseryman, I wouldn't think of planting nuts from a tree that I didn't know individually. We have had very much better success with nursery stock where we have chosen as seed medium sized nuts from vigorous trees with which we were acquainted. In the case of Mr. Pomeroy, I don't think there is any question but that the history of his tree would account for the failure. In other words, his nursery stock was undoubtedly from the results of years of slow growth on the part of the original tree, or unfavorable conditions of some kind. I don't quite agree with Professor Craig on the question of the influence of stock, because I believe it is really a very important point. President Morris : We are not here to agree upon anything. Colonel Van Duzee : I can 't speak from the scientific standpoint, but I am quite sure that in the nursery business I shouldn't care to overlook that influence. President Morris: When men agree, it means we are on stale old ground which has been thrashed over. 37 THURSDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 14, 1911. President iMorris : The meeting is called to order. The first paper this afternoon will be that by Mr. J. Franklin Collins of the United States Department of Agriculture, on the chestnut bark disease. THE CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE. J. Franklin Collins, Washington, D. C. I presume some of you know as much about certain features of this chestnut disease as I do myself ; for I have only worked over certain sides of the whole question. I also presume that you are all acquainted with the fact that this disease, which is known as chestnut blight or the chestnut bark disease, is without doubt the most serious disease of any forest tree which we have had in this country at any time, that is, so far as its inroads at present appear to suggest. I want to call your attention to certain general historical facts in connection with the disease, facts which are familiar to some of you, but unfamiliar possibly to others. The Forester of the Bronx Zoological Park, Dr. Merkel, discovered in the fall of 1904, or had his attention particularly called in 1904 to the fact, that a good many chestnut trees were dying in his vicinity, a number sufficient to have attracted especial attention. He looked at the matter carefully, and decided that there was a definite disease on these trees. He handed specimens over to Doctor Murrill of the New York Botanical Garden; who worked out the disease, and decided that it was a new fungus which was causing the trouble. He named it Diaporthe parasitica, the name under which it is generally known today, although there is some question as to whether that is the one which should be applied to it. This, you remember, was in 1904-^in the fall. The first publication which appeared on the disease was in 1906, as I recall it. The publication which then appeared was Doctor Mur- rill's upon his investigations. The disease has spread very rapidly since then, so that today we know the disease in a general area indicated by the red color on this map. The green area indicates in a general way the natural distribution of the common chestnut. Since 1904 in- vestigations upon the geographical range of the disease have been carried on so far as to show that the disease is now known over ap- proximately the area indicated in red on that map. The northern limits of the disease are perhaps in New York State. Further east, it is known as far north as northern Massachusetts, mainly in the western part, and it is also known in Boston. There have been two or three 38 eases of the disease found in the Arnold Arboretum. On the west, we have two cases in West Virginia, and the most southern station which I know of is in Bedford County, Virginia. But those are isolated sta- tions beyond the area which is indicated here. I shall have a little more to say in regard to the distribution.. Before speaking of that, I want to call your attention to a few points in regard to fungi in gen(?ral, points of common knowledge to all who have studied fungi or mycology. A fungus is a kind of plant which does not, on account of the absence of the green coloring matter, manufacture its own food. It is a plant which has, in other words, no green foliage, and as it has no green foliage, it must obtain its organic or elaborated food from some other source. The fungi have very aptly been termed the tramps of the vegetable kingdom, that is, they live on food prepared by somebody else. They can take certain organic sub- stances and change them apparently into other organic matter which can be used by the plant. In the case of this chestnut fiuigus, we have a fairly typical fungus in certain respects. "We have a vegetative stage of the fungus which is nothing more or less than a lot of threadlike structures penetrating the bark of the chestnut, the inner bark or the middle bark, and there drawing the organic matter from the bark of the chestnut and appropriating it to its own use. Fungi, like practi- cally all other plants, have two stages of existence, one the vegetative or growing stage, the other the reproductive stage. Sooner or later the fungus will produce the fruiting bodies, after it has obtained a sufficient amount of food to justify the formation of these more highly organized structures. In the case of the fruiting body of the chestnut fungus, we have very small, pinhead-like structures, which come out to the surface of the bark, the vegetative portion developing through the interior of the bark. On smooth bark we find that these fruiting pustules are apt to appear all over the surface. With bark that is sufficiently old to have ridges and crevices, we find these fruiting bodies only in the crevices. These fruiting pustules which you will see on this bark are the structures which produce the reproductive bodies, these latter being known as the spores. There are two types of spores which are produced by this fungus. One is the type which is commonly spoken of as the summer spore, the other the type which is spoken of as the winter spore. The winter spore is known from the point of view of the mycologist as the perfect stage of the fungus, that is, it is the more characteristic of this particular fungus. If we should make a cross section of the bark, we should tind that the vegetative stage is running through the middle bark, and commonly the inner bark, sometimes in one place only, sometimes in the other only, sometimes in both. This 39 vegetative stage later sends up in various ways a mass of tissue which results in the formation of pustules. These appear on the surface, sometimes more or less regularly rounded, sometimes rather irregular. In the case of the summer spore stage, we have inside the pustules a mass of tissue which is formed into spores. The interior of the spore mass, or at least portions of it, is somewhat nuicilaginous, so that when moisture is applied a swelling of the interior mass is produced at a certain stage and something has to break. As a result, we have a mucilaginous mass pressed out through the break in the shape of a twisted thread, much the same as if you take a collapsible tube of paste and pinch, it. Xow, one of those summer spore threads may contain anywhere from one to five million spores. I have tried to estimate the number in a thread of this sort which was about an eighth of an inch long, and by taking a certain portion of that thread, mounting it in a drop of water, and then counting over a certain measured area under the microscope, I have estimated, by multiplying, that there were 2,400,000 spores in that one thread. So you can imagine how many of these spores may be produced by a single diseased area which has produced perhaps four or five hundred of those pustules, each pustule containing anywhere from one to twenty threads. Each one of those spores may develop a new diseased area, provided it is transported to a fresh break in the bark of a chestnut tree. Fortunately, only a very small fraction of one per cent ever reaches the proper place for growth. This last is what I alluded to as the summer spore stage. There is a winter spore stage, or technically, the ascospore stage, which comes, as a rule, later in the development of the fungus. In this same pustule, later in the season, certain sacs are formed. These have long necks which extend to the top of the pustule. These sacs are sufficiently large to be seen with the naked eye. They are dark colored. Inside these, we have a lot of smaller transparent sacs or cases in each of which we get eight spores, sometimes in one row, sometimes in two rows. Each spore can propagate the fungus. We have, then, two types of spores, either one of which can repro- duce the fungus under suitable conditions. There is still another way by which the disease may be kept going. The vegetative stage can sur- vive the winter and continue growing the following year. I will say right here that I am planning to give you merely an outline of this disease, and have time afterwards for questions which I think in a meeting of this sort are one of the most productive sources of information. In regard to the rapidity of spread of this disease, I will merely call your attention to two cases as illustrations, or to certain facts, 40 rather. One is that the disease, so far as our attention has been directed to it, has developed over the area indicated on the map since the fall of 1904. Another case is one which has occurred in Rhode Island, where I have had a chance to watch its development a little more closely than in other places, that is, more constantly. In the fall of 1908, after I had made over thirty excursions around Rhode Island, I was unable to find a single trace of this disease, and no one else was able to find a single case of the disease in Rhode Island. In May, 1909, I happened to be about five miles west of the city of Providence, and I found two or three cases, all in one rather restricted spot. Later, it was discovered a little farther south, and soon, a little to the north, so that at the end of the season of 1909 we knew of about ten cases in Rhode Island. At the end of 1910, a season in which very few trips were made with the special object of surveying for the disease, we had more than doubled the number of infections found. That led to putting someone into the field in 1910 to make a survey of Rhode Island. A man was also put into the state of Massachusetts for the same purpose. Mr. Rankin, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, made a survey of New York State, which has resulted in this map. A man was put into Pennsylvania and one into Maryland for the same pur- pose. As a result of the survey in Rhode Island, where at the end of 1910 we knew of less than fifty cases at the outside, we now know of ^ery nearly 4000 cases. It has been much the same story in Massa- chusetts. At the beginning of this year, there were four towns in which the disease was known ; now there are seventy-one. At present in Con- ■necticut, the disease is known in one hundred thirty-two towns of the one hundred sixty- eight in the state, and the southwestern part of Connecticut is very badly infected, just as badly as the adjoining por- tions of New York.* So much for illustrations of the rapidity with which the disease develops. I am not going to say at this time anything special about the origin of the disease, simply because we haven't yet decided what was the probable origin. I will merely say there are some different theories in regard to the origin. One is that it was imported from the Orient, another, that it is a saprophyte, a fungus which has lived nor- "mally upon dead organic matter, but which has taken on the parasitic form, which develops on living organisms. In connection with any disease of this sort, one naturally inquires, Iiow are we going to recognize this disease? This past summer Penn- sylvania has put into the field thirty or more men who have been trained to recognize this disease, with the idea of locating the infections * Since this statement was made the disease has been definitely reported in approximately 164 towns in Conn. [J. F. C] 41 in Pennsylvania. As perhaps all of you know, the legislature of Penn- sylvania has passed a law relating to this particular disease, and has appropriated $275,000 to see if the disease can be controlled. Their idea is that they have perhaps fifty million dollars' worth of chestnuts, and if $275,000 can show whether or not this disease can be controlled, it is economy to try it. So far as Pennsylvania is concerned, it means possibly the saving of the chestnuts in the middle and western parts of the state; but it also means that if they can check it there, it is likely to save the great area of chestnut growth along the southern Appalachians. I don't want to make any prophecy as to how that experiment is likely to come out, but, however it comes out, it will be a very great object lesson as to what can be done on a large scale with a disease of this sort. One of the first things which had to be considered in Pennsylvania was to train a number of men to recognize the disease, so as to go over the coimtry and locate the diseased spots. The method of recognizing the disease I wull briefly outline. Of course, over a large country, many hundreds of sc^uare miles, it is a long, and laborious operation to look over every tree. It is perhaps impossible without a very much larger force than $275,000 could put into the field. But there are certain clues to the location of the disease which can be seen a long distance, a quarter of a mile, at any rate. The means of recognition is by what I commonly call danger signals. This fungus, when growing through the bark, starts from the common point of infection and grows in all direc- tions, up the stem, down the stem, and around the stem. Wherever this vegetative stage, technically known as mycelium, penetrates, the bark is killed ; and of course, you all know what that means. When this has succeeded in reaching around a twig, branch, or trunk, everything be- yond that girdled area dies, not immediately, perhaps, but sooner or later it dies; and it dies in such a way that the leaves change color dur- ing the summer. The first obvious change which can be noted is a slight wilting of the leaf ; then the leaf assumes a pale green color, and from the pale green it takes on a yellow stage ; from this a reddish yel- low stage, and then a brown, till the leaf is the ordinary dark dull browTi of the dead leaves. This coloration which takes place is con- spicuous. There is your guide, your danger signal. If the disease has worked very long, half a season, in one locality, you are almost sure of getting some of these danger signals. Where one is present, you can go and look up the cause of that danger signal. It may be a broken twig, but the point is to find out if it is this disease which has caused the danger signal. We start by looking at the danger signal, then at the base of the dead area. If we find here some of the reddish pustules which have been shown on this bark we are quite sure that the disease 42 is present. Then by cutting: into the bark a littk\ instead of the normal buff or yeHowish tint of the fresli elean bark, we get, when the disease is present, a rather uiotth'd effect, varying from a brownish to lighter or even darker. There is a peculiar fan-like effect to this mycelium which penetrates the bark, so that by shavii\g off the surface of the bark, you get this mottled appearance, which gives you another means of identifying the disease. So we look for the danger signals, and then look for the meaning of the danger signals. If we find those two things, the pustules and the mottled mycelium, we can very safely say that this disease is present. There are a few fungi which closely resemble this chestnut disease in general appearance, but they are not very common, and are not con- fused with the disease, as a rule, when j^ou get the lens on them. In regard to the experiments for the control of the disease, I want to say a few words. As far back as 1907, the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture began experiments on certain experimental plots, particularly in Long I.sland near the region where the earliest cases of this disease were known, to see if it could be controlled on individual trees after they had become infected. Later, experiments were under- taken along the same line in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Spray- ing was tried, although there was no idea that it would be of any use, because the vegetative stage of this fungus is running through the in- terior of the bark, where no spray could reach it. Thus spraying was found to be of no use whatever. Then the operation of cutting out the disease was tried. Where the diseased spot appeared, it was cut out with a gouge. Then the exposed area was covered in various ways with antisptics. This gave, for a year or two, very promising results, but about the third year the disease appeared to get over on to the margin, where it had been cut. This led to the later discovery that the disease had been running in the wood, as we had previously suspected. So the cutting out of the bark alone is not sufficient. This j^ear cutting has been done so as to include a portion of the sap wood. There is just one other topic which I want to allude to. That is in regard to the immunity question. It has been found that this disease attacks the commcm native chestnut, the chinquapin, the various culti- vated European chestnuts, but very rarely the Japanese. In regard to this point, I hope that Doctor Morris will tell us something about his experiments on the breeding of chestnuts with the idea of producing a new and immune variety. You will understand that I have just made an outline of this disease, and I hope that, if there are any questions to be asked, you will make them easy, so that I can answer them. I 43 President Morris: This very interesting paper is now open for discussion, and I hope that we can get some points which will allow us to know how to control the disease. With the wind-borne spores that are carried miles and miles by a single sharp gust of wind, this disease is a difficult matter to control. We must, I believe, find some natural enemies, if we can. I don't know where to look for these. I will have to ask the mycologists what we may anticipate along the line of natural enemies. I would like to ask if it is common for a weak species to be- come a devastating species. Have we many parallels in the field of mycology ? The point relating to raising immune kinds is one for dis- cussion. Are we to raise immune chestnuts? The history of most plants, I think, has been this, that where they have met their enemies in their natural environment, the fittest survive; and it seems to me that this is a case in which we perhaps have survival of the fittest in North Asia ; for the North Asian chestnuts certainly resist the disease better than any others, but the chestnuts of southern Asia are quite vulner- able to it. In my own orchards, I have twenty-six kinds of chestnuts. and have followed them along, for the purpose of determining which ones would resist the blight best. I cut out last year 5000 old American chestnut trees on my property. There is not a tree in all that part of Connecticut, the vicinity of Stamford, that is not blighted, and very few that are not dead. Now. in the midst of this disaster, what was the behavior of my experimental chestnuts of various kinds? It was this. I had about one thousand Koreans that lived up to five years of age, growing in the midst of blighted chestnuts, and none of these blighted. It occurred to me that it might be well to graft these on the stumps of American chestnut, because these Koreans resisted the blight ; but when I grafted them on the sprouts of American stumps, at least fifty per cent of the Koreans blighted, showing that the pabulum wanted by the Diaporthe seemed to be furnished by the American chestnut. I had some chestnuts from North Japan that resisted the blight, and yet these grafted on the sprouts from American chestnuts blighted. I had some Chinese chestnuts, and none of those have blighted as yet ; and in grafting them, two or three have not been blighted. I have perhaps twenty-four chinquapins, both the western form and the eastern, and only one branch of one tree has blighted. Of the southern Japanese chestnuts, very many are blighted. They are not as resistant as the northern. I have a good many chestnuts of European descent, and among these some resist the blight pretty well ; and some of the Ameri- can progeny, like the Hannum and Ridgely, seem to resist well enough, so that now I am grafting these upon many different sprouts. This should be worked out, and I wish to know what men have tried experi- ments along this line. I would like to ask Professor Eeddick to discuss this question. Professor Reddick : I have very little that I can add at the present time. The points the talk has raised here are of the greatest importance, and there is certainly room for a great many people to work, though here in this state we have only one man who is devoting his attention particularly to this disease. I find in connection with the work that Professor Collins is doing, and in connection with the Pennsylvania work, that there are some people engaged on these very vital and im- portant problems. They are not giving any particular attention to field work, but are working on these special problems. I think you all ap- preciate that progress of investigations on this kind of subjects is rather slow, and in the meantime the man who has his trees and his nurseries blighting is surely up against it. I have only one thing in mind, a thing which I suggested to Mr. Rankin when he first started on this work, and it is a thing which Doctor Peck, our state botanist, suggested at the chestnut bark confer- ence that was held in Albany not long since. Doctor Peck says that he has lived a good while, and he has seen epidemics come and go. Certain plants, certain varieties were threatened with extermination, yet at the present time they are still with us. I suggested to Mr. Rankin that, while it looked as if chestnut blight was going to be with us indefinitely, the chances were it would all be gone before he had a chance to find out all the things he thought he was going to. Our friend Doctor Clinton of Connecticut would have us think it is only a matter of a few years to have conditions come around so that the chestnut blight will not be a thing of serious importance. In other words. Doctor Clinton stoutly maintains that, while this fungus is doing so much now, it is largely due to the condition to which our trees have come, owing to a succession of very unfavorable summers and winters ; and as soon as the conditions get around to normal, the disease will be no more. Some of us are not inclined to agree with him entirely. Professor Craig : Perhaps you can tell us what Mr. Rankin has been doing this year. Professor Reddick : At the beginning of the past summer, from the surveys and observations that had been made almost entirely by the United States Department of Agriculture authorities, it was known that the chestnut disease had extended up the Hudson River perhaps as far as Poughkeepsie. It was our idea that he would probably find the border line of healthy and diseased trees somewhere in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie, so Mr. Rankin located it opposite Poughkeepsie at Highlands. During the course of the summer, the assistance of the State Survey Commission and the State Department of Agriculture was enlisted, and there were six or eight men who spent part of July and all of August surveying the portion which now appears on this map 45 in red. The results of this survey show that the entire Hudson River Valley, with the exception of a small part in the vicinity of Albany, is now infected. In fact, it is the general opinion that there is no use whatever to attempt in any waj' to save the trees in this locality. Very fortunately there is a strip of territory which is almost solid spruce forest, and in which there are almost absolutely no chestnut trees. We have already, then, abandoned the Hudson River Valley, but with this great natural barrier, you see that it is going to be relatively easy, so far as the State of New York is concerned, to put some sort of an arti- ticial barrier across the little neck there. This all depends on what can be done in Pennsylvania. This cross-hatching of red along the Dela- ware River represents an area in which the infection is only partial, and the few dots of red shown about Binghamton represent localities in which the blight has now been exterminated. The diseased trees have been taken out, stumps killed, and bark burned. We are in hopes the disease will not reappear there. I don't believe things have been definitely settled at Albany in the Department of Agriculture, where the control work naturally lies, but Commissioner Pearson is very anxious that something be done to try to control or prevent the further spread of the disease in our state. Plans are being made so that a large number of men will be located in this territory next summer, making very careful inspection, removing the occasional diseased trees, killing stumps, and burning bark ; and a forester will be connected with the work, for the purpose of advising with regard to the use of the diseased timber. I might call attention to the fact that our state agricultural law. as it now reads, empowers our Commissioner of Agriculture to quarantine against this or any other dangerous fungous disease, — a very broad step from what it was before that time, when the only fimgous disease he had any power to act against was the black knot of plums. Mr. Reed : From the chart, it appears that the disease is more common in the vicinity of streams and bodies of water. Professor Reddick : That is an observation that has often been recorded. Mr. Reed : How is it elsewhere than in New York ? Professor Collins: The question has been asked more often than otherwise, why do we find the disease on the tops of hills away from the water? I think there isn't a sufficient amount of evidence or observa- tion on that point to say whether it is more common near or away from bodies of water. I will call your attention to one experiment that can be performed by anybody with the microscope. Take a piece of one of those spore horns or threads, put it in a drop of water on a microscope slide. Inside 46 of two minutes, it will disappear entirely. It is dissipated in the water, and the spores are so small you cannot see them with the naked eye. If you let th.e water dry on the slide, then put that slide under the micro- scope and try to blow those spores off, you can do it just about as easily as you can blow the shellac off a door. You can brush that film under the microscope, and you can 't see that a single spore has been disturbed. The explanation. I think, lies in the fact that these spores are of a mucilaginous nature, and when they dry, they stick to whatever they come in contact with. That does not mean that these spores cannot be blown, because they may lie on fragments of leaves and be blown about by the wind. Again, some of the spores may be detached in a mechani- cal way and and thus blown by the wind. But I am quite convinced that the spores are not blown broadcast, simply because they are of a sticky nature. Now, those spore threads are forced out under certain conditions, moisture conditions, as a rule. It has been shown after repeated obser- vation that these spore threads are pushed out a day or two after a rain. Of course, in the springtime, the atmosphere is much more moist than later in the season. Consequently, we find more of these spore threads in the spring than at any other time. You will recall that the last week of August this year was a week of almost continuous rain. Two days after that ceased, I saw as many of these spore threads as I had seen at any one time all sunnner. So that, although conditions are best in the spring for greater abundance of these spores, they may occur at any time. If a bird alights on these spore masses, there is no reason that I see why they should not be carried. We know the rain water running down the trunk dissolves these spore masses, and they are carried down, there to reinfect the tree when insects crawl around. President Morris: My brother has some Japanese chestnuts twenty- five or thirty years of age. By cutting off one branch at a time as fast as they blighted, he has saved those trees. Professor Collins : You spoke, Doctor Morris, of grafting Japanese on to American stock. I have seen repeated cases where the Japanese has been grafted on to American stock. The whole Japanese tree has been killed, and we find the disease has killed the tree by girdling the American stock below the graft. President Morris: Yes, I find this over and over again. In one case where I had a very choice variety of Burley's chestnut, the DiaporfJie attacked the American stock underneath this, and had prac- tically girdled it when I saw it. There remained a fraction of an inch of good bark. I cut off all except that, and put tar over it, and grafting wax over that, and this year the graft has grown a foot or more. So by 47 giving a great deal of attention to some one little injury, we can over- come the effect of it. Mr. Jensen : In your grafting, what was the relationship of the rapidity of the growth of top after grafting, compared with the old stock ? President Morris : When these grafts are put on the stock, on rap- idly growing shoots from a large root, they grow enormously, and sometimes we have had nearly one hundred feet of growth in one year. That, however, would be a chestnut like the Scott or the Ridgely. We frequently get thirty, forty, or fifty feet growth in one year. Mr. Jensen: Does the plant grow more rapidly when it is grafted than on its own stock ? President Morris : I have not grafted Japanese on Japanese stock, but the Japanese and Korean grafted on American stock does grow more rapidly than it does on its own roots. Professor Craig : Mr. Hall has another interesting instance of chestnut blight. Mr. Hall: On the ground where the blight appeared, there were four chestnuts set by a nurseryman, two Japanese and two European chestnuts. Of the European chestnuts, one has succumbed to the blight, and the other has been continually attacked for the past four or five years, twice in a period of four years, and it is still alive and recently appears to be in a more healthy condition than for the past four or five years. During that time it has never borne any chestnuts. The companion tree of the same kind was girdled in two or three years. President Morris : There is comparative resistance. Some of my trees went down instantly, and went all to pieces, while others stood up for four or five years. Chestnuts of the Paragon type I hoped were going to be fairly immune, but they are going pretty fast. I have ad- vised people who have asked about Paragon chestnuts to buy them, but be prepared to have to cut out blighted branches as they appeared. It is a question whether I can advise even buying them much longer, be- cause I have lost nearly all my Paragons, but they have not gone as fast as the Americans. Doctor Deming : Ought we not before we leave this subject either to appoint a committee, or to pass resolutions urging action on the part of the state similar to the action taken bj^ Pennsylvania in attempts to limit this disease? I would make such a motion, that the Northern Nut Growers' Association urge legislative action similar to that already taken by the State of Pennsylvania to limit the spread of the chestnut bark disease. Mr. Littlepage : I second the motion. (Carried.) 48 Professor Craig : Should not the Secretary be empowered to send a copy of those resolutions to the Commissioner of Agriculture? I think the motion includes that. Mr. Reed : It seems to me that this disease is of as much importance to other states as it is to New York and Pennsylvania, and that this sentiment, as this action can only be a sentiment of the Association, should be sent to the Commissioner of Agriculture in other states, as well as in New York. This is not the New York Nut Growers' Associ- ation. I would make that as a motion, that the sentiment of this Asso- ciation in favor of state action similar to that of Pennsylvania be pressed upon the Commissioner of Agriculture in each state where that disease is prevalent. President Morris: Shall we make Mr. Reed's motion take the place of Doctor Deming's? Doctor Deming : I would accept that as an amended motion. ( Carried. ) Professor Craig: Inasmuch as we have gone that far, should we not take another step, and that is, fearing lest the United States Secre- tary of Agriculture should feel slighted, should we not as the Northern Nut Growers' Association draw his attention to the fact that here is a serious disease sweeping over the whole northern part of the country, representing a very considerable portion of his domain, and ask his aid and cooperation with the various states which are attempting to do such good work? President Morris: Will that have to go as another .motion or as an amendment to Doctor Deming 's? Professor Craig: I move that a resolution of a similar type be passed, and forwarded to the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States. (Carried.) Mr. Wilcox : May I ask some of the gentlemen who have experience along this line if we may look for any cure or help for it in the future, and if so, along what lines will it be possible, along the lines of isolation, of natural enemies, or some other preventive or cure? President Morris: Yes, I would like to ask if anyone has a definite proposition beyond the one that has been proposed, restricting it by cutting out the advance agents of the blight. I believe that has been the only j)roposition so far. We certainly can't kill off the birds that will carry off blight on their feet. We don't know if a fungous enemy is likely to follow it up, or if it is a weak species, brought into activity by certain conditions, w^hich will be brought back to its normal mode of life again. I don't know that anything definite could be stated till we know more about it. 49 Professor Craig : Perhaps Mr. Collins or Professor Keddick might offer something in the way of suggestions on that. Mr. Collins: I don't think that I have anything to propose beyond the points suggested by the President. I think there are a good many points which should be kept watch of, and I don't know any one that looks any more promising than the other, except perhaps this of cutting out the disease. But this is an expensive method. Mr. Reed : Have you ever found any individual trees in infested districts that were immune? Mr. Collins: Only the Japanese, but I think Doctor Morris has found the Korean even more immune. I shouldn't use the word "im- mune," perhaps, but "highly resistant" to the disease. I have watched quite a number of trees, in the midst of disease, which seemed to be resisting the disease. I explained it in some cases by the fact that the bark was very free from injury — maybe that was the reason why they did not take the disease so easily as they might otherwise. President Morris: The next paper will be that of J\Ir. C. A. Reed of the United States Department of Agriculture on "The Present Status of Nut Growing in the Northern States." NUT GROWING IN THE NORTHERN STATES. C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C. With the exception of the chestnut, no species of native nut-bearing tree has become of prominent commercial importance as a cultivated product in that portion of the United States lying east of the Missis- sippi and north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers. The growing of foreign nuts has attracted greater attention than has the development of the native species. Almost with the beginning of our national his- tory, the culture of Persian walnuts attracted considerable attention throughout the East, especially in the States of the Middle and North Atlantic Coast. The European and Japan chestnuts, the European hazels and the Japan walnuts have since come into considerable promi- nence in the same area. Within the district so outlined, which comprises practically the entire northeastern quarter of the United States, there are few sections of large extent to which some species of native or foreign origin has not already demonstrated its adaptability to the soil and climatic condi- tions, or to some other locality of approximately similar conditions. In order of importance, the species of native nut-bearing trees known to be suited to some portion of the area under discussion, the following list is probably not incorrect: The American chestnut {Cas- 50 tanea dentata) : the shagbark {Hicoria ovata) ; the American black walnut {Juglans nigra) ; the butternut {Jugla)is cinerea) ; the pecan (Hicoria pecan) ; the shellbark {Hicoria laciniosa) ; and the hazels {Corylus americana; Corylus rostrata) . The American beechnut {Fagus atropunicea, Sudworth) naturally belongs to this list, but as it is probably not under cultivation as a nut tree at any place in the United States, it will not be discussed at this time. The principal foreign species which have been tried in the North- eastern States are: The European and Japanese chestnuts {Castanea sativa and C. japonica) ; the Persian (English) walnut (Juglans regia) ; the Japanese walnuts (J. Sieholcliana; J. cordiform/is and J. mands- hurica) ; the European hazels {Corylus avellana and ('. tuhulosa). THE AMERICAN ciiiE,STN\jT {Castanea dentata, Marsh). Representatives of the American species of chestnut are found native to a large area. The species seems to avoid extremes of tem- perature, cold, alkaline or acid soils, and an excess of moisture. Jt is apparently at its best in the sandy and coarse gravelly soils of the up- lands from lower New England to the southern extremity of the Pied- mont Plateau in the East and from the extreme southern part of eastern Michigan to northern ^Mississippi on the West. Although the quality of the American chestnut is unapproached by most of the foreign species, comparatively little attention has been paid to its development, while considerable effort has been directed toward the introduction and cultivation of the large European and Asiatic species. Comparatively few varieties of the American species have been originated, and of these none have been widely disseminated. The one variety, which, because of its size, productiveness, and quality, has been extensively propagated and widely planted, is the Paragon. This variety originated at Germantown, Pa., and was introduced about 1888. It is believed to have originated from a seed grown from a nut ob- tained from a European seedling, then in one of the gardens of Phila- delphia. This variety has been propagated very extensively both in the nursery and by grafting on native stumps and sprouts of cleared- over forest lands. In the nursery it is now chiefly grafted to seedlings grown from Paragon nuts. This variety is both precocious and prolific. In a 25 acre orchard of young nursery grown trees planted near Boon- ville. Indiana, during the spring of 1910, nearly every tree set a num- ber of burs during the same season. From two or three to from fifteen to seventeen burs had to be removed from each tree in order to prevent over-taxation. Mr. Charles A. Green of Rochester. New York, ]\Ir. E. H. Riehl of Alton, Illinois, and Mr. G. W. Endicott of Villa Ridge, Illinois, are the 51 introducers of a number of improved varieties of the American sweet chestnut, illustrations and descriptions of which may be had upon ap- plication to these gentlemen. The extreme severity of the chestnut blight throughout the section where it has made its appearance, the rapidity with which it has spread since its discovery, and the present practical impossibilit}^ of keeping it under control have put the future of the chestnut industrj^ of this country much in doubt. As has already been made clear during the present meeting, this disease has resulted in the entire destruction of thousands of forest and park chestnut trees in the sections where it has appeared, and as evidence of the further apprehension with which the chestnut blight is taken into account by the authorities familiar with it, it may be well to state that at the last meeting of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, the sum of $275,000 was appropriated for use in studying and combatting this disease. Above every other question bearing upon the subject of chestnut culture, that of this disease is by far of the greatest importance to the prospective planter. THE SHAGBARK HICKORY (Hicoria ovata) . This species is native to the greater portion of the area under dis- cussion. It is not common north of southern ]\Iaine and is much less abundant than the chestnut in the lower New England and North At- lantic States. It is best adapted to regions of deep fertile soils well supplied with moisture, yet without standing water. It is very difficult to propagate by asexual methods and ordinarily requires from twelve to twenty years to bring it into commercial bearing. For these reasons exceedingly few varieties have been called to public attention. The lo- cation of several individual trees of superior merit to that of the average are now known and arrangements are being made for their early propagation. The most practical means of obtaining young trees for nut pur- poses it the present time is to plant nuts from selected trees. This method will, of course, lead to the wide variation common with seedling trees, but until experienced propagators meet with better success in their efforts at grafting or budding this species than in the past, there is little use for the amateur to undertake it. THE AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT {Juglaus nigra). The American black walnut is common to much the same general area as the shagbark hickory. It is much less exacting in its soil and moisture requirements than that species and is much more frequent within the same area. Its representatives, either native or planted, are found in almost every kind of soil and at nearly every degree of eleva- 52 tion from the well drained lowlands to the mountain sides. As with the shagbark, few varieties of the black walnut have been introduced. The same interest is now being shown by leaders in nut culture in their efforts to locate and insure for propagation superior varieties of black walnuts as with the shagbarks. THE BUTTERNUT {Juglttus chtcvea) . The butternut or white walnut, as it is sometimes called, is one of the most neglected of our native nut bearing trees. In the forest it abounds under much the same conditions as does the black walnut, to which it is closely related. Its native range within the entire United States extends further to the East and North and is not found so far to the South or West as is the black walnut. Like the shagbark, it is generally less abundant within the area of its native range than is either the chestnut or the black walnut within their respective native areas. So far is is known to the writer, not a single variety of the butter- nut has been introduced. THE PECAN {Hicoria pecan) . The pecan is native to a very small portion of the area under dis- cussion. North of the 38th parallel it is found native along the river bottoms bordering on the Mississippi River and its tributaries to Daven- port, Iowa, Terre Haute, Indiana, and nearly to Cincinnati. Scattered individual trees are by no means rare in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, as far north as the 41st parallel, and they are occasionally found in the lower parts of Michigan, New York and Connecticut. In rare instances, they have been repcn-ted near the Atlantic coast in Masschusetts. It is doubtful if any of these northern trees which are well outside of the area included by the native range of the pecan have yet borne nuts of good size and quality to an important extent. The efforts to carry the pecan beyond the limits of its accepted range have thus far been mainly by the planting of seedling nuts. During the past 3 or 4 years, intelligent efforts have been made by several persons in the State of Indiana to locate wild or seedling trees of sufficient merit to justify their propagation as named varieties for northern planting. Already they have called to attention and are propagating as rapidly as possible the Indiana, the Busseron, the Major, the Greenriver, the Warrick, and the Hinton. Some of these varieties compare favorably in the matter of size with the average pecans of the South, and while none of those yet discovered are of extremely thin shell, in points of plumpness, rich- ness, bright color of kernel and pleasant flavor one or two of these northern varieties are not excelled by any of the southern sorts. Scions 53 and buds from these trees have been used in the propagation of nursery trees, and already a few trees have been disseminated. Several nurser- ies are now propagating these varieties but all combined their output will necessarily be very limited for some years to come. Somewhat in advance of the steps taken in Indiana two varieties, the Mantura and the Appomattox, have been introduced from south- eastern Virginia by Mr. W. N. Roper of Petersburg. The Mantura pecan is distinctly of the southern type,— large, thin shelled and a ready cracker. It has been disseminated throughout the North to some extent when grafted upon the stocks of southern seed- lings. None of the trees are yet in bearing. It is now being propagated by grafting to stocks of northern seedlings and it is highly probable more hardy trees will be the result. The Appomattox pecan has not yet been propagated to great ex- tent. Since the variety was called to public attention, a horse stable has been erected immediately under the tree ; and consequently, being greatly over-supplied with nitrogen, it has been unable to normally de- velop its crops. Good specimens, therefore, have not been obtainable for description during the past several years. In the mind of the introducer, however, it is a valuable variety, and well worthy of further observation. THE SHELLBARK HICKORY {Hicoria laciiiiosa) . The shellbark hickory is much less common and far less well known than is the shagbark. In its native range it appears in certain counties of central New York, eastern Pennsylvania and in parts of Ohio, In- diana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma. According to Nut Culture in the United States,* this spe- cies attains its "greatest development along the streams of southern Kansas and Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma." The nuts of this species are considerably larger than those of the shagbark and of much thicker shell, and commonly do not have as plvimp kernels. Exceedingly few have been propagated. THE AMERICAN HAZELS {Covylus Americana; Corylus rostrata). Shrubs of these two species are often seen growing together throughout the greater portion of the area under discussion. The for- mer (C. americana) is of somewhat the better quality. Neither has I)een propagated asexually or cultivated to any extent, but it is doubt- ful if. any native species of the nut tree offers a more inviting field for improvement than do these two species of hazels. The same methods of * Pablished by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1896. 54 searching out the individuals of superior merit to that t)f the general average for propagation by grafting and budding by which other nut trees are being improved should be followed with the hazels. THE CHINKAPIN {Castauea pumila). Except as a wild product, this nut has perhaps the least commer- cial importance of any species mentioned in this paper. A few culti- vated varieties are in existence but the nuts are commonly looked upon by experienced growers as novelties rather than as products worthy of special attention. The species is merely that of a dwarf chestnut grow- ing as a shrub instead of as a tree. It is less hardy than the chestnut, being evidently best adapted to the climatic conditions of the southern portion of the chestnut area and even farther south. FOREIGN NUTS. TPiE EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC CHESTNUTS {Castanea sativaj Castanea japonica) . It is probable that within the area under discussion greater atten- tion has been paid to the introduction of European and Asiatic chest- nuts than to any other foreign species. The former is a moderately strong grower usually, with a low, rather broad top. The latter makes a small tree chiefly of value for ornamental purposes. Both are grown principally from second generation seedlings, which seem better adapted to American conditions than do imported trees. As in the case of the American sweet chestnuts the existence of these species in the United States is threatened by the swiftly spreading chestnut blight. THjE PERSIAN WALNUT {Juglmis regitt) . The Persian walnut was among the first nut species to be intro- duced. The area east of the Rocky Mountains within which it seemed most successful previous to 1896 was described in Nut Culture at that time as being ''A limited area along the Atlantic Slope from New York' southward through New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, central Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia." Continuing, the same publica- tion said, "The tree endures the winter in favored localities near the coast as far north as Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but has never been planted there except in a small way. ' ' What was then said is still very largely correct. However, con- trary to the construction which might be implied from the wording, there are few commercial orchards of Persian walnuts anywhere east of the Rockies ; one, that of Mrs. J. L. Lovett of Emilie, Bucks County, Pa., of from fifty to seventy-five trees, approximately twenty years of age, is bearing fully as well as could be expected under its present en- vironment. The trees appear to be entirely unatfected by the severity of climatic conditions, but being seedlings altogether, and uncultivated, the crop production is irregular. Reports from northwestern New^ York and Pennsylvania indicate that this species may be safely grown iu those sections when within the zones which are tempered by the influ- ence of the Great Lakes. Ordinarily the trees scattered over the Eastern States do not seem able to permanently withstand the severe winters, as in most cases they arc n< t infre(iuently severely frozen back. In eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersej^ and New York City, the writer re- cently inspected numbers of fine trees apparently from 50 to 75 years of age which showed no indications of winter injury. The owners seemed to be entirely ignorant of the reputation of the species with respect to its inability to withstand severe weather. The nuts from many of these trees were of such large size and good quality tliat a number are to be extensively propagated in the near future. THE JAPAN WALNUTS {Jufjlans sieholcliatia ; Juglaiis cordifdrniis; Juglans mandshurica). These nuts are of comparatively recent introduction into the I'nited States, having been brought from Asia since 1860. All are generally hardy ; the first two are rapid growers, very productive and serve to an excellent purpose as ornamentals; the last is well known. The nuts of the former two are smaller than those of our native black walnut, of about equally thick shell, usually of no better quality, and as yet are not in great demand on our markets. A few trees, however, should cer- tainly be given a place about the home grounds. THE EUROPEAN HAZELS (Corylus avsllana ; Corylus tuhulosa). Numerous efforts have been made to introduce these species into the Eastern states, but owing to the severity of a blight everywhere prevalent with the American species in this section, such efforts have usually met with failure. There have been very few instances in which either species has been cidtivated in the Eastern states for any great period of time without being destroyed by blight. The future of hazel nut production in this section evidently de- pends upon the development of our native species or by hybridizing with some of the foreign species. 56 Tn concluding this article, it may not be amiss to throw out the following suggestions as to the steps by which all may lu^lp in the de- velopment of the nut industry: (1) Ordinarily, stick to the native species. (2) Plant nuts or seedling trees o^nly when l)udded or grafted varieties cannot ho had, but do not fail to pinnt nut trees of some kind. ['3) Whenever a tree or shrub is located which because of the superior quality, size, thinness of shell and (luantity of nuts appears to be worthy of propagation, specimens should be sent to the officers of this Association ; to the State Experi- ment Stations or to the U. S. Department of Agriculture at Washington, L). C, for examination. (Franks for the mail- ing of such nuts to the IT. S. Department of Agricultiu'e with- out postage will be sent upon application.) (4) Nut trees must be accorded the same degree of cultivation and horticultural attention given to other fruit-bearing trees, if conuuercial production of nuts is to be expected. President IMorris : This interesting paper is nov^^ open for discus- sion. T will start it l)y saying that the criticism of the Japanese walnut is correct, so far as it goes; but we have there a fine opportunity for good new work, and if the nurseries would take up this question in the right way, they could open up an enormous trade for stock. Let us take the Juijlans maiKLsliurlca, ami the sieholdia)ta, which have been distributed more than any others over this country because of the beauty ol' the trees. They grow rapidly, and are tremendously hardy, although not so much so as the best of the Japanese walnuts, the cordi- formis. It was found on the Pacific Coast that the cordiformis went largely to wood. In the East, it bears well, is perfectly hardy and the nut is delicious. Individual trees bear thin shelled nuts, and individual trees bear large nuts. In fact. I have seen the nut quite as large as the nut of the average American butternut, and thin shelled, at that. The thing for the large nurseries is not to sell Japanese nuts under that name, but to sell the cordiformis, and sell onl}^ that, and only grafted trees. In that way we would get rid of the less desirable varieties, just as with the hickories a thousand and one shagbarks that we find are not remarkable, and yet we will find here and there one that is worth graft- ing and pro])agating. It is the same way with the Japanese walnuts, but particularly this cordiformis which is hardy and growing native in a climate which corresponds to Nova Scotia. If the nurseries will put out this nut, grafted, they will have a very valuable nut to give us. I notice that the speaker distinguished a "little shagbark." Now, I won- 57 der if that is not a question worthy of discussion right hero. The names shagbark, shellbark, and scaly bark, are applied indifferently to Hicoria ovatn. Hicoria ciaerea, and Hicoria septentrionalis. We can distinguish them much better if we take different names for the little and the big shagbark. — if we call the little one shagbark and the big one shellbark, it makes a distinction ; and the reason why that distinction seems legiti- mate is that the bark comes off like great sheets from the big shellbark, and the little shagbark has the scales of the bark coming off in smaller scales, shelling off. At the same time, it is more scaly than the other. If we call the shaggy one, Hicoria ovata, shagbark, and call the big western one shellbark, it seems to me a distinction that we may as well make in our discussions, and fix the names in such a way as to afford convenience. Mr. Reed : My reference was to Hicoria ovata. President Morris : Yes, that is for the little one, and if we call the laciniosa shellbark, that will make a distinction. Shall we call the little one shagbark, and the big shagbark shellbark, or must we always depend upon the scientific names in classifying? Mr. Collins : May I call attention to another complication f To botanists who are not particulary nut growers, there is another tree which is known as the little shellbark, — that is the microcarpa, with a nut about one-half to three-quarters of an inch long. Professor Lake : Have we a committee on nomenclature ? President Morris: We haven't appointed that committee yet. Professor Lake : I was going to move that the matter go to them, with the suggestion that they take official action. President Morris: Supposing w^e extend the function of the com- mittee on the nomenclature of mandshurica to include this question of the naming of the shagbarks. Doctor Deming: Then had we not better include the President, ex-officio, on that committee? President Morris : We may as well begin, because there is no need of having this eternal confusion. Doctor Deming: I have never been able to understand why more attention hasn't been given to the hazels. Here we apparently have a nut which is easy to transplant, which is perfectly hardy, which comes into bearing early, which bears a valuable nut — so valuable that when I went into a confectionery store in New York, I saw trays of nut meats lying side by side, and pecan meats were priced at $1.00 a pound and filbert meats were $1.25. I understand the only obstacle to the growth of the filbert, which might well fill the early waiting years of the nut grower, is the hazel blight. I tried to get information on the hazel blight from Doctor Waite of the United States Department of Agri- 58 culture, and also from Mr. Kerr of Denton, Maryland, who, I know, has grown hazels for a long time, and done it very successfully ; but I have not succeeded in getting any accurate information on the blight, and as I understand it, no accurate experiments have been carried out in the treatment of the blight, or in its i)revention. It seems as if the blight, being an external fungous disease, ought to be one amenable to treatment by sprays. I am not aware of any experiments which have been made with that object. President ^lorris : Henry Hicks of AVestboro has given as much attention as anybody to this matter. He made a great effort to intro- duce the European hazels for years. They all w'ent down with the blight. Specimens of the blight you can get without difficulty. Doctor Deming: Did he practice spraying experiments carefully? President Morris: He told me he had tried all. AVhat have the Meehans done? Mr. Wilcox: They have never had any trouble with the blight. President Morris: How long do they keep them in the nurseries? Mr. "Wilcox : We keep them to six or eight feet. President Morris: Do you have the c(mimon hazel abundant? Mr. Wilcox: Yes, along the water courses. President Morris: This blight is more apt to attack the exotics, and over where Mr. Kerr lives there are no native hazels. He happens to be on an island. He started Europeans where we have no American hazels, so that accounts for his immunity. Mr. Reed : His trees are practically all dead now\ He has given up. President Morris : That has been the history everywhere. That is the last instance I have been able to find of successful raising of hazels. One line, it seems to me. offers promise — that is the making of hybrids. I am making hybrids between the American hazel and various European and Asiatic. JMr. Rush : I have had some experience with the hazel. I have exchanged with Mr. Roody of Washington. He has sent the Barcelona and Du Chilly, and they are growing very hardy without the least in- dication of blight. There are two kinds of American hazels. I have them growing as large in the bush as twenty to twenty-five feet. And then we have a small bush. The small type is worthy of propagation. The Barcelona and Du Chilly are thickly set with catkins this fall, and by all indications there will be a very nice crop next summer. President Morris : The rule is they begin to blight about the fifth year. About the eighth they are gone. Doctor Deming : Isn 't that a most promising field for experiment, in producing blight-free varieties, and also in spraying? President Morris: As I understand it, this fungus lives in the 59 cambium layer of the bark, very much as Diaporthe parasitica does, and at such a depth that spraying is not much advantage. The fungus does not attack the native hazel, except when it has been injured. Professor Craig: We haven't heard from Mr. Barron. Mr. Barron : I don 't know that I have anything to say. I came here to gather some information. I am chiefly interested in the pos- sibility of the use of nut trees for landscape effect. President Morris : This belongs right with this paper, because the uses of nut trees are not limited to the nuts for fruit purposes. Their decorative value is one Mr. Barron brings in very properly, and it seems to me we may replace thousands of practically useless trees in the parks with wonderfully beautiful nut trees. AVhat had you in mind particu- larly? Had you thought it out? Mr. Pomeroy: The nurserymen must have done something to in- duce people to set out horse-chestnuts. There can't be anything more unsightly. It is always shedding something in the way of filth. There are two or three varieties of Japanese walnuts that are beautiful, at the time of year when they are in blossom, with that long, red blossom. It seems as if the nurserymen might do something to induce people to set out these. President Morris : What could be finer than your English walnuts ? Mr. Barron : Mr. Hicks has given up hazel, but right close by Mr. Havemeyer is starting right in again. He has had them there for two years. Doctor Deming : One of my correspondents wrote, asking me what varieties of nut trees were most rapid growing and best for shade or screens. I think that is a very good subject for investigation. President Morris : We can discuss it right here. Doctor Deming: I said the most rapid growing trees were the Japanese walnuts, and perhaps the best for screens were the Japanese chestnuts. I should hardly know what to say are the best for shade, because all of the nut trees are so good. Mr. Reed : It would depend very largely on the locality. Of course, there are some of us here who are disciples of the pecan, and where you can grow the pecan successfully, it is doubtful if there is a prettier shade tree and one that makes less litter, or that grows faster. Some of the hickories — the mocker-nut especially, Hicoria alba, makes a very beau- tiful growth, and has a dense foliage of rich, dark green. For other purposes, there is no prettier tree than the chestnut, aside from the blight. It grows to greater size than most of the hickories and more rapidly. The Japanese chestnuts I am not familiar with. The butter- nut is not usually a compact enough grower to be a beautiful tree, but the black walnuts and certain of our hickories, the rapid growing 60 hickories, are very fine, and this Rush chinquapin, I expect, would be very fitting for hedge planting. It is a very compact grower, and grows up about fifteen or twenty feet, making a very pretty tree. But every one of these trees we are mentioning has its particular place in the land- scape. You can't use any one of them in all places. President Morris : The objection to black walnut and butternut is the early loss of leaves in autumn. I have heard others speak about it as an objection. Among the rapid growing ones, there is no doubt the Japanese walnuts are tremendously rapid growers, during the first few years. For screen purposes, the chestnuts and chinquapin certainly would do remarkably well. We have forgotten the beech altogether, simply because we haven't been classifying it as a nut tree. But the nurserymen can put out beech trees grafted from trees that bear fine, valuable nuts, and give us the beech as a tree of double value. Mr. Reed : Dr. Deming raised the question as to why the hazel nut was not given more attention. It occurs to me that we have an analogy in the pecan situation. The pecan is native up and down the jNIississippi River and out in Texas, and in that district you will find that a great deal less attention has been paid to development of varieties of the pecan as an orchard tree than farther east. All through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, we find new varieties by the scores. It seems to be a case of distance lending enchantment. Professor Lake : Going back, I wanted to ask you, Doctor Morris, if in your work of reproducing the hazel, you had used the Pacific Coast hazel for stock. President Morris: Yes, the Pacific Coast hazel is really the same species as ours, only it grows thirty or forty feet out there, and I have seen it nearly thirty feet high up in the Hudson Bay country. In some of the rich valleys in the far North, both on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, the hazel becomes almost a tree. I have used it for grafting stock, but I haven't used it for crossing as yet. I have a lot of hazels ready for pollenizing next spring. Professor Lake : It seems to me it would be a most excellent thing if this Association could do something in the way of stimulating the improvement of varieties of the native hazel. I can't help thinking that bush is entitled to much more attention than we have given it in the past. President Morris : Some work has been done along that line. I devoted the entire nut-collecting part of one year to studying the hazel. I went over many thousands of hazels. One day, when I asked a neigh- bor if I might go over his grounds, he said, "Yes, but what better hazel do you want than that one that grows above your north bars?" He said, "We have known of that for one hundred years about here." He couldn't find it. Finally it was found, covered by a ton of grape vine. 61 It has wonderful hazels on it. I have transplanted it. It is a large, thin- shelled, fine hazel, but a shy bearer. I have three very fine American hazels I am going to use in crossing. This big, thin-shelled one is a wonderful hazel, except that it is a shy bearer, and it is difficult to transplant. I have transplanted four American hazels, and it took me about two or three years to get them under way. It is a nuisance with us. It grows in our pastures so rapidly the cows have to get out of the way — crowds everything out. I have no doubt a great deal more work will be done with the hazel. Now my bushes are all ready for pollen- izing. I have crossed a lot of them this year. Professor Craig: I think Mr. Barron's point in reference to the ornamental or esthetic value of the nut trees is very well taken, indeed. It is a fact that nurserymen have paid more attention in the past to those forms which are particularly striking in some way, rather than to the forms which are actually and intrinsically beautiful. Anything which has variegated leaves or purple leaves is sure to catch the eye. As a matter of fact, I believe there are few trees which are more picturesque than the hickories here in New York. The summer season is not the season in which they carry their most beautiful forms. The winter is the time when we see that picturesque framework standing out against the sky, distinctive in every respect. Mr. Collins: Isn't this subject one in which the Association might interest itself? President Morris : I have found that nurserymen to whom I have talked for the most part were men of naturally esthetic taste, but dropped their esthetic taste in order to adjust themselves to economic principles. If a customer says, ''Please give me a thousand Carolina poplars, ' ' the nurseryman knows these will be beautiful for about fifteen years, then ragged and dead and unsightly ; but the customer wants them, and the nurseryman has to furnish Carolina poplars. Mr. Barron : The nurseryman, as a rule, doesn't take much trouble towards educating the people up to the better stuff. President Morris: I believe that, if the nurserymen make a con- certed movement — or not necessarily a concerted movement — if any one firm or two or three firms will make a business of introducing beautiful, useful trees of the nut-bearing group, they will open up a new group People just haven't thought about it. They give an order for trees in a sort of perfunctory way, because they must have them. If there is no further discussion, we will go on to the Indiana pecan, by Mr. T. P. Littlepage. and this will be the last paper of the afternoon. 62 THE INDIANA PECAN. T. P. LiTTLEPAGE, Washington, D. C. The subjec of the northern pecan is one that I have been interested in for more than thirty years. Away down in Spencer County, Indiana, on the banks of the Ohio River, stand many large native pecan trees, and some of my earliest recollections and most pleasant experiences are con- nected with gathering the nuts from under these large trees ; and, with- out realizing it, I acquired much of the information in those early days that has of late enabled me to carefully discriminate between the desira- ble and undesirable varieties of pecans, viewed from the standpoint of one who propagates them for orchard purposes. My interest in the vari- ous points connected with pecan growing was at that time a very direct interest, and the only motive I had for determining various facts was the fundamental motive which largely dominates the world today, and that is the question of securing the thing we desire for our imme- diate use. The large, magnificent pecan trees growing on the banks of the beautiful Ohio year after year became a matter of the deepest interest to me. I have seen the Ohio surging swiftly through their branches in the winter, have seen them withstand the storms and vicissitudes of snow and ice and raging floods ; and as the spring came on I have beheld them, with more or less surprise and pleasure, laden with blossoms. As summer advanced, I watched the growing clusters of delicious nuts ; and as the nuts began to ripen in the fall. I soon learned to pick out the best bearing trees. It was not a matter of science or unselfish research that enabled me to determine the fact that some trees rarely ever missed a crop, while others were very uncertain; that some nuts were large, thin- shelled, and of fine flavor, while others were small and hard to crack, and otherwise undesirable ; that some of the trees ripened their nuts early, long before frost, while others seemed to hang on and resent the coming of autumn with all their might. At the age of nine, I could take many different varieties of Indiana seedling pecans, separate them, and locate the trees from whence they came, and give the essential points of their bearing record. I could also tell whether the respective owners watched them very carefully, kept a dog, or lived at a safe distance away, all of Avhich points were just as essential so far as I was concerned as the size of the nut and its quality. The pecan captured me early in life, and I have been a willing victim ever since. My interest in this nut of late years is based on more scientific principles, but I doubt if the facts arrived at are any more reliable than the facts which came from the siiiijile desire to appease a boyish appetite with the best nut that nature has ever produced. 63 When I was about fourteen years old I came into personal posses- sion of twelve acres of land which had descended to me from my father's estate. The land was almost valueless for general cropping purposes, hut I had already, at that age, determined something of the value of a pecan orchard, and I proceeded to gather nuts from the best trees in that section, and the following spring planted the whole twelve acres in pecans. I knew, however, that even though the ground was not very productive it would have to be cultivated that summer, so I planted the pecans around stumps where the young trees would be protected. My information as to the value of pecans was accurate and unerring ; how- ever, there were several things I had not taken into consideration. First, that a pecan that is kept in the dry all winter is very slow to germinate in the spring, and in fact the percentage of them that does germinate is very small. Second, that the field mice have an abiding hunger for pecans. Third, that the pecan does not come true to seed, and that an orchard of seedlings is of very questionable value. The first two facts, which I failed to take into consideration — that is, the poor germinating qualities of a dry pecan, and the appetite of the field mice, relieved me from the embarrassment of the third, for it is needless to say that this attempt made twenty-five years ago was a complete failure, and for the time being discouraged my ambitions in this direction. But after many years they revived sufficiently to stimulate me to action again in the line of pecan culture. I mention the above facts merely to show my credibility as a witness on this subject. Being a lawyer by profession. I have learned long since that the value of one's opinion, and especially the value of testimony is directly in proportion to one's knowledge of and interest in the subject matter at issue. Therefore, trusting that I have sufficiently established my credibility, at least to my own satisfaction, I shall proceed to make some observations relative to nut culture in the North. First, let me say that I most heartily endorse the line of work undertaken by our Association — that is, the work of collecting and dif- fusing information in reference to nut culture that will be valuable to the prospective grower. Our southern brethren have very largely passed this stage in nut work in the South. They still have many problems before them, but the fundamental problems of the determination and propagation of the most desirable varieties of pecans have been already worked out and they are producing in their nurseries hundreds of thou- sands of fine budded and grafted pecan trees. There is such a lack of information on this subject in the North that it is indeed opportune that our Association should at the beginning of the interest in nut culture in ' that section take up these various question and give the public the ben- efit of our experience and information in reference to them. There are 64 yet many people who think that you cannot transplant a pecan tree, and that if you cut the tap root it will not produce, while the fact is that the pecan tree can be transplanted with almost as much success as can fruit trees. Two years ago I transplanted a number of cherry trees. At the same time I transplanted some pecan trees, and I had a higher per- centage of loss among the cherries than among the pecans. There are some who believe that it is even a benefit to cut the tap root. I have never belonged to the school which endorses cutting the roots of any tree to accelerate its growth, except, of course, where it is necessary to take up a tree and reset it, in which case it is necessary to cut some of the roots. It is unquestionably true that if the roots are cut too severely the tree receives too great a shock, but the pecan tree seems to recover as quickly as any other variety of tree. However, there are hundreds of farmers today who would not undertake to raise pecans, for the reason that they think they cannot be transplanted. Also, in every community where the pecan is native, can be seen many seedling trees ranging any- where from ten to twenty-five years old that have never borne a nut. These trees are pointed out by the general public as horrible examples of the uselessness of attempted pecan culture. Near my home at Boon- ville, Ind.. is a row of seedling pecan trees planted in a garden. The trees are now old enough to bear a half bushel of pecans every year, but so far as I know they have never borne a nut. The general public throughout the North and INIiddle West have not yet learned that the average seedling pecan is an uncertain quantity, grows slowly, bears irregularly, if at all, and probably inferior nuts. However, once in a while, nature, through her wonderful workings, has produced a tree that bears large crops of fine nuts regularly, and when the seedling pecan is grafted or budded from this kind of tree the trees so propagated take on the qualities of the parent and begin bearing very early. I have frequently taken pictures of small pecan trees not over three feet high, each bearing a cluster of large, fine nuts. This, of course, is unusual, ])ut shows the tendency of the grafted or budded tree. I mention the above two points not for the purpose at this point of entering into a discussion of the propagation of the pecan, but to show the necessity for general enlightenment on the possibilities, and to dispel some of the bug-a-boos that exist in the minds of many persons. Those of you here who have engaged in the various phases of nut culture may think these points primitive and unnecessary, and they are, perhaps, unnecessary to the expert, but it is my pleasure every summer to spend considerable time in the rural sections of the country, and it is surprising how very little is known, even by our most enlightened farmers, on the subject of nut culture. I have made many trips throughout the South, and I find the farmers in that section have read the various proceedings of the 65 National Nut Growers' Association until a knowledge of nut culture throughout the South is becoming very general. It is, therefore, the duty and the province of the Northern Nut Growers' Association to diffuse as much information as possible among the farmers of the North and Middle West on this subject. This is important for many reasons. At a recent meeting of the National Nut Growers' Association held at Mobile, Ala., in discussing the subject of the Extension of the Pecan Area, I used the following language : "In my opinion nothing is more important to the permanency of the pecan industry than the development of the pecan area in different parts of the country, and having orchards cultivated under as many different conditions as are consistent with the known probable successful area. This is important, for the reason that this more than anything else will insure a supply of pecans each year, and this will develop a public dependency upon this most valuable nut. Nothing can be more detrimental to any industrj^ than a spasmodic and irregular supply of the product upon which that industry depends." I quote this language for the reason that the culture of the pecan in the North is just now in its infancy, and it is peculiarly the function of our organization to get before the public the essential facts upon which its success depends. We are under great obligation for the work that has been done in the South and the information that is made avail- able through the National Nut Growers' Association. ^Much of this is valuable in the North, but there are a great many of the essential points that .have yet to be worked out, as the climatic conditions make it impos- sible to follow exactly in all cases the line of work that has been done in the South. The fake promoter and the crooked nurseryman will no doubt come in for their inning in the North, as they have in the South, and the /)ublic will be imposed upon by inferior and "doctored" trees, and all sorts of get-rich- quick orchard schemes will no doubt make their advent throughout the North; but it is very probably that our Association, through its proper committee, having in mind the experiences of the South, can keep closely in touch with the general work that is going on and have on hand sufficient information to protect those who will take the trouble to make inquiry. Nothing in the horticultural line is more satisfactory, more beautiful or more valuable than a fine young grove of grafted or budded pecan trees of good varieties ; but like all other good things, it will attract the counterfeiter. Coming now more specifically to the subject which has been as- signed to me by the committee— that is. ' ' The Indiana Pecan and My Experience in Nut Culture," I want to explain what is meant by the 66 "Indiana pecan.". It is true, of course, that some of the very finest of the northern pecans have originated in Indiana, yet I prefer to speak of pecans in that whole section of the country as belonging to the "Indiana group." Taking Evansville, Ind., as the center, there grow, within a radius of fifty miles, in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, many thousands of wild pecan trees; and after an investigation extending through a number of years, there have been selected from these various wild groves a few trees from which it has been deemed desirable to propagate. In this connection I want to mention the valuable work that has been done along this line by Mason J. Niblack. of Vincennes, Ind. ; Prof. C. G. "Woodbury, of Lafayette. Ind. ; R. L. McCoy, of Lake, Ind. ; and J. F. ^iU'^ -"i ^ O ^ ^^^ O^ O ^ ^^ ^ -^'>.^"- o^^^ '-- ^^ ^ O !- ;.^ '^ *v- Oi'.-O '-. *"-^^ '-- *» '^ o /^ o O'^ Grafted and Budded Pecans and Catalpa Speciosa The Ohio Valley Forest Nurseries of Lake, Indiana, is engaged in growing forest tree seedlings of all kinds, but make a specialty of Catalpa Speciosa seeds and seedlings that are true to name. We are also engaged in the propagation of trees from the best varieties of Northern Pecans found in the states of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. Our supply of budded and grafted Pecan trees is limited at this time, but we hope to be able to fill all orders by fall of 1912. If interested in Pecan trees that will grow and bear nuts in the North, write us for further information and prices. R. L. McCoy, Proprietor | Lake, Spencer Co., Indiana | Hardy Pecan and Walnut Trees WK grow hardy varieties of Pecans and Persian (English) Walnuts under northern conditions for northern planting. Va- rieties of Pecans introduced by us won all the premiums offered on Pecans in the Morris Com- petition, at the December convention of North- ern Nut Growers, Cornell University, 191 1. We are the pioneers in the growing of hardy pecan trees. You get the benefit of our wide experi- ence extending over several years when you plant " Arrowfield " trees. Our Persian (English) Walnut trees are of hardy northern types, budded on black wal- nut stocks We shall have some unusuall}^ fine speci mens for next season Let us book your order, select some fine trees for you and bring them to prime condition for deliver}^ at such date as you ma}^ designate. Write for our booklet "Nut Trees". It contains information that will interest you. ARROWFIELD NURSERIES Box N, Petersburg, Va. : GETACOPY : * The American Fruit and Nut Journal, of Petersburg, Va., If is a bi-monthly publication covering every phase of the Nut * ^ Industry from the Festek of Greece and Assyria to the Chest- * nut. Almond, Walnut and Pecan of America. It is ably ^ ^ edited, fully illustrated and handsomely printed. • ^ If you vv^ant full, accurate, reliable information pertaining * to every phase of Nut Growing — varieties, cultures, insects, ^ • ♦ harvesting, selling— If you want a practical paper that interests, inspires and informs, read this Journal. Subscription price, one year, one dollar ; three years, two dollars. * ■*■ Write now for a sample copy. • • ¥- PETERSBURG - - VIRGINIA * ♦ * * American Fruit and Nut Journal ¥ • ¥ • I NUT TREES I ^ • * Why not plant NUT TREES about the home • and combine profit with ornament and shade. You if. may not need the revenue, but you will certainly en- * ■^ joy the nuts, if you plant Jones' budded and grafted * w trees. Nurseries at Jeanerette, La., and Willow ■ ■¥• 5^ee/, Pa. • I J. F. JONEIS • if if ^ The Nut Tree Specialist -:- Willow Street, Pa. . ^ • ^ • NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING ./^--..''^— LANCASTER. PENNSYLVANIA DECEMBER 18 AND 19 1912 PROFESSOR JOHN CRAIG A FOUNDER OF THE ASSOCIATION Died 1912 NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA DECEMBER 18 and 19, 1912 THE CAYUGA PRESS ITHACA, N. Y. 1913 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Officers and Committees of the Association 3 Members of the Association 4 Constitution and Rules of the Association 8 Proceedings of the Meeting held at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, December 18 and 19, 1912 9 Address of Welcome by the Mayor of Lancaster 9 Response by Mr. Littlepage 11 President's Address. The Practical Aspects of Hybridizing Nut Trees, Robert T. Morris, New York 12 Fraudulent and Uninformed Promoters. T. P. Littlepage, Indiana 22 Recent Work on the Chestnut Blight. Keller E. Rockey, Pennsylvania . . 37 Some Problems in the Treatment of Diseased Chestnut Trees. Roy G. Pierce, Pennsylvania 44 Nut Growing and Tree Breeding and their Relation to Conservation. J. Russell Smith, Pennsylvania 59 Beginning with Nuts. W. C. Deming, New York 64 The Persian Walnut, Its Disaster and Lessons for 1912. J. G. Rush, Pennsylvania 85 A 1912 Review of the Nut Situation in the North. C. A. Reed, Washing- ton, D. C ■> 91 Demonstration in Grafting. J. F. Jones, Pennsylvania 105 Some Persian Walnut Observations, Experiments and Results for 1912. E. R. Lake, Washington, D. C 110 The Indiana Pecans. R. L. McCoy, Indiana 113 Appendix : Report of Secretary and Treasurer 116 Report of Committee on Resolutions 117 Report of Committee on the Death of Professor John Craig 119 Report of Committee on Exhibits 120 The Hickory Bark Borer 122 Miscellaneous Notes : Members Present 124 List of Correspondents and Others Interested in Nut Culture 124 Extracts from Letters from State Vice-Presidents and Others 138 OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION President T. P. Littlepage Secretary and Treasurer W. C. Deming COMMITTEES Executive Robert T. Morris W. N. Roper And the Officers Promising Seedlings T. P. Littlepage C. A. Reed W. C. Deming Hybrids Indiana Georgetown, Conn. Membership W. C. Deming G. H. Corsan W. N. Roper nomenclature W. C. Reed R. T. Morris W. C. Deming Press and Publication R. T. Morris J. R. Smith C. P. Close STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS Canada Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Panama Pennsylvania Texas Vermont Virginia West Virginia Goldwin Smith Dr. Frank L. Dennis Charles H. Plump H. P. Layton H. Harold Hume G. C. Schempp, Jr. Dr. F. S. Crocker R. L. McCoy Alson Secor A. L. Moseley J. F. Jones C. P. Close Bernhard Hoffmann Miss Maud M. Jessup C. A. Van Duzee Henry N. Gowing Henry Hales A. C. Pomeroy W. N. Hutt J. H. Dayton Mrs. E. B. Miller F. A. Wiggins B. F. Womack J. G. Rush C. T. Hogan Clarence J. Ferguson W. N. Roper B. F. Hartzell W. N. Roper T. P. Littlepage W. C. Deming Highland Creek Colorado Springs West Redding Georgetown Glen St. Mary Albany Chicago Lake Des Moines Calhoun Jeanerettd Washington, D. C. Stockbridge Grand Rapids St. Paul Dublin Ridgewood Lockport Raleigh Painesville Enid Toppenish Canal Zone. West Willow Ennis Burlington Petersburg Shepherdstown MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION Abbott, Frederick B., 419 9th St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Armstrong, A. H., General Electric Co., Schenectady, N. Y. , Arnott, Dr. H. G., 26 Emerald St., South, Hamilton, Canada. Barron, Leonard, Editor The Garden Magazine, Garden City, L. I. Barry, W. C, Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. Benner, Charles, 100 Broadway, N. Y. City. fBowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Bldg., Boston, Mass. Button, Herbert, Bonnie Brook Farm, Cazenovia, N. Y. Browne, Louis L., Bodsbeck Farm, New Canaan, Conn. Butler, Henry L., Gwynedd Valley, Pa. Casper, Norman W., Fairlawn, New Burnside, 111. Chalmers, W. J., Vanport, Pa. Chamberlain, W. O., 300 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. Clendenin, Rev. Dr. F. M., Westchester, N. Y. City. Close, Prof. C. P., Expert in Fruit Identification, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Cole, Dr. Chas. K., 32 Rose St., Chelsea-on- Hudson, N. Y. Coleman, H. H., The Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co., Newark, N. J. Corsan, G. H., University Gymnasium, Univ. of Toronto, Tor- onto, Canada. •Crocker, Dr. F. S., Columbus Memorial Bldg., Chicago, 111. Dayton, J. H., Painesville, Ohio. Rep. Storrs & Harrison Co. Decker, Loyd H., Greeley, Col., R. 5, Box 11. Deming, Dr. N. L., Litchfield, Conn. Deming, Dr. W. C, Georgetown, Conn. Deming, Mrs. W. C, Georgetown, Conn. Dennis, Dr. Frank L., The Colchester, Colorado Springs, Col. Ellwanger, W. D., 510 E. Ave., Rochester, N. Y. Ferguson, Clarence J., Rep. Eastern Fruit & Nut Orchard Co., 144 College St., Burlington, Vt. Fischer, J., Rep. Keystone Wood Co., Williamsport, Pa. Fullerton, H. B., Medford, L. I. Gowing, Henry N., Dublin, N. H. Gschwind, Geo. W., 282 Humboldt St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Haberstroh, Arthur L., Sharon, Mass. Hale, Mrs. Geo. H., Glastonbury, Conn. Hall, L. C, Avonia, Pa. *Hales, Henry, Ridgewood, N. J. Hans, Amedee, Supt. Hodenpyl Est., Locust Valley, L. I., N. Y. Harrison, J. G., Rep. Harrison's Nurseries, Berlin, Md. Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown, W. Va. Haywood, Albert, Flushing, N. Y. Hicks, Henry, Westbury Station, L. I., N. Y. Hildebrand, F. B., 5551 Monroe Ave., Chicago, 111. Hoffman, Bernhard, Stockbridge, Mass. Hogan, C. T., Ennis, Texas. Holden, E. B., Hilton, N. Y. Holmes, J. A., 127 Eddy St., Ithaca, N. Y. Hopper, I. B., Chemical National Bank, N. Y. City. Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary, Fla. Hungerford, Newman, 45 Prospect St., Hartford, Conn. fHuntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., N. Y. City. Hutt, W. N., Raleigh, N. C. James, Dr. W. B., 17 W. 54th St., N. Y. City. Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly St., Jersey City Heights, N. J. t Jones, J. F., Jeanerette, La., & Willow St., Pa. Jessup, Miss Maud M., 440 Thomas St., Grand Rapids, Mich. Keely, Royal R., 1702 Mt. Vernon St., Philadelphia, Pa. Wal- pole, Mass., Box 485. Koch, Alphonse, 510 E. 77th St., N. Y. City. Lake, Prof. E. R., Asst. Pomologist, Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Lay ton, H. P., Georgetown, Del. Leas, F. C, 400 So. 40th St., Philadelphia, Pa., and Bala, Pa. Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Bldg., Washington, D. C, and Boonville, Ind. Loomis, Charles B., E. Greenbush, N. Y. R. D. 1. Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks Co., Pa. Malcomson, A. B., 132 Nassau St., N. Y. City. Mayo, E. S., Rochester, N. Y. Rep. Glen Brothers. McCoy, R. L., Ohio Valley Forest Nursery,Lake, Spencer Co., Ind. Meehan, S. Mendelson, Germantown, Phila., Pa. Rep. Thos. Meehan & Sons. Miller, Mrs. E. B., Enid, Oklahoma, R. Box 47 1-2. Miller, Mrs. Seaman, Care of Mr. Seaman Miller, 2 Rector St., N. Y. McSparren, W. F., Furnice, Pa. Magruder, G. M., Medical Bldg., Portland, Oregon. Morris, Dr. Robert T.. 616 Madison Ave., N. Y. City. Moseley, A. L., Bank of Calhoun, Calhoun, Ky. Moses, Theodore W., Harvard Club, 27 W. 44th St., N. Y. City. Niblack, Mason J., Vincennes, Ind. Nichols, Mrs. F. Gillette, 129 E. 76th St., N. Y. City, and E. Had- dam. Conn. Patterson & Taylor, 343 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. Pierson, Miss A. Elizabeth, Cromwell, Conn. Plump, Chas. H., West Redding, Conn. Pomeroy, A. C, Lockport, N. Y. Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion, 111. Reed, C. A., Div. of Pomology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Reed, W. C, Vincennes, Ind. Rice, Mrs. Lilian McKee, Barnes Cottage, Carmel, N. Y. Rich, William P., Sec'y Mass Horticultural Society, 300 Mass. Ave., Boston. Ridgway, C. S., "Floralia," Lumberton, N. J. Riehl, E. A., Alton, 111. Roper, Wm. N., Arrowfield Nursery Co., Petersburg, Va. Rose, Wm. J., 413 Market St., Harrisburg, Pa. Rush, J. C, West Willow, Pa. Schempp, G. C, Jr., Albany, Ga. Route 3. Secor, Alson, Editor Successful Farming, Des Moines, Iowa. Sensenig, Wayne, State College, Center Co., Pa. Shellenberger, H. H., 610 Broadhead St., Easton, Pa. Shoemaker, Seth W., Agric. Ed. Int. Corresp. Schools, Scran- ton, Pa. Smith, E. K., 213 Phoenix Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn. Smith, Goldwin, Highland Creek, Ontario, Canada. Smith, J. Russell, Roundhill, Va. Smith, Percival P., 108 S. LaSalle St., Chicago, 111. Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., N. Y. City. Turner, K. M., 1265 Broadway, N. Y. City. Ulman, Dr. Ira, 213 W. 147th St., N. Y. City. Farm, So. Mon- sey, Rockland Co., P. O., Address, Spring Valley, N. Y. Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul, Minn, and Viking, Fla. Walter, Dr. Harry, Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City, N. J. Wentink, Frank, 75 Grove St., Passaic, N. J. White, H. C, DeWitt, Ga. Wiggins, F. A., Rep. Washington Nursery Co., Toppenish, Wash. Wile, Th. E., 1012 Park Avenue, Rochester, N. Y. Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., N. Y. City, and Stonington, Conn. Williams, Harrison, Gen. Land & Tax Agt., Erie R. R. Co., 50 Church St., N. Y. City. tWissmann, Mrs. F. DeR., 707 Fifth Ave., N. Y. City. Womack, B. F., Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama. Wyman, Willis L., Park Rapids, Minn. ^Honorary Member. fLife Member Constitution and Rules of the Northern nut Growers Association, Name. The society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers Association. Object. The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their products and their culture. Membership. Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who desire to further nut culture, without refer- ence to place of residence or nationality, subject to the approval of the committee on membership. Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a secretary-treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which the president, vice-president and sec- retary shall be members; and a state vice-president from each state represented in the membership of the asso- ciation. Election of Officers. A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nomi- nating officers for the subsequent year. 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 hold- ing of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seem desirable may be called by the president and executive committee. Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars. Discipline. The committee on membership may make recom- mendations to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member. Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees of three members each to consider and report on the fol- lowing topics at each annual meeting : first, on prom- ising seedlings; second, on nomenclature; third, on hy- brids; fourth, on membership; fifth, on press and pub- lication. Northern Nut Growers Association THIRD ANNUAL MEETING DECEMBER 18 AND 19, 1912 At Lancaster, Pennsylvania The third annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Asso- ciation was held in the Court House at Lancaster, Pa., beginning December 18, 1912, at 10 A. M. ; President Morris presiding. The Chairman: The meeting will be called to order. We have first an address by the Mayor of Lancaster, Mayor Mc- Clean. (Applause.) Mayor McClean: Ladies and gentlemen of the Northern Nut Growers Association: The Mayor of a city of the size of this, in which conventions meet so frequently, is so often called upon to make a speech that the prospect of having to do so causes him some disturb- ance of mind, not only on the day of the delivery of the speech but for many days preceding; but I confess that the invitation to come here to-day has had no such effect on me. I am very glad to meet and mix up with the members of this organization. The evolutionists tell us where we came from; the theologians, where we are going to; but no matter how much we may differ as to the theories of these respective leaders of thought, upon one thing we can all agree and that is that we are here. You ladies and gentlemen representing the Northern Nut Growers Association are here to interchange opinions and discuss ques- tions which have to do with the greater success of the very use- ful industry, the youthful and useful industry, in which you are engaged. I am here as the Mayor of this goodly town to tell you that you are not looked upon as intruders; that we will be blind when you help yourselves to our wine flasks, but that we will not be deaf should you ask for more. I am thoroughly in sympathy with the purpose of this organization, understand- ing it to be the encouragement of the planting of nut bearing trees in order that an addition to our present food supply may be provided; and that much waste land, now profitless, may be taken up and converted to practical and profitable uses; and further that through the medium of such tree planting and tree care as you propose, landscape embellishment in greater degree than that which now exists may be provided. We hear very much about conservation these days and it seems to me that the proposition which you advance is conservation in a very worthy and very high degree. - The soil and cUmate of Lan- caster County seem to be pecuUarly adapted to the growing of trees bearing nuts and fruits, and I am sure that the result of this convention will be to stimulate locally a very great interest in this worthy undertaking. You have chosen wisely in select- ing Lancaster as the place for this meeting, because we feel and we are satisfied that you will agree, after you have been here a few days, that this was the town that Kipling had in mind when he wrote of the town that was born lucky. (Laughter.) Here you will find all the creature comforts, everything that makes for the pleasure of existence, good food and good water, and if there be any of you who have a liking for beverages other than water, it may be some consolation to you to know that in this vicinity the mint beds are not used for pasture, the punch bowls are not permanently filled with carnations, the cock-tail glasses show no signs of disuse and the corkscrew hangs within reach of your shortest member. (Laughter.) We are a great people over this way. Perhaps you are not aware of that, but we bear pros- perity with meekness and adversity with patience. We feel that we can say to you, without boasting, if you seek a pleasant country, look about you. You may not know it, but it is a fact and the United States census reports ever since census reports have been made will prove it, that the annual valuation of the agricultural products of the county in which you now sit exceeds that of any other county in all this great nation. (Applause.) Another bit of local history may surprise you when I tell you that the combined deposits of the banks of Lancaster County approximate the enormous amount of fifty million dollars, that they are larger than the total deposits of any one of seven states in the Union that I can name and that they exceed the combined deposits of two of those seven states. But I don't want to take up your time with a recitation of local history, because I feel that your Lancaster colleagues will give you all the information, and I don't want to spoil their pleasure in giving it by antici- pating them. I congratulate you upon the success of this con- vention. I applaud the purpose for which you are united. I felicitate you upon your achievements up to this time, and pre- dict for you a greater measure of usefulness and advantage in the time to come, which usefulness and advantage, let me suggest, can 11 be made yours more promptly, certainly more surely, by your proceeding upon the principle that whatever is of benefit to the organization as a whole must be of benefit to each of its members, either directly or indirectly. I trust that you will go on with this good work and stimulate enthusiasm in your purpose in a nation wide way, working together with one common object, proceed- ing under the motto of the Three Guardsmen of France, "One For All and All For One." I now extend to you the freedom of the city. Roam where you will. Just one bit of advice I have to give. Contrary, perhaps, to general report, this is not a slow town and therefore you are in more danger of being run down than run in. (Laughter.) I will not follow the time hon- ored practice of handing you the keys of the city, for the reason that when I heard you were on the way, I had the old gates taken off the hinges in order that your incoming might be in no way impeded. (Laughter.) And now, in the name of the city of Lancaster, its heart filled with the sunny warmth of July, I bid you welcome and promise that we will try to extend to you a hospitality as generous as golden October. (Applause.) The Chairman: Will Mr. Littlepage please respond to the Mayor's kindly address of welcome ? Hon. T. P. Littlepage: Mr. President: On behalf of the members of the Northern Nut Growers Association, I desire to thank the Mayor very cordially for his delightful words of welcome to this city. We feel that the words haven't any strings to them, such as were indicated in a little poem I noticed the other day, which said that a young man took his girl to an ice cream parlor and she ate and she ate and she ate until at last she gave him her heart to make room for another plate. (Laughter.) There apparently isn't anything of that in the cordial welcome which we have received here to this great County of Lancaster. I know now after hearing the Mayor's discourse upon the great resources of this county, why it was that a young fellow who had rambled out into the West and happened to drop into an old fashioned protracted meeting, when asked to come up to the mourners' bench, objected somewhat, and finally when they said, "Well, young man, you've got to be born again;" replied, "No, it isn't necessary, I was born in Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania." (Laughter and applause.) I understand now why the young man was so sanguine, why it wasn't necessary to be born again, even under the auspicies of the Great Spirit. It is very gratifying indeed to be in the midst of a great county 12 of this kind that has made one of the great basic industries so successful. It takes three things to make a really great nation; it takes great natural resources, it takes great policies and it takes great people. We have nations in this world where the resources, the possibilities of agriculture and all lines of human endeavor are as unlimited, almost, as ours, but they haven't the people and in the cases where they have people of the right kind, they haven't adopted the policies. It takes those three things for any county, any state or any nation to be really great, and it is indeed gratifying to those of us who believe in the highest development, the best for humanity, to come into a county where the people, through their industry, their policies of ad- vancement, have made that county one of the best farmed agri- cultural counties in the United States; and that is saying a great deal when you consider the greatness of this nation and her immense wealth and resources. It is indeed gratifying to all of us who are spending some time and some effort to further somewhat the advancement of the country along horticultural lines, to be met with a cordial welcome and to come into this community that has so highly developed her various resources: so, on behalf of this Association and all its members, even the members that are not here, those of them who might, if they desired, take advantage of the Mayor's corkscrew and carna- tion bowl, I thank the Mayor and thank the citizens of this County and say that we are delighted to be among you. (Applause.) The Chairman: We will now proceed with the regular order of business. As my paper happens to be placed first on the list, through the methods of the Secretary, I will ask Mr. Littlepage to kindly take the chair while I present notes on the subject of hybridizing nut trees. THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF HYBRIDIZING NUT TREES Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York In the experimental work of hybridizing nut trees, we soon come to learn that a number of practical points need to be acquired before successful hybridizing can be done. This is a special field in which few have taken part as yet, and consequently any notes upon the subject will add to the DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS OF NEW YORK First President oj the Association, 1911 and 1912 13 sum total of the knowledge which we wish to acquire as rapidly as possible. First, in collecting pollen; it is important to shake our pollen into dry paper boxes. If we try to preserve the pollen in glass or in metal, it is attacked by various mould fungi and is rapidly destroyed. We have to remember that pol- len consists of live cells which have quite as active a place in the organic world as a red squirrel, and the pollen grains need to breathe quite as much as a red squirrel needs to breathe. Therefore they must not be placed in glass or metal or tightly sealed. Further, the pollen grains need to be kept cool in order to avoid attacks from the greatest enemy of all organic life, the microbes or the lower fungi. Probably we may keep pollen for a longer time than it could ordinarily be kept, if it is placed in cold storage, but practically I have tried the experi- ment on only one occasion. Last year I wished to cross the chinkapin with the white oak. The white oak blossoms more than a month in advance of the chinkapin in Connecticut, and the question was how we could keep the white oak pollen. Some of it was placed in paper boxes in cold storage; some in paper boxes in the cellar in a dry place. Pollen which had been kept in the cellar and pollen which had been kept in cold storage were about equally viable. It is quite remarkable to know that pollen can be kept for more than a month under any circum- stances. Hybridization occurred in my chinkapins from this white oak pollen. Sometimes, where the flowering time of such trees is far apart, it is important to know how we may secure pollen of one kind for the female flowers of the other. Two methods are possible. In the first place, we may secure pollen from the northern or southern range of a species for application upon pistillate flowers at the other end of the range of that species. Another way is to collect branches carrying male flowers before the flowers have developed, place them in the ice house or in a dark, cold room without light until the proper time for forcing the flowers, and if these branches are then placed in water, the water changed frequently as when we are keeping flowers carefully, the catkins or other male flowers will develop pollen satisfactorily a long time after their natural time of fur- nishing pollen, when they are brought out into the light. In protecting pistillate flowers from the pollen of their own trees, with the nut tree group where pollen is wind-borne rather than insect borne, I find that the better way is to cover the pistillate flowers with paper bags, the thinner the better, the kind that 14 we get at the grocery store. It is best to pull off the unde- veloped male flowers if they happen to be on the same branch with the female flowers, and then place the bags over the female flowers at about the time when t-hey blossom, in advance of pollination of the male flowers. It is not safe to depend upon pulling off the male flowers of an isolated tree and leaving the female flowers without bags to protect them from pollen of the same species or of allied species, for the reason that wind may carry pollen to a great distance. One of Mr. Burbank's critics — I am sorry he has so many, for they are not all honest or serious — one of his critics, in relation to the crossing of walnuts, said that it was due to no particular skill on the part of Mr. Bur- bank, for, whenever the wind blew from the east, he regretted to say that his entire orchard of Persian walnuts became pol- Hnized from the California black walnuts nearly half a mile away. This is an exaggeration, because the chances are that most of the Persian walnuts were pollenized from their own pollen, but in the case of some Persian walnuts blossoming early, and developing female flowers in advance of male flowers, pollen might be carried to them from half a mile away in a high wind from California black walnut trees. Black walnut pollen would then fertilize pistillate flowers of the Persian walnut. I have found this a real danger, this danger of wind-pollination at a distance, much to my surprise. Last year I pollinized one or two lower branches of female flowers of a butternut tree which had no other butternut tree within a distance of a good many rods, so far away that I had no idea that the pollen would be carried from the tree with male flowers to the one which hap- pened to have female flowers only that year; consequently I placed pecan pollen on the female flowers of the lower branches of this butternut tree without protecting them with bags, and left the rest of the tree unguarded. There were no male flowers on that butternut tree that year. Much to my surprise, not only my pollinized flowers but the whole tree bore a good crop of butternuts. This year, on account of the drought, many of the hickory trees bore female flowers only. I do not know that it was on account of the drought, but I have noted that after seasons of drought, trees are apt to bear flowers of one sex of the other, trees which normally bear flowers of both sexes. This year a number of hickory trees bore flowers of one sex only, and I noted that some shagbark trees which had no male flowers had fairly good crops of nuts from pollen blown from a distance 15 from other trees. I had one pignut tree (H. Glabra) full of female flowers which contained only one male flower, so far as I could discover and which I removed. On one side of this tree was a bitternut; on the other side a shagbark. This tree bore a full crop of pignuts, (Hicoria glabra) evidently poUinized on one side by the bitternut and on the other side by the shag- bark These points are made for the purpose of showing the necessity of covering the female flowers with bags in our nut tree hybridizations. We must sprinkle Persian insect powder inside the bags or insects will increase under protection. When we have placed bags over female flowers, it is necessary to mark the limb; otherwise, other nuts borne on neighboring limbs will be mistaken for the hybridized nuts unless we carefully place a mark about the limb. Copper wire twisted loosely is, I find, the best. Copper wire carrying a copper tag with the names of the trees which are crossed is best. If I mark the limb with string or with strong cord I find there are many ways for its disappearance. Early in the spring the birds like it so well that they will untie square knots in order to put it into their nests. Later in the season the squirrels will bite off these marks made with cords for no other purpose, so far as I know, except satisfying a love of mischief. Now I am not psychologist enough to state that this is the reason for the action of the red squirrel, and can only remember that when I was a boy I used to do things that the red squirrel now does. (Laughter.) Conse- quently, on that basis, I traced the psychology back to plain pure mischief. Red squirrels and white footed mice must be looked after with great care in our hybridized trees. If the squirrels cannot get at a nut that is surrounded by wire cloth, they will cut off the branch and allow it to fall to the ground and then manage to get it out. White footed mice will make their way through wire, and mice and squirrels will both manage to bite through wire cloth unless it is very strong in order to get at the nut. The mere fact of nuts being protected by wire cloth or in other ways seems to attract the attention of squir- rels. One of my men, a Russian, said, in rather broken English, "Me try remember which nuts pollinized; no put on wire, no put on tag, no put on nothing; squirrel see that, see right straight, bite off one where you put sign for him." (Laughter.) The best way for keeping squirrels and white footed mice from as- cending a tree, I find is by tacking common tin, slippery smooth tin, around the trunk of the tree and this may be left on only 16 during the time when squirrels are likely to ascend the tree. They will begin long before the nuts are ripe. In the case of hazel nuts, I have surrounded the bushes with a wire fence or wire mesh, leaving a little opening ^on one side, and have placed steel traps in the opening. Now here enters a danger which one does not learn about excepting from practical experience. I went out one morning shortly after having thought of this bright idea and found two gray squirrels in the traps. They had followed their natural instinct of climbing when they got into the steel traps, and climbing wildly had broken off every single branch from those hazels which carried hybridized nuts. There wasn't one left, because the squirrels when caught had climbed into the trees and had so violently torn about with trap and chain that they had broken off every single branch with a nut on it. So many things happen in our experiments that appeal to one's sense of the ludicrous, if he has a sense of humor, that I assure you nut raising is a source of great delight to those who are fond of the drama. The field of hybridizing nut trees offers enormous prospects. We are only just upon the margin of this field, just beginning to look into the vista. It has been done only in a limited way, £0 far, by crossing pollen and flowers under quite normal con- ditions. We may look forward to extending the range now of pollinization from knowledge based upon the experiments of Loeb and his followers in biology. They have succeeded in developing embryos from the eggs of the sea urchin, of the nereis, and of mollusks, without spermatozoa. Their work has shown that each egg is a single cell with a cell membrane and it is only necessary to destroy this cell membrane according to a definite plan to start that egg to growing. Life may be started from the egg in certain species without the presence of the other sex. This may lead us into a tremendous new field in our horticultural work. We may be able to treat germ cells with acids or other substances which destroy the cell membrane so as to allow crossing between very widely separated species and genera. Loeb, by destroying the cell membrane of the sea urchin, was enabled to cross the sea urchin with the star fish, and no one knows but we may be able, following this line of experimentation, eventually to cross the shagbark hickory with a pumpkin and get a shagbark hickory nut half the size of the pumpkin. That is all! (Applause.) 17 (President Morris then took the chair.) The Chairman: Please let me add that the hickory pump- kin idea is not to be taken seriously. That is a highly specu- lative proposition. I have found some times that, in a very scientific audience, men who were trained in methods of science, had very little selvage of humor, — little margin for any pleas- antry, but this highly speculative suggestion, curiously enough, is not in fact more speculative than would have been the idea twelve years ago that you could hatch an egg, start an egg to development — without fertilization. Mr. Hutt: I would like to ask how widely you have been able to cross species ? The Chairman: It has been possible to cross species of hazels freely with the four species that I have used, the American hazel, Corylus Americana; the beak hazel, Corylus rostrata; the Asiatic, Corylus colurna, and Corylus pontica. These ap- parently cross readily back and forth. With the hickories I think rather free hybridization occurs back and forth among all, but particularly in relation to groups. The open-bud hickories, comprising the pecan, the bitternut, the water hickory, and the nutmeg hickory, apparently, from my experiments, cross much more readily among each other than they cross with the scale- bud hickories. The scale-bud hickories appear to cross much more freely among each other than they cross with the open- bud hickories; not only species but genera may be crossed, and I find that the walnuts apparently cross freely with the open- bud hickories and the open-bud hickories cross with the walnuts. I have thirty-two crosses between the bitternut hickory and our common butternut, growing. All of the walnuts apparently cross rather freely back and forth with each other. I have not secured fertile nuts between the oaks and chestnuts, but I be- lieve that we may get fertile nuts eventually. The nuts fill well upon these two trees fertilized with each others' pollen respectively, but I have not as yet secured fertile ones. We shall find some fertile crosses I think between oaks and chest- nuts, when enough species have been tried. Mr. Hutt: Do you notice any difference in the shapes of any of those hybrids, the nuts, when you get them matured and harvested ? Do they look any different from the other nuts on the tree ? The Chairman: There isn't very much difference, but I seem to think that sometimes the pollen has exercised an influ- 18 ence upon the nuts of the year. Theoretically it should not do so, but I noticed one case apparently in which I crossed a chink- apin with a Chinese chestnut, and the nuts of that year seemed to me to present some of the Chinese chestnuts' characteristics. Mr. Hutt: This year I crossed a number of varieties of pecans and in nearly all those crosses there was to me quite an evident difference in the nuts. For instance those gathered off certain parts of a pecan tree of certain varieties, Schley or Curtis or Frotscher, would be typical nuts, but those hybrids or crosses that I produced were distorted, more or less misshapen and seemed to have peculiarities; so that when we came to look over the colony we were in doubt whether they were hand pollinated hybrids or had been pollinated before we got the blossoms covered. Many of them evidenced a great number of distortions, and one of them I remember particularly whose shell was so thin it was just like a piece of brown paper; and there were several peculiarities that were quite noticeable in those hand pollinated nuts. The Chairman: That is a very interesting point. When we come to consider deformities of nuts we shall find very many cases due to the character of the pollinization. I crossed the Persian walnut with the shagbark hickory and had nuts that year of just the sort of which Mr. Hunt speaks, with shells as thin as paper. One could crush them with the very slightest pressure of the finger. The shells were not well developed. Unfortunately the mice happened to get at all of those nuts. I don't know if they were fertile or not. The kernels were only about half developed. I should look for deformity in these nuts rather than a takmg on of the type of one parent over the other, the idea being based on theoretical biological considera- tions. We had last year a photograph of a tree in California which apparently was a cross, a very odd cross — does any one remember about that California tree ? Mr. Wilcox: It was a cross between Juglans Californica and the live oak. The Chairman: Both the foliage and the nuts were very remarkable and pertained to characters of these two trees. Such a cross to my mind would be wholly unexplainable excepting on the ground recently brought out by Loeb and his followers in crossing the lower forms of animal life and finding that the cell membrane of the egg, if destroyed, will allow of very wide fertilization subsequently with other species. It occurs to me 19 now — I had no explanation last year, but it occurs to me now, knowing of Loeb's experiments — that it is possible that one of the parents, the parent CaHfornia oak tree carrying the female flowers, might have had its sex cells subjected to some peculiar influence like acid, sulphurous acid, for instance, from some nearby chimney. Sulphurous acid perhaps from someone merely lighting a match to light a cigar under the tree; he might have so sensitized a few female flowers, may have so injured the cell membrane of a few female germ cells that cross pollinization then took place from a walnut tree. It is only on some such ground as the findings of Loeb that we can explain such a very unusual hybridization as that, which appeared to me a valid one, of a cross between an oak and a walnut. (Secretary Deming then called attention to hybrids in the various exhibits.) Professor Smith: I should like to ask why, if this free hy- bridization takes place in nature among the hickories, you do not have a perfect complex of trees showing all possible varia- tions in the forest. The Chairman: In answer to Professor Smith's question I will start from his premises and remark that we do have such complexities. The hickories are so crossed at the present time, like our apples, that even crossing the pollen of various hickory trees of any one species does not promise interesting results unless we cross an enormous number. They are already so widely crossed that it is very difficult sometimes to determine if a certain tree is shagbark or pignut or shellbark or mocker- nut. For the most part the various species and varieties of hick- ories retain their identity because their own pollen is handiest, and different species do not all flower at the same time. Their own pollen from the male flowers is apt to fall at the time when their own female flowers are ripe and under these circumstances the chances are very much in favor of the tree pollinizing its female flowers with its own pollen. On the other hand, there is hardly one chance in many hundred thousand for any crossed nut to grow, for the reason that most nuts are destroyed by mice, squirrels, rats and boys. If you have a hickory nut tree growing in a lot, and which has produced a bushel of hickory nuts year after year, do you know of one single nut from that tree which has grown ? In this plan of Nature, this plan of enor- mous waste of Nature in order to get one seed to grow, the chance for a hybridized hickory nut to grow under normal con- 20 ditions, is so small that we should have relatively few crossed trees growing wild in Nature, though we do find quite a good many of them. Professor Smith: If I am not taking up too much time, I would like to put some more questions to you. The Chairman: That's what we are here for. Professor Smith: Have you ever tried the plan of serving collations to squirrels ? Why wouldn't it pay to give them por- tions of wheat and corn ? Second, what percentage of the oak pollen kept in cold storage a month was alive ? Third, what is the range of time that the hybridizer has to make the pol- linization ? Must we go on the dot or have we two days or four days or a week, in the case of hickories and walnuts ? The Chairman: I think possibly as these are three direct questions, I might answer them now. No, I think it would be better to have all questions bearing on this subject brought out and then I will answer all together. So if you will kindly ask all the questions, I will then endeavor to answer them. Mr. Corsan: The squirrels bothered me last year. I've got forty acres of land for experimental purposes only and I started planting and the little beggars would dig down exactly where I planted the nuts, so I went into town and got a rat trap with a double section so I could catch them alive; and I caught so many by feeding them cheap pignuts, the sweet pignuts from Michigan, that I brought them in and my boys sold them for twenty-five cents apiece. Since then we have never been bothered with red squirrels. For the white footed mice I laid down large doors over some hay or long grass and they gathered underneath and then I lifted the doors up every day and with a stick I smashed hundreds of them. I have posted a notice to leave the skunk and mink alone; I don't want anybody on the place shooting them. The Chairman: I will first answer Professor Smith's ques- tions. This matter of serving collations for squirrels had best be done as collations are served at political meetings — with a trap attached. You don't know how many squirrels there are in the vicinity or how many white footed mice. You will be surprised at the numbers of the little rascals, and not only that, but the field mice, the common field mouse and pine mouse run in mole holes under the ground and can smell a nut a long way off. They are extremely destructive. What percentage of pollen grains of the white oak were alive ? I do not know. Enough 21 to fertilize a number of flowers. The sooner pollen is used the better. I cannot answer the question exactly because I did not make an experiment in the laboratory to know what part of the pollen was viable. I put on a good deal of it and there were at least some viable grains in the lot. That, however, is a matter which can be subjected to exact labora- tory tests without any difficulty. I am so busy with so many things that I can only follow the plan of the guinea hen that lays forty eggs and sits in the middle of the nest and hatches out all she can. Now the range of time for pollinizing is a thing of very great importance and we have to learn about it. We must all furnish notes on this question. With some species I presume the duration of life of pollen, even under the best conditions, might be only a few days. Under other conditions it may be several weeks; but we have to remember that, in dealing with pollen, we are dealing with a living, breathing organism. The Secretary: I believe the experiment has been carried to completion of fruiting a thousand trees from nuts grown on one pecan tree without two of the resulting nuts being like one another or like the parent nut. Is that true, Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed: Yes, you might say ten thousand. The Secretary: We have an illustration of the variability of the progeny of a nut in this collection of chestnuts by Mr. Riehl out in Illinois. This is a parent nut, the Rochester, and these others are seedlings from the Rochester, except where marked otherwise, some showing a tendency to revert to the parent, and some promising to be improvements on the parents. The Chairman: Mr. Secretary, I think we'd better con- fine ourselves to the hybrid question at the present time. The Secretary: Are not those all hybrids ? The Chairman: I don't believe any man can tell, unless you get the flowers, because you have the American and European types merging together so perfectly. Some of them show dis- tinctly the European type; others show distinctly the Ameri- can type. That is what I would expect, however. The practical point is the question of quality. Which one keeps the American quality and which one retains the coarseness of the European type ? Mr. Harris: Speaking of variations of nuts I think it is well known that there is quite a variation in the nuts of the oak. I noticed in one species, michauxii, which is an oak in the 22 South, that its nuts varied a great deal. It is something of the type of the chestnut, the white oak or the rock oaks and it varies a great deal. I found one on my father's range in New Jersey and also one on the Potomac. The variations extend to the trees as well as the nuts. The Chairman: The oak tree properly belongs in another tree group and some of the acorns are not only edible, but first- rate. In China there are at least three species found in the markets to be eaten out of hand or roasted. Our white oaks here, some of them, bear very good fruit, from the standpoint of the boy and the pig, anyway, and it seems to me that we may properly include the oaks in our discussion. There would be great range in variation of type from hybridization between oak trees and I have seen a number of oak trees that were evi- dently hybrids, where the parentage could be traced on both sides, that were held at very high prices by the nurserymen. I asked one nurseryman, who wanted an enormous price for one hybrid oak, why he didn't make ten thousand of those for him- self next year ? It hadn't occurred to him. If there is no further discussion in connection with my paper we will have Mr. Littlepage's paper on Nut Promotions. Mr. Littlepage: Dr. Deming said that he thought it might be time that we have something just a little lighter — that either he should read a paper or I. (Laughter.) Inasmuch as he included himself, I took no offense whatever. The subject I have written on, roughly and hurriedly, is Fraudulent and Un- informed Promoters. FRAUDULENT AND UNINFORMED PROMOTERS T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. In the beginning, let me assert my confidence and interest in agriculture in general. This is one of the basic industries, upon the proper understanding and growth of which depends the food supply of the nation. It is admitted by scientists that, other conditions being equal, an adequacy or inadequacy in the supply of proper food makes the difference between great peo- ple and undesirable people. This being true, the various oper- ations of agriculture must always be of the greatest concern to those who are interested in the nation's welfare. MR. T. P. LITTLEPAG OF INDIANA President of the Association 23 The "back-to-the-farm" movement is being discussed today in various periodicals, but back of the "back-to-the-farm" move- ment is a philosophy that has not been generally understood. It is not proper here to take time to discuss the reasons why the man in the "steenth" story of some magnificent office build- ing, with telephones, electric lights, elevators, and all modern conveniences, longs for the time when he can roam again amidst the green fields in the sunshine and fresh air, but suffice it to say that in my judgment a majority of the professional men, and men in other walks of life, would, if they could, abandon their various employments and turn again to the soil. The boy on the farm dreams of the days when he can be the president of a bank, have a home in the city, own an automobile, smoke good cigars and go to the show every night. The bank president dreams of the day when he can turn again to the farm and walk in the green fields, where he can shun the various artificial ac- tivities of life, drink buttermilk and retire with the chickens. It may be asked what connection these statements have with the subject, and the answer is this — that in the minds of many thousands of people there is this supreme desire to some day own a portion of God's footstool to which they can retire from artificial and vainglorious environments to those under which they can be their real selves and follow pursuits to their liking. It is this that makes it possible for the promoter of various horticultural enterprises to succeed in interesting in his schemes the clerk, the merchant, the doctor, the lawyer, the school teacher, the preacher, and all others whose occupations confine them within the limits of the great cities. In the beginning, let us distinguish between the fraudulent promoter and the uninformed promoter. The fraudulent pro- moter is he who recognizes this great and worthy ambition of many people to buy a spot to which they can some day retire and work and rest and dream and enjoy the coming and going of the seasons, and the sunshine and the shadows, and who capitalizes this ambition, with that industry as his stock in trade which, at the particular moment, happens to offer the most at- tractive inducements. Those familiar with the industry he is exploiting, can tell him by his actions, by his words, by his nods and winks. It is hard for the crook to disguise himself to the informed. Distinguished from the fraudulent promoter is the unin- formed promoter, but, so far as results are concerned, there is not much difference between them for the innocent investor. 24 They both lead him to failure. They are unlike only in this, that the pathway of the one is lined with deception, crooked- ness and chicanery; of the other, with blasted hopes based upon good intentions but bad information. Both lead to the self-same sepulcher which in the distance looks white and beautiful but when reached is filled with the bones of dead men. There is not much difference after all, when one comes right down to the facts, between the crook who starts out deliber- ately to get one's money and the fellow who starts out in ignor- ance and makes great promises of returns that he knows nothing about. Both succeed in getting one's money and both succeed in misleading those who have a desire to lay aside something for their old days. We naturally feel more charity for him who has good intentions, but who fails, than for him who starts out with bad intentions. But, after all, only results count. Did you ever receive the literature of one of these various concerns that has pecan or apple orchards to sell ? How beauti- ful their schemes look on paper! With what exquisite care they have worked out the pictures and the language and the columns of figures showing the profits ! While writing this arti- cle I have before me a prospectus of a certain pecan company that prints columns of attractive figures. Fearful, however, that the figures would not convince, it has resorted to all the various schemes of the printers' art in its portrayal of the pros- pective profits from a grove set to pecans and satsuma oranges, and it tells you in conclusion that it guarantees by a bond, un- derwritten by a responsible trust company, the fulfillment of all its representations. Yet what are the facts ? Their lands are located in a section where the thermometer falls to a point that makes highly improbable the profitable growing of satsuma oranges. And all their figures are merely estimates of the wild- est character, printed in attractive columns, based upon nothing. As a member of the National Nut Growers Association I was this year chairman of the committee on orchard records. I sent out blanks, with lists of questions, to many prominent nut growers to see if I could secure data upon which to base a report to the association. The replies I received showed the existence of some very promising young orchards of small size, well cared for, but they also showed that there was no such thing as an intelligent report upon which reliable data as to the bearing rec- ords of orchards could be based for any future calculations. There are two reasons for this. First, most of the figures we 25 have are based upon the records of a few pet trees around the dooryard or garden, grown under favorable conditions. Second, the young groves are not yet old enough for anyone to say, with any degree of accuracy, what the results will be. Therefore, the alluring figures printed in these pamphlets are only guesses. Furthermore, what of the contract of these concerns ? What does it specify ? You would be surprised to know the legal con- struction of one of these contracts, together with their guaranty bond. In most cases they advertise to plant, and properly culti- vate for a period of five to seven years, orchards of the finest varieties of budded or grafted pecan trees, with satsuma oranges or figs set between. But the guaranty company is usually wise enough to have lawyers who are able to advise them of their liabilities, and about all they actually guarantee is that, after a period of five years, provided all payments have been promptly met, there will be turned over to the purchaser five acres of ground with trees upon it. Five years old ? No, they may not be one year old. Budded or grafted ? No, they may be mere seedlings. Oranges set between them ? No, the orange has passed out of the proposition before the bond stage. The companies generally print a copy of the bond, but usually in such small type that the victim does not read it, though the heading is always prominent. It thunders in the index and fizzles in the context. Moreover, suppose suit is brought on one of these contracts and bonds ? What is the measure of damages ? What basis has any court or jury for fixing damages ? And be it remem- bered that courts do not exist for the protection of fools against their folly. The principle "caveat empter" is as old as the com- mon law itself, and it means that the buyer must beware, or in other words, that he should inform himself, and that he can- not expect the courts to protect him where he has failed to exer- cise due caution and diligence. Therefore, as a lawyer, I should very much hesitate to take on a contingent fee the suit of one of these various victims against a promoting orchard corporation. However, in any jurisdiction where there is a criminal statute against fraudulent representation and obtaining money under false pretenses, I should not hesitate, if I were the prosecuting attorney, to indict every member of such a corporation, and, to sustain the case, I would simply present to a jury of honest men the representations in their advertising literature, and then have the court instruct the same jury as to the validity and limita- tions of their contract. Their advertising is brilliant enough to 26 ^ dazzle the sun. Their contract is as dull as a mud pie. In addition to all of this comes the question of orcharding by proxy, and the success of the unit or acreage system, and many other similar questions; and let me say that I doubt if there is today in the United States one large development scheme, either in pecan or apple orchards, that will prove of ultimate financial profit and success to the purchaser. The promoter may get rich — he has nothing at stake. In most instances he has the price of the land in his pocket before there is a lick of work done on it, and the payments come in regularly and promptly to take care of his salary and the meager and unscientific de- velopment. Of course I would not be understood as saying that pecan or apple orchards cannot be made profitable. I am of the opin- ion that reasonable sized orchards in proper locations and proper soil, of proper varieties, with proper care in handling, are good investments, and, as proof of my confidence, I am planting or- chards both in the north and south. The adjective "proper" which I have used here may seem insignificant at the start but, believe me, before you have begun to clip the coupons off your orchard bonds this adjective will loom up as important as Web- ster's Unabridged Dictionary. In fact you will wonder how it has been possible for anyone to forecast in one word such com- prehensive knowledge. Think of a man a thousand miles away putting money into the hands of some unknown concern, for five acres of unknown land, to be set in unknown varieties of trees, to be cared for by unknown individuals. Can he not see that, in keeping with all the other unknown factors, his profits must also be unknown ? We look at a great industrial enterprise, such as the steel trust, and marvel at its success. But it must be remembered that this industry started many years ago, and step by step built furnace after furnace and mill after mill, after the owners had tried out and become familiar with all the factors of that industry, and after great corps of trained experts had been de- veloped, and after science had given to this industry many of the most marvelous mechanical inventions of the age. These facts are overlooked, however, when some fellow steps up and proposes to put a steel-trust-orchard on the market in twelve months. In most industrial enterprises there are well-known and established factors to be considered. In horticultural en- terprises, however, no man knows what twelve months hence c27 will bring. I read the other day with great interest the pros- pectus of a great pecan orchard started several years ago by a very honorable and high-minded man, and the promises of suc- cess were most alluring. What are the facts ? The boll weevil came along and wiped out his intermediate cotton crops. The floods came later and destroyed acres of his orchards, and, if he were to write a prospectus today, it would no doubt be a state- ment of hope rather than a statement of facts. He would no doubt turn from the Book of Revelations, where at that time he saw "a new heaven and a new earth," and write from the Book of Genesis, where "the earth was without form and void." How many people have been defrauded by these various schemes, no one knows. How many clerks, barbers, bookkeepers, stenographers, students, preachers, doctors, lawyers, have con- tributed funds for farms and future homes in sections where they would not live if they owned half of the county. How many people have been separated from their cash by literature advertising rich, fertile lands in sections where the alligator will bask unmolested in miasma for the next fifty years, and where projects should be sold by the gallon instead of by the acre. Some time ago it was reported that inquiries in reference to the feasibility and profits of various orchard schemes had come in to the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Agricultural Depart- ment, at Washington, in such numbers that the officials of that Bureau had considered the advisability of printing a gen- eral circular, which they could send to the inquirers, advising them to make due investigation, and giving a few general sug- gestions about proxy farming and orchard schemes. I was ad- vised by a friend in the middle west that the contemplated is- suance of this circular by the Bureau of Plant Industry had aroused a number of protests throughout the country, and that various Senators and Members of the House of Representatives had entered strong protests with the Secretary of Agriculture against it. A number of these protests have come to my notice, and they take various forms of opposition, but are all unanimous against the Department of Agriculture offering to the prospec- tive purchaser any information. Various reasons for their stand were given by the protestants, but how flimsy and ridiculous they are when analyzed. Congress for a number of years has been appropriating money and authorizing certain work by the Department of Agriculture. It is the people's money, and the people's Department, and the information gathered by the ex- 28 perts in this Department ought to be the people's information, and it ought to be possible for any citizen to write the Depart- ment a letter about any proposition that he has received from any of these various promoters, and have the advice of those who know most about it. I suppose the Department of Agriculture has entirely too many duties to perform to undertake a work of this kind, but what an inconsistent position it is for a Member of Congress, who has been voting for appropriations to carry on this work, to appeal to the Secretary of Agriculture to suppress such infor- mation in order that some exploiter may get somebody's money under false representations. I think if it were possible today to know the list of concerns and companies who registered, directly or through agents, their opposition to this proposed warning circular, you would have a correct index of the concerns good to let alone. For no honest, reputable individual or company need be afraid of the work or suggestions of that great Depart- ment. I have the pleasure of knowing many of the officials in the Bureau of Plant Industry, and never anywhere have I seen a body of men so conscientiously engaged in the work of pro- moting legitimate horticultural and agricultural knowledge. It is the very life of that great Department, and its officers and employees above everyone else are most interested in seeing the land produce the most and best that it can be made to pro- duce, and they are best qualified to pass upon these matters. Most of the questions in these various schemes are questions of soil and horticulture. One letter in opposition to the Agri- cultural Department's attitude, that was brought to my atten- tion, stated that crops varied under different conditions, and that no one was able to tell what a certain soil would or would not produce throughout a period of years, and intimated that the Department of Agriculture might mislead the public; and yet the concern that sent it printed columns of figures guaran- teeing returns from pecans and satsuma oranges in a section where orange growing is of very doubtful possibility. Boiling down these objections by the promoters, they come to simply this: That the Agricultural Department, with no motive but to tell the truth, and with its corps of trained experts, might mislead the public, but they (the promoters) could not possibly be mistaken in their fabulous figures compiled for the purpose of getting money from some misinformed victim. Proxy farming never was a success and I do not think it ever 29 will be. One of my friends told me a short time ago of a very- successful young pecan orchard on the gulf coast. Upon inquiry I found that it was of reasonable size, nine years old, and that the owner had lived in it nine years. It was not 500 acres in extent, or 1,000 acres, or 2,000 acres, but about 20 acres. Last summer I went into a beautiful apple orchard in Southern In- diana and saw about forty acres of trees bending to the ground with deHcious Grimes Golden apples. On that particular day there were great crowds of people walking among the trees and admiring the fruit. I too walked among the trees a short time, but of greater interest to me than the trees was the old, gray- haired man who had made the orchard. The trees could not talk, but he could, and he told the story of the years of care, and diligence, and work, and thought, and patience, that showed why it is not possible to cover the mountains of a state with orchards bringing almost immediate and fabulous incomes. Some time ago I stood talking to the old superintendent of the Botanical Garden in Washington — William R. Smith, now deceased — and while discussing with him the requisites for tree culture, he said "Young man, you have left out the most im- portant one of them all," When I asked him what I had left out, he said "above all things it takes the eye of the master." So it does, and the master is he whose vigilance is continual, who watches each tree as if it were a growing child — as indeed it is, a child of the forests — who has the care and the patience, and who is not dazzled by the glitter of the dollar, but who loves trees because they are trees. Theoretically, one can figure great successes in big horti- cultural development propositions, but these figures rest upon theory and not fact. It would be difficult to state all the reasons why I have a firm conviction that such big schemes of every kind will fall, but I believe this conviction is shared by the fore- most thinkers in the horticultural world. A four-year-old boy was once taken to see the animals in a circus. He was very much interested, but, when shown the tremendous elephant, shook his head and said "he is too big." A small grove properly handled ought to be an excellent in- vestment. The various uncertainties and vicissitudes involved can, in a degree, be compensated for by great care; and I sup- pose it would be possible even with some of these big schemes — by placing enough money behind them— to insure a fair degree of success. It must be borne in mind, however, that these pro- 30 meters, of whom we have been speaking, are not so much con- cerned in the successful orchard as they are in big salaries and profits, and, if one has money enough to pay big salaries and profits, and still pay for the proper care of the orchard, then he does not need an orchard. Most of these promoters charge too much for a proper and honest development alone, and too little for the proper development plus the profits and salaries of the promoters. I wish it were not so. I wish the old earth could be made to smile bountiful crops without such expensive tickling, but this is one of the checks and balances that nature places upon her great storehouse of wealth. The Chairman: This is a matter of very great importance and I hope we shall have a good discussion, from a practical point of view, by men who know about fraudulent promotions and their effect. We ought to go on record in this matter right now. I know of numbers of teachers, doctors and other poor people who have put money into nut promotion schemes with- out knowing anything about the ultimate prospect of profit. Mr. Hutt: One noticeable thing about the promoter's liter- ature is that he never knows anything about crop failure, and in the agricultural and horticultural world that is a thing that is painfully evident to a man who has been in business a great length of time. In the promoter's literature it is just a matter of multiplication; if one tree will produce so much in a year, a hundred trees will produce a hundred times as much. I got a letter the other day from Mr. S. H. James, of Beaumont, Louisiana, and he said, "I have been very fortunate, I have actually had two good crops in succession," and when you come to compare that with the promoter's literature — why he knows no such thing as crop failure. Anybody who knows anything about agricultural or horticultural work knows that we have winter and floods and everything else to contend with. The Chairman: Someone might tell us about failures they happen to know of in promotion schemes. Mr. Smith: I would like to ask if Mr. Littlepage isn't going to open up that barrel of actual facts that he has about yields ? Mr. Littlepage: Mr. President, I didn't know that I had a whole barrel of actual facts. When I started in several years ago a barrel wouldn't have held all of them, but I think that now I could put the actual facts in a thimble. I've got several barrels of good pecans, however, I'd like to open up and let Mr. Smith sample if he wants to. 31 The Chairman: Let's hear about frauds from someone who knows how the land was managed and how the trees were man- aged and how it actually occurred. Mr. Van Duzee: Mr. President, I feel that I ought to say something, first in commendation of the paper itself. It is a question how far we, as an Association, are responsible for the care of our fellowmen, but at this period when the industry is new, I feel that it is a very legitimate thing for us to do a little work to try and prevent these people from preying upon our fellowmen. The president remarked this morning that some- thing was an evidence of the tremendous waste in Nature. It is true. Nature, in building a forest, wastes a vast amount of time and energy. These people who are preying upon the nut industry today find as their victims the weaklings which Nature buries in the forest. Those things are incidental and we must expect them, but I feel that a paper of this kind, at this time, is a very valuable thing and I hope it will receive wide publica- tion. We cannot say too much to discourage this sort of thing. Now, to respond, in a measure, to the President's request for actual facts, I am confronted with this proposition, that some of the men who have made the greatest failures are men who have done so through ignorance. They are honest men, they are personal friends of mine. I don't care to go too much into details, because they are just as sorry today as I am, but I have seen this done. I have seen hundreds of acres of nut orchards in the South planted with the culls from nurseries bought at a very low figure. I have seen these trees neglected absolutely, not in one case but in many cases. I have seen the weeds as high as the trees at the time when a telegram was received by the the local agent that a carload of the purchasers of these tracts was about to leave to look over their property. I have seen the local manager hustle out, when he got that telegram, and hire every mule in the community to come in and, with a plow, throw a furrow or two to the rows of trees so that they could be distinguished from the weeds they were growing among. As Mr. Littlepage has said, there can be no success in such oper- ations; and I feel, looking at it in a very broad way, that this is a very good time to emphasize the point that those of us who have the greatest experience in the growing of nut trees do not feel that these enterprises are legitimate, or that they promise very much success. (Applause.) Mr. Pomeroy: I live just a short distance from Buffalo. 32 A few months ago — I got it on the very best authority — there was some salesman in Buffalo who didn't have time to call on all those who wanted to give him money for pecan proposi- tions. He didn't have time, DoctcH*, he just had to skip hun- dreds of them, he said; he was just going from one place to an- other, making his collections. Buffalo is a city of only about 450,000 people and there must be some money being collected and sent in to somebody. The Chairman: Very glad to hear of that instance; let's hear of others. Mr. Littlepage: I would like, if possible, to answer Mr. Smith's question. I didn't know that he referred to facts about these promotions, I thought perhaps he meant facts about nut growing. Mr. Smith: You said you had made inquiries as to nuts, harvest yields, orchard yields; it was those, particularly, that I had in mind. Mr. Littlepage: Oh well, I could give those to you readily. There are some very promising orchards, making a good show- ing under investigation, handled under proper conditions and of proper size. I would not want to say that those things are not possible. Talking specifically of these overgrown schemes, one of them is recalled to my mind, a development company in southern Georgia, that advertises very alluringly. It set out one year a lot of culls; they all died. I am told that they went out the second year and, without any further preparation, dug holes and set out another lot of cells. They too died; and then they went out the third year and planted nuts, and those trees, at the end of a year's growth, were perhaps six or seven inches high, and the salesman from that company, I understood, took one of the prospective purchasers over into a fine grove owned by another man on the opposite side of the road, and let him pick out his five acres from the orchard across the road. That's one type I could multiply indefinitely. Mr. W. C. Reed: I think this is a very important matter. As a nursery man who has sold a great many trees to promot- ing companies, I want to say that I have never, with one ex- ception, seen an orchard that has been a success, but I have seen hundreds of failures, some of them where they have set out orchards of 150,000 trees and sold them off in one and ten acre tracts, and in only one case have I seen a success. I think these promotions should be avoided by the nut growers of the North. 33 The Chairman: This is very valuable information, coming from a dealer. Mr. VanDuzee: I have found this in the yields of my or- chards. Six or seven or eight years ago, I discounted every source of information that I could have access to, as to yields, brought them to a conservative point, submitted them to the best informed men in the United States, and then divided those figures by five as my estimate of what I might hope to accomplish as my orchards came into bearing. I have since been obliged to find some excuses for failing to even approximate those conservative figures. I had this year in our orchard, a 35 acre plot of Frotscher trees which is one of the most promising varieties, six years of age, and there were not five pounds of nuts in the whole plot. I have had an orchard of 36 acres, mostly Frotscher and Stewart, go through its sixth year with less than 200 pounds of nuts to the entire orchard. I have another orchard of 30 acres which in its sixth year has produced less than 100 pounds of nuts. Now many of these promoters guarantee to take care of these orchards, which they are selling, for 10 per cent or 20 per cent, or even half the proceeds of those orchards, from the fifth year. You can see readily that the entire crop of such orchards as I have been able to produce, would not be- gin to pay their running expenses the sixth and seventh year. The Chairman: You took good care of yours ? Mr. Van Duzee: I think so. I think there are many gentle- men in the audience who have been through them, and it is con- ceded that my orchards are at least fairly good representatives of what can be done under normal conditions. Mr. Corsan: Are yours southern orchards ? Mr. Van Duzee: These pecan orchards are in southwestern Georgia. Mr. Corsan: The Northern Nut Growers Association, as I understand, is a collection of men who are interested in find- ing out what we can do in the way of growing nuts for the North. We go to the markets and see baskets of cocoanuts, Brazil nuts, California walnuts, but no nuts growing for the market around our neighborhood. In my own city, Toronto, I can see some nut trees because I look very closely at everything, but the average person cannot see them because they are very few. I have a number of experiments on hand. If I succeed in even one of these experiments, I am satisfied to spend my whole life at it. I am not nervous, I can watch a hickory tree grow. (Laugh- 34 ter.) I want to grow some nuts for the next generation. I haven't the slightest thought of making a copper of money out of it but I am going to enjoy the thing, and that's the idea of the Northern Nut Growers Association, or else I have made a mistake. The Chairman: Is there any further discussion on the mat- ter of frauds? Does anyone else wish to speak on this subject? Mr. Littlepage: It is indeed very gratifying to hear the President of the National Nut Growers' Association, Col. Van Duzee, speak on this subject and to have the honor of having him with us as a member of our Association. It is gratifying to have him come out in such strong terms on this question. It has always been his policy and his reputation, so far as I have heard, to stand for what is best and squarest in nut culture. The Chairman: The paper of Mr. Littlepage is one of very great importance, because the number of frauds associated with an enterprise is an indication of the fundamental value of the cause. These fraudulent nut promoters capitalize the enthusiasm of people who want to get back to the land, just as porters at the hotels capitalize the joy of a newly married couple. (Laugh- ter.) We have in this "back-to-the-land" movement, a bit of philosophy of fundamental character which includes the idea of preservation of the race. Preservation of the race! — why so ? Nature made man a gregarious species and, being gre- garious, he has a tendency to develop the urban habit. De- veloping the urban habit, he fails to oxidize his proteins and toxins. Failing to oxidize his proteins and toxins, he degener- ates. Recognizing the degenerating influence of urban life, by means of his intelligence he has placed within his conscious- ness that automatic arrangement, as good as the automatic ar- rangement which turns water on to a boiler, which says to him, "go out and oxidize your proteins and toxins." That is what "back-to-the-land" means. You've got to begin from this fun- damental point. Now then, if this represents a fundamental trait in the character of our species and we are acting in response to a natural law, then must we be doubly careful about having our good intentions, our good methods, halted by unwisdom. That brings to mind the point made about our present Secretary of Agriculture. I am very glad this has been made a matter of record here, for I am sorry to say that in connection with another subject — (health matters) — wherever there has been opportunity for the Secretary to act, he has decided as a matter 35 of policy on the side of capital and against the side of public interest. Almost every time, so far as we have a record of the action of the present Secretary of Agriculture and of Dunlap and McCabe, his assistants. We ought to state here, in con- nection with fraudulent nut promotions, that he has acted in favor of capital and against the public interest if it is true. It ought to go as a matter of record from this Association. We may be bold in this matter, but we should be righteously bold because we are speaking for the public interest ourselves. We have nothing to gain; there is nothing selfish about this organ- ization. We may be kindly and say that the Secretary is at the mercy of shrewder men. Mr. Corsan says that we are interested in scientific work only. That is true at the present time, because all progress must be from a scientific basis. If our care in managing experi- ments is such that we cannot avoid getting rich, we will accept the result. (Laughter.) I am glad that in connection with this discussion Mr. Corsan made one epigrammatic remark, — that he was not nervous and could watch a hickory tree grow. I tell you there's a lot of wit in that. Mr. Littlepage: He has good eyesight, Mr. President. The Chairman: The reason why we have so many fraudu- lent promotions is largely because of our American temperament ; we are so nervous that we can't watch a hickory tree grow. In matters of public health, our Secretary of Agriculture has pre- vented actual criminals from being brought to justice — he made that his policy. I think those are the points that I wish to make in commenting upon Mr. Littlepage's paper and if he will make any concluding remarks we will be very glad to hear them. In regard to Mr. Hutt's suggestion that we cannot count on crop success or crop failure mathematically — now, there are fortunes to be made from the proper management of good nut orchards. We know of orchards where very large incomes are at present being made, and I am very glad that the sense and sentiment of this meeting is against quotation of that feature. I have not heard here one word in quotation of orchards which bring incomes of $10,000 a year or more from various kinds of nuts, and we know there are many such orchards. It is the failures upon which we should concentrate our attentions right now, and the reason for failure is not that nut growing is not going to make progress but that we cannot count on our nuts from a mathematical basis. One 36 of my friends, an old Frenchman, became very enthusiastic about raising poultry. He sent out requests for circulars to every poultry fancier who published circulars, and I will wager that he got 50 per cent of answers to his requests for circulars about fancy poultry. He began to raise chickens, and my father- in-law met him on the street one day and asked how he was getting on with his pullets that were going to lay so many eggs. "Oh," he said, "Ze trouble is with ze pullet; she no understand mathematique like ze fancier. If I have one pullet, she lay one egg every day; if I have two pullet, perhaps she lay two egg every day, and if I have three pullet, she nevaire lay three egg every day." (Laughter.) Now I think that the remaining time this morning we had better devote to the executive session, then we had better meet at two o'clock for the election of our committee. The meeting then is at present adjourned, with the exception of those who will take part in the executive session, and we will meet again at two p. m. There is one point I wanted to make in connection with Col. Van Duzee's remarks that a certain number of really honest men have allowed their names to be used in connection with promotion propositions. Men who are quite skillful at learning the use of names, have gotten men of good intentions and kindly interest, I know, to lend their names as even officials of nut promotion companies. Besides that, a good deal of garbled literature of recommendation has gone out in their circulars. I have had a number of circulars sent to me quoting abstract remarks that I had made relative to nut culture in general, and this has been applied concretely in circulars; the context did not go with it. I asked a lawyer what I could do about it, and after going over the question he said that I probably was powerless. After announcements by the Secretary, the convention took a recess until 2 p. M., at which time it was called to order by President Morris and the regular program was resumed as follows: The Chairman: The executive session will be held after the meeting, as many are here to hear the paper on the chestnut blight, so we will proceed at once to the order of business and listen to the first paper by Mr. Rockey. Mr. Rockey: This paper deals more particularly with the work that has been done in Pennsylvania. But what has been done here may be considered to be typical of what has been done elsewhere. 37 RECENT WORK ON THE CHESTNUT BLIGHT Keller E. Rockey Forester in charge of Demonstration Work, Pennsylvania Chest- nut Tree Blight Commission The history of the blight, briefly outlined, is as follows: In 1904 the diseased condition of the chestnut trees around New York City was noted and an examination of them showed that they were being attacked by a disease at that time un- known. Investigations since then have shown that the blight had been at work there and elsewhere for a number of years before that time, but it has been impossible to determine just when it first appeared or where. The disease was studied and described at that time. On display here are specimens and photographs showing the appearance of the blight so that I will not go into that part of the subject in detail. I hope that you will notice, however, the symptoms by which the disease is recognized: 1st. The small red pustules which produce the spores and, on rough barked trees, appear only in the crevices. 2nd. The peculiar mottled appearance of the inner bark of the canker. 3rd. The discolor- ation of the outer bark. 4th. The danger signals, such as withered leaves in summer or persistent leaves or burrs in win- ter, suckers which develop at the base of cankers, and the yel- lowish cracks which soon appear in the bark over the cankers. Workers in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C, have been studying the blight since 1908. In the Spring of 1911, a bill creating the commission for the investigation and control of the blight in Pennsylvania was passed, and the active work began in August 1911. The method upon which the Commission is working is outlined in Farmers' Bulletin No. 467, of the De- partment of Agriculture, and consists briefly of determining the area of blight infection and in removing diseased trees west of a certain line, with the purpose of preventing the western spread of the blight. This Commission has ascertained as accurately as possible the amount of infection in the various parts of the state and the results are given in a map on display here. The state is divided into two districts by a line drawn along the western edge of Susquehanna, Wyoming, Columbia, Union, Snyder, Juniata and Franklin Counties, which is approximately the western line 38 of serious blight infection. West of this line a large portion of the state has been scouted, and the remainder will be finished early in 1913. We have learned by experience that in the win- ter, after the fall of the leaves, the best scouting work can be done. Persistent leaves and cankers along the trunk are readily seen, and more and better work can be accomplished than in the summer, except when the snow is very deep. Blight infections have been found in counties adjacent to this line: also in Fayette County, near Connellsville, in War- ren County, near Warren, and in Elk County, near St. Mary's. These three infections were directly traceable to infected nurs- ery stock, and in one case the blight had spread to adjacent trees. A large area of diseased chestnut in Somerset County illustrates the harm done by shipping infected nursery stock. The centre of this infection is a chestnut orchard where about 100 scions from an infected eastern orchard were grafted to native sprouts in 1908. The percentage of infected trees in the orchard from which the scions were obtained, according to a count made this Fall, averages 80 per cent. Evidently these scions brought the disease into this region, for the grafts have all been killed by the blight and every tree in the orchard is killed or infected by disease. On adjoining tracts over 5,400 infected trees have been cut, and there are a number of others in process of removal, radiating in all directions from the or- chard as a center to a distance of three miles. Another infec- tion of 143 trees was found in Elk County. It is thought that three trees at the centre of infection were diseased in 1909, al- though it is possible that one of these trees was already infected in 1908. In 1910, 27 additional trees were infected; in 1911, 50 additional trees, and in 1912, 228 additional trees. The disease spread in all directions from the center of infection to a distance of 700 feet. These infections are interesting in showing the rate at which the blight may travel in healthy timber. These infections have all been removed and it is the ex- pectation that by the end of January 1913 all scattered spot infections will be removed from the territory west of the line previously mentioned, and that, to the best of our knowledge, these western counties will be free from blight. In 1913 the field force will be concentrated on the advance line and the work will be carried eastward. The Commission has the power to compel the removal of infected trees. In the western part 39 of the state this power has been exercised in the few cases where it was necessary. As a rule, however, the owners are not only willing but anxious to get rid of the infected trees, and our field men are given hearty support by individuals, granges and other organizations. The timber owners of Elk County had printed and posted an announcement that the chestnut blight had been found in the locality and warned the people to be on the look- out for it. In addition the Commission has had a man, for a short time at least, in each of the eastern counties of the state, and their time has been taken up principally by those who re- quested inspections of timber with the view of determining the percentage of blight infection and the best method to be pur- sued in combating it and realizing on their timber. Our men are all deputy wardens, with the authority which is attached to this office, and are instructed to do their utmost to prevent fire damage. An exhibit which consists of specimens showing the blight in various stages together with photographs, literature, etc., was placed in about 30 of the county fairs throughout the state. The appreciation of the public has been so clearly shown that next year it is the intention of the Commission to continue and per- haps increase this phase of the work, and to place large perma- nent displays at the Commercial Museum, Philadelphia, the State Capitol, Harrisburg, and other places. Many of the Annual Teachers' Institutes have been reached with a display and lecture. We have arranged also to have a speaker at fully one hundred of the Farmers' Institutes this winter. We are also arranging to have a permanent display at many of the public schools, normal schools and colleges, where instruction on the blight is given. An effort was made last win- ter to enlist the service of the boy scouts and we are indebted to them for considerable work, chiefly in an educational way. The successful outcome of all our work will depend in a large measure upon the owners themselves, and it is our purpose to give them all the information possible upon the whole subject. The Commission established a Department of Utilization which is collecting information on the various industries which use or might use chestnut wood, listing the buyers and owners of chestnut wood, thus assisting owners of blighted chestnut trees in marketing their timber to the best advantage. The Department is trying to increase the use of chestnut wood by calling attention to its many good qualities, and thus utilize 40 the large quantity which must necessarily be thrown upon the market. There has been more or less discrimination against blighted chestnut timber. This has been in many cases unjust, since the blight does not injure the value of the wood for most purposes for which it is used. However, the owners sometimes fail to realize that the blight cankers are the most favorable places for the entrance of the borers, and that where a large number of trees are being considered, a percentage of them will be materially injured by insects which follow blight infection. Where telegraph poles are barked, it is often seen that borers have attacked the wood under blight cankers, and have not touched any other part of the tree. All blighted timber should be cut before death to realize its best value, since insects and wood-destroying fungi cause the very rapid deterioration of dead, standing timber. There has been a good market in al- most every locality for poles, ties and the better grades of lum- ber. Cordwood presents the difficult problem of disposal. The best market for this is in the central part of the state, at the extract plants. The Commission has secured from the Penn- sylvania R. R. a special tariff on blighted chestnut cordwood so that this product may be profitably shipped from greater distances than before. The Commission has inspected all chestnut nursery stock shipped from nurseries within the state and has also provided for inspection of all chestnut stock entering the state. This should prevent a repetition of infections in the western part of the state which might destroy millions of dollars worth of tim- ber. From time to time publications have been and will be issued by the Commission, which are obtained free of charge upon request, or they may be consulted in the leading libraries through- out the state. An appropriation for $80,000 was given by the last Con- gress for scientific research work upon the blight disease and work is being carried out in cooperation with the various states. Several of the Government investigators are now at work upon our force. Some of the most important unsolved scientific prob- lems of the blight, as given by Secretary Wilson, in his message, to Congress, are as follows: — First, the relation of the disease to climate. Second, the relation of the parasite to the varying tannin content of the tree. 41 Third, the origin of the disease. Fourth, relation of birds and insects to the dissemination of the disease. Fifth, the nature and degree of resistance of the Asiatic spe- cies. Another problem in relation to tree treatment may be added, that is, the relation of spores and myelium to toxic agents. The Pennsylvania Commission maintained laboratories dur- ing the summer at Charter Oak, Centre County, and at Mt. Gretna, Lebanon County. The latter has been moved to Frank- lin and Marshall College, Lancaster, for the winter. We have also had a laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, which has been greatly enlarged this fall. The number of people who informed us that they had dis- covered a sure "cure" for the blight made it necessary to ob- tain an orchard near Philadelphia where all such discoverers were given an opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy of their remedies. It might be noted that in every case the blight is thriving as usual. These cures consisted largely of an injec- tion of a toxic principle by some means into the circulation of the tree. In some cases this was accompanied by a fertilizer of some kind, and this fertilizer may account for the apparently improved condition of the tree in some cases, after such remedies were used, since the growth was increased and the leaves and branches had a healthier appearance. This increased growth has not had any appreciable effect upon the rapidity of spread of the blight mycelium. As the experiments are not officially finished and recorded it is too early to give any further data. Our pathologists have also conducted experiments in this same line but no medicinal remedy or fertilizer has yet been found. The varying chemical constituents of chestnut trees, prin- cipally tannic acid, have often been suggested in regard to the origin and spread of the blight. Investigators are now working along this line and we hope, for valuable results before long. The origin of the disease, as already stated, is something of a mystery, and there is as yet no generally accepted theory, although many people have very pronounced views on the sub- ject. Many puzzling facts have been noted since investigating the disease in Pennsylvania, among them being the large per- centage of infection in eastern York and southern Lancaster counties, the relative small percentage in certain localities around which the blight is generally prevalent, and recent infections found in Warren and other western counties, a great distance 42 from what is known as the western advance line of the disease. Our pathologists have reported some very interesting facts in regard to the dissemination of the blight. In the prelimin- ary report of the summer's work -at our field laboratories the^ results tend to show: First, the prolific ascospore stage is very important in caus- ing the spread of the blight, the spores at this stage being forci- bly ejected from the pustules and borne through the air for some distance. This ejection of spores takes place under natural field conditions only when the bark has been soaked by rain, but the expulsion of spores is also dependent upon temperature conditions and ceases entirely at temperatures from 42 to 46 degrees F. and below. Second, the wind plays a large part in local ascospore dis- semination. Third, birds and insects (except ants) are apparently of very little importance in the dissemination of the blight except in providing wounds. Further investigations of the importance of ants is being made during the present winter. Several kinds of beetles have been observed eating the pus- tules and are in this way beneficial, since tests show that they digest and destroy the spores. It has also been suggested by workers in the Bureau of Entomology that such beetles, which are of several kinds, may be of value in the attempt to control the disease. These are perhaps the only natural enemies dis- covered to date. The proper classification of the chestnut blight fungus has also been the subject of much discussion. Last winter specimens of what in external characteristics appeared to be Diaporthe parasitica were found in western Pennsylvania, Virginia and elsewhere, growing upon chestnut, oak and other species. This condition was puzzling and the subject of some controversy. It has been found, however, that this fungus, called the "Con- nellsville fungus," is a distinct species closely related to the true blight fungus, being, however, entirely saprophytic. Cul- tural distinctions are apparent and the ascospores differ in size and shape so that no further confusion need occur. Upon the question of immunity of certain kinds of Asiatic stock, there is very little to report beyond what was known one year ago. In the investigations made the work has been hampered by the fact that much of the so-called Japanese stock is in reality a hybrid of European or American species. In 43 1909, 45 Japanese seedling trees were set out at Gap, Lancaster Co., for experimentation along this line. A recent examination showed that 90 per cent are infected. Concerning the variety or purity of this stock, 1 have not been informed. Our force as well as others are at work upon the problem which will require many years* study. Previous investigations seem to show that certain pure strains of Japanese and Korean chestnut are resistant to the blight. Blight cankers may be found upon them but they are less easily infected and suffer less than the more susceptible varieties. With this as a working basis, considering the results that have been attained in other fruit by selection and hybri- dization, the situation is hopeful. Prof. Collins said at the Har- risburg Conference in February that "There is no reason to doubt that we may eventually see an immune hybrid chestnut that will rival the American chestnut in flavor and the Paragon in size". In southern Europe chestnut orcharding is a well established and profitable industry. In the United States chestnuts have been considered a marketable commodity ever since the Indians carried them to the settlements and traded them for knives and trinkets. The demand has always exceeded the supply and at the present time about $2,000,000 worth of nuts are imported from Europe annually. With the development of the better varieties of the American nut has come an increased activity in the United States and the chestnut orchard industry prom- ises to become one of very large importance. It has an added advantage that the trees can be grown upon the poorer types of soil which are not adaptable for farming or the raising of other fruit. At the present time there are in what is known as the blight area of Pennsylvania, or eastern half of the State, about 100 orchards ranging from 12 trees up to 400 acres in extent. These orchards are in varying stages of blight infection, some of them being almost entirely free, due to the attention which has been given them. In order to protect such orchards the Commission is compelling the removal of infected trees within a certain radius of them. As you know the blight has been a very serious factor in this industry. Some of the orchards have been completely annihilated and the income reduced from several thousand or more dollars per year to nothing. Whether or not the blight will 44 completely wipe out the orcharding industry is a subject of large importance. Personally I believe that chestnuts will be raised commercially in Pennsylvania in increased abundance, and as the various phases of the blight subject are brought to light, keeping the disease under control can be more easily ac- complished. At the present time this is being done in certain orchards by the present methods of examining the trees often, treating each infection, or removing the tree. If this policy is successfully pursued for several more years it will demonstrate conclusively that chestnuts can be grown in spite of the blight and this will mean an opportunity to use vast areas of waste land in Pennsylvania and in the other states, in a highly profita- ble manner. The Chairman: The subject of the next paper is Some Problems in the Treatment of the Chestnut. It will be pre- sented by Mr. Pierce, after which we will have a general dis- cussion of the entire subject. Mr. Pierce: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I see that, as we wrote our papers separately, some of the things I had in mind will be similar to those Mr. Rockey had. SOME PROBLEMS IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASED CHESTNUT TREES By Roy G. Pierce Tree Surgeon, Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission The problems that present themselves to the growers of chestnut trees concerning the present disease may be summed up under three heads: first, what the disease is, how it is caused, and how it may be recognized; second, what is to be done with diseased trees to bring them to health or to prevent them from infecting other healthy trees nearby; third, what means in the future can be undertaken to keep a tree healthy, that is, to prevent reinfection. First, what the disease is, how it is caused, and how it may be recognized. The disease known as the chestnut tree blight is caused by the fungus, Diaporthe parasitica, which usually finds entrance to the tree through wounds in the bark. The mycelium or mass of fungous filaments gradually spreads through the bark 45 in much the same manner as mold spreads over and through a piece of bread, even penetrating the wood to a depth of some- times five annual rings. The spread of the fungus, resulting in the cutting off of the sap flow, is the immediate cause of the wilting and dying of the leaves and branch above the point of girdling. This wilting of the leaves, followed later by the death of one branch after another as the fungus spreads, has given rise to the term "blight" of the chestnut trees. The danger signals which the chestnut tree displays when diseased are not a few. In summer, when the tree is first affected, the leaves turn yellow-green and wilt, later turning brown. Small burs and withered leaves retained in winter are some signs of the diseased condition of the tree. At the base of the blighted part a lesion, or reddish brown canker, is usually found. This lesion may be a sunken area or, as is frequently the case, a greatly enlarged swelling, known as a hypertrophy. After a branch has become completely girdled sprouts or suckers are very apt to be found below the point of girdling. In old fur- rowed bark on the main trunk of the tree the presence of the disease is seen in the reddish brown spore-bearing pustules in the fissures. In determining the presence of the fungus in the furrowed bark of old trees, one must learn to recognize the dif- ference between the light brown color characteristic of fissures in healthy growing bark, and the reddish brown color of the fungus. When the disease has been present several years the bark completely rots and shrinks away from the wood, and when the bark is struck with an axe a hollow sound is produced. Many of the owners of chestnut trees throughout Penn- sylvania do not acknowledge that a fungus is causing the death of the trees. They state that since they have found white grubs or the larvae of beetles in nearly every tree that dies, that it has been the larvae that killed the tree. It is acknowledged that generally white grubs are found in dying chestnut trees, and that in nearly all of the large cankers or lesions these grubs are present. However, if one will take the pains to examine the small twigs and branches or the new shoots rising from the stumps, that are diseased, he will not find the grubs present. Second, what is to be done with diseased trees to bring them back to health or to prevent them from infecting other healthy trees nearby. To bring the trees back to health implies that the disease can be cured. This is not always true for the tree may be already nearly girdled, when the disease is first noticed. 46 A tree taken in time, however, may have its life prolonged in- definitely though it may have the blight in some portion of it every year. More particularly does this apply to valuable orna- mental and orchard trees. Prof. J. Franklin Collins, Forest Pathologist in the Depart- ment of Agriculture in Farmer's Bulletin No. 467 on "The Con- trol of the Chestnut Bark Disease" gives the following: "The essentials for the work are a gouge, a mallet, a pruning knife, a pot of coal tar, and a paint brush. In the case of a tall tree a ladder or rope, or both may be necessary but under no circum- stances should tree climbers be used, as they cause wounds which are very favorable places for infection. Sometimes an axe, a saw, and a long-handled tree pruner are convenient auxiliary instruments, though practically all the cutting recommended can be done with a gouge with a cutting edge of 1 or 1 1-2 inches. All cutting instruments should be kept very sharp, so that a clean smooth cut may be made at all times." All of the discolored diseased areas in the tree should be re- moved. Small branches or twigs nearly girdled are best cut off. Cankers in the main trunk or on limbs should be gouged out. Carefulness is the prime requisite in this work. If the disease has completely killed the cambium, the bark should be entirely removed as well as several layers of wood beneath the canker. By frequent examination, however, diseased spots may be found on the tree where the mycelium of the fungus is still in the upper layers of the bark. It is not necessary then to cut clear to the wood, but the discolored outer bark may be removed and a layer of healthy inner bark left beneath the cut. The sap may still flow through this layer. The border of the diseased area is quite distinct, but cutting should not stop here but should be continued beyond the discolored portion into healthy bark, at least an inch. The tools should be thoroughly sterilized by immersion in a solution of 1.1000 bichloride of mercury, or 5 per cent solution of formaldehyde, before cutting into the bark outside of the diseased area. Experiments have shown that a gouge or knife may carry the spores into healthy bark and new infection take place. Experiments are being carried on in the laboratory to determine the length of time which spores will live in solutions of different strengths of fungicides. It has been shown that a cut made pointed at the top and bottom heals much faster than one rounded. The edges of the cut should be made with care so as not to injure the cambium. The chips 47 of diseased bark and wood should not be allowed to fall on the ground then to be forgotten. A bag fastened just below the canker will collect most of this material as it is gouged out and prevent possible reinfection, which might take place if the ma- terial were allowed to scatter down the bark. Canvas or burlap spread around under a small orchard tree might be sufficient to catch all of the diseased chips of bark and wood cut out of the lower infections. This diseased material should be burned together with blighted branches. After completely cutting out all of the diseased parts the cut surfaces should be either ster- ilized or covered with a waterproofing which combines a fungi- cide with a covering. Among these might be mentioned coal tar and creosote, or a mixture of pine tar, linseed oil, lamp black and creosote. The trees which have been killed by blight, or nearly girdled, have been overlooked. These should be cut off close to the ground, the stump peeled and the bark and unused portions of the tree burned over the stump. The merchantable parts of the trees should be removed from the woods promptly, as all dead un- barked wood furnishes an excellent breeding place for the blight fungus. Third, what means in the future can be undertaken to keep a tree healthy, that is, to prevent reinfection. The spores may be carried by so many agents that it is difficult to prevent re- infection. However it is clear that the farther infected products or trees are removed from healthy trees the less liable they are to have spores carried to them. Cooperation with nearby owners of diseased trees will help solve this problem. Spraying on a large scale has only been carried on, so far as I know, on the estate of Pierre DuPont, Jr., at Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. At this place there are many large chestnut trees ranging from sixty to ninety feet in height, many of which were planted some sixty-five years ago. Mr. R. E. Wheeler started the work of cutting out diseased limbs and cankers in October 1911, and began spraying with Bordeaux mixture in April 1912. The formula 5-5-50, five pounds of copper sulphate and five pounds of lime in 50 gallons of water was found to be injurious to the foliage in the Spring. This was changed there- fore, to 4-5-50, which had one pound less of copper sulphate. This did not seem to injure the foliage. About 70 trees were sprayed twenty times during the season. Nearly all of these were gone over four times to remove diseased 48 branches and cankers, once in October 1911, then in early sum- mer and again in September and November 1912. As an ex- ample take tree No. 6 which was studied, December 14, 1912. It is 39 inches in diameter at breast height, and approximately 70 feet in height. On this one tree six diseased limbs were re- moved, and sixteen cankers were cut out. Of these sixteen, two infections continued, that is, were not completely cut out, and had spread; three had infections below old limbs which had been removed, and eleven were healing over. This tree was about 1000 feet away from other badly infected trees, though but 25 feet away from other chestnut trees in the same row. The experiment of Mr. DuPont in spraying shows what can be done on valuable lawn trees. On the whole, these trees look well and healthy. Trees which were not sprayed over three times and were within 50-100 feet from badly blighted trees, became infected in so many different places that it will be nec- essary to remove them. One of the problems to be solved next year will be that of the least number of sprayings which will be effective in pre- venting new infection. The Chairman: The question of the chestnut blight is now open for discussion. Mr. Littlepage: I should like to ask these gentlemen how far west they have heard of chestnut blight — that is, heard of it with any degree of authenticity, and also whether or not they care to express an opinion as to what the prospects are in the middle west, say out in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio ? Mr. Pierce: In answer to that question, I will say that in Pennsylvania we have found infections in Wayne County and also in Fayette County, both near the western extreme of the state, but those have been attended to, very largely, and the boundaries closely determined. In Ohio there have been sev- eral reports of the blight being found, but I don't think either of the reports have been proven. There has been a fungus that I have spoken of as the Connellsville fungus, that has been all around in that neighborhood, southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. The Chairman: Is the Connellsville fungus also diaporthe parasitical Mr. Pierce: Yes, sir. It was placed by Mr. Anderson, who 49 did the work on that, in the same genus as diaporthe, but he preferred the name endothia parasitica. The Chairman: The question is of changing the generic name, from diaporthe, on the basis of the previously established species ? Mr. Pierce: Yes, sir, previously established species of end- othia. It is only a suggestion of Mr. Anderson ; it was made by him. This was very similar to. the true blight fungus and when our men first went out into the western part of the State, they re- ported these various cases that came up there as chestnut blight, and none of the pathologists of our force then were competent to determine the difference, except that the fact was noted even then that it was not growing as a parasite in the sense that the true blight fungus has been growing in the east. The Chairman: That may be due to varietal differences, though, rather than specific ? Mr. Pierce: Yes, although Mr. Anderson seemed to think it was specific. The Chairman: Is there any further discussion ? The sub- ject is worthy of a good deal of comment. Mr. Pomeroy: I want to ask the speaker what the approx- imate cost would be for one spraying of a tree about that size, 70 feet in height ? Mr. Pierce: We have photographs on the table there show- ing our eight hundred dollar spraying machine, the same kind used in Massachusetts in gypsy moth work. With this two men can spray about ten such trees in a day. I haven't got it down in black and white but I figured that, on those chest- nuts at DuPont's, they sprayed about 600 gallons a day. Ten trees a day would make it, say, with a $2.50 man, not very high for a tree. I think it costs in all something like four dollars a tree during the whole season, but that is a very rough estimate and the materials are not included. The Chairman: The cost will have to be calculated on a sentimental basis for the ornamental trees, and on a commercial basis for the commercial trees. The actual value of the spray- ing has not yet been determined. This spraying cannot reach the mycelium in the cambium layer; if the disease has been carried in by a beetle or woodpecker your spraying would be ineffective. Mr. Pierce: Yes indeed, that was just the thought Mr. Galena had, notwithstanding the fact that they cut out all visi- 50 ble infections and the trees were so blue with spray that you could see them for half a mile. The Chairman: But, later on, cracks and squirrel scratches and all sorts of injuries would allow' new spores to be carried in? Mr. Pierce: Yes, sir. Mr. Reed: The future of the chestnut depends so largely on the conquering of this disease that no other horticultural problem of this nut is, just at present, imperative. So far as we know, all of the European and American varieties are highly subject to this disease, so much so that there is no inducement to plant them, and we are waiting for Dr. Morris and a few other hybridizers to find some hybrids, or straight Japanese varieties, that are of sufficient merit, and of sufficient degree of resistance to this disease, for us to have a basis for building up the future industry. On the tables there are quite a number of exhibits from Mr. Riehl and Mr. Endicott of Illinios. Most of them are hybrids between the American and the Japanese species, but, so far as we know, they have not been tried in communities where the disease prevails. We don't know whether they are resistant or not, as they are being grown in a section entirely outside of the area where the blight exists. I think I am right in that, am I not, Mr. Pierce ? Is there any chestnut blight in southern Illinois ? Mr. Pierce: There has been none reported. Mr. Reed: I think that the varieties that these men in Indiana have originated are the most promising we know of. I think that in examining these specimens you will agree that they are of fairly high quality and good size, and if they prove to be resistant to the disease much may be expected from them. Mr. Hutt: I have not seen the chestnut blight at all. I hope that it isn't in our section. I have heard it was brought in from some point but I do not know whether it was identified exactly as the chestnut blight. Mr. Pierce: I saw a specimen sent from North Carolina and it proved to be the Collinsville fungus. Mr. Corsan: If you remember reading Fuller's book on nuts, he reported that the chestnut blight extended through the Carolinas but said that chestnuts were still coming from that direction in great abundance. Up in Canada we haven't the chestnut blight. The chestnut tree runs from the Ohio River to the Niagara River but it doesn't cross into Michigan, except along the Michigan Southern and Lake Shore Railroad where 51 some enterprising gentlemen have planted the chestnut with the tamarack alternately all the way from Cleveland to Chicago. I examined the state of Indiana across and from top to bottom several times in the summer and I never saw any chestnuts there, but I have seen some newly planted places in Michigan; near Battle Creek I saw a farm of about fifty acres. We are having up in Ontario, beyond Toronto, a blight that has attacked the Lombardy poplar and that looks similar to the chestnut blight. I have been watching it for the last ten years and the tree seems to have at last outlived it. It dies down and then a little sprout comes out from the carcass. The Chairman: Isn't that the poplar tree borer that always attacks the Lombardy ? Mr. Corsan: Oh no, it's very similar to the chestnut tree blight. We can grow chestnut trees all we like but no one has brains enough to grow them. The farmers grow pigs and things but don't bother with chestnut trees; consequently the chest- nut blight does not exist there. Mr. Pierce: I didn't answer a portion of Mr. Littlepage's question. Mr. Littlepage asked whether or not the blight might be expected in the Middle West. That depends, more or less, upon the results of the work Pennsylvania is now carrying on. If we can keep the disease from extending through the terri- tory in which we are working, there is a very good chance to keep it out of the West. If we are not successful, it may be expected to develop, in time, over the whole chestnut range. There seems to be a very good opportunity for growing the chestnut commercially beyond its present range; that is, where it is so infrequent as not to be in danger from infected growths nearby. In the eastern part of the state different people have reported that the blight seemed to them to be dying out and, a number of these reports coming from a certain locality, the Commission decided to investigate one which seemed to be better reported than the others. It was found, after a very extensive investi- gation, that this dying out was true only in the sense that it was not spreading, perhaps, as fast as it had been spreading before. The mycelium and the spores were healthy and were affecting the new trees in quite the same manner as the year before and as in other parts of the state. The Chairman: The question of controlling blight after it has appeared is of very great consequence. Concerning any 52 commercial proposition with chestnuts the people are wide awake to the seriousness of the blight. They are afraid to go into growing chestnut orchards; they have had so many fake propositions in the past in pecan promotions that they are afraid of chestnuts and everything else. Any proposition for bringing forward chestnuts commercially must be a plain, sim- ple, straightforward statement of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We are ready, all through the North and East, to raise hundreds of acres of chestnuts, such as Mr. Reed has spoken about, ones which resist the blight, or ones which resist the blight comparatively well. Let us consider comparative immunity for a moment. We know how expensive it is to manage an apple orchard, and yet, with the present high prices, the profits on apple orchards, well managed, are great. May we not have chestnut orchards man- aged with the same degree of relative expense and the same degree of relative profit ? I would like very much to hear from some of the men who have actually raised chestnuts in orchards concerning the relative care of the chestnut compared with the apple, and the relative profit. I see Col. Sober here; can't you tell us about your experience in managing the blight ? Can it be managed successfully in proportion as apple tree parasites are managed ? Col. Sober: My experience has been this; I have four hun- dred acres of chestnuts in bearing. They range from five years to fifteen years old. I find that I can control the blight easier than I can control the scale on apple trees. If anyone doesn't believe this I invite him and all to come to my place and see for themselves. I think I have nearly one million seedling and grafted paragon trees. I don't think you will find fifty affected trees on the whole place today. I have men going in every grove at the present time who have inspected thousands of trees and found seven that had blight on the limbs, so I know what I am speaking about. The Chairman: What is your method ? Col. Sober: Cutting out, cutting off anything I see; if it is really necessary, cut the tree down; but we don't often find that necessary because just as quick as we see any affected, or any limb dying or dead, we cut it off. I had my groves laid out in sections of a hundred feet wide and numbered; and I had charts made so that they can be inspected section by sec- tion. In that manner, every tree is inspected. One individual 53 will inspect the trunk and another one the top. In each section I can show you as far as we have gone. I can show you how many trees are in each section and how many affected trees three are in that section, or whether there are any or not. I say I can control it easier than I can control scale and with less expense and I want that to go on record. There is no question about it. It can be seen at my place. I go over my groves about four times a year and have been doing it all the time, and I don't doubt but that I discovered this disease the first of any- body in the state, perhaps, in 1902. I was looking around to cut scions and I saw one tree whose center was dead and around it were the finest shoots almost that I had ever seen for graft- ing purposes. I went to it and saw the center was dead. I cut some scions and today that is one of the finest trees I've got on my place. From what I know now that was a blighted tree. A member: Did you paint over the scars ? Col. Sober: No sir, but we are doing it now, using white lead. A member: How much blight is there around you ? Col. Sober: I am surrounded with it on all sides. Right up against my groves about 17 per cent of the trees are affected. That is the report coming from the parties inspecting now for the Blight Commission. I shipped Mr. Mayo about four or five thousand trees this fall. I don't suppose there were a dozen that were thrown out, thinking they were blighted or diseased. We have records of all that up at my place. There are some trees right here now that came from my nursery. I wish you gentlemen could just see for yourselves; come out and see. The Chairman: In advancing this chestnut on a commer- cial basis it had better be stated that it does not blight as badly as the American chestnut and that when blighted it can be cared for with less cost than the apple tree. I would suggest that some such notice be sent out with commercial stock. That would put it on the right basis so that the chestnut would find its position, which it is not finding now because the people are full of the blight; and if a frank, full statement of this sort were made I believe it would be extremely important. Mr. Rockey: I went through practically the whole extent of Mr. Sober's orchard recently and found one infected tree. I can vouch for the statement that he has made that he is almost surrounded by blight. The Chairman: I have given attention to only a few of my 54 own trees that were blighted because I have too much else to do and too large a place, a couple of hundred acres engaged in a small and large way, — a variety of ways — with nut trees; and the few I have cared to save after blight has begun I have saved by cutting it out very thoroughly and using either white paint or grafting wax. I used also pine tar and some gas tar. I killed some good trees that I wanted particularly to save by putting on gas tar. The matter of compelling the removal of infected trees is a very important one, but it must rest with the authorities. In the vicinity of New York we have so much hard wood that you cannot sell it unless you are in some sort of a trade com- bination. Fine oak, fine hickory, fine chestnut, you can't dis- pose of in New York City, because we have such a lot of it. We have wild deer within fifteen miles of New York City on three sides of us on account of the forests. You have got to find some spe- cial way for disposing of this blighted chestnut timber. Telephone and telegraph poles and ties all go for nothing, unless you happen to be so situated that you can manage the matter commercially, and a way should be found by the state so that people can dis- pose of their blighted timber, which is just as good as any other. It is very important to note that the boy scouts are inter- ested, and we ought to encourage their interest. It is a splen- did thing, getting the interest of boys engaged. You know how active a boy is in getting a snake from under a rock and he will do the same thing with the chestnut blight. It is his natural tendency to hustle when he gets after anything. This chestnut blight belongs to the microbe group and the microbe is the great enemy of mankind. In wars the microbe kills about eight men for every one killed by missiles. If we can encourage the interest of boy scouts in fighting the greatest of all human enemies, the microbe, including this little fungus, ■ we shall have a splendid working force. In regard to the injection of poisons and medicines into trees, it seems to me that a very firm stand ought to be taken by all responsible men who know anything about plant pathology. We know that a poison injected into a tree must either act injuriously right there upon the cells of the tree, or else must undergo metabolic changes. A tree cannot use anything that is thrown into it, poison or food or anything else, until it has undergone a metabolic change; you must have a distinct, definite chemical process taking place and we ought to state that most of the 55 substances which are alleged to be of value, when injected into a tree, are either absolutely worthless or injurious. One man tried to persuade me that his medication if applied to the cam- bium layer would be absorbed, and said that if I would only use it on a few of my trees I could see for myself. He said it would drive off even the aphides. I tried it on four trees af- fected with aphides and found that he told me the truth. It drove them off, because the trees died and the aphides left. One tree lived a year before being killed; it was a most insidious sort of death, but the aphides left that tree. (Laughter.) Some of the Asiatic chestnuts resist the blight very well. Curiously enough when grafted upon some of the American chestnuts they then become vulnerable. Two years ago, from a lot of about one thousand Corean chestnuts in which there had been up to that time no blight, I giafted scions on Amer- ican stump sprouts and about 50 per cent of those grafts blighted in the next year, showing that the American chestnut sap offers a pabulum attractive to the Diaporthe, and that is a fact of collateral value in getting our negative testimony upon the point. Concerning the question of carrying blight fifty miles, there's no telling how far birds will fly carrying the spores of Diaporthe upon their feet. The spores are viscid and adhere to the feet of beetles, or migratory birds which some- times make long lateral flights following food, rather than di- rect flights north and south. It is quite easy to imagine birds carrying this Diaporthe over an interval of possibly fifty miles, making that distance in one night perhaps. Someone may have carried chestnuts in his pocket to give to his granddaughter fifty miles away, and in that way carried the blight. If any grafted trees have been carried fifty miles, or any railroad ties, with a little bark on, carried fifty miles and then thrown off, it might blight the chestnuts in that vicinity. One can have as much range of imagination as he pleases as Longfellow says, There is no limit to the imagination in connection with ques- tions of spreading the blight of Diaporthe. Some of the Japanese and Corean chestnuts and some of the Chinese chestnuts resist blight fairly well. Among my chinkapins, I have the common pumila and the Missouri variety of pumila, which grows in tree form forty or fifty feet high. I have the alder-leaf chestnut, which keeps green leaves till Christ- mas, sometimes till March when the snow buries them, and 56 those comparatively young trees have shown no blight; but one hybrid, between the chinkapin and the American chestnut, about twelve years of age, has blighted several times. I have cut off the branches and kept it going, but this year I shall cut it down. It will start at the root and sprout up again. I thought I'd give up that hybrid, but having heard Col. Sober's report I will begin at the root and look after some of the sprouts. That hybrid is the only one of my chinkapin group that has blighted at all. In regard to the use of bichloride of mercury or formalde- hyde, it seems to me that formaldehyde will be a better germi- cide than bichloride of mercury, because bichloride of mercury coagulates the albuminous part of the plasm and may destroy the cell structure, whereas the formaldehyde will be more pene- trating and less injurious. One would need to know how strong a formaldehyde solution can be used safely. I presume the most vulnerable part of the tree would be at the bud axils. Spray- ing must require considerable experience at the present time and is of doubtful efficiency for timber chestnuts I am sure. We would like very much to hear any further comment upon this subject. Prof. Smith: Mr. Sober's orchard is so unusually large that evidently it does not apply to average cases. The average man is buying chestnut trees for the garden or yard or lane. Prof. Collins has an acre on the top of a hill at Atlantic Forge and there he has fought diligently with the skill of a highly trained man, and the blight is gradually driving him back. I think that in a short time the trees on Prof. Collins' acre will be gone. I believe we need much more information before we can offer any hope that chestnut trees from a nursery will be safe against blight. I should like to ask the Blight Commission if they are at the present time planning to breed immune strains of chestnuts, and if not, I wish to suggest that it is a piece of work well worthy of their consideration. They might try grafting on American stocks, or on their own seedlings, some of the Korean chestnuts, on any variety that promises resistance, and also hybridizing, with the hope of getting a good nut that will resist the blight. The Chairman: That is a very important matter, no doubt. In regard to the few chestnuts bought for lanes and gardens, I know a good many men who have bought a few grafted chest- nuts with the idea of setting out a number of acres if those few did well, being men of a conservative sort. Men of that sort are 57 the ones we want to have in our Association. We want to have men who will buy four trees, and if they do well, set out four hundred acres. That is what a great many men have had in mind in buying two, four or six trees of any one kind; they want to try them out. That is the wise way, the conservative way, the truly progressive way. If we are going to have very large numbers of any one kind of chestnut set out, we must make a statement of the dangers, so that men may be forewarned. If they set them out without warning and are disappointed, they drop the entire subject and go to raising corn and hogs; and then, to save trouble, turn these hogs into the corn and get to doing things in the easiest way, rather than carry on the complicated methods of agriculture that belong to the spirit of the present time. I would like to know if many efforts are be- ing made toward breeding immune kinds. I am at work on that myself. Mr. Pierce: Our Commission has recently gotten, I think, about fifty pounds of Chinese chestnuts of several kinds, which they expect to plant for experiment. Besides that they have made some other arrangements of which I know very little. This investigation will take years. The Commission has been compelled to devote itself to so many lines of work that I am afraid this question has not been given the attention it might have had. I think in the future there will be a good deal done along that line. Two of us have been given the title of tree surgeons, and we work, or make arrangements to have someone else work, sometimes the scout, in the orchards throughout the state. I have a list of two hundred owners of cultivated chestnut trees that I got in the last month from various sources. Anyone in Pennsylvania who has a cultivated chestnut tree, can send a postal card, get one of us out to examine the tree and see whether it is blighted, and we will demonstrate what can be done in the way of treating it. I have done that right along in the last two months. If it is only a single tree I cut out all I can myself. The Chairman: There are two distinct questions; first, the chestnut as a food tree, and second, as a timber tree. Your work has been chiefly with the chestnut as a timber tree ? Mr. Pierce: No, mine has been mostly on the lawn, so that it is for nuts. Experiments made on one or two species of Japanese chest- nuts show about 9 per cent of tannin; the tannin in the Ameri- 58 can chestnut runs only 6 per cent and in the small American, runs less. We know that the Japanese is somewhat more im- mune than the American. We have already found that it has 50 per cent more tannin. I believe one of us wrote you about experiments to find out the percentage of tannin in Corean, North Japanese, South Japanese and Chinese chestnuts. The investigation will be carried on for the next two or three months. Mr. Corsan: May I ask if there is any soil food that would increase the amount of tannin ? Trees protect themselves. We have watched the black walnut and seen him fight all sorts of enemies. The tree has poisons everywhere and the nut a thick shell to boot and doesn't coax enemies to get at him or to eat him until he is ripe. A Member: Have you found that fertilizing a tree increased the percentage of tannin ? Mr. Rockey:, That hasn't been determined yet but it will be studied. The Chairman: It is a question if the tendency would not be for tannin to go over to sugar and cellulose under cultiva- tion. I don't remember the chemistry on that. Aren't there any expert chemists here who can tell us ? The natural tendency of the tree under high cultivation would be to change tannin over into sugar and starch. Mr. Corsan: This talk of the chestnut blight reminds me of a remark made by a gentleman at a peach growing convention. He said the best thing that ever happened to this country was to get that San Jose scale because it stopped lazy men from growing peaches. He said, '*I don't mind it a bit and can make more money than when peaches were nothing a basket." Proba- bly nature will help us some way. The Chairman: We have to consider what nature wants to do. Mr. Mayo: If I am in order, I would like to know whether this fungus trouble is likely in the future to attack or has at any time attacked, the apple, pear or quince ? The Chairman: I think it has been pretty well decided that they are not in danger. I will, however, ask Mr. Rockey and Mr. Pierce to answer that question. Mr. Rockey: Up to the present time there has been no indication that the blight will get into them. This might be a good occasion for me to mention the Connellsville fungus again. It was found on some of the oaks and other trees in this section 59 of the country, and for a time it looked as though the blight was getting into other species, but since that fungus has been identi- fied there has been no indication that the blight will extend beyond the chestnut group as a parasite, although you can in- oculate oaks and other trees with the fungus and it will live in them, but only on the dead portion of the tree and not as the parasite lives on the chestnut. Prof. Smith: I should like to ask Mr. Sober if he has found any evidence that the paragon chestnut differs from the native chestnut in resistance to the blight, and if his paragons are dif- ferent from other paragons ? Col. Sober: I cannot say whether my chestnuts are differ- ent from the other paragon chestnuts or not, or whether they are as resistant to the blight. I know it is a very sweet chest- nut. In regard to keeping my groves clean — from 1901 to 1910, we had three broods of locusts and two hailstorms that opened the bark in almost every tree and branch. The limbs were stung by the locusts thousands of times, so that I didn't have a crop of chestnuts. Professor Davis was cutting off limbs for a couple of months so you see my trees were open, if any ever were, to receive the blight. The hailstorms destroyed the leaves and I didn't have any chestnuts that year in one part of my grove and with all that — you people come and see how clean it is, that's all there is to it. I know what I've done and what I can do. The Chairman: The next paper in order is that of Professor Smith. NUT GROWING AND TREE BREEDING AND THEIR RELATION TO CONSERVATION Professor J. Russell Smith, Pennsylvania Prof. Smith: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen; I am going to ask your indulgence for including in my subject a matter that perhaps goes a little beyond the scope of this organization, for I wish to speak of fruit as well as nut-bearing trees. Con- servation, whose object is the preservation of our resources for future generations, as well as for ourselves, finds its greatest problem in the preservation of the soil. The forests can come again if the soil be left. It is probable that we can find sub- stitutes for coal, and for nearly everything else, but once the 60 soil is gone, all is gone; and the greatest danger to the soil is not robbery by ill cropping, because no matter how man may abuse the soil, scientific agriculture can bring it back with aston- ishing speed. But the greatest enemy of conservation is erosion, the best checks for erosion are roots. Thug far, the only man who has been telling us anything about planting roots upon the hillsides is the forester. But he usually sets nothing but wood trees, which at the end of fifty or a hundred or a hundred and fifty years, we can cut down, and which, during the intervening time, have done nothing but cast shade, drop leaves and retain the soil. My doctrine is that the potentially greatest crop-producing plants are not those on which we now depend for our food, but are the trees,; that the greatest engines for production are not the grasses, but the trees. Our agriculture is an inheritance from the savage, and the sav- age found that he could do better with annual grains than he could with nut trees, because he didn't know how to improve the nut crop by selection of the trees, while there came involun- tarily an improvement in the other crops. No man today knows the parentage of some of the cultivated plants and grains on which we now depend. Thus we came down to the present day of science, with the purely chance discoveries of savages as the main dependence of mankind for the basis of agriculture. We have within a decade discovered the laws of plant breed- ing. We know a good deal more about it now than ever before and are in a position to start about it very deliberately and with a reasonable certainty that we are going to get certain combinations of qualities if we keep at it long enough. Thus the hickory and walnut offer perfect marvels of possibilities. Look around on these tables and see the size of some of these things. There are hickory nuts 11-4 inch long and there are shagbarks as full of meat as pecans and probably quite as good. There are in Kentucky, I am told, hickory nuts that you can take in your fingers and crush. Here we have the pecan, this great big shellbark from Indiana, the shagbark from the North, and the thin shell nuts from Kentucky. Now hybridize these and I think, if you work at it long enough, you will get a tree that will have all those good qualities. The wonderful black walnut is a tree of hardiness, and the delicious Persian or English walnut is a nut of acceptable form. The pair offers splendid possibilities in their hybrid progeny. We have fruits thus far recognized as of little value which 61 offer great possibilities as forage producers. The mulberry bears from June to September and the persimmon from September till March and the pig harvests them himself. We have the possibility of a brand-new agriculture, depend- ing not upon grains, but upon tree crops, provided someone will breed the crop-yielding trees which we can use. This will permit us to use entirely different kinds of land from that now considered best for agriculture. The natural necessities for plant growth, I believe, are heat, moisture, sunlight and fertility. Now they are not all the limiting factors with man, because man adds the fifth, the arbitrary fact of arability, and that right away bars out about half of the fertile earth, because when we insist on heat, Hght, moisture, fertility and arability, we leave out that rough half of the earth equally fertile, idle, subject only to the. work of the forester, who will give us a forest about 1999. It might just as well be planted with a host of crop- yielding trees, the walnuts, hickory nuts, pecans, persimmons, mulberries — and the list is very long. There are at the present time in use in Mediterranean countries twenty-five crop-yield- ing trees other than the ordinary orchard fruits. I am told that they have oak trees there which yield an acorn that is better than the chestnut. A pig will fill himself with acorns on the one hillside and with figs on the next hillside and then lie down and get fat. We are too industrious, we wait on the pig; I want the pig to wait on himself. But who is going to breed these things ? These crop yield- ing trees ? A gentleman told us this morning that he was not nervous, that he could watch a hickory tree grow, and stated that he had forty acres of land and was breeding trees for fun. Here is Dr. Morris, who is having a delicious time doing the same thing. We should not have to depend on enthusiasts who are working for fun; we must not depend on such sources for the greatest gifts in the line of food production that man can imagine. This work should be done by every state in the Union. I believe that it is capable of proof that we can get just as much yield from a hillside in unfilled fruit and nut-yielding trees, as we can from putting that same hillside under the plough and getting wheat, corn, barley, rye and oats and a little grass once in a while. It will make just as much pig or just as many calories of man food from the tree crops as it will make under the plough. And under the plough that hillside is going down the stream to choke it and reduce the hillside to nothing. 62 We have three classes of land. The first class is the level land, which belongs to the plough now and for all time. The third class, which is the iinploughable steep mountain and hill land, is probably as great in area as the level land, and between the two is the hilly land that we are now cultivating to its great detriment, visibly reducing the earth's resources by bringing about rapidly that condition which has led to the saying in the Old World: "After man, the desert." The Roman Empire, where men have had possession for two thousand years, proves, "After man, the desert." It is equally proven in much of China, but it can be prevented if these hill lands are put to trees. But we cannot afford to put those lands into trees unless the trees yield. I move that this Association memorialize those persons who are in position to promote the breeding of fruit and nut-yielding trees, that we may bring nearer the day of tree-crop agricul- ture. I want a letter to go from this Association with the author- ity of the Association and its sanction, to the Secretary of Ag- riculture at Washington and to all the men in authority in the Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington, to the Presidents of the State Agricultural Colleges, the Directors of Experiment Stations and professors who are interested in plant breeding. That will make a list of three or four hundred persons and in- volve an expenditure of a few dollars but I believe it will be productive of good. I hope that the Association will see fit to lend its name and a little cash to that proposition, because if we can get the authority of the state and the money of the state, the results will come much more rapidly than if there are just a few of us doing it independently. (Applause.) The Chairman: Will someone put Prof. Smith's suggestion in the form of a motion ? A Member: I move that it be referred to the Committee on Resolutions. (Motion carried.) Mr. Corsan: Undoubtedly we all agree with Prof. Smith. He spoke of the persimmon. When I speak of the persimmon in my country nobody knows what I am talking about. I found two trees in Battle Creek, Michigan, in a front yard. The per- son who owned them was an old lady. I said, "Will you give me these persimmons?" She said, "Yes, take them all; the neighbors come here and while they are getting the persimmons they bother me a lot. Everybody seems to like them." They 63 were delicious persimmons that were quite edible before frost, they are probably the two furthest north persimmon trees in the world. I went a little way around Devil Lake, and found pawpaws. They are a very good fruit when cultivated. The idea of preserving the soil and not sending it all into the Lakes and down into the Gulf of Mexico — that is a good idea of Prof. Smith's. Mr. Gardner: I submit that that Battle Creek woman should start a new breakfast food. (Laughter.) Mr. Corsan: Every second year there is an immense crop on one of the persimmon trees; they are a male and female, I think. You can't see the branches for the fruit, and the ther- mometer there falls to 22 degrees below zero. The Chairman: You can graft the male trees with pistillate grafts if you want to, or you can transfer grafts both ways. The persimmon and pawpaw will undoubtedly both grow at Toronto. They are not indigenous there because of natural checks to development in their sprouting stage, but if you buy Indiana stock for Toronto, such transplanted trees will both grow there, I am sure. This is not quite relevant to Prof. Smith's paper. It seems to me that Prof. Smith gave us a very comprehensive resume of facts bearing upon the situation, perhaps not par- ticularly calling for discussion. We are very glad to have his arraignment of facts. The next paper on the program will be that of Dr. Deming. While Dr. Deming is getting ready, I would like to have the trees shown. Mr. Jones will speak about his pecans, these specimens of young trees here. Mr. Jones: These are pecans that Mr. Roper brought up from the Arrowfield Nurseries. (Here Mr. Jones described the trees.) The Chairman: Would those trees grow after they have been dried as much as that ? Mr. Jones: I don't think so; pecans don't stand much drying. The Chairman: No, unless you cut off all the roots. Prof. Smith: If we should dig up a tree like this and cut it off a foot and a half down, would it be all right to transplant it? Mr. Jones : Yes, if your season should not be too dry. The Chairman: What has been your experience with the Stringfellow method of cutting off every single root ? Mr. Jones: We cut the tap-roots off, but leave an inch of the lateral roots. 64 The Chairman: I think you can do better by following the Stringfellow method and cutting off all the laterals. Prof. Smith: If you were going to transplant those for your own use where would you cut them 'off ? Mr. Jones: About here, a foot and a half down. The Secretary: And the top ? Mr. Jones: Yes, sir, I'd reduce the top about that much; I think we will have to work for a better root for the North. BEGINNING WITH NUTS Dr. W. C. Deming, Westchester, New York City In his official capacity as secretary of the Northern Nut Growers Association the writer is frequently asked, by persons wishing to grow nuts, about climate, soils, varieties and methods. The following observations are intended to apply only to the northeastern United States, the country lying east of the Rockies and north of the range of the southern pecan. They are intended more for the person who already has his land, or is restricted in his range, than for the one who can range wide for larger operations and will study deeper before deciding. It is probable that most nuts will grow wherever the peach will. Outside the peach area there is probably not much use in trying to grow the pecan or Persian walnut. Yet it must always be remembered that nut growing in the North is, at present, almost entirely experimental and that anybody may be able to disprove the authorities. We are all experimenting now. By and by it will be different. In severer climates the chestnut, shagbark, black walnut, butternut, hazel, beech, pine, Japanese cordiformis and hardy Chinese walnuts can be grown or, at least, offer possibilities. In such climates the development of the native nuts by selec- tion and crossing, and the adaptation of alien nuts, deserves, and will repay, experiment. It is to be supposed, as before said, that the hopeful beginner already has his land. Let him choose the best part of it that he can spare. By "best part" is meant the most fertile, not too wet nor too dry nor, if possible, too hilly to cultivate. Hard pan near the surface, and too thick to be easily broken up by dynamite, is not desirable. 65 A nut orchard ought to have much the same preparation as an apple orchard. A practical way would be to plow deeply and harrow well in simmier and sow a cover crop like rye and vetch or clover. The more stable manure, or other fertilizer, applied the better. Let the field now be staked off thirty feet apart in squares, or in triangles if preferred. Late in the fall dig the holes and plant nuts, three or four in each hole, two to four inches deep, according to size, and six inches apart. Put a good handful of ground bone in each hill. Unless the soil and subsoil are mel- low, so that the long tap roots may penetrate deeply, it would be best to dynamite the holes, using a half pound of 20 per cent or 25 per cent dynamite at a depth of two and a half feet. This is a simple matter and the dynamite companies will furnish materials and instructions. It is also some fun. There is some danger that nuts planted in fall may be de- stroyed by rodents, that some will "lie over" and not sprout the first year, or that all the nuts in a hill may make inferior plants, so that some authorities advise putting them in a gal- vanized wire cage, the nuts only half buried, then covered with a few leaves during the winter and otherwise left exposed to the elements. In the spring they must be taken from the cage and planted in the hills before the sprouts are long enough to be easily broken. The different kinds of nuts should be planted in "blocks" rather than mingled, to facilitate handling. These nuts are to furnish trees that are later to be grafted or budded. After they have grown a while the weaker ones are to be removed, as necessary, until only the strongest remains in each hill. When grafted and grown to great size the brave man will thin them out to sixty feet apart. Interplanting with fruits or vegetables may be practised. As to the kinds of nuts to be planted that depends on what you want to grow. If chestnuts it must be remembered that the bark disease is very likely to attack them, in the East at any rate. Experiments with chestnuts outside the range of the blight are very desirable. The American {Castanea dentata) and European (C. saliva) chestnuts are specially susceptible. The Asiatic chestnuts (C. Japonica, etc.) seem to have a partial immunity, especially the Korean, and it is possible that the native chestnut grafted on these may be rendered more or less immune. It is being tried and is an interesting experiment. 66 The Asiatic chestnut trees are dwarfish in habit, come into bearing early, the nuts are generally large and some of them of pretty good quality. They may be planted as fillers between the trees of larger growth. The nuts may be bought of importers. (See circular on "Seedsmen and Nurserymen".) The small Korean chestnut has been especially recommended. If you wish to grow the shagbark hickory {Hicoria ovata) plant the best specimens of this nut you can get, or the bitter- nut ( H. minima) which is said to be a superior stock for grafting. High hopes are held that that other favorite hickory, the pecan {H. pecan) may be grown far outside its native range, and the Indiana pecan is the nut on which these hopes are founded. Seed nuts may be obtained from reliable Indiana dealers, but it is said that some of them are not reliable. The hickories may be budded and grafted on one another so that one kind of stock may serve for both shagbark and pecan. If you want to grow the Persian walnut {Juglans regia), often called the "English" walnut, the black walnut (/. nigra), seems to afford the most promising stock, though /. rupestris, native in Texas and Arizona, has been recommended and /. cor- diformis, the Japanese heart nut, is also promising. This nut can be recommended for planting for its own sake as the tree is hardy, a rapid grower, comes into bearing early and bears a fairly good nut. There are no grafted trees, however, so the variable seedlings will have to be depended upon. On any of these walnut stocks the black walnut and the but- ternut (/. cinerea) may also be propagated if worthy varieties can be found. There are none now on the market. The nuts mentioned are enough for the beginner and the three stocks, chestnut, hickory and walnut, will give him all he wants to work on and furnish plenty of fascinating occu- pation. The hazel, the almond and others, though offering possibil- ities, had better be left to those further advanced in the art of nut growing. Now the nut orchard is started and the owner must push the growth of the trees by the ordinary methods, cultivation, cover crops and fertilizers. See any authority on growing fruit trees. In from two to five years the trees will be ready for bud- ding and grafting, they will have made a good growth above ground, and a bigger one below, they are permanently placed and haven't got to be set back a year or two, or perhaps killed. 67 by transplanting, with loss to the tap roots and laterals. In the writer's opinion that natural tap root of the nut tree growing down, down to water is not to be treated as of no importance. So let your seedlings grow up and down happily while you get ready the stuff with which to build their future character, for seedling trees are very slow in coming into bearing, and un- certain in type and quality of nut. Grafted trees bear early and true to type. Take your choicest bit of ground and put it in the best shape you know how. Then order the finest grafted trees you can find on the market. (See circular on "Seedsmen and Nursery- men".) Your choice will be limited for there are as yet only a few grafted varieties of the Persian walnut and the Indiana pecan, and but one of the shagbark hickory to be had. Of chest- nuts there are more and, in the South of course, plenty of pecans. But pecan growing in the South is another story. If you order chestnuts be sure that they do not come from a nursery infected with blight. Get young trees because they are more easily established. Order from two to four of each variety. Fewer than two gives too small an allowance for mortality and more than four, besides the not inconsiderable strain on the pocket, will divide your attention too much; for you have got to give these trees the care of a bottle baby. Set them sixty feet apart if you have the room. If not set them closer. Better closer if that means better care. They may be set in the fall but probably spring is better, as early as you can get them in. Follow the instructions of the nurserymen closely. Digging holes with dynamite is probably good practice. Put some bone meal in the soil around the roots but no strong fertilizer. Some soils need lime. Tamp the soil about the roots with all your might. It cannot be made too firm. Then water them all summer, or until August if they have made a good growth. Give them all they can drink once a week. Sink a large bar about a foot from the tree and pour the water into the hole, as much as the soil will take. Keep up cultivation and a dust mulch or, if you cannot do this, mulch with something else. Mulching doesn't mean a wisp of hay but something thick or impervious. Six inches of strawy manure, grass, vines or weeds; an old carpet, burlap, feed or fertilizer bags or even newspapers, held down with stones or weeds or earth, all make good mulches. 68 These trees ought to grow and, whether you ever succeed in grafting your seedlings or not, you should have at least a small orchard of fine nut trees. The second summer with the trees will be something like the baby's. Worms may bother them. Look out for bud worms and leaf-eating caterpillars. Give them all the water they can drink in the dry dog days. Nurse them, feed them and watch them and they will grow up to bless you. Some of them may bear as early as apple trees. These trees, and such scions as, from time to time, you may obtain elsewhere, are to furnish your propagating material. The plan just described may be modified in various ways, but the general principles are the same. Instead of planting the nuts in their permanent positions they may be put in nursery rows where they may have the advantage of intensive cultiva- tion. The best of the resulting trees may be grafted or budded in the rows, or after they have been transplanted and have become well established. This method is an excellent one and has distinct advantages and many advocates. Yearling seedlings may be bought and set either in perma- nent positions or in nursery rows. Of course the man who is in a hurry, who can disregard expense and who does not care for the experience and gratifi- cation of grafting his own trees, may set his whole plantation with expensive grafted trees and replant where they fail. The technique of budding and grafting you must work out yourself with the help of the instructions obtainable from sev- eral authorities, or, by far the surer way, study the art with a master. The essentials are good stocks and good scions, the right moment — and practice. Excellent publications giving instructions in methods of propagation are: "The Persian Walnut Industry in the United States," by E. R. Lake; Bulletin 254, Bureau of Plant Indus- try, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1913: "The Pecan," by C. A. Reed; Bulletin 251 of the same department, 1912: "Walnut Growing in Oregon," published by the Passenger Department Southern, Pacific Company Lines in Oregon, Portland, Oregon, revised edition, 1912; and "Nut Growing in Maryland," by C. P. Close; Bulletin 125 of the Maryland Agricultural Experi- ment Station, College Park, Maryland. Any of these may be had free on application. The files and current issues of the nut journals are full of 69 information. Join the nut growers associations, subscribe to the nut journals, get all the literature (see Circular No. 3) and you will soon be happily out of the fledgeling stage of nut grow- ing and begin to do as you please. The Chairman: Comment upon this paper is now in order. Mr. Lake: You say you are going to issue that ? The Secretary: On my own responsibility, but subject to modification. Mr. Lake: If that is going out as a circular of the associa- tion, I would like to suggest two slight changes. For instance, you wouldn't expect the ordinary nut tree to begin to bear as early as the ordinary transplanted apple tree. The Chairman: Some would. Mr. Lake: A summer apple would begin to bear much earlier than the ordinary nut tree. The Secretary: Well, chestnuts begin to bear very early after grafting. I refer only to grafted trees here. Mr. Lake: I thought that the paper had to do with trees that were planted as nuts. The Secretary: No, I think I made that perfectly clear. Mr. Lake: What is that new statement about roots, that it is desirable to leave them ? The Secretary: That it is better that a tree should go un- disturbed than that it should be transplanted. Mr. Lake: Isn't there a question about that ? The Secretary: A question would arise in the hands of an expert, perhaps, but I think for an amateur, that a tree grow- ing where the nut was planted is more likely to live and do well than a transplanted tree. Mr. Lake: I am not so certain about that, but what I had in mind was that the planter would get the idea that the tap- root was not to be cut off and that it is very desirable to the tree. The Secretary: That's a good point. The Chairman: About cutting the tap-root I have said yes and no so fast that I don't know which I've said last, and it seems to me that we ought to have discussion on this very point. The Secretary: I have said that in buying these grafted trees you should set them out following the instructions of the nurseryman closely. 70 Mr. Lake: But that statement about the tap-root would lead the average planter to think that it was very desirable to have the tap-root. The Secretary: Has it been settled that it is not desirable ? Mr. Lake: Well, I think it has been generally accepted that it is of no special value. The Secretary: That trees will grow as well transplanted as if they have never been transplanted ? Mr. Lake: Well, I shouldn't want to put it that way, but this is the point: I would like to have the tree planter under- stand that a walnut tree doesn't need the tap-root and if he cuts off the tap-root in planting, there is no great loss. I wouldn't want to say that his trees wouldn't begin to bear earlier or bear larger if left in the original place. I prefer to transplant my own tree after it is grown, rather than run the risk of getting scrub trees in the post hole or on the hill. I prefer to select the grafted trees even without the tap-roots, which would be removed in digging, and planting them all uniform, rather than to plant the seeds. Speaking for the amateur, I think the latter is good practice. The point I had in mind was that many people will not take the time to plant nuts but will want to set grafted trees, and the question is, should they have considerable tap- root— the grafted trees ? The Secretary: Following my plan, a man would buy a small number of fine trees and set them out at once; that would probably be all he would undertake and all he could probably manage. He would also plant a small number of nuts on which to experiment in propagation. My experience up in Connecticut has been that all my southern transplanted trees, almost with- out exception, have died. I have planted pecans and Persian walnuts from a number of different nurseries. I have done it personally and done it as carefully as I could, but they have either made a very feeble growth indeed or have all died. On the other hand, the seeds I have planted have grown into very vigorous trees. Mr. Rush: I have had a little experience with the tap-root theory. You can't dig a walnut tree without cutting the tap- root, and that tap-root, I find, is practically of no benefit at all after you have your upper laterals, and an abundance of them; by cutting the tap-root growth is stimulated and a new tap-root is made. It is very largely in the mode of pruning the tap- root. You can readily stimulate the tap-root system. 71 The Chairman: You try to keep an equilibrium by cutting down the top in proportion ? Mr. Rush: Yes, sir. Mr. Pomeroy: In examining transplanted trees I found ten times as many roots where the tap-root had been cut; and there were two tap-roots. I like a tree with a good tap-root sys- tem and I am positive that if you transplant a tree you get a better root system, get a great many more roots. The Chairman: The tree development, it seems to me, de- pends not upon the number of roots which are carried with it when it is transplanted, but upon the feeding roots which de- velop. Now, if we cut back the tap-root, cut back the laterals, cut back the top, we have a tree carrying in its cambium layer, food, just as a turnip or beet would carry it — and I look upon a transplanted tree much as a carrot or beet, with stored food ready to make a new root. Mr. Harris: I planted last fall a year ago a lot of English walnuts. Would the gentleman advise taking those up, cut- ting the tap-roots and planting them again ? Mr. Rush: I don't think that would be advisable. Mr. Harris: They were grown from the nuts sown in a row last fall a year ago and grew very well. Mr. Rush: In propagating the English walnut we have had them do the best by transplanting when the tree is about two years old, but it will more or less disturb the vigor of a tree to transplant it. That is self-evident; it needs some time to heal those wounds that are made both in the root and the branch. Mr. Harris: What time of year do you bud them ? Mr. Rush: In August. Mr. Hutt: I notice some trees here that are evidently two- year old pecans that have been cut back, and you notice that in every case several tap-roots have taken the place of the one. Here are some others that have not been cut. These have gone straight down. They are strong roots with few fibers on them. On these other trees that have been cut the formation of tap- roots continues. They will go down till they strike a perma- nent water-table and then the tap-root will stop. In Hyde County, North Carolina, near the ocean, the water-table is close to the surface and there is a deep black alluvial soil with a great deal of water in it. In order to grow anything there they have to put in ditches to get the water out. The pecan trees grow- ing there have absolutely no tap-roots at all, it rots off as soon 72 as it strikes the permanent water-table; and I think that's the reason they produce such enormous quantities of pecans in that county. In bottomless, sandy land where there is no clay the root keeps on going down till it finds the permanent water-table, even if that is six or eight or ten feet down. These roots, as you see, were going right down to China to look at that king on the other side if they got a chance. It's the same with the long leaf pine. It has a tap-root below ground thicker than the trunk above ground. The reason is that it grows naturally on those bottomless places; the root goes down till it strikes water, then runs off laterally. If you cut the roots they are bound to make new tap-roots. You can see the place where they have been cut and in place of one tap-root you have two, going right down into that sandy soil till they find a water-table. I believe that a nurseryman who will cut off the root of the pecan tree when it is transplanted, will cause it to form more lateral roots and make a better tree. There's a great number of vigorous roots in this tree than in this, and this tree whose root has been cut off will make a tree much easier to transplant and will be a better tree than those with great thick roots without the fibers that have the root hairs upon them. A member: You wouldn't recommend cutting back that tap- root too severely, would you ? Mr. Hutt: In planting a tree of this kind, I'd cut off a foot or 18 inches. If you get about 24 inches in a specially good soil, or about 30 inches of root ordinarily that's all you want. A member: I should think that would depend quite a little on the height of the water-table. If you were planting on land where the water-table is low, you would leave more tap-root ? Mr. Hutt: Yes. A member: That was the reason I brought up the point, because I think cutting so short would be too severe. Mr. Hutt: The cambium is the only part of the tree that maintains growth. Every wound kills the cambium to a cer- tain extent, so I always cut off roots of any size with sharp shears as smoothly as possible. I cut far enough back to find good, fresh, living tissue. In moist soil that will callous over. In the South the soil is moist and we have growing conditions in the winter time, so it will callous over during the winter. In the North, I understand, you make a practice of planting in the spring, because of the weather conditions. Mr. Harris: In Western Maryland we have in the moun- 73 tains a deep, sandy soil; there doesn't appear to be any water bottom to it; what would the tap-root do in that case ? Mr. Hutt: It will go down until it finds what it wants, finds sufficient moisture. Mr. Harris: Gravelly bottom ? Mr. Hutt: If you have ever seen the roots of a long leaf pine, you've seen where the roots go to when they get a chance. Prof. Smith: I should like to ask Dr. Deming if he would give us his experience in propagating the walnut and hickory ? Dr. Deming: A very important thing indeed for us nut growers in the North is to learn how to propagate. Dr. Morris has had some success; I haven't had any. I have tried it sum- mer and spring, year after year. I believe there are a few pieces of bark, without buds, still growing. Chestnuts I haven't found very difficult, but with the walnut and hickory I have had no success whatever, although I have practiced the best technique I could master. I think one reason why I have had no success is that I haven't had good material. I have had good stocks, but I haven't had good scions, not the sort of scion that the successful southern nurserymen use. Still, Dr. Morris has had suc- cess with the same kind of material that I have failed with. The Chairman: Not very much success. Mr. Lake: Dr. Deming said that the land ought not to be too dry nor too wet. Would you feel like saying that a water- table at 24 inches was neither too low nor too high ? Mr. Hutt: It depends a great deal on the nature of the soil, the water-pulling capacity of the soil. Take a soil like that I mentioned, in Hyde County, near the ocean; you can see it quake all around you. Mr. Lake: But would you say that the northern nut grower might safely put his orchard on soil that had a^ water-table within two or three feet of the surface ? Mr. Hutt: I could tell if I saw that soil. If it is craw-fishy, or soil that is ill-drained or won't carry ordinary crops, I'd say keep off of it, but if it will bear ordinary crops it's all right; in some cases where the soil is very rich the plant does not need to go down into that soil anything like the depth it would in a poor soil. The poorer the soil the further the roots have to go to find nourishment. Mr. Lake: I think that is an extremely exceptional case in relation to northern nuts. There is very little such North Carolina land in this section of the country, if I judge right. 74 We don't plant nut-growing orchards up here in peaty soils, so Dr. Deming's recommendation was rather for very good agricultural soil. A water-table here must be eight or ten feet deep; in that event, it would not -make any difference whether you left three feet of tap-root or 15 inches. Mr. Hutt: No. The Chairman: In the soils of some parts of New England, a tree would have to have a root three or four hundred feet deep to get to flowing water, but nevertheless trees flourish there. Mr. Lake: But the capillarity of the soil provides water for the tree above the water-table. Mr. Corsan: It all depends on the kind of nut. At St. Geneva I came across a butternut that was growing in a soil that would kill a chestnut very quickly. The soil was very springy and wet and the butternut just loves that soil. I found that while other butternut trees bore nuts in clusters of one to three, this butternut tree was bearing them in clusters of ten and eleven. At Lake George, right in front of the Post-Office, there was one tree twenty-four years old, two feet through, that grew butternuts in clusters of ten and you could get a barrel of nuts from it. It bore again this last summer heavily, not in clusters of ten but in clusters of seven or eight. When we have damp soil we can't grow the chestnut but the hickory nut will grow in a swarhp, and so will the butternut. The Chairman: And the beech. Mr. Corsan: The beech wants clay; it won't grow unless there is clay. The Chairman: Our beech will grow where it has to swim. Mr. Reed: Before we get away from this discussion I think that we ought to commend Dr. Deming in the selection of this subject and in the handling of his paper. In my position in the Government, we have a good many inquiries about nut matters, and they are usually from people who want to know how to start. The great call for information at the present time is from the beginners, not from the advanced people, and I am glad that Dr. Deming took that subject and handled it as he did, and I am glad that he proposes to issue it as a circular from this Association. It will be a great relief to others who are called on for information. I should like to have a word, too, about this tap-root question. From what has been said it is pretty clear that there is quite a 75 difference of opinion. We sometimes think we can improve on nature in her ways by harsh methods and, while I know it is customary in the nurseries of the South to cut the tap-roots back pretty severely, I wonder, sometimes, whether that is always the best thing. I haven't had any personal experience, but I have observed quite a good deal, and the tendency, it seems to me, is to try to develop as much as possible the fibrous root. Sometimes that is brought about by cutting the tap-root, or putting a wire mesh below where the seed is planted, so as to form an obstruc- tion to the tap-root, so that it necessarily forms a fibrous root. Where the tap-root is the only root I doubt very much the ad- visability of cutting back too severely. Col. VanDuzee: I have heard this subject discussed all over this country, in meetings of this kind, and a great deal of energy has been wasted. I do not think any of us know anything about it, but I do wish to say this, that when you come to transplant a tree from the nursery to the orchard, there are things of in- finitely more moment than how you shall hold your knife be- tween your fingers when you cut the roots. The exposure of the roots to the air, the depth to which the tree is to be put in the ground, the manner in which it shall be handled^those things are of infinitely more importance, because we know we can transplant trees successfully and get good results when the tap- root has been injured or almost entirely removed. I do not con- sider that the question of cutting the tap-root is of very serious importance, but I do think we should insert a word of caution as to the exposure of the roots of trees to the atmosphere, and make it just as strong as we are capable of writing it. The Chairman: That is a very interesting point, that we have fixed our eye on the tap-root and talked too much about it. Not long ago one of the agricultural journals decided finally to settle the question about the time for pruning grapes, whether it should be done in the fall, spring, winter or summer, and after summing up all the testimony from enthusiastic advocates for each one of the seasons, the editor decided that the best time is when your knife is sharp; and that is very much the way with the tap-root. Be very particular in getting the root in and car- ing for it. Mr. Pomeroy: Prof. Close, in a bulletin issued two years ago, spoke as does Col. VanDuzee about protecting the roots of the trees; he said "when the trees are taken from the box 76 that you receive them in, don't expose them to the sun or air, puddle every tree, and plant as soon as possible." I think that is pretty good advice. It doesn't cost any money, and takes very few minutes, to puddle the trees- and it saves many of them. The Chairman: I have tried the Stringfellow Method of cutting back top and root until my men asked me if I didn't want to transplant another tree instead, and they have grown just as well as trees on which I took great pains to preserve fine branching roots. The Secretary: The last thing in my thought was to start a discussion of this perennial subject of the tap-root, but I should like criticism of this little circular, no matter how severe, because I am not finally committed to it and want to make it as useful as possible. Prof. Smith: Every man likes to ride his own hobby horse. Would it not be wise to suggest that some of these seedlings be put in odd corners ? Certainly the hickory and walnut are adept in making themselves a home in the roughest kind of land. The Secretary: I have tried that, but I don't think, as a rule, the trees do well when stuck around in fence corners and odd places. To be sure the trees I put behind the barn or pig pen have grown beautifully, so that at one time I thought of building barns and pig pens all over the farm to put trees behind, but where they were set in fence corners and out of the way places they have not done very well. I think the experience of others is about to the same effect. Prof. Smith: My experience has been different from yours. I have some chestnut and walnut trees, on an unploughable hillside in the corner of my father's farm in Virginia which I stuck there ten or a dozen years ago and have done very little to them. Of course they are native. They have thriven. Nature does it exactly that way. The Secretary: It seems to me there is no question that they will do better under cultivation. Of course they may do fairly well in odd places if they can dominate the other growth. Prof. Smith: A man could take a pocketful of the various kinds of nuts and go around his fence corners and plant a few. In an hour he can plant fifty, and if he gets one to grow it is good return for that hour's work. The Secretary: I have advised people to take a handful of nuts and a cane when they go out walking and occasionally stick one in. 77 The Chairman: In our locality, people would ask, "Why- is that string of squirrels following that man ?" Mr. Corsan: I have been planting nuts in that way for years. The Chairman: If a man planted trees which belonged in his neighborhood, nuts that were already in the dominant ruling group, then his chances for success would be very good, but if he introduced in fence corners trees that had to adjust them- selves to a new environment, he would find very few growing and the squirrels, other trees and various obstacles to develop- ment in the midst of established species, would wipe out most of them. Nevertheless, as it isn't much trouble, I would advise anybody to take a pocketful of hickory nuts out with him when he goes for a walk and plant one every little way. A Member: The idea is good; let us follow it up. Mr. Rush: I don't think it is feasible at all to plant trees around fence corners. The Chairman: In our locality it would not do at all. A Member: It won't do in any locality. The sods and grass around the tree will dwarf it and cause a very slow growth. Our time is valuable and we can't wait on that kind of a tree to bring results. Cultivation is the main need. Sometimes trees will do well where the soil is rich and competition absent. In Burlington, N. J. we found a walnut tree bearing enormous crops in a back yard. I have seen the same thing in this county, and also in Carlisle, and the Nebo tree, famous for its wonderful productiveness, has a similar environment. But it is high culti- vation that usually is necessary for the best results in all treeS; and walnut trees particularly. The Secretary: Here is a note relating to this subject: "The women of Sapulpa, Okla., who recently organized for city and county improvement and advancement, have deter- mined to plant pecan, walnut and hickory trees on both sides of a road now being constructed through Creek County, basing their action on the theory that two pecan trees placed in the back yard of a homestead will pay the taxes on the property. They believe that when the trees begin to bear they will provide a fund large enough for the maintenance of the road." The Chairman: That's all right if you can look after them. Mr. Littlepage: It is very interesting to listen to these dis- cussions of roadside trees and I have until recently been a strong advocate of them, but I have changed my opinion. I don't 78 think there is anything in the planting of trees in fence corners or along the roadside, for several reasons. The first reason is that nobody knows how long it is .going to take that tree to amount to anything. I wouldn't give two cents a piece for trees stuck out where you cannot cultivate them and get to them to fertilize them. Another thing, we are right up against the problem of the insect pests of these trees and who is going to take care of them along the roadside ? The insect pests will get on them and come into the fields of the man who is culti- vating and raising trees legitimately. Down in southern Indiana, now, we find along the roadside hundreds of walnut trees that are every year eaten up with caterpillars. They love those trees and come over on to my trees. I keep my trees cleaned off pretty well. There's that problem. Up to a short time ago I was an advocate of roadside trees. It would be all right if there was some means of cultivating them. If there is land somewhere that is of no use, so that it doesn't make a bit of difference whether the trees on it have insect pests or not, you can go out there and scatter nuts and let it alone and wait the length of time you've got to wait. I don't think it's of much value, however, even then. I don't think there is a thing in it. I used to pride my- self on the fact that I had set out more trees than anybody else in the State of Indiana. I haven't bragged about that for a long time, though I have set out, perhaps, in the last eight or ten years, or had set out under my direction, about 750,000 trees; I am not particularly proud of that any more, but I am proud to meet the fellow who has set out twenty or thirty acres of trees on good land, the best he's got, and cultivated them and kept the insects off of them and burned them up instead of letting them prey on the neighborhood. I think there should be a law passed that these trees along the roadside must be cut down or that somebody will have to take care of them. The Chairman: The original idea of roadside trees was constructive in its nature but failed to include the idea that, with the increase of orchard trees, or trees of any one species, we increase the insect pests because we disturb the balance of nature ; and by disturbing the balance of nature we give advant- age to insects which then remain on neglected trees to prove a menace to our own orchards. It we have various towns setting out roadside trees and detailing the children to look after them, asking the children to report on them, I believe the thing can be made a success and that the taxes of many a small town can be 79 paid from the nut trees along the roadside, provided you have one boy or one girl for each tree, their services to be given free and the profit from the tree to be given to the town. Mr. Corsan: How about the cattle ? Let them keep grazing around ? The Chairman: Oh, my, yes. Prof. Smith: I think we sometimes let our feelings make us say things that our brains would scarcely approve. I believe Mr. Littlepage's charge against the tree on the roadside is not necessarily substantiated. I don't know just how he is going to take care of his trees, but if it requires a vehicle carrying spray, I submit that a roadside tree is about as well fixed as one in his field. If it requires a man with a stick or a hoe or a ladder, the tree on the foadside is in about as eligible a location as one in the field. If care implies the idea of turning over the soil, the roadside is handicapped, but nature has got along without having the soil upturned. My point is this; there is on nearly every farm in the East a little patch of land somewhere, a little row between a road and stream where a few trees can grow, and if fertilization is required, a few barrels of manure can go there as well as anywhere else. The fact that a tree is put in a place that is not ploughed doesn't mean that it is beyond all care. My point is that with care we can get trees in fence rows without tillage and that, in addition to Dr. Deming's formal and carefully cultivated plot, there is about every farm a place where a man can stick a few trees and give them such care as can be given without tillage. Mr. Littlepage: I agree heartily with Prof. Smith's theory, but having had some experience, I find those things that he de- scribes are not done; there is just that difference, always, be- tween theory and fact. I read a beautiful book once, written by a woman, entitled, "There is No Death," and I found on inquiry that she had already buried four husbands. (Laughter.) I was much interested in reading, once upon a time, Rousseau's beautiful story of domestic life and I found that while he was writing it, his children were in an orphan asylum. A fellow teaching in the high school in Terre Haute, Indiana, married one of the beautiful attractive young ladies of that town. Shortly after they were married he was busy writing and turned and told her that he didn't love her any more and he wished she'd go home. She was heartbroken and left and it turned out later that he was writing a book on how to get to Heaven. (Laughter.) # 80 There's just the difference between theory and fact. This is a beautiful theory. I used to be the strongest advocate of it, but all you've got to do is to go on a farm and try it. The trees won't get big enough to amount to anything in our lifetime, because these things you say you will do to them you don't do; at least, that has been my experience, and I would like to ask anyone to point to any section in the United States today, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, where this theory is carried out successfully; and yet I know it has been advocated for fifty years. The Chairman: How about school children reporting on trees under their care ? Mr. Littlepage: Whenever you give the proper care to them you solve the problem — whenever anyone will convince me that that will be done. There is no reason, of course, why the tree won't grow in these places, but my experience is that they don't thrive. The Chairman: I've put out thousands of them for public- spirited citizens, but it would be difficult to find one of them today. Mr. Rush: In France and in Germany the land is very valuable and they take a great deal of pride in their nut trees. The nuts we have here in the Lancaster market, Persian walnuts, are largely brought from France, Spain, Italy and Germany. The land being so valuable there, they devote much of their waste land to nuts, like Mr. Smith's idea of planting along the wayside, and they plant and cultivate them in their yards and in all corners. They would not, under any consideration, plant a maple tree just for the shade; the tree must serve for both fruit and shade, and those are some of the sources of foreign wealth. Mr. Harris: I don't think the question is so much one of planting in fence corners as that we have a great deal of waste land on which the soil is very well adapted to growing nut trees. I know that sometimes in growing peach trees it is almost im- possible to cultivate them. I know places in western Maryland where the rocks are lying so that you can hardly plough, and yet the soil is fertile and particularly adapted in some places for peach trees, and would be for chestnut trees. They have there a system of cultivation much as if you used the plough, and yet they are on steep hillsides. There is no reason, I think, why nut trees shouldn't grow there as well as on the level field where you can cultivate every inch of soil. 81 The Chairman: They are looked after, that's the whole thing. Mr. Cowing: I come from New Hampshire and we have what used to be an old farm, but it is now a pasture and the soil is quite a potash soil, I think, amongst the rocks, and there's some apple trees planted there by the original man that worked this place. It was too rough to plough, but they have borne us as good apples some years as we have had on the place; and on this same piece of twenty acres or so, there's some chestnut trees more than two feet through that were cut off when the land was cleared, and they must have done well, for they grew to be such enormous trees. The Chairman: The trees are planted on this same old stump land ? Mr. Cowing: Yes, sir. The Chairman: A great deal of stump land can be planted in this way. Mr, Corsan: That wouldn't be planting them along road- sides and in fence corners. The Chairman: No^ they would be looked after; the whole thing is looking after them. A Member: My idea is that there would be very few nut trees planted if every one was to start his own trees. They put off planting the trees even when they can get them at the nurser- ies, and if they had to start their own nurseries there wouldn't be one planted to where there's 10,000 now; and I think that in the end the nurserymen are going to attend to the planting of trees and the other people are going to attend to growing them*. Maybe I'm mistaken but did this Government ever produce any trees ? Prof. Smith spoke of appropriating money and letting the Government get us some new variety. Hasn't it always been private individuals who get the new varieties? I have been trying to think of some fruit tree, apple or some- thing, that a state or the Government has propagated. The Chairman: In this country I believe the Government has never done it, but in some parts of Europe, especially Swit- zerland, the taxes of some towns are paid by the trees along the roadside; but there every man has to report on his own trees and the proceeds go to support the town, and the taxes of certain small towns are actually paid today by roadside trees; but this is in a country where land is valuable, and every tree is under the direct supervision of a citizen who must report on 82 it, and the product of that tree goes to the Government, he giving his labor instead of paying taxes. Prof. Smith: I was merely pleading for the continuation and spread of that work, both geographically and in increasing the varieties of trees. Mr. Lake: I am heartily in favor of that, but I think it ought to be referred to a committee. I want Prof. Smith to write it out in the form of a letter. Prof. Smith : I am glad you called my attention to that. Mr. Lake: The Government and the states are now en- gaged in such work and this ought to give it impetus. I think that the time and labor of the Nut Growers Association, since its organization, will have been well spent if we succeed in bring- ing to fructification this one resolution. I want also to suggest that Prof. Smith include among the nuts, the beechnut, because there's more meat in beechnuts for the amount of shell than any other nut we grow. The Chairman: If there is no further discussion, we will have now to spend a short time in Executive Committee work. I think we will ask to have a Nominatiilg Committee appointed first. Mr. Rush, will you kindly read the list of the names of the men you proposed to act as a Nominating Committee ? Mr. Rush then moved that the Nominating Committee con- sist of Messrs. Lake, Hutt, C. A. Reed, Smith and Deming, and the motion was adopted, after which the Nominating Committee reported as follows: For President, Mr. Littlepage; for Vice- President, Mr. C. A. Reed; for Secretary and Treasurer, Dr. Deming. On Executive Committee: Dr. Robert T. Morris, in place of Mr. C. A. Reed. On Hybrids, Prof. J. R. Smith, in place of Mr. Henry Hicks. On Membership Committee, Mr. G. H. Corsan, in place of Prof. E. R. Lake. On Committee on Nomenclature, Dr. W. C. Deming in place of Prof. John Craig; the other committees to stand as heretofore. Mr. Lake: I move that the secretary be instructed to cast the ballot of the association for these nominations. The motion was seconded and adopted and the ballot cast in accordance therewith. The Chairman: Now I will appoint as a Committee on Resolutions relating to Prof. Craig, Dr. Deming and the Chair- man; Committee on Exhibits, Col. VanDuzee, Mr. Roper and C. A. Reed, and they will be here this evening to report on exhibits. Committee on Resolutions, Prof. J. Russell Smith 83 and Mr. T. P. Littlepage. There is no Committee on Incor- poration. Will someone propose that we have such a committee ? The Secretary: Isn't it a desirable thing that the society should be incorporated ? It was mentioned to me by a wealthy man that if anyone wished to leave, or give, some money to this association, they would be much more likely to do it if the society were incorporated. The Chairman: I think it would be better for someone to make a motion. Mr. Lake: I move that a Committee on Incorporation be appointed by the chairman; a committee of three. (Motion seconded and adopted.) The Chairman: The Committee on Incorporation will con- sist of Mr. Littlepage and Prof. Close. This evening we will meet informally here at about eight and tomorrow at ten we have the meeting at the Scenic to hear the papers of Mr. Rush and Prof. Lake and Prof. Reed, and see the lantern slides. We will first meet here at nine o'clock for an executive nieeting and to look over the exhibits. The Committees will report at that time. (After discussion, on motion of Prof. Smith, seconded by Mr. Littlepage, the selection of the place of the next meeting was left to the Executive Committee.) The report of the Secretary and Treasurer was then read. (SEE APPENDIX) The Chairman: You have heard the Secretary's report. We had better take up, first, the question of deficit. What are we going to do about the $66.00 ? What prospects have we for the balancing of that account ? The Secretary: That account will be easily balanced, and more than balanced, by the dues coming in and then I will pro- ceed to run up a deficit for next year. The Chairman: You have heard the Secretary's report. If there is no discussion, a motion to adjourn will be in order. (Adjourned till December 19th.) The Convention met, pursuant to adjournment, December 19th, 1912, at 9:30 a. m., President Morris in the Chair, and went into Executive Session. It was moved and carried that the President be empowered to appoint a committee to attend the conference at Albany, 84 called for the consideration of the hickory bark borer, by the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of New York. The question of the publication ° of reports of the Conven- tion proceedings in the American Fruit and Nut Journal, was next taken up and it was moved by Mr. Lake and carried that the papers and discussions of this Society shall be used for its own publications exclusively, except as the Executive Commit- tee deems it to the best interests of the industry to furnish them for separate publication. The Secretary: On November 8th, I received a letter from Calvin J. Huson, the Commissioner of Agriculture of New York, to this effect. Dear Sir: At the coming land show in New York this department pro- poses to have, as a part of its exhibit, a collection of native and introduced New York grown nuts. Can you give us the names of growers of the better strains of nuts who might be able to furnish material for such an exhibit. Perhaps your association would be able to assist in the matter. The Department will be able to stand a reasonable expense for cost of nuts, expressage, etc. Perhaps a few seedling trees would add interest. . . . By the exhibit as a whole we wish to show the variety and quality of nuts that may be grown in this state Very truly yours, Calvin J. Huson, Commissioner. He wished me to assist in getting up an exhibit, but as he only gave us a week I was unable to do anything. I do not know that there is any action to be taken on that, but I read the letter simply to show that the interest in nut growing is increasing and that this is an opportunity for us to make an exhibit another year. Mr. Lake: Would the secretary take the trouble to make a collection of nuts covering the territory of the association and submit it for exhibit at a meeting of this character, this land show, giving credit to the donors for material, somewhat as Mr. Reed has done in pecans for the National Nut Growers Association ? The Secretary: I think I'd have a few minutes to spare to do that. 85 Mr. Lake: I think it would be an admirable thing. The Chairman: Yes, it would advertise the organization extensively and be a constructive step in agriculture. Mr. Littlepage, have you any report from the Committee on Incorporation ? Mr. Littlepage: That is a matter that will require consider- able thought and attention. It will require attention from several standpoints, as for example under what laws we might wish to incorporate, so I think the committee will reserve its report to make to the Executive Committee at some later meeting. The Chairman: We have no other business, I believe, and will now retire to the hall where we will have the lantern slide exhibition. The morning session closes the meeting and we are to meet at two o'clock at the Monument and from there go out to see certain trees in the vicinity. Mr. Rush and Mr. Jones are to show us these and their two nurseries. Mr. Lake: I would like to offer as a resolution, that the secretary be instructed to make arrangements with the pub- lishers of the American Fruit and Nut Journal for the distribu- tion of one copy to each member as a part of his membership fee. The secretary will then be able to reach the members in his published notices without special printers' troubles of his own, and the members will be able to get some live matter right along. The motion was seconded and adopted, after which the exec- utive session closed and the members adjourned in a body to the Scenic Theatre, where the regular program was resumed as follows : The Chairman: We will have Mr. Rush's paper first. THE PERSIAN WALNUT, ITS DISASTER AND LESSONS FOR 1912 J. G. Rush, Pennsylvania The year just closing has been full of disasters both on land and sea, though I do not wish it to be understood that I am inclined to be a pessimist on account of these occurrences. I wish to speak of a disaster which overtook the walnut in- dustry in the northern states. Early in the year we had an arctic cold wave which put the thermometer from 23 to 33 86 degrees below zero. This cold wave apparently did no in jury- to the walnut trees at the time but late in the spring it was dis- covered that the wood cells were ruptured though the buds and bark were uninjured. In cutting the scions in early April the bark and buds seemed in good condition for grafting; but as the time approached to do the work it was readily seen, by its changed color, that the wood was injured, some scions of course more than others. Those that were only slightly discolored were used in grafting. But as time passed the unhappy result came to light that out of about 2,000 nursery trees grafted only one graft grew. After climbing an 80 foot walnut tree to get our scions, and paying a good price for them besides, this was rather discouraging. This cold wave, which was unprecedented for the time, had wrought other injuries to the nut industry. That was especially to the young trees that were transplanted the fall previous and last spring. The transplanting with a frost injury already was tco great a strain on the feeble life of the trees. The consequence was that some of them died outright, and others made only a feeble growth. But where low and severe pruning was practised good results followed and such trees as were estabhshed on the orig- inal root system escaped the frost injury entirely. The young nursery trees with dormant buds were not affected in the least but made a strong growth of from three to seven feet this last summer. The intense cold wave was such that some old and young seedling Persian walnut trees were killed outright, and not only the Persian walnut but in a few instances the American black was very much injured; likewise the Norway maple, magnolia, California privet and roses. Also the peach both in tree and fruit. Now in conclusion let me say, what is the lesson to be learned ? First, as to the propagation of the Persian walnut, great care should be taken that only trees that are hardy should be propa- gated from, as well as having good bearing qualities with a first class nut. Second, after a freeze such as we had last winter, a special effort should be made to save the newly planted tree by close and severe pruniug. As, for example, I had a very fine two year old Hall Persian walnut which was referred to me as dead. I cut the tree off about 4 inches above where it was budded on the black walnut stock. It was not long after that signs of new life appeared and eventually it made a very fine, handsome tree. 87 Nature does indeed some wonderful tricks in this respect by which we can learn valuable lessons; and chief of these is close pruning. Such a cold wave may visit us only once in a lifetime and should not discourage us from carrying nut culture to its highest development. We must not think for a moment that other walnut sections are exempt from similar visitations. They have then in the Pacific Northwest, and in France and Germany. As regards the walnut industry for Lancaster county or Penn- sylvania in general, I am safe in saying that a fair percentage of the farmers are taking hold of it. This is because of the fact that the San Jose scale has practically destroyed all the old apple trees around the farm buildings, and, not wishing to have the building denuded of the customary shade and fruit, nut trees are planted instead. This is in reality the practice preva- lent in France and Germany where they utilize every foot of ground to profitable account. The life of an apple tree is from fifty to sixty years whereas a walnut tree is just in its prime at that age and destined to live for hundreds of years afterwards. Then again the ravages of the chestnut tree blight are destroying the cultivated paragons just as freely as the chestnuts in the forests, which in a few years will be things of the past, thus giving still more room for walnut and other nut trees. The Northern Nut Growers Association was organized for a grand and noble purpose, that is to stand together shoulder to shoulder to devise ways and means to bring nut culture to a grand and glorious success. Mr. Corsan: The temperature Mr. Rush spoke of rather surprises me. Last year at Toronto it did not fall lower than 9 degrees below zero. We had summer almost until New Year's and then a very severe winter until April. I didn't notice any evergreen trees killed, but at Detroit, the Bronx and various other places, I never saw a winter so disastrous for killing ever- greens. The Chairman: Not only that but nurserymen all over eastern New England said they suffered greater losses last winter than ever before. Prof. Smith: I would like to ask Mr. Rush if it would be possible to cut scions by December 1st, so as to escape danger from such great freezes. 88 Mr. Rush: I really have little experience in keeping scions. This fall I put some in the moist cold earth in the cellar. I think the experiment will be successful because I have known chestnut scions cut in the fall, to be kept under leaves in the grove till spring. Prof. Smith: I should like to suggest that you try the fol- lowing experiment; bury them, wrapped up in a gunny-sack or something, entirely underground where they will have abso- lute moisture and be shut away from the air. I have found that very successful. Mr. Rush: Sometimes the trouble is they get too moist. The Chairman: There is a principle here, and we had better keep down to principles as much as we can. That principle is that if the cells of the scions are distended with water a certain chemical process is going on all the while, because a scion is just as much alive as the red squirrel; it is a living organism. Now then, if the cells are a very little below normal dryness the chemical processes mostly cease, and that is better. We have to use nice judgment in avoiding having a scion so dry that its cells perish or so moist that its cells are undergoing chemical processes too rapidly. Our scions are cut, say, the last of Novem- ber, then covered with leaves enough to prevent freezing and thawing. That will carry scions pretty well through the winter and perhaps is the best way, but we must never forget that in dealing with scions we are dealing with living red squirrels just as when we are dealing with pollen. A Member: Are the leaves moist or dry ? The Chairman: The driest leaves in the woods contain more water than you think they do. They carry enough to maintain the life of the cells, if they are packed pretty firmly about your scions, and at the same time the scions are still allowed to breathe. I keep them above ground. I put a layer of shingles on the cellar floor, if I've got a bare ground cellar floor, and then a layer of very fine leaves like locust leaves, then a single layer of scions and then a good big heap of leaves over those, packed tight, a good big heap of apple leaves or anything you have at hand. Try it on the basis of principles. It is a complex question. You can't settle any of these questions off-hand. Every man who has had much experience has learned that he needs a whole lot more. 89 Prof. Smith: Have you had any experience in fixing up a bed of scions hke that and putting it in cold storage ? The Chairman: Yes, but you must tell the cold storage people not to let them get too dry. Tell them you want them in moist cold storage, and to keep the temperature about 40. A Member: We have found with walnuts that if you have the scions too damp they won't keep very long. If you have them just moist enough to hold them you can keep them all winter, maybe indefinitely. The Chairman: If your cell is full of water the scion will work as hard as an Irishman. A Member: I find that we have to graft them above ground, in the North, and if they are too moist when grafted they will dry up, but if kept dry they will grow, because they will remain in good condition until the sap comes up in the stock. The Chairman: Yes, you must choose a position midway between too dry and too moist. Mr. Littlepage: That is very important; they won't stand dampness. Mr. Pomeroy: 'Wouldn't it be well to dip the cut end of the walnut scion in wax to hold the sap ? The Chairman: I am afraid that would stop its breathing. You are dealing with a red squirrel all the while, remember that. Col. Sober: My method is this: I have a little room about six feet wide with ice packs on both sides and double doors. In that I pack my scions in this way: I take carbide cans made of iron and put damp sawdust, about an inch or so, on the bot- tom and then I pack my scions in the cans, cut end down, then I put the top on loosely. I have carried them over the second year in that way. The Chairman: But you let them breathe all the while ? Col. Sober: Certainly, and they have but very little moist- ure. They are kept in a temperature of about 40 degrees. Prof. Smith: How often do you wet that sawdust ? Col. Sober: Not once. The Chairman: Well, that's in keeping with our theoretical basis. Col. Sober: I cut scions any time between now and March. I don't take them out of storage until we use them. We graft up to the middle of June. 90 The Chairman: I found some hickory scions that had been accidentally overlooked, kept under leaves, and the buds in the cambium were perfectly good after two years. In regard to winter injury — in the vicinity of Stamford, Conn., the nursery- men reported greater losses of all kinds in nursery stock than they had had before in their experience. I noticed that some small branches of the Persian walnuts had been injured, and particu- larly where grafts had started a little late and had not lignified quite thoroughly I lost whatever grafts had not had time to lignify. Last winter the injuries in our vicinity consisted chiefly of two kinds; occasional killing of the small branches — this does little harm because, where the branch is killed and dies back for a certain distance, we have three or four more branches starting up, so that perhaps it is not sophistical to say that it does the tree good. We get a larger bearing area than if it were not for this occasional freezing of small branches. Another form of injury occurs in the spring. The sap will start to ascend when we have warm days in February and March; then a few cold days come and, if we have absolutely freezing temperature at night, this sap freezes and when it freezes it expands, as water does everywhere, and the result is a bursting 'of the bark. That is an occasional happening with all trees but particularly with exotics. One kind of winter injury has been overlooked in con- nection with the walnut. The very last thing which the tree does in the autumn is to complete its buds for female flowers. That is the very last job the tree has on hand and if the tree cannot complete the buds for female flowers perfectly, then a very little wood killing will make that a barren tree, although it appears to be a good strong tree. That covers the kinds of winter injury I have seen in the vicinity of Stamford, Conn. (Here Col. C. K. Sober of Pennsylvania showed lantern slide views of his orchards of paragon chestnuts and his methods.) The Chairman: We will have now Mr. Reed's address with lantern views. 91 A 1912 REVIEW OF THE NUT SITUATION IN THE NORTH C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C. In taking up the question of the present status of the nut industry of the Northern States, we have to do more with what has not been accomplished than with what has been. Very Httle has been done toward developing the northern chestnut. What has been done has been mostly with the European species and so far that has not been very satisfactory. The European species is quite subject to the blight. The Japanese nut is not ordinarily of a quality equal to that of the American. It is thought, too, that with the Japanese chestnut the chestnut blight has been introduced, which has been so serious to our native species. The walnut has not become well established in the eastern states. So far, most of the European nuts that have been imported have been too tender to adapt themselves to our climatic conditions, and the filbert, when brought from Europe, proves quite subject to a blight that prevails everywhere with our native species, but with them is not so serious. In running over these slides, I will begin first with the chestnut. That is perhaps the best known species in this locality. That shows one of our native chestnut trees as it is familiar to you all in a great part of this territory under discussion, that is, the part of the United States east of the Mississippi River and north of the Potomac. That photograph was taken some time last June or July when the tree was in full bloom. The chestnut is one of the most beautiful of our native nut trees. This tree has the blight in one of the earlier stages and it is shown here merely to call attention to the disease, because no discussion of the chestnut industry at the present time can be complete without at least calling attention to the seriousness of that blight. That tree, perhaps, has not been affected more than two years, possibly one. Is that right, Mr. Pierce ? Mr. Pierce: About two. That's an 18 or 20 inch tree, isn't it? Mr. Reed: Yes, sir. Mr. Pierce: It must be an 18 or 20 inch tree to be so badly blighted at the top. Mr. Reed: Two years, but you see it's pretty well gone. We come now to the Paragon, one of the first trees of that variety ever propagated. It was planted where it stands, by the intro- 92 ducer, Mr. Henry M. Engel, at Marietta, where they had quite an orchard at one time, but the bH^ht is so serious that there are only a few specimens of the trees left. That tree is probably in the neighborhood of twenty-five years old. The next slide shows two trees of the same variety that we may possibly see this afternoon. They are on the farm belonging to Mr. Rush and they are about twenty years old. Prof. Smith: What have those trees yielded ? Mr. Rush: They yield four, five, six and seven to eight bushels. You can see that they are not far from the barn and the roots run under that barnyard manure pile. Mr. Reed: What would you consider an average crop ? Mr. Rush: They grow five or six bushels per tree. Mr. Reed : The greatest attention that has been paid to developing the paragon chestnut in orchard farming has been on the plan Mr. Sober has just shown, by clearing away the mountain side and cutting down everything but the chestnut sprouts. This photograph was taken in a thicket where the underbrush had not been cleared away. Those are a good age now or perhaps a little bit older than we usually graft, aren't they, Mr. Sober ? Mr. Sober: Yes, sir; one or two years old. When they get to be three years old they are past grafting, according to my method. Mr. Reed: This photograph was taken at Mr. Sober's a little over a year ago, taken in the rain and is not very clear, but it shows the distance between the trees at the time when these trees were four or five years old — is that right ? Mr. Sober: They are eleven year old trees. Mr. Reed: Do you thin them out after they get that size ? Mr. Sober: Yes, sir, they should be thinned out more, but I hesitated on account of the blight; I have thousands that I could spare, but for fear the blight will take them out. A Member: Do you cultivate the ground ? Mr. Sober: I don't cultivate it, I just pasture it. The land is fertilized, but not cultivated. Mr. Reed: That is a photograph of a large chestnut orchard in this county. It is not many miles from here. I understand that owing to the blight and to the weevil, that orchard has not been satisfactory, and I was told two or three days ago that it was being cleared away. The Chairman: What varieties ? 93 Mr. Reed: Paragon and native stock. A Member: Was that the old Furness Grove ? Mr. Reed: Yes, sir. That slide shows the congeniality, ordinarily, between the stock of the native chestnut and the paragon. The next slide shows a typical instance of malforma- tion between the Japanese and native chestnut. I understand that this is not unusual at all. The Japanese, ordinarily, does not make a good union with the American sweet chestnut. That slide was taken in Indiana. It is a twenty-five acre paragon orchard owned by Mr. Littlepage and Senator Bourne of Oregon, planted in the spring of 1910. The next slide shows one of the trees in the orchard during its first season. Mr. Littlepage had to have them all gone over and the burs removed. They were so inclined to fruit during the first season that they would have exhausted themselves if the burs had not been removed. They made a very promising start, but I understand from Mr. Little- page that a number of the trees have since died. Is there any- thing you'd like to add to that, Mr. Littlepage ? Mr. Littlepage: I haven't yet quite determined the cause of the trouble. Last winter I lost perhaps one-third of the trees with a peculiar condition. The wood under the bark was dark- ened. I sent some of them to Washington the year before to see if there was any blight or fungus and they reported there was none on any of the trees, but this winter perhaps one-third of the trees died down to the graft. A few, however, would sprout from the scion, giving me, of course, the grafted top again. It seemed to indicate, perhaps, a winter killing and yet I would not undertake to assert that that was the cause, but it was very serious. Prof. Smith: Was the land low or high ? Mr. Littlepage: High land along a hillside, very excellent land for chestnuts. Mr. Reed: Sandy loam ? Mr. Littlepage: No, it's a hilly clay with a considerable humus and set in clover. The Chairman: Which way does it face ? Mr. Littlepage: South. The Chairman: That is rather bad. Mr. Littlepage: I don't know. I have some over on the other side of the hill and I don't know whether the killing was greater on the other side or not. 94 Mr. Reed: We have before us a view of the original Rochester and its originator, Mr. E. A. Reihl, of Alton, 111. Over in the Court House we have on exhibition -nuts of that variety which most of you have seen. You are aware, probably, that it is a native chestnut. It is one of the largest and best of the native chestnuts and originated in southern Illinois, where so far the blight has not spread. It gives considerable promise for the future. We come back now to Lancaster county to a chinkapin tree, a hybrid chinkapin. The original tree stands in a forest in this county, and as you notice there, it is a very good sized tree. You might think from the looks of the photograph that that is a chestnut, but the nuts are small and borne in racemes, so they are typical chinkapins. Mr. Lake: One parent was a chestnut ? Mr. Rush: We don't know; it's a native tree; it's a hybrid. Mr. Lake: It's a supposed hybrid. Mr. Reed: Yes, the chestnut and chinkapin grow close together. The Chairman: What is the form of the nuts ? Mr. Rush: Round like a chinkapin. I think it was a chest- nut on a chinkapin. Mr. Lake: If it is a chinkapin, what is there to indicate that there is any chestnut blood in it ? Mr. Rush: The size of the tree and the fact that the nut matures with the chestnut. The chinkapin is about three weeks earlier than this variety of chinkapin. Mr. Reed: That photograph is typical of the Rush hybrid chinkapin. We take up the butternut now. So far as we know, there are no named varieties of the butternut; there cannot be until some good individual tree is found which is of sufficient merit to entitle it to propagation by budding and grafting. It is one of the best known nuts in our field, especially in New England; it is more common there than it is further south. This slide shows the native butternut in the forests of southern Indiana near the Ohio River. Of course, those trees in forests like that don't mature many nuts. It is not in the forests, ordi- dinarily, that you will find individual trees of sufficient merit to entitle them to propagation. It is the tree in the open that has had greater opportunities than are afforded in the forest. Mr. Lake: Are. there any coniferous trees in that forest ? Mr. Littlepage: No, that's an alluvial bottom, Mr. Lake. There is quite a long bottom by the creek where the butternut grows profusely. We have the same tree on the farm that Sena- 95 tor Bourne and I own. Hundreds of those trees grow in the woods there. It's rich alluvial soil. Mr. Lake: The fact that it is rich alluvial soli does not usually bar coniferous trees; it may in your section. Mr. Littlepage: There are none there. Mr. Reed: The slide before us shows typical black walnuts that are almost as common, perhaps more so, in many parts of the area under discussion, than the butternut. This photo- graph was taken in Michigan where the trees are growing along fence rows without cultivation or special attention. No one knows whether the nuts of those trees are of special value or not. It merely shows the starting point for improvement in the walnut. We come now to the Persian walnut, which Mr. Lake will discuss more fully in a few minutes. This is one of the trees we will probably have an opportunity to see this after- noon. It is between Mr. Rush's nursery and the station, on the right hand side as you are going out. Just above the top of the fence you will notice a dark line which indicates the point of union. The Persian walnut was grafted on the black stock. The Persian is of slightly greater diameter. Now we have Mr. Rush in his walnut nursery. These are seedling walnuts in their third year. Mr. Rush: Second year. Mr. Reed: Second year from the time of planting. You will notice the luxuriant growth. The next slide shows the methods of propagation. This is the first step in the operation. The knife is similar to those on the tables in the Court House. The next slide shows the second stage in the operation where the bark has been lifted and Mr. Rush holds the bud of the Persian walnut in the fingers of his left hand, and the next slide shows the bud in position and being held firmly by a finger of the left hand. As soon as it is in position like that, Mr. Rush lifts the pencil — the instrument that he holds in the right hand and folds the bark back over the new bud and then cuts it on the outside, so that he makes a perfect fit. If anything, the bark of the black walnut overlaps slightly the bark of the bud, and the third step in the operation is the wrapping. Below, right at this point, is a completed operation. That was done in August, using buds of the present season's growth, and in about how many days is it that you take off the wrapping ? Mr. Rush: About two weeks. 96 Mr. Reed: In about two weeks take off the wrapping; and about how much longer is it before you get a growth like that ? Mr. Rush: About two weeks more, three weeks more. Mr. Reed: In about four or five weeks from the time of the operation a growth like that is not uncommon. Prof. Smith: When is the top cut off ? Mr. Rush: When I see that growth is taking place I cut the top off in order to encourage the growth to get strong enough for the winter. Of course our object is to keep the bud dormant until the following season, perfectly dormant, but sometimes they do make a growth and, if they do, cut them off at the top and force them. You will not get that bud to grow next sum- mer, but another bud starts out below that branch and gives you your tree. Mr. Reed: That one dies then ? Mr. Rush: Yes, sir, invariably dies. Mr. Reed: There is one of Mr, Rush's own growing of the Rush walnut, a little tree which, in its second season, matured two nuts. That photograph was taken just about the time the nuts were ready to be gathered. Mr. Corsan: I noticed in the nurseries at the Michigan Agricultural College, a lot of black walnuts that were sun-scalded. They were too far apart. Can anyone tell us anything about this danger of sun-scald to the trunk ? Mr. Reed: Well, in this particular instance, the tree stands right next to a fence, so it is protected from the hot sun during a large part of the season. Perhaps Mr. Rush could tell us whether he has had any trouble with sun-scald. Mr. Rush: Not at all, none whatever, never. The Chairman: There is, in some localities, a great deal of danger from sun-scald. In the vicinity of Stamford, Conn., most of the English walnuts will sun-scald more or less unless we look out for that and give them shade; mostly in the trunk below the branches. Mr. Lake: How about the nuts ? The Chairman: I haven't seen any scalding there. Mr. Reed: These are all interesting points and I am glad to have them thrown in. Mr. Rush can tell us about this slide. It is one of the cut-leafed varieties of walnut from California that he is propagating. It is more of an ornament than it is a commercial nut, isn't it ? 97 Mr, Rush: It is both combined. It is very productive and very hardy. The nut is not quite as large as the Nebo. It is the cut-leafed weeping walnut. The first tree that came from Cali- fornia cost twenty dollars. It is very ornamental. Mr. Reed: This is a view of a seedling Persian walnut or- chard in Bucks county, this state, some twenty or thirty miles north of Philadelphia. It is now about ten years of age and is owned by Mrs. J. L. Lovett, of Emilie. Some of the nuts of this orchard are on exhibition over in the Court House. The orchard was not given any special cultivation at the time this photograph was taken. The nuts from the trees, of course, are very ununiform, being seedlings, and the bearing of the trees is not especially large, but the apparent thrift and vigor of these trees gives a good deal of ground for looking forward to a walnut industry in the eastern states. Prof. Smith: Do you know the origin of the seed ? Mr. Reed: No, sir, we do not. The nuts from which those trees were planted were obtained and planted by Mr. Lovett who is now deceased. The Chairman: One of the most important features, it seems to me, of grafting, is the idea that we can graft from prolific trees. The majority of trees, of walnuts, hickories, anything you please, are not remarkably prolific, but in grafting you select a tree that is prolific as one of the most desirable of its qualities. A Member: You say that this grove was given no particular cultivation; are they careful to allow all the foliage to remain on the ground where it drops ? Mr. Reed: I couldn't answer as to that. A Member: Mr. Sober, do you do that ? Col. Sober: Yes, sir. A Member: The point I wanted to make is that that is probably very much better than any cultivation that could be given. The Chairman: The matter of cultivation is one we have got to settle in this country. I have been over the walnut or- chards on the Pacific coast, in the East and in Europe, and I find three entirely separate and distinct methods of treatment. On the Pacific coast, the rule is to cultivate every year and irrigate where they can, but to cultivate, at any rate, whether they irri- gate or not. In the East, where people are supposed to be very industrious, we have adopted the lazier way of letting the trees 98 grow in sod; but that is not so bad if we follow the principle brought forward by Stringfellow of letting the leaves all decom- pose, and adding more fertilizer and more leaves and taking away nothing. In France and Germany and England, where the trees are cultivated, particularly in France, where they are best cultivated, we find two methods; first, keeping up clean cultivation and adding a little lime every year and, second, add- lime without the cultivation. One great feature of the treatment of the tree in France, where the best walnuts come from, is the addition of a little lime every year, even if it's a limestone ground, and that may possibly account for the delicate charac- ter of the French walnuts and the reason why they have the first call in the market. I don't know that that is true, but it seems to me, at least, a collateral fact, and collateral facts often mean something. Mr. Pomeroy: Judging from my own experience I think that that orchard would be producing now two or two and a half bushels per tree each year if put under cultivation and given the care of an ordinary peach orchard. Mr. Reed: These are seedling trees, you understand, in that orchard we showed. This is a Persian walnut tree in Mr. Rush's front yard. Fve forgotten the variety. Mr. Rush: That is the Kaghazi. Mr. Reed: Now we come to the original hickories. This is one of the earliest hickory nuts propagated, in fact, it's about the only one so far. That tree is owned by Mr. Henry Hales of Ridgewood, N. J. Prof. Smith: Have they fertilized it ? Mr. Reed: No, not especially. It stands on good, fertile soil but I think no attention has ever been paid to it in the way of cultivation. Prof. Smith: Have you its yielding record ? Mr. Reed: It never made large records; as I recall it now, it has never borne more than a few bushels at any one time, perhaps two bushels. The Chairman: One reason is because it has been cut back regularly every year for scions ? Mr. Reed: Yes, that's true. Prof. Smith: Over two hundred years old, then ? The Chairman: I doubt if that tree is over fifty or sixty. Mr. Reed: That's what I should say, — somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty or sixty years old. 99 Mr. Reed: That slide shows a typical grafted tree in Mr. Hales' garden. It's a nice shapely, thrifty tree about seven years old and only recently came into bearing to any extent. The nurserymen have had great difficulty in propagating it until recently. Now that Mr. Jones has come up from the South and he and Mr. Rush are getting down together earnestly in the propagation of these northern trees, we will probably have more of them, but in all the years that Mr. Hales has been working with that particular variety, he has never been able to get more than a few trees grown in the nursery, so it is not dis- seminated to any extent. The Chairman: Do you think that this will be like the pecan and hickory, that some varieties will bear fifteen years after grafting and other varieties two years after grafting, for instance, as extremes ? Mr. Reed: Probably so, the same as it is with other fruits. The Chairman: It seems to me that that is what we may fairly anticipate. Mr. Corsan: Like Northern Spy apples and other apples. Mr. Reed: This sHde is a little bit out of order. It's a native Persian walnut tree that stands in this county. It is owned by Mr. Harness. Mr. Rush has propagated it under the name of Geit. That photograph was taken in the fall of 1911. Last year it suffered greatly during the exterme weather, but it came out again and made a very good growth. This is the original Rush tree that we may be able to see this afternoon. And this is the original Nebo that we had hoped to be able to see but will probably not succeed. It is some seven or eight miles from Mr. Rush's home and we will hardly be able to make it this afternoon. The slide before us shows some European filberts that were planted by Mr. Hales and up to the present time they are doing nicely although they have never fruited especially heavily; but there is no blight. The Chairman: How many years ? Mr. Reed: I think those are ten to twelve years old. Per- haps you have seen them. The Chairman: Yes. There are two features connected with the filbert that we ought to discuss right here. One is the tend- ency to its being destroyed by the blight of our American hazel, which extends to Indiana, and another is the fact that it blos- soms so early that the female flowers or the male flowers are both apt to be killed by the frost. All the members of this Asso- 100 elation ought to get to work to bring out a variety which will have the blight-resisting features and the later blooming of the American hazel. Mr. Reed: This slide shows a filbert we will probably be able to see this afternoon. It is in Mr. Rush's door yard and is still pretty young. I believe it has not borne of any account. Mr. Rush: It has borne a httle. The Chairman: How old is it ? Mr. Rush: I think it's about five years old. It is a Barcelona. Mr. Reed: The next slide is taken in the orchard of Mr. Kerr at Denton, Md. At one time he had a very nice orchard of these filberts, but the blight has gotten in and has about wiped out everything. In a letter from him this fall he said he had very few nuts of any variety, although he did have a few. A letter that came this week from J. W. Killen, of Felton, Md., said he had found filberts to be about as unprofitable a nut, as any he could have grown. We will spend a few minutes now running over the pecan situation. We can hardly omit it altogether because there are so many people in the northern states who are interested in the pecan in a financial way. The chart before us shows first the native area. This part here is the portion of the United States in which the pecan is a native. You notice how far up- ward it extends, almost to Terre Haute, Indiana, and across southern Indiana along the Ohio River, and it is right in here, about where the pencil indicates that some of our best northern varieties have originated. Mr. Littlepage and W. C. Reed and others have shown us nuts over in the Court House that origin- ated there. The Busseron and the Indiana are the two most northern. They are a little way north of Vincennes. No varie- ties so far of any merit have originated in Illinois. While we have the map of Illinois before us, I would like to point out the place where Mr. Riehl originated the variety of chestnut we referred to some time ago. Down in more southern Illinois is where we find Mr. Endicott. This darkened area along the southeastern part of the United States, and extending away up into Virginia, shows the area to which the pecan has been planted with more or less success. This area extending down over the Piedmont and up into Virginia and West Virginia, is the moun- tain area to which the pecan is not adapted. You never find pecans on the uplands. This thick, heavy area shows the terri- tory within which the pecan has been most extensively planted. 101 It is not common down in southern Florida. You notice, too, that over here in Texas there have been very few orchards planted to pecans. North of these shaded areas, anywhere up in Ohio or Pennsylvania or New York, the pecan has not shown any adaptability or has not shown sufficient adaptability to justify commercial planting. Whatever planting of pecans is done in the area north of the shaded portions there must be considered as experimental. The Chairman: The southern part of Texas is actually in the tropical zone. It would be interesting to know if we have the pecan actually growing in the tropics. Mr. Reed: We have more or less vague reports that it is growing down near Brownsville. I think Mr. Littlepage told us the other day of a friend of his who is planting pecans. The Chairman: Brownsville is very close to the tropics. Mr. Littlepage: Mr. Yoacum told me he had a grove down there that had not been a success so far. I know that quite a number of people have discussed the question of planting pecans in that section. Mr. Reed: This is one of the largest of pecan trees; it is the largest that it has ever been my personal privilege to see. It has a circumference of between 18 and 19 feet and a spread of about 125 feet. We estimated that it was about the same height. It stands on the west side of the Mississippi River, some distance south of Baton Rouge. Mr. Littlepage: What is the approximate water level below the ground ? Mr. Reed: It is quite near the surface. Mr. Littlepage: I thought so. There are conditions you will observe that are. unusual. In lands where the water level is near the surface, there is a tendency in the tree to shove out a lot of surface roots. You can travel all over the pecan belt of Indiana and will never see a pecan tree that does not look as if it had been driven in the ground with a pile-driver, but I have noticed that you find those spreading roots where the water level is near the surface of the ground. Mr. Reed: It is interesting to know that right near this tree were other large trees, nearly as large, that were blown over, and they showed no tap-roots, but merely the surface roots. This slide shows a pecan bloom. The pistillate bloom is clear up on the terminate growth; the staminate, like other nut trees. 102 is on the growth of last season and comes out somewhat in ad- vance of the pistillate, necessarily. We come now to the wild pecans of Texas. The recent census figures show that fully three-fifths of all the pecans produced in the United States come from Texas. This photograph shows the native wild pecans along the Colorado River. Here is the pecan as a park tree. This picture was taken in Liana Park, New Braunfels, in west Texas. One of the nuisances in pecan trees is illustrated in the upper part of this photograph; you will notice the Spanish moss that grows so densely on the pecan trees if neglected. Unless the moss is kept out it gets so dense that it smothers the fruiting and leafing surface, so trees that are densely covered with that are able to make leaves only on the terminals. You notice in the rear the leaves of bananas that grow there throughout the entire year. The Chairman: I have noticed that the mistletoe was a bad parasite on the pecans in some regions. Have you found that? Mr. Reed : Yes, that is true ; that is one of the pests of the pecan. This slide shows a typical Texas scene. The wild pecans have been gathered and are brought into town and are waiting the buyers. You will notice right here is a bag that has been stood up and opened, waiting for a buyer, the same as we see grain in the streets of northern towns, and here are pecans on their way from the warehouse to the car. The next slide shows another step; they are on their way now from Texas to the crackery or the wholesalers. The crop of pecans in Texas alone usually runs from 200 cars to 600 or 700 cars. This year the crop is small and probably not over 200 cars, so the prices are going up. This is the pecan crackery in San Antonio, having a ca- pacity of 20,000 pounds a day. The pecans are cracked by ma- chinery and the kernels are picked out by hand. This slide shows a native pecan tree. The one in the foreground was from across the river near Vincennes. It is one of the first northern varieties that was introduced, but it is now superseded. The next is the original tree of the Busseron. The nuts from that tree are on exhibition over at the Court House brought here by Mr. Reed. The tree was cut back quite severely several years ago to get budwood and has not made sufficient top yet to bear normal crops again. This is the original tree of Indiana. Besides the tree is the introducer, Mr. Mason J. Niblack, the gentle- man with his hand by the tree. Now we come to the original 103 Green River, one of the northern Kentucky pecans. It is in a forest more than twelve miles from Evansville across the Ohio River in Kentucky. The trunk of that tree is typical of others in the forest. There is a pecan forest of perhaps 200 acres, from which everything but pecan timber was removed several years ago. The slide before us shows the trunk of a supposed chance hydrid between hickory and pecan. The next slide shows a grafted tree of that variety. It is interesting to note the vigor of this hydrid. It is quite the usual thing to get added vigor with hy- brids. This is one of the most beautiful, dense, dark green trees that I have ever seen in the hickory family. This tree is in northern Georgia, but it is not so prolific as the parent tree. The Chairman: Does the shell fill down there ? Mr. Reed: No, it does not. The Chairman: It grows very vigorously in Connecticut. It is a perfectly hardy hybrid, but I am afraid I shall only be able to use the crop for spectacle cases. Mr. Reed: This shows one of the most common methods of propagating the pecan, the annular system. It is a slight modification of the system Mr. Rush applies to the propagation of the walnut. This shows one of the tools designed especially for annular budding, the Galbraith knife. The rest of the oper- ation you already understand. It is merely placing the bud in position and wrapping the same as Mr. Rush does. The Chairman: I would like to ask, does it make a great deal of difference whether the bud ring is half an inch long or an inch and a quarter long ? Mr. Rush; It does not make any difference. The union takes place on the cambium layer. It is not made on the cut. The Chairman: Then the length of the bud is not of great importance ? Mr. Rush: No, it is of no importance at all. Mr. Reed: This slide may be a little bit misleading. Two nuts matured in the nursery on a scion that was inserted in February. The scion was taken from a mature tree and the fruit buds had already set and had enough nourishment to carry them through the season so that they matured. That is no indi- cation of what may be expected in the way of bearing. It is one of the freaks. This is merely a view of a fourteen-year old pecan orchard in south-western Georgia, a 700-acre orchard owned largely by one person. That is the orchard belonging 104 to Mr. G. M. Bacon, a name probably familiar to some of you. Those trees are set 46 feet, 8 inches apart, each way. There are twenty trees to the acre, just beginning to bear now. That photograph was taken some two years ago showing the first step in topworking. The top has been removed, as you notice, and the next slide shows the subsequent water-sprouts which are later budded. The lower branches were left in the first place to take up the sap while the new head was in formation. They have now been removed. Our next point might be brought out in connection with this slide. One of the typical, sub-tropical storms, not unusual in the Gulf States, swept over this area in September, just as the nuts were beginning to mature and de- foliated the trees and whipped off the nuts. The sap was still in circulation, and the varieties that respond most readily to warm weather, that start earliest in the spring, sent out new leaves, so that foliage was foliage that ought to have come on the next year, that is, it was exhausting next year's buds. The same year the tree sent out its blossom buds, so it had no fruit the following season. This slide shows one of the pests in the pecan orchard, the twig girdler, at work. The insect deposits its egg under the bark up at about that point, then goes down below girdles the twig, and it breaks off, goes to the ground, and the insect comes out, goes into the ground and comes out the next season. There are a good many drawbacks that are oc- curring and more are to be expected the same as with other fruit. There are probably no more setbacks to pecan growing than there are to the growing of other fruit, but this is one of the things. This orchard was set in land bordering the Flint River and at the time this picture was taken the water stood at the depth of three feet. It probably did no harm, because it didn't stay more than a week or ten days. Sometimes it stays longer and in such cases it is a serious matter. In Texas, floods come up like that into the branches of the trees, so high in some seasons after the nuts are formed, that the nuts deteriorate and fall to the ground. In such cases it is a pretty serious thing. (Applause.) The time for which the "scenic" was engaged having expired, the delegates returned to the Court House and the regular pro- gram was resumed. The Chairman: We will next hear from Mr. Lake. Mr. Lake: My topic, aside from the slides, was concerning the result of the work at Arlington this year. It is all written out but I don't propose to read the paper at this stage. I have 105 not been a teacher and lecturer for 25 years for nothing, and I don't propose to kill the few friends I have among nut growers by talking them to death when they are hungry and want to see something interesting. I will send this paper in due time to the secretary, and give way now to Mr. Jones. I did want to show you on the slides a few illustrations of cross fertiliza- tion between the Japanese and the American walnut, but we will put those in engravings and put them in the Northern Nut Growers' Journal, so that you will see them there with better satisfaction. Now one or two words about these Persian wal- nuts. These are eastern grown seedlings, the best that I have been able to pick out. Here is an Oregon grown nut. That is the ideal type for dessert walnuts. This is the Meylan. There is only one better, and that is the real Mayette, of which we grow very few in the United States, but we are growing con- siderable of the Meylan. Whether we can grow this successfully here or not, I am not certain, but it is well worth trying. The better type of our nut seedlings in the east are from the Parisienne. We must get a nut something like this that you can crack be- tween your fingers, not one that is sealed so hard that it requires a hammer, and must get one with a very good quality of meat. One great advantage to the walnut grower in the East will be that he can get his crop on to the Thanksgiving market, which is the cream of the market — something the Western or European nut grower cannot do. So if we can grow a nut reasonably fair in quality we can expect excellent results. The Chairman: Mr. Jones, will you give us your points now? Mr. Jones: Dr. Deming yesterday asked me to give a httle demonstration of grafting and I have brought along a sort of transplanted nursery on a board, so that I might do so. (Here Mr. Jones demonstrated methods of grafting the pecan.) The Chairman: Tell us about the wax cloth, Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones: We use that over the cut. The Chairman: How do you make your wax cloth ? Mr. Jones: We take a roll of this, possibly three or four yards long, very thin muslin, roll it up and drop it in the melted wax. The Chairman: How do you make that wax ? Mr. Jones: We don't measure the ingredients, but I think it varies from four to six pound of rosin, to one pound of beeswax and a tea cup full of boiled linseed oil and about a tablespoon of lamp black. 106 Prof. Smith: What do you use the lamp black for, Mr. Jones ? Mr. Jones: To toughen the wax so that it will not crack and so that it will adhere better. A Member: How do you get your excess of wax off the cloth? Mr. Jones: We just throw the rolls on a board and press them. Mr. Reed: I believe you would find it easier to tear it up into strips than to put it in rolls. We have been using that method. We ran short of cloth and I went to town and got some and tore off a piece about 8 or 9 yards long and folded it up into strips that wide and dipped it in the pure beeswax and pressed it on a board and it was ready for work. Col. Sober: I take just a common corn cob and wind it on as you would on a spool, then, while the wax is warm, I dip it in; you can have the cloth half an inch wide or an inch wide just as you please. My way of making wax is, I take two pounds of rosin, one pound of beeswax and half a pound of tallow. I find that stands all kinds of weather. Mr. Jones: You prefer the tallow ? Col. Sober: Yes sir, I do. The Chairman: Beef tallow or mutton tallow ? Col. Sober: I prefer mutton tallow; two pounds of rosin, one of beeswax and half a pound of tallow. Then you want to boil it very slowly and thoroughly, and pour it in cold water. A Member: Do you unroll this roll of cloth ? Col. Sober: I have a machine to turn it on just the same as you would on a spool. Mr. Jones: The strip goes through the wax ? Col. Sober: No, you wind that, then when your wax is warm, you drop this in but secure the ends, then take it out and lay it by till it's all saturated; then I tear it off as I use it. I find that is the most convenient thing, and I generally get calico, that is pretty closely woven, but is rotten so that it tears easily. Mr. Jones: Did you ever use raffia for tying your grafts ? Col. Sober: No sir, I have not. Mr. Jones: We have used it on pecans and walnuts for the reason that it doesn't have to be untied as it bursts off with the growth of the tree. Col. Sober: This wax I have tried on thousands and thou- sands of grafts and it stands all kinds of weather. You can 107 get wax that's been there 8 or 10 years and you can take it off now and use it. Mr. Jones: That is one advantage of using the tallow; lin- seed oil will dry out. Col. Sober: Tallow is the best; that's been my experience. A Member: If linseed oil is not used immediately or very soon, it gets hard. Mr. Jones: It's all right in wax and all right in cloth, too, if you keep it in a damp place till ready to use. Mr. Hutt: Can you use parafine in place of beeswax ? The Chairman: Have you tried this method on the other hickories besides the pecans ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir. The Chairman: You've got shagbark to catch fairly well, have you by this method ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir. The Secretary: How did your pecans and hickories do last summer ? Mr. Jones: I've forgotten the exact percentage that grew. Some died after they had made a growth of several inches. I think I left too many limbs growing on the hickories. Some of them made quite good growth. A Member: When is this kind of grafting done ? Mr. Jones: We wait until the sap is up. The Chairman: What do you cover the top with ? Mr. Jones: With wax. We leave this open at the bottom, for the reason that the sap can get out and not ferment. If it holds the sap, it will sour you know. The Chairman: How far down does your wax go, Mr. Jones? Mr. Jones: Far enough to cover up the wrapping. A Member: Does that work on pecans as well as hickories ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir. To show the value of this patch, we have grafted rows side by side and got 80 per cent where we used this patch and 34 per cent where we waxed it over solid and left no ventilation or exit for the sap. A Member: Isn't that to keep the wax out of the cambrium layer? Mr. Jones: Yes sir, it does that too. Prof. Smith: Are there any fine points about this trimming, other than mere wedge ? Mr. Jones: No sir, only it's thick on one side, as you will see so that it wedges tightly. 108 A Member: Isn't it a fact that you can use three and four year pecan wood just as well ? Mr, Jones: Yes sir, two year wood or three will give you better results than one year. Col. Sober: What time in the season do you graft ? Mr. Jones: The 20th of April to' the 20th of May here. Prof. Smith : What stage of stock do you prefer ? Mr. Jones: Well it doesn't matter, you can graft these after they have made a foot of new growth, if you've got a good dormant scion ; you could put in a graft any time in the summer, perhaps. A Member: How long do you leave on the paper bags ? Mr. Jones: Until the scion begins to grow. Sometimes I have made a mistake and left them on until they grew up and curled down. Prof. Smith: What is the superiority of that over plain cleft grafting ? Mr. Jones: You can do better work and do it quicker. I have put in 1200 grafts in a day. The Chairman: You don't mind this arch being left up ? Mr. Jones: That ought to go a little deeper, maybe, but it don't make much difference, so long as it is well waxed. Prof. Smith: The paper bag protects the scion ? Mr Jones: Yes sir. The object is not to protect the scion so much as to keep it dry. You want to keep the scion dry until it gets sap from the stock to start it into growth. Prof. Smith: Is it necessary that this should be waxed cloth? Mr. Jones: No sir, we use paper ordinarily, of course we run wax over the paper in waxing the scion and then the paper is as good as cloth. Col. Sober: Do you find it apt to curl up in windy days — the paper ? I tried that and had all kinds of trouble until I got on to the tape. Mr. Jones: We don't try to tie with the paper; the paper is only to let the surplus moisture or sap out. A Member: Does this tend to hold that in or is it all held in by the patch there ? Mr. Jones: This doesn't really need any tying, as it is large. The Chairman: Would you carry the patch around to the other side ? Mr. Jones: No sir, just fill it up with wax. 109 The Chairman: And the juice runs out of there and will escape anyway. Mr. Jones: Yes sir. A Member : Do you wax in addition to the paper you put on . Mr. Jones: We don't wax the scion all over. We used to take hot wax and run a thin layer over the whole scion, but we quit that and used the bag, because if you wax over a scion tight and it happens to have sufficient moisture, it will start growth with that moisture before it makes the union. Prof. Smith: Do you wax the tip end ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir. Prof. Smith: Do you wax this in here ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir; we fill that over with liquid wax. It is possible to have your wax too hot, and burn the scion. Prof. Smith: Have you found that all the species of hickory take grafts with equal ease ? Mr. Jones: We grafted some here last spring that started very nicely and then died. I don't know whether it was in the hickory stock or whether they were robbed by the sprouts; we didn't pull off any sprouts. There's a whole lot of things we don't know about grafting yet, but will know more in time. The Chairman: How about using scion wood more than one year old ? Mr. Jones: We prefer two or three year old wood for the scion. We have coming now, 3,000 walnut scions from Califor- nia and they are all to be two and three years old. I have put in rows of 100 with large two year scions and you could count 100 and not find one dead among them and some of the scions were almost as big as my wrist. It's a job to cut them. You see that scion, being large, has enough vitality to hold it until it can make a union. A Member: You want one bud on this ? Mr. Jones: We generally have two buds. A Member: Do you use the same method on the Persian walnut ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir; we got a little stingy one year and cut these all to one bud and hardly got any out of them. You've got to have wood enough to hold the scions dormant; of course there may be one or more buds on the scion. The Chairman: And got to have food enough in them. Mr. Jones: Yes sir. Col. Sober grafts chustnuts that way, no but I have never been able to graft pecans and walnuts with very short scions. The Chairman: I have caught chestnuts with one bud, but most of the nut trees want more food and you've got to have a lot in the scion. Prof. Smith: Have you used that with pecans in the North ? Mr. Jones: Yes sir, this will be our method of propagation. After Mr. Jones had given further illustrations of the process of grafting, the convention adjourned. SOME PERSIAN WALNUT OBSERVATIONS, EXPERI- MENTS AND RESULTS FOR 1912 E. R. Lake, Washington, D. C. The Arlington work for 1912 in the propagation of the Per- sian walnut consisted in top-grafting three and four year old nursery stock by several methods, as ordinary cleft, side cleft, bark cleft, prong, whip and modified forms of these. For wrap- ping we tried bicycle tape, waxed cord and cloth, with wax and plasticine for covering. The work was done during the latter part of April and first part of May. The stocks averaged from | to Ij inches diam- eter, and were cut off from 16 to 30 inches above the surface of the ground. In a few cases bark grafting by modified whip form was performed upon the branches at a height of about 4 feet. Later in the season from June 12th to August 25th buds were placed by varying methods. In the earlier instances the buds were taken from left-over grafting stock. Of the scion wood received last year all the wood from Eastern growers was frost bitten and wholly failed to take with one or two exceptions. The Pacific Coast wood was received in excellent condition and operations with it were gratifying, especially with the ordin- ary cleft graft, and patch bud. Next year's work in grafting will be confined to the cleft, and the bark-whip processes. This latter is very simple and under careful treatment promises to be a convenient and suc- cessful process. In the budding operations we resorted to a number of meth- ods largely for the benefit of the information obtained from the practice, and not so much for the returns in propagated trees. HI However, for 1913 in the work of propagating for stock re- sults we shall confine our practice to the patch method, though we may find from later tests that the hinge method so favorably- looked upon by Oregon is better suited to the work. Various experiments with tying material were tried. Raffia, cotton cord, waxed cloth and bicycle tape were used. The raffia and cord gave best results. A tight tie is needed. June-budding from the left-over graft-wood gave a very low percentage of "takes." Most of the buds appeared to be drowned. Buds from the current year's growth inserted from early to middle of August are at present apparently in good dormant condition. Some July buds from the left-over graft-wood placed in the younger branches of a twelve year old American black took well and made from three to six inches growth. The branches were cut back as soon as the buds appeared to be set, a course that would not be advocated if one were doing the work for re-topping. The young wood from these buds is delicate and soft and in order to insure their living through the winter, so far as our efforts may avail, they have been enclosed in strong paper bags. In our budding and grafting operations we had no success with the Japanese or Chinese stocks. We expect to try them further as their rapid growth makes them much to be desired if a per- manent union can be effected. So far as we have been able to learn from the southern propagators who have worked along this line, no difficulty has been encountered in effecting a short- life union, — four to six years on an average, though a few have kept alive for twelve years. The growth of the successful grafts has been very variable. In several instances in which both scions upon a stock grew, the growth was from two to three feet. In other cases the young wood was scarcely a foot long. The fact that the stocks and scion-wood varied widely in size and vigor and the further fact that the scions were from several varieties of western stock are quite sufficient causes for no uniform results in this respect. The wood of all successful grafts appears to be in excellent condition for the winter season and we are looking forward to an interesting further growth of these next year, though the trees have just been transplanted. In order to doubly insure our- selves against loss of the varieties now growing one half, or even more in a few instances, of the young wood has been removed 112 and placed in a cold room so that further grafting or budding of these varieties may be made next year. Nursery trees of the Franquette, Pomeroy, Parisienne and unidentified others, on their own roots are making a pitiable effort at successful growth, while all wood on the black stock is making excellent growth. In one instance the wood of Mayquette a cross between Mayette and Franquette formed two nutlets. Lack of pollen was all that prevented the fruiting of one-year-old grafted trees. A splendid point for the unit orchard booster, but a point of no value to the real walnut grower. CROSS FERTILIZATION Owing to the very vigorous weather of the past winter the catkins on the older Persians at Arlington Farm were killed. In order to study the conduct and product of these trees we sought pollen elsewhere to fertilize their liberal display of pistils. We were successful in obtaining some from the trees of Messrs. Killen and Rosa, and Miss Lea, but though this and some pollen of black, butternut and the Japanese was used no pollenation was successful. In the case of sieboldiana, however, we succeeded in secur- ir.g what appears to be fruit of certain definite cross- fertilization, as sieboldiana x nigra; sieboldiana x cinerea and possibly sie- boldiana X regia. Only in one instance did the nuts appear to have other than the usual characters of sieboldiana. The nuts of the cinerea cross were longer, more tubular and Ecmewhat deeper furrowed and darker. Unfortunately some conflicting results in the fruiting of the sieboldiana places the possible cross-fruits under a cloud. A peculiarity of the blossoming of the sieboldiana at Arling- ton this year was that the stamens and pistils of an individual tree opened at dates of six to ten days apart, and with the tree used for crossing the catkins were all off before the pistils opened. As no two trees are near together, perhaps two to three hundred feet being the closest, natural cross-pollenating was not expected. However, after the cross-pollenations by hand were made and fruits set, and even matured, it was found that some clusters had from one to three more nuts than were hand treated. Many of the clusters had less nuts than the number of pistils treated, which was to be expected. 113 But how to account for the extra sets is a problem not clear for it is possible that pollenation might have occurred in one of two ways — by stray pollen grains from the hand operations by wind-carried grains from the trees. In any event only the fruiting of the trees from the nuts under consideration will settle it, and as these have been planted we are on the way to the solution. THE INDIANA PECANS R. L. McCoy, Indiana The pecan is probably the best nut that grows. It belongs to the hickory family which is indigenous to North America. Since water is its natural distributing agent it is most generally found growing intermixed with the large hickory nut or shag- bark in creek and river bottoms. While the hickory is hardy enough to thrive even into the Canadian provinces the pecan is not so hardy and is seldom found in the northern tier of states. It thrives well as far north as the northern boundary of Illinois. The writer has seen a transplanted tree in bearing in Branch County, Michigan, and native trees along the Miss- issippi River near the mouth of the Wisconsin. The nuts in the extreme northern limit are not much larger than a hazel nut. But the nuts that grow in Indiana and Illinois from the Ohio River on the south to Rock Island on the north- west and Lafayette on the northeast are much larger. Here are found many superior nuts worthy of propagation. In fact, the writer has before him a great many nuts of named and un- named varieties which he and Mr. Littlepage and others have discovered in their search for worthy nuts in the native pecan woods. There are many thousand acres of these groves on the Ohio, Green, Wabash and Illinois rivers where many trees are found which bear nuts as large as some of the varieties which are being propagated in the Gulf Coast country. The nuts of the Evansville group are especially noted for their fine flavor. The people of this section will not eat southern pecans if they can get native nuts. This year several carloads of these native wild nuts will be shipped to the Cleveland, Bos- ton, and New York markets. While the finer nuts seldom get into the markets at all but are bought by wealthy men in the 114 locality where they grow. Many men buy from a special tree year after year — its flavor suiting their taste. The yield from some of these larger trees (and there are many of them four feet in diameter and some as large as nineteen feet four inches in circumference at shoulder height) is very good. The writer has seen a number in the last few days which were estimated to have from four to six hundred pounds, the most of the crop having not yet been gathered. He knows of one tree which bore (17) seventeen bushels and Mr. Louis Huber of Shawneetown gathered 718 pounds from another tree. Two hundred and eighty-five pounds of nuts were gathered and weighted from^ the Luce tree. These nuts were gathered green for fear of their being stolen and it was estimated that fifteen pounds were left on the tree. Also that the hail storm in early September destroyed fifty (50) pounds more. Hence the Luce bore approximately eight bushels. The Kentucky tree had four and one-half bushels by measurement. The Warrick tree had, the best we can estimate, about 150 pounds. The Grayville, or Posey as Mr. Littlepage wishes to call it, bore at least two hundred pounds by weight. One hundred and sixty pounds were gathered from the Major and two hundred and fifty pounds from the Green River tree. We do not think the Hinton bore to exceed two pounds of nuts. We do not know the amount of nuts gathered from the Indiana and the Busseron trees. The Buttrick tree had some three or four bushels of nuts this year but as a dredge ditch was recently constructed by it, destroying half of its root system, it did not mature its crop. This tree has been in bearing since 1817 and it has not been known to miss a crop previous to this year. In our search for nuts worthy of being propagated we have found several nuts as yet un-named that are in our opinion much superior to any northern nut that has been brought to public notice. But as we know little of their bearing record and do not wish to burden the nurserymen with too many varieties we will keep these trees under observation for a year or two before naming them. We have been trying to propagate some of the best varieties at our nursery for about three years. Our first attempt was root-grafting in which our success varied from 15 per cent to 75 per cent under the best conditions. We found after some experience that it was not difficult to root-graft. But last winter, 1911-12, was the coldest winter for some years, the thermometer 115 registering as low as 20 degrees below. Most of our root-grafts were killed back to the ground but few if any of them were killed outright. When spring came they started new growth and are now about four feet high. The fall of 1911 was very warm and wet and they were in vigorous growth until the first week in November when we had a hard freeze which killed the wheat, causing the worst failure in that crop ever known in this section. The winter then following being very cold we had two condi- tions against spring root-grafted pecans. But we failed to see any budded ones that were injured. However, we only had pecans budded to hickory which was done by Mr. Paul White in May, 1911 and, so far as we know, this was the first hickory top-worked to pecan in Indiana. However, he now has quite a number top-worked last spring that have made a growth of three or four feet. We also have both budded and root-grafted pecans from last spring and summer so that in the spring we will have a better opportunity to see what effect the winter will have on them. So far as we are able to determine from our observation of a few orchards all pecan trees bought from southern nursery- men and planted in this section have either died out or made very feeble growth. Although some large Texas nuts have been planted here and grown, yet they have either not fruited at all or the nuts have proved no better than our native nuts. The northern pecan timber is not brash like the southern pecan but is very elastic and tough. An axe-handle made from northern pecan sells for ten cents more than one made from hickory and pecan timber is much sought after by axe-handle makers. The people in this section have in the last few years awakened to the fact that their swamps studded with pecan trees are about the most valuable lands they possess and many are the inquiries: "Where can we get good budded or grafted pecans?" The idea of propagating the northern pecan is of very recent origin and while the few attempts at propagation have not as yet met with any very great success, yet we are hoping that the time will be when many acres of our lands shall be set in valuable pecan orchards and our highways lined with long rows of fine pecans, chestnuts, and English walnuts which shall serve the three-fold purpose of beautifying Mother Earth, yielding delicious food, and furnishing a place of rest for the weary traveler. APPENDIX REPORT OF THE SECRETARY AND TREASURER Bal. on hand, date of last report Annual dues and life membership Advertisements in Annual Report Sale of report Dr. Crocker, paid for list of names Prof. Collins, paid for reprints Total receipts Expenses: Expenses of Prof. Collins Printing report and reprints Other printing Postage Typewriting Stationery Miscellaneous Total expenses $324.80 Bill receivable 1.00 Bill payable 22.00 $ 48.73 178.00 25.00 18.00 2.00 8.00 $279.73 $ 20.85 195.16 38.00 35.75 16.24 4.50 14.30 $346.80 $280.73 Deficit ■ $66.07 Our first annual report, embodying the transactions at the first and second annual meetings, was issued in May, and copies were sent to all members, to the principal libraries of the country, to officials of the Agricultural Department at Washington, and to some state agricultural officials, to several agricultural and other periodicals for notice and review, and to various persons especially interested. Eighteen copies have been sold. About 1,000 copies of each of the two circulars, "Why Nut Culture in Im- portant" and "The Northern Nut Growers Association and Why You Should Join It", have been sent to members and correspondents, and also revised cir- culars on the literature of nut growing and on seedsmen and nurserymen. An illustrated article about nut growing and the association appeared in the Literary Digest and many agricultural and other periodicals have had no- tices of our association and our meeting. Besides the regular notices sent to members and papers, different notices and brief statements about nut growing, were sent weekly for five weeks before the meeting to 80 different newspapers published in the country about Lan- caster in the hope of getting a good local attendance. The Pennsylvania Chest- nut Blight Commission assisted in this publicity campaign by sending postal card notices to about a hundred persons in the eastern part of Pennsylvania who were known to have from a few to thousands of cultivated chestnut trees. The secretary's correspondence has increased so as to become, if it were not for enthusiasm, burdensome. Often several inquiries a day are received and they come from all parts of the United States and Canada. 117 The following figures are brought up to date of going to press. Our membership has nearly doubled since the last report was issued, in- creasing from 60 to 113. We have lost 1 member by death and 2 by resignation. Our present membership standing at 110.. We have members in 27 states, the District of Columbia, Panama, and Canada. New York heads the list with 37 members and Pennsylvania comes next with 12. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS Read by Professor Smith RESOLVED: 1. That we extend our thanks to the Mayor and citizens of Lancaster for the welcome and entertainment they have af- forded us while here and for the excellent auditorium they have placed at our disposal. 2. That we extend our thanks to Messrs. Rush and Jones and their entertainment committee. 3. That we extend our thanks to the Pennsylvania Chest- nut Tree Blight Commission for the attendance of their repre- sentatives. We note with keen interest their expressions of hope for the control of this cyclopean menace. 4. That we express our deep appreciation of the great interest and valuable services of Dr. Morris, the retiring Pres- ident, and Dr. Deming, the Secretary and Treasurer, two officers to whose untiring efforts this Association is largely due. 5. That we express the thanks of the Association to those members and others who have enriched this meeting by their interesting exhibits. 6. That the following letter be sent from this Association to the, — Secretary of Agriculture, Persons in authority in the United States Bureau of Plant Industry, The Presidents of Agricultural Colleges, The Directors of Agricultural Experiment Stations, And leading Teachers in Agriculture Colleges. The Northern Nut Growers' Association, by resolution passed at its third annual meeting, held at Lancaster, Pa., in December 1912, calls your attention to the importance of, and need for, the breeding of new types of crop yielding trees. We now have the possibility of a new, but as yet little developed, agriculture which may (A) nearly double our food supply and 118 also (B) serve as the greatest factor in the conservation of our resources. (A) Our agriculture at the present time depends chiefly upon the grains which were improved by selection in pre-his- toric times, because they were annuals and quick yielders. The heavy yielding plants, the engines of nature, are the trees, which have in most cases remained unimproved and largely unused until the present time because of the slowness of their genera- tions and the absence of knowledge concerning plant breeding. We now know something about plant breeding, and its pos- sibilities as applied to the crop yielding trees seem to be enor- mous. They certainly warrant immediate and widespread effort at plant breeding. A member of this Association has shown that the chinquapin can be crossed with the oak; that all the walnuts freely hybridize with each other and with the open bud hickories, a class which includes the toothsome and profitable pecan. There is in California a tree which is considered to be a cross between the native walnut and the live oak. The Men- delian Law in connection with past achievements in plant breed- ing, and the experiments of Loeb in crossing the sea urchin and the star fish are profoundly suggestive. The possibilities of plant breeding as applied to crop yield- ing trees seem to be enormous. They certainly warrant im- mediate and widespread effort toward the creation of useful strains which may become the basis of a new agriculture yield- ing food for both man and the domestic animals. (B) The time for constructive conservation has come. Our most vital resource is the soil. It is possibly the only resource for which there is no substitute. Its destruction is the most irreparable waste. So long as the earth remains in place the burnt forest may return and the exhausted field may be restored by scientific agriculture. But once the gully removes this soil, it is the end so far as our civilization is concerned — forest, field and food are impossible and even water power is greatly im- paired. Our present system of agriculture, depending upon the grains, demands the plowing of hillsides and the hillsides wash away. This present dependence upon the plow means that one-third of our soil resources is used only for forest, one-third is being injured by hillside erosion, and only one-third, thelevelest, is being properly used for plow crops. 119 The present alternative of Forestry for hillsides is often impossible because the yields are too meagre. Almost any land that can produce a forest, and much that has been con- sidered too dry for forest, can produce an annual harvest of value to man or his animals when we have devoted sufficient attention to the breeding of walnuts, chestnuts, pecans, shell- barks, acorn yielding oaks, beech nuts, pine nuts, hazel nuts, almonds, honey locust, mesquite, screw bean, carob, mulberry, persimmon, pawpaw, and many other fruit and nut trees of this and other lands. The slowness and expense of the process of plant introduc- tion and tree breeding limits this work to a few individuals with patience and scientific tastes and to governmental and other institutions of a permanent nature. The United States Govern- ment and each state experiment station should push this work vigorously and we appeal to you to use your influence in that direction. You may find material of interest in our published proceedings and in the Fruit and Nut Journal, the organ of the industry, published at Petersburg, Virginia. REPORT OF COMMITTEE On the Death of Professor John Craig Read by Dr. Morris "The Northern Nut Growers' Association suffered very great loss in the death of Professor John Craig, at Siasconset, Massachusetts, on August 10, 1912. "Professor Craig, from his many responsible positions in the horticultural world, had acquired a wealth of information which was always at the disposal of his friends and students. His training as a teacher gave such facility in expression of view, that his part in our discussions inspired the audience and called forth the best that others had to offer. "His type of mind was essentially scientific, and combined with this type of mind there was a rare quality of critical fac- ulty in relation to the relative practical values of horticultural ideas and methods. His interest in the Northern Nut Growers Association belonged to a natural fondness for everything that promised new development, and he established at Cornell Uni- versity the first course in nuciculture, — so far as we are aware,— that has ever been formulated at an educational institution. 120 "The personality of Professor Craig, characteristic of that of the scientist, was marked by simphcity and directness of manner, impatience with error due to carelessness or intent, but unlimited benign tolerance of all men who honestly ex- pressed views opposing his own or who made conscientious mis- takes. Professor Craig possessed that broad humanity which found quite as large interest in his fellow man as it found in his special study of plants, and his charming personality, strong manly bearing, scholarship, and active interest in whatever engaged his attention at all, will be ever remembered by those of us who had the pleasure and the profit of his acquaintance." Mr. Littlepage: I would just like to say, in connection with the very appropriate and excellent words which the President used in reference to Prof. Craig, that it certainly meets the most hearty approval of all of us who knew Prof. Craig, that this association go on record in this manner. At the first meeting that was held, by the few of us who met in Bronx Park Museum at New York, to start this organization, you will remember the enthusiasm and the words of encouragement that Prof. Craig gave us at that time. He was there among the first and there was always intermingled with the scientific phase of the sub- jects that he discussed, the practical, genial good fellowship that made everyone like him; and after all, it is but proper that we stop for a moment and express our deep appreciation. In this life of turmoil and business hustle, I think that we sometimes do not quite realize the shortness of life, the shortness of the time that we have to accomplish any of those things in which we are interested; and it is the men who are giving their time to these scientific subjects, the results of which will inure to all humanity, who are certainly entitled to consideration and a kindly remembrance. That is why it was that I heard with such grati- fication the words of the President about Prof. Craig. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXHIBITS Read by Professor Hutt By J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa. Persian walnuts, four varieties : Hall, Burlington, Nebo, Rush; plate of mixed, imported varieties; Seedling walnuts, Paradox walnut, black wal- nuts and rupestris, (Texas); two plates Chinquapins; chestnuts. Giant Japanese; shellbarks: LaFeuore, very good, large, Weiker, fair; two seedlings: Paradise nut; two plates filberts; Lancaster Co. pecans; bud- ding knives. 121 By Wilmer P. Hooper, Forest Hill, Md. Seedling Persian Walnut; Sir Clair; tree probably fifty years old, vigor- ous, hardy, annual bearer. On farms of L. J. Onion, Cooperstown, Md. P. O. Sharon, Md. 1911 crop one bushel; 1912 crop one and one half bushels. Alexis; tree twenty-eight years old; vigorous, hardy, annual bearer, flavor good. Farm of Alexis Smith, Churchville, Md. Crop 1911 one bushel; crop 1912 one bushel. Sheffield; tree six years old; bought of Hoopes Brothers & Thomas; hardy, vigorous; 6 to 18 feet high; on farm of Mrs. S. T. Poleet, Cooper- ton, Md., P. O. Sharon, Md. Smith; tree forty to forty-five years old; large, hardy; on farm of J. T. Smith, Berkeley, Md. Beder; fifty to fifty-five years old; large, annual bearer; grown from nut on farm of David Hildt, Janettsville, Md. Hooker; tree twenty-two years old; origin Franklin Davis; vigorous, hardy, annual bearer, hard shell, fine butternut flavor; from farm of Mrs. Kate Hooker, Vale, Md. By Mr. Knaub. Shellbarks, five varieties: three black walnuts, two butternuts; one chest- nut. By Mrs. J. L. Lovett, Emilie, Pa. Six varieties of Persian walnuts. By E. B. Holden, Hilton, N. Y. Holden walnut. Stock Seed Nuts from J. M. Thorborn & Co., 33 Barclay St., New York City. Juglans Califomica, Juglans cordiformis, Juglans Sieboldi, Juglans nigra, Juglans cinerea, Juglans sincensis, Carya alba (shellbark), Carya porcina (pignut), Carya tomentosa (mockernut), Carya sulcata, Corylus rostrata, Corylus amara, Castanea Americana. "By E. A. Riehl, Alton, 111. A plate of Rochester nuts and thirty seedlings of it, showing tendency to reversion; eight varieties of shagbark; eight varieties of shellbark; eight plates of Sieboldi; eight plates black walnuts (Thomas); Rush Chin- quapin. Collection of walnuts by Professor Lake, of Washington, D. C. Royal Hybrid, California x nigra; Paradox, California x regia; Meylan, Glady, Sypherd, Stabler, Milbank, St. Clair. By A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, N. Y. Pomeroy walnuts and seedlings of the original tree. By T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. Indiana pecans, six varieties: Warwick, Posey, Major, Kentucky, In- diana, Hodge; Hinton, McCallister hican, Barnes walnut from Washing- ton, D. C, four varieties shagbark. 122 By W. C. Reed, Vincennes, Ind. Indiana pecans, thirteen varieties: Luce, Beard, Busseron, Porter, Squires, Kentucky, Hall, Sullivan (2), Warwick, Indiana, Wilson. By Col. C. K. Sober, Lewisburg, Pa. Photograph of his chestnut orchard and nursery. By C. A. Reed, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Exhibition jars of Holden walnut, Warwick pecan, Kentucky pecan, Luce pecan. Hales shagbark, Kirtland shagbark, Weiker shagbark. Exhibition of Squirrel, Perfection and Great Grip nut crackers; White, Jones and Galbreath budding tools. By Arrowfield Nurseries, Petersburg, Va. Seedling pecan trees. THE HICKORY BARK BORER That our correspondence with the New York State Commissioner of Ag- riculture, as published in the annual report, has borne fruit is shown by the calling of a conference at the oflfice of the Commissioner at Albany on Febru- ary 24th, "to consider methods of control of the hickory bark borer". Among those present were the following: Frederick Allien, representing Riverdale Park Association. H. W. Merkel, Forester, New York Zoological Park; representing Bronx, Valley Parkway Commission. Dr. W. A. Murrill, Acting Director, New York Botanical Garden. J. J. Levison, Forester, Department of Parks, Brooklyn. Wesley B. Leach, Consulting Arboriculturist, Boro of Queens. Clifford R. Pettis, Superintendent of State Forests, Albany. Dr. E. P. Felt, State Entomologist, Albany. Dr. W. C. Deming, Sec, Northern Nut Growers' Ass'n, Westchester. George G. Atwood, Chief, Bureau of Horticulture, State Dept. of Agri- culture, Albany. B. D. Van Buren, Assistant Chief. Dr. W. H. Jordan, Director, State Experiment Station, Geneva. George L. Barrus, Conservation Commission, Albany. S. H. Burnham, Assistant State Botanist, Albany. Dr. Donald Reddick, Professor of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Ithaca. Glenn W. Herrick, Professor of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Ithaca. W. H. Rankin, Conservation Commission, Albany. P. J. Parrott, Entomologist, State Experiment Station, Geneva. F. C. Stewart, Botanist, State Experiment Station, Geneva. After a prolonged discussion the following resolution was unanimously adopted : WHEREAS, the hickory bark borer is at present extremely injurious and destructive to hickory trees in and around New York City, and has already destroyed and is threatening the destruction of thousands of valuable trees; and WHEREAS, it has been demonstrated in several instances, on a large scale, that the hickory bark borer can be practically controlled; therefore, be it 123 RESOLVED, that we hereby respectfully request the commissioner of ag- riculture to take such steps as may be necessary to bring about the enforce- ment of the provisions of the agricultural law relative to insect pests and dis- eases with particular reference to control of the hickory bark borer; and be it further RESOLVED, that the thanks of the conference are hereby tendered to Commissioner of Agriculture Huson for his courtesies and the calling of the conference. The following "News Items" of no date, but received in the early part of June, shows what action has so far been taken: STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE News Items Commissioner Huson of the State Department of Agriculture is receiving considerable information relative to a serious outbreak of the hickory bark borer in the vicinity of New York and on Long Island. This borer is the prin- cipal cause of the death of thousands of hickory trees. The greatest infested area is in the northern part of New York City, in Westchester County, in Queens and Nassau Counties, though much injury has been observed throughout Suf- folk County, particularly along the northern shore of the island. The area of infested hickories is about the same as the territory where the chestnut trees have succumbed to the attacks of the chestnut bark disease. Now that the chestnuts have so nearly disappeared and the fact that the hickory trees are also threatened with entire extermination because of the hickory borer, re- quests have been made by many citizens, that the Commissioner of Agriculture should exercise such authority as the law gives him in the control of this pest. That the hickory trees that have not been attacked may be saved, or in a very large measure protected has been proven in the Zoological Park and in the parks of Brooklyn. The able superintendents of these two parks have for the last two or three years, been cutting out every infested hickory tree and in that way the other trees are found at this time to be free from insects and they have been saved from certain destruction. The hickory borer eats its way into the bark of the hickory trees in mid- summer. Eggs are laid which hatch and the grubs feed in peculiar galleries in the bark and between the wood and the bark is such a way as to cut off the flow of the sap, thus causing the death of the trees. These grubs are in these galleries at this time of the year and will remain so until about the mid- dle of June. It is, therefore, necessary that the infested trees be cut and des- troyed before that time in order to prevent further wide-spread of the insects. The Commissioner has been promised the hearty cooperation of many influ- ential and interested citizens in this movement and agents of this Department are on the ground with authority to inspect trees to ascertain the limit of in- festation and they have been directed to mark such trees as should be removed and destroyed at once. All persons are requested to inform the Department of the location of in- fested hickory trees and to extend to the inspectors such assistance as may be desired. Department Circular Number 64 on "Dying Hickory, Trees" will be sent to all applicants. CALVIN J. HUSON, Albany, N. Y. Commissioner of Agriculture 124 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Members present : " . Dr. R. T. Morris Mr. T. P. Littlepage Dr. W. C. Deming Mr. C. A. Reed Mr. W. N. Roper Prof. E. R. Lake Mr. E. S. Mayo Mr. A. C. Pomeroy Mr. J. F. Jones Mr. J. G. Rush Col. C. A. Van Duzee Prof. J. Russell Smith Prof. W. N. Hutt Mr. G. H. Corsan Mr. C. S. Ridgway Mr. H. N. Gowing Mr. W. C. Reed Mr. W. F. McSparren. Others present : Mrs. C. A. Reed Mrs. A. C. Pomeroy Mrs. J. F. Jones Mrs. C. S. Ridgway Prof. F. N. Fagan, Dept. of Horticulture, State College of Pennsylvania Mrs. Fagan Mr. Roy G. Pierce, Tree Surgeon, Penn. Chestnut Blight Commission Mr. Keller E. Rockey, Forester in Charge of Demonstration Work, Penn. Chestnut Blight Commission Col. C. K. Sober, Lewisburg, Pa. Mr. S. V. Wilcox, Rep. Thos. Meehan & Sons, Germantown Mr. H. Brown, Rep. Thos. Meehan & Sons, Germantown Mr. Wilmer P. Hoopes, Forest Hill, Md. Dr. A. H. Metzger, Millersville, Pa. Mr. Amos M. Landis, Lancaster, Pa. Mr. Blair Funk, Pequea Creek, Pa. Mr. David S. Herr, Lancaster, Pa. Mr. Edward Harris, Sr., Cumberland, Md. Mr. Edgar A. Weimer, Lebanon, Pa. Mr. Benj. H. Gochnauer, Lancaster, Pa. Mr. C. G. Reese, Elizabethtown, Pa. And others. CORRESPONDENTS AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN NUT CULTURE ALABAMA Williams, P. F., Prof, of Horticulture, Ala. Polytechnic Institute, Auburn Alabama Farm Journal, Montgomery, Ala. ARIZONA' Biederman, C. R., Garces, Cochise Co. Huntzinger, H. G., Teviston Rodgers, Robt. A., Forest Service, U. S. Dept. of Agric, Canille ARKANSAS Wilson, B. N., Prof, of Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Ark., Fayetteville Powers, R. C, 414 So. Trust Bldg., Little Rock, Ark. CALIFORNIA McNeil, Anna, 2154 Center St., Berkeley Baker, W. A., Greenfield Leonard Coates Nursery Co., Morgan Hill Smith, R. E., Agric Exp. Sta., Whittier Burbank, Luther, Santa Rosa CANADA Cleugh, H. H., Castlegar, British Columbia Secord, Harper, St. Catherin's, Ontario Porter, W. T., 1520 St. Clair Ave., Toronto Sager, D. S., Dr., Brantford Moyle, Henry, 84 Bedford Road, Toronto Rdss, Malcolm N., Dept. Public Works, Regina, Saskatchewan Saunders & Co., W. E., London, Ontario Hubbell, W. S., Spanish River Lumber Co., Little Current, Ontario Peters, E. W., 742 Somerset Bldg., Winnepeg Graham, Wm., Hagensburg, British Columbia COLORADO Bell, Bessie, Miss, 156 S. Sherman, Denver Morgan, J. W., Dr., 85 S. Penn. Ave., Denver CONNECTICUT Cleveland, E. S., Hampton Buttner, J. L., Dr., 763 Orange Street, New Haven Jewell, Harvey, Cromwell Gorham, Frederick S., 48 Holmes Ave., Waterbury Jenkins, E. H., Agric. Exp. Sta., New Haven Spring, Sam. N., State Forester, New Haven Pratt, C. M., Newtown Hale, Geo. H., Mrs., Glastonbury Miles, H. S., Dr., 417 State St., Bridgeport Ives, E. M., Sterling Orchards, Meriden Cook, Harry B., Orange, Ct. Allen, G. Wilford, M.D., Boardman, Ct. Smith, Geo. W., Elm Fruit Farm, Hartford Lane, W. S., Norfolk Werle, Jos. A., Merwin's Beach, Milford Williamson, Robert, Greenwich Stauffer, W. F., No. 81 S. Burritt St., New Britain Boyd, Wm. A. Dr., Westport Lewis, Elmer H., Central Village 126 Frothingham, Channing, New Canaan Fletcher, Albert E., Box 67, Farmington Morre, R. D., Colchester Wolcott, C. B., P. O. Box 39, Plantsville DELAWARE Killen, J. W.. Felton McCue, C. A., Prof., Newark Cowgill, L. P., Dover Cannon, Miss Lida, Dover Kosa, J. J., Milford Sypherd, CD., Dover Whitehead, F. Houston, Lincoln Studte, M. H., Houston Knipe, T. E., Delaware City Dunn, Thos. F., Dover Webb, Wesley, Dover. FLORIDA Simpson Bros. Nurseries, Monticello Curtis, J. B., Orange Heights Floyd, W. L., Prof, of Horticulture, University of Florida, Gainesville Baldwin, Ed. S., DeLand GEORGIA Wight, J. B., Cairo Wilson, J. F., Dr., Waycross McHatton, T. H., Prof, of Horticulture, Athens Edwards, B. H., Macon, Ga. Southern Ruralist, Atlanta IDAHO Vincent, C. C, Prof., College of Agriculture, Moscow Ackerman, W. B., P. O. Box 184, Twin Falls Hays, L. H., Mace ILLINOIS Lindholm, E., 9139 Commercial Ave., Chicago StoU, Wm. Paul. 1264 Glenlake Ave., Chicago Schafer, J. F., Mt. Pulaski Koonce, Geo. W., Greenville Watson, Blcomington Banning, Thos. A., Mrs., Chicago Graham, R. O., Bloomington Karstens, Peter J., Chicago Leslie, A. M., 201 Main Street, Evanston Fisher, Mr., "Cairo Citizen", Cairo Endicott, H. W., Villa Ridge Hektoen, H., Memo. Inst, for Infectious Diseases, Chicago McVeigh, Scott, 1208 Wrightwood Ave., Chicago Evans, Homer W., R. F. D. 6, Plainfield 127 Buckman, Benjamin, Farmingdale Horner, H. Clay, Chester Burt, Frank A., 115 1-2 So. Race St., Urbana Somer, George W., No. 106 N. La Salle St., Chicago Spalding, C. W., No. 1851 Byron St., Chicago Straw-bridge, A. N., No. 533 E. 33rd St., Chicago Remley, Mrs. Grace, Franklin Grove Prochnow, I. W., No. 1127 Second Ave., Rock Island McFarlane, H. W., Chicago Graham, W. H., Fort Gage Fink, Wm. H., No. 4030 N. Pauline St., Chicago Crandall, C. S., Urbana Campbell, T. W., Elgin Badgley, B. H., No. 2241 Greenleaf Ave., Chicago Millroy, W. L., Quincy Sweeney, Jno. M., No. 1636 Manadnock Block, Chicago Krossell, C. F. P., Dr., No. 5502 Indiana Ave., Chicago Weeks, E. F., No. 143 N. Dearborn St., Chicago Heald, Prescott, No. 107 So. Glen Oak Ave., Peoria Riddle, F. A., Mrs., No. 1441 Jackson Boulevard, Chicago Kennish, F. H., No. 124 East Oak St., Kewanee Finley, J. B., Care of Moline Polo and Shaft Co., Moline Braden, E. S., No. 10 S. LaSalle St., Chicago Kemp, E. F., No. 108 S. LaSalle St., Chicago Peterson, Albert J., No. 3448 Hayes St., Chicago Hewitt, R., No. 149 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago Hopkins, A. M., R. 710, 167 W. Washington St., Chicago Hemingway, Geo. R., Oak Park Rut, Z. D., Park Ridge Dietrich, J. J., Arlington Heights Hansen. E. F., No. 5654 W. Lake St., Chicago INDIANA Leiber, Richard, Indianapolis Garden, Daniel A., Elnora Cathcart, Alva Y., Bristol Strassell, J. W., Supt. of Schools, Rockport Howard, W. T., R. F. D. 19, Indianapolis Boos, E. M., R. F. D. 2, Milan Boss Co., John C, Elkhart Green, Frank, No. 811 So. St., Newcastle House, M. M., 1664 College Ave., Indianapolis Simpson & Sons, H. M., Vincennes Woodbury, C. G., Lafayette Ray, Elgin H., Winamac, R. F. D. 1 Fellwock, P. B., 3 Up. Fourth St., Evansville Hooke, Ora G., Albany, Delaware Co. Smith, Oren E., Dr., Traction Terminal Bldg., Indianapolis Whetsell, Edward, 107 Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington Swain, W. H., South Bend 128 Knapp, Dr., Evansville Yoder, A. C, Dr., Goshen Knaub, Ben., R. 1, Box 99, North Vernon Lukens, B., Mrs., Anderson IOWA Dennis, A. B., Dr., Cedar Rapids Ruppersberg, E. A., Miss, Charles City College, Charles City Patten, C. G., Charles City Sawyer, L. H., Des Moines Thompson, Harry French, Forrest City "Successful Farming" Des Moines "Kimball's Dairy Farmer" Waterloo KANSAS Godfrey, F. M., Holton Skinner & Co., J. H., Topeka KENTUCKY Matthews, Clarence W., State University, Lexington Horine, E. F., M.D., 1036 Bardstown Rd., Louisville "Inland Farming", Louisville Brislin, John A., Cash. Farmers' Bank of Ky., Frankfort Kiefer, Louis W., 901 N. Elm St., Henderson LOUISIANA Hinton, E. G., Weeks MAINE Soule, Sidney S., Mrs., South Freeport Hitchings, Edson F., College of Agriculture, Orono Peardon, J. H., Matinicus Stryker, D. J., Rockland Chase, Dr. Walter G., Wiscasset MARYLAND Michael, Jesse J., Frederick Little, William E., Westminister Bunting, J. T., Box 137, Marion Station Benkert, George, Baltimore Heron, Benj. F. L., Box 58, Mt. Ranier Coad, J. Edwin, Drayden, St. Mary's Co. Munter, D. M., No. 22 Virginia Ave., Cumberland Daingerfield, P. B. K., Maryland Club, Baltimore Bachrach, Walter K., No. 16 W. Lexington St., Baltimore Hewell, John, No. 2028 W. Lexington St., Baltimore Hays, Amos H., Parkton Stem, C. W., Sabillasville Tyler, John Paul, No. 344 W. Preston St., Baltimore Munter, D. W., No. 1642 Runton Ave., Baltimore Kerr, J. W., Denton Overton, W. S., R. F. D. 2, Silver Spring 129 Harris, Edward, Sr., 31 S. Liberty St., Cumberland Strite, S. M., 52 Broadway, Hagerstown Harrison's Nurseries, Berlin Hoopes, Wilmer P., Forest Hill Irwin, Arthur J., 226 E. Main St., Frostburg McDaniel, Alex H., North East P. O., Cecil Co. MASSACHUSETTS Blood, W. H., Mrs.. Jr.. 147 Grove Street. Wellesley Reed, Orville, Rev., Granville, Centre Deroo, Frank B., Box 363, Needham Fox, Jabez, 99 Irving Street, Cambridge Hall, James L., Kingston, Box 31 Adams, Norris W., Box 323, Worcester Mass. Agric. Coll., Amherst Crosby. Fred. Bolton Bailey, Thos. W., Kingston Griffin. W. E., Cor. Central St. & B. & M. R. R., Worcester Dawson, Jackson, Mr., Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain Dowse, Granton H.. Wrentham Ellsworth. J. Lewis, Sec'y Mass. State Bd. of Agric, Boston Fleming, Charles B., Norwood Brounell, Lewis, 1030 High Street, Fall River Portmore, J. M., 7 Denison Av., So. Framingham Humphrey, F. A.. Worcester Waugh, F. A.. Prof., Amherst Beebe, E. Pierson, Boston Mead, H. O.. Lunenburg Torrey, John P., Dr., Andover Affleck. G. B.. 287 Hickory St., Springfield Deming. Grove W., Mt. Hermon School Elder, David, Harwich, Mass. James, Gorton, 492 So. Station, Boston Sturtevant, E. L.. Brookline Brown, J. Frank, The Corey Hill Hospital, Brookline Willwerth, A. H., No. 21 Greenwich Park, Boston ' Day. W. Taylor. No. 313 Main St.. Great Barrington Coney. Harriet M., Miss. No. 106 Church St.. Ware MICHIGAN Brauer. H. A.. 810 W. Huron St., Ann Arbor Cobb. Myron A.. Central State Normal School. Mt. Pleasant Ilgenfritz's Sons Co., T. E., Nursery, Monroe Haines, Peter S., Detroit Kidder, Samuel. Ann Arbor Paul, Irwin. Muskegon. R. F. D. 7 Garfield. Chas. W.. Hon., Grand Rapids Wermuth. Burt .Assoc. Ed. "Michigan Farmer", Detroit Eustace. H. J.. Prof.. State Horticulturist, E. Lansing Carmichael. Milton, 281 Yard Bldg., Detroit 130 Richardson, A. H., Dr., The Martha Washington, Mt. Clemens Baker, N. I., Dr., Himebaugh, Clayton D., Sheffield Mfg. Co., Burr Oak Spring, O. L., 728 Wabash Ave., Detroit Reshore, L. T., Dowagiac Adams, Rollo K., Middleville Montgomery, R. H., 46 Jefferson Ave., Detroit "The Gleaner", Detroit Davis, R. J., Lock Box 753, Buchanan Simpson, Wallace N., No. 379 W. Main St., Battle Creek Palmer, A. C, Ellsworth Faurote, Fay L., Lord Bldg., Detroit Andrus, F. P., Almont, Lapeer Co. Gamble, M. D., E. F., Coldwater Homer, E. E., Eaton Rapids Woolen Mills, Eaton Rapids Stryker, F. A., Buchanan Lake, Geo., North ville Hanes, P. S., No. 730 Sheridan Ave., Detroit Handy, J. W., M.D., No. 105 West 1st St., Flint MINNESOTA Fairchild, D. H., St. Paul Husser, Henry, Minneiska Wedge, Clarence, Albert Lea Cutting, Fred, Byron Underwood, Roy, Lake City Alford, E. F., 2390 Woodland Ave., Duluth Latham, A. W., Sec'y State Hortic. Soc'y. 207 Kasota Bldg., Minneapolis Woodbridge, Dwight E., U. S. Bureau of Mines, Duluth Tillinghast, E. G., Leetonia Mining Co., Hibbing Lake Sarah Specialty Farm, Rockford Farm Stock & Home, Minneapolis MISSOURI Bostwick, Arthur E., 70 Vandeventer St., St. Louis Stark Bros.' Nurseries and Orchards Co., Louisiana Williams, F. V., D.D.S., 3720 Virginia, Kansas City Born, H. H. Dr., Park & Compton Sts., St. Louis Bailey, B. A., Versailles Wallace, E. S., Office of City Chemist, Kansas City Cummings, C. C, Dr., Joplin Wilcox, Walter H., 433 Forth Ave., Webster Groves Mosher, H. G., Schell City NEW HAMPSHIRE Dillingham, Thos. M., Dr., Marlboro Clement, Ruth E., Miss, E. Deering 131 NEBRASKA Rolder, C. A., Dr., Hedde Bldg., Grand Rapids Swingle, C. G., Hazen Gregory, E. R., Dr.. Reno NEVADA NEW JERSEY Lovett, J. T., Little Silver Pomona Nurseries, Palmyra Bobbink & Atkins, Rutherford Speer, Lester W., 401 Passaic Ave., Nutley Black, Son & Co., Jos. H., Hightstown Chevrier, Chas. S., P. O. Box 579, Trenton Rice, John J., Almonnesson Parry, John R., Parry Totten, A. B., Middlebush Hartt, Wm. S., Box 366 Toms River Dantun, A. P., Walsted Farm, Freehold Shoemaker, Wm. E., Bridget on Miller, Jessie E., Miss, 204 W. Passaic Ave., Rutherford Hall & Robert Tubbs, Willowwood Farm, Pottersville P. O. Mount, T. S., Hamilton Sq. Schulze, Edward H., Elizabeth Spindler, M., No. 316 Halsey St., Newark Sonders, Geo. B., P. O. Box 204, Mays Landing Palmer, H. C. H., Main Road, Vineland Putnam, G. H., Vineland Parkin, J. W., No. 576 E. 23rd St., Paterson Martin, Geo. W. R., No. 47 Chestnut St., Newark Lintner, Geo A., Summit, New Jersey Kirkpatrick, F. L., No. 35 E. Chestnut St., Merchantville Gilmore, Jr., Thos. J., No. 219 Montgonery St., Jersey City Haddon, Chas. K., Camden Black, Walter C, Hightstown Parkin, John M., No. 576 E. 23rd St., Paterson Bailey, G. W., Kenilworth Eyferth, Adolph, No. 554 Tenth St., N. E., West New York, N. Y. Matlack, C. L., No. 47 Potter St., Haddenfield Wellborn, C. E., Weston Somers, A. F., No. 187 Warren St., Jersey City Turner, H..J., Box 356, Montclair Woodruff, Leon, No. 27 Jefferson St., Bridgeton Davis, H. H., No. 113 Chestnut St., East Orange Butler, F. W., Mrs., Plainfield Kevitt, T. C, Anthonia Maurer, E. H., No. 309 S. Broad St., Elizabeth NEW MEXICO Thompson, W. M., Dr., Logan 132 NEW YORK Hedrick, U. P., Prof., Experiment Station, Geneva Murrill, W. H., Botanical Museum, Bronx Park, New York City Bailey, Liberty H., Cornell Agric. Coll., Ithaca The Rochester Nurseries, Rochester L'Amoreaux Nursery Co., Schoharie Green's Nursery Co., Rochester Lewis, Roesch & Son, Nurserymen, Fredonia Burnette, F. H., Phelps Wheatcroft, S. F., Brooklyn Irwin, Chas., 116 Rosedale St., Rochester Garrison, H. F., Westfield Benney, Wm. H., 30 Church St., N. Y. City Harris, C. F., 211 Blandina St., Utica Thew, Gilmore E., 2006 Fifth Ave., N. Y. City Yoakum, B. F., 71 Broadway, N. Y. City Trimble, J. H., 1255 St., Paul St. Rochester McNair, E. O., Erie Co., Bank Bldg., Buffalo Baruch, H. B., 55 New Street Studley, Frank P., Matteawan Bostwick, Henry J., Clifton Springs Sanitarium, Clifton Springs Wyckoff, C. H., Aurora Slocum, J. F., 29 Park Street. Buffalo Sunnyfield Nursery Co., Poughkeepsie Morgan, H. E., Pittsford Williams & Co., Rose, Miss, Newark Hechler, C. H., Harbor Hill, Roslyn Piccard, L. M., 705 Fulton St., Brooklyn Bardin, A. G., Mr., 29 Brevoort PI., Brooklyn Townsend, 257 Broadway, N. Y. City, Room 703 Hunter, Wm. T., Jr.. 32 Rose St., N. Y. City Gage, Stanley A., 72 Mahlstedt Place, New Rochelle Robertson, C. G., 39 Ormond PL, Brooklyn Sackman. Karl Bever, 92 Williams Street Younkheere, D., 3320 Bailey Ave., Kingsbridge, N. Y. City Foster, E. W., Central Park, L. I. Hemming. H., Mrs., 59 Walworth St., Brooklyn Powell, E. P., Clinton, Otsego Co. Merkel, Herman W., Forester, Bronx Zoological Park Powell, Geo. T., Pres. Agric. Experts Assoc, 5 E. 42 St., N. Y. City Britton, N. L., Dr., Director Botanical Gardens, Bronx Park, N. Y. City Walker, Roberts, 115 Broadway, N. Y. City Sullivan, W. F., 154 E. 74th St., N. Y. City Rosenberg, Max, Pleasantville, Box 91 Bridgman. A. C, The Standard Union, Brooklyn Voorhis, Ernest, Rev., 1047 Amsterdam Ave., N. Y. City Buckbie, Annie, Miss, Wisner, Orange Co. Knight, Geo. W., Mrs., 28 Cambridge PI., Brooklyn Hickox. Ralph, Williamsbridge, N. Y. City Armstrong, M. E., Miss, 10 St., Francis Place. Brooklyn 133 Perry, C. J., 18 Fulton St., Auburn Holden, E. R., Jr., 34 W. 33 Street, N. Y. City Charlton Nursery Co., Rochester Jones, L. V., Miss, St. Luke's Hospital, Newburgh Hichcock, F. H., 105 W. 40th St., N. Y. City Vickers, H. W., Dr., Little Falls Shepard, W. E., New Paltz, Ulster Co. Mendelson, D., 1825 Pilkin Ave., Brooklyn Hopkins, W., 15 Dey St., City Smith, H. P., Center Moricrifs, Suffolk, Co. West, Dr., 51 E. 25th St., N. Y. City Grimmer, John W., Armour Villa Park, Bronxville Leipziger, H. A., Dr., Hotel Empire, Broadway & 63rd St., N. Y. City Engesser, Jas., 513 N. Washington St., Tarrytown Kepke, John Dr., 488 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn Manning- Spoerl, J. O. O., Dr., 151 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn Langdon, H. P., Maple Ridge, Farm, Constable Wainwright, John W., Dr., 80 Wash. Sq., E., N. Y. City Teele, A. W., 30 Broad St., N. Y. City Grot, Henry, 201 E. 116th St., N. Y. City Graham, S. H., Ithaca Teter, Walter C, 10 Wall St., N. Y. City Jewett, Asabel, Berkshire Thompson, Adelbert, East Avon Wiggin, Thos. H., Scarsdale "Ridgewood Times", Myrtle & Cypress Aves., Brooklyn Schubel, Geo., Lit. Ed., Myrtle & Cypress Aves., Brooklyn Kelly, Julia Z., Miss, College of Agriculture, Ithaca Caldwell, R. J., 374 Broadway, N. Y. City Lincoln; Egbert P., 429 Lincoln PL, Brooklyn Reynolds, Walter S., Dr., 66 W. 71st St., N. Y. City Davidson, Charles Stewart, 60 Wall St., N. Y. City Slosson, Richard S., 140 Carolina St., Buffalo Leutsch, Nina, Clinton Corners Armstrong, Rob. P., N. Y. State School of Agric. .Canton Manning, J. M., 1002 Third Ave., N. Y. City Righter, J. Walter, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y. City Reynolds, H. L., 50 Palace Arcade, Buffalo Spencer, W. F., No. 106 Bond St., Brooklyn Sauer, Arthur W., Broadway & Driggs Ave., Brooklyn Mezger, L. K., M.D., No. 186 Clinton Ave., North Rochester Williams, Olive G., Miss, No. 341 Garfield Ave., Troy Austin, Nichols & Co., New York Beams, J. H., Jr., No. 198 Broadway Dupree, Wm., No. 83 Halsey St., Brooklyn Thomas, A. E., No. 105 Windsor Place, Brooklyn Holt, Frank L., No. 220 Broadway Greffe, Joseph A., Box 105, Boonton Holden, E. R., Jr., No. 34 W. 33rd St Hendrickson, B. W., Care of J. K. Armsby Co., No. 87 Hudson St. 134 Hoyle, Louis C, Middletown Hall, John, Sec'y. Rochester Miller, Francher, L., No. 605 Kirk Block, Sj^racuse Mitchell, F. J., No. 44 W. 98th St. Leggett & Co., Francis H., Franklin, Hudson & Leonard Sts. Krizan, Jos., No. 521 E. 72nd Street Jaburg Bros., No. 10-12 Leonard St. Mathans, J. A., White Plains Nicholson, J. E., Care of Messrs. Wassermass, No. 42 Broadway Nicholson, J. E., No. 83rd St., & 24th Ave., Bensonhurst Mills, W. M., No. 397 Goundry St., N. Towanda Sullivan, Warren, No. 44 Morningside Drive Sweizer, Karl, No. 40 Exchange Place Shook, F. M., Dept. of Tropical Medicine Randolph, Lewis C, No. 357 Delaware Ave. Riley, R. M., Garden City Rogers, G. M., Apt. 44. No. 605 144th St. Williams & Co., R. C, Fulton & South Sts. Turner, Fred. C, R. F. D. No. 7, Box 115, Schenectady Tuthill, W. C, No. 245 Water St. Sanford, A. E., No. 18 Bowman St., Rochester Smith, Howard K., No. 323 Webster Ave., Brooklyn Hewitt, R., Ardsley on Hudson Evans, J. C, Lockport Hessinger, M. A., No. 102 West 102d St. Wetbeck, J. B., Care of Worcester Salt Co., No. 71 & No. 73 Murray St. Scott, Thomas C, No. 372 Chenango St., Binghamton Dye, Walter A., Garden City Ellison, E. T., No. 1272 Jefferson Ave., Brooklyn Brown, Carl W., Ripley, Chautauqua Co. Teran, T. Mrs., Hotel Calvert, New York City Power, Alice B., Miss, No. 203 St. Paul St., Rochester Banks, E. M., No. 342 West 45th St., New York City Anderson, Bryon Wall, No. 79 Franklin Ave., New Rochelle Mesner, E. D., No. 34 Carlton St., Buffalo Gawey, Gerald, No. 347 W. 19th St. Maynard, A. R., Waterloo Johnson, M., No. 540 W. 146th St. Strawn, T. C, No. 355 W. 55th St. Bruce, W. Robert, Brick Church Institute, Rochester Broughton, L. D., No. 304 Lewis Ave., Brooklyn Ouilshan, H. W., N. E. Cor. 125th St. and 8th Ave., Bishop Building, Rooms 207-210, New York City Wadsworth, M. A., No. 423 E. 4th St., Brooklyn NORTH CAROLINA Blair, Wm. A., V. P. People's Nat. Bank, Winston-Salem OHIO Wise, P., Maumee Schuh, L. H., Columbus 135 Rich, E. L., No. 3063 Edgehill Road, Cleveland Heights, Cleveland Neff, W. N., Martel McEwen, Will J., No. 755 Wilson Ave., Columbus Miller, Wm., Gypsum Marshall, Robert, No. 23 Hollister At., Cincinnati Longsworth, I. R., Lima Kiser, Frank A., Fremont Goetz, C. H., Columbus Draine, F. J., 2411 Detroit Ave., Toledo Cochran, J. H., Napoleon Bundy, C. C, No. 1356 Mt. Vernon Ave., Columbus Penrod, A. M., Camp Chase Poston, E. M., President, New York Coal Co., Columbus Rcdgers, A. S., Springfield Gas Engine Co., Springfield Jeffers, F. A., Monroe Bank Building, Woodsfield Kennedy, C. S., No. 412 Monroe St., East Liverpool Crawford Co., M., Cuyahoga Falls Hoyt, C. H., Cleveland Ashbrook, Wm. A., Hon., Johnstown Johnston, L B., Station K., Cincinnati Stasel, A. A., No. 25 1-2 S. Third St., Newark Book, G. M., Bloomdale Smith, E. R., No. 132 S. Collett St., Lima Rader, Hal, No. 125 Chestnut St., Nilec Watt, Frank E., No. 116 Show Ave., Dayton Anderson, A. J., "Ohio Farmer", Cleveland Scarff, W. U., New Carlisle Durant, A. T., German- American Ins. Co., Akron Daugherty, U. G., R. D. 13, Dayton Miller, Chas. D., 60 N. Garfield Ave., Columbus Doren, Jane M., Bexley, Columbus Prickett, J. D., 727 Plymouth St., Toledo Zerkey, M. Allen, Justus, R. D. 1 Lohman, E., Greenville Ewart, Mortimer, Mogadore Schumacher, Arlin, Pandora Yunck, Ed. G., 710 Central Ave., Sandusky Nellis, A. S. Byrne, Dr., Cor. Third & Webb Sts., Dayton Rogers, W. B., St. Stanislaus' House of Retreat, Cleveland Parrott, Frances, Miss, R. D. 12, Dayton Rector, J. M., Dr., Columbus Lauder, Ed., Dr., 1012 Prospect Ave., S. E., Cleveland OREGON Robinson. C. A., R. F. D. 1, Carlton, Yamhill Co. Oregon R. R. & Navigation Co., Portland Power, Frank W., Sec'y State Horticultural Society, Orenco Gardener, V. R., Associate Prof, of Horticulture, Corvallis McDonald, M., Oregon Nursery Co., Orenco Magruder, G. M., Medical Building, Portland Fishback, P. L., Monmouth Deer, G. N., Ancon, C. Z. 136 PANAMA PENNSYLVANIA LeFevre, B. W., 251 Elm St., Lancaster Harris, D. S., Williamsburg, P. O. Box 416 Wright, M. H., Penn. Shafting Co., Spring City Hutchinson, Mahlon, 138 South 15th Street, Philadelphia Taylor, C. B., Philadelphia Townsend, C. W., Pittsburg Allen, Carl G., Williamsport Hall, L. C, Avonia Sober, C. K., Lewisburg Foley, John, Forester Penn. R. R. Co., Broad St. Sta., Philadelphia Mann, Chas. S., Hatboro, Montgomery Co., R. D. 1 Springer, Willard, Jr., Forest Asst. Pa. R. R. Broad St. Sta. Philadelphia Peck, Wm. H., Care of Third Nat. Bank, Scranton Riehl, H. F., Manheim Hildebrand, F. B., Duquesne Wolford, C. H., Prin. Duquesne Public Schools, Duquesne Motts, Sarah E., 533 S. Hanover St., Carlisle Watts, R. L., Prof, of Horticulture, State College Hebbin, T. T., McKeesport Ballou, C. S., Potter Co. Marsden, Biddle R., Dr., Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Fenstermacher, P. S., Care of Harry C. Tripler, Young Bldg., AUentown Keeler, Asa S., Tunckhannock Hess, Frank P., Jr., 31 N. Walnut St., Mt. Carmel George, W. H., Edgewood, Bucks Co. Scott & Hill, Erie St. Francis, J., 21 Scott Block, Erie i Wilt, Edwin M., No. 816 Brooklyn St., Philadelphia Wright, W. J., State College Scott, W. M., No. 824 Centennial Ave., Sewickley . Small, Norbert, Edgegrove Schotte, T. B., Kittanning Kirkpatrick, F. L., No. 273 Eleventh St.. Philadelphia Gochnauer, Benj. H., Lancaster, R. F. D. No. 7 Engle, E. B., Marietta Cook, Dr., George R., Johnston Chalmers, W. J., Vanport, Beaver Co. Cahalan, Jno. A., No. 1524 Chestnut St., Philadelphia DeWeese, D. M., No. 51 Logan Ave., Sharon Doan, J. L., School of Horticulture, Ambler. Keystone Wood Co., Williamsport Fleming, H. N., No. 410 Downing Bldg., Erie Hassell, H. W., Dr., Medical Department, Eastern State Penitentiary, Phila- delphia Pease, H. E., No. 1111 Lamont St., Pittsburgh Palmer, C. L., Dr., P. O. Box, Mt. Lebanon 137 Spear, James, Jr., Wallingford Hoemer, William S., Chambersburg Hazel, Boyd E., Box No. 57, Madisonburg Stover, C. J., Ambler Davis, Thos. D., No. 267 Shady Ave., Pittsburgh Hill, V. J., No. 4215 Chestnut St., Philadelphia Richards, A. C, Schellsburg Stocks, George, No. 1128 Heberton, Pittsburgh Rhoads, Dr., J. N., No. 1635 S. Broad St., Philadelphia Quimby, C. S., R. F. D. 3, Phoenixville RHODE ISLAND Peckham, F. H., Dr., 6 Thomas St., Providence Collins, Franklin J., Prof., 468 Hope St., Providence Heaton, H. W., M.D., No. 2 Iron's Block, Providence Winslow, Ernest L., Providence Bronsdon, M. H., Chief Engineer, The Rhode Island Co., Providence Pleger, John J., Box 686, Manila. TEXAS Blair, R. E., U. S. Exper. Farm, San Antonio Edward, Chas. L., Dallas Kyle, E. J., Prof, of Horticulture, College Station Anderson, J. H., Brighton Canada, J. W., Houston UTAH Hansen, O. K., Dr., Provo Hughes, M. A., Dr., Judge Bldg., Salt Lake City VERMONT Woodman, J. S., So. Royalton Cummings, M. B., Sec'y State Horticultural Society, Burlington Parrish, John S., Eastham, Albermarle Co. Blue, Ct E., Ridgeway, Charlottsville Haynes, I. J., Manakin VIRGINIA Emerson, J. S., Dr., Red Hill Catlett, Carter, Gloucester WASHINGTON Washington Nursery Co., Toppenish Shomaker, Joel, Nellita Moody, Robert, Everett Stuart, John A., Christopher Nurseries, Christopher Davis, Pauline, Miss, Box 415, Pullman May, Walter, 456 Empire Bldg., Okanogan Western Farmer, Spokane March, G. L., Kennewick 138 WEST VIRGINIA Bennett, Louis, Mrs., 148 Court Ave., Weston WISCONSII"? Kirr, A. R., Box C, R. D. 6, Fond du Lac Harold, Geo. E., Maiden Rock, R. D. 3 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Van Deman, H. E., Washington Swingle, Walter, Prof., Bur. Plant Industry, Washington Coville, Fred. V., Prof., Bur. Plant Industry, Washington Clinton, L. A., Prof., Dept. of Agric, Washington Stabler, Albert, Ins. Agt., Washington Bick, Wm. H., 1403 H. St., Washington Hendrick, A. J., 609, 3rd St., Washington Life & Health, Takoma Park Sta., Washington EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS AND OTHERS A well-known nut grower in Delaware writes : "We have given the filberts a thorough test and found them one of the most unprofitable nuts ever tested. At one time we had under test about 15 distinct varieties. After several years tests they all succumbed to the blight ; a blight that attacked the old wood and killed it. Some of our bushes or trees got as much as six inches in diameter before they were entirely killed back. Possibly by thorough spraying from the setting of trees a success might be made. Some varieties tested were very prolific and of fine quality. We succeeded in getting a fine lot of walnuts from the tree southeast of the potato house by applying pollen. They are as fine and as well filled and as large as any I have ever seen. Several of our crosses had a few nuts this year, most of them are rather thick shelled. The trees though seem to be perfectly hardy. We have several Japan walnut trees bearing this year some of which I consider first class, equal to the best shell- barks or pecans in cracking quality; besides they are so very prolific, producing as many as a dozen in a cluster. We can show specimens from several distinct varieties or types. The Cordiformis seems to be one of the best. We also have some very fine black walnuts. One of our seedlings from the select nuts pro- duces the largest walnuts that I have ever seen. The tree did not have very many on it this year. Several of the other seedlings from the same planting produced fine nuts with good cracking qualities. Wealso had several pecan trees to bear a few nuts this year; most of the nuts were rather small but of fine quality, very thin shells and well filled. Our Japan chestnuts bore quite full. I think it possible to produce Persian walnuts successfully in our locality. I also think the Japan walnut offers a good field for investigation. FROM THE STATE VICE-PRESIDENT FOR COLORADO Dec. 11, 1912. So far as I can learn only two attempts have been made in this state to grow nuts. The first one consists in the setting out of about one hundred Jap- 139 anese walnuts by the Antlers Orchard Co. Their place is on the western slope in the fruit district and I am informed that the first winter the tops were killed but new shoots put out from the roots and the trees did well this year. The other attempt is one I made last spring. I set out a few pecans tree as an experiment near Colorado Springs. Six of the seven trees lived and put out some leaves but did not m.ake much growth. If they survive the winter I pur- pose planting more pecans and some other nuts, — chestnuts, black walnuts and possibly Persian walnuts. Hilton, N. Y. Nov. 29, 1912. Dear Sir : In reply to your inquiry I am inclosing notes on walnut culture in this lo- cality. This noble fruit is not generally known here. I do not know of more than twelve or fifteen bearing trees in my county. Of these all are without doubt seedlings, and are located in places where the peach will thrive. The soil in which they grow is varied: Dunkirk fine sand, Dunkirk silt loam, Ontario fine sand loam, and Ontario loam. (See soil survey of Monroe county, N. Y. U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) The altitude is comparatively low. The highest point in the county is only 682 ft. above lake Ontario, and the average eleva- tion is not more than 300 ft. The "Holden" walnuts are growing at a still lower level. This tree, considering its surroundings and location, had a good crop Ihis year. Standing on the lawn uncultivated and unfertilized, hemmed in on three sides by other trees, it gave us at least three bushels of fine nuts. The wood showed no injury after last winter's intense cold. Growth started in the spring just as the apple blossoms came out. The catkins are very large, at least much larger than those on the other trees we have, and hang on longer. One of our trees loses its male blossoms before the female bloom appears, but the "Holden" is the last to lose them. About half of the clusters of fruit have two or three nuts in them. We began harvesting the nuts Sept. 15th, just four months from the blossom. The dropping continued for a month, pro- longed on account of lack of frost. Last week the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported the appearance of the first load of English walnuts ever brought on the local market. They were grown on fifteen year old seedlings, at East Avon, N. Y., by Adelbert Thompson. His orchard is said to contain 200 trees. It seems very probable that the next twenty-five years will see the development of Persian walnut growing, to commercial proportions, in those localities in the state where the peach will grow. I had a little experience last spring with southern grown walnut trees. Last spring I received from Louisiana eleven trees of the "Holden" variety grafted on black walnut stocks. They were fine trees, the largest at least eight feet tall. Six of these I set out in my own orchards and gave them intensive care and cultivation, but alas, growth was weak and at last they died. If I were to deduce any conclusions it would be that there is too great a difference be- tween Louisiana and New York conditions. 140 FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE MINNESOTA STATE HORTICUL- TURAL SOCIETY Dear Sir: — I am addressing you as secretary of the Northern Nut Growers' Association in hopes that you can refer me to some one, perhaps a member of your society, in this part of the country to whom we can appeal to take part at the coming annual meeting of this society as champion of nut growing. While in our state we cannot successfully grow pecans, nor perhaps the sweet chestnut and some other nuts, yet some varieties do well with us and a larger interest in their growing should be stimulated. Yours very truly, A. W. Latham, Sec'y. •a ■*-> a u o 01 > 3 o C o (/) a; O a O c o 3 CQ O o o ra rt U) ^ o -^ •r; CO u n ai T3 rtl T3 o (U OC! <1) ■v, o 1^1 C 8 I-. c O O X3 C/J S 3 C O ■•5 ;-< O u o ■(-' -a OJ en 1 en 'C 3 C OJ c o B a >> 2 3 O >. en o en C3 en (T1 o o i^ re c Oh U *-; CU -o 3 4> en J2 > c o ^ M 3 -!-> re c en X2 ^ CO re o a o o re o ;-. (U (-• C o _C 'C re H Q < o o w o Oh PQ NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING WASHINGTON, D. C NOVEMBER 18 AND 19 1913 NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING WASHINGTON, D. C. NOVEMBER 18 AND 19, 1913 LIBRARY NEW Y#OK CONCORD, N. H. THE RUMFORD PRESS 1914 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Officers and Committees of the Association 4 Members of the Association 5 Constitution and Rules of the Association 10 Proceedings of the Meeting held at Washington, D. C, November 18 and 19, 1913 11 Experiences and Experiments with the Persian Walnut, A. C. Pomeroy, New York 11 Forage Nuts and the Chestnut and Walnut in Europe, J. Russell Smith, Virginia 20 Present State of the Chestnut Blight, J. Franklin Collins, Washington, D. C. 25 Top-Working Seedling Pecan Trees, W. N. Hutt, North Carolina 32 Unusual Methods of Propagating Nut Trees, Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York City 43 The Possibilities of Nut Culture in Utah, Leon D. Batchelor, Utah 48 The Diseases of Nut Trees, M. B. Waite, Washington, D. C 50 Insects Injurious to Nut Trees, A. L. Quaintance, Washington, D. C 62 Demonstrations of Methods of Propagating Nut Trees 64 Appendix : Report of the Secretary-Treasurer 69 Resolution Concerning Nurserj'men Adopted at the Annual Meeting of the Association, November 18 and 19, 1913 71 Present at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association 72 Exhibits 73 George W . Endicott— The Boone Chestnut, E. A. Riehl, Alton, 111 74 Letters from Members 75 The Late Henry Hales as a Nut Culturist, H. W. Hales, New Jersey . . 77 The Filbert Blight. Abstract of Paper by Humphrey 78 The Truth about Tree Planting with Dynamite 79 Correspondents and Others Interested in Nut Culture 81 Authorities and Special Correspondents 89 The Chestnut Blight and Immune Hybrids. Recent Publications ... 92 OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION President T. P. Littlepage Indiana Vice-President W. N. Roper Virginia Secretary and Treasurer W. C. Deming Georgetown, Conn. COMMITTEES Executive Membership Promising Seedlings Robert T. Morris 'W . C. Deming T. P. Littlepage C. A. Reed G. H. CORSAN C. A. Reed And the Officers W. N. Roper W. C. Deming Nomenclature Hybrids Press and Publication W. C. Reed R. T. Morris W. N. Roper R. T. Morris J. R. Smith T. P. Littlepage W. C. Deming C. P. Close W. C. Deming STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS Canada Dr. D. S. Sager Brantford Colorado Lloyd H. Decker Greeley, R. 5 Box 11 Connecticut Charles H. Plump West Redding Delaware H. P. Layton Georgetown Florida H. Harold Hume Glen Saint Mary Georgia I. B. Wight Cairo Illinois Norman W. Casper New Burnside Indiana R. L. McCoy Lake Iowa Alson Secor Des Moines Ireland Dr. Augustine Henry 5 Sanford Terrace, Rane- lagh, Dublin Kansas L. L. Powers Dodge City Kentucky- A. L. Moseley Calhoun Maryland C. P. Close Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Massachusetts Bernard Hoffman Stockbridge Michigan Miss Maud M. Jessup Grand Rapids Minnesota C. A. Van Duzee Minneapolis Missouri C. C. Cummings 317 Joplin St., Joplin New Hampshire Henry N. Gowing Dublin New Jersey- C. S. Ridgway Lumberton New York A. C. Pomeroy Lockport North Carolina W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist Raleigh Ohio J. H. Dayton Painesville Oregon G. M. Magruder Medical Building, Portland Pennsylvania J. G. Rush West Willow Utah Leon D. Batchelor Horticulturist State Agricultural College Logan Virginia J. Russell Smith Roundhill West Virginia B. F. Hartzell Shepherdstown Wisconsin Alfred E. Johnson lola MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION Canada Arnott, Dr. H. G., 26 Emerald St. South, Hamilton Corsan, G. H., University of Toronto Gymnasium, Toronto Dufresne, Dr. A. A., 217 St. Christopher St., Montreal Fisk, Dr. George, 101 Union Ave., Montreal Sager, Dr. D. S., Brantford, Ontario Saunders, "W. E., 352 Clarence St., London, Ontario Stuart, Henderson, Victoria, British Columbia, P. 0. Box 77 Colorado Decker, Loyd H., Greeley, R. 5, Box 11 Connecticut Barnes, John R., Yalesville Browne, Louis L., Bodsbeck Farm, New Canaan Deming, Dr. "W. C, Georgetown Deming, Imogen Hawthorne, Georgetown Fisher, Prof. Irving, 460 Prospect St., New Haven Hale, Mrs. George H., Glastonbury Hungerford, Newman, 45 Prospect St., Hartford Ives, Ernest M., Sterling Orchards, Meriden ]\Iil]er, j\Irs. Charles, 32 Hillside Ave., Waterbury Morris, Dr. Robert T., Stamford Nichols, Mrs. F. Gillette, E. Haddam Plump, Charles H., "West Redding Delav^^are Layton, H. P., Georgetown District op Columbia Close, Prof. C. P., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington Lake, Prof. E. R. Assistant Pomologist, Department of Agri- culture, Washington . Reed, C. A., In Charge of Nut Culture Investigations, Depart- ment of Agriculture, Washington Stabler, Albert, 613 Bond Building, Washington *Yan Deman, Prof. H. E., Washington Florida Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary Prange, Mrs, N. M. G., Jacksonville * Honorary member. Georgia Crocker, Dr. F. S., Albany White, H. C, DeWitt ' . Wight, J. B., Cairo Illinois Casper, Norman W., Fairlawn, New Burnside Heely, Dr. 0. J., St. Libory Potter, Hon. W. 0., Marion Riehl, E. A., Alton Spencer, Henry D., Room 1, Opera House Block, Decatur Indiana Beardsley, A. H., Elkhart Burton, Joe A., Mitchell ■ fLittlepage, T. P., Boonville McCoy, R. L., Lake Niblack, Mason J., Vincennes Reed, W. C, of Vincennes Nurseries, Vincennes Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport Iowa Secor, Alson, Editor Successful Farming, Des Moines Ireland Henry, Dr. Augustine, 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin Kansas Powers, L. L., Dodge City Kentucky ]\Iathews, Prof. C. AV., Horticulturist, State Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington IMoseley, A. L., Bank of Callioun, Calhoun Maryland Harrison, J. G., representing Harrison's Nurseries, Berlin Holmes, F S., ^I. S., Agricultural Exp. Sta., College Park Massachusetts tBowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Building, Boston Hoffmann, Bernhard, Overbrook Orchard, Stockbridge Keely, Royal R., Walpole, Box 485 Markham, Dr. E. W., Lee Rich, William P., Secretary State Horticultural Society, Horti- cultural Hall, 300 ^Massachusetts Ave., Boston Vaughan, Horace A., Peacehaveu, Assonet White, Warren, Holliston t Life member. MlCHIGx\N Jessiip, Miss jVIaud IsL, 440 Thomas St., Grand Rapids Murphy, P. J., Wayne and Congress Sts., Detroit Minnesota Smith, E. K., 213 Phoenix Buikling, Minneapolis Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul Wyman, "Willis L., Park Rapids Missouri Cummings, Dr. C. C, 317 Joplin St., Joplin Mosher, H. G., Schell City New Hampshire Durgin, Alfred C, Newmarket Gowing, Henry N., Dublin New Jersey Coleman, H. H., Federal Guarantee Company, Newark Dietrick, Thomas S., 12 West Washington Ave., Washington Foster, Samuel F., Secretary North Jersey Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 100 Broadway, New York City Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly St., Jersey City Heights Marston, Edwin S., Florham Park, Box 72 Mergler, C. W., Hackensack Road and ]\Iount Vernon St., Ridgefield Park Putnam, G. H., Vineland Ridgway, C. S., "Floralia, " Lumberton Roberts, Horace, MoorestoA^n Walter, Dr. Harry, Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City New York xibbott, Frederick B., 419 Ninth St., Brooklyn Armstrong, A. H., General Electric Company, Schenectady Brown, Ronald K., 320 Broadway, New York City Clendenin, Rev. F. ISl., Westchester, New York City Ellison, Elmer T., 1272 Jefferson Ave., Brooklyn Ellwanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester Fullerton, H. B., Director Long Island Railroad Agricultural Experiment Station, ]\Iedford Glover, J. Wheeler, Great Kills Hans, Amedee, Superintendent Hodenpyl Estate, Locust Valley, L. I. Haywood, Albert, Flushing 8 Hickox, Ealph, 3832 AVhite Plains Ave., New York City Hicks, Henry, "Westbnry Station, L. I. Holden, E. B., Hilton t Huntington, A. M., 15 "W. 81st St., New York City James, Dr. Walter B., 17 W. 54th St., New York City Koch, Alphonse, 510 E. 77th St., New York City Loomis, Charles B., East Greenbush, R. D. 1 Miller, Mrs, Seaman, care of Mr. Seaman Miller, 2 Rector St., New York City McKoon, Morgan L., Long Eddy Pomeroy, A. C, Lockport Pomeroy, E. C, Bayside Reynolds, H. L., 2579 Main St., Buffalo Rice, Mrs, Lilian McKee, Barnes Cottage, Carmel Storrs, A. P., 117 Front St., Owego Teele, A, W,, 30 Broad St., New York City Teter, Walter C, 10 WaU St., New York City Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City Turner, K. M., 1265 Broadway, New York City Ulman, Dr. Ira., 213 W. 147th St., New York City Wile, Th. E., 1012 Park Ave., Rochester Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., New York City tWissmann, Mrs. F. DeR., 707 Fifth Ave., New York City North Carolina Barret, Harvey P., 1902 E. 7th St., Charlotte Hutt, Prof. W. N., State Horticulturist, Raleigh Van Lindley, J., J. Van Lindley Nursery Company, Pomona Ohio Dayton, J. H., representing Storrs and Harrison Company, Painesville Fickes, W. R., Wooster, R. 6 Ford, Horatio, South Euclid, Cuyahoga County Johnson, I. B., Cincinnati, Station K Miller, H, A., Gypsum Rector, Dr. J. M., Columbus Weber, Harry R., 601-4 Gerke Building, 123 E. 6th St., Cincinnati Yunck, E. G., 710 Central Ave., Sandusky Oregon Magruder, G. M., Medical Building, Portland tLife member. 9 Pennsylvania Butler, Henry L., Gwynedd Valley Chalmers, W. J., A^anport Doan, J. L., School of Horticulture, Ambler Druckemiller, W. C, Sunbury Fagan, Prof. F. N., Department of Horticulture, State College Hall, L. C, Avonia Hildebrand, F. B., Duquesne Hoopes, Wilmer W., of Hoopes Brothers and Thomas Company, Westchester t Jones, J. F., Lancaster Kinsell, Miss Ida J., Locust Spring Farm, Rochester Mills, Indiana County, Route 2 Knipe, Irwin P., Norristown Leas, F. C, Bala Lovett, ]\Irs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks County Meehan, S. Mendelson, of Thomas Meehan & Sons, GermantoAvn McSparren, W. F., Furnice Moss, James, Johnsville, Bucks County Preslar, C. F., 524 Grandview Ave., Pittsburgh Rush, J. G., West Willow Shoemaker, Seth W., Agricultural Editor, International Cor- respondence Schools, Scranton Smitten, H. W., Borough Hall, Avalon Twaddell, E. W., Evergreen Nurseries, Westtown Utah Batchelor, Leon D., Horticulturist, Utah Agricultural College, Logan Pendleton, M. A., 3 JMozart Apartments, Salt Lake City ViEGINIA Crockett, E. B., Lynchburg Parrish, John S., Eastham, Albemarle County Roper, W. N., of Arrowfield Nurseries, Petersburg Shackford, Theodore B., Lynchburg, care of Adams Brothers Paynes Company Smith, Prof. J. Russell, Roundhill Von Ammon, S., Fontella West Virginia Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown Wisconsin Johnson, Alfred E., lola t Life member. CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION Name. The society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers Association. Ohject. The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their products and their culture. Membership. ]\Iembership 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 approval of the committee on membership. Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a secre- tary-treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which the president, vice-president and secretary shall be members; and a state vice-president from each state repre- sented in the membership of the association. Election of Officers. A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the subsequent year. 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. Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars. Discipline. The committee on membership may make recommenda- tions to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member. Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees of three members each to consider and report on the following topics at each annual meeting : first, on promising seedlings ; second, on nomenclature ; third, on hybrids ; fourth, on mem- bership ; fifth, on press and publication. Northern Nut Growers Association FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING NOVEMBER 18 AND 19, 1913 t At Washington, D. C. The fourth annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Associa- tion was held, in conjunction with the meetings of the American Pomological Society, the Society for Horticultural Science, and the Eastern Fruit Growers Association, in the new National Museum building at Washington, D. C, during "Fruit Week," November 17 to 22, 1913, the meeting of the Association being on the 18th and 19th. The first session was called to order at 11 a. m. in Room 3. In the absence of the President the chair was occupied by Professor W. N. Hutt of North Carolina. The Chairman: Ladies and Gentlemen: If you will come to order, we will begin the meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Asso- ciation, It is unfortunate that our president is called away on im- portant business. He has asked me to take his place and we will do the best we can. I will ask the secretary to read a communication. The Secretary : I have this telegram from Mr. Littlepage, our president : "Please express to the Northern Nut Growers Association my profound regrets that I cannot be with them. No organization has ever been formed that contained finer and more sincere men than ours. I invite thfe Association to come to Indiana next year. I will take you along the banks of the Wabash, the Ohio and Green River, where the pecan trees grow so big that the sun has to go around. I send best wishes for a successful meeting. ' ' The Chairman: Mr. Pomeroy has kindly consented to give us a talk on walnuts. EXPERIENCES AND EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PERSIAN WALNUT A. C. Pomeroy, New York When our secretary asked me to prepare a paper on this subject, I thought it would be very simple, but after making a beginning I 12 found that about all I knew on nut culture was my own experiences — successes and failures — covering a period of about twenty-five years. During the past year better data have been kept of the behavior of the Persian walnut trees under my observation, than in former years. Hereafter it is my intention to keep a more detailed record of the time of the appearance of the nutlet blossoms of each tree, which is of the utmost importance to those interested in the growing of the Persian walnut in the North and East. In order to keep a better record of each tree I have numbered the old original trees, planted by my father, from 1 to 7. Nuts from each tree are here in jars numbered to correspond with the trees from which they were gathered and may be compared for variation in size, shape, thinness of shell and flavor. It would be impossible to keep an exact record in pounds of the yield of any one tree per year. One thing against any such record, is that many visitors come to our farm every year to see the walnut trees and the pockets of some of them look suspiciously bulky on leaving. (An ordinary coat pocket will hold a quart, an overcoat pocket more than that and there are only thirty-two quarts in a bushel.) The new orchard is just coming into bearing. At one end of it there is an old black walnut tree, and the young Persians that were planted near this tree began to bear :first. Near the center of this eight-acre orchard we planted a butternut tree. This will, I think, help to fertilize the pistillate or nutlet blossoms on many of the trees. Of the original trees five stand where they can have care and good cultivation. The other two were put in the lawn very close to some old shade trees where they can not be cultivated and are kept pretty well in the shade. The five cultivated trees produced this fall over twenty-three bushels. The nuts were measured on November 10 when there were twenty and a half bushels. The snow was so deep the other few bushels could not be gathered. Besides the walnut trees mentioned there are perhaps twenty-five more planted in small plots about the farm. Nuts from some of these yoimg trees are here and comparisons may be made with the nuts from the old trees. To get an idea of how the English walnut has done in some parts of western New York the following replies to enquiries are quoted. AYilson, one tree thirteen years old, one and one half bushels. 13 Sybrandt, has twenty-five or more trees thirteen years old, some trees a bushel, others over a bushel and a half. Eighme, one tree fifteen or sixteen years old, one bushel. Trippency, one tree fifteen or sixteen years old, two bushels. Nuts from some of the old and young trees were weighed. The results were somewhat surprising to me. Tree No. 1 S. R. Long, well-filled nut, 48 to the pound. Tree No. 1 N. R. Nut slightly pointed, well filled, -10 to the pound. Tree No. 2 N. E,. Nut nearly round, well filled, 37 to the pound. Tree No. 5. Annual bearer, 64 to the pound. The weighing was done on a druggist's scales about two weeks after gathering. Those of you who have not seen a Persian walnut tree in full foliage, have something to live for. Imagine a tree, that was a nut in, the spring of 1877, its branches now spreading full fifty feet, its topmost bough fully that far from the ground, its trunk measuring seventy-six inches around, well above the earth. Imagine such a tree in its foliage of dense, dark glossy green, its branches loaded with fruit, sometimes actually touching the ground. The question is sometimes asked what is such a tree worth for cabinet use ? I don 't know, and I don 't care. What I do know is that those five trees produced well upward of forty dollars each this year. Our markets in western New York are good. The folks that use nuts as a daily food have increased greatly in the past few years. Niagara County has three cities, Erie County, adjoining, also has three cities. The population of Buffalo is about 450,000 ; improved highways and gasolene trucks have put us within an hour and a half of all these six cities. Wliile there are hundreds of young Persian walnut trees, just coming into bearing, in some of the counties of western New York, the supply of home-grown nuts will probably never fill the demand. Professor Lake paid the farm a short visit this past summer and told of his grafting. I think he said he had a loss of 90 per cent. We beat that a little as our loss was 100 per cent. The failure in grafting was due, I think, to the scions not being cut early enough. Budding in August was done by budders expert with fruit trees. A Jones budding tool was used. Nearly all the buds took. We do not have much trouble with disease or insects. 14 We have had no trouble to speak of with worms. About ten years ago a few nests of the tent caterpillar were cut off and burned. Some 18 or 20 years ago all, or nearly all, of the nuts dropped in June. I do not know what was the matter. In 1906 the ends of some of the branches on the older trees turned brown and died back a few inches. These were cut off and burned. We had but few nuts that year. In fertilizing have used barnyard manure. When it was used it was at times applied too freely, perhaps, as some of the young trees put forth a growth of six feet in one season. I do not think it well to force them too much. The fertilizing should be done in the winter or early spring. Trimming may be done at any time a branch appears that needs removing. There is one pretty good sized tree on the farm with black walnut stem and Persian walnut top. Some horticulturists seem to thi^^ik that this kind of a tree is hardier. My observations are that there is not a bit of difference. This tree and another on a near-by farm are the only two I know of with a black walnut stem and a Persian top, in my section. The U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin "Soil Survey of Niagara County, N. Y. " B^^ referring to this, I find that the soils that have produced thrifty, and prolific Persian walnut trees are, Dunkirk loam, Dunkirk sandy loam, Dunkirk silt loam, Clyde sand.y loam and clay loam. The winters of western New York are frequently quite severe. The winter of 1911-12 was a very severe one, zero weather prevail- ing most of the time and frequently it was way below zero for days. No injury was done to the Persian walnut trees and a good crop of nuts was harvested in the fall of 1912. In May, 1913, on the nights of the 11th and 12th it was so cold that ice formed an eighth of an inch, or more, in thickness. The staminate catkins on the Persian walnut trees were fairly well developed and it was thought the nuts w^ere gone for this year surely, but the last of May the pistillate blossoms came out, the staminates matured and the results have already been told you. I think that Persian walnut trees pay better than apples, and that there is no danger of an oversupply. The cost for labor in caring for the trees and in harvesting the crop is very much less than for any other fruit crop. No spraying and no picking are necessary. 15 The cost of production is slight, yet the demand and prices for this nut have been steadily increasing for several years. The Chairman : I would like to have a good discussion of this paper, because it seems to me that in all the activities of the Northern Nut Growers Association the Persian walnut offers the highest possibilities. The Pacific coast people and southern people have always thought that only the hickory or black walnut could be raised in the northern parts of the country, and now we find that the Persian walnut also does well there. The Secretary has sent out a letter recently asking for information about the Persian wal- nut trees in the vicinity of each person addressed. This letter was gotten out for the reason that in the culture of the Persian walnut the Pacific coast people have distanced us, and it is probable that we have not learned the possibilities of these splendid nuts in the East. We have a few very fine varieties of these eastern nuts, and it looks as if, by use of these varieties, the eastern part of this coun- try can produce these nuts in as large quantities as the western. Mr. Pomeroy originated the walnut bearing his name, and we have another nut that offers very good promise, and I believe the origi- nator is here this morning. j\Ir. Rush we would like to hear from you. Mr. Rush: I am satisfied that Persian walnut culture can be made just as profitable on the Atlantic coast as on the Pacific and in France. We have varieties that have stood a temperature of twenty-three degrees below zero. I have discovered another variety in Lancaster. This tree was brought in from Germany about thirty-five years ago and it has turned out to be an extremely valuable variety. I have seen these nuts selling in the open market at fifty cents a pound. As regards propagation of the Persian walnut, of course the black walnut is the most common variety on which to propagate. Another stock is the Japan walnut, in a sense better than the black for grafting. It has a better lateral root system and is not so fierce in going down to the center of the earth. Its root system is magnificent. Several trees budded on this stock a year ago last August and transplanted in November the same year, had a growth this summer of over six feet from the bud, showing that there must certainly be remarkable vitality in the Japanese roots. I have a young tree thirteen years old budded on black walnut that produced twenty-one nuts this summer. I have a seedling about ten years old which didn't have one catkin bloom. But a tree of the Rush variety, so named for me 16 by Mr. Jones, the first propagator, stood about forty feet away from the first, and at the end of the season this seedling tree produced sixty finely developed nuts. This seedling tree, however, had a great many pistillate blossoms, which received pollen from the neighboring variety that was prolific in staminate bloom. It would seem to be an advantage for a seedling Persian walnut to have a good pollenizer in its company. Professor Smith : I was struck by Mr. Pomeroy 's statement that after apparent killing of the staminate bloom by frost the pis- tillate blossoms appeared and he had a crop. Evidently he got fertilization from some outside source. The Persian walnut in the eastern part of the United States is like many other trees in that its trouble does not arise from susceptibility to winter cold, for when it is dormant it appears to stand great cold. The trouble with the Persian walnut is its tendency to start growing at the first approach of warm weather and if the cold comes later it may kill the tree. Mr. Pomeroy 's farm there near the shores of the lake has an immunity from sudden changes of temperature and therefore his trees are not likely to make growth which will be caught by late fall or early spring frosts. Unquestionably he can grow Persian walnuts better there than can be done five hundred to a thousand miles further south. It is also a well-known fact that one of the best of peach and apple regions is along this lake shore. There are many other Persian walnut trees growing in different localities east of the Mississippi, but nobody seems to think them worth propagat- ing because they winter kill at times. Yet seedlings of the hardiest trees often do it. A new variety of the tree has been discovered which is wonderful in that, whereas the ordinary Persian walnut tree comes into leaf rather early, this tree comes into leaf in June when cherries are ripe. I have seen similar trees in Prance. I have no doubt there are ten or fifteen different varieties of this tree growing unappreciated in this part of the country. These particu- lar trees we do know about happen to belong to gentlemen who are propagating them for our benefit and we owe them our thanks ; but I have no doubt there are many other trees equally as valuable grow- ing in the Eastern States. I have no doubt that the experience of Mr. Rush could be duplicated, in discovering right near him in his own town something better than he had ever known before. "We need reports on all these trees. Mr. Rush : In connection with Mr. Smith 's remarks as to late vegetating varieties, it may be that this feature is not altogether desirable. I have been in correspondence with a gentleman in Col- 17 fax, Washington, who has some late vegetating varieties and he tells me that he lost his whole crop. They were caught by a frost at the end of the season before they had fully matured. Mr. Davis : Mr. C. A. Sober has, on his farm in central Pennsyl- vania, about five hundred Persian walnut trees and has had them for ten years. He has not been able to get a nut. Every year they freeze back. The trees live but they freeze back. I don't know whether this is because they start too early or not. Professor Smith : I do not know that there is any better nut than these which we are now propagating, but I think the chances are ninety-nine to one against our having found the best walnut trees for this region. The Chairman : I think Professor Smith 's point is well taken. We are just starting in this business. I want to get the experiences of men from different parts of the country. Is Mr. Stabler here ? Mr. Stabler : Thirty years ago three trees, probably seedlings were planted in our neighborhood. One is on my father's farm, one is on my uncle's farm, and one is on our farm. The one on our farm, I think, has never borne a nut. My uncle's has borne many times, although an apple tree and a cedar tree are very near it. This walnut tree comes out so very late in the spring that no spring frost catches it. It is in Montgomery County and we often have late spring frosts there. The nuts are all ripe in the fall too before the frost comes. Professor Smith : Mr. Stabler told me that this is the fifteenth successive crop from this tree. The Chairman: This is certainly a very important point — the maturity of these trees. It is the general impression that the Per- sian walnut will not mature in certain sections of the country, but as a fact there are certain varieties that will mature anywhere in the country. We have similar evidence in the experience of the pecan growers. The Indiana pecan is dormant later than the southern varieties. This is true of the hardy peach also which comes out later in the spring and is ripe sooner in the fall than the south- ern varieties. These seem to have accommodated themselves to the climate. Professor McHatton : In Georgia we are prone to be hurt by the late spring frosts — that is our great trouble. The other day there was sent into the office a number of specimens of the Persian walnut, said to be from a seedling grown at Sharp, Georgia, in the apple country just below Chattanooga, at an elevation of eight hun- dred to a thousand feet, and it gets cold up there — they have heavy 18 freezing every winter. Tliis tree began bearing at seven or eight years, the owner said, and has borne a crop every year for the past seven or eight years, and he had several losses of fruit crops from late spring frosts during that period. 'The nut was very well filled and of fair size. If any one is interested sufficiently and will write to me as soon as I get back to the college I will send the name of the grower. I do not recommend it as I have never seen more than a dozen of the nuts. This was of interest to me, because I have not been recommending the Persian walnut there on account of the late spring frosts, but now it looks as if there was a chance of our getting into the walnut game ourselves. Mr. Pomeroy : A prominent expert who came to the farm once said to me that the Persian or English walnut came to this coun- try through two routes : one through Greece, Italy and Spain, and taken by the Spaniards to Mexico and southern California, and the other route through Germany and England into the United States from the north. He said he would rather have his walnut trees come from the northern route trees than the southern. Professor Smith : Any one who has a good tree ought to write to our secretary. I hope everybody will report these trees. The information will be published in bulletin form and sent out to every member of the Association. I fully believe that this infor- mation gathered and disseminated will greatly assist in developing the walnut industry in the eastern part of the United States. Mr. Frost : Mr. Pomeroy said that the pruning might be done at any time of the year. I pruned a walnut tree one spring and it very nearly bled to death. Mr. Pomeroy: It seems to me that I have always pruned at any time. It might be that when the sap is just nicely started — just before the tree starts and the buds swell — it might not be wise to do that. I suppose that the nut trees might bleed then the same as grape vines and certain other plants and trees. I thought it never did any harm. Mr. Frost : It very nearly killed mine. They were big trees, too. The Chairman : I had just such an experience as that with grape vines. We found that if grapes are pruned at a certain time in the spring they will bleed profusely, and sometimes actually bleed to death. I never had any experience with walnuts, but with vines we prune in the fall just as soon as they are dormant. At that time the energies of the plant are at a minimum and you can prune more safely than at any other time. As we go on toward 19 spring the moisture becomes greater and the sap starts, so if you prune late in the spring there is great danger of injury to all plants. If you prune in the fall you have no trouble. Mr. Wile : . I would like to know if any one has had experience with California varieties here in the East. Professor Van Deman : Professor Close has had more than any one else. I have also heard of some in Florida. Professor Lake : We have had three years ' experience ; we have had also the experience of others who have had them a longer time than that. Some three years ago we grafted a number of California varieties on the eastern black. In view of the eastern conditions, these are all making splendid growth — some of them made a three- foot growth last year, some a five and one-half foot growth this year. They went through last winter splendidly ; they are holding back finely in the spring and we had no trouble with spring frosts on the grafted portions, even though many of the seedlings were injured. The Chairman : Will the Persian walnut fertilize itself under eastern conditions ? Professor Smith : I think we will have to trust to outside fer- tilization by the black walnut or butternut. They all bloom at the same time. One fertilizing tree will do, but it is better to have more than one because sometimes it might turn out that the staminate catkins came a few days too early or too late to fertilize the nut. The more trees you have, the better the chances ; the more trees in a group the better. The reason a five or six-year-old Persian wal- nut tree does not bear many walnuts is that there are no staminate catkins. It takes old wood to produce them. There is not enough old wood. ]\Ir. Stabler : The Stabler walnut which I have just mentioned, bloomed from the tenth to the twenty-fifth of June. The black walnuts of that neighborhood all came out from a month to six weeks earlier than that, and not a single black w^alnut tree had blossoms on in that neighborhood, nor a single Persian walnut at the time the Stabler tree blossomed. I believe I am fairly well acquainted there and there was not a single other tree had catkins on at that time, and yet that tree bore a good crop of catkins and a large number of pistillate blossoms and later a good crop of nuts which is fairly good evidence that it must have fertilized itself. The Chairman : We would like to continue this discussion, but we have another paper that bears on the subject, and I think it will bring out some points in connection with it. 20 FORAGE NUTS AND THE CHESTNUT AND WALNUT IN EUROPE J. Russell Smith, Virginlv Tlie great task of American agriculture is to feed our beasts. Approximately nine tentlis of tlie proceeds of American agriculture goes to Hourisli tlie quadruped, and man eats the remaining one tenth ; therefore, if we want to get clear of the possibility of a crop being overproduced, let us grow something the beast can eat. To say that we will never overproduce food crops for man is ridiculous. It is quite possible, for instance, that we may produce too many Persian walnuts for man 's food, but the tree that will produce nuts to feed the beasts is on a firm basis. Pigs are going up and they are going to stay up. If we can get something that will suit Brother Pig we are on a perfectly safe basis, and tluit is the basis of the chestnut industry in Europe. In large sections of France, from Switzerland to the Atlantic, there are thousands of acres of chest- nut trees — a great forage crop. In a few districts is looks like a forested country, on account of the heavy chestnut tree groves. The tenant who takes a farm has certain restrictions placed upon him in the removal and use of the crop. He is not allowed to remove the chestnuts in France. The tenant wlio takes the farm, signs a contract that he will not sell the chestnuts but will feed them to the pigs so the soil may not be exliausted. They gather them carefully and use them in a number of ways. They make the main bread supply of the people. I have eaten chestnut cake. It is not bad. They treat it exactly as we do corn cake. When they can afford something better, they do so. At harvest time the chestnuts are put in drying houses, a fire is built under them and after they are thoroughly dried they will keep indefinitely. We find them on the market as dried chestnuts; and I have seen people eating them raw in June of the year after. Chestnut meal is a standard article of consumption and the price is regulated b}' the price of cornmeal. 1 have seen considerable areas planted out regularly in rows of young trees, and alongside of that older ones. They plant on per- fectly fine, level ground hundreds of acres of chestnut groves and we find these groves anywhere from twenty-five to one hundred years old. They are very valuable property for the reason that when old there are many cords of wood to the acre, and chestnut wood is valuable. 21 They have a disease over there called inky root consequently new plantings have largely ceased, though there are some going on. A great reason for planting is that timber means an increase in the value of land. A man who has an old chestnut orchard has land that is worth two hundred dollars an acre for wood alone and the temptation is very strong to sell off the timber and get the money, which process is going on faster than the setting of new orchards. These orchards are on high class agricultural land. It is quite different in Corsica; the country there is very broken and rougli. Some of the hills range up to 6,000 feet, and for a belt of 2,000 feet the chestnut forests are continuous and villages numer- ous. This island supports a dense population. The principal in- dustry consists of gathering the chestnuts, and for a few weeks the people are very busy putting them away for the year's supply and sending them to market. I stopped at the home of the mayor of a little town and he went back in the barn where he had a bin full of dried chestnuts. He fed some of them to my horse. It is their one crop. Many people have nothing but twenty or thirty or forty acres of chestnuts and a little garden — a little garden made by retaining walls making a terrace that must be tilled by hand. That is the whole sustenance of the people. The value of the land is usually estimated on a tree basis, and very seldom put on a land basis. The value of land covered with trees is from two hundred to three hundred dollars an acre, and land along side of this without trees may be worth but ten dollars. The value of the chestnut trees for wood forms a large part of the sale value. There is some good pasture under these trees. The renewing of these groves is perfectly systematic. The old trees, having attained their full size, meet overhead and right along- side of them are planted new trees, which under such eircumstauees make a very poor growth. The young tree may get as high as this room in ten or fifteen years, and the old tree being worth ten or fifteen dollars, is then cut down (in that country if you want money cut down a chestnut tree). The young tree takes the place very soon, and once established a chestnut orchard lasts indefinitely. Sometimes they plant the young tree beside the old one, ten or fif- teen years before the old tree is to be cut down. The contrast between the populous villages of Corsica and like portions of the Appalachian hillsides is striking. The inhabitants of the latter cut down everything, plant corn and in two or three seasons the rain simply carries the earth away and the farm has to be abandoned. In contrast to that the orchards of Corsica have 22 been there for many centuries. I asked one man how long this thing had been going on. He said "two hundred, three hundred, five hundred, one thousand years, always." Nobody knows when they began to grow chestnuts. How the land continues to grow them is more than I can understand. As an example of permanent agriculture, that has everything I have ever heard of beaten out. Those people had not fertilized the trees, as it would be a physical impossibility to carry anything up those slopes; everything comes down. They have been taking off wood and nuts always, nothing has gone back. I have not been present at harvest time but I have consulted with the representatives of the Department of Agricul- ture in France and they tell me this land produces a ton to three thousand pounds to the acre, with the big years doubling that and the little years halving it. This without taking anything away from the land apparently. The land is as good as when they began, and is supporting a dense population and has for centuries. Another forage nut which struck me as even more important than the chestnut, because of its much wider possibility in America, is the acorn. I have been through considerable areas in Portugal where they didn't care whether they had a cork tree or an oak. Land with such trees is worth from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. They assured me that the acorn oak forest was as valuable as the cork forest. Some of this land is wheat land. They will let an oak tree stand right in the middle of a field where the cultivation of the ground improves the tree. After the wheat harvest the hogs fatten on the acorns. The evergreen oak of southern Europe is highly prized for its acorns. I have seen large areas of bearing trees. I have been told time and again that they bear at a comparatively early age. The oak is capable of grafting, about as easily as the chestnut. I have seen them grafted, all the-way from those of this spring up to three hundred years old. The number of trees grafted is small, but that in no way affects the possibilities. Certain varieties are prized as much as chestnuts, or even more, and the price of acorns is set by the price of chestnuts, just as the price of cornmeal sets the price for chestnut meal. I never got crop records for a solid acre of oak trees, but the performance of individual trees gives rise to the belief that the acorn crop in Europe and America is worthy of careful study. I saw a tree — a single tree — that I was assured bore more than twelve hundred quarts in a single year, thirty-seven bushels. It is hard to get the yield in a large forest, but this tree was alone. Its sweep was seventeen yards, its yearly production seemed to aver- 23 age over twenty bushels, which was worth as much as an acre of corn in any of our states. Wherever I found an isolated tree, I found its production to be surprisingly large, and I got my infor- mation from a variety of sources. It seemed to be one of the most important forage trees. As to the Persian walnut, it is reported to be a small nut of almost no value in its wild state. It grows around the world between the belt of the orange and the belt of the white pine. It is unknown as a crop in large areas in Europe, where it might be grown success- fully. In Italy there is only an occasional tree, and it is not grown much in Portugal or Spain. It has centers in Europe as crops have in the United States and for the same reason — someone started the industry. The activities of Mr. Pomeroy have stimulated its growth in his immediate local- ity. When any one succeeds in a certain line, we find people about him taking up the same line and they conclude that this product can only be produced in that particular locality. This is usually not so at all. The thing that happened was that some one showed them that this soil would produce this tiling. Near Naples there is a walnut boom. The value of the walnut as a crop is shown by the fact that market gardens producing three crops a year under irri- gation are being planted to English walnuts. I have been told time and again that this is a very profitable crop. In this walnut district they have planted whole hillsides to olives and walnuts alternately, sometimes mixed up, sometimes twenty acres solid. In some places they can only be cultivated with the hoe, a very distinctly un-Ameri- can job, and yet the English walnut seems to pay the people under those conditions of labor. It is spreading over that peninsula and you find it spreading in the lowlands. They trim the tree up to twenty-five feet, so that teams can drive below. There are two important walnut areas in France ; at one place an old crank named Mayette about two hundred years ago found a good walnut and he grafted some and planted out an acre or two, and his neighbors planted some, especially when his acre or two began to grow, with the result that the territory around that old man's planting is the center of the production of the Grevoble wal- nut. A little strip, on the foothills of the Alps and along the Isere river is sprinkled with walnut trees. They are now planting these trees in the midst of the best vineyards. In a field of wheat often- times you will find rows of little wahiut trees. There are some orchards of Persian walnuts in this locality but I think no orchard has over five acres. They have come to grief along a line that is 24 common to most people, that of overcrowding. It takes a great deal of nerve to plant a nut tree sixty or seventy feet from the next — it looks as if it were wasting the land — and they have planted them so close that the tops of the trees and the foliage form a flat level green surface, and the sun shines on a very small part of each tree instead of all round and over it as it should. The other walnut district is one more suggestive to me. I doubt if even those who have trees to sell are justified in advising the farmers to plant solid fields of walnuts, but we can recommend a row of them around fence rows and round the barn. I traveled a good many miles through the western part of France, from Lyons to Bordeaux, and I have seen thousands of trees, but I have not seen any orchards. They put one tree by itself and they raise wheat close up to it. The fertilization and cultivation help the walnut and make it produce a better crop. Those well-fed trees with plenty of sun, air and plant food are distinctly superior to the other trees. A good walnut tree rents for as much as an acre of ground. It is the product that is received without labor that appeals to me, and as the trees produce well, there is sometimes seven or eight dollars worth of profit to each tree, and the landlord is in the position to command most of the seven or eight dollars because he furnishes the trees. If a 50-acre farm with fifty nut trees stood on one side of the road and one of equal area without any trees on the other side, the one with the trees would rent for twice as much. A good tree will occasionally produce three or four hundred pounds of nuts, especially a fine tree out by itself. Once in a while we find a grove of them but more often there are six, seven, eight or more trees scattered round the house. The combined result of that industry produces millions of dollars worth of nuts. If there are any questions, I shall be glad to answer. Mr. Evans : Can the pecan be used as a forage crop for pigs ? Professor Smith : I don 't think we are willing to let him have them. Mr. Evans : Would a pig eat them ? Professor Smith : Observations show that the pig will eat them if you give him a chance ; he will eat with great gusto the hickory nuts and a grown hog will also crack black walnuts ; the pecan he simply grinds up. I suggested the pig as a way out of the problem of overproduction ; the pig wants the products when we don 't. Mr. Storrs: I come from a country where we grow the pig on 25 corn, and it is hard for me to believe that he will get fat on acorns and chestnuts. Mr. Lee : I also would like to ask whether a hog will get fat on acorns. I had an experience this fall ; a man on my farm had some pigs and he kept them in a pen and fed them corn. I was going to begin to feed my hogs, but I had a woods and I said let them eat the acorns. At the end of a month they had eaten the acorns but they were not as fat as they had been at the beginning. They had worked so hard to get the acorns that they had worked off all the fat. Professor Smith : There are two hundred thousand hogs on the job in the federal forests today. The Portugese pig in the spring is a lamentable looking object. The method is to keep him alive until acorns get ripe and they count on a pig multiplying himself one hundred to two hundred per cent in the short season from the beginning of September to the first of the year. They keep him ordinarily eighteen months; they carry the spring or fall pigs through one winter, and at the beginning of the fattening season a pig that weighs fifty or sixty pounds is counted on, in the short time when acorns can be picked up, to jump up to one hundred and fifty or two hundred pounds. There is much evidence on both sides of the Atlantic to the effect that acorns fatten hogs if the supply is good. PRESENT STATE OF THE CHESTNUT BLIGHT J. Franklin Collin s^, Washington^ D. C. I presume that all of you who have any interest at all in the chest- nut know considerable about the blight which has been killing these trees in the northeastern part of the country, so I will say nothing whatever about the general features of the disease but confine my talk to those points which have assumed, within a year, some special importance from the point of view of fighting the blight, or related topics. Perhaps the first thing that I can allude to is the discovery of a certain disease in China which, at the time, was supposed to be identical with the chestnut disease in the northeastern part of this country. I say "supposed" because we had no positive knowledge at the time that it was the disease. Specimens were sent to this country by the agricultural expert, ]Mr. Meyer of the Department of Agriculture, for examination. Cultures and inoculations were made by the pathologists in the Bureau of Plant Industry and all of the tests that could be applied showed it to be identical with our American disease. 26 Mr. Meyer's report upon this disease, as he found it in China, has some points which may be of interest to you. He said the dis- ease apparently had been there for many years, as the lesions of the disease showed if they were examined carefully. The fact that it has been there for many years is, I think, questioned by no one at the present time. Its growth in China seems to be somewhat dif- ferent, in fact in many cases quite different, from the growth on the American and the European chestnut trees. It is rather of the type that we are familiar with on the resistant Japanese trees. More- over, it appears on some of the trees as shown in the photographs which I will pass around. The appearance of the disease more closely resembles, in some ways, what we are familiar with in the European apple canker as it appears on the apple trees. I think those who are familiar with the apple canker will notice the resem- blance, in at least one or two of these photographs. Now, I don't mean by that that it is the same as the apple canker, but I do want to call your attention to its appearance in these photographs, and at the same time, to tell you something that Mr. Meyer wrote about this disease as it appeared in China. He said he found no trees that were absolutely killed by the disease. This may mean, and probably does, that the Chinese tree is resistant, to a certain extent, to this disease ; that is, it shows a certain amount of resistance, much in the same way that the Japanese chestnut tree does to the disease in this country. For some years (as some of you will remember, I think) there have been two different views as to the origin of this disease. One is that it is a native fungus which, for some reason, has assumed a parasitic form ; the other that it is an imported disease. The prin- cipal reasons for the latter view are that it spreads in this country on the American chestnut in much the same manner that other imported diseases have spread on other plants. The fact is that this disease (so far as we can find absolutely identical with the American form) has been found in China; about this point there is no doubt at all, and I think we can safely say, although we cannot absolutely prove it at this time, that the disease in this country was imported from the Orient. What bearing this will have on the question of control of the disease in this country remains to be seen. Have we any chestnuts which show immunity to this disease? The American chestnut is subject to it in its most virulent form. There are of course a number of varieties of the American chestnut which have been cultivated. Of these the two which I have seen most of are the Hathaway and the Spineless. Both of these are 27 subject to the disease in the ordinary form. The American varie- ties which have been originated within a few years, the Boone and the Rochester, I am not prepared to say anything about at the pres- ent time. The resistance or immunity of these varieties has not been determined so far as my own work is concerned. Of the European varieties we have a great many and they produce, as a rule, the large chestnuts of the market and are known under various names. Some are scions of named varieties and I will mention some of the more prominent. The first and best known, perhaps, is the Paragon chestnut. This is susceptible to the disease and takes it in almost as violent a form as does the American, and so it is with the Eidgely, a nut whicli originated near Dover, Delaware. The Dager and the Scott also take the disease, and so do many of the so- called French varieties — the Marron, the Marron Combale, the Early Marron and others — so far as I have been able to ascertain. I have not seen very many Numbo trees, but of those which I have seen, some have been diseased. Two varieties, which I have seen have not had any disease upon them. One of these I saw only once or twice and was unable to make a thorough examination. This is the Darlington chestnut which grows near West Chester, Pa. I have no reason to think this is immune in any way to the disease ; all I can say is that I have not yet seen the disease on this variety. Another variety which I have heard a great deal about from the point of view of resisting the disease is the Hannum. I don't know anything about this. I have been unable to locate any trees Avhich I could examine. Now these are all the varieties of the European or American sorts that I care to speak about, and we can say that they are all, so far as we know, with the possible exception of the one or two last mentioned, subject to the disease. Now let me turn for a moment to two other types of chestnut. First the chinquapin, a small dwarf chestnut which grows in the southern Atlantic states but reaches as far north as New Jersey and perhaps farther for all I know. The chinquapin in the past has been regarded as a rather resistant species and m}' own observations seem to bear out this supposition. I have seen very few chinquapins which had the disease. It may be due partly to the fact that they are not so subject to the attacks of insects and injuries through which the blight might gain entrance, or it may be due to the resist- ance in the species — I cannot say about that. I had an opportunity this fall to see the Rush chinquapin. I examined these trees — there are two of them — and I think there 'is no question but that they are 28 hybrids between the chinquapin and the American chestnut. One of these trees was diseased, the other had no disease upon it. The Japanese chestnuts have been known for a long time to be highly resistant to the inroads of this disease. Some may be im- mune, if we use the word immune in a very loose sense. It has been regarded as of rather coarse quality and some varieties as entirely unfit for human food. This is true of many of the Japanese chest- nuts, but I have recently seen some which, so far as I could tell, were nearly as sweet as the American chestnut and Paragon chest- nut which I tested at the same time and which were growing side by side. I could detect very little difference between them. The Japanese nuts were very large, considerably larger than the Para- gon. Whether these will retain their sweetness in drying I cannot say. These Japanese chestnuts are seedlings, and are known as the Delaware, the Felton, the Kent and the Henlopen. Like all of the Japanese chestnuts they are highly resistant to the blight. I wish to call your attention to a few of the standard Japanese varieties upon which I have made observations. These were all grafted trees, that is the Japanese variety was grafted on Ameri- can stock. The McFarland is a rather well-known variety. Of five trees which I have had under observation, all of them became diseased below the graft but none above the graft, showing the resistance of the Japanese scion on American stock. I think this is given out as a Burbank variety. The Hale is another one which has the same record exactly. On the Coe I have seen two cases of the disease on the Japanese part and several cases where the trees are diseased below the graft. The Alpha, one of the Parry varieties holds about the same record as the Coe — two cases of disease on the Japanese part and several below the graft. The Parry Giant has been considered one of the largest nuts ; in four trees observed there was one case of the disease on the Japanese part and two below the graft. The Superb had the disease below the graft but not above ; the Reliance just the same way. Then along with these plots were one variety of European, the Scott, which was quite as susceptible to the disease as any other European, and another variety, the ori- gin of which I do not know. This last appears to be something of a hybrid with some chinquapin blood in it — whether this is so or not I cannot definitely say — I can say this, however, that it takes the disease not as readily as the European but raore readily than the Japanese. Just a few words now in regard to the present distribution of the chestnut disease, or at least its extended distribution. The disease 29 is now known to occur in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York east of the Catskills and as far north as Lake George, and generally as far south as northern Virginia. Farther south there are some scattered infections, one nursery having been found in North Carolina which had the disease. The western distribution of the disease, if you take isolated cases, is now carried to the Pacific coast. We know of an orchard in Agassiz, British Columbia, in which the disease has been found. Nobody knows how this was transmitted, but the chestnut trees upon which the disease occurs were supposed to have been sent to the owner from the Orient. They apparently are not of the usual Japanese type, however ; that is all I can say about them now. The chestnut blight has been found on all parts of the branches, twigs, trunk and the exposed roots. Last year we found the disease on the nuts themselves and on their burs and we were able to isolate the disease from the shell of the nut and we were also able to pro- duce the disease on the bark of a chestnut tree through inoculation from the nut itself. So that the disease can occur on almost any part of the chestnut tree. A Member : I saw quite recently that there were two cases of fatal poisoning in Connecticut from the result of using nuts said to have been blighted. I would like to know if that has been verified. Mr. Collins: There have been, so far as I know, about fifteen cases of supposed chestnut poisoning in the vicinity of Hartford with five deaths. We have reports of disease and possible death in other portions of the country, particularly in the northeast. These reports come in such a way that it is impossible to say definitely that chestnuts caused the trouble, but this much can be said : our office here in Washington has a physician working upon this very point. At the present time all that I can say is that there is no doubt about the cases of illness and it is impossible to dissociate the eating of chestnuts from the possibilities. At the same time it is not possible to show that chestnuts were the cause of the trouble rather than something else which was taken at the same time. The Secretary : I wrote to the physician near Hartford whose wife is reported to have died, but I have had no answer. Dr. Metcalf : After following those cases up and finding that chestnuts could not be excluded as a possible cause, we have started experiments with various animals, also some chemical, to determine if there is any possibility of any definite toxic substance in the nuts • 30 so far results are negligible. We are not prepared to say whether there is anything in chestnut poisoning or whether there is not. The Secretary : I think there are three points in relation to the chestnut blight of very great importance to the practical nut grower, and I would like Professor Collins to answer these questions. In the first place, how far are we justified in recommending planting of non-immune varieties within the blighted area, in limited quan- tities, with the understanding that there is a fair shoAv of keeping them tolerably free from the blight by watchful care and cutting out 1 Mr. Roberts of New Jersey has a large chestnut orchard and he says he is not afraid of the blight. He has had a large crop of chestnuts this year, and he says that, while he has cut out, I believe, one orchard of small trees his large bearing trees are not seriously affected by the blight. This is the same testimony that we had from Colonel Sober last year. The second question is, how far are we justified in recommending the planting of chestnuts outside of the present blighted area ? It seems to me this is a very important point. Can we go so far out- side the present blight area, perhaps beyond the present range of the chestnut tree, that we can hope to plant them without their being exposed to danger, or much danger, of contagion from the blight ? Can we recommend their being planted in places where the chestnut does not grow now perhaps within several hundred miles ? And the third question is in regard to immune varieties. How far has the immune quality of any varieties been demonstrated ? Professor Collins : With regard to the first question, — plant- ing of non-immune varieties within the chestnut disease area, — I don't feel like recommending it except on an experimental basis. Perhaps I am recommending something that I might feel like chang- ing my mind about a little later, but, in the present state of our knowledge I would hesitate to recommend planting within the dis- ease infested area. So far as the seQond question is concerned, the planting of non-immune varieties outside the chestnut growing area, I think there are some pretty good prospects in sight, provided the stock which is obtained is carefully inspected to see that it is free from the blight to begin with, and is watched carefully for at least the first year. The third question, in regard to immune varieties, — if there are any the immunity of which has been demonstrated suffi- ciently to warrant their being planted, — the Japanese, which are highly resistant, and what some people might consider immune, are the only possibilities so far in sight. The great trouble with the Japanese trees which have been grown in the orchards in parts of 31 the country that have come under my observation, is that they have been grafted on stock which is very susceptible to the disease, and I think it is safe to say that 80 per cent at least, possibly 90 per cent, of the trees that have been killed under these conditions have l)een killed by the disease girdling below the graft on the susceptible American stock. If we can grow Japanese seedlings under the same conditions, perhaps, that Colonel Sober is raising his Paragons — two years from the seed and then grafting — I don't see why we can't have a tree that is going to be reasonably resistant to the disease ; now if we can find some Japanese nuts which are really palatable, really good and sweet, as these three or four that I have mentioned appear to be, I don't see why we cannot have a tree which will be reasonably immune to the disease and at the same time producing an edible nut. The Japanese stock seems to be able to fight off the disease to a certain extent in much the same way that the apple tree can fight off the apple canker, each year the lesion increases a little but each year the growth of the tree overcomes it to a certain extent, and there is a fight between the disease and the tree all the time. Very likely the disease once on the tree will re- main on the tree, as far as we can tell at present, for quite a time, but perhaps not kill the tree outright. Professor Van Deman: Dr. Van Fleet of the Department of Agriculture is working on what seems to be a very fine prospect for raising chestnuts that will be immune and that will have good qual- ity. Japanese chestnuts are the poorest of all in quality but he has taken the chinquapin, which is of high quality but the very smallest of the w^hole chestnut family, quite common in many of the central and southern states and as far west as Arkansas, has crossed the Japanese chestnut and the chinquapin, and has obtained seedlings that bear very young — when they are not more than four or five feet high sometimes. They are loaded with nuts, and nuts of large size, larger than our o-rdinary wild chestnut, usually one in a bur just as the chinquapin is and having the high quality of the chin- quapin, and he has grown many of those in New Jersey right in the very worst of the disease area and has found some that are exempt. Perhaps some of you have noticed what was published in regard to this in the Rural Neiv-Yorker sometime in the past few months. I have seen the nuts from some of these trees, and while I have never eaten any, I have Dr. Van Fleet's word for it that they are of excellent quality. Now that is something that we might feel quite hopeful about. 32 Professor Collins : Dr. Van Fleet is doing a fine work. I have seen some of it and gone over the work with him. Professor Van Deman : He is one of the government people and he is carrying on his experiments Iiere at the Arlington planta- tion, right across the river. Dr. Metcalf : Speaking of breeding material, we have six sorts for breeding purposes in the shape of seeds of this very species of Chinese chestnut on which the disease occurs in China. The nut of that tree is of very high quality and good size, and, so far as 1 can tell, quite as sweet as the American chestnut. If there is no more disease on the trees in this climate than there is in China it would be a very practical tree to grow, as far as we know. TOP-WORKING SEEDLING PECAN TREES W. N. HuTT, North Carolina According to a census we have just completed there are in North Carolina upwards of 50,000 seedling pecan trees. These trees range in age from one to thirty years. Seventy-five per cent of them are of bearing age, but there is probably not one per cent of that num- ber that are profitable bearing trees. In all parts of the pecan country experience has shown that seedling pecans are notably slow in coming into bearing and some trees never bear at all. Those that do bear have nuts that are almost invariably, small, thick- shelled and of indifferent quality. In this respect, however, the pecan tree differs in no way from any of our other classes of fruits. No one would today be so foolish as to try to get a good peach or apple orchard by planting the seeds of these fruits ; but this is just what a great many people have been trying to do with pecans. This attempt to produce pecan orchards from seed has been the origin of the 50,000 trees noted in the census above. Now that we have these seedling pecan trees, are they of any value at all ? Can we make anything out of them whatever or must we cut them do\%Ti and charge up the expenses to the account of experience, and start over again with standard varieties of budded and grafted trees? Years of time and quantities of money have been spent in producing these beautiful but comparatively valueless seedling trees. How- ever, they are far from being a total loss, for in those deep roots and stalwart trunks and spreading branches, there are latent possibil- ities in abundance. If by some magic power like that of Aladdin 's wonderful lamp told of in the "Tales of the Arabian Nights," we could transform these seedling trees in a single night to standard 33 varieties, we would enrich every owner of pecan trees by hundreds of dollars and the aggregate wealth of the state would be increased by millions. For several years I have been in search of Aladdin's wonderful lamp to enlighten me how to effect this felicitous transformation. Like Aladdin 's quest of old the search has been long and wearisome and has led me a tedious road through many vexatious disappoint- ments, but at last I have found the lamp ! I have in my power the magic by which a worthless seedling pecan tree can be transformed into a productive standard variety. This magic talisman is simply Patch-Budding. Every kind of budding is magical. Is it not wonderful to make a crab apple tree produce Stayman or Grimes Golden apples or a quince bush produce luscious Duchess pears 1 Is it not strange that the sap from the same root can produce red apples on one branch, yellow ones on another, and russets on a third ? How does it come that one twig can be made to produce sour apples and the next Paradise Sweets ? Strange ! Wonderful ! ! but True ! ! ! It is all owing to the fact that the sap of a tree is a homogeneous substance and that it is the bud through which it passes that stamps the indi- viduality upon it whether it shall be a crab or a Grimes Golden. If we make all the buds of the tree of the Grimes character, the apples will all be Grimes Goldens. In the same way if we make all the buds on a pecan tree Stuarts or Schleys there will be nuts to be gathered from that tree and they will not be the worthless scrub seedlings. When I began my experiments in the top-working of seedling pecan trees I soon found that there were many things one could 7iot do with pecan trees. I counted myself a successful propagator of apples, peaches, plums, grapes and various other kinds of plants, but apple, peach and general propagation methods failed to give success in the budding and grafting of pecans. I concluded the method must be all right but that I should be more exact about my mechanical manipulations. I started out with the ordinary cleft graft commonly used for top-working most sorts of trees. I experi- mented in several different orchards and put in hundreds of cleft grafts. I took great pains to make my work as mechanically per- fect as possible. All conditions of stock, scions, weather, etc., seemed to promise the highest degree of success. The result of that season's work was a world of disappointment, a lot of experience, and two living grafts. One of these latter, the result of my skill, 3 34 was so effectively pruned that fall by the pecan girdler that my work for the season was a minus quantity in all but experience. The other living graft, which was put in by an assistant, is now a bearing Curtis tree, our only monument to the success of cleft graft- ing the pecan. Other propagators are said to be able to secure fair results with cleft grafting of pecans in certain localities, but from my experience, I am willing to aver that it cannot be done in this latitude. Next followed a series of trials with shield budding which is so uniformly successful with peach, but peach methods failed entirely with pecans. Then followed a succession of trials with whip graft- ing, veneer grafting, bark grafting, and chip budding, all with a varyingly large percentage of failure and a uniformly small per- centage of success. Some propagators in the South report fairly successful results in the chip budding of pecans, but my results with this method were largely of a negative character. After persistent trials of all the known methods of budding and grafting, through the varying conditions of four successive seasons, I have narrowed the propagation of the pecan in North Carolina to one single method, namely, patch-budding. This method has year after year given us the highest percentage of successful unions. The operation illustrated by figures 1 to 12, is as follows : 1. Heading Back. During the dormant period which is, roughly speaking, from November 1st to March 1st, the seedling trees are cut back to stubs, the ends of which may be from one to three inches in diameter. Wounds larger than this size take years to heal and endanger the life of the tree. Large trees can be operated on as well as small seedlings, only one has to go higher up so as not to cut too large limbs. Figure 1 shows a seedling pecan tree 18 inches in diameter, which was stubbed back in the winter of 1911-1912 and successfully budded the following summer. The result of this drastic heading- back is a numerous growth of vigorous, rapidly growing shoots near the ends of the stubs, by which Nature endeavors to heal over the wounds. The cambium in these vigorous, sappy shoots is in the most active condition possible ; just the condition most suitable for the union of stock and scion. This optimum condition cannot be secured except by the forced growth as the result of the heading back. Our experiments, year after year, have shown that on the ordinary new shoots, even on active young seedling trees, the per- Fig. 1. Seedling pecan tree, 18 inches in diameter, cut back in winter, showing summer's growth of vigorous shoots ready for budding. Fig. 2. First operation . Making parallel cuts on stock. Fig. 3. Second oper- ation. Making vertical cut be- tween parallel cuts on stock. Fig. 4. Third operation. Loosen- ing bark on stock. Fig. 5. Fourth opera- tion. Making par- allel cuts on bud stick. Fig. 6. Fifth operation. Making vertical cut between parallel cuts on bud stick. Fig . 7 . S ixth operat ion . Taking bud from bud stick. Fig. 8. Seventh oper- ation. Fitting bud to stick. Fig. 9. Eighth operation. Beginning the tie. W:i!i > yf^y-'^lk i ■^■kT^BI . ^V ^BB^^^^ ^ ''^^ir.Ai ^Btt^^^^ ^^^^9^* -^ N ^ifl^^^^^^L^_A^|^H|K5 Fig. 10. Ninth operation. Finishing the tie. Fig. 11. The tie complete. Fig. 12. Bud united. 1 Fig. 13. Bud stick of pres- ent season's growth. The three lower, or basal, buds are best. Fig. 14. Bud sticks of previous season's growth. I 35 centage of living buds was much less than on the forced shoots of the headed-back trees. The different steps in the operation of patch budding are briefly as follows : 1st operation. Making parallel cuts on stock. See Figure 2. 2d operation. Making vertical cut to remove bark from stock. See Figure 3. 3d operation. Loosening patch on stock. See Figure 4. 4th operation. Making parallel cuts on bud stick. See Figure 5. 5th operation. Making vertical cut to remove bud patch from bud stick. See Figure 6. 6th operation. Taking bud off bud stick. See Figure 7. 7th operation. Inserting bud on stock. See Figure 8. 8th operation. Beginning the tie. See Figure 9. 9th operation. Wrapping the bud. See Figure 10. 10th operation. The completed operation. See Figure 11. Figure 12. Bud united. These illustrations should make the method self-explanatory. Knives for Patch-hudding. Two sorts of knives are used for patch-budding, the double one for making the parallel cuts and the ordinary budding knife for removing the patch. Camhium. Professor Bailey, in his "Encyclopedia of Horticulture," says, ' ' The ways and fashions of grafting are legion. There are as many ways as there are ways of whittling. The operator may fashion the union of stock and scion to suit himself if only he apply cambium to cambium, make a close joint and properly protect the work." The fundamental basis of the whole science of grafting is cam- bium. "What then is this important substance by means of which one plant may be made to live and grow and produce on the roots of another ? If we strip off the bark of any actively growing, woody plant we will find just beneath a soft, colorless substance ; this sub- stance is cambium. It feels slimy to the touch and if scraped with the finger nail a little doughy mass can be raised. As we examine it it will be seen to quickly darken to cream color, then to yellow and finally to dark brown. A change has taken place in it in a few seconds, right under our eyes. When we first exposed it, it was living, active and capable of building the most complicated of plant structures ; now it is dead, inert and impotent. If we examine the 36 smallest portion of this doughy mass under a compound microscope we will find it not merely slime but a highly organized tissue made up of countless minute cells, each with a delicate wall about it and containing a thickish liquid (protoplasm). The cambium cells are brick-shaped, and are placed end to end, with layer overlapping layer, like bricks in the wall of a building. The microscopic struc- ture of cambium tissue gives us a clearer conception of its extreme delicacy. It is one of the most sensitive and delicate substances in all nature. Exposure to the air will kill it and completely destroy its functions in a few seconds. It is easily crushed by slight pres- sure and quickly killed by exposure to drying, frost, moisture and sunlight. Nature shows her extreme care of it for in making bark she has formed for the delicate cambium a perfect protective cover- ing. Like the cambium the bark is composed of cells, as in fact are all animal and vegetable structures. But the cells of the bark have thick walls of a tough, corky substance, and each cell contains air instead of protoplasm. The corkiness of the bark makes it an im- pervious, waterproof covering that does not allow the cambium to be dried out or to be washed by external moisture. The air in the bark cells being in a still condition is a non-conductor of heat, and layer of bark overlapping layer, the cambium is completely covered with a dead-air blanket. This keeps it from being frozen in winter and from being overheated in summer, just as a dead-air space in the walls of a building protects from extremes of heat and cold. From this it is plain that nature takes great pains to cover and pro- tect the delicate cambium from all external influences. This stands in striking contrast to the careless manner in which many propa- gators and planters handle the delicate parts of trees. It also explains why some budders get such a small percentage of living buds and some planters so few living trees. Cambium is the building material of plants and without it growth is impossible. It covers every portion of the tree from the topmost terminal bud to the deepest root tip like a living blanket. During the growing season the cambium cells divide lengthwise forming new cells. These divide again and grow, and new cells are formed, until by fall a complete mantle of bark covers the outer surface of the cambium, while within it has built up a solid layer of the woody structure of the tree. A few rows of cambium cells are left in an embryonic condition to carry on growth the following year. The cambium is thus the only tissue of the tree that retains from year to year the power of active growth. The layers of wood and bark, after performing their functions for a few seasons, gradually die 37 and are overlapped by new layers, but the cambium remains living throughout the entire life of the tree even if it be, as in the giant Redwoods, thousands of years. Besides forming the regular wood of the tree the cambium also grows out over cut places and builds in woody tissues that heal over the wounds. It is owing to this fact alone that budding and graft- ing are possible. The callus on cuttings and root grafts is another evidence of the same phenomenon, for the cambium of the roots of a tree is continuous and identical with that of the branches. The Stock. The whole practice of successful grafting and budding is the proper handling of active cambium. The cambium is the cement- ing material that unites stock and scion and unless there is active cambium there will be no union. It must be said here that no matter how great the future growth of the union, the scion never becomes truly united or fused with the stock. The cambium grows all over and around the cut parts and cements them together, but if the graft union be split open fifty years later, the dead wood of the original scion may be found of the original size and in the original position. Since, then, successful grafting depends on the union of the cambium of the stock with that of the scion, theoretic- ally the best time for grafting and budding would be when the cam- bium is most active. Actual nursery practice shows that this is practically correct, at least as regards the stock. The ideal stock for propagation purposes is the young seedling of one or two years growth. In such a stock all the tissues are new and fresh and working to their maximum capacity and the cambium is in its most active condition. In top-working old trees it will be found that though the branches may appear Adgorous, they are a long way from having anything like the active circulation found in small seedlings. Buds put in these branches would give a very small "live," while the same care on nursery seedlings could be counted on giving a high percentage of living buds. In top-work- ing, therefore, it is found necessary in order to get the cambium sufficiently active, to stub back the branches to mere pollards. This cutting back should be done in the winter or dormant season. The following growing season will see a dense growth of very vigorous shoots trying to repair the injury. See Figure 1. These shoots are ideal stocks for, on account of their having all the sap from the greater root of the mature tree, the cambium will be even more active than in the nursery seedling. Often when nursery seedlings 38 are in partially dormant condition, owing to unfavorable weather or other conditions, they may be forced into budding condition by slashing off part of the growth above where the buds are to be inserted. In our top-working experiments this fact was further emphasized by a windstorm which broke off many of the sappy shoots just above where the bud was put on. Every single one of these buds "took," though some others, just as carefully put on, failed. The success of all the buds on the wind-broken shoots was undoubtedly due to the forcing of the cambium growth just at the point where the bud was inserted. The Scion. Although it is desirable to have the cambium of the stock in an active growing condition, it is quite the reverse with the scion. The reason of this is evident, for if the scion were active, it would soon exhaust its small supply of food and die before the union could be formed and it could get its permanent supply of nourishment from the root. It is desirable to have scions fresh and firm but in a quiescent condition until pushed into activity by the growth of the stock. If, on the other hand, the scions or buds become too dry the sap will not be able to revive them and no union will be made. For patch-budding, the buds may be cut from scions or bud sticks of the present or the past season's growth. Figure 13 shows a bud stick of the present season's growth from which the leaves have been cut. Such a bud stick cannot be obtained until July, for before that time the bark is so tender that it is impossible to get the bud patch off the stick without crushing it or peeling off the cuticle of the bark. The basal buds of the present season's growth, Figure 13, make the best buds because they are more mature and dormant than the buds above them and as they have shed the leaf stalk they can be tied in more easily and snugly than those with the thick, fleshy base of the leaf stalk attached. Some budders make a prac- tice of cutting off' the leaves ten days or two weeks before they commence budding and leaving the scions on the trees to ripen the buds and shed off the bases of the petioles. There is in this way no danger of the thick fleshy leaf base decaying under the wrap and souring and killing the buds. Figure 14 shows budwood of the previous season's growth. This budwood can be cut during the winter and kept over in fresh dor- mant condition by being packed in damp sawdust and carried over in ordinary cold storage or in a refrigerator. It will be ready for use in the spring as soon as the bark will slip on the stocks. By 39 this method the budding season may be greatly extended and prop- agation started at least two months before any of the present season 's buds will be sufficiently mature for use. The Kinds of Buds to Select. As to the buds themselves the most desirable are those at the base of the season's growth. See Figure 13. These, though not large, are plump and fully mature. The bark is smoother and firmer about them than higher up the stem and there is no leaf stalk to interfere with cutting them accurately and making a close fit and tie. These buds are dormant and there is little danger of their pushing into growth in the fall and being cold hurt the following winter. For best success in patch budding it is not desirable to select very large, overdeveloped buds, or those that have grown so rapidly as to stand out on a little pedicel or basal stalk. In remov- ing such a bud from the stick, the central column of the pedicel will often pull out and remain on the stick. Such a bud will almost invariably die. An observation of pecan buds in general will show that they are normally triple in form, the largest above and two smaller ones beneath it. The largest bud will grow first but if anything happens to it, the next one will take its place. Tying in the Buds. A good deal of the success in patch-budding depends on the tying in of the buds. The cambium must be thoroughly protected if a union is to result. It is necessary to have some kind of tie that wall retain the sap as well as exclude external moisture. After experi- menting with different materials and methods I have finally aban- doned all except the waxed strip tie. This is made by dipping sheet cotton in pure, liquid beeswax and pressing out all extra wax. The cloth after dipping is formed into convenient sized rolls. From these rolls the cloth is torn at budding time into strips a quarter of an inch wide and from six to eight inches long. In tying in a bud hold it firmly so that it will not slip and begin at the top and bind it in very tightly with the waxed strip. Re- verse the tie at the rear of the bud like a surgeon's bandage and cover the patch completely, leaving only the tip of the bud sticking out. The wax in the cloth will cause the tie to adhere sufficiently to the wood so that no other ligature is required. In budding in the spring, when the flow of sap is very copious, it is well to tie in a small splinter about the size of a match just below the bud to drain off the excess sap. This will save many buds from being 40 killed by souring of the sap. In two to three weeks time the tie should be loosened so that the rapid growth of the stock will not cause the tie to cut into the bark. The Mechanics of Patch-hudding. After all has been said about cambium and stocks and scions and their relation to each other, there is still volumes to be written on the mechanics of pecan propagation. I do not want to scare anyone off from trying, but if there is any plant more difficult to propagate than the pecan, I have not yet found it. Even experienced propa- gators of general nursery stock have given up pecan budding as a bad job. On the other hand, a novice or "pecan crank" who is handy with tools and has the patience to study out the causes of his failures, may acquire the skill to obtain almost a perfect ' ' live ' ' of buds. This all goes to show that extreme precision is the pass- word in the mechanics of patch-budding. In the first place, the knives should be of the finest quality so that they will hold a clean, fine edge. All cuts should be made with accuracy and precision, so that there are no rough edges and bias corners. The number of living buds will, under ordinary circumstances, be in exact propor- tion to the accuracy with which the bud patch fits the place made for it on the stock. The experienced pecan budder as he takes the bud off the stick can tell whether or not they will grow. If he tears the bark in cutting the patch, he drops that bud and cuts another ; if the bud patch splits, he discards it ; if his fingers touch the cam- bium or the bud patch falls to the ground, he wastes no time with it, but cuts another and another until he gets the conditions perfect. There is little use in tying in any bud that does not fit perfectly. For this reason it is desirable to have the bud stick of the same diameter as the stock. The bud patches from thin or small scions have to be stretched to fit and generally give a poor ''live"; like- wise, the buds from the more or less ridged portion at the top of the bud stick. The transfer of the bud patch should also be made quickly so that the cambium will have the shortest possible exposure to the air. After Treatment. The process of patch-budding is not complete even after a good "live" of buds is secured. It still requires some judicious after- treatment to get them into good normal growth. On account of the drastic heading back the tree has received, practically every dormant bud will be forced into active growth. These will push 41 out so vigorously in spring that if not held in check, they may com- pletely overgrow and crowd out the buds put in. Attention should be given during the early growing period to see that the buds put in have sufficient room for proper development. If all or too many of the seedling buds are rubbed off, the inserted buds will not be able to carry all of the heavy flow of sap and so may be drowned and killed. On the other hand, the inserted buds may not start unless forced by the extra sap obtained by rubbing off a portion of the seedling buds. A good deal of horticultural judgment is re- quired to adjust the proper balance between the seedling and the inserted buds so as to get the best development of the latter. "When the inserted buds are able to carry all the sap of the tree, all seed- ling shoots should be cut out and attention directed towards forming the new growth into a strong symmetrical top. If conditions are favorable, there will generally be some nuts the second season. By the third year the transformation from the seedling to the named variety should be complete, and a good crop of high class nuts should be expected. Mr. Pomeroy : "Would it not be an advantage if two persons worked at the budding? After the cuts are made, one could be taking the part from the stock and the other taking the bud from the budding stick. The Chairman : That is a very good plan. One man could put in the buds and another man could tie — a boy handy with his fingers in making ties. Professor Smith : Why the superiority of beeswax to grafting wax? The Chairman : A good many budders object to grafting wax, on account of the oil therein contained being injurious to the trees. A great many people have dead trees as a result. Trees don't like oil, and for that reason we use beeswax and only the purest kind of beeswax. In fact, these pecan cranks who want to do things as they should be, like to examine the wax to see if there is pollen or bee bread or anything foreign in it. Professor Smith : Is there any particular time that is best for grafting ? President Hutt : Yes ; in the early part of the season there is a very vigorous flow of sap and we flnd we lose more buds then than in the later grafting. In early grafting we put in drainage, just like the physicians, little tubes or something to drain out the mois- ture. We put in a little chip and tie over it very carefuUy so if 42 there is any drainage it may escape. In the fall and late summer drainage is not necessary at all, and we really get better unions then when the trees are slowing down than we do in the spring when they are full of sap. Mr. Storrs : In selecting your buds, do you take them from trees that have borne, or from young trees, or indiscriminately ? President Hutt : We take them either from bearing or young trees. It is not important which, just so you get the right kind. The important thing is to select good fresh active stuff, and par- ticularly good sized scions and not small ones. In budding we fit one side perfectly, and on the other side we leave a space of one sixteenth of an inch like a door. We didn't do that at first and we lost a good many buds because the active growth began on both sides. We had to leave a place there at the side, an expansion joint, to take care of that. Mr. Storrs : Then you fit them at the top and bottom and at one side ? The Chairman : Yes, that's it. The Secretary : This is one of the most important papers ever read before this Association, and that is because the success of nut growing anywhere is absolutely conditioned on our knowledge of propagation. If the propagation of nut trees were as easy as the propagation of apple and peach trees, we would probably now have in the north as many orchards of good nut trees as of apple and peach trees. Any one who has tried this budding of nut trees will, I am sure, appreciate the difficulties that Professor Hutt has de- scribed and the pains he has taken in telling us about them. This is the beginning of the demonstrations in propagating. They will be continued tomorrow ; we will have then three or four of the most expert grafters and budders in the country, perhaps, who will give further demonstrations. I would like to ask Professor Hutt a question. I noticed that in putting in some Persian walnut buds this summer, all died except a couple where the tops accidentally broke off. The Chairman : That is explained by the illustration I gave of the wind blowing off all the shoots. Every one that was blown off lived even though some were badly torn. It was simply forcing the cambium at that point where it was needed. Mr. Roper had an experience of that kind. Mr. Roper : We put buds on stock that was not very active, so the trees were cut back to six inches above the bud, forcing all the W. N. ROPER Vice-President Northern Nut Growers Association 43 growth into the bud, and I suppose 95 per cent of those buds lived ^ on the trees not cut back the buds did not live. The Secretary: You have spoken about soaking the scions in cold water ; does not that injure the buds ? We have been told here- tofore that keeping the scions in water started the cells into activity and rendered them less likely to grow ; but perhaps that referred particularly to scions for grafting rather tlian budding. The Chairman : I would like to ask Mr. Wiggins that question, he is a specialist. Mr. Wiggins : One of the dangers in keeping bud wood is that of keeping it in too much moisture. It does not require much to keep the bud plump. The Secretary : I understand the reason for soaking is simply to allow the bud to be taken off. The Chairman : Yes. Mr. Jones: In our experience the soaking of wood does not injure it for budding, but it does for grafting. You can soak the wood for budding all you want to, we have soaked it until the top bud came out. The Secretary : I am interested in knowing about this special wax cloth. Can it be used also in grafting ? The Chairman : The other is much cheaper for that purpose. To just cover the thing up and exclude the air is all that is necessary in grafting. Liquid wax — four of rosin, four of tallow and two of beeswax — gives excellent results, but for budding purposes it is absolutely essential to have good clean wax, and for our purposes we have never found anything but pure beeswax would answer. The Secretary : There is a substance called ' ' white wax ' ' which pharmacists use in making toilet preparations — purified beeswax. It is pure white. Is that any advantage ? The Chairman : I would not use it. It contains some paraffine. The Secretary : It should consist of purified and bleached bees- wax only. It is more expensive than the ordinary beeswax. [Read by title.] UNUSUAL METHODS OF PROPAGATING NUT TREES Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York City With the exception of the chestnut and the almond, much diffi- culty has been experienced in propagating most of the nut trees of temperate latitudes by budding or by grafting. This appears to be largely due to the slow formation of callus which is to make new cell 44 connection between the cambium layers of host and of guest. In southern regions of the United States the union occurs much more readily than in the north. My experiments have been made chiefly with reference to developing methods of propagating nut trees in the north. All of the usual methods common among nurserymen have been practically failures, but certain unusual methods seem to promise success. One unusual method which was suggested at last year's meeting by our member Mr. J. F. Jones, has given a good proportion of catches. This consists in using wood which is more than one year old for scions. Some of the scions of shagbark hickory from wood four, five, and even six years of age have caught. The chief diffi- culty has consisted in starting the buds of this old wood (latent buds) before vigorous sprouts from the stock diverted all the sap. It has been necessary to give much attention to the removal of these vigorous stock sprouts. I seem to have made the observation that if a small side branch from old wood carries a large terminal bud, this bud will start promptly when old wood constitutes the rest of the scion. A method which I employed for the first time this year, which appears to have resulted in securing union between stock and scion, has been employed between different species of hickory trees. It belongs among the inarching methods in classification. It seemed probable that if a scion were to be supplied with sufficient water to prevent drying out, in advance of granulation-cell connection, we might meet with success. The first line of experimentation with this idea in mind was con- ducted last year. The scion when grafted upon the stock was deprived of its top bud, and a smaU test tube filled with water and fitted with a rubber cap was adjusted over the site previously occu- pied by the top bud. This in practical working really did keep the cells of the scion alive and in good condition for a long time, but there was always a tendency for the water to become impure because of the growth of various algae and other microbes. Evidently the water when used in this way helped to furnish a balance be- tween the negative and the positive sap pressures which occur under changing conditions of barometer and temperature, and which are influential in the matter of cellular repair. The introduction of germicides into the water of the test tube prevented the develop- ment of adventitious organic life, but at the same time seemed to interfere with normal cell activity at the junction of stock and scion. Dr. Morris's inarch method of grafting with balanced aquarium. 1. Point of union to be covered with grafting wax after binding with raffia. 2. Loose plug of moss to lessen evaporation. 3. A liv- ing water plant. The "aquarium" is made out of an ordinary large test tube. Any- small bottle would do as well. 46 This Tiiothod served a purpose in advancing onr knowledge of the subject, bnt not enough grafts caught to encourage me greatly. Following out the same line of tli ought, I began this year by making union between stock and scion according to inarch principles. The scion instead of remaining attached to its parent plant, according to former inarching method, had been transferred to the stock, leaving two or three inches of scion free below the point of grafting, as illustrated in the drawing. The proximal part of the scion was then inserted into a test tube containing water. In this case, as with placing tlu' test tube at the top of the scion, difficulty was fountl in prexenting the growth of microorganisms in the water. The addition of benzoate of soda, borax, boracic acid, and sulphate of eopj)er, while preventing the development of microorganisms, seemed also to be objectionable to the physiologic processes of the plant. It occurred to me that the principle of the balanced aqua- rium might be applied, and acting upon this idea specimens of a pond weed (TTtricularia) were introduced into the test tubes. This seemed to settle the water question completely, but it was well along in the summer before I made grafts and applied this principle. From one to four leaves, or parts of leaves, were left upon grafts wliieli were applied to stocks according to this new inarching method. All of these leaves remained green until autumn, and fell with other autumn leaves of the stock. Two specimens which I have cut away for examination seemed to show a very good union between stock and scion. I am presenting a description of the new inarching method promptly, before obtaining more extensive statistics, in order that members of this society may apply it experimentally next spring. Should it succeed according to present promise, it will allow nurs- erymen at least two months of grafting season, and they will not have to rush their work. In addition it will perhaps open up a method of grafting which may be employed freely with nut trees in tlu^ northern states. Another unusual method for propagating nut trees consists in facilitating the development of adventitious buds from the roots of some particularly desirable tree. I do not know at the present time how many species of nut trees will develop adventitious root buds, as my experiments liave been confined to roots of the shagbark liickory, beech, and hazel. Segments of roots of these three species when placed in sand, allowing an inch or so to protrude, will de- velop adventitious buds if they are kept warm and moist. Various lengtlis of root segments have been employed, ranging from two 47 or three inclies up to two or three feet. The beech and hazel will apparently start adventitious buds from almost any sort of root segment; but in the shagbark hickory, adventitious buds started best upon root segments which were more than six inches in length and more than half an inch in diameter. Ha/.els may be propagated in an unusual way from the cuttings of branches, very much like roses, if these cuttings are placed in sand and kept warm and moist, although they do not strike nearly so readily as rose cuttings. T have not given much attention to this experiment in its practical bearing, but have simply observed that hazel cuttings will strike roots if they are particularly well cared for. Experiments with hickories and with walnuts from branch cut- tings were a failure, but they remained alive so well and formed such good callus, that I believe someone with steam-heated hot-house beds at his disposal may by experimentation succeed in propagating some of these trees by cuttings, particularly from herbaceous growth of the year, in August. As an amateur plant physiologist 1 foresee what the more scientific plant physiologists may do for this subject. One unusual method for propagating nut trees may perhaps be described more correctly as a method for propagating unusual nut trees, and it opens a vista of distant horizon in horticulture. The discovery was due to an accident, and I claim no credit beyond recognizing the significance of an odd phenomenon. Three years ago some pistillate chinkapin flowers which had been covered with paper bags, were left unpollenized because I did not have pollen enough to go round. The bags were left in place be- cause I was bus}'- with other things. When these bags were removed at the end of about three weeks, it was found that the flowers had set a full complement of nuts without having received pollen. These nuts continued to develop and were fertile. Some of them presented a peculiarity in growth of the cotyledons and germ, both of which grew and protruded beyond the involucre before the nuts were ripe, indicating that the germ had, not come to a state of rest during its usual period in the nut. This freak appeared in only eight of the nuts, a larger number having normally resting germs. In all of these nuts it seemed to me we were probably dealing with parthenogenesis. In order to make sure that no pollen had been carried in by any sort of insect, I made check experiments last year, covering pistillate flowers so carefully that there could be no question about their having received no pollen. It was found that the chinkapin would develop nuts freely in this way, and that the 48 bitternut hickory, sliagbark hickory, and pignut (Hieoria glabra) would develop nuts sparingly in this way. I speak of the matter as parthenogenesis in advance of micro- scopic examination of the ovules, — which will be made next year; but parthenogenesis seems to be the most likely explanation. If this is the case, the embryo has not been formed by the conjugation of two gametes, as generally occurs in the algae and higher plants. It is possible that the embryo in the unpollenized chinkapins does not originate from the female gamete at all, but that it originates from a formative budding of other cells in the ovule. We can speak of parthenogenesis only when the embryo originates from a female gamete alone, i. e., without fusing of protoplasmic mass of the female gamete with protoplasmic mass of the male gamete. Some of the nuts which I am calling parthenogens have developed plants this year. The chief peculiarity to be observed is great dis- parity in size between plants of the same age from the same parent tree. Some of them grow very much more rapidly than the aver- age plant of the species, and others less rapidly when subjected to similar conditions of soil, temperature and moisture. We assume in biology that one of nature's objects in having two sexes is to prevent early senescence of the allotment of protoplasm for a species, and to avoid undue intensification of characteristics of one parent. This is apparently nature's device for maintaining a mean type. For man's purposes we may now make artificial selection of individual plants which represent intensification of desirable characteristics of one parent. The growing of trees from unfertilized ovules will apparently open an entirely new field in horticulture, and no one can prophesy the result of selection of trees which present intensification of desirable characteristics of a single parent through several successive generations. THE POSSIBILITIES OF NUT CULTURE IN UTAH Leon D. Batchelor, Utah I suppose the majority of you have very little or no idea of agri- cultural conditions in Utah. Perhaps some think it is a desert. When I went to Utah, three or four years ago, the first thing that struck my mind forcibly in traveling around through the state was the absolute lack of any nuts. Being born and brought up in Mas- sachusetts, I naturally noticed this, as one of the pleasures of my boyhood days consisted in gathering chestnuts, hickory nuts, hazel- 49 nuts and beechnuts. We found them all around the fence corners and pastures and in the woods, and I missed this in Utah, and it occurred to me immediately to look up the cause of the lack of nuts in the state and I found no good reason except that nature has not seen fit to plant nuts there. There is no reason in climatic or soil conditions which will make it impossible to grow many of the hard- ier nuts, and even, in the southern part of the state, to grow almonds and the tenderest walnuts. Climatic conditions are not unlike some of the best fruit sections in New York. Peaches and apples are grown successfully and as soon as you get down to the central and southern part of the state, many of the hardier European grapes are grown. In the extreme southern part you can grow any of the European grapes grown in California, so nothing in the way of climatic conditions exists which would prevent the development of nut growing in this state. The soil conditions vary widely, all the way from the sandy loams to the deep soils and gravels, and it is possible to find thousands of acres of deep, rich loam soil. Some of it is five to tw^enty-five feet deep. Of course the rainfall in that semi-arid region is insufficient for nuts but that can be supple- mented by irrigation water, so that is practically no disadvantage. Since I have been there I have tried to interest some of the fruit growers in the planting of a few difi'erent varieties of the hardier nuts, and I have distributed among them some of the walnuts and this year I am bringing in some of the old shagbark hickory nuts from Massachusetts, and I am going to distribute them among my friends and acquaintances there to be used to raise shade trees — trees around the home and pastures — and I find there is consider- able interest manifested in the last few years in nut planting. The nut industry has a little mite of a start there in a way — that is, there are a few seedling trees distributed from Logan on the north to Arizona on the south. Seedling Persian walnuts fruit from Brigham City on through Salt Lake and Provo, and practically all of the nuts that are produced there in the state are of seedling origin. It is reasonable to expect that some of the best grafted varieties will be very much better. It seems to me that the state has every natural condition for success in the production of nuts. If not in a commercial way we can do a great deal to our advantage in planting nut trees as shade trees. I simply want to let you know that there is a man out there in the mountain section who is inter- ested in nuts and going to help the cause along. )0 THE DISEASES OF NUT TREES M. B. WaITE, WASHtNGTON, D. C. In taking up the question of nut diseases it is liardly proper^ perhaps, to take too narrow a view of it and I will, therefore, mention some of the other work being done here in "Washington that is of interest to the Northern Nut Growers Association. You all know of the pomological work being done on nuts, and I hardly need mention the work now being carried on by Mr. C. A. Reed, a member of this association. It might be well to remind you that the work was started by Mr. Van Deman some twenty-five years ago, and continued by Mr. Corsa, and a report was issued some fifteen years ago. It was taken up later by Mr. William A. Taylor. The plant introduction work of Mr. D. Q. Fairchild should be mentioned. He is scouring the world for new nuts of all kinds for the northern and southern, eastern and western United States, and introducing them into this country. The diseases of those nuts are studied by Mr. Orton in the Cotton Truck Division of our depart- ment. Outside of the Bureau of Plant Industry also there is some work being done on nut trees. The insects attacking cultivated nuts are studied by Professor A. L. Quaintance, of the Bureau of Ento- mology; along with the deciduous fruit insects. The insects attack- ing forest nut trees are studied by Dr. Hopkins of the same Bureau in the laboratory that studies the forest insects. Of course the nut trees, as forest trees, are studied in the Forest Service about which you all know. One thing more that I would like to say, in way of explanation or apology, is in regard to criticism of the Department for not more thoroughly attacking the filbert blight. Only forty-five thousand dollars are appropriated by Congress for the investigation of the entire fruit disease problem of the United States. That includes the great citrus industry; everything, in fact, from cranberries on Cape Cod and the mouth of the Columbia River to grape fruit in Florida or apples in New York. It includes the subject of all the nut diseases, and that means the problem of the diseases of the pecan, of walnut bacteriosis — that is a big problem — in southern California, and more or less in other parts of California, our great apple industry, the peach yellows, the pear blight, etc. When it comes to parceling that out it only leaves about three thousand dollars for nut diseases, and thirty-five hundred dollars for studying 51 diseases of citrus fruits, so you must not be surprised that we cannot put a group of men on this problem and study it as it should be studied. It is a question of men and means. Perhaps now some general information might be of interest and set you to thinking. In the. first place in every disease problem, conspicuously so with our fruit and nut diseases, there are two main classes of plants to be considered, our native plants and the foreign plants. The pathol- ogist is always looking to the native origin of a plant in studying its adaptation to the environment in which it is attempted to be grown. A foreign plant may not necessarily be unadapted to another locality. The vinifera grape is thoroughly adapted to California and to much of the Pacific slope beyond the Rocky Mountains, but you know the vinifera grape has a hard struggle in other parts of the United States. This is not only a pathological problem but a physiological one. It cannot stand a soaking rain for two weeks at a time ; it cannot stand so much water and humidity but it wants dry, hot sunshine continuously from the time it puts out its leaves in the spring. Another phase still more interesting is the question of foreign parasites. Many of the worst diseases with which we have to con- tend are either native diseases attacking introduced plants, or foreign diseases attacking native plants. I will take that up in detail. Nature has fought the battle all out with the native para- sites-against the native host plants, so we don't have to do it. It's a case of the survival of the fittest. They have won, so when we are dealing with native plants against our native diseases, we have a condition that has been fought out in nature for nobody knows how many thousand years. The result is that unless we disturb the balance too much by cultivating great orchards of a thing that has been grown as scattered individuals, or overforcing it or selecting and breeding towards larger fruit without any regard to foliage and other characters we can go ahead with our breeding and selec- tion and cultivation and trust nature to keep the balance to some extent. We have this natural balance in our favor in dealing with the problem of cultivating native plants. As an example take the pear and apple blight. The pear blight problem is one in which a native parasite on wild crab apples, which occasionally kills a few twigs here and there, attacks the juicy, tender, susceptible, intro- duced European pear and makes a very serious disease. It is a fight indeed to grow it in so much of the country that pear culture has been very largely suppressed over the eastern half of the United 52 States and part of the Pacific coast. All this trouble has been caused by one little native microbe. Apple culture also, with certain varieties, has been seriously interfered with in some sections. The apple cedar rust is probably the most striking example of a native parasite attacking a foreign host that we know of, and particularly so as the remarkable evolution in which the parasite has adjusted itself to the new host is taking place right now every year. The apple cedar rust is becoming a more difficult problem clear across the eastern United States to Nebraska. It has occurred as a serious disease since 1905 to 1907. As a botanical curiosity we have kno^vn it a long time, but as a serious disease, it is very recent, and nobody knows yet how serious it is going to be. We have a very striking example of this introduction of a foreign plant and the plant being attacked by a native parasite, in the case of the filbert blight, and I am going to take that up later. The trouble is that we have brought into the United States a European filbert and it has been attacked by a parasite of our wild hazelnuts. The disease is very rare and is seldom seen on the wild hazelnut, — so rare that it was hardly known by scientific botanists, and yet it interferes with filbert culture in the eastern United States and is the one thing more than anything else to make filbert culture un- profitable. "We have practically the same proposition in the walnut bacteriosis, not only in the northeastern United States, but in the best walnut districts of California. This bacterial disease which is undoubtedly a disease of our native walnuts — probably the native black walnut — occurs rather rarely, and so feebly developed as to be difficult to find at all on its native host yet it becomes the great serious disease of the Old World cultivated walnut. Now, there again, it is not so much a lack of physiological adapta- bility, because the walnut is thoroughly adapted to our Pacific coast. I suppose most of you know that east of the Rocky Mountains, east of the Great Plains, we have a humid climate and winters more or less cold which corresponds, not with western Europe, not with Oermany, England, Spain, France and Italy, but with China and Japan, with Asia, in its climatic conditions. The result is the Chinese and Japanese trees brought to the eastern United States grow well but may grow indifferently in California. On the other hand, the plants of the Mediterranean, France, Germany, Italy and Spain do not, as a rule, thrive when introduced into the eastern United States. There are a few exceptions, like the apple and perhaps the peach. These are not really natives of western Europe, "but have been brought from the interior. They are more like the 53 Japanese and Chinese plants which came in by way of Persia and which have been slowly adjusted to the conditions of western Europe. That adjustment has gone so far that the Persian type of peach does better on the Pacific coast than in the East. We are breeding' a race of these fruits from China, the Chinese cling group, which does well in the eastern part of the United States, and we have from there a peach that is better for the country east of the Rocky Mountains than the ones that have been modified in Europe. Now take the other side of this question, the foreign parasite — that is very unfortunate thing — over which Ave do not always have the control that we do with the foreign host. An equal disturbance of nature takes place when we introduce a foreign parasite, whether it is from a similar climatic region or one not so similar. The chest- nut blight is a tremendous example of that sort of thing. This has come into prominence within a decade and it is one of the greatest problems in the pathology of the chestnut. That has turned out to be a Chinese parasite. It was found last summer by the agricultural explorer, Mr. Myers, but the fungus was studied out by Dr. Shear. The three great American parasites of our native grapes are the black rot, the downy mildew and the Phylloxera, an insect pest, and they caused a great amount of study and work and investigation and great expense when they were introduced into France and South Germany and Italian vineyards, and were fought out only by what might be considered a magnificent effort on the part of the European governments, especially France. On our native wild grapes those diseases are almost trivial, and the wild seedlings in the woods are practically^ immune, but when we cultivate them and select the tenderer varieties, the black rot is pretty bad, especially on the Con- cord, and particularly when that is hybridized with grapes of European blood. Nevertheless, we have cultivated them in order to get the large juicy fruits. There are many more examples of this sort. Now about the cultivated nuts. I wish I could tell you how much I think of the native nuts. I grew up in Northern Illinois and could go out on a day like this and gather two or three bushels of hickory nuts. How I enjoyed the black walnut, especially when it was just shriveled so it would leave the shell — it got rather too rich when it was dried and stale in the winter time — but how delicious it was when just wilted! Also there was the butternut and the wild hazelnut. I used to take a one-horse wagon into the woods on a Saturday and gather enough hazelnuts in the shucks to fill it ; then we had hazelnuts all winter. So I am in full sympathy with the 54 Northern Nut Growers Association and I would like to see those nuts grown, if not wild in the woods, at least in cultivation. There might be a few things of interest to you about the wild hickory nut. According to Farlow's Index of North American fungi of twenty-five years ago, there have been thirty-seven species of fungi collected on that tree. Probably there are twice that number as a matter of fact, but mycologists have collected, described and named thirty-seven species on the Hickoria ovata, the plain shagbark, and the other hickories have similar numbers. The pecan has only three named species in Farlow's Index, but Mr. Rand has got together three times as many I think — I am not sure of the number. Of the pecan diseases, the pecan scab is probably the most con- spicuous fungus trouble. The pecan scab is the most typical fungus parasite of the pecan. It attacks the leaves, fruit, etc. It attacks the vessels or veins of the leaves and frequently enters by means of aphis punctures which break the skin so that there is no doubt but that this particular disease is favored by an aphis. We have inves- tigated this disease quite carefully and carried on a series of spray- ing experiments for some three years and there is no doubt about our ability to control it. It can be prevented by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. You never can tell how many sprayings will be required. It may take three to ten sprayings to protect the nuts. The leaves are grown mostly within a month — the leaves are pushed out within thirty days and you can spraj^ those leaves and protect them. The weak point in the treatment is that the nut of the pecan grows steadily from the time it starts to way into September. This makes a hard problem in spraying as the nut keeps expanding and forming a new and unprotected surface for an unreasonably long season and they are susceptible to scab attacks all the time, so you have the problem of spraying the nuts all summer. The spray does not stick very well on the nuts. The result is that we advise dodging that parasite by planting the non-susceptible kinds ; it is much better and cheaper. It is certainly an encouraging thing that you can plant good varieties, that do not scab badly, and which at the very most require but two or three sprayings to protect them entirely, and in a great majority of cases, no spraying at all. Those already are the great nuts in cultivation, like the Stuart, the Schley and the Frotscher. Most of those good varieties will be occasionally attacked by scab because of a wet season, just as a variety of apple which is very resistant to apple scab is occasionally attacked by that disease. The pecan has quite a number of leaf-spot fungi and most of those we have tested by spraying. These experiments have been 55 made in the nursery where it is more convenient to spray and where the necessity is, perhaps, a little more pronounced, and there it is, undoubtedly, a proper practice to spray and fight out the pecan leaf diseases. Bordeaux mixture is the thing to be used on all occasions. The pecan resists copper poisoning almost as well as the grape and oan be sprayed with safety. If a pecan tree has crown gall don't plant it. All nursery trees should be rejected in planting if they show signs of this disease. The pecan has fungus root-rot and various wood rot fungi besides the leaf diseases. It also has several other troubles more or less serious. Occasionally in the pecan groves you will fijid these re- markably white mildewed nuts. That gives way to spraying. Anothe]' disease is an internal spot on the kernel which ]\Ir. Rand has been working on and which seems to be due to a fungus. We don't know how to prevent that yet. The pecan has a fungus attack- ing it that is very similar to the bitter rot of the apple. The pecan anthracnose looks like the bitter rot, has the same pink spore masses and you will be able to recognize it. That may be prevented by spraying, but it is, fortunately, not a serious disease. The northern nut grower will not have so much trouble with that, as it is a south- ern disease. Here is a physiological trouble that causes blackening of the young nuts on the inside. It appears to me to be due mainly to wet weather, but I don't know its exact nature. It came prima- rily on a pecan raised in the semi-arid section of Texas and brought into South Carolina, and by the way you can get as much trouble in adapting trees from the western to the eastern United States as in bringing in trees from other countries. In parts of semi-arid Texas the trees are supplied with moisture by sub-irrigation and when we move those pecans to the humid East we get almost as much non- adjustment as when we bring in foreign things. I would suggest that these pecans from western Texas are the very ones to take to Utah and California rather than those from the eastern part of the United States. They are adjusted to dry seasons with moisture at their roots and you will get the best results from them when grown under irrigation. I will now take up the walnut, Juglans nigra, the common black waLuut. There are twenty species of fungi which are kno\vn to attack it. Quite a good many of these attack the twigs and cause them to die, and probably half are leaf diseases. One, commonly called white rust, a disease of the leaves, attracts mycologists in col- lecting, but it has never been of serious economic importance. Now, as to the butternut, Juglans cinerea. It has about nineteen 56 species of fungi known to attack it, but probably many more will be found wiien the nut is thoroughly studied. Juglans regia, the cultivated Persian walnut, has only about twelve species of fungi recorded from it in this country. There are, undoubtedly, more to be found. Of these fungi the walnut bacte- riosis, caused by a bacterial germ is more important than all the rest of the parasites put together w^e can easily say. The California walnut bacteriosis has turned up at various points in the East. The twig blight form of this disease is also prevalent in various states. The walnut blight or bacteriosis is therefore to be figured with in planting the Persian walnut in the East. Professor Smith : Is it worse or better here than in California? Professor Waite : There have not been enough walnuts grown here in groves to allow the disease to accumulate — to have a fair test for that, Professor Smith. I don't believe we know; but it is, un- doubtedly, a parasite of our native black walnuts. It occurs in Texas and Louisiana, and I think we have it in or near Buffalo, N. Y., and in New Jersey, so if I were planting extensively I should expect that disease to be serious. That would be my forecast of the matter. The humidity and the cloudy weather in the East ought to be more favorable to the disease than the climate of California. Mr. Jones: For that reason I should think the disease would work fast in the Gulf Coast. Professor Waite : Yes, those specimens of yours seem to show a very serious condition. "We must not pass over the chestnut without noting that there are thirty species of fungi attacking it, and that does not include the new one, the bad one, the chestnut bark disease. The filbert blight belongs with the diseases of the European grape and sweet cherry. The filbert is an example of a European plant introduced into the eastern United States attacked by a native para- site which almost drives it out of cultivation. In fact, there are so few filberts in cultivation even now that if we were trying to plan a spraying experiment on them we would not know where to find a plantation suitable for carrying on the experiment. If any of you know of any such plantations I would like you to let me know about them. The Chairman : We will have some in two or three years. Professor Waite : Here is a sample of the filbert fungus taken from our pathological collection. It shows the mature fruiting bodies of the fungus and it also shows that the twigs are killed. 57 This fungus is known as Cryptosporella anomala. It was described as Diatrypc anomala by Peck of Albany, N. Y., but was afterwards found to belong to another genus. There have been two or three articles published on it, the best one probably by Humphrey in Massacliusetts. I have an abstract of that which can be copied in the proceedings, if j^ou wish. (See Appendix.) The fact that this Cryptosporella is related to the black knot of the plum is an interesting feature ; and that it attacks the growing canes during the growing season and fruit during the fall and winter. He suggests the treatment of removing all the infected branches during the fall and winter. I would add to that, complete eradication of all diseased branches of the host, and they are rather easily seen, in the fall as soon as the leaves are off — then a thorough spraying Avith strong Bordeaux mixture, at least 5-5-50, preferably stronger than that, of course burning all the material that you cut out. One is at a disadvantage if there are wild hazelnuts in the neighborhood. How to handle that problem I am hardly prepared to state ; perhaps, by eradication of the wild hazelnut in the vicinity. The Secretary : I think that would be impossible in most regions. Professor Waite : Mr. Kerr had his growing on the eastern shore on an island where there are no wild hazelnuts and they were not attacked by the fungus. A Member : They are all dead now. Professor "Waite : The number of sprayings during a season is an undetermined question. It will be necessary, probably, to spray two or three times. You can certainly protect the two-year wood in that way by making a fall spraying and a spring spraying. This will keep them thoroughly covered with Bordeaux mixture but whether or not three or four sprayings are necessary remains to be tested. The Chairman : Are any varieties of European hazels immune ? Professor Waite : I have not studied them enough to answer that question. I don't know. They all seem to go down. Perhaps Dr. Deming can answer. The Secretary : I don 't know. Professor Waite : I think that is all I want to say, except one thing, and that is about the physiological aspect of these diseases. I touched upon that phase in discussing the matter of environment in the introduction of foreigners to places where they are not adapted. In some particular seasons and circumstances even the native trees 58 suffer. One type of injury which has caused great trouble with the English walnuts and pecans, and also with apple trees and has also caused trouble with our native red oaks, is freezing when the trees are in a non-resistant condition. There is an example of this within three minutes' walk of this building. Here are the climatic and temperature conditions that bring about disaster, particularly if preceded by a dry season. Let us start with a dry season. The season of 1911 was conspicuously dry in this locality and the adja- cent states of Virginia, "West Virginia and INIaryland, but about the first of September the rains came. Up to that time even the native forest trees such as oaks and chestnuts showed the stress of lack of moisture very seriously and were somewhat yellow and pale looking, mainly from water and nitrogen starvation. When the rains came the wilted trees all greened up, every tree in the parks brightened up, and we had fine growing conditions until October and no cold weather up to New Year's. It was warm that fall and even on New Year's daj'' the warmth was noticeable. On the 12th of January we had the record cold temperature for this locality in the history of the w^eather bureau, except one year. We had fifteen or seventeen below zero and it was as low as thirty-eight in low spots in the Potomac Valley in "West Virginia. Those trees had never been fully shocked into winter conditions. The cambium growth and sap flow had not been stopped and the physiological changes needed to get the trees ready for cold weather had never occurred. They were not ready, not onl}^ as to the bark, but in the trunk and wood. The result was that the trees were seriously injured, the less matured twigs died back, and the trees were frozen on the trunks down to the ground line. In the freeze of 1904 in New York I was surprised to find that the peach trees were not all killed. They were frozen through and through and yet the trees did not die. The question of winter injury hinges not alone on low temperature, but it also depends on the condition which the tree has reached when the cold strikes it. Now, to tell you still further about what that cold wave did, I will ask you to look at that row of red oaks near the Smith- sonian which I just alluded to and see the big ribs of dead bark where the cambium lajer has been shocked, and checked in other places. You will find these trees ribbed and ridged to about half way dow^n the row. Those trees are subject to special disadvan- tages ; they lack subsoil drainage and they have an excess of manure draining do^vn through the paving stones. They have an excess of nitrogen and lack of drainage. The subsoil is a heav^^ clay. That brings up another thing that I want you to notice in regard to 59 winter injury. Plant not only hardy varieties, but select localities with good subsoil drainage. The walnuts and hickories, belonging to the two great families of juglans, and the oaks and chestnuts.. want good subsoil drainage. Where the underlying rocks are vertical the conditions are ideal. They do not like a heavy clay subsoil, but do best where water and excess nitrogen can get away. The general summary I want to make is this : Nut trees have a large number of fungus parasites. In a few cases the native fungus parasites attack European or Old World species and varieties to such an extent as to make very serious problems, so much so tliat they can not be regarded as solved, the walnut bacteriorosis and filbert blight being examples of these. On the other hand, most of the native fungus parasites of our native trees are not to be feared as enemies of these trees, not only in the northeastern United States where this body is endeavoring to further a good cause, but over the whole eastern United States. These parasites in some cases may be serious enough to justify spraying and other lines of treatment, especially in the nursery. On the other hand, considering the nature of nut trees and considering the results of work on the pecan scab, the object of the nut grower should be to breed and select as far as possible resistant sorts, to work on and select native species and hybrids particularly where the native trees will give the necessary hardiness, immunity and resistance. The outlook, therefore, is promising for the cultivated varieties of hickory nuts and walnuts that I know you are all working for. Foreign parasites are always dangerous. Tliis chestnut blight fungus comes into any such scheme as that like a bombshell. When it comes to an introduced parasite like that we can not tell what will happen. I thank you for your attention. The Chairman : I think everybody here will agree with me, when you come to look over this list of amounts appropriated for work in nut culture investigation, that there will be no further criticism of the Department of Agriculture from any member of the association for not doing more in the interests of the nut grower. The Secretary : We are all indebted to Professor Waite for his clear way of stating facts, for resisting the temptation to give a technical talk and for enunciating principles of wide applicability. This question of the blight on the hazel is a most important one for the northern nut growers. Mr. Reed was telling me yesterday about a man from California who went out near some city there and bought 10 acres of land at six hundred dollars an acre, planted 60 almonds and in a few years had the place paid for and was making a good income, two or three thousand dollars a year from his ten acres of almonds. We can do almost, that in the East, I believe, if we can cultivate the European hazel. If it were not for this blight, we could have splendid crops of the hazel. If the govern- ment would grant larger appropriations for nut culture investi- gations it might enable us to find a way to control this disease. Dr. Morris is breeding hazels, however, and hopes to get one which will be immune. Professor Smith : It is a great pleasure to listen to a man who knows what he is talking about. I figured out some years ago that I was going to be a teacher and I decided that I would like to have a chestnut farm also. I got along very nicely, planted my trees and then the chestnut blight came along, and I regard the business, at least as to profits, as in abeyance. We are in a period of particular danger from the importation of foreign plants ; we are bringing in perfectly innocent-looking things from other countries which are causing us great damage. I want to suggest to any one here who wants to plant an orchard, to plant two kinds of trees. If my nut orchard had been planted with something besides chestnuts, I would now have that something else. I would suggest the possibility of having two things on the same ground — say chestnuts and English walnuts — so if the planter finds he cannot raise one he can still have the other. Then he will not be in the same place I am with my chestnuts. The Chairman : I understand we have Mr. FuUerton of Long Island here, and we would be pleased to have him give us some of his experiences. Mr. Fullerton : I just came in to see what you folks are doing and I don't think I can pose as a nut expert. I live on an island that has a great many varieties of nuts on it that have become native. We have quite a plantation of hazelnuts; nobody knows who planted them. They are used by nurserymen to fill orders. Also quite a plantation of magnolias which came from the South a couple of hundred years ago. They are thoroughly acclimated. We have also some of the very largest — and I am going to catch it here because I have never used a tape line — we have some of the very largest and oldest of the Persian walnuts in the United States, which produce annually a big crop of the so-called "English" walnuts. The trees produce the largest walnut I have ever seen, with the thinnest shell. They have been there about one hundred and fifty, two hundred and fifty or three hundred years. They DR. WILLIAM CHAMPION DEMING Secretary-Treasurer of the Northern Nut Growers Association 61 are very large, larger than the black walnuts. Whether they were planted or not I don't know. Their history is probably this : Long Island was a sea-faring community a few hundred years ago. These sailors wlio went out from the island, some of them, loved nuts and they would bring back from other countries nuts or other plants, and now we have a most remarkable mess of trees. We have planted the Japanese walnut, I don't pretend to know which variety, and it began yielding the third year and has yielded every year since, bearing nuts in bunches like grapes. The Chairman : Is it a heart-shaped nut ? Mr. Fullerton : Yes. We have some pecans and some almonds. Against the advice of everybody we planted some almond trees; they started to bear in their third year. The trees are one solid mass of glorious big red blossoms every spring. They bear very heavily and have for three distinct seasons. Hard winter or easy winter, nothing has affected their bloom and they have never had a particle of San Jose scale until this year. The almond grows all over the island. Also the pecan. I planted five varieties of pecans and they are still living and growing very slowly. They have been moved three or four times. Last year we planted seven varieties including the Van Deman and the Stuart and one Indiana variety. One of these trees died and the others were killed back, but they have sent up big shoots. Two years ago an old fellow came up from the middle of the island to see if our pecan trees were the same kind as his. His story was very remarkable. He didn't know anything about trees. He went into town one day and got interested in pecans and bought all the different kinds he could find, all the different shapes. He didn't care what they were — didn't care whether they came from Canada or Mexico — he was the kind of a man who would plant bananas, — and he planted all those pecans and he told me that every one of them grew. He said they all produced nuts. Mr. Pomeroy : The first Persian walnut nursery ever established in the United States was at Flushing, Long Island. The Secretary : I should like to ask how old and how big are the pecan trees that are bearing ? Mr. Fullerton : I think he said seven or eight years. The Chairman : The insect question is one of great interest. Professor Quaintance can give us a good insight into the insects that attack pecan and other nut trees. 62 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO NUT TREES A. L. QUAINTANCE, WASHINGTON^ D. C. I have not very much to say because we have not yet accumulated much information on the subject of nut insects. I am glad to appear before you, however, and to assure you that attention is beijig given to the insect enemies of nuts by the Department. We are not nearly so far advanced in the subject, however, as Pro- fessor Waite, since our specific study of nut insects began only, tliis last spring. At that time we established a laboratory in the South, especially to study pecan insects, as the demand for infor- mation concerning these pests has been very strong. The Bureau of Entomology, however, for a number of years, has published more or less on nut insects, as opportunity offered, and I think I should call your attention to a few of the papers treating of nut insects, and which I recommend that you obtain, if possible : The Nut Feeding Habits of the Codling Moth, Bulletin 80, Part 5, Bureau of Entomology. The Fall Webworm, Farmers' Bulletin 99, U. S. Department of Agriculture. The White-Marked Tussock Moth, Farmers' Bulletin 99, U. S. De- partment of Agriculture. The Bag Worm, Circular 97, Bureau of Entomology. The Apple-Tree Tent Caterpillar, Circular 98, Bureau of Ento- mology. Nut Weevils, Circular 99, Bureau of Entomology. The Red Spider, Circular 104, Bureau of Entomology. The Leopard Moth, Circular 109, Bureau of Entomology. The Walnut Borer, Fifth Report, U. S. Entomological Commission, page 329. The Oak Pruner, Circular 130, Bureau of Entomology. Insects Injurious to Pecans, Bulletin 86, Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station. Insects of the Pecan, Bulletin 79, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. The Walnut Weevil or Curculio, Twelfth Report, State Entomolo- gist of Connecticut, page 240. The Walnut Bud-Moth, Twelfth Report, State Entomologist of Con- necticut, page 253. The above list will furnish information on most of the important nut insects thus far known. Inasmuch, however, as the walnut. 63 pecan, etc., are native trees, it is probable that when these nuts are cultivated they will be attacked by many of the insects which prey upon them in nature. This we have found to be true to a consid- erable extent in the case of the pecan. Many of the pests of hick- ory, for instance, are becoming important enemies of the pecan. We have few requests for information as to the insect enemies of the hazelnut or filbert, practically none as to the almond. I surmise that there is comparatively little injury to the two former crops in the United States, and that in the case of the almond it is largely free from insect pests. The secretary has suggested that I make reference particularly to the insect enemies of the walnut. We have had complaints of severe injury to walnuts in California from the codling moth and walnut aphids. In this state and in the arid sections where walnuts are commercially grown, the codling moth, the well-known apple pest, has turned its attention to the walnut, and under some conditions does serious injury. If walnuts are growing adjacent to pears, the marketing of the crop, which occurs about the time the second brood of larvae is at its height, deprives these insects of further food and they turn their attention to the walnut. The walnut plant lice in California have just been investigated by an agent of the Bureau of Entomology and we now have a paper in press on these insects. We think it propable that spraying will be a satisfactory remedy where the trees are not too large. In the East injury is confined largely to certain caterpillars in- festing the foliage, as the white-marked tussock moth, the fall web- worm, a species of Datana, and occasionally reports of severe injury from red spider are received. Rather recently a good deal of inter- est has been aroused in the so-called walnut curculio by reason of its attacking the shoots and leaf petioles of the Japanese walnut. It attacks also other species of walnut, including the English walnut and the butternut. This pest has been well treated by Doctor Britton in his report as State Entomologist of Connecticut for 1912. While pecans are perhaps not of particular interest to growers of nuts in the Northern States, yet brief reference will be made to some of the insect enemies of the pecan. There are two excellent publications on this subject, as indicated in the list of titles above. I should urge all interested in nut culture to obtain these papers, since some of the insects treated are quite general feeders and may be expected to occur on most all varieties of nuts. The secretary also has asked that reference be made to the hickory bark beetle. This is essentially a forest insect and has 64 been treated by Doctor Hopkins in Circular 144 of the Bureau of Entomology. Attention should be called to an insect rather recently introduced into the New England States, which will probably attack nut crops, namely, the so-called leopard moth, already indicated in the list of titles on nut insects. This pest will prove a difficult one to control, as it infests the trunk and larger limbs. The whole question of the control of nut insects is complicated by the often enormous size of the trees, so that operations, effective in the control of insects, say affecting the apple, are not entirely practical. It is a point to be determined whether it will be profit- able to spray large nut trees, such as the pecan. In some instances we believe that it will be, and the Bureau of Entomology now has in Florida one of the large power spraying outfits, formerly in use in the gipsy moth spraying, to determine the cost and benefits of such work. In concluding these brief remarks I wish again to reiterate my pleasure in having the opportunity of appearing before you, and to assure you of the interest of the Department in the insect prob- lems confronting nut growers. Nut culture is bound to increase enormously and insect injuries will probably correspondingly in- crease. I believe, however, that these injuries will be found con- trollable, as has been determined to be true in the case of practically all important native or introduced crops. The Chairman: We are glad that Professor Quaintance has told us about the different bulletins. The secretary will have a list of these. I am now going to call for Mr. Rhodes, who is an expert propagator of Persian walnuts, and he is going to give a demon- stration on methods of propagating the walnut. Mr. Rhodes : I am employed over at Arlington and I have been helping Professor Lake in his work there at the farm. Last year about the 15th of July we put in about seventy-five grafts using the cleft graft, and the side graft, and at the same time we put in some chip buds. Professor Lake has a little instrument which is known as a chip budder. We used an ordinary bandage, such as surgeons have, which we dipped in a mixture of about two parts wax, one part tallow and one part rosin. We put the bandage in when the solution was at a boil — that made it sticky enough to hold to the bud, and then we cut a hole large enough for the bud to come out. We found budding at that season, in August, more successful than grafting. The stocks were about two inches in diameter ; we put in grafts anywhere from two to tliree feet above the ground, sometimes 65 as many as three grafts. In a great many cases we lost all, and in some cases we lost two. I tried also bench or root grafting, and put in about fifty along about December, and when I took them out in the spring, the scion had covered up nicely, but we had a very dry spell, and through lack of attention, as much as anything else, we didn't get a graft to pull through. I am going to try the same thing this year. Along in July I took several cuttings and put in, and out of ten I got one to live. One proved successful in the soft wood and this coming year I hope to get some of the hard wood kinds to pull through. In grafting I always try to get the cuts as smooth as possible and to make them in one cut, because if you make a second cut you are bound to make some unevenness in it. These cambium layers have to fit right up flush with the edge of the bark. Then we usually wrap them in raffia. We used also what Professor Lake called a bark graft. We got about 10 per cent of those to live. We had better success with the cleft graft and the side graft. In cutting the scion for this side graft I usually cut one side a little longer than I do the other which makes the scion lie closer to the stock. We leave the top on. You can put several on each of those stocks. We were pretty successful with that sort of a graft. For my own personal use, I like this graft for walnuts, and I think we will eventually have better success with that than with any other type. We put the majority of the grafts in I think about the latter part of June or July. I have been afraid to cut the top off before the scion has started to grow. There is too great a flow of sap for the small scion to take up and as a consequence it drowns out the scion. Professor Smith : How far toward the center did you make the cut? Mr. Rhodes : About two-thirds of the way through. The Chairman : You go past the middle ? Mr. Rhodes : Yes. The only thing you have to be careful of is not to cut too far, as then there is danger of breaking off. Mr. Jones : Do you have any particular length for the. cut on the scion ? Mr. Rhodes : No. A great deal depends on the cut you make into the stock. I don't like to cut the scion anj'- further up than the depth we go into the stock wood. Mr. Jones : Any other rule 1 6G Mr. Rhodes : No, it all depends on the size of the stock. If you get a large stock you can cut it larger. The Chairman: We thank you for these explanations. Mr. Rush is an experienced propagator of walnuts and pecans and I want to give him some time to show his methods. I will ask Mr. Rush to give his demonstration. Mr. Rush : I am very glad to show you some of my methods. The only difference between mine and i\Ir. Hutt's is that he is right- handed and I am left-handed. The propagation of the Persian w^alnut may be divided into three divisions, the preparative, the operative and the nursery, and one is as important as the other. Good wood, good weather conditions, good technique and after this you must nurse them. (Mr. Rush gives demonstration of budding.) The Chairman: This is the method I outlined yesterday, but I think ]\Ir, Rush has it better in his hands than I have in my head. INIr. Rush : It is practically the same. I have a good knife with two parallel blades that can be taken off, and put on the grindstone, and got as sharp as a razor. For some things I use a surgeon's knife. The Chairman: We have with us another very expert propa- gator from a little farther south. I am going to ask Jslv. Wiggins to give us the benefit of his observations along this line. Mr. Wiggins: I have not had experience in propagating wal- nuts, except in an experimental way. I have had some experience in the propagation of pecans. IMuch depends on the condition of the stocks. If they are in a good healthy, vigorous, growing con- dition, 3'ou w^ll do better. (Gives demonstration on grafting.) The best time in South Carolina is in August and early Septem- ber. I use but one method of budding and grafting. It is the only one I am successful with. What you call chip budding, I call bud grafting. I get 95 per cent of chip buds to take in the spring. I get the wood when it is dormant. I can find dormant wood even in 'May and June. I usually get it earlier than this, but this year it was in May. Part of these trees were in the shade in the orchard and I got the wood from them. Xiuety-nine out of one hundred were dormant, and about that many lived. The wood was thor- oughly dormant and plump. I cut it right out of the orchard in May or June and got them to live. Of course if you cut scions from the ends of branches, you haven't a chance at all. 67 One thing to remember in the chip graft is not to cut your chip too thin. If you do you will lose a good many. I go right into it. If you do it right it will hurt your finger so you can only work for two or three hours at a time. It won't dry out so quickly if you cut it thick and will stand a better chance to live. I try to get the scion to fit the first time. The Secretary : What do you tie it with after you put on the waxed cloth ? Mr. Wiggins: I use a strip of common cloth out of the store. Your fingers will be waxed enough in working so that the strip does not need to be waxed. You tie it after wrapping it. A Member : Would you protect that with a paper bag ? Mr. Wiggins : No. A Member : Do you place it on the north or south ? Mr. Wiggins: The point that decides the exact place on the stock is the smoothness and greenness and health of it. I pick out the cleanest and best places. The whole top of the tree is above the graft. A IVIember : When do you cut off the tree ? Mr. Wiggins : According to the weather. It takes two or three or four weeks for proper healing. I open up a few and if they are all right, I open all of them. Just as soon as it heals, I cut the top off. Professor Smith: What is your ordinary practice in cutting scions ? Mr. Wiggins : Last year I was sick and got behind with my work so I cut them each day as I needed them. I usually cut them earlier and bury them in a shady place to keep the wood dormant. I can get 100 per cent by chip grafting and in no other way. I don't use the cleft graft at all. The better fit you get in this method of prop- agating the higher the percentage will run. If you make a fit that is not quite a fit, you will be astonished to lose about 95 per cent. If you are just a little more careful, you might get 100 per cent to grow. I can tell by the way it feels when it is right. I use a crude method but succeed with it. I do four hundred in a half day. What is the use of going to another method when I get good results with this ? Professor Smith: You say a half-inch scion on a four-inch stock ? Mr. Wiggins : Yes, on a four-inch stock you get a cut an inch or one and a half inch wide You have a large space that is not covered at all. 68 Professor Smith : They live ? Mr. Wiggins : Yes, of course. Professor Smith : Only touch in.spots ? Mr. Wiggins : On top and bottom and on one side. I get cam- bium together at top — I am careful about that — and then I get on the left side an exact fit but not on the other sides. The Chairman : Have you had much experience with walnuts ? , Mr. Wiggins : No. I should think the best results with walnut as well as with pecans would be by cutting the scion wood the year before. The Chairman : This is certainly a very interesting discussion, but I have another grafter here yet. A demonstration by Mr. Jones will close this morning's session. (Mr. Jones gave a demonstration of cleft grafting stating that he used that method practically altogether.) APPENDIX EEPOKT OF THE SECEETAKY-TEEASUKER Eeceipts : Dues $200.00 Gift 200.00 Sale of report 10.00 Advertisement 15.00 Miscellaneous 7.15 $432.15 Expenses : Deficit $17.54 Eeporting convention 47.13 Printing 355.74 Postage 66.34 Typewriting 19.14 Advertising 6.79 Expense of secretary to Albany 10.05 Expense of secretary to New York 2.75 Miscellaneous 11.72 $537.20 Deficit $105.05 Through the generosity of one of our members the secretary was enabled to issue the annual report, to have other printing done, and to represent the Association at Albany at the conference on the hickory bark borer called by the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of New York. It is not likely that this gift will be repeated and it will be a great misfor- tune if the means for publishing the annual report are not found, as well as for taking up the present deficit of over a hundred dollars. Of course our membership is increasing rapidly and, in the years to eome, we should have members enough to pay our annual expenses, including the pub- lishing of the report. The secretary would like also to have enough to issue reprints or bulletins from time to time. The secretary asks for instructions in the face of this difficulty and would suggest the appointment of a finance committee, not to include the secretary, and to be composed of persons who will work. There might be a similar hard-working committee on programme. The secre- tary is willing to be the clearing house for the Association, but would like to have something to clear besides the cloudy results of his own labors. The secretary has a list of over six hundred names of persons interested in nut culture, which he thinks should be circularized from time to time with reprints, or bulletins, setting forth the importance of, and the advances in, the art of nut culture. The secretary would be pleased if each member would send in a new member dm-ing the year, would send an advertisement of his ovra, or some other person's. 70 business for the annual report, and would pay his own dues promptly on the first intimation from the secretary. Members whose dues for the year are not paid win not receive the annual report and, after a decent interval, their names will automatically drop from the roll of membership and not appear in the next annual report. Except from a financial standpoint the Association may fairly consider that it has had a prosperous year. Our present membership is 134, an increase of 48 over the number reported at the last meeting. (At date of going to press the n.embership is 143.) Three members have resigned and we have lost two by death, Mr. George W. Gschwind of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Mr. W. D. Ellwanger of Eochester, N. Y. (News came during the meeting of the death of Henry Hales of Eidgewood, N. J., the first honorary member of the Association. An account of Mr. Hale 's work with nuts appears elsewhere in this report.) Thirty-one members have failed to pay their dues and have not been sent copies of the report. The secretary asks permission to drop the names of these members from the rolls and that a rule be formulated to guide his action in the future. That interest in nut growing is increasing is shown by the issuance this year of three catalogues devoted entirely to nuts for northern, or northern and middle, planting. One nurseryman grows nothing else. All are members of this Association and the nuts propagated have all been shown at our meetings. The work of the secretary during the year, besides the preparation and issu- ing of the annual report, has been given to answering a large and increasing correspondence, by personal letters and our various bulletins and circulars. The resolutions introduced by the Committee on Eesolutions at the last meeting, and ordered by the Association to be printed and distributed as directed in the resolutions, were sent out by the secretary. A number of very complimentary letters in reply to this were received. Arrangements and announcements were made that all members were to receive a subscription for one year to the American Fruit and Nut Journal as a part of their membership, and that new members would receive in addition copies of both the reports that we have issued. This proved very attractive, but unexpected complications have arisen that have kept the secretary busy explaining why he has been unable to fulfil both of these promises. At the suggestion of Professor Hutt a circular was issued to gather infor- mation about the Persian walnut tree in the North. Eeplies are still coming in and the information obtained has not yet been collated. It shows already, however, that there is a great number of trees in the North; that there are two large centers so far shown, one about Eochester, N. Y., and the other in Ontario, Canada, on the strip of land between Lakes Erie and Ontario, known as the Niagara Peninsula. In both localities reporters speak of hundreds of trees. One grower near Eochester has 225 seedling trees about 27 years old from which he is marketing nuts. The original trees in these locations are often spoken of as grown from seed brought from" Philadelphia at the time of the Centennial Exposition. Another center seems to be about Lancaster, Pa. There it appears that the original trees were brought in by the Germans. Perhaps the Philadelphia trees above referred to had the same origin. This would be a good subject for investigation by some of our Pennsylvania members. There is a tree, said to bear good crops of good nuts, at Newburyport in the 71 extreme northeastern corner of Massachusetts. (Specimens were shown at the meeting.) If not already undertaken by the Government agents, I would suggest the making of a map on which all known bearing trees of the Persian walnut in the East should be located. If not in the Government plan the secretary would under- take to make such a map. In any case he is very anxious to learn as much as possible about these trees and he urges the members to furnish him any knowledge about them that they may have. Circulars to be filled out will be sent on application. A member has offered to give $25 as a prize to be offered by the Association for the best shagbark hickory nut sent in. This offer came too late to make suitable announcement this year, but it is too valuable not to be accepted and encouraged, and I would suggest that either a special committee be appointed to devise means of offering prizes, with the above mentioned sum of $25 as a foundation, or that the matter be referred to the committee on promising seedlings. The Chairman : I think we should take some action on the sec- retary's report. It is before the association. What shall we do about it ? Professor Smith : I move that the situation of the finances be referred to the executive committee. A Member : I second the motion. The Chairman : It is moved and seconded that the matter of the financial standing of the association be placed in the hands of the executive committee. (Motion was carried.) The Secretary: The next is the election of the Nominating Committee. The Chairman: Are there any nominations for Nominating Committee ? Mr. Jones: I place in nomination Professor Smith, Mr. C. A. Reed, Mr. Rush, Mr. Ridgway and Mr. Albert Stabler, Mr. Pomeroy : I second that nomination. The Chairman : It has been moved and seconded that these gentlemen be appointed as a nominating committee to nominate the officers for the ensuing year. (The motion was carried.) RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION NOVEMBER 18 AND 19, 1913 Resolved, That the Secretary of the Northern Nut Growers Association be instructed to keep ' ' an accredited list of northern nut nurserymen, ' ' such list to be made up by the Executive Committee of this Association of such nursery- men as the Executive Committee may feel satisfied make no misrepresentations 72 as to whether the trees they sell are budded and grafted varieties or as to the specific varieties which they sell, or any other statement calculated to mislead the purchaser to his detriment. The said Executive Committee is to have full authority to make any necessary inquiries into the reputation or practices of any nurseryman, and shall take steps as soon as practicable to make up such an * ' accredited list, ' ' and such list shall consist not only of nurserymen who belong to this Association, but of any nurserymen engaged in the sale of northern nut trees. Such accredited list of nurserymen shall be furnished anyone upon inquiry. The Executive Committee shall have full power in making up this list, of accredited nurserymen and shall add to the list from time to time such names as in their judgment shall be entitled to be entered on this list and shall drop from such list any names of such persons as in their judgment at any time violate the standard required for admission to such accredited list. Any nurseryman whose name is to be dropped shall first be notified and permitted to appear before the Executive Committee and be heard and shall, if he chooses, have the right to appeal from the action of said Committee to the Association at any annual meeting, and the majority vote of said Association shaE be binding. PEESENT AT THE FOUETH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NOETHEEN NUT GEOWEES ASSOCIATION At Washington, D. C, November .18 and 19, 1913 Members : Batchelor, Leon D., Logan, Utah Close, C. P., Washington, D. C. Coleman, H. H., Newark, N. J. Crockett, E. B., Lynchburg, Va. Deming, Dr. W. C, Georgetown, Ct, Druckemiller, W. C, Sunbury, Pa. Fullerton, H. B., Medford, L. I. Hume, H. H., Glen St. Mary, Fla. Hutt, W. H., Ealeigh, N. C. Jones, J. F., Willow St., Lancaster, Pa. Kinsell, Mrs. Ida J., Eoek Mills, Pa. Lake, E. E., Washington, D. C. Mayo, E. S., Eochester, N. Y. Pomeroy, A. C, Lockport, N. Y. Prange, Mrs. N. M. G., Jacksonville, Fla. Eeed, C. A., Washington, D. C. Eidgeway, C. S., Lumberton, N. J. Eoper, W. N., Petersburg, Va. Eush, J. G., West Willow, Pa. Smith, J. E., Eoundhill, Va. Stabler, Albert, Washington, D. C. Storrs, A. P., Owego, N. Y. Wile, Th. E., Eochester, N. Y. Van Deman, H. E., Washington, D. C. 73 Others : Editor Life and Health, Washington, D. C. McHatton, Prof., Georgia Frost, Mr., Boston, Mass. Stabler, Mr., Jr., Washington, D. C. Evans, Mr. Lee, Mr. Collins, J. F., Washington Wiggins, J. B., S. Carolina Waite, M. B., Washington Quaintance, A. L., Washington Sober, C. K., Pennsylvania Davis, Mr. Ehodes, Mr., Washington, D. C. Mittlepage, Mrs. T. P., and friends Pomeroy, Mrs. A. C. Keed, Mrs. C. A. Metcalf, Dr. J. B., Washington Eoberts, Horace, Moorestown, N. J. EXHIBITS By George W. Endicott, Villa Ridge, 111. The Boone chestnut and unnamed Boone seedlings, Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, 22 and 24. Staminate parent of Boone. Chinquapin x Boone; Boone x Rochester; Boone X Ridgeley ; Boone > McFarland. Blair, Burrill. best native. Champ Clark, McFarland, President, Ridgeley, Reliance, Rochester, William P. Stark. C. K. Sober, Lewisburg, Pa. Paragon chestnuts. Mrs. Annie E. K. Bidwell, Rancho Chico, Chico, Cal. American sweet chestnut, Italian chestnut, butternuts, black walnuts, I. X. L. almonds, seedling filbert, Bidwell pecan. D. H. Hulseman, Lakeside, Wash. Chelan and Hulseman walnuts. Fancher Creek Nurseries, Fresno, Cal. Eureka, Placentia Perfection, Neff's Prolific walnuts. A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, N. Y. Pomeroy walnuts. C. S. Ridgeway, Lumberton, N. J. Ridgeway walnut. E. S. Mayo, Rochester, N. Y. "Thompson- A von" walnut. L^nnamed seedling. W. S. Devoe, San Luis Obispo, Cal. Santa Barbara walnut. Frank P. Andrus, Almont, Mich. Unnamed seedling walnut. Butternut. E. R. Lake, Washington, D. C. Gingko nut. Pili nuts. 74 Arlington Farm. Juglans sieboldiana. Juglans australis, probably from South America. Twenty-three exhibits of almonds from different California growers. J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa. Lancaster, Nebo, Hall, Rush and Kaghazi walnuts, Barcelona filberts, Weiker and La Fevre shellbark hickories. Prof. V. R. Gardner, Experiment Station, Corvallis, Oregon. Eleven varieties of filberts. W. C. Reed & Son, Vincennes, Ind. Beard, Indiana, Kentucky, Letcher, Luce, Major, Niblack, Posey, and War- rick pecans. T. P. Littlepage, Boonville, Ind. Kentucky pecans. J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa. Lancaster and Holden walnuts, Weiker shellbark and Kirtland shagbark hickories, Barcelona filberts and photographs of the Lancaster tree. Ninety-six exhibits of southern grown pecans by various exhibitors. WILDEE MEDAL FOE EXHIBITION OF NUTS The American Pomological Society awarded the Northern Nut Growers Association a bronze Wilder Medal for the exhibition of nuts at the fourth annual meeting of the Association at Washington, D. C, November 18 and 19, 1913. GEOEGE W. ENDICOTT— THE BOONE CHESTNUT E, A, EiEHL, Alton, Illinois George W. Endicott was born in Belmont County, Ohio, July 25, 1837. He joined the Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry in 1861, serving nearly three years, when he was discharged owing to wounds received. Then he went to farming in Wayne County. In 1867 he settled at Villa Eidge, 111., devoting himself to fruit and vegetable growing, in which he was eminently successful. Mr. Endi- cott was a man of strong character and a leader in his community. Energetic and up to date in all his operations, he procured and tested all kinds of new fruits as fast as introduced. He died at his home November 14, 1913. Of the greatest interest to the nut growers of this country was his work of creating the Boone chestnut. About 1888 Mr. Endicott conceived the idea of producing a cross between the American and Japan chestnuts and getting one combining the sweetness of the native with the large size, early ripening and young bearing habits of the Japan. He encountered an obstacle in the fact that the Japan blossomed before the native and it was not until seven years later that he found a native blossoming early enough to make the cross. In the spring of 1895 he carefully hand pollinated some Japan Giant with the pollen of this early flowering native, sacking the same to prevent other pollen reaching them. The seed so produced was planted in the spring of 1896 in rich soil that had been used as a vegetable garden. One of the seeds so planted bore six burs in 1897, eighteen months after planting the seed and has produced crops every year since as follows: 1898, 1 pound of nuts; 1899, 3 pounds of nuts; 1900, 5 pounds of nuts; 1901, 6 pounds of nuts; 1902, 8 pounds of nuts; 1903, 12 pounds of nuts; 1904, 17 pounds of nuts; 1905, 25 pounds of nuts; 1906, 31 pounds of nuts; 1907, 43 pounds of nuts; 1908, 50 pounds of nuts; 1909, 56 75 pounds of nuts; 1910, 5 pounds of nuts (early bloom killed by late freeze); 1911, 80 pounds of nuts; 1912, 76 pounds of nuts; 1913, 140 pounds of nuts— a grand total of 568 pounds from the time of planting the seed seventeen years ago. This nut is of very good quality, has large size, ripens early and comes into bearing very early. Has been well tested and proven to be one of the best chestnuts we have. It has but one fault, it is very hard to propagate by either budding or grafting. Mr. Endicott and others have grown many seedlings of Boone, but none are in all respects as good as the parent. Mr. Endicott did a good work in producing the Boone chestnut and deserves the thanks of the nut growers of this country. LETTEE FEOM G. H. COESAN, TOEONTO, CANADA My place of 15V2 acres just west of Toronto, is in a small valley containing sandy, gravelly and clay soils, while the creek bottom land is rich black humus. My efforts are purely experimental and the losses do not worry me as I simply wish to know what will succeed in this district. Peaches and grapes grow on my place. Last winter I bought twelve Paragon chestnut trees from Colonel Sober. All twelve are alive and looking well and this fourth day of November are just turning color and dropping their leaves. You will probably remember that of the three samples that Colonel Sober displayed at the convention last year I took the walking stick. I had to go to Columbia and other South Carolina points for three weeks afterwards, so that it was well into January before I finally got the "walking stick" planted. Well, it is also alive and has that well-known Paragon form, five fan-shaped shoots above the graft. I planted seeds from all over the world, in rows, and of ten bushels of black walnuts only five nuts sprouted. On the other hand, every pecan came up. Hickories and English cob nuts behaved a little better than the black walnuts. I slip a little collar of tar paper over each little tree to protect it against field mice, rabbits and ground hogs. Eed squirrels trouble me the least of all the pests as I cannot keep them out of my double section wire rat trap, and the pet stock men give my boys 30 cents apiece for them. I also bought a dozen Pomeroy walnuts last winter for experiment. They are all alive but the extraordinary late and early frosts were hard on them and nipped them down three inches from the top where they again sprouted out. This occurred to all but one tree which positively refused to take any notice of either the late or the early frost. I consider this one tree worth many times the money I paid for the dozen. My experiments are only two years old but I will mention that my English filberts or Kentish cob nuts are doing well, also my Battle Creek persimmon seedlings that I planted in an exposed position two years ago. Seeds from those Battle Creek persimmon trees can be procured from Dr. J. H. Kellogg by writing him. They are the two most northern persimmon trees which I have discovered so far. The fruit is good to the taste and the trees have lived through terribly cold winters. I mention this as many of you are fruit growers also and want to get persimmon stock in order to graft the Japanese persimmon on. The female tree every second year is loaded to the point of breakage and should do well for stock. 76 Speaking about procuring seeds from dealers, 1 can get here and there for one cent as much as I have to pay the dealer a dollar for. For instance, while passing through Phoebus, Va., I asked a lady what she wanted for Juglans sieboldiana and she said 5 cents a quart or -35 cents a peek. She only got 16 bushels from a 20-year-old tree! They were bigger and better specimens than I got from Japan at about five nuts for one dollar, postage extra. Then I wrote to a gentleman who had a small tree of Juglans cordiformis in Ontario and he said that he only had a bushel which he was expressing to me and to send him a dollar! Think, and the Japs sent me three nuts for one dollar ! ! A lady at Niagara Falls, Ontario, told me that she had a little tree of J. sieboldiana so I asked her the price and she sent me half a bushel and said to pay the express charges which were a quarter! And it is the same waj'^ with these forest seed merchants, they send me for dollars the seeds of pinus edulis and i:)inus Koriensis that it would take a power- ful microscope to discern, and I afterwards bought of a fruit merchant in Milwaukee a big glassful for a nickel! Roadside planting is a failure, for, besides rodents little and big, there are all kinds of animals from sheep to horses to destroy them, so that I have to plant all my trees at least four feet within my fence line. Juglans Mandshurica seed I find impossible to procure so far. There are twO' magnificent trees in Toronto planted by an old man who is dead now. These trees show no sign of ever having been winter killed and are 13 and 19 feet high but have not fruited yet. The leaves are very long and the trees resem- ble the stag horn sumach, except that they are distinctly Juglans in appearance ;; but the growth of the year 's shoots is thick and long like a coppice growth. LETTER FROM W. C. REED, VINCENNES, INDIANA The Indiana pecan tree bore a splendid crop of about 3i/^ bushels. The Busseron also had a good crop on all the old wood and some on the new wood. The Busseron is just recovering from a severe cutting back by the owner and should be in shape to give a good crop next year. Other pecans in the vicinity bore a very light crop. The Niblack bore only a few nuts this j^ear. Butterick had a very good crop, for an off year, some five bushels as reported to me, and they were well filled. This tree is very large, 4^^ feet in diameter, 90 foot spread, located near Gray- ville. 111. The writer and my son, M. P. Reed, have top worked quite a number of large black walnuts, ranging from 3 to 9 inches in diameter. They were cut back last spring and budded in the new growth this summer, setting from 20 to 40 buds in some of the trees. Buds of the Hall, Pomeroy and Rush have taken well and look very promising. Of other varieties only a limited number have taken. We will top work several large trees this coming summer and should get results soon from these. Pecans in the nursery have made a very satisfactory growth. The stand of buds was only fair, in some cases poor. We still have a limited number of Indiana and Busseron trees but the supply of other kinds is exhausted for this year. We have planted 600 pounds of pecans and 50 bushels of walnuts and with the seedlings we have on hand in nursery hope to have plenty of stock to work in the future. We had a splendid stand of grafts of the Major pecan the past spring and some of these made 4 feet of growth and calipered %-inch, for grafts set May 1st. THE LATE HENRY HALES AS A NUT CULTURIST H. W. Hales, New Jersey About 1876 he and the celebrated writer and agriculturist, An- drew S. Fuller, made extensive experiments with the large English lilbert, — mostly of the Kentish cob varieties. These proved un- adapted to the climate as the trees seemed to run all to growth and bore very few nuts. About this time, also, very extensive plans were laid to propagate by grafting the Hales Paper Shell Hickory. There is probably no more difficult tree in existence to graft than the hickory as, owing to the extreme hardness and close grain of the wood there is always an uncertainty about their uniting perma- nently, consequently the percentage of perfect trees was always small. Mr. Hales tried all kinds and methods of grafting, some were done on stocks that stood naturally in the fields, others were grafted in greenhouses, then again, others were tried in frames or sashes, and large numbers were grown in pots, and success was only attained after years of time and thousands of dollars were spent. Mr. Hales was also an enthusiastic grower of the English or Euro- pean walnut and one tree which grew on his farm at Ridgewood was grown from seed given him by ex-Mayor Daniel F. Tieman rtf New York City many years ago. Japanese walnuts were also grown on the farm at Ridgewood and some of these are now bearing. A large number of Japanese chest- nuts were planted some years ago, and while these bore heavily for a short time they nearly all succumbed to the chestnut blight. There is some difference of opinion among nut growers on the subject, but Mr. Hales was always of the opinion that the chestnut blight was introduced into this country with the Japanese trees, and that when the Japanese trees were gone the disease then spread to the native trees. The Hales Paper Shell Hickory, it may be remarked, still holds the palm as being the largest and thinnest shell nut, and it was only by the most persistent and painstaking efforts that Mr. Hales succeeded in propagating them at all. A large number of chestnuts were grown by Mr. Hales, such as the Numbo and other varieties. Some of these were said to be purely American varieties and others hybrids, or crosses. All of the hybrid varieties seemed to lack the hardy constitution of the American and although some of the nuts were very large he did not succeed with them in the long run as well 78 as with the native varieties. Pecans of all kinds were tried by him and choice specimens were obtained from all parts of the. country. Like the hickories these were grown and grafted in different ways and the percentage of good results was always much larger than the hickories. Grafting the hickory on the pecan was of course tried, and this proved one of the best ways of propagating the hickory. Everything that he could possibly think of or do was brought to bear in his efforts at nut culture and it is some satisfaction to know that many nut lovers will have the benefit of his work and efforts, long years after he has passed away, the hickory especially being a very slow growing and long lived tree. ABSTRACT OF PAPER BY HUMPHREY Filbert. Black knot, Cryptosporella anomala Humphrey, James Ellis. Mass. Agr. Exp. Sta., 10th an. rept., 1892, p. 242-243. The author describes this fungus as killing the canes of the Euro- pean hazel, Corylus avella^ia, at Palmer, Mass. The fungus appears in the form of protuberances with elliptical bases that burst the bark and rise rather thickly from the affected portions of the branch. The diseased portion is sunk below the surface of the healthy part. The interior of the protuberance, which is the fruiting part of the fungus, contains numerous black, flask-like structures whose tips reached the surface. Within the cavities of these flasks are formed the very numerous spindle-shaped spore cells, each containing, when ripe, eight colorless elliptical spores. The author noticed that the inner bark on the part of the branch occupied by the fungus is re- duced to a narrow black line between the wood and the outer bark. This reduction in the thickness of the inner bark explains why the surface of the affected parts is sunken. If the entire circumference of a cane becomes involved, the result is that it is girdled, and the part beyond necessarily dies. The attacks of this fungus on the host-plant are essentially similar in their results to those of the black knot of the plum, though the immediate effect on the inner bark is here one of atrophy, while in the latter case it is one of hypertrophy. The fungus is also related to the black-knot fungus on the plum, but its life-history is not yet knoAvn. There may be other spore forms in its life cycle, and therefore it is impossible to give any more definite suggestions for avoiding it than to recommend that infected branches be cut away well below the point of infection and burned as soon as they are seen to be infected. 79 THE TRUTH ABOUT TREE PLANTING WITH DYNAMITE. [Note by the Secretary. — As planting with dynamite has been especially recommended for nut trees, on account of their long tap roots which have the habit of growing down until they reach permanent water; as there has been some difference of opinion among horticulturists as to the merits of tree plant- ing, in general, with dynamite; and in order that nut growers may know how to use this method as advised by the dynamite makers, in case they may wish to try it in setting their trees, the foUovring description of the method advised, from the pen of Mr. George Frank Lord of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company, is here printed.] During the past two years there has been considerable discussion in the agricultural press on the merits of dynamite in tree planting. The majority of orchardists who have tried the new method are en- thusiastic over the results, but now and then we hear someone con- demning the practice, and stating that they have tried it with poor results. It would appear from investigation that the theory of the use of dynamite in tree planting is a good one, but that the practice is sometimes incorrect, and hence fails to produce the desired results. Purpose of Dynamiting for Tree Planting : In the first place, to secure successful results it is necessary to understand clearly what the dynamiting is to accomplish. Some orchardists and farmers have the idea that the purpose of the dynamite is to excavate the hole for the tree and save them the trouble of shoveling out the soil. This is a wrong theory. The object of dynamiting for tree planting is to break up the subsoil at a depth of from three to five feet so as to create a soil sponge or water-absorbing area twelve or twenty feet in diameter around and underneath the spot where the tree is to stand, so that the heavj^ rainfalls and melting snow of spring may be conserved in the subsoil to take care of the tree during the long dry summer. If the force of the dynamite is used merely to blow out the soil and make digging unnecessary, it is unreasonable to expect the dynamite to do this underground work. On the other hand, when the charge is properly placed at a depth of about three feet and tamped in just enough to confine most of the force of the explosion in the subsoil, the blast will not only crack and pulverize the sub- soil, but will also break up the ground around the bore hole clear to the surface, and throw it into the air, possibly a foot. It is then a very easy matter to excavate the hole for planting. 80 Necessary Soil Conditions : There is no economy nor advantage in using dynamite in a soil that is loose and sandy to a depth of ^three or four feet. The weak- ness of this soil is that it allows water to percolate through it too rapidly, hence dynamite would be harmful rather than helpful under such conditions, but no matter how loose the top soil or plowed soil may be, if it is underlaid by more or less impervious clay, or even a heavy loam, dynamiting under proper conditions \^^ll certainly increase its water-storing capacity, and also make it easier for the roots to grow downward and deep. The proper conditions referred to are that the blasting must be done when the subsoil is relatively dry, otherwise it will not crack or pulverize. Every farmer knows the disadvantage of plowing wet top soil. It is equally disadvantageous to blast a wet subsoil. Of course, some subsoils are always in a more or less damp condi- tion and never get thoroughly dried out, but they may be safely and advantageously blasted when they are in their dryest condition. AVater-logged soil should never be blasted except for the purpose of ditching it or tiling it so as to get it into a proper condition for blasting. The ditching may be done economically and quickly with dynamite, and in many cases this will answer just as well as the more expensive tiling. When the ditching or tiling has drained this subsoil, it may then be safely blasted. Filling the Fot-Holes : In any heavy soil the explosion of the dynamite tends to form a cavity in the immediate vicinity of the cartridge, varying from one to two feet in diameter. The heavier or the wetter the subsoil, the larger this cavity is likely to be. After the blast the top soil should be shoveled out and laid to one side; next shovel out the subsoil and lay it on the other side of the hole ; continue this exca- vation until the pot-hole is reached, then be careful to fill this hole reasonably tight with subsoil, the object being to prevent the possi- bility of soil falling away from the roots of a tree after planting, and leaving it suspended in the air. This is the cause of the death of trees planted in dynamited holes which some unsuccessful ex- perimenters report. It takes a little time to fill this pot-hole, but the many advantages of planting trees properly in dynamited holes more than offset this extra time and trouble required to properly prepare the hole. 81 Planting the Trees : After the pot-hole has been filled, continue to shovel in subsoil until the proper height is reached for planting the tree, then throw in half the top soil and spread the roots on that in their natural positions, then throw in the remainder of the top soil, next get in the hole and walk around the tree several times, tramping the top soil down tight around the roots so as to remove all large air spaces that surround the roots, then fill the hole to the surface with sub- soil. Planting a tree in this way costs a few cents more per tree than the old way, but since the tree can only be planted once and the comparative records as to loss of trees the first year after plant- ing, show an average advantage of 30 per cent, in favor of dyna- mited trees, namely, the loss is cut down from three to five trees per hundred, a dynamited tree grows so much more vigorously and produces fruit from one to two years earlier, therefore it pays to take the extra trouble and do the job right. The editor of Successful Farming was at one time skeptical as to the use of dynamite in tree planting, but has been convinced from personal observation of its use in large commercial orchards, and from letters from various subscribers, that it is an important and valuable innovation in horticulture, provided it is used with proper care and discretion. CORRESPONDENTS AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN NUT CULTURE ALABAMA Carver, George W., Director Department Research, Tuskegee Institute ARIZONA Kams, H. G., Kams Bros., Inc., Nogales ARKANSAS Shadle, E. A., England Watkins, J. A., Warren Hamilton, Ed., Wynne Meek, W. H., Hot Springs Jones, Herbert A., Plumerville St. John M., Wrightsville CALIFORNIA Payne, George C, Campbell Fitzgerald, Dr. W. W., Stockton Thomberry, Lordsburg Fuller, L. E., 1643 Sunset Blvd., San Diego Tribble Brothers Nursery Co., Elk Grove 6 82 CANADA Griffith, H. K., Grimsby Berge, Miss Alice, 251 Queenston Street, St. Catherines Neller, Louisa, Grimbsy Book, Beverly, Grimsby East Fee, J. J., Niagara Street, St. Catherines Solvyne, F. D., Carlton Street, St. Catherines Titherington, James, Carlton Street, St. Catherines COLORADO Coryell, P. C, Newcastle CONNECTICUT Moore, R. D., Colchester Osbom, George S., Bristol White, T. P., Wilton Clingan, Una A., Robertsville Rockwell, F. P., Rockfall Bradley, John T., 180 Prospect Street, Bristol Bradley, Capt. Ralph, 459 W. Main Street, Meriden Martin, William, Hvdl Street, Bristol Brown, Ronald K., Colchester Hull, George W., Bristol Sage, HoUister, Waterbury DELAWARE Rimaford, Dr., Wilmington Reed, E. B. & J. M., Frederica Tisdale, J. B., Magnolia Ellis, G. L., MiUsboro Marks, Walter L., Smyrna Matthews, W. C, Room 563, duPont Bldg., Wilmington DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Burkholder, 1820 M Street N. W., Washington Fales, Dr. W. D., 78 T Street N. W., Washington FLORIDA Cuzner, A. T., Gihnore GFORGIA Fows, J. William, Adjutant Professor of Horticultural, State College of Agri- culture, Athens Hardman, Dr. L. G., Commerce IDAHO Gehman, S. A., Boise Coventry, Neil S., Box 95, Coeur d'Alene Temple, C. E., Agricultural Experimental Station, Moscow Cattermole, Dr. P. F., Lewiston DeHaven, James, Probate Judge, Grangeville Reed, P. O. Box 587, Weiser Konrad, Henry, P. O, Box 136, Boise 83 ILLINOIS Burg, F. W., Dallas City King, Thomas H., 113 North Hazel Street, Danville Krause, John 0., 1341 Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago McCready, James, 1533 Portland Avenue, Chicago Heights Ricks, R. L., Staunton Roth, C. L., R. F. D. 3, Chenoa Newell, Jesse W., Country Life Club, Drawer 418, Girard Knapp, William, 854 No. Paulina Street, Chicago Hoffman, Frank H., 712 Federal Street, Chicago Voight, H. R., Bonfield Wells, Oscar, Farina Bunker, Gerald L., 408 So. Spring Avenue, La Grange Ernest, Otto M., 4238 Randolph Street, Chicago Reeves, C. H., Jr., 6453 Iowa Street, Oak Park Dupont, 2911 W. 39th Street, Chicago Fletcher, Joe, Zion City Lunak, Dr. Karel, 1662 Blue Island Avenue, Chicago Miller, C. Lester, Monmouth Yost, Z. F., 109^ W. Madison Street, Pontiac Poll, Carl J., 1009 Maple Street, Danville Warren, Ezra T., R. F. D. 1, Atlanta Hohnes, T. H., 2816 Logan Bldg., Chicago INDIANA Payatte, Charles, Columbus Pershing, Henry A., South Bend Fife, Earl H., Franklin Fisher, J. T., Franklin Stevens, S., New Ross Officer, William, Madison Sage, Thomas V., Greencastle Bone, Mrs. C. W., 140 No. Grant Street, W. Lafayette Mathers, Frank C, Indiana University, Bloomington Comstock, C. H., 1605 Talbott Avenue, Indianapolis (Interior Hardwood Co.) McNamee, H. H., Honeywell Heating Specialty Co., Wabash Waltermire, Guy, WTiisler Block, Marion Cherry, William, Jr., Chnton, R. F. D. 3, Box 3, Clinton Shilts, J. H., Columbia City McGregor, D. R., Marion Summers, W. R., Georgetown IOWA Wilhelm, Roy E., Osage Haas, AUred L., Suite 306, Utica Bldg., Des Moines Garrett, Charles O., Willow Hill Farm, R. F. D. 1, MitcheUville Rose, Morton L., Box 633, Colfax Stoddard, Dr. Charles, Boone KENTUCKY Ragland, Colby B., Frankford Pyme, P. P., 530 Center Street, Henderson Aspinwall, F. E., Cedar Springs Farm, La Grange 84 MAINE Wentworth, Herbert, Skowhegan Paine, G. S., Winslow MARYLAND Onion, J. L., Sharon Beall, Olin, P. O. Box 19, Frostburg Landwehr, F. W., Gambrills Stricldand, C. W., Berlin Myer, E. H., Keedysville Wooden, Ernest E., 1029 Calvert Bldg., Baltimore Cox, Mrs. Annie D., Glen Morris Lankford, Mrs. Ida M., Princess Anne Bowman, W. E., Snow Hill Hudson, P. O., Harold Franklin Davis Nurseries, Baltimore Evans, H. Cecil, 126 W. 25th Street, Baltimore Kerr, Dr. Eugene, Monkton MASSACHUSETTS Chase, J. S., Maiden Pressey, C. Park, 8 Beacon Street, Boston Bridges, Herbert C, Box 246, North Cohasset Marlborough, James, Topsfield, care of T. E. Proctor Estate Stevens, Abel T., Wellesley Smith, Fred A., Director Independent Agricultural School, Hathorne Wallis, Fred H., 27 Conant Street, Beverly Schultz, Mrs. Fritz, 335 Cornell Street, Roslindale Kjiight, C. F., Rowley Jenks, Albert R., Hampden County Improvement League, Springfield Thrasher, Miss Mertia P., Sharon Crowell, Elkanah, Hyannis Mason, H. R., Falmouth Kimball, G. N., 10 Whitlowe Road, West Newton Graves, Louise B., 8 Chestnut Street, Boston Jones, Dr. L. A., Falmouth Bingham, Dr. Russell, Fitchburg Robbins, A. N., Puritan Fruit Co., 13 Faneuil Hall, Boston MICHIGAN Carter, Bert, Middleville Rhodes, W. E., Maple Street, Albion Wiegand, Frank J., 970 E. Canfield Avenue, Detroit Foote, Mrs. W. K., Milford Miller, Orville I., Augusta Veith, Alfred C, 56 Haynes Avenue, Detroit MINNESOTA Savage, L. H., Red Wing Guinotte, 653 Lincoln Avenue, St. Paul Ramer, W. A., 1542 Hillside Avenue, No. Minneapolis 85 MISSOURI Cloden, Charles J., Kansas City James, William H., Lock Box 174, Mountain Grove Van Realte, C, General Delivery, Sedalia Black, J. W., Silica Kirkpatrick, J. H., Richmond McKinney, J. F., Bolivar Herter, O, F., 2757 Russell Avenue, St. Louis Rust, R. S., Hardin McCrary, Byron B., El Dorado Springs Stevenson, Marion, 2710 Pine Street, St. Louis Bennington, W. M., 118 Wabash Avenue, Kansas City NEBRASKA Bessey, Charles E., Department of Botany, University of Nebraska, Lincoln Kerr, Leslie, 830 S. 21st Street, Omaha Stewart, L. L. E., Brown Block, Omaha Bicknell, Miss Lula, Randolph NEVADA Van Derwerker, Jerome L., Washoe County, Bank Bldg., Reno Colby, Forest, Enfield NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW JERSEY Hervey, Orlanda, Verona Hale, H. E., Preston Clark, Herbert H., Crystal Lake Morris, B. L., 179 Orving Avenue, Bridgeton Anderson, S., 612 Mt. Prospect Avenue, Newark Hampton, George, Bridgeton Pettengill, George T., 25 Essex Avenue, Orange Stevens, C. W., Jr., 13 Kirkpatrick Street, New Brunswick Goodwin, A. T., Greenwick, Cumberland County Brarens, J. E., Martinsville Sked, N. S., Pennington NEW YORK MuUigan, F. I. L., Earlville Pickering Brothers, Fairport Warren, G. W., Ilion Hospital, Ilion Baker, A. A., Hoosick Falls Towner, A. B., Fillmore Kinney, H. C, McGraw Benton, F. M., Northville Nichols, S. S., Brockport Bailey, A. L., The Birkett Mills, Penn Yan Robbins, Mrs. Howard C, 209 Madison Avenue, New York City Wells, Mrs. J. Harrae, 105 Sound Avenue, Riverhead, L. I. Whitmore, B. F., 520 Park Avenue, Rochester Moore, William C. & Co., Newark 86 Seeley, Col. Charles, Suite 618, 1472 Broadway, New York City Siddons, H. E., 214 Glenwood Avenue, Rochester Sleight, David B., Arlington Klamroth, Wilfred, lU W. 37th Street, New York City Bear, C. E., P. O. Box 192, Madison Square Station, New York City Champlin, C. A., Hammondsport Bingle, C. W., 214 Marion Street, Brooklyn Fiske, Haley, 1 Madison Avenue, New York City King, John H., P. O. Box 18, Middletown Curtis, H. D., Manlius Ireland, J. J., Clarkson Tack, E. C, Newark Hyde, Fred W., 201 Main Street, Jamestown NORTH CAROLINA Williamson, I. W., Carthage Boyce, John P., Morven Morrison, G. W., TaylorsviUe Hanes, F. Francis, Greensboro Howard, P. Joe, Pomona Breece, J. S., R. F. D. 6, Fayetteville HoUingsworth, W. F., Glade Valley, North Carolina School Harbeck, Dr. E. V., Weaverville McCleod, John A., Carthage Pearson, P. M., Charlotte OHIO Wilson, W. H., North Oak Street, Marion Day, William H., Hedge Hill Farm, North Lima Smith, Fred, Lima Bancroft, vUlen, Garrettsville Smith, Albert M., Flushing Cox, U. T., Proctorville Leonard, Levi, Middletown Kelch, L. R., Nelsonville Witte, O. M., Amherst Sowers, W. L., Cuyahoga Falls Kircher, Fred, 221 So. McDonough Street, Dayton Cruickshank, R. B., State University, Columbus Mann, George, New Burlington, Clinton County McEndree, A. A., Superintendent Public Schools, Canal Winchester Frye, R. W., Farmdale Paulin, W. H., Poland Meyers, A. E., 14 No. Forge Street, Akron Carson, R. B., Fruit Cliff Farm, Middleport Woodmansee, Dr. R. D., 51 E. State Street, Columbus Blackford, L., Akron, R. F. D. 25, Akron Hill, George F., R. F. D. 5, Columbus Compton, WiUiam V., Loveland Denny, Mark E., Middletown Cromer, F. Gillum, 1314 No. Main Street, Dayton Stevens, C. E., P. O. Box 60, Cleveland 87 OKLAHOMA Howell, Mrs. O. E., Oktaha OREGON Lewis, C. I., Chief Division of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Experi- ment Station, CorvaUis Prince, Thomas, Dundee Bond, T. J., PENNSYLVANIA Falkenstein, G. N., Elizabethtown SeUier, W. H., Pequea, Lancaster County- Williams, J. S., Smithton Herr, Martin, Lancaster Smith, L. M., Carbondale Deisher, H. K., Kutztown Lutes, C. C, Noxen Scott & Hill, Erie Gray, Will H., R. F.D. 3, Amity McBumey, Canonsburg, Pa. Kocher, Dr. J. F., Walberts Homer, 6J South Street, Warren Spangenberg, Edward, 337 W. 11th Street., Erie Degehnan, William C, 435 Sixth Avenue, Pittsburgh Scarborough, Henry W., 522 Walnut Street, Philadelphia Heim, H. G., 508 Pine Street, Williamsport Zeller, Edwin J. P., 1228 Buttonwood Street, Philadelphia Burket, Mrs. John W., Tyrone, R. F. D., Blair County KlefTman, F. T., 1114 Twelfth Street, Altoona Brinton, William, Glen Rose, Chester County, Johnston, John H., New Wilmington DoUison, H. C, 210 Spring Street, Meadville Corbett, S. W., Department International Revenue, Pittsburgh, Box 51, Kraft, H., 758 E. 10th Street, Erie Treat, Frederick H., Jr., Wayne Hazel, Boyd E., Madisonburg Ballou, C. F., Halifax Barnes, R. G., 1312 Cherry Street, Philadelphia Lawson, J. H., Kittanning Smith, Adam, Columbia, Lancaster County, R. F. D. 1 RHODE ISLAND Warren, R. W., 69 Glenham Street, Providence SOUTH CAROLINA Wiggin, J. B., Holly Hill TENNESSEE Walker, Robert S., Chattanooga Miller, I. F., Morristown Millard, Sam T., Johnson City Rodcheaver, C. A., Newport 88 Smith, A. I., Knoxville Rose, C. E., Nashville Glasgow, CM., Gleason Davis, R. A., Springfield UTAH Mabee, C. R., Chief Chemist, Ogden Portland Cement Company, Brigham City VERMONT Lewis, Mrs. C. A., Grafton Ingraham, Mrs. J. P. Windsor Button, Ira Jay, Hilltop Farm, Wardsboro VIRGINIA Barr, J. W., Norfolk Flanagan, William H., " Waddington, " Elma Grove Bailey Orchard Company, Fishersville Weiss, H. W., Emporia Shands, William, Com-tland Smith, John M., Middleburg Hood, W. T., Richmond Bechtel, J. A., R. F. D. 2, WiUiamsburg Jones, J. B., Sec'y, The Peanut Growers Assistant of Virginia, Elberon Caroer, W. N., Cismont Nourse, H. O., Lyndehurst Duke, W. R., Charlottesville Long, A. R., Krise Bldg., Lynchburg Fletcher, Dr. S. W., Director Agricultural Experiment Station, Blacksburg Clevenger, C. C, Stephenson Purdy, Mrs. R. S., 218 Willard Avenue, Phoebus Meschendorf, H. H., Piedmont Villa, Forest Depot Laing, Sam L., Shores WASHINGTON Kiesling, F. W., 409 Waverly Place, Spokane Quarnberg, A. A., District Horticultural Inspector, Vancouver Reynolds, F. Eliot, Irondale Beebe, Charles S., Jr., Beebe Corkery, Dr. John R., Co. Health Officer, 215 Hutton Bldg., Spokane Bailey, Dr. Edward, Mansfield, Douglas County Coupe, Mrs. Nora D., Coupeville ■WEST VIRGINIA Smoot, John Thurman, Smoot Stricklin, L., Cameron Dennison, William, Bristol Bacon, Nathaniel, Talcott Gary, J. R., Cairo WISCONSIN Richter, W. A., R. F. D. 9, Box 99 N. Milwaukee Shipman, Dr. K. W., 402 Jackman Block, Janesville 89 AUTHORITIES AND SPECIAL COERESPONDENTS The following list is made up of the names of authorities or correspondents whose special knowledge of local conditions enables them to give information or advice of special value. With some of them arrangements have been made to take charge of inquiries and other local nut matters. Some of them are con- nected with state or government experiment or educational institutions and will answer any inquiries. The United States Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, wiU always respond to requests for information, referring them to the best authority available, many of whom are to be found in the various bureaus. The secretary of this Association is always glad to do his best when no better authority is to be found. He intends in the future to refer many inquiries to those who have a better knowledge of local conditions. Alabama Theodore Bechtel, Ocean Springs, Mississippi Arizona Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah C. E. Biederman, Garces, Cochise County Eobert A. Eogers, Forest Service, United States Department of Agricul- ture, Cauille Arkansas S. H. James, Mound, Louisiana J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pennsylvania United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, California Ealph E. Smith, Superintendent of Experiment Station, Berkeley George C. Payne, Campbell , Frank Leib, San Jose Dr. W. W. Fitzgerald, Stockton Harry P. Stabler, Yuba City C. W. Beers, Santa Barbara J. B. Neff, Anaheim Canada Enquire of the Secretary of the Northern Nut Growers Association, Georgetown, Connecticut Colorado Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah. For west of the Eocky Mountains. Connecticut Dr. Eobert T. Morris, Stamford Dr. W. C. Deming, Secretary Northern Nut Growers Association, George- town Delaware J. W. Killen, Felton C. A. McCue, Professor of Horticulture, Newark United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 90 Florida H. Harold Hume, Glen Saint Mary W. W. Carroll, Monticello Georgia Col. C. A. Van Duzee, President National Nut Growers Association, Cairo J. B. Wight, Secretary National Nut Growers Association, Cairo J. W. Firor, Assistant Professor of Horticulture, Athens H. W. Smithwick, Americus Idaho C. C. Vincent; Professor of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Moscow Leon D. Batehelor, Horticulturist, State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah, for southern part of Idaho. Illinois E. A. Riehl, Alton Norman W. Casper, New Burnside Indiana T. P. Littlepage, President Northern Nut Growers Association, BoonviUe C. G. Woodbury, Chief in Horticulture, Purdue University, Lafayette W. C. Eeed, Vincennes Mason J. Niblaek, Vincennes E. L. McCoy, Lake Iowa Dr. A. B. Dennis, Cedar Eapids Kansas United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Kentucky C. W. Matthews, Horticulturist, State Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington Louisiana H. E. Van Deman, Ferriday S. H. James, Mound J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa. Maine D. H. Knowlton, Farmington Maryland F. S. Holmes, M. S., Agricultural Experiment Station, CoUege Park Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Massachusetts Secretary Northern Nut Growers Association, Georgetown, Ct. Michigan F. A. Wilken, Associate Editor Michigan Farmer, Detroit Minnesota Col. C. A. Van Duzee, President National Nut Growers Association, Com- mercial Club, St. Paul A. W. Latham, Secretary State Horticultural Society, 207 Kasota Building, Minneapolis Mississippi Charles E. Pabst, Ocean Springs Theodore Bechtel, Ocean Springs 91 Missouri W. L. Howard, Assistant Horticulturist, Columbia Montana M. L. Dean, Horticulturist, Missoula Nebraska United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Nevada Leon D, Batchelor, Horticulturist State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah New Hampshirp United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. New Jersey J. T. Lovett, Little Silver New Mexico Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah New York Kobert T. Morris, 616 Madison Ave. New York Citj For Long Island Henry Hicks, Westbury Station H. B. FuUerton Director Long Island Eailroad Agricultural Station, Medford North Carolina W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist, Ealeigh North Dakota United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Ohio See Indiana Oklahoma N, O. Booth, Horticulturist, Stillwell Oregon C. I. Lewis, Agricultural College Experiment Station, CorvaUis V. E. Gardner, Associate Professor of Horticulture, CorvaUis J. C. Cooper, Chief Yamhill Walnut Experiment Station, McMinnville Pennsylvania J. G. Eush, West Willow J. F. Jones, Lancaster F. N. Fagan, Department of Horticulture, State College Ehode Island United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. South Carolina W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist, Ealeigh, North Carolina South Dakota United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Tennessee United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 92 Texas A. Caswell Ellis, State University, Austin E. J. Kyle, Professor of Horticulture, College Station Charles L. Edwards, Dallas, Station A, F. T. Eamsey, Austin E. W. Kirkpatrick, McKinney E. E. Blair, United States Experiment Farm, San Antonio J. W. Canada, Houston Utah Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist State Agricultural College, Logan, Vermont United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Virginia W. N. Eoper, Petersburg J. Eussell Smith, Eoundhill Washington A. A. Quarnberg, District Horticultural Inspector, Vancouver West Virginia E. D. Sanderson, Director State Experiment Station, Morgantown Wisconsin James G, Moore, Horticulturist, Madison Wyoming United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D, C. THE CHESTNUT BLIGHT AND IMMUNE HYBEIDS. To persons who are interested in growing chestnuts, the following papers are of importance. They are published in the Journal of Heredity for January, 1914, Paul B. Popenoe, Editor, 511 Eleventh St., N. W., Washington, D. C. ' ' The Chestnut Bark Disease, ' ' by Haven Metcalf , United States Department of Agriculture. ' ' Chestnut Breeding Experience, ' ' by Walter Van Fleet, United States Department of Agriculture. "Chestnut Blight Eesistance, " by Dr. Eobert T. Morris, New York City. The following important publications are not listed in Circular No. 3 : Walnut Culture in California. Walnut Blight. Bulletin 231, Agricultural Experiment Station Berkeley, California, August, 1912. The Persian Walnut Industry in the United States. By E. E. Lake. Bulletin 254, Bureau Plant Industry United States Department of Agriculture, February, 1913. Bulletin No. 1. Yamhill Walnut Experiment Station, MeMinnville, Oregon, January 2, 1914. NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING .^^,^'H^^- EVANSVILLE, INDIANA AUGUST 20 AND 21 1914 NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING EVANSVILLE. INDIANA AUGUST 20 AND 21, 1914 CONCORDl N. H, THE RUMFORD PRESS 1915 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Officers and Committees of the Association 4 Members of the Association 5 Constitution and Rules of the Association 10 Proceedings of the Meeting held at Evansville, Indiana, August 20 and 21, 1914 11 Report of the Secretary-Treasurer 17 Proposed Score Card for Judging Nuts 20 Status and Possibihties of Nut Culture in the North, T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C 23 Discussion on Cultivation and FertUizers for Nut Trees 31 Personal Experiences with Hybridization of Nut Trees, Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York 37 The Use of Dynamite in Tree Planting, C. D. Evans, Delaware 43 Demonstration of Grafting and Budding Nut Trees, R. L. McCoy, Indiana and Paul White, Indiana 47 Discussion on Seedhng Trees 52 Seedling Nut Trees. The Nomenclature of Northern Pecans, Dr. J. Russell Smith, Pennsylvania 54 Practical Suggestions on the Production of Nut Orchards, Dr. C. A. Van Duzee, Georgia 61 The Function of the Class Journal, Ralph T. Olcott, Editor American Nvi Journal 65 Discussion on Top Working Large Nut Trees 68 Report of the Committee on Nomenclature 73 Report of the Committee on Exhibits 74 Report of the Committee on Resolutions 74 Session at Enterprise 75 A Plea for the Planting of Nut Trees, Colonel C. K. Sober, Permsylvania ... 85 Discussion on the Hazel or Filbert 88 Appendix: The History of the Persian Walnut in Pennsylvania, J. G. Rush, Penn- sylvania 93 A Comparison of Northern and Southern Conditions in the Propagation of Nut Trees, J. F. Jones, Pennsylvania 96 Top Working Large Walnut Trees, W. C. Reed, Indiana 101 Interest in Nut Growing in the Intermountain States, Dr. L. D. Batche- lor, Utah 104 Report from G. H. Corsan, Canada 105 Distribution of Persian ("Enghsh") Wabiut SeedUngs in Michigan. . . 107 Examples of Some Recent Correspondence 109 Preliminary Report on the Persian Walnut, by the Secretary 114 Correspondents and Others Interested in Nut Culture 118 Some Recent Literature on Nuts and Nut Growing 124 Present at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Asso- ciation 126 Annual Meeting in 1915 127 OFFICERS OF THE. ASSOCIATION President Vice-President Secretary and Treasurer J. Russell Smith W. C. Reed W. C. Deming University of Pennsylvania Indiana Georgetown, Connecticut Executive T. P. LlTTLEPAGE r. t. moreis And the Officers COMMITTEES Membership W. C. Deming Leon D. Batchelob C. H. Plump Promising Seedlings T. P. LlTTLEPAGE C. A. Reed J. Russell Smith Nomenclature W. C Reed R. T. MoRBis E. R. Lake C. A. Reed R. L McCoy Arizona California Canada Connecticut District of Columbia Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Ireland Kentucky Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Missouri New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Pennsyh ania Tennessee Utah Virginia West Virginia Hybrids R. T. Morris J. R. Smith C. P. Close STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS Press and Publication Ralph T. Olcott T. P. LlTTLEPAGE W. C. Deming C. R. Biederman Claude D. Tribble G. H. Corsan Newman Hungerford Garces Elk Grove Univ ersity of Toronto Torrington, R. 2, Box 76 Union Trust Building. Washington Glen Saint Mary Cairo Alton Lake T. P. Littlepage H. Harold Hume J. B. Wight E. A. Riehl R. L. McCoy Dr. Augustine Henry 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin A. L. Moseley Calhoim C. P. Close Department of Agricultvu-e, Washington James H. Bowditch 903 Tremont Building, Boston H. L. Haskell 209 North Rowe St., Ludington Minneapolis McBaine, R.l Lumberton 213 West 147th St., New York City C. A. Van Duzee Alfred E. Johnson C. S. Ridgway Dr. Ira Ulman W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist Raleigh Harry R. Weber 601 Gerke Building, Cincinnati J. G. Rush West Willow Egbert D. Van Syckel Trenton Leon D. Batchelor Horticulturist, State Agricultural College Logan John S. Palish Eastham B. F. Hartzell Shepherdstown i MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION Arizona C. R. Biederman; Garces California Tribble, Claude D., Elk Grove Tucker, T. C, Manager California Almond Growers' Exchange, Sacramento Canada Corsan, G. H., University of Toronto Crow, J. W., Professor of Pomology, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph Dufresne, Dr. A. A., 217 St. Christopher St., Montreal Fisk, Dr. George, 101 Union Ave., Montreal Henderson, Stuart, Victoria, British Columbia, Box 77 Saunders, W. E., 352 Clarence St., London, Ont. Connecticut Barnes, John R., Yalesville Deming, Dr. W. C, Georgetown Deming, Mrs. W. C, Georgetown Hungerford, Newman, Torrington, R. 2, Box 76 Ives, Ernest M., Sterling Orchards, Meriden MUler, Mrs. Charles, 32 Hillside Ave., Waterbury Morris, Dr. Robert T., Cos Cob, R. 28, Box 95 Plump, Charles H., West Redding Pomeroy, E. C, Northville Delaware Evans, C. D., care of DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington Lord, George Frank, care of DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington District of Columbia Close, Prof. C. P., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington Lake, Prof. E. R., Pomologist, Department of Agriculture, Washington fLittlepage, T. P., Union Trust Bmlding, Washington Kinsell, Miss Ida J., 1608 17th St., Washington Orr, Herbert R., Evans Building, Washington Reed, C. A., In Charge of Nut Cultvu-e" Investigations, Department of Agri- culture, Washington *Van Deman, Prof. H. E., Washington Florida Hume, H. Harold, Glen Saint Mary Prange, Mrs. N. M. G , Jacksonville Simpson, Ray C, MonticeUo t Life member ♦Honorary member 6 Georgia Wight, J. B., Cairo Illinois Aldrich, H. A., Neoga Heely, Dr. O. J., St. Libory Poll, Carl J., 1009 Maple St., Danville Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion Riehl, E. A., Alton Spencer, Henry D., Room 1, Opera House Block, Decatur Webster, H. G., 450 Belmont Ave., Chicago Indiana Baldwin, C. H., State Entomologist, 130 State House, Indianapolis Burton, Joe A., Mitchell Hutchings, Miss Lida G., 118 Third St., Madison Knapp, Dr. A. J., Evansville Lockwood, E. E., Poseyville McCoy, R. L., Lake Niblack, Mason J., Vincennes Reed, M. T., Vincennes Reed, W. C, Vincennes Schmidt, Hugh C, E-vansville Simpson, H. D., Vincennes Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport Ireland Henry, Dr. Augustine, 5 Sanford Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin Kentucky Matthews, Prof. C. W., Horticultiu-ist, State Agricultural Station, Lexington Moseley, A. L., Bank of Calhoun, Calhoun Maryland Holmes, F. S., Agricultural Experiment Station, College Park Massachusetts fBowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Building, Boston Hoffmann, Bernhard, Overbrook Orchard, Stockbridge Knight, Charles F., Rowley Mason, Harry R., Falmouth Rich, WilUam P., Secretary State Horticultural Society, 300 Massachusetts Ave., Boston Smith, Fred A., 39 Pine St., Danvers Vaughan, Horace A., Peacehaven, Assonet White, Warren, HolUston Michigan Haskell, H. L., 209 N. Rowe St., Ludington f Life member Minnesota Powers, L. L., 1200 Lexington Ave., N. St. Paul Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul MlSSOUEI Johnson, Alfred E., McBaine, R. 1 New Jersey Dietrick, Dr. Thomas S., 12 West Washington Ave., Washington \ Foster, Samuel F., Secretary North Jersey Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 100 Broadway, New York City Marston, Edwin S., Florham Park, Box 72 Mergler, C. W., Hackensack Road and Mt. Vernon St., Ridgefield Park Putnam, J. H., Vineland Ridge way, C. S., "Floralia," Lumberton Roberts, Horace, Moorestown Steele, T. E., Pomona Nurseries, Palmyra Walter, Dr. Harry, Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City New York Abbott, Frederick B., 419 Ninth St., Brooklyn Ackerly, Orville B., 243 W. 34th St., New York City Baker, Dr. Hugh P., Dean of State College of Forestry, Syracuse Baker, Prof. J. Fred, Director of Forest Investigation, State College of For- estry, Syracuse Brown, Ronald K., 320 Broadway, New York City Bruce, W. Robert, Brick Chm"ch Institute, Rochester Chiu-ch, Alfred W., Portchester Elhvanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester Fulierton, H. B., Director Long Island Railroad Experiment Station, Med- ford, L. I. Hickox, Ralph, 3832 White Plains Ave., New York City Hans, Amedee, Superintendent Hodenpyl Estate, Locust VaUey, L.I. Haywood, Albert, Flushing Hicks, Henry, Westbm-y, L. I. Holden, E. B., Hilton tHuntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., New York City Keeler, Charles E., Chichester and Briggs Aves., Richmond Hill Miller, Mrs. Seaman, care of Mr. Miller, 2 Rector St., New York City Murphy, P. J., 115 Broadway, New York City, care of Ford, Bacon & Davis Olcott, Ralph T., EUwanger & Barry Building, Rochester Pomeroy, A. C, Lockport Reynolds, H. L., 2579 Main St., Buffalo Rice, Mrs. Lillian McKee, Adelano, PawUng Stephen, Prof. John W., Assistant Professor of Silviculture, State College of Forestry, Syracuse Storrs, A. P., 117 Front St., Owego Teele, A. W., 30 Broad St., New York City Teter, Walter C, 10 Wall St., New York City Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City tLife member. 8 Turner, K. M., 220 W. 42nd St., New York City Ulman, Dr. Ira, 213 W. 147th St., New York City Wile, Th. E., 1012 Park Ave., Rochester WiUiams, Dr. Charles MaUory, 48 E. •f9th St., New York City fWissmann, Mrs. F. deR., Westchester, New York City North Carolina Glover, J. Wheeler, Morehead City Hutt, Prof. W. N., State Horticulturist, Raleigh Van Lindley, J., J. Van Lindley Nursery Company, Pomona Ohio Dayton, J. H., Storrs & Harrison Company, Painesville Denny, Mark E., Middletown Ford, Horatio, South Euclid Johnston, I. B., Cincinnati, Station K Miller, H. A., Gypsum Rector, Dr. J. M., Columbus Weber, Harry R., 601 Gerke Buildmg, 123 E. 6th St., Cincinnati Witte, O. F., Amherst Yunck, E. G., 710 Central Ave., Sandusky • Pennsylvania Ballou, C. F., Hahfax Doan, J. L., School of Horticulture, Ambler DruckemiUer, W. C, Sunbury Fagan, Prof. F. N., Department of Horticulture, State College Foley, John, Forester, Peimsylvania Railroad Company, 513-A, Commercial Trust Building, Philadelphia Hall, L. C, Avonia Hildebrand, F. B., Duquesne Hoopes, Wilmer W., Hoopes Brothers and Thomas Company, Westchester Hutchinson, Mahlon, Ashwood Farm, Devon, Chester County} fJones, J. F., Lancaster, Box 527 Keely, Royal R., 1702 Mt. Vernon St., Philadelphia Knipe, Irwin P., Norristown Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., EmiUe, Bucks County Martz, Walter C, Lebanon, care of Lebanon National Bank Meehan, S. Mendelson, Thomas Meehan & Sons, Germantown Moss, James, Johnsville, Bucks County Preslar, C. F., 524 Grand View Ave., Pittsburgh Rush, J. G., West Willow Schmidt, John C, 900 So. George St., York Smitten, H. W., Rochester Mills, R. 2 fSober, Col. C. K., Lewisburg Thomas, Joseph W., Jos. W. Thomas & Sons, King of Prussia P. O. TwaddeU, E. W., Evergreen Nurseries, Westtown Webster, Mrs. Edmund, 1324 So. Broad St., Philadelphia Wister, John C, Wister St. and Clarkson Ave., Germantown Wright, R. P., 235 W. 6th St., Erie tLife membar. Tennessee Van Syckel, Egbert D., D.D.S., Trenton Utah Batchelor, Leon D., Horticulturist, Utah Agricultural College, Logan Pendleton, M. A., 3 Mozart Apartments, Salt Lake City Virginia Crockett, E. B., Lynchburg Parish, John S., Eastham, Albermarle County Roper, W. N., Arrowfield Nurseries, Petersburg Shackford, Theodore B., care of Adams Brothers-Paynes Company, Lyneh- burg Smith, Dr. J. Russell, RoundhiU Von Ammon, S., Fontella West Virginia Hartzell, B. F., Shepherdstown CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION Name. The society shall be known as the Northern Nut Growers Association, Object. The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their products and their culture. 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 approval of the committee on membership. Officers. There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a secre- tary-treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which the president, vice-president and secretary shall be members; and a state vice-president from each state repre- sented in the membership of the association. Election of Officers. A committee of five members shall be elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the subsequent year. 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. Fees. The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars. Discipline. The committee on membership may make recommen- dations to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member. Committees. The association shall appoint standing committees of three members each to consider and report on the following topics at each annual meeting: first, on promising seedlings; second, on nomenclature; third, on hybrids; fourth, on mem- bership; fifth, on press and publication. Northern Nut Growers Association FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING AUGUST 20 AND 21, 1914 EvANsviLLE, Indiana The fifth annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Asso- ciation was held in the Evansville Business Association Hall at Evansville, Indiana, beginning August 20, 1914, at 10 %.. m., Presi- dent Littlepage presiding. The President: The fifth annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association will now come to order, and I have the pleasure of introducing to you Dr. Worsham who represents the Mayor of Evansville. Dr. Worsham: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Northern Nut Growers Association: Some men are born to greatness and others have it thrust upon them. I stand in the position this morning of a man that has had his greatness thrust upon him. The secretary of the Evansville Business Association, who frequently takes liberties with me, told me a few minutes ago that, in the absence of our Mayor, I was to welcome you. We extend to you a most cordial welcome to our thriving city. We are always glad to have associations of this kind meet with us, because they bring to us new ideas and new thoughts. As I looked upon those nuts this morning my mind returned to the time when I was a boy, when my father, although a splendid business man who took advantage of most of the opportunities that presented themselves to him, neglected one of the best he had in selling one hundred and twenty-five acres of land across the Ohio River here, upon which there grew a number of native pecans. The only time we ever had any pecans from that place was when we got a German over there, direct from Germany. He couldn't speak a word of the English language but my father said to him, "Keep the boys out and get some pecans." He went down there with a dog and a gun and we got more nuts that year than ever before or since. 2 12 This city has the distinction, as I have learned since I came into the hall, of being the center of the nut growing district of the northwest. Another honor that our splendid city has. As you know we are here in the lai'gest hardwood lumber market in the world; we have the cheapest and best coal of any place in the world; we have the greatest river facilities of any city along the Ohio River; we have six main arteries of railroad into our city, so it is easy to manufacture, easy to ship and easy to dispose of the products of our business in this grand, beautiful and well situated city. Now gentlemen, remember that Dr. Worsham's telephone is 213, that I am representing the Mayor and Business Men's Association, and that we are perfectly delighted to have you with us. I hope you will have a good time. I thank you. The President: Dr. Robert T. Morris will respond first to Dr. Worsham and afterwards Mr. Potter. Dr. Morris: Mr. Chairman, Representatives of the Business Men's Association, Ladies and Gentlemen: In Chicago, I met an Englishman who told me he was going to "Hevansville." I did 'not know just where he meant but after hearing Dr. Worsham's speech, I understand. This is no doubt one of the coming cities of the world. You have here the field that was fought for by the early settlers and the Indians, and the field that is to be the scene of many wars in days to come. In the days to come, perhaps a thousand years from now, there may be four or five people to the acre living under conditions of intensive cultivation. This is just the sort of land that will sup- port a population to the best advantage, and you have here condi- tions suitable for the crop that is to be the crop of the future. People do not fully utilize nature's resources until there is need for doing so. We have depended upon the cereals and the soft fruits and things of that sort, just as the early Indian depended upon the deer and the beaver. The time came when his beaver and his deer disappeared. We, like the Indian, take up first the development of simplest things in plant life. Later, under intensive cultivation, we shall be enabled to support a very much larger population on fewer acres. We find that nuts contain starch and proteids in such proportion that they will fairly well take the place of meats and of other starches. Now, this is not an opinion which is individual alone, but is the 13 conclusion of authorities after examination of data. Chemical examination of nuts has been made by our Department of Agri- culture at Washington and by chemists elsewhere. The nut crop, then, is to be perhaps the staple food crop for the people of the United States one thousand years from now, when we are depend- ing upon methods of intensive cultivation for the annual plants. It is true, of course, that three thousand years before Christ, the Emperor Yu developed in China a system of agriculture that is better than any European or American system today both as to production and transportation — perhaps including distribution. At the present time China is supporting a larger population to the acre than any other country. • All this comes to mind in response to the address of welcome by Dr. Worsham. Here at this point of our United States, there is already a center of the new movement for the development of the great future food supply of the world, a nut nursery center. Here we find also another feature of great consequence from the economic and politic side. We find honest nurserymen. That is a very important matter. As nations advance in culture the moral side develops, and as the ethical side develops there will be better representatives in the trades and in all callings. The nursery business is near to nature and for that reason simple people have assumed that nurserymen were nearly as white as snow. Those of us who have had some experience with them, know what it means to find honest ones. We deeply appreciate the fact that in this part of the country honest nurserymen are making a name for themselves and for America. I know Evansville not only in this way that I have been speaking of but also in a professional way because of its doctors. There are two or three or four of the Evansville doctors — you do not know that as members of this Association, but I know it as a member of our great profession — who have placed Evansville upon the map. This city is best known throughout the United States in the medical profession because of some three or four Evansville doctors of the present and past. Therefore it is with a double pleasure that I respond to the address of welcome given by Dr. Worsham. The President: We will now hear from Hon. W. 0. Potter of Marion, Hlinois. Mr. Potter: Mr, Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: This meeting to me is something out of the ordinary. I can remember that when I was a boy I knew every good hickory nut tree in the \ 14 community where I was raised, but after I left my native heath and went into the practice of law and got into politics, I forgot all about the hickory trees until just a few years ago when, by accident, I picked up a nut journal. I don't know how it came into my possession but I got it and I read some article on the Indiana pecan, and I read an article on the development of nut trees in the south, and I got interested and commenced studying the subject. I wrote to the Department of Agriculture and got some articles on nut culture from Mr. Reed and others and became still more interested. However, nut culture doesn't mix well with politics or law, and, therefore, it is more or less of a side issue with me. I have gone into nut culture only on a small scale. On my lot in the city of Marion where I live I have set out some pecan trees, and after a hard battle in court all day it is quite a pleasure to get home in the evening and to pull off my coat and to get on some old clothes and go out among my trees. There is nothing better to get one's mind off the daily combat of life. I was very much impressed with Dr. Worsham's address of wel- come and also Dr. Morris's response. I believe that this country is beginning a new era; we are going to experience a metamorphosis. I think we will shed this old shell, take on a new dress and start afresh. I presume it is here as in Illinois where I was raised. Our farmers came from the south principally, and about all they knew of farming in those early days was to raise corn and some tobacco, but mostly, through our section, corn, and in a few years they corned the land to death. You can go through our country and see old hillsides red with clay and farmers barely eking out an existence. Those people will never be much better off than they are now, but as they pass off and the newer generation comes on, departments of agri- culture and horticulture will be organized in the universities, where it has not already been done, and the farmers will be a class of people right up to date. Modern civilization tends to drive the sons back to the farm and that is overdone sometimes. People think they want to go to farming when they don't. We ought not to take up this idea "back to the farm" too largely at once but gradually grow into it. I know what it is to be on the farm and work hard day after day; there is no chance for us under the old conditions; but in higher forms of agriculture or horticulture the American people will find the greatest benefits and pleasures. It gets monotonous for a man who has a profession to stick to that all the time, day in and day out without change, week in and week 15 out, year in and year out, and he gets to driving in a rut. If he will take up a side line it will do him much good. I have gone into nut growing for recreation, not profit, and I think it is an occupation most conducive to a strong mind and a healthy body. This country is getting to a point where we are going to have more producers. We have too many consumers in this country. We talk about the tariff and whether it raises or lowers the price of articles. That is neither here nor there. The thing that will con- trol the prices of foods is the amount of food produced. As Dr. Morris said awhile ago we don't need so much meat as we used to think we needed nor so many other kinds of foods. All the food elements that keep man alive and his body in a healthy condition are contained in nuts, fruits and things of that character, and this to a great extent will eliminate the need for meats. Meat is getting scarce and high. Beef steaks and pork chops are a great deal higher than they formerly were and some of us who are not making as much money in our professions as we need will have to find something else to take the place of them. It seems to me that the solution of the problem is in the production of nuts. The peanut is being manufactured in a great many ways and we are using them on our tables daily, and it will only be a few years when the pecan will be fixed up in as many different ways. The hickory nut I think is another great nut of this country and great attention ought to be paid to it. Its culture is still in its infancy. I believe that in a few years the hickory nut and pecan will help solve the food problem. I would not know how to graft any kind of a tree. What trees I need I buy from some good responsible nurseryman and let him do the work of grafting. I am glad to be a member of this association, although this is the first meeting I have ever attended. I get a lot of enthusiasm from the other members and I have had lots of information from being a member of this association. I want to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for listening to my remarks which I had no thought of making. What I have said has been at random. Dr. Morris : When I was speaking a minute ago I left out one idea that is clever, and I want to get it in although it belongs to Professor Smith. When we get to the point of intensive cultiva- tion we are to have the two-story farm. We will have the tree which will be the second story and will furnish our meat, and under- 16 neath we will have our small crops. In that way we will have a two-story farm. The President: That is a very good idea, Dr. Morris, and I am glad you got it in. We are very glad to have the remarks by Dr. Morris and Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter has been in the legislature and we are pleased to know that there is one member of a legisla- ture in the United States who does not know how to graft. Mr. Potter: I am sorry you said that. I wish you had left that out. I was there when Lorimer was elected. The President: There is nothing that would cure a legislature of grafting quicker than horticulture. The chair desires to make an announcement of the program. This morning, there will be the usual talks and papers. We will adjourn at 12 o'clock and meet again at 1 o'clock for the afternoon session until 5 o'clock, at which time the members of the Associa- tion and visitors are invited by some of the citizens 'to take an auto- mobile ride to see the city and the different industries, which I am sure we will all be glad to do. This evening at 8 o'clock there will by a lecture by Mr. C. A. Reed of the Department of Agricul- ture and he will us show one of the best collections of lantern slides in existence. Everybody is invited, whether members of the Association or not, including the ladies and children. Tomorrow morning at 7:15 we will take the Rockport traction car here, getting off at Sandale, at which place we will be met by wagons and we will go to Enterprise where you will see a great number of seedling pecan trees of all ages. They are bearing, the limbs hanging down close to the ground, and there will be an excel- lent opportunity to see the nuts on the trees at close range. A gasoline boat will meet us at Enterprise between 12 and 1 and we will return to Evansville tomorrow evening, via the river, stopping at proper points, and be in session again at 8 o'clock, fin- ishing up the business of the Association with a lecture by Col. C. K. Sober of Pennsylvania, the great chestnut producer. He has a great many lantern slides and will tell you many things of interest. He is one man who is working earnestly and tirelessly to combat the chestnut bhght. The next thing on the program this morning will be the report of the secretary of the Association, Dr. W. C. Deming. The Secretary:. I have the honor to report as follows: 17 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER Deficit, date of last report $105 . 05 Expenses : Washington meeting 10 . 46 Reporting convention 45 . 00 Printing report 217 . 58 Miscellaneous printing 23 . 25 Postage and stationery 42 . 84 Membership A. P. S 2 .00 Stenographer and multigraphing 7 .20 Express, carting, freight 3 . 36 Exchange on checks -90 Telephone -25 $457.89 Receipts: Dues $273.00 Postage 5 .07 Advertisements 69 . 05 Contributions 104 .00 Sale of report ' 4 .00 Bills receivable 10 . 00 $465.12 Balance on hand $7 . 23 It was necessary to take out a membership in the American Pomological So- ciety in order to be ehgible to receive the bronze Wilder medal awarded for meri- torious exhibit of nuts at the Washington convention. In response to an appeal sent out by the secretary for assistance in defraying the expenses of publishing the report, thii-teen members contributed. There was one contribution of fifty dollars, one of twenty-five doUars, several of five dollars and others of lesser sums. Two advertisements are stiU not paid for. It is evident that the income of the association from regular sources is not at present sufficient to pay the expense of printing the annual report, in addition to the necessary expenses of maintenance. It may be possible to reduce the expense of printing the report by omitting cuts and by printing a smaller number of reports, though the saving from the latter expedient would be small. It seems to be the opinion of some of our members, and it is certainly a good business principle, that we should not undertake the issuing of an annual report until the funds for paying for it are in hand. I would renew my suggestion of last year that a proper committee be authorized to take measures for collecting the funds necessary for this purpose. During the past year a few of the members voluntarily constituted themselves a committee and succeeded in collecting a considerable sum from advertisements which appeared in the report. It would certainly be a pity to interrupt the regular appearance of the report of our annual meeting. Seventy-five new members were added during the year, or rather during the nine months elapsed since the meeting at Washington. Since the organization 18 of the Association 212 persons have become members. We have now 132 paid-up members. I feel certain that some of those who have not paid up do not desire to sever their connection with the Association. .There have been but three resigna- tions, one of whom gave as his reason "persistent knocking by members of the Association of pecan promotions in the South." No death among our members have come to the secretary's knowledge. Many new members came in at the Washington meeting. A number of others joined as a result of the publicity given the Association by several articles from the pen of one of the members which appeared in various pubhcations. A still larger number appeared to be attracted by the offer which the secretary took upon himself to make, of the two first reports as a premium for new members on the payment simply of the postage for forwarding them. This action of the secretary was generally approved by the members of the executive committee, though there was some criticism from one or two members of the Association. But it seemed to the secretary better to make this attraction for new members, and to get out the reports where they might do some good, rather than to have so many of them sagging the beams in his attic. The secretary would suggest that in the future he be authorized to offer a complete set of the reports to all new life members, and to other new members the opportunity to buy the back reports at a reduced sum, say 50 cents, or even 25 cents each. This would give a little income toward the expenses of the Association. The copies of our reports are assets and should be reaUzed on. The field meeting held at the farm of Dr. Robert T. Morris at Stamford, Con- necticut, on August 4 was well attended and was instructive and enjoyable. A full account of the meeting will appear in the American Nut Journal. The recent estabhshment of this journal, partly tlirough the efforts of members of the Association, is a cause for congratulation. We have once more a high class and attractive monthly periodical in which to exchange experiences and by which the public may be reached. Every member of the Association should feel a per- sonal interest in making this journal a success and should seek the opportunity to send to the editor any items of interest to nut growers. Anything relating to his subject is of interest to the enthusiast. The more personal such a journal is made the better. It should not be monopolized by the so-called experts. Every- one interested in nut growing ought to feel it a duty, and consider it a privilege, to communicate scraps of information, little suggestions and, above all, questions and requests for information and advice. Even a little controversy would add spice. Too much harmony becomes insipid. This journal is as much for scrap- pers as for the men of peace. And, let me quickly add, the women too, suffragists, suffragettes, and antis and those who don't care. Twelve women are members of the Association and women are going to take a large share in nut growing and find in it a profitable and interesting occupation. Arrangements are being made with the publishers of the American Nut Journal whereby membership in our Association may include subscription to the Journal at a very small increase in the cost of membership. If we can offer membership and the Journal for $2.50 in advance and the back reports for 50 cents apiece, or the three reports for $1, and send notice of this to our list of about a thousand correspondents, we ought to increase considerably our membership and do good to the world. Our rule that membership shall begin with the calendar year always gives rise to some misunderstanding. Those who come in at the time of the annual meeting, 19 or between it and the end of the year, do not like to pay another fee along in January. If there is no objection the secretary will hereafter inform each appU- cant for membership that membership expires with the calendar year, that mem- bership may be taken out for the present or the coming year, and that membership entitles necessarily only to the pubhcations issued during the year for which membership is taken out. In other words the proceedings of this meet- ing will be pubhshed in 1915 and members for 1914 will not be entitled to it unless paid up for 1915. The investigation of the Persian walnut trees in the East is still going on but the results have not been collated. I suggest the appointment of a committee to revise our constitution and rules. These have so far served our piu-pose fairly well but, in the opinion of the secre- tary, they DOW need modification and amphfication. I would recall to the attention of the members our present rule that aU papers read before it are the property of the Association. In conclusion the secretary would Hke to ask each member to help increase the prosperity and the usefulness of the Association by getting new members, by getting advertisements for the annual report, and by paying his annual dues promptly. It is a waste of any nut grower's time to have to dun a lot of careless people. The President: The chair will now entertain a motion to approve the secretary's report. Professor Smith: The Northern Nut Growers Association has been very fortunate in many things and especially in its selec- tion of a secretary. The services he has so faithfully rendered are very much appreciated by the Association, and I move the report be accepted. [Seconded and carried. Also moved, seconded and carried that the secretary be authorized to sell back numbers of the reports at a reduced price.] Dr. Van Duzee: I would like to say that a most important thing has been overlooked, and that is that the chair should appoint a committee to hft the load of financing the work of the Association from the secretary's shoulders. The President: It is very flattering to suggest that the chair is competent to appoint that committee. Do you make it in the form of a motion, Dr. Van Luzee? Dr. Van Duzee: Yes sir, I make that as a motion. [Seconded and carried.] Professor Close read the following report on score cards prepared by Prof. E. R. Lake of the committee. 20 PROPOSED SCORE CARDS FOR JUDGING NUTS Score-Card (Plates, Trays or Cartons) — Black Walnuts, Butternuts and Hickorynuts General Values : Size 10 Form 5 Color 5 Shell Values: Thinness 15 Cracking 20 Kernal Values: Plumpness 5 Color 10 Flavor 10 Quality 20 100 Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-10 points. Score-Cards — Chestnuts General Values: Size 20 Form 5 Color 10 Freedom from fuzz 10 Size of basal scar 10 Kernal Values; Flavor 10 Quality of kernal 25 Thinness and quality of inner skin 10 100 Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-20 points. Score-Card — Filberts General Values: Size 15 Form 5 Color 5 Shell Values: Thinness 15 Kernal Values: Plumpness 10 Freedom from fibre 10 Color 5 Flavor 15 QuaUty 20 100 Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-10 points. 21 Commercial Pecans General Values : Size 20 Form 5 Color 5 SheU Values: Thinness of shell 10 Cracking quality 20 Kernal Values: Plumpness of kernal 20 Color of kernal 5 Quality 15 100 Score-Card (Plates) — Persian Walnuts General Values : Size 10 Form 10 Color 10 Shell Values: Thinness of shell 10 Smoothness of shell • 5 Sealing 10 Kernal Values; Plumpness ■. 5 Color 10 Flavor (sweetness, nuttyness) 10 Quality (crispness, richness) 20 100 Note: For insect or fungous injuries deduct 5-15 points. Dr. Morris : I would say that this is a very excellent system as a basis for judging. We must at all times have in mind the idea of working to keep the quality very high. The reason for that is because the tendency has been in the other direction. Appearance has been rated very high, especially on the Pacific Coast, which is one of the centers in nut raising today. I observed, while on a trip from southern California to Washington and Oregon, that people all spoke about the beauty of the nuts, and said Uttle of quality. They will show you great, handsome, bleached nuts, and some of the very poorest in quality are the ones about which they talk the most, and they recognize this fact among themselves. I haven't been looked upon with favor when telling them frankly that a certain walnut ought not to be put on the market at all on account of its quality. They resented that attitude on my part, but later when I was standing nearby I overheard rival walnut growers 22 talking to each other. One said to another, "That is a handsome walnut, but you will have to hire an awful good talker to get it on the market." They resented my criticism and my judgment but among themselves said, "You have got to have an awful good talker to get that nut on the market. " It is this matter of quality that must stand first among nuts as among men. Many know that there is no better pecan than the San Saba. That is standard for quality, yet it is not regarded as being so desirable as some of the others because of its small size. We must always keep in mind the quality rather than size and appearance. Of course, we like things that look well but that side will be taken care of incidentally in the course of the development of the subject. Professor Smith: Dr. Morris, I should like to ask you a few questions. Is it not the same as it is in the apple and peach market? You know in that appearance counts for a great deal. Are you sufficiently acquainted with the subject to say we will be safe in growing a nut that is second class in appearance but first class in quality? Dr. Morris: I am glad Professor Smith brought up that point. There i^ just one way to approach the matter. Take a fine, handsome, large English walnut, that has been bleached, and has lost qualitj^ in the process. Growers have gone to a great deal of trouble to get it on the market. Put alongside of it a small, thin- shelled, high quality walnut that has not been bleached, and tell the dealer who is to sell those two nuts that the great big handsome nut is to sell for 15 cents a pound, and the ugly little one is to bring 30 cents a pound. That will attract the attention of people to the good nuts. You can force people into having good sense, through the exercise of a bit of dexterity in applied psychology. The President: Dr. Morris's remarks are very well taken, because nuts are to be eaten and not to be looked at. Is there any further discussion on this subject? If not, we will pass to the next. The Secretary: The next thing on the program is the appoint- ment of committees. The advisability of amending the constitu- tion and rules has been already referred to. They have served our purpose pretty well up to now but we have outgrown them. In order to expedite matters and get to the real business of this Asso- ciation, as this constitution is going to be amended anyway, I would like to move that the rules about the appointment of committees be suspended and that the chair be authorized to appoint the neces- sary committees. This includes the committees which the rules 23 direct shall be elected, but that takes a long time and I move that the chair appoint these different committees. The President: Do I hear a second to that motion? A Member: I second the motion. The President: It has been moved and seconded that the rules requiring that these committees be elected be suspended, and the chair be authorized to appoint the different committees. The chair holds that it will take three fourths of the members present to suspend the rules. Is there any discussion about this? Members: We are ready for the question. The President: All in favor of the motion made by Dr. Deming, make it known by saying aye. [Vote taken.] The President: Those opposed, by the same sign. [None.] The President: The motion is carried that the chair appoint the different committees, and they will be announced at the proper time. The next thing on the program is a paper by the President. I will ask Dr. Morris to take the chair w^hile I read what I have to say. STATUS AND POSSIBILITIES OF NUT CULTURE IN THE NORTH T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. The purpose of the Northern Nut Growers Association is to stim- ulate the production of nuts in the North. We distinguish the North from the South in this regard not because we feel any less interest in the nut industry in the South. The man who once becomes a nut enthusiast is no respecter of Mason's and Dixon's Line or any other line that separates him from an interesting nut tree or from a sec- tion in which nuts may be successfully grown. His local interest, however, will naturally be around his own dooryard and neighbor- hood. So we speak of northern nut culture and northern nut trees because we live in the North and because this is the section of the United States that needs at the present time the most intelligent direction. The South has been forging ahead for a number of years in this field. In fact, pecan culture promises to become second only to the cotton industry in many sections of that 'country and interest in its possibilities has attracted to it many conscientious, able and prominent horticulturists who are today engaged in pecan 24 growing in the South and who are doing much to put the pecan in- dustry on an honest and intelHgent basis. These men have become speciaHsts in the pecan industry and they know more about it than we do in the North. Consequently they do not need our assistance, even if we were able to give it, and, therefore, without any fear of our being criticised for using the adjective "northern" we can limit our investigations and discussions to nut culture in the north- ern part of the United States with a full knowledge that our southern brethren can take care of themselves, and, in addition, can render us much valuable assistance which assistance we most cheerfully invite. At this point, however, in connection with the use of the terms "northern" and "southern," it may be relevant to make a few observations as to the possibilities in either section. While it is true that the South has a long start of the North in pecan culture, yet the North affords an opportunity for the cultivation of nuts which is not possible in the South. The South is today the home of the delicious varieties of pecan which are a delight to the consumer and a source of fascination and profit to the intelligent producer, but it must be remembered that the northern pecan belt has many excel- lent varieties that are "good enough." In addition to this, the North is the home of the black walnut, the fine shagbark hickory, the butternut, the chestnut, the hazel-nut, and the chinkapin, and is also adapted to the hardy varieties of the English and Japanese walnuts. All of the nuts just named certainly offer an ample field for our interest and enthusiasm, and, in addition to the keen delight which comes from the successful growing of these trees, there is a possibility of profit which I do not think is excelled in any horti- cultural undertaking today. First then, what word of advice or instruction can the Northern Nut Growers Association bring to the prospective nut grower which will be of help? For, after all, the success or failure of this asso- ciation depends largely upon its ability to help the grower or pro- spective grower. Before we undertake to give suggestions about the development and culture of nut orchards or to make prophecies as to possibilities, let us stop and take stock for a moment of the present status of the nut industry in the North and consider what we have to build upon and what materials we have with which to work. Mistakes have been made in the past by the prospective nut growers because they did not stop to consider the possibilities of the nuts that were native in their own locality, but looked abroad for some- thing else. This is characteristic of many people. "Distant fields 25 look green," and, of all the imported nut trees, none except the English walnut have been of any success here whatever, while, in one instance at least, their importation has resulted in introducing into this country the fatal chestnut blight, which probably came in on uninspected stock from Japan. We have better native chestnuts in this country than any foreign chestnut and the blunder of trying to get something different is costing the country millions of dollars through the scourge of the chestnut blight, which threatens to wipe out the industry. It reminds me of the epitaph on the tombstone which read: " I was well and wanted to be better, took medicine and here I am." Therefore, let us consider what nuts we have worth while. The Pecan First, we have the northern pecan which is native in certain por- tions of a belt approximately 150 miles wide, with Evansville, Indiana, on the 38th parallel, as the center. I do not mean to say that the pecan will succeed in all portions of the northern half of this belt or that it may not succeed in many sections farther north. The question of climate, as modified by proximity to oceans and large bodies of water or as made more rigid by absence of these protections, may decrease or increase the latitude at which the pecan can be successfully grown. The orange, for instance, is one of the tenderest fruits and yet, on the western coast, orange groves are flourishing at the same latitude as Philadelphia, which is nearly on the 40th parallel, although it is unnecessary to say that an orange grove would not survive within four or five hundred miles of the 40th parallel any place else except on the favored western coast. The southern varieties of pecans will not flourish in the north and we do not know whether the northern varieties will flourish in the South. The pecan is a hickory and the northern trees are very hardy and thrifty. Many varieties have been discovered the last few years which are thought to be worthy of propagating. Among them are the "Indiana" and "Busseron," from near Oaktown, Knox County, Indiana; the "Niblack," from Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana; the "Warrick," "Green River," "Major," "Kentucky," and "Posey," all from the Evansville section; the "Norton" from Clarksville, Missouri, and several other varieties. English Walnut The next most important nut, and probably competing very closely with the pecan for popular favor, is the English walnut, 26 which is perhaps the only nut that has been successfully imported for growing. Since the earliest Colonial days, seedling nuts have been brought from France, Germany and other parts of Europe and have been planted up and down the Atlantic Coast. Most of the trees from these plantings have not been able to permanently withstand climatic conditions, but, scattered here and there throughout the North and East, are individual trees of apparent hardiness which bear nuts in size and quality comparing favorably with the English walnuts we see on the market. Among the various hardy varieties of the Enghsh walnut are the "Rush" and "Nebo, " from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, introduced by Mr. J. G. Rush, the pioneer propagator in the Eastern States. Another is the "Hall" from the shores of Lake Erie, the "Pomeroy" from Lockport, N. Y., a short distance from Niagara Falls; the "Rumford" from Wilmington, Del.; the "Ridgway" from Lumberton, N. J.; the "Holden" from Hilton, N. Y.; the "Boston" from Massachusetts; the "Potomac," "Barnes" and "Weaver" from Washington, D. C; and a number of other varieties. The location of the parent trees just named will give some idea of the probable hardiness of these varieties. Shagbark Hickory The thin-shelled shagbark hickory is a nut that is coming more and more into favor and is well worthy of propagation. The first shagbark recognized as a distinct variety was the "Hales," located and named by Henry Hales of Ridgwood, N. J., about 1874. This is a very large, attractive, thin-shelled nut, but has been some- what superseded by other and superior shagbarks. Dr. Robert T. Morris of New York has been making a systematic search for several years for trees bearing shagbarks of high quality and merit, and has been very successful in bringing a number of such nuts to public attention, including the "Taylor" and "Cook." The "Swaim" from South Bend, Ind., is an excellent shagbark; the "Weiker," from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; the "Kirtland," from New England; the "Rice," from Illinois; and another very superior and fine shagbark from northern Kentucky which was brought to public attention by R. L. McCoy of Lake, Ind. Black Walnuts Throughout the whole north are tens of thousands of seedling black walnuts, many of which are of excellent quality, but, so far as is known, there are but two recognized varieties, the "Thomas," introduced during the eighties and propagated to a limited extent, and another from Lamont, Mich. 27 Butternut The butternut is also quite common in much of the same territory as is the black walnut and even in regions farther north, but, so far as I have knowledge, not a single variety has been named. Japanese Walnuts Seedlings of two species of Japanese walnuts are quite common along the Atlantic Coast and as far inland as the Mississippi River. They are also grown on the Pacific Coast to some extent, but ap- parently no varieties have been recognized. Another nut which is confused with the Japanese walnut is bo- tanically known as Juglans Mandshurica. In character of growth the tree quite resembles the Japanese species, but the nut resembles more our American butternut and sometimes they are confused. A short time ago a gentleman in New Jersey who had planted some nuts of the Japanese varieties later cut down the mature trees be- cause he thought they were American butternuts. Hazel-nuts It is never safe to use the term ''hazel" without explaining that it correctly appUes also to the species brought from Europe and more commonly called filberts. According to the late Mr. Fuller, the Germans discriminated between hazels and filberts entirely by the shape of the husk. A nut having a husk which extended and came together beyond the end of the nut was called filbert, meaning beard. Those having shorter and more open husks, so that the nut protruded, were called hazels after the German word "hassel," — hood, in EngHsh. It will readily be seen that once the nuts were separated from the husks, it would be impossible by their classifi- cation to determine whether they were hazels or filberts. The Americans generally accept the use of the term hazel to apply to both the American and European species. In the early history of our country extensive and persistent efforts were made to introduce the European hazels, and no wonder, for of all nut trees this species seems to yield most readily to gar- den .culture. They are readily capable of adapting themselves to most any kind of soil and even to rocky ledges which would be im- possible to cultivate. They attain their greatest perfection in good soil and, under proper cultivation, the trees come into bearing early and the nuts mature early in the fall, well in advance of other species. The hazel, however, like the chestnut has met with a fatal disease. It is a blight which seems to exist everywhere except on the native species, which are so far immune as to show little or 3 28 none of its effects. The American hazels, however, act as host plants to the blight, which thus quickly spreads, with fatal results, to the European species. Qf all the plantings which have been made dur- ing the past one hundred and fifty years, it is safe to say that there are less than half a dozen hazel orchards in the eastern states which have not succumbed. It seems quite probable that a golden op- portunity is awaiting someone who is willing to go through the forests of our eastern states, especially those in lower New England, in search of individual hazels from which to propagate new varieties. Among the heavy bearing shrubs, which exist in the section referred to, it is certain that many hazels could be found well worth prop- agating. Turning now from this brief history of northern nut trees, let us consider the future of the industry as viewed in the light of sound theory and actual observation. It is unnecessary to present any argument why nut trees should be planted. Nuts afford the highest grade food known to science. They are wholesome, healthful, strengthening, — in fact, without a single objectionable feature so far as I know as an article of food and, when one considers that food is the basis of human existence, no further argument is necessary to warrant interest in one of the best foods known. Then how shall we advise the prospective grower of a nut or- chard? First, let him determine what kinds of nuts thrive in his vicinity. The prospective grower in the latitude of Evansville can indulge himself to his heart's content, for he can grow successfully the pecan, English walnut, black walnut, butternut, hazel and, up to date, the chestnut. But, success in growing any of these trees depends upon proper information, proper varieties, proper soil and proper care. Suppose a man, in the Evansville latitude, for in- stance, desires a pecan orchard. What should he do? His quickest way, if he has wild seedling pecan trees growing on his farm, would be to have the wild trees top-worked to well-known varieties. If he has no seedling trees, then his next best plan is to purchase budded trees of good varieties from some honest nurseryman, set them not less than sixty feet apart and cultivate and care for them. Will they grow around fence corners and creek banks? Yes, if you have plenty of time to wait. They will not, however, be in a hurry, and it may be your grandchildren who will gather the nuts. But, a cultivated orchard of budded pecan trees of the right varieties ought to come into commercial bearing as soon as does an apple orchard. Mr. W. C. Reed of Vincennes reports Busserons that were 29 budded fourteen months ago setting as high as sixteen nuts this year. That is, the second summer after they were budded. If the trees are of the right varieties, well cultivated, in good soil, and if you care enough for them to throw some fertilizer around them, they will please you by their growth and soon become very profit- able. Now suppose one wants an orchard of English walnuts. Almost identically the same instructions hold true. If you have wild black walnut seedlings on your farm, by all means have them top-worked to fine varieties of English walnut, for the black walnut is the best root for the English walnut. If you have no seedling trees, go to some reputable nurseryman and buy known varieties of hardy English walnuts budded on hardy black walnut stocks. Set them not less than fifty feet apart and cultivate and care for them. Mr. Rush reports one of his budded Rush trees four years old bearing fifty-seven walnuts this year. I saw a Rush in Washington City the other day, two years old, carrying about a dozen walnuts; also a Hall, of the same age, carrying about the same number. Both trees were thrifty and not much over waist high, and every ter- minal twig had from one to two nuts on it. If you have wild hickory trees growing on your farm, have them top-worked by the slip-bark or budding method to fine varieties of shagbarks. In the absence of wild hickories, I believe the future will prove that the next best method of starting an orchard of budded shagbark hickories is to buy them budded on hardy northern pecan stocks. The hickory is not the best stock for the pecan because it is of slower growth, and for the same reason the pecan ought to be the better stock for the hickory. But the hickory does not grow as rapidly as does the English walnut or the pecan and requires more patience. The hazels are going to afford a great field for the nut grower, as they are native to a wide territory embracing the Middle West, the North and the East, and ought to be profitable. A few years ago I found a very fine large hazel growing on my farm in Warrick County, Indiana. I dug up some of the roots of this bush and planted them in my garden at Boonville, and in three years they were bear- ing fine clusters of hazels larger than those borne by the parent bush. I think farmers would find it profitable to set out hedges of native hazel bushes around their fields and fences and on hillsides. Butternuts, black walnuts and beech-nuts also offer a fertile field for experiment. Any varieties of butternut or black walnut 30 can be propagated by budding or top-grafting them on seedling stocks. « I should like to suggest that every farmer in the nut growing belt set aside at least ten acres of land for a nut orchard. It will give him a new interest in life and afford him more pleasure and relief from the ordinary monotony of farm work, I believe, than any other line of work he can pursue. If Ponce de Leon had planted a nut orchard in this country instead of wasting his time searching for the fountain of perpetual youth he could have spent his old days in interesting, profitable and fascinating work instead of in despair and disappointment. But some of the practical questions asked are, "What is the cost of a nut orchard?" and, "How soon will it bear?" and "What will it be worth when it does bear?" No man can answer these ques- tions with any degree of certainty, for everything that man attempts has its drawbacks and disadvantages. First-class budded nut trees cost from one to two dollars apiece. The balance of the cost depends largely upon the intelligence and efficiency of the labor applied in setting and cultivating. When will they bear? That depends al- together upon who owns them. If properly cared for they will begin setting some nuts in a few years and will increase the crop as the years go by. A pecan tree ought to bear successfully for fifty years — possibly longer, and ought to be bearing nicely in eight years if properly cared for. But, success depends upon the care and intelligence with which the original selection of trees and soil is made, and upon proper cultivation. I have set an orchard of north- ern varieties of pecans budded from the parent trees in the Evans- ville section on my farm in Maryland this spring. The land cost me sixty dollars per acre. When they are ten years old they ought to be worth at least five hundred dollars per acre. I do not know how much more this grove of nut trees will be worth in ten years, but I would not option them at the present time for that price. I have about the same confidence in the English walnut. I have always been conservative on these matters and always expect to be because in conservatism lies safety. These figures I have given you are merely my personal opinion. I have seen pecan groves ten and fifteen years old for which I would not have given any more than the land was worth on which they were growing. If any one has a notion that he can make money in nut culture, with- out intelligent exertion, he had better go into some other line of business in which there are men having a fair degree of success with unintelligent effort. I know of no nut grove in the whole United 31 States that is succeeding without intelligent application, and on the other hand I do not know of a single grove which with intelligent application is not succeeding. I am a "conservative-optimist." I have been talking nut culture for a number of years and expect to see every hope and estimate which I have expressed fulfilled, and after all has been said and considered my final advice is to Plant Nut Trees. The President: The chair invites a very active discussion of this paper. Professor Smith: It would be unkind to criticize so very in- structive an address but there is one thing laid down in that paper I wish to speak about. I believe we were told we must cultivate our nut trees. I believe the fact is that in the greater portion of the United States, we can grow trees, even nut trees, without cultivation. If anybody doesn't believe that, go to Washington by the Chesa- peake Railroad and you will see thousands of walnut trees along the way. I believe the human race can grow trees on a hillside without cultivation, and I want to suggest to persons putting out nut trees to put out a few in places where they don't have to be plowed, and see if they don't get good results. Cultivation is not a fundamental element of agriculture or plant life, but is the quick way to get results. In many places in Ohio the state experimental work in horti- culture, especially that carried on by F. H. Ballou, has done some wonderful things in waking up apple orchards that had not grown a quarter of an inch in years. Merely giving them food has caused them to wake up and bear. I have seen them, and know. The books say that while apples may grow without cultivation, peach trees must be cultivated in order to bear. I have peach trees that are three years old in a rocky piece of ground. I can't plow it but I have fed some of the peach trees and a few I did not, that is not much, and the ones that were fed as they should be are much the biggest and are bearing well. My point is this, keep the grass well scraped away to prevent trunk injury, and feed even a peach tree and it will do well. I think the same is true of the nut tree. Whether a tree that is set out, liberally fed, and the grass kept away will do as well without cultivation, is a subject worthy of your consideration and experiment. The President: The chair especially desires to call attention to Dr. Smith's remarks because he has made a very careful study of this question and his suggestions are worthy of very great con- 32 sideration. I have talked these things over with him a great deal and I commend his remarks especially to the Association for dis- cussion. Dr. Morris: In connection with the matter of cultivation I would also like to have Mr. Reed discuss that. I want to say, however, that, in using fertilizers, you will often very easily overdo the matter. Sometimes in my experience professionally, I give a patient medicine enough to last a week, with directions that a tea- spoonful be taken twice a day, and the patient may believe if she takes the entire bottle at one dose she will be well in an hour, and consequently suffer from an over-dose. That same idea is some- times carried out in the fertilization of trees by horticulturists. You don't intend to do it but sometimes you can kill with kindness and be too good in feeding your trees if you don't understand how much fertilization the tree needs. That is the idea, you have got to give your trees the ratio that they need. If you give them too much pie or pudding, your trees will have indigestion and will not thrive and may die. I have lost a great many good trees, and a great many nut trees, and have checked the growth of a great many by not realizing this, I wish Mr. Reed would speak to us about it. Mr. Potter: I want to state some experience I have had and when Mr. Reed talks, I wish he would give me some information. I set out some pecan trees on my lawn in the front yard, and of course there is not much cultivation there except around the trees. It is like most other lawns in southern Illinois, mostly clay and what other soil we put on top. Now the clay is very hard and in setting the trees I had my man dig a hole three feet deep and two feet across and in setting the trees I packed good dirt around them. The question is how should I feed those trees? I have put barn manure around them and they are now growing and doing very nicely. I want to know if I have pursued the right course. Mr. McCoy: I beheve this question of growing trees in fence corners and on hillsides is not so large a question. The main thing is to give them plenty of water. There is very little land in the Mississippi valley that won't grow pecan trees or most any other kind, if you will give them sufficient mulch and plenty of water, because they take their food in the form of soup. Unless they have water, they won't grow. I believe the best cultivation you can give a tree of any kind is a good mulch of straw and manure. You that have had experience in this part of the country know that is the best way to cultivate trees. I grew a peach orchard once in one year, but I have quit that, I 33 have learned better. It is simply a question of water and plant food. If you will mulch any kind of a tree, nut tree or any kind, with ten or fifteen inches of straw and stable manure, you will have a steady growth from early spring until late in the fall, and it will make a strong tree. Professor Smith: While we are waiting for Mr. Reed I want to take up Mr. McCoy's soup suggestion. Water doesn't make good soup without something in it. Experiments show that you can mulch ground in some places and not wake up the tree, but fertiHzer will wake it up the first year. Mr. Potter : What kind of fertilizer did you use? Professor Smith: One must experiment to see what his land is short on. Sometimes you can fertilize your trees without any re- sult. Sometimes potash will not do any good and sometimes it will. You will have to see what your ground needs. For young apple trees I found in my particular situation that nitrate of soda is all I want. I have what is called a Porter's clay soil on the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I use that and then my trees get busy and grow. They make rapid growth even the first season with a handful of nitrate and for my three year old trees half a pound is enough. That is what my soil seems to need and we must use what the soil is short on. That is my interpretation of my situation and it works. The President: Who can tell us whether nitrate of soda is good for nut trees? Can you, Mr. Simpson? Mr. Simpson: In the South, we do not think so. The President: The reason I asked, is that I have been study- ing that. I wrote Mr. Potter a letter suggesting that he use some on his young nut trees to see what it would do, and later I found out that all through the South it was not regarded as desirable. It seems they claim it starts pecan trees into an active growth but when they stop they make a very sudden stop and don't start growing any more. I want to get this in the record right here. You understand that is the general belief throughout ihe South, do you not? Mr. Simpson: Yes sir, it is not considered good. The President: Dr. Smith has made a very careful study of fruit trees and knows its effect on them from experiments, but it is well perhaps to consider fruit and nut trees separately. Professor Smith: I should suggest to anybody who is think- ing of working with trees, to get some seedling pecans and plant them and then fertilize some of them and others not, in the same 34 kind of soil. In that way he can get his own fertilizer conclusions at a small expense and then he will know what his own soil needs. Mr. McCoy: We fertilized seedling pecans in a clay soil and we decided the trees we did not fertilize got along better than the ones we did. Of course that ground is better where the trees are than on the average farm. We used nitrate of soda and potash but we decided the ones we didn't fertilize did the best. Mr. Potter: I put two pounds of nitrate of soda around each tree and the English walnuts I used it on budded out very shortly after using it, but along about June they died. The pecan trees we used it around grew fairly well, but some of them, one in par- ticular, appeared to remain dormant, almost, until about two months ago when it commenced growing and is now growing very rapidly. So you see I don't know where I am at. The President: In writing you I did not understand the size of the tree. On some trees I have been using a tablespoonful, about that, and I was afraid I got too much. Mr. Potter: Evidently I got too much. The President: Evidently we got mixed up on the quantity. I know I never used more than two tablespoonfuls at any time and I should imagine two pounds would be a big overdose. I remember talking to Dr. Smith about that time about some old apple trees around which you can use five or six pounds of nitrate of soda and I suppose that is the way we got mixed up. I must have had that in mind as I did not intend to advise that amount for young nut trees. Mr. Pomeroy: How long a season should the tree keep growing? From early spring to late in the fall? My experience is they will stop about the first of August, and let the wood ripen up and harden for the cold weather. Some might keep the trees growing longer, but you will hurt the trees I think. The President: We have not heard from Mr. Reed yet. Mr. C. a. Reed: I am glad the discussion has proceeded as it has since it has given me time to reconnoitre. I hardly know what to say on this subject that Professor Smith has brought up. I guess he knows what he is talking about so far as his experiments have taught him. The department does not like to discourage a good thing nor to encourage a thing that is too risky. There is one thing quite sure and that is that so long as nut trees are selling for from one dollar to two dollars apiece, very few people are going to buy them and plant many of them on these hillsides and experi- ment with them. People cannot afford to do that. We have found, 35 taking the country over, that nut trees thrive best when they are given treatment; that is they must be given cultivation and fertili- zation; be given some degree of attention the same as an apple or peach orchard. Colonel Sober, however, will show you quite a different thing. He will show you chestnut trees that are not cul- tivated at all, so there is a staggering blow to my argument, and yet Colonel Sober gets something like three and a half bushels to the tree. You don't fertilize those trees, do you, Colonel Sober? Colonel Sober: No sir, not at all. Haven't yet. Mr. Reed: So there is an argument that silences me and still it is true that we can't safely plant hickories and pecans without some degree of cultivation. I don't think Professor Smith has planted anj^ on these hills. Still we all agree with Professor Smith in a way. Something ought to be done to the surface to prevent the land from washing, and there is no better way of doing that than by planting trees. Then the roots will prevent washing and they can take care of them- selves better than a surface crop. Especially is this true on the hill- sides, so there is a good deal in Professor Smith's argument. And yet there is the danger that those trees will be infected with disease and insects. On plants and trees that are attended to and culti- vated we find those pests will be kept in check. So there are two sides to that argument. Professor Smith: The point I raised was this, that it is possi- ble in some places to attain by fertilization the advantage that comes by cultivation in other places. Great things have been done without fertilization. There are chestnut orchards in Corsica of grafted trees, ranging from the size of my wrist to eighteen to twenty feet in circumference. They have not been fertilized in centuries, and they yield enough to support the entire population. The President: We would like to hear from Col. Van Duzee, and I want to say that, as President of the National Nut Growers Association, he is well acquainted with these things. I commend him to you and promise that whatever he may have to say to you is worthy of your very careful consideration. I have the honor to belong to the association of which he is the president, and know it is seldom we have an opportunity to hear men like him. Col. Van Duzee: Gentlemen, I am going to side step this argu- ment for I do not think it worth while taking up the time. We are here for other purposes. Personal experiences are not the gen- eral rule because each one's experience differs from that of others. We might all tell our personal experiences and after we were all 36 through we would not have accomplished anything. I want to take you back to the point from which we started this, in order to know what we are talking about.- To illustrate what I want to say to you, we can take the root pasture of a tree and analyze it in every possible way so as to bring to bear upon it the best judgment we have from all sources. The tree grown upon a hill- side has a root pasture which is entirely different in many ways from the root pasture in the river bottoms. If we have a tree growing on a hillside in a soil that easily transmits moisture and it gives that tree constantly a stream of pure water going through its root system, and there happens to be enough fertility in that vicinity, that moisture is impregnated with plant food, and the tree will get all it wants. You can't speak in the same breath of the tree growing in the river bottoms whose entire root pasture is entirely different. The root pasture may 'become contaminated by various things which may cause, so to speak, ptomaine poison. Therefore I say that every locality, every soil, every climatic condition, every variety of tree must be taken as individual. What would be good for an apple orchard in Virginia might be fatal to an apple orchard immediately south of Lake Erie in Ohio. The use of commercial fertilizer that would be good in one locality would be bad in another. Therefore I disapprove of this kind of a discus- sion, because we are not speaking to a definite point. I want to bring your minds to this point, that every individual tree and its locality, and the man that is responsible for its welfare, must be analyzed before you can speak intelligently about what must be done. I am going to tell you the same story I told the societies at Pharoa, Alabama. They wanted me to talk on this subject and I said, "You remind me of a backwoods character I have come in contact with in the woods of Florida who is ill and doesn't know what is the matter with him. He knows he needs medicine and he goes down to the general store and buys a bottle of patent medicine recommended by the groceryman and he takes it and maybe it helps him and maybe it don't, but if he don't get better he goes and gets advice from some other man like the grocer." I said, "That is the way you are demonstrating fertilizer." The first thing I would advise would be this: to analyze the individual pas- ture of the individual tree and take everything that enters into the history of that tree and everything that bears upon it. All the accu- mulated wisdom of others won't help us very much. We have to use common horse sense. We can't talk about these things gen- 37 erally. In poor soil and under bad conditions the pecan tree will do nothing. There are trees I know twenty-six or twenty-seven years old that are not as large as my wrist, that have never borne a nut and never will. I can also show you trees in that immediate vicinity, planted at the same time from the same nuts with favor- able conditions, that are seventy or eighty feet high and bearing good crops of nuts. Those nuts came out of the same bag the same day, and were planted by the same man in the same locality, and that proves, as I have said before, that you cannot discuss things of this kind in general terms and it is a waste of the time of the association to do so. I would be glad to answer definite questions as to definite points. The President. The next will be a talk by Dr. R. T. Morris of New York. Dr. Morris: Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Association: My subject relates to personal experiences with hybridization work. This is work which is to be done more and more by various members of our association, and we are thus to create new species of trees. Nature's whole endeavor is to. preserve the mean type among races of organisms. There are mutants among all trees, among the hickories and walnuts, as well as among the peaches and pears. In fact all species undergo mutation. We select the most desirable mutants and we try to fix a given type by grafting and propagating. Seedlings will go back toward the mean type. The mean type hickory, walnut or chestnut is the type that nature wishes to preserve, but these are not best for man's purposes. What is best in nature's plan is not always best in man's plan. We have got to dynamite nature. We have got to put a charge of dynamite under nature's seat and blow her up, in order to get what we want for our own purposes. How do we do it? How do we break up the mean type of a variety or species? By crossing the flowers and bringing together the parents we wish to unite in the hope of grow- ing new forms, among which will be some that are particularly desirable for our purposes. Now in doing this work, I have had to get by experience a number of points which will be of value to members of this association. First, in regard to collecting pollen. Sometimes species, which we wish to cross, flower at widely different times. They bloom per- haps two or three' or four or even six weeks apart, and it is a question how long we can keep the pollen viable. What can we do about it? There are two good ways. First, get your branches of male flowers before they are open, put them in cold storage, or in an ice house, or 38 in a dark room, and keep them an^-^-here from one to six weeks dormant. When you want to use them, and your trees of the pistillate flowers are ready, take the branches of staminate flowers out of the ice house and put them in jars of water in a warm room in the sunshine. They will blossom and make good pollen shortly. Another way is through correspondents li\'ing at a distance. These correspondents vrWl send you pollen from a species which blossoms later further north or earlier further south, at the time which you wish for your pistillate flowers. For instance, in crossing chinka- pins with oaks, the chinkapins will blossom about the 12th of June in Connecticut but most of the oaks are through blossoming by the 12th of May. There we have a month's difference. How can I use oak pollen upon my chinkapin trees? I do this bysending awaj' up to the northern limits of the groT\*th of the oak tree, up in Canada. The red oak tree blossoms there in June, the same species that blossoms with me early in ]\Iay. Pecan pollen that I wish to use upon shagbarks and walnuts I get from Texas. Now how are we to keep pollen when we have collected it, if we are not ready to use it immediately? I have had pollen sent to me from a distance in tighth" corked bottles. It was probabh* ruined at the end of three or four days, because it could not breathe. Every grain of pollen has to breathe just as surely as a red squirrel in the top of a tree has to breathe. The pollen grain is a living organism, and if it is sent in a closely corked bottle it smothers and dies. You must have it sent in paper or wooden boxes in order to have it in good condition when it arrives, and it must be kept in a cool place, not too dry and not too damp. If it is kept in a place that is too damp, various fungi appear, and begin to attack it at once. If it is too dry, it loses its water content, and its protoplasm does not make combination with that of the other flower. So we must keep our pollen in a cool place, not too dry, not too warm and not too moist, and where it can breathe. "We may put it in cold storage but not at a temperature below freezing. We may put it into the cold storage which florists use, and keep it for a long while. Some pollen will keep \-iable for three weeks, under these conditions, possiblj^ longer. It is important to keep your pollen boxes open at the top. They must be kept where the wind doesn't blow your pollen from one box to another. I had not been impressed by that point until this year. I had eight different kinds of pollen about the farm house, in different rooms, in order to be sure to keep them far apart. One day on my arrival from town ready for pollenating a number of trees, I foimd that a very neat housekeeper had found it undesir- 39 able to keep such boxes scattered about in so many places. She had put them all neatly together in a closet on one shelf, and there was none of the pollen that I could use, because the wind had mixed the kinds all up. I had eight kinds of pollen across which one kind of wind had blown. There is one practical point in cross pollenizing flowers that I have recently learned. Pollen of one variety may not combine with the ovule of another variety or species but may stimulate the ovule to go on and develop all alone, without taking to itself the added pollen. That is a very important point, and possibly a new point. I was deceived, and reported that I had crosses of certain trees, and that such hybrids were growing. I knew that the flowers of parent trees had been properly protected from their own pollen. Now when these young trees are two years of age, I find they are true to one parent type; so true that they are evidently not hybrids. They have developed from the pistillate parent only. In ordinary parthenogenesis the fruit grows without any pollen influence at all. This forced parthenogenesis whichi have described seems to be a phenomenon with which botanists are unfamiliar. Until I learn that it has been described and named by others I shall call it Allergic Parthenogenesis (Alios, ergon). The pistillate flowers accept absolutely no pollen, but go on and develop because of its impulse given. In cross pollenizing flowers, I find one point of great practical consequence. When covering the female flowers with paper bags to protect them from their own pollen you give protection to a great number of insects. The insects remain inside these bags and destroy the leaves and flowers. They are protected there from their enemies, predatory insects and the birds. When the bags are taken ofT, perhaps a week later, for the purpose of adding pollen to pistillate flowers, insects may have destroyed the leaves and even the flowers. Consequently, I find it best to sprinkle the leaves with Persian insect powder and to put some of it in the bags that are to cover the flowers. Insects can't live in an atmos- phere of this insect powder. They sneeze themselves to death. I have taken the bags from leaves and flowers which were so badly injured by insects you could distinguish them at a considerable dis- tance. These are all the points that I jotted down for this address today, but no doubt many other points will be brought out in the subsequent discussion. Mr. McCoy: I would like to inquire how far it is possible under a microscopic examination to determine the species of the pollen. Dr. Morris: It is possible to determine the species but not 40 the variety so far as I know. It may be possible to determine a variety but I don't know the extent to which that is possible, from microscopic examination of the pollen. If we ■v\Hsh to know whether pollen is still good or not we may in twenty-four or forty-eight hours cause it to "sprout," and in that way knoAv whether it is viable and good. We may save ourselves a good deal of trouble by making this examination and determining whether or not a given lot of pollen is viable before putting it on the flowers. We can cause it to sprout in a sugar solution. The Secretary: What is the strength of the sugar solution? Dr. ]\Iorris: That is technical work and must be done by a plant physiologist. He will do it for us at the State Agricultural College and telegraph his report. Mr. Dorr: Is this work you have outlined of sufficient definite- ness to get results? That is the important thing. We farmers sometimes discover a plan accidentally that v,-i\\ outclass anj'thing we can get in an agricultural college. Dr. jMgrris: That is very important. We are to produce nuts that are better, and also in greater quantities. The question if hybridizing work is valuable has been already answered in the case of roses and soft fruits. Our best types are largely the ones which have been secured by hybridization and the same will be true of nuts. The subject has not been so largely taken up as yet with nuts. Very few of us are doing with nuts what has been done with other fruits. The President: The chair wishes to say that the members of this association have a very great and rare opportunity to secure information on this subject. Dr. ^Morris has made a very careful study of it. Dr. ;Morris: The more study I make, the less I seem to know. Consequently I shall be very modest in my replies. ^Ir. Dorr: I have been working with different things and find so many things I can't get at the truth. In the last year I have made experiments in breeding cattle to get colors, and I was agree- ably surprised with my own success. ' I want to know if you can get similar results. I can observe the results so readily that I know exactly how I get them. Dr. r^IoRRis: As a general statement the same thing you get from working A^-ith animals we may expect to get in working ■s\-ith plants. The protoplasm of plants is now known to act like that of animals, but not quite so quickly or freely in response to cultural methods. We can breed to size and breed to quality and character 41 of fruit, and we find we may do with plants just about what we do with animals, only not quite so quickly, because animal protoplasm responds more readily. Mr. W. C. Reed: I would like to ask if in a cross between the Persian walnut and the shagbark hickory there is a cross polleni- zation, or is it an increased vitality given by the pollen? Is there really a cross there? Dr. Morris: I made one cross between the Persian walnut and the shagbark hickory that was evidently a good hybrid, It showed character of both parents, but I lost that entire lot. I wasn't careful enough in protecting them. I have another lot of crosses between these two flowers in which the type often is so def- initely shagbark hickory that I doubt if there is any walnut there at all. Under certain conditions we maj^ get hybrids, yet miss it at another time, even when working with the same parents. Some- body has probably made a better study of this point and recorded better ideas. I think we may safely say that we may expect an actual cross between some walnuts and hickories. Mr. McCoy: Would it be possible to cross the English walnut and the black walnut and produce a nut of superior quality? Dr. Morris: Yes, it is possible to cross them, but you do not often get a nut of superior quality. The tendency seems to be to have a nut of thick shell and of not high quality, but if you make a thousand of those crosses, out of the thousand j^ou may get a few of just what you want. Professor Close: I want to ask if you are alwaj's careful to apply the pollen when it is well ripened? Dr. Morris: Yes, I have always been careful to apply it at just the time when it was well ripened, and that is of great impor- tance in its bearing upon Mr. Reed's question. If I have pollen which is quite ripe I may perhaps catch it upon an ovule, but if it is not ripe I won't get the cross. I may add it a little too early or too late when the pistillate flower is unprepared and I won't get a cross. If I get my pollen just at the right time upon the pistillate flowers I may have a good cross, between varieties which do not cross readily. Professor Close: In my experience in breeding apples, formerly I always waited until the pollen was ripe, and that meant I had to cover the blossoms with bags and depend on the weather for con- ditions favorable to pollenation. But four or five years ago I be- gan poUenating much earlier and I have had good results. Dr. Morris: That is a very important point. Professor Close: By doing that I know it is pollenated. I 42 have been failing so many years I felt it was a loss of all the first part of the work. Dr. Morris: It is a great convenience to be able to pollenate at the same moment when you emasculate. A Member: I would like to have you kindly explain to what extent cross pollenationcan be made practical to the ordinary grower. Dr. Morris: Let's say that in case of the butternut we wish to experiment with removal of the thick shell, and also to obtain less of that strong oily flavor; we wish to get rid of those two things. In order to do that I would first think of the Japanese walnut, juglans cordiformis, which has a much thinner shell and is less oily and more bland. Crosses between this Japanese walnut and the butternut we may fairly expect will sometimes give us a large, thin shelled butternut of good character. The next question is, who is going to do it? The men about my place are pretty busy and this is rather delicate work. It is going to be a most inspiring field for the young folks and the ladies, because it is nice, pretty, ladylike work, and beside that its returns may be large. If your little daugh- ter, ten years of age, knows that she may get $2,000 for a single cross that she has made, it is stimulating, because it is not every child ten years of age who can put $2,000 in the bank, as personal earnings of increment. Mr. Mosely: I would like to ask just what results you expect from the cross pollenization of these nuts, and just how far they will differ from the parent type? Dr. Morris : You are bound to have continuance of one parent type, but in crossing with pollen from hybrids you may carry desir- able characteristics through a series of generations and breed for what is wanted, possibly to the sixth generation or even further with some species. Mr. Mosely: Then the type is not fixed until pollenization? Dr. Morris: By selecting the one showing the dominant char- acteristics you wish to preserve, you could breed through several generations and have an ideal type eventuall3^ Mr. Doan: I would like to ask how far the buds are developed in cold storage before the pollen can be used? Dr. Morris: For instance, take the hazel when its catkins are just beginning to elongate. It may be put in the ice house and kept there, for two or three weeks dormant. When we wish to develop those flowers we put the branches in a jar of water in a Avarm room and in about three days the plants are shedding pollen. I got some hazel catkins this spring that were elongating. It was the latter 43 part of February when we had one or two warm days and I beheved my pistillate hazels were about ready for pollen. I got those branches from Rochester. We had unexpected cold weather and storms and my pistillate hazels did not bloom until more than two weeks later. I kept these undeveloped catkins that I had received, in a cold dark place. When I wanted to use them I put them in a jar of water and in less than three days they were shedding pollen freely, at a time when my pistillate flowers were ready for pollen. Mb. Mosely: I would like to know the object in crossing the oak on the chinkapin. Dr. Morris: My idea is to get a chinkapin tree twice as large as an oak, perhaps. I shall hope to have a chinkapin tree as sturdy as the red oak, with nuts larger than acorns and of as good quality as the chinkapin nut. Of course that extravagant possibility only appeals to one with a speculative nature. The President: Pursuant to the authority conferred on the President this morning, the following committees are announced: On Nomination — Robert 1. Morris, Chairman; C. P. Close, J. L. Doan, R. T. Olcott, C. A. Reed. Exhibits — Prof. C. P. Close, Chairman, J. F. Wilkinson, E. A. Riehl, Colonel Sober, W. C. Reed. Resolutions — W. 0, Potter, Chairman, H. R. Weber, J. Russell Smith. The chair also wishes to place an additional member on the mem- bership committee, in the place of Mr. Corsan, who has not been able to attend the last two meetings, and will appoint Leon D. Batchellor of Utah. Committee on Revision of Constitution and Rules — Prof. C. P. Close, Dr. W. C. Deming. I will also add to the committee on nomenclature C. A. Reed anc R. L. McCoy. The President: We have a few minutes before time for adjourn- ment and Mr. Evans, a dynamite man, will speak to us. Mr. Evans: Mr. Chairman: The question arises as to what Icind of dynamite to use in the different soils. Most pecan land con- tains clay and can best be worked by dynamite. Don't buy ordinary dynamite, because it is too high an explosive. For several reasons it is not the kind of an explosive you wish. In some places dyna- mite can hardly be put on the market as many people are afraid of it and so the word dynamite has been eliminated, and we now have what we call Red Cross Farm Powder. It will work in any part of the country, it is not a high explosive and the price is lower 44 as the hardware dealers have it direct from the Duportt companies. By using this Red Cross Farm Powder, less labor is required and it doesn't cost very much. For labor and all it will cost you about five cents per hole, and that includes the dynamite caps, fuse and labor. Professor Smith: How much do you use? Mr. Evans: That depends on the soil and also on the depth to which you want to shoot the hole. Nurserymen have different opinions on that subject, but in the southern field where I have been working they usually go from two and a half to three feet deep. They use one-half stick 20 per cent dynamite, or one quarter of a pound as it weighs two sticks to the pound. That should make a hole two and a half or three feet deep. Fuse is cheap and you should use plenty of it. A man has to be governed always by the kind of soil he is dealing with. Mr. Pomeroy: In shooting an old apple orchard how deep would you go? Mr. Evans: Where I have been working from three and a half to four feet, but as I said before it will depend largely on the soil. Mr. Pomeroy: How far from the body of the tree? Mr. Evans: I have never made a study of that. Mr. Potter: In limestone soil, for instance, built up with clay, how near the trees would you use the dynamite if you want to loosen up the soil? Mr. Evans : What kind of trees? Mr. Potter: Pecan. Mr. Evans: About six feet. I think that is close enough. Mr. Potter: Would you make more than one hole around the tree? Mr. Evans: Use your own judgment about that. Mr. Potter: How far out will it loosen or break up the ground? Mr. Evans: Probably six feet. You can distinguish on the top of the ground where it takes place. Mr. Potter: How deep will it be? Mr. Evans: About a foot deeper than the charge is placed. The Secretary: With me the most important thing in using dynamite is the question of headache. I used the 20 per cent at first and it had no effect. I had heard of its causing headaches and knew some people couldn't use it but I thought I was immune. Then I began to use 70 or 80 per cent and I got knocked out for twenty-four hours. The more I used it the more susceptible I be- came. When I went back to handling the lower percentages I got 45 the same results, was completely knocked out and had to go to bed Sometimes the effect would come on a long time after I used the dynamite, perhaps hours afterwards, and the headache would in- crease, until I was intensely nauseated and had to give up entirely. Is there anything to prevent that? Is it caused by the fumes after the explosion? Me. Evans: Some say it is from handling the dynamite, others say it is the fumes after the explosion. Red Cross has ammonia in it and that ought to help some. Dynamite contains nitro gly- cerine and if you handle it bare handed it gets in the pores of the skin and causes rapid heart action. In dynamiting holes for tree planting you will get the fumes and you will get a headache. If a man could work with gloves on he could avoid this to a very great extent. You can't do it easily but if you can do it without taking off the gloves I don't think it would bother you much. I neglected to state that dynamite by itself is not dangerous because it will with- stand shock or fire or anything like that. The danger is in the cap. It contains the most powerful explosive known. It you handle them carefully, there is absolutely no danger. This year we are slipping little copper disks into the caps with a pin hole for the fire to strike through. Mr. Hargis: I have difficulty in making the shots. Should you put your cap at the bottom or the top of the stick? Mr. Evans: I should advise the top. A misfire is always ex- pensive. If you think it is necessary put in a cap in the bottom and one in the top. Mr. Pomeroy: If you have a misfire and the men don't like to monkey around it, and neither do you, just step off a few inchc? and stick in another one and let her go. Will that fix the stick that didn't go off? Mr. Evans : That is the safest way. Mr. Hargis: In tamping say you have a hole in a rock four feet. I have had men tell me to pour the hole full of water. Is that right? Mr. Evans : That is the best method known. In tree planting you will always have to use your own judgment. Go down four or five or six feet to learn the character of the soil, tamp the cartridge well and as fuse is not expensive, always use plenty of it. The President: Any further discussion of this, or any further questions on the use of dynamite? Mr. Doan: Mr. President, I would like to mention a method I found helpful. That is to make two holes in the cartridge, one 46 diagonally down from one side, thrusting the fuse bearing the cap through that, and then making a hole diagonally in the other side and thrusting the cap in it. Mr. Evans: We do not advocate using that method because dynamite will become ignited from the fuse and will burn. To be frank with you that is the method we use, but the company does not approve of it and we should not use it. You are liable to have a misfire. In warm weather there is no danger but in cold weather don't use it. The best method is to bore right in at an angle of forty-five degrees. Mr. Potter: Do you advise us to use dynamite? Mr. Evans : Yes, we have men making a business of it. Mr. Potter: To be frank with you I don't like to use it. Mr. Evans: Dynamite is not dangerous. It is the caps, though they look safe. It is that white stuff in the dynamite cap. There is where the danger is. The President: We will stand adjourned until 1 o'clock. Re-convened at 1 p. m. The President: I will ask W. C. Reed to state something of his program for Saturda}" so the members may know about it. - W. C. Reed: Our plans for Saturday morning are that we are leaving Evansville at 7:30, arriving in Vincennes at 9:30; several automobiles will be in waiting there to take all the party out to the nurseries and get back to the station for the 2 o'clock train going north to Oaktown, where there will be automobiles in waiting to take us out to see the original Busseron and Indiana trees, coming back to Oaktown in time for the 6:40 train south, arriving in Vin- cennes at 7:07, or the train north out of Oaktown to Terre Haute, to connect for Pittsburgh over the Pennsylvania Lines or Big Four if anyone wants to go that way. We would like to have everyone go with us Saturday, if possible, and would also like to know some- time this afternoon before we adjourn how many are going, so I can notify them tonight how many automobiles there will be needed at each point. The President: That is rather an important visit for the mem- bers to make for two or three reasons. Those of you who haven't had the opportunity of seeing the pecan propagated in Mr. McCoy's nursery will get a chance to see Mr. Reed's nursery; and you will get to see the parent trees of two good northern varieties. We know very much depends on the location of the original parent tree, notwithstanding it is sometimes said it is the location of the nursery 47 that determines the hardiness. We know that has nothing to do with it. You cannot, by putting a tree in a nursery for six months, change its nature. If you take this trip Saturday, you will have a chance to see the Busseron and the Indiana. Mr. Reed : We will also visit the Niblack tree if we have time. The President: I would suggest that all go who can. I want also to urge all of you to make the trip tomorrow and see the big seedling pecan trees bearing nuts hanging almost to the ground. You cannot always see that because usually they are so tall. I also want to call your attention to the exhibits in the other room. Mr. Wilkinson has a very fine collection in there. Col. Sober has some very fine exhibits of chestnuts, both of burrs and nuts, and Mr. W. C. Reed has a very fine collection and possibly there are many others I should mention. You ought to examine all of them, because the only way of drawiiig correct conclusions about these things comes from careful study, and it cannot be done hastily. The next on the program this afternoon will be Mr. McCoy's talk. Mr. McCoy: I have no set speech to make. I thought maybe there were some things I might say to be a help to some of you; some things that would have been lots of help to me a year or two ago from some one, because nut trees are more difficult than any other nursery stock to propagate, and for another reason it is more difficult in the North than in the South. Mr. Paul White and Mr. Ford Wilkinson have both worked in the North and in the South, and after coming back home these boys say that anybody can propagate pecans in the South, but with us it is different. We have kept at it, though, and our president has been our good friend and has always helped us out. There have been three of us incessantly at the work. Mr. Littlepage would come down home and get us together and ginger us up, and we would go back and go to work and try again. It has been one continuous line of failures, but every year we have learned some things, or at least learned how not to do it. This spring we were fortunate in having an expert from the South who came to my nursery and stayed there until midsummer, and we saw our own work compared with his. We all had great respect for him and he is able, too. I don't think he had much respect for us when he got here but he had a whole lot when he went away for he made a miser- able failure like the rest of us. Mr. Jones, you know, is an authority on grafting. He is the man that introduced it to the nut world, at least in the East. I think it had been tried in California before. We have tried his methods and everything else that government experts or any other expert told us about, and we have read all the 48 magazines that were published from the South to the North. Every- thing seemed to be a failure and finally I got disgusted and said "We will do it to suit ourselves." After we had tried all the hard ways in Christendom I think we have at last found an easy way to do it. Like everything else it is easy when you know how. I believe it is a fact— and I am saying nothing but what I believe — I don't believe you will ever successfully graft pecan trees in the North, unless you equalize your sap flow by pruning your roots. I tried it and failed. It is possible you may be able to side graft under most favorable conditions. You may make a side graft take if you leave the top on to take care of the extra sap flow. You take off the top of a pecan tree, or any other nut tree in this country, and you ruin your root system because your sap comes with such vengeance — and it comes! One day there is no show of sap and the next day it comes with vengeance. Differences in the soil, of course, makes some difference. At Mr. Littlepage's place, Paul had the sap a week before I did and Mr. Wilkinson had it four days before. A great many of our top works are going to the bad because we ruined the root system when we cut the tree. And I want to say it again, I don't believe we can make a success of it in the North. You may do it in Oregon where you have a distributed sap flow. The Oregon fellows say you can't bud, because they don't know how. They say the only way you can produce trees is to graft. That may be true out there but you can't graft in Indiana, I know, especially on my place. Of course the soil of each particular farm has something to do with it. To illustrate my point, the first year I was in the state of Wisconsin, on the 20th of June, I was out in the country and saw a man setting tobacco. I knew him and I said, "Won't that tobacco get frost bit?" and he said, "I reckon not. It might but it never did. " I thought it would, but I went that way in two weeks again and I changed my mind. I had been used to seeing tobacco growing in the Ohio valley where it does its growing in the latter part of the season. In the South the sap flow is much better distributed than it is in the North. Now, then, I have brought a board along with these young trees stuck in it, because I thought some of the members would like to see a demonstration. The tools I have here are not adequate, hardly, for the job. For a tree that size we take a saw to it. (Here Mr. McCoy makes a demonstration of cleft grafting.) Mr. Potter: Would you have a scion as long as that in actual work? 49 Mr. McCoy: Many of them are, but it would be better smaller, probably. That is a matter I don't think there is much to, whether the scion has one bud or ten. I think three is perhaps about right. Mr. Potter: They come together right there? Mr. McCoy: Exactly on the front side. Now you understand this grafting is done when the sap is flowing, or about the time the sap flows begins. Usually at our latitude here you will commence grafting anywhere from the 6th of April to about that time in May. Of course when you are cutting trees at that time you have got an immense flow of sap. Mr. Jones tried this method without drainage, that is the way they do out in Louisiana, but he only got ten per cent to stick, so we had to work out a drainage for ourselves. Take a piece of heavy wrapping paper, rather good quality such as you can get at any paper store, and put it right over your graft, and a little bit below the cut on your stock. Then simply take a piece of raffia and wrap. Then make the ordinary tie that anyone knows how to make with the cotton or twine, or sometimes with the raffia, and you have the drainage of this paper. The tie, of course, is simply to re-enforce the strain on the graft and hold it. Then you apply the grafting wax. The one we use is three of resin, one of beeswax, and lampblack and a little bit of linseed oil. Cover up the graft entirely, except don't cover over the lower end of this paper because there is the drainage where the sap flows out. Then you put an ordinary paper sack right over it, and leave it on for about three weeks. A Member: You don't tie the paper below the raffia? Mr. McCoy: That does not make any difference. A Member: At what time do you cut a hole in the bag to give it air, or do you do that? Mr. McCoy: Not for two or three weeks. (Mr. McCoy now gives a demonstration in budding.) We will suppose this is a seedling and I want to bud it. I place my budder on like that. Now I have got my shield up. Now I lay my budder on the stock something like that. Mr. Smith : Why not wrap over the bud? McCoy: Because it will injure it. It is essential to cove a the cut surface you can. Make it waterproof at the top, and av it open at the bottom. Mr. Potter: How long does that staj^ on the bud? Mr. McCoy: I don't know as that makes any difference unless you want to force the bud. Mr. McElderry: When do you take that off? 50 Mr. McCoy: I don't know as that makes any difference. I have thousands of them that have been on five or six weeks. I take it off when action begins. It varies, it may be two weeks and it may be six and it might be six months. If you have maximum budding conditions generally the tree itself will tell the story. We frequently take it off and have to rewrap. Mr. W. C. Reed: Would ten days "be too quick? Mr. McCoy: In most cases, yes. Mr. Reed: Fruit trees is two weeks, but pecan trees are not quite as quick? Mr. McCoy: Pecan trees will come through the rye about as quick as a peach tree. Mr. Reed : I am talking about cherry trees. Mr. McCoy: I think about twenty or twenty-five days is about right. You know as well as I do that cases are not all alike, and you have to know when to unwrap. Professor Close: How can you tell this if the bud is covered up? Mr. McCoy: You can tell easy enough if the bud is alive, just like anything else. Mr. Mosely: You say you can't graft pecan trees here? Mr. McCoy: I don't think so. Mr. Webber: What do you graft? Mr. Potter: And what will you do about the nut trees? Mr. McCoy: I will bud. Mr. Webber: What value is the grafting to us? INIr. McCoy: You may be able to graft. Mr. W. C. Reed: We can graft. Mr. McCoy: Maybe you can, but I can't. I don't think root grafting is a success, although we have some fine trees that are root grafted. I don't know what it is but there is something wrong; some of them are all right, to be sure but I don't find it a general success. Of the two methods, grafting and bud- ding, I will bud. Mr. Hargis: Mr. McCoy, I have a number of seedling pecan trees in good healthy condition and I want to transform them into good bearing trees. What shall I do? Mr. McCoy: Mr. Littlepage will cover that. The President: I don't know about that, whether I can or not, but that w^ll come later. There is one thing that ought to be covered, or demonstrated here, and that is the method of working the hickory and the pecan by the slip bark method. I think the 52 Mr. Dorr: Suppose I wanted to get a certain variety of tree by grafting. For instance if I couldn't buy the white Heath Cling peach then .my only resource would be to bud on another tree. But suppose I struck a nursery where I could get good seedlings of this tree. Wouldn't a natural tree be preferable to the budded one? The President: There are no true seedlings; so far as I know. Mr. Dorr: Do you mean there are none at all true to seed? The President: No, nut trees do not come true to variety. In other words, Mr. Dorr, I might put it this way. In the big Green River orchard over here there are some of the very best pecan trees, but those of us who have been observing them for years have found it is only through propagation we can get a Green River and a Major. It would be a failure to get the nuts and plant them and hope to get the varieties that exists there, just as it would to plant some nut that grows a hundred miles away, because the pollen up and down the river would mix in these varieties. It is the same way with the walnut, when you undertake to plant an En- glish walnut and get it true to the seed, you are going to have a failure. If you plant a Rush walnut you may get a nut that re- sembles it but there is no probability of its being a true Rush walnut. That is why we have these discussions of budding and grafting. We should be glad if seedlings would come true but they do not. I will show you tomorrow, at Enterprise, the great variety of seed- ling pecans, and I want you to look them over well. Professor Smith. May I answer his question? I think he asked, which is better the tree from the nursery, the natural tree, or a grafted tree? The President: If he did, I didn't understand. Professor Smith: That was the question, and I will say he can't find a Heath Cling, unless it is top worked. Mr. Dorr: Some farmers who have tried a great many experi- ments hold to this theory: If you select the seed properly you can produce fruit as good as the nurseries produce it. The things the schools teach don't coincide with what those practical farmers ob- serve. Professor Smith: When you try to find farmers more practical than these men here, you have got some to find. The President: The farmer who says he can do that is mis- taken. Mr. Dorr: He says the same thing about you. When I buy a grafted tree a storm comes along and breaks it where it was grafted. If I can get a perfect seedling I Avill have a stronger tree. 53 Mr. McElderry: The very thing he is inquiring about has cost Posey County thousands of dollars. Men tell them they have trees that are better than the nurserymen sell and they bite and find they are mistaken. But they get them and pay from ten to fifteen cents more than they would to the dealer. There is no man on earth that can keep the Heath Cling true in that way, or any other variety on earth. Professor Close: I want to say a word. Two or three people have made the statement here that it is absolutely impossible to propagate any peach or other fruit true from seed. We have been doing it for years. I believe the orchard peach will come true to the seed. With apples there are groups that will come true to the group but not the variety. The President: I am glad to hear that statement. I have understood that the Inchan peach will come true to that group but it will not be the big Indian peach you have planted. It is a fact that some of those groups have a tendency to come true to the group. Professor Close: Yes, they come true to the group and so will apples. Mr. Dorr. May I ask another question? What has become of some of those beautiful, delicious seedlings in southern Indiana they had when I was a boy? The President: The same thing that became of Washington and Lincoln — they died. Mr. McElderry: It is a boy's taste, not the peach, that makes it seem better than the ones we have now. Mr. W. C. Reed: I feel that Mr. McCoy discouraged us too much about grafting. I think either method he used will succeed very well. The main point is the time of the year it is done. Up to a year ago we began grafting a few days after the first of April, and continued up to the first of May, and our success varied from ninety per cent to nothing. We decided there was too much sap and went to budding. The last grafting we did gave us the only real good stand we got, that which we did from the first to the tenth of May. We had as good results then as we did in budding. The President: That is good, Mr. Reed. I think those facts ought to be brought out and made a matter of a record. Mr. Reed: I think it is more the time in grafting than any- thing else. Mr. McCoy: Mr. Reed has a clay soil and that does not furnish the rapid flow of sap that a warm sandy soil does. Mr. Reed : You would have to begin grafting earUer. 54 Mr. McCoy: Yes sir. Mr. White: Do you leave that cover of paper on when you cover it with wax? Mr. Reed : On part of them we did and on part of them we did not. In grafting walnut trees this season we left some of it on. Mr. Woods: Just a question as to the strength of that slip grafting. Will it blow off easily? Mr. White: The first year it will blow off a little bit easily. The first year you will have to tie it. The President: Are there any further suggestions? If not the next thing on the program will be a talk by Dr. J. Russell Smith of the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Smith: Mr. Chairman, and Ladies and Gentlemen: We have to educate the public- — my good friend down by the win- dow, I hope he will not take my remarks personally — is a case in point. He has come in with an argument, which the gentlemen next him says has cost his county lots of money. I am a grower of apples, an experimenter in nuts and I raise peaches to eat. I am planting seedling peaches and I know that when I go on that hill- side of mine I can get little red seedling peaches and plant them and get the same kind, which have, I think, as much sugar and flavor as any big peach two inches or two and a half in diameter. I raise them true to the type too, but I would not think of putting out a commercial orchard of seedling peaches. My neighbor tried it, to his financial sorrow. But it is surprising how this seedling error sticks. People are going to be buying seedling trees twenty-five years hence and think- ing they are getting the best to be had. Here is an article that bears me out. Here is an editor who has pubHshed a very glaring thing. This is No. 139, Vol. 113 of a paper devoted primarily to ginseng. This question was asked : "What do you know about the Pomeroy English walnut trees and fruit?" and the editor answers: "The Pomeroy walnut trees are all right and you will find at least nineteen out of twenty hardy. That is what I find here and we often get it down to 20 below zero. The nuts are of good quality. Beware of the Pomeroy trees offered by the Rochester nurserymen. These are grafted trees. Pomeroy raises his trees on their own roots, all of them are true seedlings, and that is why once in a great while one turns out tender." Mr. Dorr: I believe I am as old as you are and have gone the same gait exactly. I lost my job and went to farming. I was once a college professor, too, but there are things I find now I didn't find J. RUSSELL SMITH President of the Northern Nut Growers Association 55 then. Two nurserymen come to me and sell me two Grimes Golden apples. I plant them side by side and they do not turn out alike. Why not if they are grafted trees? I am not knocking, you mis- understand me, I am a truth seeker. Professor Smith: I believe that. We always find something we didn't buy. My head man says they jump in. I have some very fine specimens that came by accident, and of course we have a certain amount of bud variation. We find variety even by prop- agation. The trees will vary the same as people will but they will vary a great deal more if we get theseedhngs. The successful growth of nuts, as of any other fruit, demands the use of top* worked trees from the best known parentage. That is the way we do with apples, peaches, pears, and cherries. Nuts will have to come in the same class from the best known parentage. The big thing today is to find out the best known parentage and then spread knowledge so that no editor will be capable of fooling people as in the article I read a few minutes ago. That is point number one. My point number two is a different one. It is the question of the names of the varieties of northern nut trees, particularly the names of the pecan trees. Twenty years from now there will be a million people in the North who will gravely tell us the pecan grows down South, not in Indiana, and that you can't grow them up here. I haven't a doubt there will be a million people that will believe that twenty years hence. How can we get that idea out of their heads? I think we have an agency in the mere names of the trees which will cause people to buy more, yes a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand more trees, than they do at the present time. If we pick out one name, Indiana, what does it mean? It will make a man ask questions, and if he has any curiosity at all he will want to know if it grows in Indiana and if it will grow in any state with practically the same latitude as Indiana. But if he hears the name Schley, what does it mean? Nothing, because practically everybody has quit thinking about Admiral Schley. I recall eight varieties of northern pecans three of which have good names and three perfectly worthless ones. Indiana, Kentucky and Green River are the good ones. Green River is the least valuable because it is not well enough known. Indiana and Kentucky are great names because they are the names of great states. Then we have Busseron, Warrick, Posey and Buttrick. The Busseron nut which grows up at Vincennes ought to be renamed Vincennes. There will be thousands more sold in Vincennes when it is known from the name that it did not originate in Pennsylvania 56 but that it is a product of Vincennes. My point is this, it gets a name that shows it to be a northern product. I am not going to fight for that particular name but it is growing at Vincennes and that is a perfectly good reason for it to be named after that well known city. Now we come to the Posey. It grows on the banks of the Wabash and ought to be named the Wabash. Nobody knows anything about Posey County and what the reason is for the name, but the banks of the Wabash where it grows have been made famous in song. We can hook a sign on that pecan that will sell twenty or thirty thousand more Poseys than are sold now. Next we have the Buttrick which is found growing in Illinois. That is the reason why those Buttrick pecans will sell under the name of Illinois. It is named for a man but it doesn't mean anything in the world but women's dress patterns and is not a good name for a pecan. Mr. McCoy: A change in a name like Buttrick to Illinois is a good one. Any name like this that tells by itself the fact that the nut is from the North is worth a lot to the people who want to sell pecan trees, and to the people who want to eat pecans, and can buy them reasonably. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move that a special committee be appointed to consider changing the names of these pecans and giving them names showing that they are northern nuts. Mr. Potter: I second that motion. The President: It has been moved and seconded that a com- mittee be appointed to consider the matter of changing the names of some of the pecans. A Member: Isn't there a Vincennes in Europe? The President: There might possibly be more suggestions, and we should be glad to hear from anyone along this hne. Mr. Reed: I agree with Professor Smith in part of his remarks. We have a walnut called the Ontario from Greene County, Michi- gan. If we should call it Michigan that would indicate where it came from. But it is widely known now as the Ontario, and would it be best to change its name, even though it comes from Michigan? Mr. McCoy: Wouldn't it have been better to have called it Michigan to start with? Mr. Reed: I think so. Mr. McCoy: We have pursued these things for many years and we have made some misnomers in naming them. I think it's a good idea to change them. Mr. Potter: I am very much pleased with the idea Professor Smith has advanced for renaming these trees. They don't mean 57 anything now as he says, and I think it would be a great forward stride for this association to rename these trees. Mr. Simpson: I think Professor Smith's idea is a move in the right direction. We were the first people that propagated any of these northern varieties, and my idea is to call that variety Indiana, for the very reason he mentions here, that it distinguishes it as a northern variety. I think his suggestion ought to be followed out as far as it is possible. At least with several varieties. The President: The chair takes the opportunity of saying that the suggestion meets his most hearty approval. I have taken up pages of letters in writing to people about nuts, and explaining to them that the nursery from which they bought had nothing to do with the hardiness of the tree, that it was the location of the parent tree that determined this. I was struck by an advertisement last year which said, "buy them from the nursery furthest north." That hasn't a thing in the world to do with it. You may take some of this very wood we have here and propagate it on the McKenzie River, or the Yukon, and say you are selling trees propagated in Alaska, but the hardiness all depends on where the parent tree is. These parent trees have been placed there by nature, and when we distribute them we will distribute what nature has put into the parent tree. These trees are there because they have withstood all the chmatic conditions, and nothing would be of more value, it appears to me, than to adopt the suggestion for renaming them. In the first place many of these trees are named for men not entitled to have them named for them. Many of those who own these trees do not know their value and object to anyone that knows anything about a nut tree going in and getting bud wood, and are contrary and mean about it. It is very rare that the importance of these seedling pecans is known to their owners, and they are not entitled to any consideration themselves. They are generally discovered by some outsider who had to beg to go in and get a stick of bud wood. Is there any further discussion? Mr. C. a. Reed: You are right about that. But I would like to go on record in opposition to this movement. When pecans are recorded in the standard works the names stay. The rule is gener- ally accepted that where the names have once been recorded no other name can be permitted. It is easy enough for us to vote to change a name but not so easy to change it in actual practice. How many of us will know these pecans that Prof. Smith has men- tioned by any other names than those that have already been 58 accepted. Suppose we do rename them, we shall have to explain that they are the old pecans under the new names. Mr. McCoy: We remember well when we changed the name of the Green River. We decided that among ourselves here. The Posey pecan used to be the Grayville and you know when we changed it. I call it the Grayville yet because I got used to that. You changed it to Posey thinking it was from Posey County but it really is from Gibson Count}^ I have no doubt many of these men here call it the Grayville, and then lots of men that hear me call it the Grayville ask me what I mean as they don't recognize it under the old name. I am in favor of changing these names. I named some of them and you know it, but I didn't always name them right and you have changed them here. Can't we do it again if it will sell them? The Secretary: What is the motion exactly? The President: As I understood it was to appoint a special committee to take up the matter, and consider changing these names. The Secretary: Why should we do that when we have already a committee on nomenclature? What is the use of a special com- mittee? Mr. Potter: The special committee will report quicker, The President: If it belongs to the committee on nomencla- ture to consider the matter it will be best to do it now, immediately. If the names are to be changed they ought not go another year, and if not to be changed it ought to be known. The chair will be glad to entertain a motion that the committee report tomorrow on it. Mr. Potter: I make a motion that the matter be referred to the committee on nomenclature and that they be ordered to report tomorrow. The President: Do I hear a second? A Member: I second the motion. C. A. Reed: I am the chairman of that committee and I could not report tomorrow so I will ask that if it is to be taken up by com- mittee that a special committee be appointed. The President: It is Mr. W. C. Reed who is the chairman of that committee, to which committee was added C. A. Reed and R. L. McCoy. Professor Close: I would Hke to ask Mr. Reed if he is abso- lutely sure about the rule he has just quoted of the American Pomo- logical Society, that a name cannot be changed. I don't remember that rule. 59 Mr. Reed : Mr. Taylor was the framer of that rule and in actual practice he has adhered to the first name used, and did at the time he was secretary of that society. Professor Close: Have you not in mind the rule that a name like Posey being given this variety no other variety can be given that same name. I think that is the rule you are thinking of. Mr. Reed: No, but that is true too. You know we had the Sovereign pecan, and after that name had been established Mr. Taylor wrote up that variety for the yearbook, and the name had been changed then to the Texas ProHfic, but he still retained the name of Sovereign for the reason that it had been called that before. Professor Close: It seems to me that an organization could change a name. I think the idea is a good one. Take the name Indiana. I think that name ought to be given to the very best seedling variety that is a native of that state. I don't know whether the Indiana is the best one or not, but it is now too late to change that. If it is not the best the name will have to stick to the variety to which it has been given, even if later on better varieties are found. Mr. McCoy: I know there are some extremely fine pecans on the Illinois River because I have some samples of them, a good bit better than the ones we have, and I suggest that we reserve the name Illinois, which would be suggestive of both the river and the state, for one of them. I know the nuts are there and I think they are very fine. The Illinois River has more pecans on it than the Wabash. Dr. Deming: I second the motion. The President: It has been moved and seconded that the matter of changing the names of these nuts as suggested by Dr. Smith, be referred to the committee on nomenclature, and that they be instructed to report tomorrow. (Motion carried.) The President: We have with us this afternoon, the state entomologist, Mr. Baldwin, who knows many things of interest to nut growers, and we shall be glad to hear from him. Mr. Baldwin: Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Nut Growers Association: I am wholly unprepared to make a talk before this association and must say I am not sufficiently famihar with nut culture to be able to tell you anything of interest along that line of work. Your discussion relative to the pollenization of plants was intensely interesting and clear. There is no use in trying to dodge the fact that every plant has a father and mother, and that father and mother also have fathers and mothers, the same as we have. The reason I am not just the same as you is because I have 5 60 a different father and mother, and the reason I am not just the same as my brother is because the characteristics of the parent may- show in one individual and not another. If your pecan trees should stand out in an isolated situation and pollenate themselves the individual nuts would not all be the same. We have peaches that come nearly true to name, and the same is true of the Snow apple that has been grown in the St. Lawrence valley for generations. The pollenization of budded and grafted fruit trees or nut trees is brought about, in my opinion, wholly by the surroundings or environment of that tree. The well known experiments of the Geneva Experiment Station have very satisfactorily proved that the variety does not change except in so far as the environment changes it. Of course there are some things in nature we do not understand as where very decided deviations, or wholly distinct varieties arise; but the general rule holds, that whenever you prop- agate trees, and get your buds from some variety having merits, those merits will be transferred to the trees that are budded or grafted, and will remain in them while the surrounding conditions remain the same, and changes in the fruit will be effected only by changes in the locations in which the trees grow. I suppose that as I am the entomologist of this state you expected to hear some discussion of things of interest to you in this particular field, but I came wholly unprepared for that. In this state so far as the nut growers industry is concerned we have not done any- thing at all. There is a large field for work but I must confess I am wholly unprepared to give you a talk on this subject. Where I was raised, back in Pennsylvania, we have several well known bugs that the nut growers have to contend with, and they are especially abundant with the chestnut. That of course would not be of so much interest to the people of this state until the chestnut growing industry has developed more than at present. I am very glad to be with you and the discussions I have heard have been verj'^ interest- ing. The President: We are very glad to have heard from the state entomologist and we want his assistance. We are trying to steer away from bugs and we want his suggestions and help at any time. We have a number of interesting people on the program yet this afternoon, but the chair is going to take the liberty of asking the president of the National Nut Growers Association, Dr. C. A. Van Duzee to talk to us on any subject that he cares to discuss. I know him well enough to know that anything he says will be good enough to hear. I know him personally, the most of you know him 61 by reputation. He has some pictures here, and I shall take the liberty of passing them around for you to look at, and I am going to say that these are pictures it certainly does my heart good to see. They are pictures of his orchard down South. Just pass them around please. Col. Van Duzee: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I told your President the first thing when I got in this morning that I didn't care to have any place on the program; that I would be glad to talk at any time on any subject he wished me to, and do anything I could to help along. That puts me in bad to start with. As I have listened to the discussions of your meeting the thought has come to me that you are following along very much the same path- way that the southern nut growers traversed five or six or seven years ago. We are a little further along in the growing of nut orchards in the South, but you are certainly going to get along and be abreast of us in time. Perhaps I may be able to do more good if I confine myself to a few practical suggestions as to how I think nut orchards can best be produced. Those pictures represent an orchard which I have in southwestern Georgia and have grown under adverse conditions. The pictures show the culmination of years of earnest effort. They represent what I consider to be a very reasonable success from a practical standpoint. I am a farmer and the first thing I require of my farm is that it shall pay. I have no theories; I have no ideals but those which must stand that test. I am in farming to make it a success; it is my business and everything I do must stand that test. If it doesn't pay it is not successful. That orchard represents the culmination of years of study of the problem of how to grow a pecan orchard on my ranch. That bunch of hogs represents about one hundred and fifty we selected about three weeks ago to put in our early peanut patch down there to finish them up as pork, but it does not show my breeders or young stock. I could talk hogs to you until the cows come home. I set my mark a year ago last spring, after being twice wiped out by the cholera, I set my mark at fifty thousand pounds of meat from my orchard, and I want to say I have animals now in the orchard and in the peanut field together to make that and a little margin to the good. I expect our orchard will produce this year more than fifty thousand pounds of hams, bacon and lard. The reason I am talking about this is that I want to emphasize the fact that the growing of nut trees is a business proposition. I want to say, in passing, that I believe no better thing could happen to the people who live in America than that every man who owns land might plant a few G2 nut trees. It is a notorious fact that the nut trees which do the best, and which make the most money for the man who plants them, are the ones planted in the garden and immediately about the home where the conditions are favorable for the best develop- ment. It is also true that all the successful pecan promotions that have been put over on the American people have been built upon the records of those individual trees, 'which were grown under the most favorable conditions. That is the source of all that magnifi- cent literature, and all these people that have been inveigled into these promotions in the South are going to be disappointed. That orchard in the photographs is eight years of age, or will be this year, as it was planted seven years ago last February. It has never paid a dollar of profit. You won't find any literature on nut orcharding in the South that will convey any such impression as that. I do expect it to pay this fall a small margin of profit. I won't attempt to explain all that but will say that an orchard must be eight or ten years of age before you may expect or hope for a reasonable profit. After that it ought to pay well. It is well worth going after because it is one of the most legitimate, safe, satisfactory business oppor- tunities we have ever found. I don't know anything that pleases me more as a business man than the growing of a large orchard of nut trees, and I assure you, gentlemen, you must bring to that orchard the same degree of skill, energy and patience that must be brought into any large business proposition to make it a success. My own idea is that the nut orchard is a legitimate part of the general farming operation. If you travel from one end to the other of this country you will see that it is covered with apple orchards. Small apple orchards were a part of the original farming operations. The fact that they have been neglected does not alter the situation at all. If the owners of those orchards had given them proper growing conditions, they would have been successful. In the same way I say the successful nut orchard is going to be a legitimate part of the general farming operation. I want to talk to you a few minutes from a business standpoint. Suppose you want to plant an acre of nut trees, and you buy an acre of land, and you buy your trees and have them planted. Who is going to take care of them? You hire a man who knows about the care of trees. You couldn't afford to hire one who didn't, and you would expect him to put in part of his time some other way. If he didn't your investment would amount up to so rhuch you couldn't make anything on the deal. I emphasize this fact because I beheve you should make your nut orchard propositions large 63 enough so that you could afford to hire the best men to handle them for you. If you can't do this there is another way which has been practiced a great deal in the South and which I hope to see practiced in this section. I have worked out a solution of the problem, which I believe is very promising, and it is this: Get enough men, for instance in the city of Evansville, who want nut orchards, to go out a few miles and buy a bunch of farms, and put those farms under the management of a man big enough to make them a success, then plant your orchard, and use the land for general farming operations as well. I could go on indefinitely along this line because it is in- exhaustible. I think it is the keynote to success in growing nuts. You can't be successful without giving attention also to the things I talked about this morning. You have to analyze the root pasture and the soil. You have to observe from the time the trees are bought and delivered, and it requires the most careful attention. You can't hope to accomplish a thing like that until you do give it your most careful attention. If you have money of your own, or mak,e your living in some other way while the trees are growing, and feel that you must delegate it to somebody else, associate with yourself other men and make the undertaking big enough so you can hire the very best talent the country affords. In this section of the country land I presume is worth a hundred to two hundred dollars an acre, and you have got to make it pay interest. I want to talk about the figures. The farmer or nut grower, who does not keep a set of books and can't tell you at the end of the year whether he has made enough money to pay off his bills and legitimate ex- penses, and allowing himself a compensation for the time energy and experience put in the business, is not successful, and I don't care to consider him, because he is not a farmer as I see him. You must keep your figures and know how you stand. Before I get to the photographs I want to go back to our convention at Chattanooga. I don't know whether there is anybody here that was at that meeting or not. I was third man on the program to respond to the address of welcome by the mayor of the city, and I was new in the nut game and new in the South. I went up there with this thought, "I will listen to the other fellows, and take my cue from them, and make a little bluff at doing the best I can under the circumstances." To make a long story short, when the president called on the other two men to respond they were not there and that left me with an audience of four or five hundred people to talk to and nothing much to say. I apologized to them for being unable to talk in a light way. I said, "I can't say anything unless it is in earnest; I have got to 64 talk about something I am interested in." I went on to advocate this principle, and it is a principle I wish every man or woman in America would grasp and retain and put in execution today; that is that the calling of agriculture is the most honorable calling a man can follow, and it is up to us to inspire in the children of America the thought that such is the case, and help them in every way to go out into the field of agriculture and be' successful farmers. That is what I want to say. I have no patience with the men who farm and are not successful business men, because they are the people that make life in the rural districts objectionable to the children, and are responsible for the children of the best blood in the country going into the turmoil of the city where it is largely lost. You have to pay interest on the land you use, and you have got to pay your- self a fair compensation for the brains and energy you use on it. I want to call your attention to one other thing. This farm I bought nine years ago from a man who had farmed it until it wasn't capable of producing enough income to enable him to keep it, and I under- took to build an orchard on that farm, and I have done it. Last October, where these hogs are grazing in the picture, I planted a crop of oats and I got forty bushels of oats to the acre the latter part of April. I then turned around and broke the land up and planted it in sweet potatoes, which are just maturing and the crop will run one hundred and fifty bushels to the acre. Don't forget that that is two crops grown and harvested in one year on the same land. I consider it the best treatment for the land. I pastured the oats last winter with the hogs, so I get a very material gain from the oats in that way, and as soon as my sweet potatoes are harvested I will turn the hogs back in and let them glean the field. It is a fact that we can make lots of pork on the gleanings of a sweet potato field. And besides that these trees, each one of them, will bring me four, to five, or six dollars' worth of nuts. That land cost me sixteen dollars an acre, and there is a net income of several dollars above the price of the land, and I presume there is an individual growth on each tree that increases its value at least four or five dollars' worth of nuts. There you see I have several dollars' worth of nuts, the sweet potatoes and the oats all grown on the same land, besides the pasture for the hogs. Those things are possible to the man who will go into the growing of a nut orchard in a business way. I have other land adjoining this and I will also utilize it for these purposes and grow such crops as I can grow in the orchard, because when the nut crop is ready to gather, I must get the stock out. I keep my organization employed the whole year. I have the best super- 65 intendent I know of and I have to make his salary out of my busi- ness. I get the best tree man I know of and he also receives his compensation from the money I make in farming. Last year I extended my farming operations in order to make it possible for me to keep my organization running full speed three hundred days in the year. I am dwelling upon this line for this purpose. Don't let any promoters ever get his hooks into you or tell you things as we have had them told to us down there. Thousands and thou- sands of acres of pecan orchards have been planted without a thought of the things I am talking about. They have planted thousands of acres in Georgia; they have not any organization and the man in charge is inexperienced and they don't pay. Each year from the time I planted my orchard, and got it to the point where I could count on an orchard crop, it has increased in value, and today it is worth four or five dollars a tree above what it cost me. It is a magnificent business proposition. I am so in love with my work I could talk to you until the cows come home. I want to impress on the people of the Northern Nut Growers Association and their friends the one fact that in order to be successful in a commercial way you must go into it right. There is no short cut. The President: The next on the program will be an article by Mr. Olcott. THE FUNCTION OF THE CLASS JOURNAL Ralph T. Olcott, Editor "American Nut Journal" In the multiplicity of pubhcations one must distinguish, for his use, those which are for entertainment or general education and those which specialize. Class publications differ from trade or professional publications in that they are not confined in their appeal to the members of a trade or profession. The class pubUcation is for that portion of the general public which is wholly, or to a certain degree, interested in the particular object to which it is devoted. What has been said with regard to class publications is probably understood in a general way, but a brief consideration of its bearing upon the nut industry may make the status of a nut journal clearer. Let us suppose that an industry has no pubHcation devoted especially to it. It must then depend upon communications between individ- uals and upon annual meetings and their printed proceedings for its interchange of thought; for it is presumed that it will have a national or sectional organization. A very efficient organization with the means at hand to serve its members well can do a great 66 deal to keep members in touch with each other and to advance the interests of the industry. Organization, of course, is essential; but without a periodical exponent there is lacking the advantage to all readers of general timely discussion, questions asked and answered, special articles, illustrations and the news relating exclusively to the industry — all of which makes the periodical a working tool, and its bound and indexed files an almost indispensable adjunct to the literature and reference storehouse of the field covered. Not only to the individual, but also to the class association do these characteristics appeal with special force. For, unlike the trade journal, it goes out among the general public as a factor in the education of those who seek information of the special kind. In this way it is a means for extending the operation of the industry, and consequently of increasing the membership and influence of the association. And right here is a point which those who have been operating in the industry for some time should consider. If any portion of the general public is to receive through the class journal the information desired, there must of necessity appear in the journal from time to time statistical or other matter with which the experienced nut grower is familiar. To a considerable extent the novice may be referred to existing literature on a special subject; but not all of such literature is readily available. For instance, the American Nut Journal has been carrying in each issue a summary of the figures showing the progress of the American nut industry. These figures have been seen repeatedly by experienced growers, but even for them they may prove convenient for reference; and certainly to the newcomer they should be interesting and valuable. Original matter, of course, must be the basis upon which the contents of a class publication are built. But an article, or a portion of an article, which has an important bearing on the specialty under considera- tion may often be reproduced in the class publication, even though it may have appeared elsewhere; for we are all too busy to read many publications, and the chief purpose of the class publication is to assemble from all sources that which particularly relates to the subject. In theory at least the class journal should be the store- house to which in its bound and indexed form the subscriber may go for information on any phase of the special subject. That is a high and not altogether attainable ideal, but the nearer the journal approaches to that aim the more valuable will it be to its subscribers. It should at least record the sources of all information on its special subject, even if it cannot present it all. What has here been said in outline regarding the function of the 67 class journal will indicate to the nut grower the place the American Nut Journal should occupy in the development of nut culture. It is unnecessary to say that co-operation between the editor and those in the industry is essential, and for that reason all should feel free to exchange views through this medium. Aside from the practical benefit it may be to the individual, it is a constant source of publicity for the organized effort represented in an association of nut growers — and it is through publicity that an industry develops. To deserve the co-operation of all in the industry the management of the class publication representing it must determine what is the highest and largest function of the field which it serves and then strive in every legitimate way to promote that function. To deserve the manifold advantages which such a publication affords it is incumbent upon those in the industry, on their part, to make it possible through their subscriptions and through their advertising to maintain such a medium. It is probable that if there were no such publication every loyal member of this associa- tion would gladly pledge ten cents a month provided some one could be found who would expend the time and effort to provide it. Just that opportunity has been presented, and it is a pleasure to say that many have appreciated it. The President: There is no one thing that would get results for you better than a good periodical. The Department of Agri- culture issues bulletins but that department cannot go into the journal business, the business of publishing my opinion or someone else's opinion. The Department of Agriculture must confine itself to the summaries of facts, and that leaves a gap that must be filled in by some good periodical properly edited. It is with great pleasure that we see the American Nut Journal which Mr. Olcott is putting out and attempting to give us the best he can get. The chair will be glad to hear any further suggestions on this subject. W. C. Reed: I think we are very fortunate in having a journal of this kind, and having known Mr. Olcott for a number of years I know he is giving the people a good journal. I think it is customary in most instances for all trade organizations to have their journal, and I think in this case the Northern Nut Growers Association ought to adopt The American Nut Journal as their official organ. I make that as a motion. Mr. McCoy: I second the motion. The President: It has been moved and seconded that we adopt The American Nut Journal as the official organ of our association. 68 (Motion unanimously carried.) The President: Mr, W. C. Reed, you have something on the program and we will be glad to hear from you now, Mr, Reed: I had prepared a short paper on top working the black walnut with the Persian or English walnut but I won't read the paper on account of the limited time, for there are others here we would rather hear from. Quite a- number of you are going to Vincennes and you can ask questions there and understand it better than I can tell you here. However there may be some that can't go along, so any questions you want to ask at this time I will be glad to answer. Mr. Potter: It will be impossible for me to go to Vincennes on Saturday as I have to go home tomorrow night. I would like to ask Mr. Reed if the method of grafting the pecan is the same as top working the black walnut? Mr. Reed : Yes sir. Suppose this is a large tree twelve, eight- een or twenty inches in diameter. We cut the limbs back to where they are four or five inches in diameter and, supposing that we want to graft this limb here, we will cut it up here one or two feet because it is hard to cut limbs without their splitting. Sometimes they will split on both sides. For that reason we cut them high and then again, later, back to where we want to graft. We usually find it best to do the first cutting back along the latter part of Feb- ruary or first of March, and when it gets time to do our grafting we cut them off again about two inches so that we shall have fresh wood. We saw them with a fine tooth saw. We prefer to do our grafting from about the first to the tenth of May. We keep scions in cold storage. I think that is quite an advantage although I haven't tried the walnut in cold storage until this year and hadn't thought very much about it until the last few years: but we find the ones we were most successful with were the ones we had kept in cold storage. Professor Smith: What time were they cut? Mr. Reed : In February, I think, but I think it would be much better if they were cut in November or early December, especially the walnut, and I shall do that this year. With the pecans I don't think it will make any difference. Professor Smith: What temperature in storage do you use? Mr. Reed: Ordinary apple storage, thirty-two to thirty-eight, or freezing. This spring we grafted between the first and tenth of May; some of the trees were in full leaf. The sap was flowing very readily and they bled very freely, although the ones that had been W. C. REED Vice-President of the Northern Nut Growers Association 69 cut back early would not bleed like the ones you cut when you are ready to graft. In grafting we used the wedge graft, splitting straight down and placing three or four scions on each limb three or four inches in diameter. However the method we like the best is the slip bark method, but we have had fairly good results with both methods. Of the trees we grafted this spring 60 to 75 per cent were grafted from cold storage scions. We used some that had not been in cold storage, and we didn't get them to grow. We wax the grafts thoroughly and cover them with paper sacks. We do not use any tying on the large limbs as we don't find it necessary. However, we have done more budding than grafting in top working large trees and I think it is a little surer, but we have been fairly successful with both. For budding we cut them back the same as if we were going to graft. We let the sprouts grow until about the middle of July or first or middle of August, and we have let them go as late as the first of September. Then they are ready for bud- ding. We follow about the same method as has been demonstrated. In working large trees it is very important that you keep all cuts waxed thoroughly with grafting wax. Mr. McCoy: Have you had this experience, that English wal- nuts will produce female blooms before they do the male blooms? Mr. Reed : We haven't had them long enough to determine that clearly. We have eight trees and four of them produced pistillate blooms and we had to bring pollen to pollenize them. Mr. McCoy: It is possible to have your sprouts almost where you want them by taking the sharp end of an old file and dressing the bark carefully. The buds are more apt to come there than anywhere. Mr. Reed : We sometimes lose a good many shoots from storms. One tree was budded about three weeks ago and that storm about ten days ago broke every one of them. Mr. Pomeroy: What time did you say to bud the black walnut? Mr. Reed: About the first of August, from the middle of July to the middle of August, as a rule. We are budding some yet. That depends on the wood; do it when the wood is ripe enough. We are holding back on some now to get the wood ripe enough, and as fast as they get ripe enough we bud them. You can bud them late if you cut them back freely in the spring, smooth with the ground. Then your buds will take much more rapidly because you have the sap. Mr. McCoy: Have you had the best success when you cut your trees back in the pruning season? In slip bark grafting there 70 are two ways, you know. One is to wait until you are ready to graft and then cut back. Which do you think is the best? Mr. Reed: In top working the large trees we had the best suc- cess cutting back early, that is in the nursery. We have never cut back any at the time we were ready to do the work. Mr. McCoy: In other words you head off the sap flow? Mr. Reed : Yes sir, we hold it back: J. F. Wilkinson: Do you find it any advantage to cut your leaflets off before you bud? Mr. Reed: I haven't tried ^hat enough to know. When you were at our place some of them had been trimmed in full leaf and had dropped the leaf stalk, and some had been cut off three weeks and still didn't let loose. We can tell more next spring as I kept a record of that. Mr. Pomeroy: How do you know when it is ripe enough? Mr. Reed : I don't think a man lives who knows exactly. You have to -use your own judgment. For instance, when bud wood colors up like this I would feel sure it was ripe enough. When it is green I am more afraid of it, although we have some good suc- cess with the green wood, but cold storage wood is still better. Dr. Morris : Professor Van Deman said the other day that in cutting bud wood at this time of year it is good to give the bud rest for two or three days. He cuts the scions and puts them in the ice house. That gives them rest and the buds start better and are firmer. Has anyone had experience with that way? Mr. Dorr: There is another question I want to ask. If we want to experiment with the processes that have been suggested here, shouldn't Evansville have a place where we can store scions? We should have, an ice house. Some of us who don't have shoes, haven't any ice house. I worked in South Carolina one time and made this discovery, and it almost made me weak. The great majority of farmers in South Carolina are men who make fifty dollars a year; they cultivate three acres and own a mule in partner- ship with two or three other men. Suppose some enthusiast like this man plants an orchard there. What inducement has he for that kind of work? The dream I have had here for Evansville, which is my home, is to bring some of that kind of work into the high schools. Mr. White : In regard to the point brought out by Dr. Morris about cold storage bud wood, I believe that it is better for being chilled. We have found it hastens the callous. The same theorj'- has been borne out by the work of the Department of Agriculture 71 in propagating the blueberry. They found it would not callous and form roots unless they chilled it. Isn't that right, Mr. Close? Professor Close: I don't remember that. Mr. White: I think all wood must be frozen or chilled, or put in cold storage, before it will take well. I found that by putting scions in cold storage they callous much more readily. Where the temperature is near the freezing point walnut and pecan wood will callous more readily. On some that I took out on the 31st of July I had written the names, and the callous had formed until we could scarcely read the names. In a week or ten days the callous was around them. On new wood, it would take twice as long. Professor Smith: If they had calloused in cold storage was it because they had been too warm? Mr. White : No sir. If you will take a tree that you want to set out and cover the roots until you can set it out, you will find the callous forming no matter if the ground is frozen hard. Professor Smith: You mean a tree planted in the fall? Mr. White : Yes sir. Mr. Pomeroy: Where one had no cold storage what would he do? The President: If you haven't cold storage, such as Evans- ville affords, and have an ice house you can use that. It is very important to pack the scions in excelsior and sawdust and be sure there is very sHght moisture, and to paper line your boxes. Colonel Sober keeps chestnut scions by standing them on end in cans. He fills in with a thin layer of sawdust, punches holes for them to breathe, puts a lid on and sets them in the ice house and says they keep splen- didly. Professor Smith: In an ordinary ice house? The President: Yes sir. Colonel Sober: I have kept them that way for two years. Mr. White: Dr. Morris will tell you the next best thing if you haven't cold storage. Dr. Morris: We use a method I got from Professor Craig, the way he kept his for many years. His plan was to set a plain wooden box very smoothly on the ground, smooth off the ground so the box would set evenly on all sides, then pack in a layer of perhaps h^lf an inch of fine leaves like black locust leaves, and on that he would put a single layer of scions, then more leaves and scions. Mr. Moseley: If you have an ordinary ice box, would that be cold enough to put the buds in? Dr. Morris: I think that would be plenty cold enough. I know 72 of a man in Maryland that has been using that for a number of years. The Secretary : Do you wax the ends? Dr. Morris: Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. The President: You couldn't keep your scions all the time in an ice box, could you? Dr. Morris: No, not for any length of time, but just for a few days you could, in an ordinary refrigerator. The President: When you cut your scions in the winter for future use, you should keep them down pretty close to freezing. I used scions in Maryland this spring cut last February in this local- ity. We put them in cold storage and kept them there until April. Then they were taken out and shipped to me in Washington. They arrived in perfect condition and I took them to a big green house across the street and put them in a long box and set them up in the big refrigerator where they kept their buds. I had these within two inches of a thousand pounds of ice and the Green River pro- ceeded to grow within two weeks. You have to keep them in cold storage. It is so cheap, however, in Evansville that there is no excuse not to keep them in perfect condition. These cold storage people here, Holt & Brandon, are very fine people. We have kept very large amounts of bud wood there and their charges have been very small. Before we get through I want to call your attention to the rest of the program. Immediately after adjournment there will be automobiles waiting to take all who want to go sight seeing in Evans- ville. This is by the courtesy of the Evansville Business Associa- tion. I want especially again to call your attention to the lecture tonight by Mr. C. A. Reed, and for fear that those here may have an idea that it will be strictly technical I wish to say that he will avoid technicalities as far as possible. He has one of the finest collections of lantern slides I have ever seen. He will take you to the walnut regions of California and to nut regions all over the United States. Any questions asked him will be cheerfully an- swered but I would suggest that unless there is something extremely important, you reserve your questions until the conclusion of his talk and not interrupt unnecessarily because there are a great many slides to get through with. Those of you who are here, come to- night and bring your friends, bring the ladies and children and everybody else, because it will be interesting and educative gen- erally. Do not forget that we leave in the morning at 7:15, not 16, nor 26; that car will leave at 7:15 and if you will be there on 73 time we can get together on the car. We will now adjourn until 8 o'clock. Meeting re-convened at 8:00 p. m. The President: The first thing on the program will be an invi- tation to join the association. For the purposes of our organiza- tion we need members, and we especially need anyone who has any interest whatever in nut culture. The membership of persons joining now will expire on the 31st day of December, 1914; the membership dues are $2 per year, which includes a copy of the an- nual report. By joining now you get this report and the three preceding ones. Professor Close: Mr. Chairman, may I say something regard- ing the annual report? The President: We will be glad to hear you, Professor Close. Professor Close: It seems to me that those who pay dues for 1914 ought to receive the report of the meeting for 1914 no matter when it is printed, even if it is not for three or four months after the end of the calendar year. In that way the reports will match the calendar year; that is they are the reports for the year that the meeting was held and the papers and discussions took place, and this one should be known as the report for 1914. That is the way we run them in the other societies and it seems to me there would be no confusion at all if it were managed in that way. The President: The chair very heartily agrees with that sug- gestion and thinks that should be the practice of the society. The chair would be very glad to entertain a motion to make that the rule. Professor Close: I should be glad to make the motion that the proceedings of the meeting of each calendar year be reported as of that calendar year and distributed to the members who pay dues for that calendar year. (Seconded and carried unanimously.) The President: Are there any other candidates for admission to this society? If so, hold up your hands and our distinguished secretary will visit you immediately. Are there any committee reports? W. C. Reed: The committee on nomenclature desires to report as follows: Voted on the Smith and Potter resolution to recommend changing the name of the Busseron pecan to Vincennes; Posey pecan to Wabash; Buttrick pecan to Illinois. It was the opinion of the committee that the other names of pecans 74 had been established by the Department of Agriculture by printing in the year book, and that it was not advisable to change them. We recommend, as advisable for members introducing new varieties, to confer with the committee on nomenclature before listing new names. Signed. W. C. Reed, W. C. Deming. R. L. McCoy, R. T. Morris, C. A. Reed. A Member: I move the adoption of this report. A Member: I second the motion. The President: It has been moved and seconded that the re- port of the committee on nomenclature be adopted. Are you ready for the question? All in favor of the motion make it known in the usual way. It is unanimously carried that we adopt this report. Are there any other committee reports? Professor Close: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: The committee on exhibits has not had a very apduous duty, because we can't have at this time of year very extensive exhibits. But what we have are very interesting. Mr. W. C. Reed has an exhibit of English walnuts, hickory nuts and hardy almonds. You have all noticed the exhibits he has in the glass case. That is very instruct- ive and is put up in such a way that it can be carried from place to place. He also has some photographs of trees. Mr. Wilkinson has an exhibit of fruiting limbs of shagbark hickory and pecans, and various seedlings. To some of us some of those things are almost new. Colonel Sober has an exhibit of grafted chestnut trees. He also has the burrs and in glass jars he has the nuts. Then there is quite an exhibit of the native varieties made by our presi- dent, which is very fine. There are also some persimmons. I think, everything considered, the society is to be congratulated upon the quality of the exhibits even though the quantity is not so very great. The President: If there is no objection the report of the com- mittee on exhibits will be adopted. The report is adopted. Are there any further committee reports? Mr. Potter: The committee on resolutions reports as follows: Resolved, That we extend our thanks to the Mayor and the Citizens of Evans- ville, Indiana, for the courteous entertainment they have favored us with, and for the excellent faciUties that they have placed at our disposal. Second — That we extend to the Evansville Business Association, and to the members thereof, our deep appreciation of their entertainment and courteous treatment that they have extended to our association. 75 Third — That we extend our deep appreciation and gratitude to Hon. T. P. Littlepage, our president, and Dr. W. C. Deming, our secretary, for their untiring and valuable services in behalf of this association. Fourth — That we express the thanks of the association to its members and others who have attended this meeting, and helped to make it a success. Fifth — That we especially extend our thanks and appreciation to Mr. C. A. Reed of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, and to Col. C. K. Sober, for their excellent lectures and special work in behalf of this association at this meeting. Sixth — That we express our most sincere thanks and appreciation to J. F. Wil- kinson, for his courteous treatment and entertainment of this association at his home. Seventh — Be it further resolved, that we especially thank each and every indi- vidual member of this association, for their attendance at this meeting, and for their earnest efforts and interest in behalf of the same, in helping to make this meeting a success in every way, and making it the most enthusiastic meeting that has ever been held by this association, and we thank any and all members for any special work or research that has been carried on by said member in behalf of this association, as disclosed by this meeting. Eighth — Resolved, That we extend to Mr. W. C. Reed our sincere thanks for his kind invitation to the members of the association to be his guests at his home in Vincennes, Indiana, on Saturday, August 22d, 1914. Signed. W. O. Potter, H. R. Weber, J. Russell Smith. The President: If there are no objections, the report of the committee on resolutions will be adopted. It is so ordered. The next thing on the program will be the lecture and lantern slides by- Mr. C. A. Reed. Meeting called to order at Enterprise, on Friday, August 21, at 10:30 a.m. The President: I want the records to show that this meeting convened in Enterprise, Luce Township, Spencer County, Indiana, where the members of the Northern Nut Growers Association visited and studied the native Ohio River pecan trees, and I want to hear the opinions of the different visitors. The state entomologist, Mr. Baldwin, will please express himself upon the native pecan trees on the Ohio River. Mr. Baldwin: My remarks will be so brief it will not be neces- sary for me to go forward. I don't know that it is necessary for me to mention the fact that I have never lived in and very seldom vis- ited, localities where pecans grow in this state and cannot, therefore, express an authoritative opinion as to the merits and demerits of the pecan trees in this section. It is noticeable that the trees are 6 76 more free from insects and fungus trouble than trees in many places. Mr. Simpson, who has had considerable experience in the South, called my attention to a very destructive pest that does not exist here in numbers sufficient to be destructive, as it is in Florida, but he is of the opinion that it was introduced into that section from this section. Mr. President: What is it? Mr. Baldwin: Mr. Simpson says — I didn't see any of the in- sects, and probably you couldn't identify it without labor, — but Mr. Simpson says there are two broods and the second brood is now at work. This certainly is a good field for work for the entomolo- gist. Of course the same thing would hold true with this insect that is true of others; when a new species is introduced into a coun- try where it has not heretofore existed, where the natural parasites are not found, it is more destructive than where the natural para- sites exist. That point is illustrated very well by the moths that are so very destructive in New England, and don't do very much damage in the countries from which they come. From my observa- tions on other native nut trees I was greatly impressed with the abundance of nuts that some of the native trees bear here. I am sorry I am not able to talk about something that would be more interesting to those interested in pecans and other nuts. The Chairman: I should be glad to have our secretary put in the record a few of his observations. Dr. Deming : Mr. Littlepage has been talking to us about these pecans since we started this organization, and has long promised to show us these trees. We can't get any idea of such trees without seeing them. We have had many word pictures of them but I had not been able to form any idea of how great they are. They have a beautiful outline as we see it silhouetted against the sky, and every evidence of being trees that bear lots of nuts, which is the kind of trees we are all looking for. We don't have the pecan tree in the North as a native at all. There are a few in New England, a few scattered here and there, but none bearing. I have heard of a pecan not far from my home, possibly twenty-five miles, that does not bear. I have seen in the city of Hartford a pecan tree that was nine feet and three inches in circumference and ninety feet high, of unknown origin, but not bearing. The nut tree that grows best through our part of the country is the shagbark hickory. It is very much like the pecan tree here, but never grows to anything like its size, is not nearly so beautiful a tree and I don't believe it bears as heavily. I think the average hickory nuts there are very 77 much inferior to the average pecan here. We also haven't the black walnut there as a native. That is I have never seen it native though it probably was originally so in parts of the country. How- ever, when planted it grows to a very large size, and makes a mag- nificent tree. About ten miles from my house is the largest in the state. We have lots of butternuts over the country but no nut tree that compares in beauty and usefulness with the pecan here. The President: Dr. Smith should be able to size up the situa- tion and give us some of his impressions. I want to get them in the record. Dr. Smith: Gentlemen, I don't see how anybody can live by these trees here and not realize that they are a source of fortune. I can't understand how men can look at them every year, gather and sell the nuts and not realize that they are a source of livelihood. I just measured a big tree in a tobacco field down the road that was thirteen feet and eleven inches in circumference, that had a sixty foot reach, and was about one hundred and twenty-five feet high. We measured another, that had a sixty-six foot reach and they were all bending down with fruit. It was marvelous and they were certainly giving us their evidence that the thing for us to do is to go ahead and reproduce them. The President: Dr. Van Duzee, tell us your impressions of these trees. Col. Van Duzee: Mr. Chairman, I simply will add this. As I came through this wonderfully fertile section of the country, I observed people building bungalows and cottages and setting out trees other than pecan in their dooryards. That is the pity of it. As Dr. Smith says these people here are living close to some of the most magnificent natural trees I have ever seen, and yet they will go and plant around their gardens trees that will do nothing in the world but produce shade. It seems to me there is room for the best kind of missionary work here. I am glad the nut growers met here and I hope the effect will be to cause people to think. As we came down the road we estimated that on one tree there were four or five hun- dred pounds of nuts. The owner of that tree didn't study the soil that produced that magnificent crop. Our driver said they had had two years of failure in their farming operations and yet right here in the same place nature has handed them another magnifi- cent crop. I have an idea that the average annual value per acre of crops on the farms of southern Indiana and Illinois will run in the neighborhood of a ten dollar bill, and here is a tree, one tree, present- ing thirty dollars. I have do doubt in the world that there will be 78 fifty or sixty dollars' worth of nuts on this tree up here, and it doesn't occupy a quarter of an acre of land. I want to speak about the insects. I don't believe you need to worry about these unless the planting goes away beyond what I think it will in this section. Here is the proof, right here in this river bottom in the nuts we see on these trees and the growth of the trees. They are thrifty, not mutilated by insects or dying. They are at home and the conditions are absolutely favorable. I have been very much pleased and very glad I came, and if I were not thor- oughly tied up in a section I think is more adapted to nut growing, I should come up here and undertake to do something in this section, for I see great possibilities. The President: That is an opinion that is of real value. Now I will call for volunteers. Those of you who have been sight seeing here and have impressions and ideas you would like to express we should be glad to hear from. Professor Close; One thought that has interested me is this. If we should take away from this neighborhood about half a dozen men this great industry would be forgotten. It is to these men who have done this kind of work that we owe a great deal. They are engaged in a wonderful work. I presume they realize how great it is. It means the developing of an industry that will grow in the United States and could be carried to other countries. These great trees are a wonder, no question about it, and the fact that here is a new industry being pushed by half a dozen men is still more wonderful. The President: If this section of the country had been planted to seedling pecans it would have made every man who owned forty acres of it, comfortable. We have with us Mr. Dodd, who is one of the old residents of this neighborhood. He can tell us some inter- esting things. He was here long before I came and looks at present as if he might be here many years yeu. We certainly hope he will be. If it were not for him we would not know that Enterprise is on the map. He reports for the county paper and keeps the world in touch with Enterprise. I should like to hear him tell about the old pecan trees when he first knew them, and I want what he knows about them to go into the record. Mr. Dodd: Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen: I'm no speech maker, never made one in my life, but I guess I know some- thing about the pecan business. These trees were here when I came and that was in 1852. Those big trees that you looked at were big trees then, and must have been fifty years old, I judge, from what I have learned from older people. So you see they have been there 79 a long time. I have a piece of ground here and if I had known as much about the pecan business then as I do now I would have had every foot of my land in pecans. I make a right smart little money in pecans as it is. Littlepage knows that. I have shipped pecans to him off my trees, shipped them to him many times. They are no better than the others, but we are old friends and he wanted me to send them to him and I did. I don't know anything about the pecan business in a general way, as to what they will produce or how much money they will average, but I think we have slept on our rights in this country for seventy-five years. If that is any good to you, you are welcome to it, and we are glad you are here today. Mr. Pomeroy: One tree out in the back here looks as if it might be fifteen or sixteen years old and it is bearing well. It is a large tree well filled with nuts, notwithstanding the fact that lightning has struck it twice and destroyed at least two years' crops. It seems to me there are thousands of dollars to be made in an investment in nut trees here where they do so well. The President: Now has any one else any observations to make? Mr. Weber. Mr. Weber: Out here you remember you showed us quite a number of seedlings growing in a corn field like milkweeds, growing right alongside of them, and one of us thought the milkweeds were the pecans, as they looked much the same. It seems to be hard to keep them down. The President: That reminds me that when this organization was formed I had the honor of being the first man on the ground. Dr. Deming called the meeting to order. Dr. Morris was there and so was Professor Craig, who has since passed to the great beyond, and a number of others, and I remember telling the bunch who were there at that time, that if I ever had the opportunity I would take them into a country where the pecans really grew. I have at- tempted to make good. If there remains any doubt in your minds we will proceed to lose you in the great Green River pecan woods, and if you are not pretty well stocked with provisions, you may never get out. I told Professor Close who is making a study of the pawpaw for the Department of Agriculture, that we also grew paw- paws in southern Indiana and that I would show him some large trees. So he came down with us and we went to Boonville and got in Senator Hemenway's automobile and I introduced him to a pawpaw tree six feet and a half in circumference at the ground, and five feet in circumference three feet from the ground. So the 80 chair takes some pleasure in having been able to show the things that were promised. Let us hear from Mr. Riehl. Mr. Riehl: I think you folks are very unfair to me. You have said everything I wanted to say before you called on me and I really don't know what else I can say. I had in mind what Pro- fessor Smith has been saying to me, and what some of you people have already said, that it is time for yeu people here to wake up. You don't know what you have got. You are like people in many other sections of the country, they don't appreciate what they have at their very doorways. If I were a young man, I would come here and plant pecan and walnut trees, but I am too old now to make such changes. In a few years you may remember what I have said. The walnuts are as profitable as anything else, and much more so than any farm crop you can grow. Nothing will produce as much value and with as little trouble as nut trees. I am convinced of that. Professor Smith: If they would follow your suggestions they would soon have another Garden of Eden. The President: Professor Smith has reminded us that the crops in the Garden of Eden were purely tree crops, and they grew without effort. But after the fall Adam and Eve had to go out and cultivate the soil and raise corn. Probably in that garden they had pecans and walnuts. I believe that is his theory and it may be good. Professor Smith: O, beg your pardon, that is in the book of Genesis. The text describes nothing whatever except trees, and then Adam fell and had to dig in the ground and make his bread by the sweat of his face. Mr. Potter: Is the tree of knowledge the pecan tree? The President: I don't know. Can any one else say? Professor Smith: My remarks on the Garden of Eden were brought out by what our President said, but I have published others that are not very lengthy and you can buy them. The President: Let's hear from Mr. Lockwood. Mr. Lockwood: Dr. Knapp wants me to expose my ignorance and tell you the crimes I committed and intended to commit. It was about three years ago that we purchased a little over a thousand acres in Gibson County, near Grayville, and about three hundred and fifty acres of it were in timber. We decided to clear up as rap- idly as possible all the forest land and cultivate it in corn. Now comes the crime which Dr. Knapp wants me to expose and I am going to confess it. We deadened probably a hundred of as fine 81 pecan trees as you ever saw, from six to eighteen inches in diameter, and Dr. Knapp heard about it and visited our farm, and it was on his account principally that we quit cutting the pecan trees. Now if anybody else cuts them we have them arrested. We have the second best orchard in Gibson County. I have joined the association and came here to get a line on you and I have got a good many good things by coming. I would like to have you visit our farms. We have some very fine trees to see and I will also give you something to eat, because I am the chief cook. I want to emphasize the re- mark one member made that it is a great work these men are doing. You get that impression when you come to the meeting, and it shows great sacrifice and love for their fellow men. The Peesident: That is very good, Mr. Lockwood. Now Dr. Knapp will tell us what he thinks. Dr. Knapp: I know very little about pecans but I was interested in Mr. Lockwood's trees because he had a magnificent pecan or- chard, possibly five hundred trees, and they were contemplating having the trees cut down because they thought they were in the way of the cultivation of the land for corn. This is not the case be- cause the pecan tree goes away down deep for water and is not like the surface root trees. I have seen large wheat fields in the same location with large pecan trees in them, and men have told me that they produce just as much per acre on the land where the pecan trees are as where there are no pecan trees. I went to see Mr. Lockwood and took him what little literature I had on the pecan industry and promised to send him some more, and insisted that he read it before he destroyed his trees. He kept his promise and I am glad to see that he has taken an interest in the pecan industry. The Chairman: You are a real benefactor. Dr. Knapp, and entitled to great praise. Professor Smith: While we are distributing things gratis I want to make a little statement in the same vein as a previous speaker. He points out the work that a few enthusiasts are doing. Most of the things worth while are done by the people who never get any credit in a financial way. You will find the things that count are started and done by that live force of men that work for the fun of working with no promise of reward. Why should Mr. McCoy or Mr. Reed come down here and tell us how to bud trees, and what varieties to use? It is plainly a labor of enthusiasm and love. I want to express my particular appreciation of the work done by Mr. Thomas P. Littlepage. We hear from Indiana through Mr. Littlepage. On every occasion when we get in trouble and want 82 bud wood, along he comes and helps us out. He seems to have all kinds of equipment for keeping it or he can always go to a pecan tree and get it. We never hear of the trouble or expense. He spends money as if he had a barrel of it. He has spent lots of money trying to get the people to know there was an Indiana pecan. We also know that Mr. McCoy and Mr. Wilkinson and others too nu- merous to mention have lost thousands -of dollars and have worked long and hard to get this industry started. The industry, needs enthusiasm and no end of work. It means work to get out and hunt trees and bud wood and these men are entitled to lots of credit for their efforts. The President : The chair appreciates that compliment but he is hardly entitled to so much praise. However, all the efforts we have made to create interest in the pecan have been well spent. We have had lots of trouble in getting bud wood and if it had not been for Ford Wilkinson we never would have gotten anywhere. He is the best climber in the country. He has gone at all times and under all conditions and has done more real hard work than all the rest of us put together. He always climbs the trees. The Major tree is about fifty feet to the first limb. We couldn't have gotten along without him. And Mr. McCoy is entitled to great credit. The first time I ever saw the Posey nut Mr. McCoy brought some to my home in Boonville. That was a number of years ago. He first stimulated Mr. Brown to put the Warrick pecan on exhibition. As I grew up I knew where these pecan trees were and who kept a dog and what time he got up and there were not many pecan trees then I would not attempt to climb, but I wasn't as large as I am now. Of late years Mr. Wilkinson has done more than I have along that line. Mr Wilkinson: I appreciate what you say of me but it takes all kinds of people to make a world and to grow pecan trees. I have tried to do my part but without the others I couldn't have done anything. We expect to continue at the work as long as there is any success in sight at all and hope soon that some of the hard part will be over. The President: Before we leave that subject I want to say that a few years ago some of us who had begun to think we knew some- thing about the pecan and were quite sure of our ground, induced Mr. C. A. Reed of the Department of Agriculture to come down here and make some trips through these woods and tell us what he knew, or what he thought of these pecans. We gave him all the 83 facts we could, and the suggestions he made started us on the right track as to the varieties to propagate. The President: The boat is ready, but before we go I want the report on nominations. I want the bfficers elected in Enterprise. Dr. Deming: I would like to say this before we proceed to the election of officers. There has been some talk among us that it would stimulate interest in our work and meetings, and would enable us to confer honors on more people, and more members who deserve such honors, if the term of the presidency were limited to one year. There has been no rule about it but our first two presi- dents have each held office two years. They have been re-elected to office as a matter of courtesy and appreciation of their efforts. If from now on we limit the term of the presidency to one year I think it would be better. We think it would be desirable to make the rule that the President shall not be eligible for immediate re- election, that is, he shall not follow himself. I mention it so that if this rule is adopted in the revision of our constitution and by-laws the person who is about to be elected President, and the members of the association, will understand that there will be nothing personal about such action. The President: In connection with that I should like to say that the present President has at different times heard suggestions of that kind made, and I am glad you mentioned it. I wasn't for- tunate enough last year to be at the meeting, as I had to be in St. Louis to help try a case before the interstate commerce commission, or I should have brought that up then. Dr. Morris is absent and Professor Close is the next on the com- mittee on nominations. Professor Close, will you report? Professor Close : I did not know I was the next member and Dr. Morris did not leave any data with me. However we discussed it and decided to recommend the election of J. Russell Smith for President, Mr. W. C. Reed for Vice-President and Dr. Deming for Secretary and Treasurer. The President: Any remarks on the report of the nominating committee? If not, those in favor of adopting the report, thereby declaring the officers named elected, make it known by rising. (Vote taken.) Contrary by the same sign. Your officers for the next year will be Dr. J. Russell Smith, President, W. C. Reed, Vice- President, and Dr. W. C. Deming, Secretary and Treasurer. I con- gratulate the association. Meeting adjourned. 84 Meeting called to order at 8:30 p. m., at Evansville, Indiana, Professor Smith: The members of this association have al- ways got to be on the lookout for good parent trees of any and all varieties of nuts. I think, however, there is a shortage of informa- tion in the matter of walnuts. I have talked to a number of persons and it is the general opinion that we want to know, and know quickly, more about parent trees of the Persian walnut. I there- fore move that the chair appoint a committee to give this matter particular attention during the next twelve months and report at the next annual meeting. (Seconded and carried) The President: The chair appoints the incoming President, C. P. Close and C. A. Reed. The next is the question about the place of the next meeting. It occurs to the chair that it might be desirable to leave that to the executive committee. But that is a matter for the association to decide and the chair will entertain motions or suggestions. Mr. C. a. Reed: I was going to move that it be left to the com- mittee. I know from past experiences that is the best course to pursue. (Seconded and carried.) Colonel Van Duzee : I would like very much to extend a cor- dial invitation to the members of this association to meet with the National Association at Thomasville, Georgia, in October. We have a program full of merit. Our meeting will be held in the heart of the nut planting area where all the pecan planting has been done in the last few years. We have several fine orchards in the imme- diate vicinity and matters of general interest will be discussed. We would be glad to have anybody that can meet with us, and if you have friends interested in nut culture we will be glad to have them. The President: It is unnecessary to say that the South has forged ahead of us in pecan culture, and she not only has great pecan orchards but she has great men who have done this work and they will be at the meeting of the National Nut Growers. I have had the pleasure of attending some of these meetings and I can say to the members here it will be well worth their while to go down there. Is there any further business? If not we will have Colonel Sober's paper, after which the pictures will follow. Professor Smith : I am sure after hearing Colonel Sober's lecture, and seeing his pictures, we will want to ask him some questions. 85 I know that Colonel Sober has worked out an unique method in the root system, and I wish he would tell us about it. Colonel Sober: The slides I have will show that. The President: Is there anything else? Mr. Doan: How does Colonel Sober take care of the blight? Colonel Sober: In answer to that I will say that in 1909 I discovered the bHght on some trees, just a speck, and I took my knife and cut it off. That is my best method and then you are sure of it. The President: Are there any further questions? Mr. Doan: Are all his trees Paragon? The President: I think they are. The Secretary will read Colonel Sober's paper. The Secretary here read extracts from the preface and introduc- tion to Fuller's book on nut culture, prepared by Col. C. K. Sober, with personal interpellations, as follows: I believe that the moment is opportune for advocating an effort to cultivate all kinds of edible and otherwise useful nut-bearing trees and shrubs adapted to the soil and climate of the United States, thereby inaugurating a great, permanent and far-reaching industry. We are spending millions for imported articles of every- day use which might easily and with large profit be produced at home, and in many instances the most humihating part of the transaction is that we send our money to people who do not purchase any of our productions and almost ignore us in commercial matters. I am not referring to products ill-adapted to our climate, nor to those which, owing to scarcity and high price of labor, we are un- able to produce profitably, but to such nuts as the walnut, hickory, butternut, pecan and chestnut which we can raise as readily as peaches, apples and pears. There certainly can be no excuse for the neglect of such nut trees on the score of cost of labor in propa- gation and planting, because our streets and highways are lined and shaded with equally expensive kinds, although they are absolutely worthless for any other purpose than shade or shelter, yielding nothing in the way of food for either man or beast. Can any one invent a reasonable excuse for planting miles and miles of roadside trees of such kinds as elm, maple, ash, willow, cottonwood and many other similar kinds, where shellbark hickory, walnut, butter- nut, pecan and chestnut would thrive just as well, cost no more, and yet yield bushels of delicious and highly prized nuts, and this annually or in alternate years, continuing and increasing in pro- 86 ductiveness for one, two or more centuries. The nut trees which grow to a large size are just as well adapted for planting along roadsides, in the open country, as other kinds that yield nothing in the way of food for either man or beast. They are also fully as beautiful in form and foliage, and in many instances far superior to the kinds often selected for such purposes. The only objection I have heard of as being urged against plant- ing fruit and nut trees along the highway is that they tempt boys and girls as well as persons of larger growth to become trespassers. I find this only apphes to where there is such a scarcity that the quantity taken perceptibly lessens the total crop. But where there is an abundance either the temptation to trespass disappears or I fail to recognize the loss. As we cannot very well dispense with the small boy and his sister I am in favor of providing them bountifully with all the good things that climate and circumstance will afford. On my farms in Irish Valley, Northumberland County, Pa., I have planted a Paragon chestnut tree every forty feet along the public highways and driveways making a total of 769 trees. These trees range in age from four to ten years old. A mile in this country is 5,280 feet, and if chestnut trees are set forty feet apart, which is allowing sufficient room for them to grow during an ordinary lifetime, we get 133 trees per mile in a single row. Two rows may be planted, where the roads are wide enough, one on each side, and then we get 266 trees per mile. I can estimate the crop when the chestnut trees are twenty years old at two bushels per tree, or 532 bushels for a double row per mile. At the moderate price of $4 per bushel, we would realize $2,128 for the crop on a double row, with a fair assurance that the yield would increase steadily for the next hundred years or more, while the cost of gathering and marketing the nuts is no greater, and in many in- stances much less, than that of the ordinary grain crops. At the expiration of the first half century one half of the trees may be removed, if they begin to crowd, and the timber used for whatever purpose it may best be adapted. The remaining trees would prob- ably improve, on account of having more room for development. The chestnut thrives best in light, well drained soil, and those containing a large proportion of sand or decomposed quartz, slate and gravel; but it is rarely found, nor does it thrive very well, in heavy clays or limestone soil where the limestone rock comes near the surface. It is true that chestnut groves, and sometimes exten- sive forests, are found on hills and ridges overlying limestone, but a careful examination of the soil among the trees will show that it is 87 a drift deposit containing little or no lime. I find in Pennsylvania the chestnut tree grows from the banks of the Susquehanna River to the tops of the mountains. In planting the chestnut tree it should never be planted any- deeper than it was in the nursery rows. If planted any deeper it is certain death to the tree, as I find that the earth placed around the trees above where it was in the nursery rows scalds and destroys the tree. Here is where the great mistake is made in planting out the chestnut tree, and this I have found out by practical experience. It is far better to plant it one inch less than it was in the nursery than to plant it an inch deeper. There has been a steady increase in the demand for, and a cor- responding advance in the price of all kinds of edible nuts during the past three or four decades, and this is likely to continue for many years to come, because consumers are increasing far more rapidly than producers. Besides, the forests, which have long been the only source of supply of the native kinds, are rapidly disappearing, while there has not been, as yet, any special effort to make good the loss by replanting or otherwise. The dealers in such articles in our larger cities assure me that the demand for our best kinds of edible nuts is far in excess of the supply, and yet not one housewife or cook in a thousand in this country has ever attempted to use nuts of any kind in the preparation of meats and other dishes for the table, as is so generally practiced in European and Oriental countries. The question may be asked if the demand is sufficient to warrant the planting of the hardy nut trees extensively along our highways or elsewhere. In answer to such a question it may be said that we not only consume all of the edible nuts raised in this country, but import millions of pounds annually of the very kinds which thrive here as well as in any other part of the world. Where farmers want a row of trees along the roadside, to be utilized for line fence posts, they cannot possibly find any kinds better adapted for this purpose than chestnut, walnut, hickory and pecan. In a few years they may yield enough to pay the taxes on the entire farm, the crop increasing in amount and value not only during the lifetime of the planter, but that of many generations of his descendants. This appeal to the good sense of our rural population is made in all sincerity and with the hope that it will be heeded by every man who has a spark of patriotism in his soul, and who dares show it in his labors by setting up a few milestones in the form of nut-bearing trees along the roadsides — if for no other purpose than the present 88 pleasure of anticipating the gratification such monuments will afford the many who are certain to pass along these highways years hence. It is surely not good policy to enrich other nations at the expense of our own people, as we are now doing in sending millions of dollars annually to foreign countries in payment for such luxuries as edible nuts that could be readily and profitably produced at home. There need be no fear of an overproduction of such things, no matter how many may engage in their cultivation.* Colonel Van Duzee: I have no questions to ask, but as I am going to be obliged to leave the session before the close of the lecture, I should like to express my appreciation of the paper which has been read and make a remark or two. I am so heartily in sympathy, in this commercial age, with some of the thoughts expressed there, that it is a pleasure to listen to a paper which takes into consideration something a little beyond, and the idea of planting trees by the roadside for the benefit of humanity, is of too much importance to be overlooked. I could go on at great length along this line, but as I have not time I just wanted to express my appre- ciation before I have to go. The President: Has anyone else any suggestions or any gen- eral business? The Secretary: There has been no discussion at all of the filbert, I think. That is a nut that is possibly going to be of great importance in the future. I think it was Mr. Doan who asked me about the filbert and there might be someone here who could give us some information about its possibilities. Perhaps Mr. Reed could tell us something about it. Mr. C. a. Reed: Well, I am glad the subject has been brought up but I would rather listen than try to talk. As Mr. Littlepage made clear in his paper yesterday, there has been considerable effort in the eastern states towards the introduction of the filbert, but almost uniformly such attempts have met with failure. About two weeks ago some of us visited Dr. Morris's place and while there we were shown some large European filberts, ten to twelve feet high, bearing heavily. These were not suffering from the effects of the blight at all so far as we could see, and they were right in the dis- trict where the native northern filbert is one of the most common of * Note by the secretary: At the time when Fuller wrote his excellent book, the chestnut blight, as at present known, had not been observed, although he makes an interesting reference to some dis- ease of the chestnut, of unknown nature, at one time destructive to the trees in the Piedmont re- gion. The Northern Nut Growers Association does not recommend the planting of the chestnut in any region where the chestnut blight, Endothia parasitica, is prevalent. With this exception the association is heartily in sympathy with the sentiments expressed by the writer. C. A. REED In charge of Nut Culture Investigations, United States Department of Agriculture 89 the wild plants. It was quite a revelation to me to see the native filbert or hazels bearing so heavily. Everywhere we went we saw low bushy hazels not over two feet from the ground loaded with immature nuts. I thought there was an opportunity for some nut enthusiast to canvass that territory, and find the best individual plants for propagation. The filbert, it seems to me, offers an un- usually inviting field, and unless I am greatly mistaken there is a great field for exploration. Dr. Deming lives in that same section, and he tells us that on his farm the hazels are even more common than at Dr. Morris's place. Dr. Morris agrees with us that there is a fine opportunity for searching for the best varieties. He has done it and has found, I believe, one which he thinks is especially fine. I would be glad to hear from any one else about these nuts. Mr. Riehl: Mr. President, I have made a little observation of the European and I don't think it will count for very much. I know of trees that were planted in one of our experiment stations. I last saw them three or four years ago and they were twelve or fifteen feet high and bearing very heavy crops. I saw no disease of any kind but it was in the city of Alton and I don't suppose there is a native hazel within miles of it. That may be why they were bearing so well and were exempt from disease. I haven't seen those trees for the last four years and what has happened to them I don't know. I intend to go and see what has become of them. The President: Mr. Doan, what is your especial interest in the hazel? Mr. Doan: I think it offers great possibilities. The different species that we have tried show that. The fact that it grows freely, even though certain branches of it have the bhght, which does not at once destroy the whole bush, and the fact that it bears freely and abundantly, I think are points in its favor. A great many persons couldn't wait eight or ten years for a nut tree to bear but could wait a much shorter time. I think this is one good point in favor of the hazels. The President: There is no doubt that the hazel offers a very excellent opportunity for study and investigation. There are many varieties of the native hazel that are very fine and it seems to me that therein lies a field of work for this association. There is no information to the productive nut grower of more value than the facts as to what these nuts will do, how they can be produced, how quickly they bear, and what they are worth. We have very little reliable information about the English walnut. When we listened to Mr. Reed last night we were forced to the conclusion 90 that as yet we know nothing about it. There are a few apparently promising English walnut trees throughout the North but there are many things to be taken into consideration before you can recommend those for propagation. It seems to me the hazel offers a field of considerable importance. Has any one else any suggestions to offer? Mr. Potter: This hazel proposition interests almost every member of the association. It seems to me as if we might get at something more definite and instructive and I move that the chair appoint a special committee to investigate the hazel, and report at the next meeting. A Member: I second the motion. The Chairman: It has been moved and seconded that the chair appoint a committee of three to investigate the hazel or filbert, and report at the next meeting. Are you ready for the question? Mr, Riehl: I hardly think that will do any good. I believe there is a field where good work can be done but I doubt whether the chair or any one else is able to appoint a committee that can find out much that will be of value between now and our next annual meeting. There are so few superior hazels. I tried for many years to find a native hazel that is worthy of planting. I have heard of some but have been unable to get them. I heard of one and had it promised to me but he has forgotten it, I guess, and I never got it. I know of another that is said to be very good, but the man that has it won't let anybody have it unless he gets five hundred dollars, and there is no man willing to pay that on his say-so that it is a good thing. So we have got nothing to go on for such committee to make a report on. A much better plan would be for this asso- ciation to offer a prize of a certain sum of money to any one who will report a superior hazel. Let that get in the papers and be talked of so the boys and girls will hear of it and they will contend for the twenty-five or fifty dollars. There are no doubt such fine hazels but the trouble is to find them. I think the best way would be to offer a reward and let them be brought to us. In that way we can accomplish something, but to appoint a committee when we have nothing to go on will do no good. The President: There is a great deal in the suggestions of Mr. Riehl. It has been noticed by all of us in nut culture that the individual opinion of the man who has seen only his tree or bush is perhaps not worth much. That is why the data we have on the walnut is unsatisfactory. So much of it comes from the man who 91 has seen only his tree, and does not know what a first class bearing tree is like. The same difficulty would arise, to some extent, in your suggestion, Mr. Riehl, as to offering the prize. That is per- haps one of the best methods to stimulate interest but there is this difficulty in the way, that the nuts must be gathered, and the tree be investigated before it could be properly authenticated. I have had people tell me they have seen pecans from certain trees, that long (measuring on finger). There never was a pecan grew in the world that long. The question before the house is the appointment of this committee. Is there any further discussion? If not those in favor of it make it known by rising. (Two.) Those opposed make it known by rising. (Seven.) The motion is lost. Is there any further business? If not we will stand adjourned sine die. APPENDIX THE HISTORY OF THE PERSIAN WALNUT IN PENN- SYLVANIA J. G. Rush, West Willow, Penns'ylvania The history of the Persian walnut in Pennsylvania goes back several hundred years. Seed nuts only were brought here by the early German settlers, as steam navigation was unknown at that period. From this mixture of seed from Europe, we have at this time a few varieties worthy of favorable mention. In this connec- tion I will give you my brief history or experiences and observa- tion for the last twenty-nine years. In 1886 I bought two seedling trees from a local nursery regard- less of name or variety at thirty-five cents each. These two trees received equal treatment in culture for ten years, when the so- called Rush tree produced two bushels of fine developed nuts. The other tree about forty feet away has not produced two bushels from the time it was planted to the present date. The productiveness of the Rush induced me to think, and to investigate the great difference in these two trees. I finally found the Rush to be a simultaneous bloomer whereas the other was just the reverse. Being a member of the State Horticultural Association I exhibited these nuts from time to time when finally other members became interested in nut culture. Mr. John Engle of the Marietta Nur- series advised me to plant seed from this particular tree and raise seedling trees for sale. I finally did on a small scale only. But I soon found in the young seedlings a taint of black walnut blood, which discouraged me for a further continuance. Later I had cor- respondence with J. F. Jones, then of Monticello, Fla., who had specialized in the propagation of all nut trees. In 1903 scions were sent to him, and returned as budded trees in 1905. and are now a living monument to the memory of the first propagator of the Rush variety. The Pennsylvania state nursery inspector first called my at- tention to the Hall variety in Erie County, Pa., after which a lively correspondence followed and sample nuts were exchanged. In 1910 Mr. J. F, Jones and myself were to see this tree, in order to 94 get its life history. It was said by Mr. Hall that the tree was planted by the early German settlers about forty years ago. The Hall variety is very catchy to the eye on account of its large size. Through the kindness of Mr. Hall we were allowed to cut a few -buds, which are bearing trees now at West Willow. The Holden came first to my attention about four years ago in the New York State Horticultural AssocFation Report, after which a lively correspondence opened and sample nuts with the Rush were exchanged which finally led to the propagation of this prospective variety. The Nebo is a variety the history of which I traced back to about seventy-five years ago. It was planted by an English iron-master by the name of McCreary. It is said that he gave lodging to a tree agent, whereupon he received this tree as compensation. The Burlington from Burlington, N. J., is of the Alpine type, and is of great size. The Lancaster was first called to my attention a year ago. It is said the tree, not the seed, was brought from Germany. This variety is worthy of extensive cultivation, is however also of the Alpine type and very prolific. In connection with the varieties just mentioned we have also the French varieties, such as the Mayette, Franquette, Cutleaf, Alpine and Parisienne. The French varieties are not tried out in respect to their dependability for the Atlantic coast. They how- ever show hardiness equal to any other variety grown in Pennsyl- vania. As regards the late vegetating habit of some of these varieties enabling them to escape late spring frosts, I see no advantage whatever, as Jack Frost is a privileged character and makes his appearance regardless of time or place. With the limited efforts I have made thus far in the dissemina- tion of the Persian walnut, I am absolutely confident that the work has just commenced. There will yet be varieties discovered which will compare favorably and may surpass those we have already listed. The best territory to work in I find is the German settlements. They always were noted for their seed distributions in the early history of Pennsylvania. In justice to these frugal people, the Persian walnut should be called The Dutch nut. But the English were the great importers of these nuts and hence the name English walnut. The Germans today as they visit their Fatherland invariably bring a few nuts or trees with them, which keeps up the supply. Of course not all these seedUng trees are 95 true to the variety desired. But they say they come from the Homeland, which gives them great contentment. In the dissemination of these interesting nut-bearing trees I am safe in saying I have visited hundreds of them and mostly single trees of very little importance. The principal complaint is that when the nuts are as large as grapes they drop off from some unknown cause. This is all for tBe want of proper cross pollenization. The public in general is now getting educated to the importance of planting grafted or budded varieties of known merit, which is attested by the large plantings of the last several years. My limited experience with grafting large nut trees is that it is not practicable, from the fact that the lower limbs outgrow the grafted ones and eventually smother them and cause them to die out, leaving the tree in a disfigured condition. The better way is to plant several trees of a good pollenizing variety near one another to get best results in bearing. In this brief history of the nut industry of Pennsylvania and adjacent states, I have said nothing in regard to propagation and culture, knowing that some one else will take up that subject in detail. Horace Greeley in his prime of life said: "Young man, go west." The Northern Nut Growers Association says: "Young man, plant a nut tree." 96 A COMPARISON OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CON- DITIONS IN THE PROPAGATION OF NUT TREES J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa. I shall not try to cover the whole subject of propagation or de- scribe methods of budding and grafting, as these will be covered by- others and we are to have demonstrations of budding and grafting, which are far ahead of any descriptions that can be given. I will try to compare conditions in the North and South and give some of my experience with the problems that have confronted us. We have been able to get very satisfactory results with the pecan, either by budding or grafting, under northern conditions. With good scions 'and good stocks we have been able to get nearly, if not quite, as good results in Pennsylvania as we were able to get in Florida or Louisiana. The growth of the tree is also quite satis- factory. From dormant buds on good stocks we are able to get a growth of four to six feet the first year in the nursery and six to seven feet is not unusual. The growth is also quite stocky and altogether very satisfactory. Any. of the methods of propagation as practiced on the pecan in the South are successful in the North, but bud- ding by the patch method has given us the best results. Grafting is quite successful so far as the live or stand is concerned, but, on account of our shorter growing season, the growth is not nearly so satisfactory as that of the dormant bud which, being set the pre- vious summer, is ready to start quickly into growth in the spring and gets the full benefit of our shorter growing season. The shagbark hickory is essentially a northern tree and can only be propagated satisfactorily in the North. In Florida and Louis- iana we could graft the shagbark on pecan stocks with fairly satis- factory results, so far as the live or stand was concerned, but the tree did not take kindly to the climate of the Gulf Coast and made little growth, a number dying out altogether the second and third years after being grafted. We have never gotten very satisfactory results from grafting the shagbark with scions taken from old, bear- ing trees, but with good scions from young thrifty trees, the shag- bark may be grafted with fairly satisfactory results in the northern states. From the nature of the growth, it is not practical to bud the shagbark by the annular or patch bud methods as practiced so 97 satisfactorily on the pecan, but last season (1913) in an experiment we got good results from ordinary shield budding by taking scions from a tree that had matured and ripened its growth up early and setting the buds on young, sappy growth of the pignut hickory, Hicoria Glabra. The scions from which these buds were taken were cut to test patch budding on the shagbark and when it was found that the growth had hardened and the bark would not peel, the buds were cut and inserted by ordinary shield budding, as practiced on the apple, peach, etc. This experiment was made with little or no hope of success, so that my surprise can well be imagined, when the wrapping was removed and it was found that every bud had united with the stocks! These buds have made better growth the present season than have the grafts set the past spring, as might be expected. This may be a freak and we may not be able to again duplicate the results, at least in more extensive practice, but I am inclined to think that we will, under similar conditions. The shagbark, without, any manipulation, ripens and hardens up its growth early in the season and it would appear that these condi- tions could easily be dupUcated, at least in average seasons. Young stocks of either the pecan or pignut hickory hold their sap much later than does the shagbark and are in good condition for budding after the shagbark is dormant. We have practiced this method on the chestnut for several years with very satisfactory results. The chestnut may be budded almost as easily as the apple or pear, and with nearly as good results, by ordinary shield budding, by taking scions for budding from an old bearing tree which has matured and ripened its growth up early and setting the buds on young, sappy seedling stocks growing under cultivation in the nursery. The paragon chestnut, especially, ripens its growth up very early when the tree is carrying a good crop of chestnuts, and there is a month, in average seasons, when buds may be taken from it and set on young stocks in the nursery. This condition might be brought about on younger trees from which buds are to be taken by withholding nitro- genous fertilizers and cultivation, or, if necessary, by root pruning. Root pruning should not be too severe as a sudden check on the growth in the growing season might interfere more or less with the storing up of "starch" or "dormant plant food" in the scion. Any condition or conditions that will serve to induce early maturing and ripening of the wood growth on trees from which buds are to be taken will be satisfactory, and by using nitrogenous fertilizers and liberal cultivation on the stocks to be budded, they may be kept in good condition of sap well into September in average seasons. 98 grafted at the proper time we were able to get good results without any manipulation of the seedling stocks. All that we ever did there was to remove the new growth occasionally to hold the stocks in good condition for grafting and prolong the grafting season, and it was always questionable whether this was a necessary precaution. My idea in keeping the new growth off the stocks till the grafts were set was not to control the sap flow, but to prevent, if it were possible by this means, the exhaustion of the stored up "starch" in the stock, by the new growth. In the northern states, the sap in the walnut stocks, and perhaps to some extent in other nut tree stocks, is inclined to come up in the spring with a rush. Some seasons at least, even before the buds push into growth, when the stocks are cut off for grafting a large number ''bleed" or run sap very freely and this may continue several days, flooding and in- juring the scion and exhausting the vitality of the stock. This condition was especially noticeable the past spring, due presumably, to the lateness of the growing season. Making provision for the exit of the surplus sap was usually sufficient in the lower south and, we believed, would be farther north, but with the stronger flow of sap this is not sufficient in the northern states, at least some seasons. An examination of grafts, set on stocks which have bled freely after having been grafted, shows that the stock callouses very slowly, if at all, and the scion, unless it be of very heavy, solid wood, becomes dark colored and sour and the wood soon dies in the cleft, although the scion above this point may remain green for weeks. I am not able, at this time, to give any specific remedy for the correction of this trouble for the reason that I have not worked it out to my own satisfaction as yet, but now that we understand the trouble better, I feel sure that we will be able to correct it in the manipulation of the stocks before they are grafted. Keeping the new growth off the stocks may be found to be sufficient in most seasons, if the graft- ing is done rather late, but I am of the opinion that a rather severe cutting back of the stocks a few days before they are grafted, if the grafting is done early, will be found the best practice. For later grafting, my opinion is that two or three cuttings, say a week apart, will be better. Root pruning, where it can be practiced to advantage, will be found more effective still. I have never known newly transplanted stocks or those which had the tree digger run under them, to bleed freely when grafted, and we have sometimes gotten a good stand of grafts on such stocks, but such stocks may not always have sufficient sap for the best results in grafting, if they have been recently transplanted or root pruned. Fall planted 99 As a matter of experiment, I want to try budding both the pecan and walnut by this method the present season, but I don't expect any results from walnut buds set in this way. For the information of those who may wish to try this method the present season, I will say that we cut the shagbark buds a little heavier than we cut apple or pear buds. The wood was left in the bud. The bark on the stock was split and the buds inserted just as in any other shield budding. The buds were wrapped very firmly, with waxed muslin, just as we wrap patch buds. Our success with grafting the English or Persian walnut, under northern conditions, has been variable and not very satisfactory. With good scions and good stocks and other favorable conditions, we have sometimes gotten over 90 per cent to grow, but the stand is more often much below this and the present season we did not average over 25 per cent. The fact that we get good stands of grafts when all conditions are right, is not only encouraging but demonstrates that the English walnut can be grafted under eastern or northern conditions with at least a fair degree of certainty as to results, just as soon as we learn the causes of our failures and are thus able to apply the remedy. Perhaps the greatest drawback to the successful grafting of the English walnut is the difficulty of obtaining good scions. The annual growth of the walnut is much more pithy than that of the pecan or shagbark, and for this reason, only a comparatively small portion of the growth is available for grafting purposes if we are able to select scions that will give the best results. Like the pecan and shagbark, the two-year wood makes the best scions for grafting, provided that the wood has good buds on it, but under our conditions those buds that lie dormant are usually shed off during the summer and few good buds remain that will start quickly into active growth. It is true that adventitious buds will often form where these buds have shed off, and these will push into growth if the stock is kept free from sprouts, but usually too late in the season to make good trees, and keeping the seedling stock free from sprouts when it should be in leafage is more or less weak- ening and injurious and the grafts, starting into growth late in the season, do not mature and ripen their growth up properly before frost and are quite likely to be injured by early November freezes, unless they have some protection. To graft the English walnut with unvarying and satisfactory results, under northern conditions, we must not only have good scions and good stocks, but we must control the sap flow in the stocks. In Florida and Louisiana the sap came up more gradually in the stocks in the spring, and when 100 or root pruned stocks would probably give the best results, as the sap would probably come up more gradually in the spring and, while the flow would probably be sufficient for the best results, it would not flow freely enough to injure the scion or stock. We have not experienced any serious difficulty from an extreme 'flow of sap in pecan stocks, either in the North or South, but we have had grafts set on the pignut hickory fail from this cause. The English walnut may be budded with fair to good results, by the patch method, by selecting good buds on the best matured, round growth, but to propagate the tree economically and satisfac- torily it is desirable to both bud and graft, otherwise both stocks and scion wood are wasted. 101 TOP-WORKING LARGE WALNUT TREES W. C. R;eed, Vincennes, Indiana In top-working large native walnut trees to the Persian or Eng- lish walnut, the first operation is to cut the trees back severely. This should be done while the trees are dormant, preferably in February or early in March. Cut them back two feet or more above where you wish to graft, then cut again to. where you want them. This will avoid sphtting. Usually we cut back to where the limbs are from two to four inches in diameter. We have cut some back that were six to eight inches with good results. However, limbs this size require careful attention to avoid decay as it takes so long for them to heal over. Scions for Grafting Scions for grafting should be cut while perfectly dormant and packed in damp moss or sawdust, being careful not to have it too wet. Paper line the boxes and place in a cool place. Cold storage is much better. Scions cut during the winter and placed in cold storage will come out in good shape for grafting in May, or budding during July or August. Where there is danger of the wood being injured by cold weather it would be well to cut scions in November, before severe cold. Time for Grafting Wait until the new growth is well advanced or nearly in full leaf, which is about May 1 to 10, in this latitude. Methods Use either the wedge graft or the bark graft. We have had equally good results with each. If any difference it is in favor of the side or bark graft which we prefer because it does not split or mutilate the stock, there is not the chance for decay, and the wounds heal over much quicker. On limbs three to four inches in diameter put in three to four grafts. Cut the stubs back one to two inches below where they were cut when dormant so you may have a fresh clean cut. Pare the rough bark off until you have a fairly smooth surface for three inches below where the limbs are cut off. 102 Side or Bark Grafting For side or bark grafting split the bark with a sharp knife for about two inches where the graft is to be set. Cut your scions with about two buds. Slope the scion all from one side with a long slope so it will fit well to the wood or cambium layer; then trim off a little of the outer bark on the outside lower edge of the scion, just enough to expose the cambium so it wjll come in contact with the inner side of the bark on the tree. Wedge Graft If the wedge graft is used, take a long bladed knife (a corn knif® will do) set it sloping on the cut off stock and make a clean cut through the bark first so it will split straight, then raise the handle of the knife and drive the blade into the wood, splitting it as deep as needed, depending on the size of the scion and insert a wooden wedge made from some hard wood. An old broom or hoe handle is good, tapering the wedge from both sides, leaving it thick in the center so it will come out easily after the graft is set by simply tap- ping lightly from first one side and then the other. In cutting the scion slope from each side with a long slope to fit the split in the stub. The outer edge of the scion should be somewhat thicker than the inner edge so that when the wedge is taken out it will be held firm. Be very careful to see that the cambium of the scion and tree meet on each edge of the scion. Pack all large cracks with tissue paper and wax thoroughly. Waxing, Tying, Bagging As soon as the grafts are set, cover the entire wound with grafting wax, being careful to cover the top of the stub well and the sides as far down as the bark is split, and the upper end of the scion. Then place a paper sack over the stub to prevent evaporation and leave this on until the scions start into growth. We do not use any tying material on large limbs because the bark is thick enough to hold the graft in place. However, on smaller trees it will be important to wrap the grafts well. Grafting Wax The best grafting wax we have found is composed of the following' Four pounds resin, one pound beeswax, one-half pint linseed oil and one tablespoon of lampblack. Melt all together and apply with a paint brush, being careful not to have the wax too hot. 103 After Care After new growth starts watch it closely every week or ten days and keep all suckers removed until the scion starts into growth. Wherever grafts fail to start the suckers may be left to grow for budding later. Budding Large Trees Cut back early the same as for grafting, cover all cuts with graft- ing wax, let all sprouts grow until time to bud, which is usually August 1 to September 1. Thin out the small, weaker sprouts and bud three or four of the largest ones, setting the bud four to six inches from where the sprout comes out of the stub. Use the patch bud, wrap carefully with waxed cloth, using muslin dipped in melted beeswax, the strips of cloth three-sixteenths to one-fourth inch wide. The following spring, about March 1, cut the sprouts back to about three inches above the bud, remove all other sprouts when new growth starts and keep all suckers removed. Supports At this time you will need to put up slat supports to tie the buds to. Take slats one by two inches and twelve feet long. Nail these to the sides of the limbs so they will extend six to eight feet above. Keep buds and grafts tied up every week or ten days during the growing season. It has been our experience that budding is preferable. However, grafting in the spring and then budding in August gives you two chances the same season. This same method applies to the pecan and hickory as well as the walnut and if the work is carefully done you will surely be well paid for your work. 104 INTEREST IN NUT GROWING IN THE INTERMOUN- TAIN STATES Dr. L. D. Batchelor, Utah Agricultural Experiment Station^ The marked increase in the interest in nut growing throughout the intermountain states is shown by the numerous inquiries on this subject which are directed to this office. There have been very- few plantings of commercial orchards, but on every hand there is an interest shown in using nut trees for shade trees. The hardy varie- ties of Persian. walnut are being planted more each year to ascertain the most promising sorts for commercial planting. Larger plantings will no doubt follow when some of these varieties have gained the confidence of the people, for one of the chief drawbacks to nut planting in the past has been the common belief that a semi-tropical climate is essential to the production of such nuts as almonds, pecans and Persian walnuts. The Utah Agricultural Experiment Station has distributed about one hundred Persian walnut trees to cooperative planters over the state the past season. Ninety-five per cent of the trees are making a thrifty growth, while a similar planting made in 1912 gives good promise. The following varieties are included in the experimental lot; Chaberte (grafted on black walnut); Franquette (on black and English walnut); Franquette (Vrooman Strain); Mayette (on English Walnut); Parisienne (on the black walnut); Pomeroy (seedling); Pomeroy (on black walnut); Rush (on black walnut). A number of seedling trees have been discovered by the writer during the past year, throughout the state. Some of these seed- lings are producing a fairly good type of commercial nut. What is more important, however, the success of these seedling Persian wal- nuts points to the practicability of planting the hardier varieties of this nut in the intermountain states. 105 REPORT FROM G. H. CORSAN Location — Toronto. Season— Winter, 1913-1914; Spring, 1914; Summer, 1914. Type of season — November and December very mild. The ground was not frozen the least on January 1, 1914. January 12 the coldest day Toronto ever experienced 22° F. below zero. On February 12 it was 18° F. below zero. January, February and most of March very steady cold. Very little snow all winter, none on January 12. Except those that I smothered by too much care the following seedlings lived through the winter and are alive today: Pecans; pinus edulis; pinus Koriensis; chestnuts; filberts; all the juglans including Calif ornica and Canadian seed of regia; pawpaws; per- simmons. My "mountain rose" peaches had not a twig winter killed though my Fitzgeralds, a very hardy peach, had some; this peach may not be as hardy as it is blown up to be. The season has been very dry and this summer many of the Paragon chestnuts died that were not watered. My Pomeroy walnuts are having a struggle to keep good form but I think that I will have a few hardy ones selected from them, as these last two winters have been the most trying on young trees we have ever had, of which fact I am glad. Here at Battle Creek are a dozen of Mr. W. C. Reed's grafted pecans; all are alive and growing strong as are mine in Toronto. I wrote you of the horrible abuse that mine had while in transit and they had a right to die but lived. Pecans grow very late into the fall and do not shed their leaves early so that I feel sure that the wood will harden sufficiently to stand the winter. The next question is, will the nut mature where grapes and peaches grow and just escape the October frosts. I saw many splendid pecans at Burlington, Iowa. Native pecans for seed stock can be procured from there in abundance. The nuts there are long and narrow, but not thick-shelled, and sell retail in the stores for not less than twenty cents a pound. The climate at Burlington has been 35° F. below zero some winters. I am certain from my observations all over northeastern North America that the pecan has far more possibifities than the English walnut or any other nut unless we can develop a blight proof chest- nut. The north Chinese walnut has been doing wonderfully well in 106 Toronto and those two trees fifteen and seventeen feet high have not a twig killed. They do not bear as early as the Japanese. Their leaves are much longer than the English walnut but the nut is fully as good as the best California, Persian walnut that ever reached the market. Many of the nuts are paper shelled, some burst open at the suture. Their appearance is almost the same as the English but the tree is much hardier, growing at the extreme north of China. Then this is the tree that the nurserymen of Ontario have been selling as "Enghsh" walnuts and guaranteeing to be hardy. But as soon as we saw the leaf and the trunk we at once knew them for north Chinese walnuts and upon being told that, the men acknowl- edged that they were. Just today I have been speaking to a mis- sionary from the extreme north of China and he informs me that they have two feet of ice every winter where these trees grow in abundance with the finest nuts he ever saw. This fact and the fact that really good pecans can grow up north are the two facts that I wish this association to work on in order to get results that are certain of success. 107 DISTRIBUTION OF PERSIAN ("ENGLISH") WALNUT SEEDLINGS IN MICHIGAN Attention should be called to the work of Mr. Myron A. Cobb of the Department of Agriculture of the Central State Normal School, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, of which he sends the following outline. Mr. Cobb has consented to send out with the trees a leaflet, to be supplied by this Association, explaining the funda- mental principles of nut growing. It is interesting to note the cost of these seedling trees, one and one-half cents each, including postage. The success of Mr. Cobb's work shows the readiness of the public for it. Our Association should encourage similar work in other states. "About five years ago, I began the distribution of walnut seedlings by planting a few seeds in our orchard, and distributed them to the schools of Isabella County. I distributed about five hundred each year, making a total of two thousand five hundred seedlings. This year, the idea has been more widely advertised, and the demand for seedlings has been enormous. I have distributed this year five thousand seedlings and have received orders for about two thousand more which I could not fill because of lack of trees. "This work was taken up primarily with the idea of distributing walnut seedlings on the farms and incidentally to teach how trees are raised and to correlate the work of the school to the home. "The trees have been distributed largely by parcel post, in amounts from three to three hundred. The trees have been sold for one and one-half cents each. This covers the original cost of the trees and the postage on the same. Some of the trees have been grown upon our own grounds, but the most of them have been obtained from the D. Hill Nursery Company, of Dundee, Illinois. The distribution has been largely through the schools, but many organizations have in- terested themselves in the movement, as farmers' clubs, women's clubs, civic improvement leagues, etc. The Women's Club of Pon- tiac distributed two hundred and seventy-five. We prefer to dis- tribute them through the schools. "These trees have been distributed to nearly every portion of Michigan, Mr. Weidman, a prominent lumberman, sending one hundred to the Upper Peninsula. Several hundred have been sent 8 108 to the burned o\"er areas of Northeastern Michigan, some have been planted in the cities and along the roadside, but the most of them have been distributed to the farms. The demand this year exceeded our anticipation. Many farmers and organizations have been greatly interested in securing and distributing the seedlings, and some of the requests for seedlings have been very interesting, in that they show such a great desire .on the part of the farmers to secure the trees, and it has been with Extreme regret that we were obliged to return their money, because of lack of seedlings. "This movement seems to be especially interesting in many ways and plans are being made to supply the demand the following season and to extend the work along other practical lines and apparent indications are that our slogan, 'A walnut tree for every farm,' will be a reality." 109 EXAMPLES OF SOME RECENT CORRESPONDENCE Farmingdale, III., August 5, 1914. I am interested in fruit and nuts of all kinds, but plant only for home use and experimentally. I believe the chestnut is a better money nut here than the pecan, as natives here bear very sparsely and irregularly although the catkins or male part usually come out in great profusion. I note that you say ''there is probably not much use in trying to grow the pecan or Persian walnut outside the peach area." Here our pecan seems as hardy as the average apple, withstanding 25° below zero or more with little or no injury. I find that the " Andrus" Persian walnut is much hardier than the "Pomeroy" as I planted two small one-year trees that endured the following winter 20° below, with no injury to even terminal buds. So twenty years may show a change of opinion as to the value of the Persian walnut in the Middle West. The Japanese walnuts here are often injured by winter ht IS'' below, but there may be hardier types and varieties than those I have tried. I have never been able to graft the pecan successfully — annual or budding has given me the only success I have had. And in years like this and last, I find it very difficult to make a transplanted grafted pecan live without watering. I have failed, so far, in finding a practical method to keep chest- nuts in good eating and planting condition until spring. If stored in the ground cellar or as peach pits, they mould, if kept in an ordi- nary building they become too dry. Benjamin Buckman. 110 South Waterford, Me., November 21, 1914. Deae Sir: I have just read in the last issue of the Rural New-Yorker a very interesting article on nut growing, giving your name. For several years I have thought that it w^ould be better for people in the New England States to give more attention to nuts than so much to apples, but I have not been in a position to start in with nut trees much until now. Although 65 years old and somewhat used up with rheumatism I am not ready to give up yet. ... When I started on this farm it did not produce a barrel of grafted fruit. There were quite a lot of natural fruit trees that never had been trimmed or cared for in any way. I grafted these trees and set out some from time to time until now the farm produces from 500 to 800 barrels per year. This year apples at picking time sold slow for $1.00 per barrel for No. I's, No. 2's not wanted at any price. I often think that if I had set out a few acres of nut trees 25 years ago they would have been more profit now than the whole 200-acre farm is. . . . Last spring on account of my lameness and the scarcity and the high price of farm help I sold my large farm and bought a small place. . . . Last spring I had about two acres of this land plowed up and during the summer thoroughly worked over with the idea of next spring setting it out to nut trees of some va- rieties that would do best here. Now I do not know anything about nut growing or what varieties best to plant. If you can help me out by putting me in a way to get this information you will confer a great favor. United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics, t (Agricultural Forecasts) Office of the County Correspondent. Isle La Motte, Grand Isle, Vermont, December 10, 1914. My dear Sir: I wish to set out several nut trees next spring here on this island in Lake Cham- plain. We have lots of hickory nuts, butternuts, hazelnuts and beechnuts growing wild here and Champlain says in his narrative that there were lots of fine chestnuts growing here 300 years ago. Now I want to try some chestnuts, black walnuts, Enghsh walnuts, pecans, and almonds. If you can tell me the hardiest varieties of each and where to get trees I shall be greatly obliged. I have my doubts about pecans and almonds but am wiUing to try them here. I am growing peaches here where they never grew before. Richmond, Va., December 13, 1914. Dear Sir: I am just commencing an enterprise in propagation of nut trees here just north of Richmond. I shall have plenty of time to do some experimental work in planting of unknown varieties and would like to do some such planting. I want any information I can get on varieties of Enghsh and black walnuts, hazelnuts, hickories and persimmons, "sloes" and any other varieties of currants. If I am Ill not trespassing too much on your time please put me in touch with parties who can give me information. Please advise me if your association has any publica- tions on the subject. I am a retired civil engineer and my hobby has been all my hfe the study of forest trees. I am now in a position to do some planting and I should be very glad to cooperate with your association. I am here located exactly on the line of demarcation between northern and southern forest growths and I think I have exactly the location for experimental work. . . . New Milford, Conn., December 8, 1914. Mt dear Dr. Deming: This morning I am sending, by parcel post, a sample of hickory nuts to compete for the prize which I saw has been offered by the association, of which you are secretary. My father, while he was living, sent an exhibition of nuts to the Pan-American, also to the St. Louis Fair, and received the highest award given for nuts at both Expositions. New London, Conn., December 3, 1914. Dear Sir: We are all elderly people, lacking energy to cultivate our farm land as closely as we ought. Some of us are interested in nut culture and have suggested that we plant some nuts and watch their growth from the very beginning. Of course, we only wish nuts of the best varieties and easiest cultm-e. We only wish hardy nuts, that do not need grafting, and we prefer those that come into bearing early. We do not wish any of the Mammoth dwarf, Japan chestnut. We bought a nice one, but it will not mature its fruit, and is gradually dying. We find great diffi- culty in purchasing nuts. Those who have trees for sale, refuse to sell the nuts. A person who has a few Japan walnut trees in connection with some other business, very kindly offered to sell us some nuts, and these are all we have been able to purchase so far. There are but very few nuts that we would attempt to try. We wish to find some of the very best of filberts or hazelnuts, that we shall probably cultivate in bush form. We are interested in the hardij, hard shell almonds. Do you think we could do anything with them? I think they do not have to be grafted. Do you know of any species of English walnut or Madeira nut, that are perfectly hardy, and come into bearing early, that would serve our purpose? I know we are asking quite a favor, for strangers, but if you will kindly assist us a little, we will thank you very much. Broadway Methodist Church, Fargo, N. D., November 10, 1914. Dear Sir: I saw yom- statement in the Southern Planter this morning and am writing, not to tell you where choice nut-specimens are to be obtained but to ask a few ques- tions relative to the obtaining the best information possible to the growing of nuts. I have a ten-acre tract about twelve miles straight south of Staunton, 112 Va. When I purchased the tract the chestnut and hickory were thriving. I have had about one haK of the property cleared and some trees planted. Among the trees are twehe hardy EngUsh walnuts from Green's Nursery, Rochester, N. Y., 6 "Mayo" and 6 "Pomeroy" walnuts from Glen Brothers, Rochester, N. Y. I am interested in nut-culture. I ha\ e inquired of Glen Brothers if the Kentish Cob would thiive there. They assure me it will. If there is a chance to make a success of nuts, I would turn my time and thought to the raising of wal- nuts and Kentish cobs and filberts. What would you advise? If you cannot give me the desired information, kindly give me dii'ections to the one who can. I was brought up among the walnuts and filberts and colj-nuts in the County of Kent, England, and now my thoughts are turning to the delights of earlier days and I intend coming to the Shenandoah VaUey in the near future and mak- ing mj' home there. . . . THE SECRETARY'S REPLY Georgetown, Conn., November 13, 1914. My dear Mr. : It gives me great pleasure to reply as well as I am able to your letter of Novem- ber 10th. You are in the position of many thoughtful men of the present day in craving the peace and delight of a life that is nearer to nature. You have also a small tract of land in a favored part of our coimtry, and you have been led to believe, by the statements that you have run across in chance sources, that the returns from nut growing may enable you to attain your ambition. Our president has a place at Roundhill, Va., not very many miles from yours. He is a professor of something like "Efficiency" in the University of Pennsyl- vania. He is young, aggressive and very efficient himself. His father was, and he himself is, an orchardist and fruit grower. Both he and I hav e been for some years working at the problems of nut growing. But it is only this year that we seem to have overcome the difficulties of grafting and budding nut trees. We have the greatest faith in the future success of nut growing, but we do not know how long it wiU be before we shall know just what varieties of nuts to plant our- selves, least of all to advise others to plant, with any certainty of success. For the man, however, who realizes that nut growing in the North is still in the ex- perimental stage, we have no end of information and advice. The information you have had from interested sources is misleading. Prob- ably you would not live long enough to get satisfactory results from the seedUng trees you might plant, even if such results ever came. To get reasonably prompt and certain results from nut trees it is necessary to grow such trees grafted or budded from trees of known good bearing record, just as the same thing is nec- essary with the common fruit trees. Your information about the Kentish cob and the filbert is but half the truth. The slirubs will thrive for a time in almost any place. But they have nowhere in the East been a success because sooner or later they are destroyed by a disease. One of our great nut growing wants is a filbert or hazel of good size and quality that has the blight resistant quahty of our native hazel. My advice to you then would be as follows. If it is your idea to make a living by nut growing on your ten acres in Vu-ginia within a reasonable number of years, I do not advise you to attempt it. If you wish to take up nut growing as offering 113 an occupation of the greatest interest, with opportunity for the solution of prob- lems of great importance to mankind, and a fair promise of eventual money profit to yourself or to your heirs, then I should certainly advise you to take up nut growing. I would not attempt to grow the hazel or the chestnut at present, except in an experimental way. The nuts of best promise for you are the Indiana or north- ern pecans and the English walnut. But it requires considerable study of the subject before one may take up the practice of nut growing without the probabil- ity of making unnecessary mistakes, and unnecessarily losing time and money in repeating the experiences of others. The wilful misstatements of some nurserymen, and the ignorance or care- lessness of others, has hindered the progress of nut growing. Fortunately we have several nurserymen who have made a study of the subject, who are honor- able and truthful men, and on whose statements you may rely. The only pos- sible qualification of, this statement that I know of is that an allowance for en- thusiasm might be borne in mind without risk of harm. I enclose a Ust of such nurserymen, accredited by this association. Your letter seems to call for this extended reply which I hope will be of service to you. If I have left anything obscure that you would like to know about, or if I can assist you in any other way, please let me know. With the hope that you may be able to take up this most fascinating a\ ocation with pleasure and profit, I am Very truly yours, W. C. Deming. 114 PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE PERSIAN WALNUT The secretary herewith presents a preliminary report on the in- vestigation of the Persian walnut. No attempt has been made to collect information about the walnut on the Pacific Coast, which is quite another matter. But the investigation reports very briefly on trees from Canada to Georgia and from Massachusetts to Utah. The result of the investigation so far is hardly more than a bare catalogue of the trees which the secretary has been able to locate, and is intended simply as an aid to further investigation. It is now published with the hope that members and others may become informed of Persian walnut trees that it may be possible for them to locate, observe and report upon. It is manifestly impossible for any one person, unless some paid agent of the government or other institution, to investigate many of these trees personally, they are scattered over such a wide area. Correspondence is usually un- satisfactory and personal investigation is the only way to get good results. Probably only a small part of all the existing trees is here cata- logued. But among them, and among the others that will come to light in the constantly widening investigation by an increasing number of interested persons, will certainly be found varieties of merit and adaption to different sections of the country. As the meeting next year at Rochester is to give especial atten- tion to the Persian walnut it is to be hoped that members and others will make special efforts to send to the meeting specimen nuts and reports of trees. THE PERSIAN WALNUT Canada Brantford — Dr. D. S. Sager. Knows at least 50 trees. Is top working native walnuts and other work. Grimbsy — H. K. Griffith. Bearing tree or trees. Grimbsy — Louisa NeUer. Bearing tree or trees. Grimbsy East — Beverley Book. Bearing tree or trees. St. Gathering— Miss AUce Berger, 251 Queenston St. Several bearing trees. One tree 100-200 pounds annually. St. Catherins— Harper Secord, R. 2. Twenty-eight young seedlings. St. Catherins — James Titherington. Bearing tree or trees. St. Catherins — J. J. Fee, Niagara St. Bearing tree or trees. St. Catherins — F. D. Solvyne, Carleton St. Bearing tree or trees. Toronto — G. H. Corsan, University of Toronto. Many young walnut and other nut trees. "Hundreds of thousands being planted in Niagara Peninsula." 115 i New York Chappaqua — F. M. Clendenin. Just bearing few nuts after 8 years. Lockport — A. C. Pomeroy. Bearing orchard, seedlings. North Avon — Adelbert Thompson. Bearing orchard, seedhngs, 225 trees. Hilton — E. B. Holden. Bearing trees. Rochester — B. F. Whitmore, 520 Park Ave. Three bearing trees. Holley — W.E.Howard. Four bearing trees. Knows of others. "Hundreds of trees." Canandaigua — Bradley Wynkoop. Bearing tree. Brockport — Marcus Cook, 90 Holley St. "Nearly 100 bearing trees within 5 miles of Brockport." Fairport — Pickering Bros., Some Pomeroys. Fairport — N. A. Baker. Victor — E. Y. Shilling. Bearing tree. Victor — A. B. Wood. Bearing tree. Victor — Josiah Snyder. Bearing tree. Watkins — Write E. C. Gabriel, Rock Stream. Tree reported by Prof. Corbett at N. Hector, 2 or 3 more east side of lake. Earlville — Francisco I. L. Mulligan. Twenty-nine Pomeroys and others. Hoosick Halls — A. A. Baker, R. 2. Knows of bearing tree near Long Island. Port Jefferson— Joseph Schriever. "Fine Specimen." Huntington — Historical Society. "Fine Specimen." Between Huntington and Centerport, on Gallows Hill, old Geo. S. Conklin place, occupied by "Peachy," as reported by Uncle Jerry Wockers of the Ithaca Journal office. Bearing tree. Oyster Bay — Joseph H. Sears. Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. Oyster Bay — Mrs. W. H. Burgess. Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. Glen Cove — John T. Pratt. Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. Glen Cove — W. L. Harkness (Dosoris). Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. Woodbury — L. Piquet. Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. Roslyn — Admiral Aaron Ward. Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. Hempstead — Rev. Chas Snedaker, St. George's Rectory.. Bearing tree, reported by Henry Hicks. New York City, Westchester — Dr. Deming. Three Morris trees. District of Coltimbia Washington — Barnes, Weaver, Kaingler, Stabler and other trees. Delaware Wilmington — Dr. Rumford. Smyrna — Walter L. Marks. Magnolia — J. B. Tisdale. One or more bearing trees. Reported by E. B. and J. M. Reed, Fredonia. Millsboro — G. L. Ellis. Twenty miles away some trees. North Carolina Carthage — I. W. Williamson. Few young trees. Carthage — John A. McLeod, R. 3. Pomona — J. Van Lindley. Several trees near Southern Pines. 116 Ohio Cincinnati — I. B. Johnston. "About 50 trees near Cincinnati." Gypsum — H. G. Miller, of Wm. Miller and Son, Elmwood Fruit Farm. Two trees, 20 years old. Also young Pomeroy trees. "Several very large bear- ing trees within a few miles of here." Dayton— Fred Kircher, 221 S. McDonough St. Amherst — O. F. Witte, R. 2. Bearing tree. Middletown — Levi Leonard. One hundred eeedlings. Knows of old trees in Lancaster Co., Pa. New Jersey Lumberton — C. S. Ridgeway. "Peerless Paper Shell," 25 years, 50-100 pounds. Paterson— Thos. Rodgers, 236 W. 25th St., W. End. Bearing tree. Salem — Weber; write D. Harris Smith, Att'y- Rep. J. L. Doan. Haddonfield — J. Hutchinson. Raritan — PhUip Lindsley, Box 350. Bearing tree. Flemiagton — Rev. Dr. Sonne. Bearing tree. Marlton — C. D. Barton. ICnows good bearing trees. Moorestown — Charles Haines. Bearing tree. Delanco — Frank Jones. Bearing tree. Virginia Wilhamsburg— D. S. Harris, Box 416, 33 Febrey. "Grafted." Wilhamsburg— J. A. Bechtel, R. 2. Mint Springs — WiUiams place. Two trees; rep. Am. Nut. Jour. 8, 14, p. 39. Lynchbiu-g — Crockett. Roslyn — R. S. Carter, Box 41. Three trees. Emporia — H. W. Weiss. "Fifty trees on different farms; English, Japanese and black." Maryland Sandy Spring— A va M. Stabler. Colton's Point — James K. Jones. See Circular of J. F. Jones. "Eight or ten bearing trees." Forest HiU — Wihner P. Hoopes. Churchville — ^Alexis Smith. "Alexis." Sharon— Mrs. S. J. Poleet. "Sheffield." Berkeley— J. T. Smith. "Smith." Janettsville— David Hildt. "Beder." Vale— Kate Hooker. "Hooker." Baltimore — Franklin-Davis Nurseries. Princess- Anne — Ida M. Lankford. Bearing trees. Cooperstown — L. J. Onion, P. O. Sharon. "Sir Clair." Massachusetts Boston — Mrs. Schultz, 335 Cornell St., Roslindale, Boston. Bearing tree. Newburyport — Reported by C. F. Knight, Rowley. Bearing tree. Winchester — Brackett (Bro. of G. B. Brackett). Bearing trees. 117 New Hampshire Keene — Reported by A. C. Pomeroy. Pomeroy trees. Newmarket — Alfred C. Durgin. Six Pomeroy, 2 Rush, " Supposed to be grafted." Enfield — Forest Colby. Some trees. Michigan Mt. Pleasant — Myron A. Cobb, Central State Normal School. Has been dis- tributing thousands of walnut seedlings. Coloma — W. C. Reed, Vincennes, Ind. Almont — F. P. Andrus. Bearing tree and seedlings. Augusta — OrviUe I. Miller. Buds from Andrus. Alabama Hunts vUle — Mr. May hew, Westchester, New York City. Reports tree. Tennessee Greenville — ^Wm. H. Brown, 516 Main St. Reports 3 trees. El. 1500. Georgia Sharpe — Paul Dyer. Reported by Prof. McHatton. Idaho Boise — S. A. Gehman. Local bearing trees. C. C. Vincent, Ag. Exp. Sta. Mos- cow Utah Lehi — Mrs. J. T. Winn. Several trees. Salt Lake City — J. T. Harwood (brother of above). Many bearing trees. Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist, Ag. Exp. Sta. Logan. US CORKESrONDENTS A?