The Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern Nut Growers Association Report of
the Proceedings at the Twelfth Annual Meeting, by Various
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the
Twelfth Annual Meeting
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 6 and 7, 1921
Author: Various
Editor: Northern Nut Growers Association
Release Date: November 6, 2006 [EBook #19728]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ***
Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, E. Grimo, Janet
Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdp.net
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|DISCLAIMER |
| |
|The articles published in the Annual Reports of the Northern Nut Growers|
|Association are the findings and thoughts solely of the authors and are |
|not to be construed as an endorsement by the Northern Nut Growers |
|Association, its board of directors, or its members. No endorsement is |
|intended for products mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not|
|mentioned. The laws and recommendations for pesticide application may |
|have changed since the articles were written. It is always the pesticide|
|applicator's responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current |
|label directions for the specific pesticide being used. The discussion |
|of specific nut tree cultivars and of specific techniques to grow nut |
|trees that might have been successful in one area and at a particular |
|time is not a guarantee that similar results will occur elsewhere. |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
REPORT
OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE
TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING
LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA
OCTOBER 6 AND 7, 1921
CONTENTS
Officers and Committees of the Association 5
State Vice-Presidents 6
Members of the Association 7
Constitution and By-Laws 13
Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Convention 17
Report of the Treasurer 23
Nut Trees for Public Places, Dr. R. T. Morris 25
Roadside Planting, Prof. A. K. Chittendon 36
Roadside Planting Legislation in Mich., Senator Henry A. Penny 40
Cultivation and Culture of the European Filbert,
James S. McGlennon 54
Report of the Committee on Uniform Bill for Roadside Planting,
T. P. Littlepage 59
Where May the Northern Pecan Be Expected to Bear,
Willard G. Bixby 63
Constitution and By-Laws Amended 71
Report of Nominating Committee, Secretary Olcott 75
Proceedings of The Tree Planting Ceremonies at Long's Park,
Lancaster County, Pa 77
A National Program for the Promotion of Nut Culture, Dean Watts 80
Appendix 84
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
_President_ JAMES S. MCGLENNON Rochester, New York
_Vice-President_ J. F. JONES Lancaster, Pennsylvania
_Secretary_ WILLIAM C. DEMING Danbury, Conn., R. 2
_Treasurer_ WILLARD G. BIXBY Baldwin, Nassau Co.,
New York
COMMITTEES
_Auditing_--C. P. CLOSE, C. A. REED
_Executive_--J. RUSSELL SMITH, W. S. LINTON AND THE OFFICERS
_Finance_--T. P. LITTLEPAGE, WILLARD G. BIXBY, W. C. DEMING
_Hybrids_--R. T. MORRIS, C. P. CLOSE, W. G. BIXBY, HOWARD SPENCE
_Membership_--JAMES S. MCGLENNON, H. R. WEBER, R. T. OLCOTT,
W. O. POTTER, W. G. BIXBY, W. C. DEMING
_Nomenclature_--C. A. REED, R. T. MORRIS, J. F. JONES
_Press and Publication_--R. T. OLCOTT, W. G. BIXBY, W. C. DEMING
_Programe_--JAMES S. MCGLENNON, W. C. DEMING, R. T. OLCOTT,
C. A. REED, R. T. MORRIS, W. G. BIXBY
_Promising Seedlings_--C. A. REED, J. F. JONES, W. G. BIXBY
STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS
Alabama H. M. Robertson 2026 1st Ave., Birmingham
Arkansas Prof. N. F. Drake University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
California T. C. Tucker 311 California St., San Francisco
Canada G. H. Corsan 63 Avenue Road, Toronto
China P. W. Wang, Kinsan Arboretum Chuking Kiangsu Province
Colorado C. L. Cudebec Boulder, Box 233
Connecticut Ernest M. Ives Sterling Orchards, Meriden
Dist of Columbia B. G. Foster 902 G. St., Washington
England Howard Spence Eskdale Knutsford Cheshire
Georgia A. S. Perry Cuthbert
Illinois E. A. Riehl Alton
Indiana J. F. Wilkinson Rockport
Iowa D. C. Snyder Center Point
Kansas James Sharp Council Grove
Kentucky Frank M. Livengood Berea
Maine Alice D. Leavitt 79 High St., Bridgton
Maryland P. J. O'Connor Bowie
Massachusetts C. Leroy Cleaver 496 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
Michigan Dr. J. H. Kellogg Battle Creek
Missouri P. C. Stark Louisiana
Nebraska William Caha Wahoo
New Hampshire Henry B. Stevens Durham
Nevada C. G. Swingle Hazen
New Jersey C. S. Ridgway Lumberton
New York Dr. G. J. Buist 3 Hancock St., Brooklyn
North Carolina Dr. Harvey P. Barrett 211 Vail Ave., Charlotte
Ohio Harry R. Weber 123 E. 6th St., Cincinnati
Oklahoma Dr. C. E. Beitman Skedee
Oregon Knight Pearcy Salem, R. F. D. 3, Box 187
Pennsylvania F. N. Fagan State College
South Carolina Prof. A. G. Shanklin Clemson College
Texas J. H. Burkett Clyde
Vermont F. C. Holbrook Brattleboro
Virginia John S. Parish University
Washington William Baines Okanogan
West Virginia Fred E. Brooks French Creek
Wisconsin Dr. G. W. Patchen Manitowoc
MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS
ASSOCIATION
April, 1, 1922
ALABAMA
Robertson, H. M., 2026 1st Ave., Birmingham
ARIZONA
Heyne, Fred W., Douglas
ARKANSAS
*Drake, Prof. N. F., Fayetteville, Univ. of Arkansas
Dunn, D. K., Wynne
CALIFORNIA
Cajori, F. A., 1220 Byron St., Palo Alto
Cress, B. E., Tehachapi
Thorpe, Will J., 1545 Divisadero Street, San Francisco
Tucker, T. C., 311 California St., San Francisco
CANADA
Bell, Alex., Milliken, Ontario
Corsan, G. H., 513 Christie St., Toronto
Corcoran, William, Port Dalhousie, Box 26, Ontario
Haight, P. N., St. Thomas, Canada
CHINA
Kinsan Arboretum, Chuking, Kiangsu Province, P. W. Wang Secy.
COLORADO
Bennett, L. E., Cory
Butterbaugh, Dr. W. S., Engleburg, Las Animas Co.
Cudebec, C. L., Boulder, Box 233
Hartman, Richard, Kremmling
CONNECTICUT
Barrows, Paul M., Stanford, R. F. D. No. 30
Bartlett, Francis A., Stanford
Benedict, Samuel L., 98 South Main St., So. Norwalk
Bielefield, F. J., Middleton, South Farms
Bradley, Smith T., New Haven, Grand Ave.
Craig, Joseph A., 783 Washington Ave., West Haven
Deming, Dr. W. C., Hartford, 983 Main St.
Glover, James L., Shelton, R. F. D. No. 7
Hilliard, H. J., South View
Hungerford, Newman, Torrington, R. F. D. No. 2, Box 76
Ives, E. M., Meriden, Sterling Orchards
Lewis, Henry Leroy, Stratford, 1822 Main St.
*Morris Dr. R. T. Cos Cob Route 28, Box 95
Pomeroy, Eleazer, 120 Bloomfield Ave., Windsor
Sessions, Albert L., Bristol, 25 Bellevue Ave.
Southworth, George E., Milford, Box 176
Staunton, Gray, 320 Howard Ave., New Haven
White, Gerrard, North Granby
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Beatty, Wilbur M. L., 4027 Georgia Ave., Washington
Close, C. P. Prof., Pomologist Dept. of Agriculture, Wash.
Foster, B. G., Washington, 902 G. St., N. W.
*Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Building, Washington
Reed, C. A., Dept. of Agriculture, Washington
**Van Fleet, Walter, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington
ENGLAND
Spence, Howard, Eskdale, Knutsford, Cheshire
GEORGIA
Bullard, William P., Albany
Patterson, J. M., Putney
Perry, A. S., Cuthbert
Steele, R. C., Lakemont, Rabun Co.
Wight, J. B., Cairo
ILLINOIS
Buckman, Benj., Farmingdale
Casper, O. H., Anna
Heide, John F. H., 500 Oakwood Blvd., Chicago
Illinois, University of, Urbana (Librarian)
Hon. W. A. Potter, Marion
Harry J. Rickelman, Weed Bldg., Effingham
Reihl, E. A., Godfrey, Route 2
Shaw, James B., Urbana, Box 143, Univ. Sta.
Swisher, S. L., Mulkeytown
Sundstrand, Mrs. G. D., 916 Garfield Ave., Rockford
Wells, Oscar, Farina
INDIANA
Crain, Donald J., 1313 North St., Logansport
Jackson, Francis M., 122 N. Main St., South Bend
Reed, W. C., Vincennes
Redmon, Felix, Rockport, R. R. 2, Box 32
Rowell, Mrs. George P., 219 North 5th St., Goshen
Simpson, H. D., Vincennes
Staderman, A. L., 120 South 7th St., Terre Haute
Wilkinson, J. F., Rockport
IOWA
Bricker, C. W., Ladora
Finnell, J. F. C., Hamburg
Pfeiffer, W. F., Fayette
Skromme, L. J. (Skromme Seed Company), Roland
Snyder, D. C., Center Point
Snyder, S. W., Center Point
KANSAS
Bishop, S. L., Conway Springs
Gray, Dr. Clyde, Horton
Sharpe, James, Council Grove
KENTUCKY
Baker, Sam C., Beaver Dam, R. D. No. 2
Livengood, Frank M., Berea
MAINE
Leavitt, Mrs. Alice D., 79 High St., Brighton
MARYLAND
Auchter, E. C., College Park
Littlepage, Miss Louise, Bowie
Keenan, Dr. John F., Brentwood
O'Connor, P. J., Bowie
MASSACHUSETTS
*Bowditch, James H., 903 Tremont Bldg., Boston
Cleaver, C. Leroy, Hingham Center
Jackson, Arthur H., 63 Fayerweather St., Cambridge
Mass. Agriculture College, Library of, Amherst
Scudder, Dr. Charles L., 209 Beacon St., Boston
MICHIGAN
Beck, J. P., 25 James, Saginaw
Charles, Dr. Elmer, Pontiac
Cross, John L., 104 Division St., Bangor
Graves, Henry B., 2134 Dime Bank Bldg., Detroit
Guild, Stacy R., 562 So. 7th St., Ann Arbor
Hartig, G. F., Bridgeman, R. F. D. No. 1
Henshall, H., 527 Harper St., Detroit
House, George W., Ford Bldg., Detroit
Kellogg, Dr. J. H., Battle Creek, 202 Manchester St.
*Linton, W. S., Saginaw, Pres. Board of Trade
Mac Nab, Dr. Alex B., Cassopolis
McKale, H. B., Lansing, Route 6
Olson, A. E., Holton
Penny, Harvey A., Saginaw, 425 So. Jefferson Ave.
Smith, Edward J., 85 So. Union St., Battle Creek
MISSISSIPPI
Bechtel, Theo., Ocean Springs
MISSOURI
Crosby, Miss Jessie M., 4241 Harrison St., Kansas City
Hazen, Josiah J., (Neosho Nurseries Co.) Neosho
Rhodes, J. I., 224 Maple St., Neosho
Spellen, Howard P., 4505a W. Papin St., St. Louis
Stark, P. C., Louisiana
NEBRASKA
Caha, William, Wahoo
Thomas, Dr. W. A., Lincoln
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Stevens, Henry B., N. H. College of Agriculture, Durham
NEVADA
Swingle, C. G., Hazen
NEW JERSEY
Brown, Jacob S., Elmer, Salem Co.
*Jaques, Lee W., 74 Waverly St., Jersey City
Landmann, Miss M. V. Cranbury, R. D. No. 2
Marshall, S. L., Vineland
Marston, Edwin S., Florham Park, Box 72
Phillips, Irving S., 501 Madison St., West New York
Price, John R., 36 Ridgdale Ave., Madison
Ridgeway, C. S., Lumberton
Salvage, W. K., Farmingdale
Westcoat Wilmer, 230 Knight Ave., Collingswood
NEW YORK
Abbott, Frederick B., 1211 Tabor Court, Brooklyn
Adams, Sidney I., 418 Powers Bldg., Rochester
Ashworth, Fred L., Heuvelton
Babcock, H. J., Lockport
Bixby, Willard G., 32 Grand Ave., Baldwin, L. I.
Borchers, H. Chas., Wenga Farm, Armonk
Brown, Ronold K., 320 Broadway, New York City
Buist, Dr. G. J., 3 Hancock St., Brooklyn
Clark, George H., 131 State St., Rochester
Crane, Alfred J., Monroe
Coriell, A. S., 120 Broadway, New York City
Diprose, Alfred H., 468 Clinton Ave., South, Rochester
Ellwanger, Mrs. W. D., 510 East Ave., Rochester
Gager, Dr. C. Stewart, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn
Gillet, Dr. Henry W., 140 W. 57th St., New York City
Goeltz, Mrs. M. H., 2524 Creston Ave., New York City
Graham, S. H., R. D. 5, Ithaca
Hall, L. W., Jr., 509 Cutler Bldg., Rochester (L. W. Hall Co., Inc.)
Harper, George W., Jr., 115 Broadway, New York City
Hodge, James, 199 Kingsbridge Road West, Kingsbridge, N. Y. C.
Hodgson, Casper W., Yonkers, (World Book Co.)
Hoffman, Arthur S., 26 Church St., White Plains
Kains, M. G., Pomona
Jewett, Edmund G., 16 Elliott Place, Brooklyn
Johnson, Harriet, M. B., 15th & 4th Ave., New York City
*Huntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., New York City
MacDaniel, S. H., Dept. of Pomology, New York State College of
Agriculture, Ithaca
McGlennon, J. S., 528 Cutler Building, Rochester
Meyers, Charles, 316 Adelphi St., Brooklyn
Olcott, Ralph T. (Editor American Nut Journal), Ellwanger and Barry
Building, Rochester
Pomeroy, A. C., Lockport
Richardson, J. M., 2 Columbus Circle, New York City
Ritchie, John W., Yonkers, 2 A Beach Street
Ryder, Clayton, Carmel
Stephen, John W., Syracuse, New York State College of Forestry
Solley, Dr. John B., 968 Lexington Ave., New York City
Teele, Arthur W., 120 Broadway, New York City
Vollertsen, Conrad, 375 Gregory St., Rochester
Wetmore, W. J., Elmira
Whitney, Arthur C., 9 Manila St., Rochester
Whitney, Leon F., 65 Barclay St., New York City
Wile, M. E., 955 Harvard St., Rochester
Williams, Dr. Chas. Mallory, 4 W. 50th St., New York City
*Wisman, Mrs. F. de R. Westchester, New York City
NORTH CAROLINA
Hutchings, Miss L. G., Pine Bluff
C. W. Matthews, North Carolina Dept. of Agriculture, Raleigh
Van Lindley, J., (J. Van Lindley Nursery Co.), Pomona
OHIO
Burton, J. Howard, Casstown
Dayton, J. H., (Storrs & Harrison), Painesville
Fickes, W. R., Wooster, R. No. 6
Jackson, A. V., 3275 Linwood Rd., Cincinnati
Ketchem, C. S., Middlefield Box 981
Pomerene Julius, 1914 East 116th St., Cleveland
Ramsey, John, 1803 Freeman Ave., Cincinnati
Truman, G. G., Perrysville, Box 167
*Weber, Harry R., Cincinnati, 123 East 6th St.
Yunck, Edward G., 706 Central Ave., Sandusky
OKLAHOMA
Beitmen, C. E., Dr., Skedee
OREGON
Marvin, Cornelia, Oregon State Library, Salem
Nelson, W. W., R. 3, Box 652, Portland
Pearcy, Knight, 210 Oregon Building, Salem
PENNSYLVANIA
Althouse, C. Scott, 820 North 5th St., Reading
Balthaser, James M., Wernersville, Berks Co.
Bohn, Dr. H. W., 34 No. 9th St., Reading
Bolton, Charles G., Zieglerville
Bomberger, John S., Lebanon, R. F. D. No. 1
Chapin, Irvin, Shickshinny
Clark, D. F., 147 N. 13th St., Harrisburg
Druckemiller, W. H., Sunbury
Fagan, Prof. F. N., State College
Fritz, Ammon P., 35 E. Franklin St., Ephrata
Heffner, H., Leeper
Hess, Elam G., Manhein
Hile, Anthony, Curwensville
Irwin, Ernest C., 66 St. Nicholas Bldg., Pittsburg
Jenkins, Charles Francis, Philadelphia--Farm Journal
*Jones, J. F., Lancaster, Box 527
Kaufman, M. M., Clarion
Leas, F. C., Merion Station
Mellor, Alfred, 152 W. Walnut Lane, Germantown, Philadelphia
Minick, C. G., Ridgway
Murphy, P. J., Scranton, Vice-Pres. L. & W. R. R. Co.
Myers, J. Everitt, R. D. No. 3, York Springs
Neagley, C. H., Greencastle, R. D. No. 2
Patterson, J. E., 77 North Franklin St., Wilkes Barre
*Rick, John, 438 Pennsylvania Square, Reading
Rittenhouse, Dr. J. F. S., Lorane
Robinson, W. I., Fort Loudon
Rose, William J., 413 Market St., Harrisburg "Personal"
Rush, J. G., West Willow
Russell, Dr. Andrew L., 729 Wabash Bldg., Pittsburgh
Shoemaker, H. C., 1739 Main St., Northampton
Smedley, Samuel L., Newton Square, R. F. D. No. 1
Smith Dr. J. Russell, Swarthmore
*Sober, C. K. Col., Lewisburg
Spencer, L. N., 216 East New St., Lancaster
Taylor, Lowndes, West Chester, Box 3, Route 1
Walter, R. G., Willow Grove, Doylestown Pike
Weaver, William S., McCungie
Wilhelm, Dr. Edward A., Clarion
*Wister, John C., Wister St. & Clarkson Ave., Germantown
SOUTH CAROLINA
Shanklin, A. G., Prof., Clemson College
Kendall, Dr. F. D., 1317 Hampton Ave., Columbus
TENNESSEE
Waite, J. W., Normandy
VERMONT
Aldrich, A. W., Springfield, R. F. D. No. 3
Holbrook, F. C., Battleboro
VIRGINIA
Harris, D. C., Capital Landing Road, Williamsburg
Jordan, J. H., Bohannon
Parrish, John S., Charlottesville, Route No. 4
Roper, W. N., Petersburg
WASHINGTON
Baines, William, Okanogan
Turk, Richard H., Washougal
WEST VIRGINIA
Brooks, Fred E., French Creek
Cannaday, Dr. J. E., Charleston, Box 693
Hartzel, B. F., Shepherdstown
Mish, A. F., Inwood
WISCONSIN
Lang, Robert B., Racine, Box 103
Patchen, Dr. G. W., Manitowoc
* Life Member
** Honorary Member
CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE I
_Name._ This society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS
ASSOCIATION.
ARTICLE II
_Object._ Its object shall be the promotion of interest in nut-bearing
plants, their products and their culture.
ARTICLE III
_Membership._ Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who
desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence
or nationality, subject to the rules and regulations of the committee on
membership.
ARTICLE IV
_Officers._ There shall be a president, a vice-president, a secretary
and a treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting;
and an executive committee of six persons, of which the president, the
two last retiring presidents, the vice-president, the secretary and the
treasurer shall be members. There shall be a state vice-president from
each state, dependency, or country represented in the membership of the
association, who shall be appointed by the president.
ARTICLE V
_Election of Officers._ A committee of five members shall be elected at
the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the
following year.
ARTICLE VI
_Meetings._ The place and time of the annual meeting shall be selected
by the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made
at this time, the executive committee shall choose the place and time
for the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may
seem desirable may be called by the president and executive committee.
ARTICLE VII
_Quorum._ Ten members of the association shall constitute a quorum, but
must include two of the four elected officers.
ARTICLE VIII
_Amendments._ This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of
the members present at any annual meeting, notice of such amendment
having been read at the previous annual meeting, or a copy of the
proposed amendment having been mailed by any member to each member
thirty days before the date of the annual meeting.
BY-LAWS
ARTICLE I
_Committees._ The association shall appoint standing committees as
follows: On membership, on finance, on programme, on press and
publication, on nomenclature, on promising seedlings, on hybrids, and an
auditing committee. The committee on membership may make recommendations
to the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.
ARTICLE II
_Fees._ Annual members shall pay two dollars annually, or three dollars
and twenty-five cents, including a year's subscription to the American
Nut Journal. Contributing members shall pay five dollars annually, this
membership including a year's subscription to the American Nut Journal.
Life members shall make one payment of fifty dollars, and shall be
exempt from further dues. Honorary members shall be exempt from dues.
ARTICLE III
_Membership._ All annual memberships shall begin either with the first
day of the calendar quarter following the date of joining the
Association, or with the first day of the calendar quarter preceding
that date as may be arranged between the new member and the Treasurer.
ARTICLE IV
_Amendments._ By-laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of members
present at any annual meeting.
PROCEEDINGS AT THE
TWELFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
LANCASTER, PA.
OCTOBER 6 AND 7, 1921
The Convention was called to order at 10 a. m. Thursday, October 6,
1921, by the President, Hon. William S. Linton, of Saginaw, Michigan, in
the convention hall of the Brunswick Hotel, Lancaster, Pa.
THE PRESIDENT: It certainly is a pleasure and a privilege for
us to meet in the prosperous and historic Pennsylvania City of
Lancaster. I am sure that we will have a successful meeting, and I am
certain also that during the past year progress has been made in our
work which when read into the records will show that we have
accomplished material good. Without further preliminary remarks, and
with the statement that my address or report will come later during the
session, we will proceed immediately with our programme.
I have the honor to call upon the representative of the Mayor of
Lancaster, Oliver S. Schaeffer, for the welcoming address.
OLIVER S. SCHAEFFER, ESQ.: Mr. President, Members of the
Northern Nut Growers' Association, Friends and Guests: On behalf of the
Mayor and the people of Lancaster I extend to you their greetings and
bid you a most hearty and cordial welcome.
We feel honored that you have selected for the second time this city for
the holding of your convention. Your esteemed president referred to
Lancaster City as an historic city, and no doubt all of you know that
Lancaster is frequently called the garden spot of the world.
Historically Lancaster City was the capital of Pennsylvania for
thirty-three years, I think from 1779 to 1812. During the Revolutionary
War when the British troops occupied Philadelphia the Continental
Congress met here for a while in a building that formerly stood at
Center Square where you now see the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
I was talking to your secretary a few minutes in the hotel lobby this
morning and he told me that while some of you were in the nut business
with a majority of you it was a hobby. That is the altruistic spirit
that counts in these days when most of us look upon things in a
materialistic way.
There was a time when I thought that most nuts came from Brazil, but I
am glad to learn that we grow the nuts we eat here in the good old U. S.
A., and some right here in Pennsylvania and in Lancaster County.
I cannot help but think of the chestnut blight that has worked havoc
throughout our state and some other states. It has occasioned a big
material loss. Yet I think too of another side of the loss and that is
the spiritual side because our "chestnut parties" are now becoming a
past memory. It is up to men like you to retrieve that loss and to bring
back to our youth the chance of experiencing that innocent pleasure the
gathering of chestnuts.
As I look into your faces here this morning (and while you are not
numerous you make up in quality what you lack in quantity), I cannot
help but congratulate you on showing the spirit that means progress. I
cannot help but feel also that you are optimists, and they are what we
need at the present time.
I will not trespass upon your time any longer. I again bid you a most
warm welcome to our city and on behalf of the Mayor hand you the
symbolic key of this city to enable you to go where you please.
THE PRESIDENT: Working with us unselfishly for the past two or
three years has been a Michigan man who has had in mind the benefit of
his locality, the State of Michigan and the United States. It was his
privilege to introduce the first bill into a state legislature that
became a law making it obligatory upon state authorities to plant useful
trees along the roadside throughout the entire state that he represented
so well in the Senate. I take pleasure in calling upon that member to
respond to the eloquent words of the Mayor's representative. I would ask
Senator Penney to reply to Mr. Schaeffer.
HON. HARVEY A. PENNEY: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of this
Convention, and Mr. Mayor: We all appreciate this warm and hospitable
greeting. Some of us are a long way from home. Mr. Linton, and I come
from a town somewhat the size of this. We have about sixty-five thousand
people, a large and growing city with a lot of prosperous and very
wealthy men in it. We feel that in coming here we are coming to a city
something like our own. We have been very much impressed with your city
since we have been here. I am glad to see that colonial spirit, the
spirit of '76, which permeates your people here. Up in Saginaw, of
course, we do not have the same things to remind us of the past that you
have. You have your monuments and those things that call your attention
continually to it; but I am sure that our people are as patriotic as
your people. However, I think that the spirit of '76 which still
permeates the East helps to keep the whole country in line for the
patriotic upholding of our governmental institutions.
While most of the men here are interested especially in the scientific
investigation and promotion of the nut industry, my friend Mr. Linton
and I have been more particularly interested in road-side planting.
Along with the promotion and building of good highways we fell into the
idea of beautifying those highways. At the time the people in the East
were having their trouble in the colonial days, the revolutionary days,
our town was unheard of. It was simply way back in the forest and the
wilderness and it was not until very early in this past century that
Saginaw was even thought of. Mr. Linton and I talked last night about
different things connected with the history of our country and we spoke
of De Tocqueville, the great French traveler and explorer who came to
America way back in 1831. He wished to go into the wilds of this country
and see for himself what was here. He went to Buffalo and crossed the
lakes to Detroit. Detroit was then a city of about two thousand
inhabitants. And then he had the desire to go up into the wilds where
nothing but wild animals and wild people lived; so he went up on a trail
that led to what is now Pontiac perhaps thirty or forty miles northwest
of Saginaw; that was about the end of the trail. There were one or two
settlers who lived there. He picked up a couple of Indian guides and
started through the trackless forest, sixty or seventy miles up through
the northwest to what is now Saginaw. He had his desire fully satisfied.
He was eaten up by mosquitoes and rattlesnakes in the swamps and
marshes; he could not sleep nor anything else; so he came back. That was
away back in 1831, fifty years or more after your people were fighting
and struggling for the liberty of this country.
I wish to say in closing that we all highly appreciate the welcome that
has been extended to us on behalf of the Mayor of this fine city.
THE PRESIDENT: Next on the program will come the report of the
secretary.
THE SECRETARY: I regret the smallness of the secretary's
accomplishment for the past year. Except for the editing of the annual
report--which is much a matter of cutting out superfluous words--and the
effort to get speakers for this convention, he has attempted very
little.
This is not, however, for lack of things that could and should have been
done. An energetic campaign for new members is the most obvious
desideratum. The committee to prepare and issue a bulletin on the
roadside planting of nut trees, arranged to give information for every
part of the country, has been innocuous as well as useless. Perhaps this
meeting will afford stimulus and material enough to get it to work.
I think that few of the members realize how the inactivity of the
secretary has been more than made up for by the industry of the
treasurer. Perhaps they are reciprocally cause and consequence. Not only
has the treasurer discharged the usual duties of that office but he has
also attended to most of the correspondence and clerical work. He has
conducted the nut contests which, under his management, have developed
to formidable proportions requiring immense expenditure of time and
effort.
These nut contests have now become so widely known as to return us a
good idea of what we may expect of the native nuts of the country.
Undoubtedly we have not yet found the best nuts that this country
produces, except perhaps in the case of the pecan. But Mr. Bixby's
labors, continuing the work begun by Dr. Morris, have reached such
results that I think he will be willing to say that we have nearly
reached the limit of natural excellence in the nuts already discovered.
In fact it seems to me that we have reached the point where further
improvement in nuts for cultivation is to be looked for especially from
purposeful hybridizing by man. It should be another of the chief aims of
this association to induce self-perpetuating institutions to get
together the material necessary for such work. Such material already
exists in incomplete form--incomplete, that is, especially in
horticultural varieties--as in the Arnold Arboretum and in the Public
Park at Rochester. The Arnold Arboretum, through our treasurer's
efforts, has agreed to give more attention to nut growing and breeding.
The St. Louis Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden,
through the efforts and generosity of Mr. Bixby and Mr. Jones, have made
special plantings of horticultural varieties, and this summer the New
York Botanical Garden was induced to set out a number of grafted and
seedling nut trees given by Mr. Jones, Mr. Bixby, Mr. W. C. Reed, the
McCoy Nut Nurseries and others.
But unless this association can keep their interest alive it is likely
that some of these institutional plantings will be neglected, especially
as regards the highest development of their possibilities. In one
botanical garden visited this summer the casual nut tree plantings
running back thirty years have been entirely neglected and the trees are
stunted almost to extinction. I hope that our members will lose no
opportunity to visit these institutions and ask to see the nut tree
plantings. One or two such visits in a year will help to keep our wards
in the institutional mind.
We cannot expect from these gardens, at present at least, interest in
breeding experiments. That is more properly a function of agricultural
experiment stations. These are so short manned and short funded, so
absorbed in problems offering quicker results, that it is difficult to
get them even to consider nut growing. I do not recall a single
experiment station in the country where any nut breeding experiments are
being conducted. A few manifest a little interest in planting
horticultural varieties but the only breeding experiments that I know
of, or at this moment recall, are those of Dr. Morris, Dr. Van Fleet,
Mr. Forkert and Mr. Jones. All of these experimenters have produced
results that more than indicate great possibilities.
Therefore I think that more of the energy of this association should be
expended in influencing the self perpetuating horticultural institutions
to see the importance of nut culture.
Attention should be called also to our treasurer's initiative,
perseverance and industry in issuing Bulletin No. 5 on Nut Culture, in
improving and reprinting our accredited list of nut nurserymen, in
visiting, photographing and describing many of our important parent nut
trees, in securing and distributing scions, in promoting experimental
topworking of native nut trees in promising localities, in developing a
varietal and experimental nut orchard which in time will be second to
none in these respects, and in many other promotions of the objects of
our association, unsparingly of his energy and his means.
It is curious that the biggest development in nut tree planting, for
which we are responsible apparently, and practically the only
considerable development of the roadside planting of nut trees, about
which we have been talking so much, is on the other side of the earth,
in China, where Mr. Wang, one of our members, and associated with the
Kinsan Arboretum, is planting along the new model highway from Shanghai
to Hangkow, a ton of black walnuts bought in this country and shipped to
him through Mr. Bixby.
Two public horticultural institutions in Canada have written me about
making nut plantings.
We seem, perhaps, in this land, too busy making what we call wealth, and
armaments to protect it, too busy to give attention to the food supply
of the future race.
To summarise, the association may feel that its purpose as originally
stated, and never changed, "The Promotion of Interest in Nut Bearing
Plants, their Products and their Culture," has been furthered
consistently though results are slow. For the future we should work, 1.
For a greater membership. 2. To stimulate interest in horticultural
institutions, especially in nut breeding. 3. To give definite
information that will encourage nut tree planting for profit by
individuals. 4. To promote roadside, memorial and public place planting
of nut trees. 5. To discover still more of our valuable native nut trees
through our prize contests.
Mr. C. A. Reed has made a suggestion which I will lay before you and
which may be considered at a later hour. He suggests that it might be
better to have our conventions once in two years, every other one to be
held in Washington.
This is so radical a proposal that it should have prolonged
consideration before adoption.
The affairs of the association are not getting from the secretary the
attention they deserve and he does not foresee better attention in the
future. He wishes that some more active person could be found for the
place and would be very glad to have the association elect another
secretary.
THE PRESIDENT: The secretary's report will be received and
filed with the proceedings. Are there any remarks in connection
therewith?
Personally, I wish to endorse emphatically what the secretary has said
relative to Treasurer Bixby who has worked early and late and has
promoted the affairs of this association to a very great degree. His
work is along practical lines and brings results.
The secretary finds fault with himself. No member of the association
endorses that particular phase of his paper because his work has been
good, he has had the best interests of the association at heart at all
times--that I personally know--and I sincerely hope that he may change
his mind relative to his successor.
We will now listen to the report of Treasurer Bixby.
NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
In account with
WILLARD G. BIXBY, TREASURER
RECEIPTS
Balance on hand Oct. 1, 1921: | | | |
Special Hickory Price, $25.00; Life | | | |
Membership, $25.00; for Regular | | | |
Expenses, $25.26 | | | |$ 75.26
From Annual members including joint | | | |
subscriptions to American Nut | | | |
Journal |$199.50|$ 423.58|$ 623.08|
Reports | 5.50| 7.50| 13.00|
Contribution for prizes | 54.00| 15.00| 69.00|
Contribution to meet expenses | | 602.50| 602.50|
Bulletin No. 5 | 12.73| 60.94| 73.67|
Cash discount on bills paid | .48| | .48|
Postage returned | | .10| .10|
Advertising in Report | | 5.00| 5.00|
Life Membership P. W. Wang | | 20.00| 20.00|
Funds Received for transmission to | | | |
other parties | | 1.00| 1.00|
Salary check returned by Secretary | | 50.00| 50.00|
|_______|_________|_________|_________
|$272.21|$1,185.62|$1,457.83|$1,457.83
Deficit October 1, 1921: | | | |
Balance Special Hickory prize |$ 25.00| | |
Life Membership | 45.00| | |
Deficit for regular expenses[A] | 246.07| | | 176.07
|_______| | |_________
Net deficit | | | | 1,709.16
EXPENDITURES
American Nut Journal, their portion | | | |
of joint subscriptions |$ 64.00|$1 99.65|$ 263.65|
1920 Convention | 85.00| | 85.00|
Printing Bulletin No. 5 | | 62.50| 62.50|
Stationery, Printing & Supplies | 50.55| 91.01| 141.56|
Postage, Express, etc. | 36.60| 75.78| 112.38|
Prizes 1919 Nut Contest | 128.00| | 128.00|
Advertising 1920 Nut Contest | 52.08| | 52.08|
Printing Report 10th Meeting | 69.09| 400.05| 469.14|
Printing Report 11th Meeting | | 341.85| 341.85|
Funds received for Transmission to | | | |
other parties | | 3.00| 3.00|
Salary Secretary | 50.00| | 50.00|
|_______|_________|_________|_________
|$535.32|$1,173.84|$1,709.16|$1,709.16
Forty-seven new members have joined the Association since the last
report, making 523 since organization, of which we have 221, making 302
who have resigned or otherwise dropped out. It will be noticed that the
number of members received last year, 47, is less than the number
reported a year ago, 66. This in the judgment of the Treasurer is
entirely due to the less amount of energy expended for a smaller
proportion of members have dropped out than a year ago. While the
gaining of members is not particularly easy it can be done and the
number gained to quite an extent is in proportion to the energy put on
it.
The finances of the Association this year are in a more troublesome
situation than any year since the undersigned had charge. Two reports
each at double normal cost each is quite enough to cause it. An
inspection of the Treasurer's accounts have made it evident that during
no year in the history of the Association have the dues received been
equal to the cost of carrying on the Association. Each year some members
interested have contributed in addition to paying dues. During the year
past these sums have been considerable. It is believed that with only
one report a year there will be only normal difficulty in handling the
finances of the Association. The orderly conduct of the finances of the
Association makes it very desirable that normal receipts of dues take
care of normal expenditures with a little margin for contingencies. The
matter of classes of membership would seemingly help on this. The
treasurer would not recommend changing the annual membership from its
present figures, $2.00, but would suggest that this meeting consider
making a class of contributing members at $5.00 per year including the
American Nut Journal. This would give the Association double the income
from each such member that it now gets for most members accept the
combination offer of membership in the Association and subscription to
the American Nut Journal at $3.25 for both which nets the Association
$1.75 per year.
Respectfully submitted,
Sept. 30, 1921. WILLARD G. BIXBY.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Bixby is certainly a first class treasurer.
He makes a recommendation in his report. Do you desire to act upon it at
this time? I refer to his recommendation relative to a new class of
membership. It is a first class suggestion and a motion covering it
would be in order.
THE SECRETARY: I move that a committee of three be appointed
by the president to consider the recommendation of the treasurer
relative to different classes of membership and to report at this
meeting.
MR. A. C. POMEROY: I second the motion.
The motion was carried.
THE PRESIDENT: I will appoint as that committee the treasurer,
Mr. Bixby, the secretary, Dr. Deming, and Mr. R. T. Olcott.
Mr. Reed, the chairman of the committee on road-side planting, is in
California, and unable to be with us at this session. If a report is to
come from that committee it must necessarily come from some other
member, so we will defer action on that particular report at this time.
We also regret the absence of Dr. Morris the first president of the
association. He is unable to be with us at this meeting but he has
forwarded a paper and unless there are objections we will receive it at
this time and have it read by the secretary.
NUT TREES FOR PUBLIC PLACES
DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS, NEW YORK
The question of the planting of nut trees along highways and in parks
and other public grounds falls into classification under two separate
and distinct heads. First, the abstract proposition of planting useful
trees upon ground which is not usefully occupied otherwise. Second, the
reaction of human nature to the different phases of the proposition. The
latter part is the larger part of the question, otherwise the work would
already have been done.
Let us take up the smaller part of the question first. Nut trees which
are indigenous to any locality, or allied species from other countries
having similar soil and climatic conditions, will grow and thrive on
public grounds quite as well as upon private property. They will be as
beautiful and as useful upon public grounds as they are upon private
property, speaking in a large way, although disposal of their products
will go along different channels perhaps. Nut trees of various species
will be quite as beautiful and distinctly more useful than any of the
other trees that are commonly selected for planting upon public grounds.
Because of the inclusion of the economic factor the question as to
whether nut trees may well supplant the kinds of trees commonly selected
is not a debatable question.
Let us leave this part of the subject however and take up question
number two, relating to the human nature side. A little examination into
this phase of the matter will disclose reasons why nut trees are not
already along our highways and in parks and other public grounds. The
supplying of trees on a large scale for such a purpose is commonly done
by contract with nurserymen. Nurserymen find it more profitable to raise
certain kinds of trees instead of other kinds. Nurserymen are prone to
raise kinds which are most profitable. Public officials who are making
contracts sometimes look for perquisites. These include acceptance from
nurserymen of bonuses for letting the contract. Here then we have at the
very outset of the problem two large obstacles to the purchase of nut
trees for public places. The carrying forward of any large project of
this sort means reliance upon someone with legislative resources. In my
experience legislators are commonly keen to approve of any project which
will render public service when they are fully convinced of that fact.
If not fully convinced of that fact and reserving the feeling that
private interests are being served they wait until somebody who knows
how to see the legislator has seen him. Another phase of the question
relates to the attitude of the people toward public property in a
so-called free country. People are prone to take anything that they
please from anything which is so impersonal as a country. Nut trees
planted in public places would have their crops carried off by every
passer by to such an extent that revenue for the upkeep of the trees
would be difficult to obtain. In some of the European countries this
obstacle has not been insurmountable. There are many villages in Europe
in which privately owned fields are not even fenced and fruit and nut
trees growing for the benefit of the village are left untouched by the
passer by in this older civilization. A man would no more think of
taking what belonged to the town than he would think of taking property
from the storehouse of a neighbor. In this country we have not yet
arrived at that point in civilization. The distinction between _meum_
and _tuum_ in a free country is sometimes blurred.
What are we to do about this whole question? That is the practical
point. Change human nature and educate the public. In towns belonging to
our system of government there is some question if the public would ever
allow nut trees to bring revenue sufficient for their upkeep and to
yield a profit for the town. On the other hand, by means of education
the public may come to desire the planting of nut trees along the
highways and in other public places to the extent that it will submit to
taxation for the purpose. The public planting of nut trees belongs to
progress. If we are to remain boastful of progress in this country the
question will gradually be developed in a practical way.
THE PRESIDENT: You have heard the reading of Dr. Morris's
paper. Are there any remarks thereon or any discussion?
MR. A. C. POMEROY: Some years ago there was objection raised at
Los Angeles to the use of sewage water for irrigating purposes in
raising tomatoes and other vegetables. The city then bought the property
and set out orchards of English walnuts. I understand that they are
growing and that the revenue goes to the city of Los Angeles.
As to the road-side planting of nut trees in Europe, to which Dr. Morris
refers, the very first battle fought in the great world war when the
Belgians were resisting the Germans was along where there were thirty
miles of English walnut trees on both sides of a highway. I understood
that every tree was demolished. I think our secretary or treasurer could
find out about the Los Angeles park and the nut trees.
As to monument trees, about twelve or fifteen years ago, at my home, I
set out a grove in our cemetery in memory of my father and it is doing
fine. It seemed quite appropriate for he took such an interest in nut
growing.
THE SECRETARY: I would like to speak a word in defense of our
American civilization, as evidenced by something that Mr. Bixby and I
saw this summer at Lockport, New York. We observed that one of the main
highways leading from the town of Lockport to one of the principal
lakeside resorts, was unfenced, lined with fruit trees on both
sides--cherry trees which overhung the sidewalk. The sides of the road
also were planted with tomatoes and other vegetables apparently
unharmed. The trees certainly did not show any evidence of injury from
depredations. Whether the products of the trees were taken or not I do
not know but they still had fruit on them. Possibly those who live in
that neighborhood--Mr. Olcott and Mr. Pomeroy--could tell us more in
defense of American civilization as to depredations on road-side
property.
MR. POMEROY: There are some people--what do you call them--dung
hills--in this world, and I have had a little trouble with them but not
much. They run around in automobiles and get out and take fruit. Dr.
Deming and Mr. Olcott know how close the school house is to my home. The
fact is the children walk under the nut trees when they take the cut
through the private driveway, but I have very little trouble with them.
I think the greatest object lesson was given last year, when two young
men, who were hunting pheasants, took a half bushel of nuts and were
caught at it. They did not think it amounted to anything. They came
along up to the house and the nuts were taken and put upon the drying
rack. While they were arguing an automobile stopped and the nuts were
sold. They came to nine dollars and a few cents by the pound. One of
these young men--he was in the retail tobacco business,--threw up his
hands and said, "I admit it; I would not want you to walk into my store
and grab nine or ten dollars' worth of goods; I admit this is all
wrong."
MR. R. T. OLCOTT: I have been very much surprised in the
discussion of road-side planting, of fruit and nut trees at the
prominence given to that feature of it which deals with the public
taking the crop. That seems to me to be such a minor part of the
proposition as to be almost negligible, and while it continues to arouse
discussion I cannot see the vital importance of it. In a great many
undertakings there are drawbacks but the undertakings go right on and
when the difficulties arise they are met in turn. I think the thing for
this association, and all others in favor of road-side tree planting to
do is to go ahead with the proposition and forget the question of the
crop and what is going to be done with it. As a matter of fact farmers
are complaining continually of the depredations on their orchards
resulting from the increase of automobile parties--perfectly respectable
people going out on the road-side and helping themselves. If fine fruit
and nut trees were planted along the road-sides and the crops were being
picked, it seems to me that, under a general understanding that the
public was to let these trees alone, and that any one caught or seen
picking the crops would be reported by the one following, it would
automatically police itself. The finger of ridicule would be pointed at
a person who was so doing by somebody other than a uniformed officer, in
other words by an ordinary citizen. I speak of that because in Rochester
during the war when it was deemed necessary not to run automobiles on
Sunday it was as much as his life was worth for a man to be out with his
car on Sunday, not because of any police officer but because of the
other fellow who was staying at home. I think that the other travelers
along the road will take care of the fellow that violates the
understanding about roadside fruit and nut trees.
THE VICE-PRESIDENT: I come from Rochester, New York, and I know
that in and around Rochester there are fruit-bearing trees planted along
the roadside. Out on the road to Honeoye Falls there are a number of
apple trees and out through the Webster section there are a number of
cherry trees. I do not know what the results have been in the garnering
of crops, but the appearance of the trees indicates that they are well
cared for and that they are producing abundant crops of fruit. In
Albany, Georgia, planted on the street side in front of the court house,
are a number of pecan trees. I have seen them loaded to capacity with
splendid seedling nuts. I understand that any one walking along the
sidewalk under the trees has the right to pick up any nuts that are on
the walk but is not permitted (at least it has been suggested that he do
not) to reach up into the trees to take the nuts. I understand that the
request has been very faithfully regarded and that it is very rare that
the nuts are picked from the trees. Just what is done with the crop of
nuts from those trees I do not know but I assume that it is harvested
and marketed and the returns made to the town. The trees indicate that
they are splendidly cared for and the citizens take a great deal of
pride in their splendid appearance. I talked with the man who planted
them, an employee of the court house, and he himself was simply
delighted that he had been responsible for such a splendid monument. And
property owners referred to in my home section, before whose premises
these cherry trees and apple trees were planted, I feel very sure would
not complain at all bitterly, if at all, about any filching that might
be indulged in. So that I think, as Mr. Olcott has suggested, that maybe
we are trying to cross the bridge before we get to it; that the thing to
do is to urge the planting of nut trees on the roadsides and to
stimulate a sense of pride in our American citizenship.
MR. OLCOTT: We all agree that trees of this kind planted along
the sides of city streets would never be touched. I have been at Miami,
Florida, and have seen the bearing coconut trees there. No one would
think of knocking off one of those coconuts and thousands of people pass
under them.
THE SECRETARY: I think it is very important to have brought out
this optimistic view on the question of depredations on road-side fruit
trees. I think it is only a question of time, as Mr. Olcott says, when
the public will be educated to respect such products. If they have done
it in other countries we can do it in this country. It is a question of
the people becoming accustomed to it when we have enough of such
products. When the whole country is covered with such products I think
there will be no difficulty about maintaining respect for them. You know
that sometimes after the loss of a very small amount of property there
will be very great reaction. Some people feel that because robins take a
few cherries or strawberries all robins ought to be exterminated.
There are two other remarks in Dr. Morris's paper which should have
consideration. I refer to those bearing upon nurserymen and public
officials.
MR. OLCOTT: If there is any question relating to nurserymen, we
are very fortunate in having one of the most prominent nurserymen in the
United States at our meeting today. I refer to Mr. John Watson, of
Princeton, New Jersey.
THE PRESIDENT: We certainly would be glad to hear from Mr.
Watson. If I may be permitted to make a statement from the chair I agree
fully with what Mr. Olcott has had to say as to depredations. Possible
depredations in connection with the trees that may be planted along the
road-side, either fruit or nut, are hardly worthy of consideration. With
my good wife in passing through New York State recently I drove through
rows of fruit trees on either side of the roads, as did Dr. Deming and
Treasurer Bixby, and we were surprised to see that they were loaded with
apples. The fact that the trees were loaded with fruit of course proved
that the fruit had not been stolen or taken from the trees. They had not
been disturbed in any way. A number of years ago while holding the
position of postmaster in Saginaw I planted a black walnut. That walnut
has produced a fine walnut tree. I selected a nice place on the post
office grounds at a corner where two of our prominent streets meet in
the business portion of the city. Last fall for the first time that tree
bore walnuts--about a bushel and a half; and the employees of the
postoffice gathered those walnuts and sent them in a complimentary way
to me. Now that tree being in a public place, you would naturally expect
the boys to have taken the nuts from it, but they did not do it. So that
I know that that particular phase of this question as Mr. Olcott has
said is hardly worthy of consideration. Suppose now and then the boys do
get a few fallen walnuts or apples. No harm is done. Just that much more
food is produced for their benefit by this way of planting.
I now take pleasure in calling upon Mr. Watson relative to Dr. Morris's
reference to the nursery business.
MR. JOHN WATSON: I am afraid that Mr. Olcott's suggestion might
possibly have given you the idea that I have something to say on this
question or that I wanted to say something on it. I assure you that that
is not the case. I am not a member of your association much to my
regret. I am just visiting here trying to learn something from your
meeting (this is the first one that I have attended) rather than to try
to tell you something.
The question is whether I have any objection to make to Dr. Morris's two
statements. I can say that they are both very reasonable. As a
nurseryman I have no objection. Of course, I cannot speak for any other
nurseryman.
I was rather surprised upon looking at the roll of those in attendance
at this convention at the absence of nurserymen. I should think that
those who produced the things that you people are trying to interest the
country in would be the very men who would be the most interested in
being here. It seems to me that you are trying to make a market for the
goods that they are producing. I am rather surprised not to see at least
half the attendance here made up of nurserymen.
It is entirely possible that I have not have understood those two
statements made by Dr. Morris and I may be rather careless in saying
that I do not object to them. They were, I believe, that nurserymen
prefer, naturally, to produce the things that they can produce most
easily and at least cost, and, in the second place that they produce the
things that they can sell. That is what most manufacturers do. I could
not find fault with either statement. The nurseryman as a manufacturer
or as a merchant of course produces the things that people want to buy.
He may go a certain distance in producing the things that are worth
while, that are better than other things; but in the last analysis he
must depend upon the buying public and the buying public is always going
to get from the nurseryman just exactly what it demands.
THE SECRETARY: In regard to the presence of so few nurserymen
at our meetings I would like to say that we have long tried to interest
the nurserymen in nut growing. We always have had a few nurserymen with
us; but I think without exception they have been those who had either
previously become interested in nut growing or had become interested in
it through some other influence than that of this association. It has
been a great disappointment to us that we have never been able to
interest the nurserymen generally. Although we have at times sent
special communications to a great many nurserymen I think we have
universally failed to get any response except from those who were
already interested in nut growing.
THE PRESIDENT: I do not think there is a movement in the
country today that will amount to as much for the nurserymen of America
as this particular movement that we have been promoting for a few years
back. I know that it is becoming universal. During my short experience
as your president I have found that inquiries have come from all over
the United States asking how they may procure these trees and especially
asking how they may procure the finest varieties. It is along that
particular line that the nurserymen certainly could extend their
business greatly; because as this movement of road-side planting goes
along the man who has a good farm, the general farmer in his business,
or any man with a small piece of ground that he can call his own, will
want to plant a good nut tree thereon of a most improved variety. Now so
many of these trees will be called for in the next few years (I do not
think I am over-optimistic in the matter at all) that it will be
impossible to supply the demand. So I am sure that any man who is
regularly engaged in the nursery business will find that he will be
called upon to supply a demand for the better class of trees that really
cannot be filled for years to come. In this way his business will be
largely benefited. Are there any further remarks on this particular
phase of the question?
MR. OLCOTT: As editor of the American Nurseryman I am
especially interested in this discussion. There is scarcely a catalogue
of a southern nurseryman of any consequence but lists nut trees; and yet
we have the Northern Nut Growers' Association convention here now, and
we will have a National convention in Mobile next week right in the
heart of the pecan growing section at neither of which will there be a
half dozen nurserymen. I think both of these associations should have
more nurserymen members. They list nut trees but do it in a perfunctory
way. I do not believe nurserymen know what this northern association is
doing nor how near they are to the demand for the trees which will be
wanted in the very near future. I think it is up to this association to
make special efforts to acquaint them with the facts, and then I think
they will come in and be active members. All persons connected with nut
culture and all nurserymen ought to be most active members of such an
organization as this. The subject should go before the membership
committee.
MR. SAMUEL L. SMEDLEY: I have had a little experience with
black walnuts and have found that they do not mix at all with farm crops
nor with fruit. Possibly you folks from Michigan can solve the problem
but I would not thank anybody for planting black walnuts along the road
in front of my place. I am in favor of road-side planting but I do not
think black walnuts would be acceptable in this part of the country,
from what my experience has been.
THE TREASURER: Let me ask why it is you think they would not be
acceptable.
MR. SMEDLEY: I had a grand big walnut tree on my place at one
side of the road. I tried to get apple trees to grow on the opposite
side of the road but could not and it could not be accounted for by any
other reason. I know other people have come to the some conclusion that
certain things would not grow near a walnut tree. Some grasses will. If
you go down through Lancaster County along the Lincoln Highway you will
find a quantity of locust trees thriving there. Wheat and things will
grow right up to the roots of those trees, but I do not think you will
find that they will grow up to a black walnut.
THE TREASURER: I had a chance to observe, last summer, a black
walnut tree out in the field with a crop planted right under it. It
seems to me it is a question of shade. With this walnut tree with
branches low down the corn seemed to be stunted where it grew a little
way under the branches. On the other hand I saw another one where the
branches were high up and cabbages growing almost up to the tree and
about as luxuriantly as outside of its branches. It seems to me that it
is a matter of shade rather than the tree getting the fertility in the
ground. It may be that if the fertility in the ground is not sufficient
for both tree and crop the tree will take it and let the crop suffer.
But I imagine if there is enough for both, and the crop is not shaded,
the crop can be grown much nearer the tree than we have any idea of.
MR. J. G. RUSH: I want to say a word about this way-side
planting in our neighborhood. I do not think it is the general practice
in Lancaster County where land is valued at two or three hundred dollars
an acre. If you plant a walnut tree on a public thoroughfare there is
temptation for children to go there to gather walnuts, endangering their
lives on account of the automobiles.
One gentleman said something about a walnut tree damaging the crops. In
my experience with black walnut nursery trees some have what is called a
very strong top root while others have a deep root. It is the first
kind, the surface rooted, that will do your crop damage but not the
deep-rooted kind.
Now another thing. Suppose one plants a cherry tree. To whom do the
cherries belong? To the man who planted the tree practically on his
premises. But the limbs extend out on the public highway. If I, the
owner, take a ladder out there and pick cherries and an automobile comes
running past and throws me down I am practically a trespasser on the
public highway. I believe I would not plant along the public highway
with the idea of getting any fruit from the trees. I think however when
you have a railroad going through your premises it is entirely
practicable to plant your nut trees alongside the railroad, especially
where there is a fill. Where the roots will grow under it and thrive
luxuriantly. Nearly every farmer has a small stream running through his
premises. You plant your walnut trees or your filbert trees along that
stream, and you will have magnificent results. I do not want to be
understood as disparaging nut tree planting.
MR. D. F. CLARK: I would like to know if the planting of black
walnut trees is discriminated against because of the difficulty of
getting the meat out of the nut. I have made a great many experiments
and have not been able to get the meat out of the nut in large pieces.
Is there some kind of a machine made for that purpose? Black walnut
kernels bring a splendid price and if we could get them open right it
would be fine.
THE SECRETARY: That difficulty is being taken care of by the
improved varieties which are being raised and which you can get on
grafted trees.
I am inclined to agree with Mr. Bixby in regard to its being the shade
of black walnut trees that affects the crops growing near them rather
than the roots of the trees. I have seen the same thing that Mr. Bixby
describes, a high-pruned black walnut tree with wheat growing clear up
to the trunk. I have photographs of a number of fields in Europe where
the English walnut is grown. The trees are pruned high and the wheat
grows up close to the trunks of the trees.
I would like to say also that I think it is the purpose of those who
advocate the road-side planting of trees not to do it forcibly nor to
compel anybody to have trees planted in front of his premises if he does
not want them, but to give him a voice in the selection of the kind of
trees that should be planted in front of his property. I think that is a
necessary thing for the success of the movement, that the co-operation
of the property owners should be invited by giving them a voice in the
selection of the trees that are planted in their location.
DR. RITTENHOUSE: I feel that this matter of the injury caused
by a black walnut to surrounding vegetation should be more thoroughly
thrashed out. It is doubtful to my mind whether the injury that a black
walnut produces on surrounding vegetation is solely due to shade. Seven
years ago I planted an apple orchard and some of the young trees began
to be injured by a large walnut tree possibly seventy five feet away.
The walnut tree happened to be on the line and I got the permission of
my neighbor to cut the walnut tree down. The apple trees immediately
began to thrive. I thought perhaps it was due to the roots demanding too
much moisture from the soil because it was impossible for the shade to
do any harm to those young apple trees. There is a superstitious idea
among the people of our locality that the black walnut root is injurious
to growing vegetation.
MR. SMEDLEY: In my case the walnut tree was on the opposite
side of a public road thirty feet wide and the influence was shown to
the second row of apple trees on the other side. I do not think it was
the shade in that case. The limbs were pretty high too. It was a public
road. I do not think there were any roots that reached the apple trees
at all.
MR. MCGLENNON: Mr. Rush's reference to the ownership of the
crop on trees planted on the road-side is a thought that has occupied my
mind, and I have found some consolation in the belief that the ownership
of land applies from the center of the roadway. I am not sure about that
and I think it is a point that ought to be clarified.
MR. SMEDLEY: I think in Pennsylvania the public just have the
right-of-way there; they have no claim to anything that grows.
THE PRESIDENT: In Michigan, the law applies that the ownership
goes to the middle of the highway. The recent act of the legislature of
our state causes the state highway commissioner to plant trees for the
maintenance of the roadway. The planting of the trees he claims benefits
the roadway, so that under that application he plants the trees for the
maintenance of the road. The distance from the fence line varies. The
state highway department of Michigan has a department for the planting
of trees since the law introduced by Senator Penney some two or three
years ago came into effect. The commissioner varies his planting,
sometimes in groups and sometimes in a formal way, according to the
stretch of road; but the basis of it all, perhaps, would be thirteen
feet from the lot line on each side of the road. Our roads, or at least
ninety per cent of them, are sixty-six feet in width. Thirteen feet from
the lot line on each side would take twenty-six feet, and planting them
forty feet apart in the other direction makes those trees forty feet
apart each way. A great majority of the trees being planted in Michigan
follow that particular plan, so they are thirteen feet from the property
holder's fence line.
I might say that occasionally the highway commissioner would run across
an obstinate individual who would not plant trees in front of his place
nor permit such trees to be planted as would conform to the other
plantings. But the law passed at the last session of our legislature
leaves it entirely in the control of the planting department of the
highway department. The law reads that the owner of the adjacent
property shall have the privilege of gathering the fruit or nuts or
whatever may come from that tree. He has no better right, perhaps, than
any other citizen of the State of Michigan, but he is there and can get
the first ripe fruit or nuts which come from the tree. THE
PRESIDENT: Are there any further remarks upon this subject? If not,
I have a paper prepared by Prof. A. K. Chittendon, Professor of Forestry
in the Michigan Agricultural College, which I will ask the secretary to
read.
ROADSIDE PLANTING
_Prof. A. K. Chittendon_
The improvement and beautification of our highways is one of the best
investments that can be made. Particularly in the Middle West where we
do not have the panorama of hills and mountains, much of the beauty of
the road depends upon the roadside trees. They frame the long vistas of
farmlands, woods, lakes and rivers and lend enchantment to the road.
Under recent legislation Michigan has taken a leading place in the care
and planting of roadside trees. Provision has been made by the
Legislature for the planting of ornamental and food-producing trees
along the highways and for their protection.
The highways offer an almost limitless field for ornamental planting and
they also offer opportunities for raising certain food producing trees
of which at present the nut trees are the principal species used. A time
may come when we can safely plant fruit trees along the roadside but
until provisions can be made for their systematic care and spraying,
such trees would be liable to spread disease to nearby orchards.
Roadside trees increase the value of adjacent property. They attract
birds and thus assist in keeping down insect pests. They may be used to
prevent erosion on steep slopes. They increase the life of certain kinds
of improved highways by protecting the roadbed from the direct heat of
the sun. They serve as a source of food if nut-bearing or
sugar-producing trees are used. They invite tourists to travel over the
highways. They may serve as a windbreak to prevent the drifting of sand.
Roadside trees may, however, be too close together or by their shade
injure crop production in adjacent fields. Some species of trees are
particularly harmful if planted on the edge of a cultivated field. They
send out their roots under the cultivated land and sap the moisture
essential to plant growth. This can be avoided by using trees with deep
or compact root systems.
The desirability of planting trees of any sort along the highways is
sometimes questioned. There are places where it is urged that trees are
not desirable. On stretches of road where the soil is naturally wet the
heavy shade cast by certain species of trees is undoubtedly
objectionable; but there are also trees whose shade is very light. Some
trees make such a dense mass of foliage that they tend to prevent air
currents and thus keep the moisture in the road from drying out. Along
such stretches of road the method of planting may affect the matter of
light and air, and species of trees can be chosen which will be
practically unobjectionable. Most of the highway planting in the past
has been a matter of chance and there have been few definite plans for
any long stretch of roadway.
In selecting trees for planting the probable rate of growth and
appearance of the tree at maturity should be borne in mind. What might
seem entirely satisfactory in young trees may prove objectionable in the
cost of mature ones. The size and shape of the tree at maturity should
be considered as it affects the spacing of the trees. Also the amount of
care which it will be possible to give the trees should influence the
choice of species; for certain trees will produce good results with a
small amount of attention while others require a great deal of care. The
matter of interference with telephone and electric wires must also be
considered. A species should be selected which is relatively free from
the attacks of insects and fungi. It would be very difficult to find a
tree which is entirely immune but there are some trees which are more
resistant than others. The amount of shade cast by the tree is of a
great deal of importance in connection with the moisture conditions;
trees are often placed too close together which prevents their proper
development. Where quick results are desired two species are often used,
a fast growing one planted in between slower growing trees; the idea
being to cut out the fast growing tree after the slower growing ones
have reached good size. This is alright in theory but seldom works well
in practice. The fast growing trees are seldom cut at the proper time
and the result is often the stunting and injuring of the better and more
durable trees. The fast growing trees usually die before many years. The
result is seldom satisfactory.
The question of litter while of importance with city street trees does
not matter so much in the case of highway trees, but the cottony seed
from poplars is very objectionable anywhere. The longevity of a tree is
important. The desire for quick results often outweighs other
considerations. Many of the trees which give results such as silver
maple, box elder and Carolina poplar do not last long and the effort
spent on them is wasted. More time and money is needed within a short
time to remove and replace such trees. It is better to plant well in the
first place. Trees do not grow at the same rate throughout their life.
They usually grow slowly at first and then fairly rapidly between the
tenth and thirteenth years, after which the rate of growth usually falls
off gradually. If small trees, about ten feet high are used for planting
they should reach the following sizes in twenty years on favorable soil:
American elm 18 inches
Basswood 15 "
Chestnut 12 "
Hard maple 11 "
Red oak 11 "
Pin oak 9 "
White ash 9 "
Black walnut 8 "
Hackberry 7 "
Certain trees such as the horse chestnut and the evergreens generally
appear to better advantage alone or in groups while others like the
elms, maples and box elder show to fine advantage in long rows. It is
doubtful if the planting of windbreaks along the highways is advisable.
Windbreaks are sometimes planted with the idea of preventing the
drifting of snow but the snow will collect and form great drifts on the
leeward side of a windbreak and the shade from the windbreak may prevent
the snow from melting so rapidly. Hedges may be used, however, to
prevent the shifting of sand or the erosion of steep slopes.
The highways offer excellent opportunities for nut production and such
trees as the black walnut and hickories may often be used to advantage.
The presence of birds may be encouraged by planting hackberry and other
trees or shrubs of which they are fond.
The Michigan Agricultural College was authorized by the Legislature to
raise trees for roadside planting. The College is raising red oak, black
walnut, oriental sycamore, sugar maple, elm, hackberry, snowdrop tree,
Juneberry, hickory, European larch, Norway maple and box elder for this
purpose. Other trees may be added to the list from time to time.
In addition to the planting of trees we need also the proper care of
those already planted or growing naturally along the roads. The
commonest source of injury is due to improper pruning for telephone
lines. A great many trees are badly injured in this way. We already have
a large investment in highway trees and it is only the part of wisdom to
protect this investment.
Michigan has started active work in highway planting and we hope in a
few years to be able to point with pride to our highways, not only
because of the good roadbeds but also because of the trees and shrubs
that line those roads.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there any discussion on Prof. Chittendon's
paper? If not, it will be received and filed in the proceedings.
It is now near the noon hour and I think it would be well to have Mr.
Jones or Mr. Rush state what program has been arranged for this
afternoon.
MR. J. F. JONES: I believe the plan is to get dinner here, and
then to go to our nursery at Willow Street. From there some machines
will take the parties who do not have conveyances, around to other
points.
THE SECRETARY: Mr. President, in accordance with Article V of
the Constitution, I move that a committee of five members be elected for
the purpose of nominating officers for the ensuing year.
(Motion seconded and carried.)
THE SECRETARY: Mr. President, I move that Mr. Olcott be named
the chairman of that committee.
Mr. J. F. Jones, Mr. John Rick, Mr. Ernest M. Ives and Mr. C. S.
Ridgeway were nominated as members of said committee.
Messrs. Olcott, Jones, Rick, Ives and Ridgeway having been nominated
were on motion duly elected members of a committee to nominate officers
for the ensuing year in accordance with Article V. of the Constitution.
On motion the meeting adjourned until 8 p. m. same day.
EVENING SESSION
October 6, 1921, 8 p. m.
_Hotel Brunswick_
PRESIDENT LINTON: A recess was taken from the morning session
until this time for the purpose of considering a roadside planting bill
that might be recommended by this association to the authorities of
every state in the Union. In order to bring this about we will have
presented to you by Senator Penney, who was the introducer of the
original bill that became a law in the Michigan legislature, a copy of
the laws practically as they exist in our state today. We take a little
pride in Michigan in being the first state to work along this particular
line. Our agricultural college staffs, the highway department and
several other branches of the Michigan government, are heartily and
enthusiastically co-operating in this work. I have in my hand a notice
that has been sent out by the state highway commissioner of Michigan to
every highway commissioner in the state. We have about two thousand of
the latter. We have in the neighborhood of two thousand townships six
miles square and in each of these townships we have a supervisor, we
have a highway commissioner and we have members of what is known as the
township board. This notice that I have, and you will see it is quite
complete and goes into a number of details, is sent by our state highway
commissioner to each one of the township commissioners of north
Michigan, and he closes his letter accompanying it with this:
Fourth: (President Linton reads).
You will see from that that we are well under way in connection with
roadside planting in our state of Michigan. I now take pleasure in
presenting to you a member of our legislature who introduced the first
bill that became a law along these particular lines, Senator Harvey A.
Penney of Michigan.
SENATOR PENNEY: In the legislature of Michigan several bills
have been introduced by its members, but as I stated at the last
convention they were not drawn up in such a way that they were fitted
for our laws. As Mr. Littlepage said it takes quite a while to figure
out a law that fits your own state law. These several laws were
introduced but in some way or another the committees of the legislature
never took kindly to them and they were not passed. But two years ago I
had a bill passed. Since then we have seen some imperfections and we
passed another law at the last session of the legislature which provides
that the cost of planting trees and caring for them shall come out of
the maintenance fund, that is, the maintenance fund that provides for
the maintenance of highways. I don't know how the laws are in most of
your states but in Michigan the law is that the owner of land owns not
only his farm but the land to the center of the highway subject to the
right of the public to have the use of it for travel. Then how are you
going to plant trees on a man's land if the highway belongs to that man?
They did it on the theory that the trees were necessary for the
maintenance of the highway. There never has been a test case on this law
but the highway department has a very able lawyer who was in the
attorney general's office and since then has been elected circuit judge
of the county in which Lansing is located. His idea was that the trees
should be planted on the highway for the purpose of protecting the
highway, and the cost of planting them and taking care of them should be
taken out of the maintenance fund. So that is the theory upon which they
are working under this bill.
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Transcribers note: The format in this section has been transcribed|
|exactly as in the original. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
A BILL to provide for and regulate the planting of useful,
memorial, ornamental, nut bearing and other food producing trees,
shrubs, and plants along the streets, highways and other public
thoroughfares and places within the State of (Michigan); and for
the maintenance, protection and care of such trees and shrubs as a
part of the maintenance of the roads in certain cases; and to
provide a penalty for injury thereof, or for stealing the products
thereof,--
_The People of the State of (Michigan) enact:_
1 Section 1. The (State Highway Commissioner) is hereby authorized
and empowered
2 and it shall be his duty to select and plant by seeds,
3 scions or otherwise, useful, ornamental, nut bearing and other
food producing trees, shrubs and plants
4 suitable for shade, maintenance and protection of the highways
5 along State trunk line and Federal aided roads and for the use
and benefit of the public, and to care for and maintain all such
trees, shrubs or plants.
6 The care of such trees shall be deemed a part of the road
maintenance work.
7 The varieties or species
8 so planted shall be subject to the approval of the
9 (State Department of Agriculture) and may be supplied
10 by the (State Agricultural College) or other State Institution
or Department, or elsewhere acquired by the
11 (State Highway Commissioner). The (State Highway Commissioner)
12 shall make and publish rules and regulations for the
13 planting and proper placing of trees, shrubs or plants and for
their proper
14 pruning, care and protection under the provisions of this act,
and all
15 such planting shall belong to the State, but the owner of
16 the adjacent land shall have the right to take and use the
products thereof.
17 All expenses incurred in planting or caring for such trees and
shrubs along
18 trunk line and Federal aided roads of the State shall be paid in
the same manner as is or may be provided
19 by law for the payment of the cost of maintaining trunk line or
Federal aided roads.
1 Sec. 2. Counties, townships, cities and villages of the State are
2 hereby authorized to appropriate money for the purpose of
planting,
3 caring for and protecting useful, memorial, ornamental, nut
bearing and other
4 food producing trees, shrubs and plants along and within streets,
highways, thoroughfares and other public places
5 other than trunk line or Federal aided
6 roads, within the respective limits of such municipalities and
7 subject to the jurisdiction thereof. The expenditure of any such
fund
8 raised hereunder in a township shall be vested in the
9 (highway commissioner) of the township subject to the approval of
the township board.
10 Any such fund raised by a county shall be expended by and under
the
11 direction of the (board of county road commissioners;) and
12 any such fund raised in a city or village shall be expended by
the highway or other proper municipal board or authority
13 thereof, in accordance with its charter laws or ordinances or
under the direction of the common council
14 or legislative body of such city or village. All such
15 appropriations made under this section by any municipality shall
16 be made in the same manner as is or may be provided by law for
17 the raising of money for highway or park maintenance purposes.
Sec. 3. Trees may be planted along the highways or other public
places by proper authorities and designated as memorial trees for
the purpose of commemorating important military or civic events, or
in memory of any person distinguished for noteworthy acts, or for
conspicuous service in behalf of the nation, the State of Michigan
or any local community thereof. Suitable tablets, boulders or other
markers of a permanent character may be contributed by any person,
or by any civic or military association and placed in conjunction
with such memorial trees subject to the approval and consent of the
proper authorities in control or in direct charge of such highways
or public places. that
1 Sec. 4. The owner of any real estate in the state of (Michigan)
that
2 borders upon a public highway other than a trunk line, Federal
aided or
3 county road shall have the right to, plant useful, ornamental,
4 nut bearing and other food producing trees and shrubs along
5 the line of said highway adjoining said land, and within the
limits thereof,
6 and shall receive annually a credit of twenty cents upon his
7 highway repair tax for each tree so planted and growing in good
order: Provided, however,
8 That all such planting shall be done in accordance with the
9 rules and regulations prescribed by the (State Highway
Commissioner)
10 for the planting of trees along trunk line and
11 Federal aided roads. Said trees and shrubs and the products
12 thereof shall be subject to the same incidents as to ownership
and use as are
13 provided for in section 1 hereof with respects to trees planted
14 along and within trunk line highways. No bounty shall be paid
15 or deduction allowed under the provisions of this section upon
any tree or trees for a longer period than five years.
16 The owner of the adjoining land shall have the care of such
17 trees and shrubs and shall have the duty and responsibility
18 for the trimming, spraying and cultivation thereof unless
otherwise provided in the charter, ordinances, or other regulations
of incorporated cities and villages.
19 In case any such tree or shrub should become diseased or shall
in any manner
20 interfere with the public use of the highway the authorities
21 having jurisdiction over such highway may by written notice
22 require the owner of the adjoining land to cut and remove such
trees or shrub.
23 If such notice is not complied with within thirty days after
24 service thereof such authorities may cut and remove such
diseased
25 or obnoxious tree or shrub.
1 Sec. 5. The (State Board of Agriculture) and other State
Departments having lands and facilities therefore are hereby
2 authorized to acquire and grow suitable seeds, scions, and
3 trees for planting under the provisions of this act and to
4 establish proper rules and regulations for the distribution
thereof at
5 nominal cost, or otherwise, to the State, to municipalities of
the State, and to
6 private citizens for the purposes hereby contemplated.
Sec. 6. It shall be unlawful to cut, destroy or otherwise injure
any shade or ornamental tree or shrub growing within the limits of
any public highway within the State of Michigan without the consent
of the authorities having jurisdiction over such road. In the case
of a trunk line of Federal aided road the (State Highway
Commissioner) shall be deemed to have such jurisdiction in all
cases. It shall also be unlawful to affix to any tree or shrub any
picture, announcement, notice or advertisement, or to negligently
permit any animal to break down or injure the same. Any person
violating any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed to be
guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished
by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment
in the county jail for a period not exceeding thirty days, or by
both such fine and imprisonment within the discretion of the court.
Now some of the farmers along the road say that the trees will be
diseased, but I don't think that nut trees as a rule, or shade trees,
are affected very much with pests. The elm trees have been troubled
somewhat. In the West where we live I don't think there is any trouble
of that kind. There may be with apple trees and fruit trees.
Our agricultural college at Lansing has at the present time one hundred
thousand trees ready to plant under this bill. There are some that they
have been raising for a long time and some they have recently planted.
They hardly knew what to do with them. Now they have agreed to turn them
over to the state to be planted on our highways.
One thing that we had trouble with in Michigan was the telephone and
telegraph companies stringing wires along the public highway. They have
cut the top of the tree right straight off and disfigured the tree and
disfigured the appearance of the highway. This bill is supposed to
prevent that. Our highway department has been trying to get the
telephone and telegraph companies to get the right from private owners
to put their poles on private land, or to put a pole and let an arm
stick out through the tree without cutting the tree down. I recently
came from Detroit. There the telephone companies have started to string
lines and to cut trees. The highway commissioner has notified them that
they must not cut the trees down or cut them off or disfigure them and
he has introduced the state constabulary to enforce this ruling.
Undoubtedly sooner or later there will be a test case to determine
whether or not the state has this authority.
I listened this afternoon to a discussion about walnut trees shading the
highway. I have no practical experience to know whether these trees do
any damage to crops on account of the shade, but supposing you raised a
fine walnut tree along the highway and the tree begins to bear. Would
not the products you get from that tree more than offset the damage it
does to a crop close to the tree? I once had an aunt, when I was a very
small boy, and it seems to me she said that she raised forty bushels of
black walnuts on one tree. I saw that big hickory tree today. They
claimed they raised fifteen bushels on that tree. I thought forty
bushels was a lot to come off of one tree.
MR. BIXBY: That was in the husk. There have been records of
that kind in the husk.
SENATOR PENNEY: This bill has been introduced and passed and
Mr. Linton, who is practically the author of this bill, is desirous of
having this followed up in the different states. I think it would be a
good plan. What better investment could you make to beautify our
highways than the planting of good trees? In the southern part of the
state of Michigan there are quite a lot of good trees, black walnuts,
butternuts, which not only add beauty to your highways but are useful in
many ways. During the war we know that the government scoured the whole
country to find walnut trees to make stocks for guns, and to use in
airplanes for propeller blades. They used the shucks to make gas masks.
The trees could be made of further service to man by planting them as
memorial trees. And again they furnish food, not only bear leaves but
food.
I would like to hear a discussion upon this bill from those who are from
other states. I would like to hear what their opinion might be as to the
different provisions of this bill.
PRESIDENT LINTON: The subject is now open for discussion. I am
sure that there are those here who would perhaps offer amendments to
that bill. They might desire to modify it some. They might desire to add
other features to it. For instance, it might be well to recognize the
desire at the present time to save useful bird life throughout the
country. That might be stated in the title to this bill as one of the
purposes of roadside planting. Certainly that would be one of the
results of road side planting.
SENATOR PENNEY: The bill provides not only for planting trees,
but for planting shrubs along the highway. That created quite a fight in
the legislature. One fellow thought we were going to buy a whole lot of
nursery stock and spend a pile of money. We are not. But here was the
idea. Those shrubs are useful not only for furnishing food for birds,
that are necessary to farmers, but are useful sometimes to prevent
shifting sand, and also snow from covering the highways. You have often
noticed that the railroad companies put up fences at different points to
prevent snow from drifting on the tracks. Bushes can serve the same
purpose.
PRESIDENT LINTON: The subject is now before the body for
discussion.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: To print the newspapers in the United States it
requires enough wood each year to make one cord of timber from Boston
clear across the American continent and across to the Hawaiian Islands
and further. Most of that, perhaps half of it, comes from Canada. There
is cut from the forests of the United States every year timber to make
wood pulp enough to make one cord of wood from Boston to Liverpool. That
is just for newspapers. That has nothing to do with furniture, with
houses, with cross ties, with everything else, which are estimated to
take four times as much. Now if that be true there is cut every year
from the forests of the United States enough timber to make four cords
from Boston to Liverpool. That is going on every year. We met here seven
years ago. In that seven years there has been enough timber cut from the
forests of the United States to make twenty-eight cords of wood from
Boston to Liverpool. Now when you begin to contemplate that you see what
is happening.
Roadside planting furnishes one of the greatest opportunities. There are
many details that will have to be worked out. The bill which the Senator
and our distinguished President have given much consideration to seems
to be working along the right lines. Many difficulties will come up from
time to time but this is one of the things that this Association ought
to get behind. Here is a great need, a fundamental need, when you think
of the figures which I gave you. Here is one of the opportunities to
fulfill that need. We, as an organization of tree planters, ought to get
busy to help to work out the details and difficulties that cannot be all
foreseen in the application of the machinery of roadside planting and
the particular laws of each state. Some people think sometimes that
because a fellow is a lawyer he knows all the laws. There are
forty-eight different states in the Union. I know that every state in
the Union has a statute of limitations. It is three years in the
District of Columbia. It is six years here. The fundamentals, the
machinery of laws, are different in these particular states. Now then,
what are the duties and what are the opportunities? A duty and an
opportunity are rather more or less synonymous after all. It is for this
Association to get actively behind this proposition, and help adapt this
legislation to each particular state, keeping in mind that the
fundamental thing is to plant trees. We are meeting here in Lancaster,
Pa., a city to which I have always turned my thoughts with great pride,
because here was the home of the founder of the great common school
system of America, Thaddeus Stevens. Do you suppose when he began to
originate the system which has made America that he could foresee all
the difficulties, that he could foresee the difficulties in Texas, in
Indiana, in New York? He started with a principle, and that principle
has been adopted and developed and worked out in each particular state,
until we have the great forty-eight different big school systems of
America. We can take this proposition and by working it out, adapting it
to the particular machinery, the particular laws, and meeting the
particular difficulties, we can work it out until it becomes a great
monument. We must plant trees.
MR. MCGLENNON: I want to say a word with regard to Senator
Penney's reference to the importance of shrubs as a protection to the
roadways from shifting sand. Mr. Volbertsen, my collaborator in my
filbert enterprise in Rochester, got his early education in horticulture
in Germany when a young man of twenty years of age, and he informed me
the other day that along the side of the railroads' right of way,
filberts were planted very extensively, in different parts of Germany,
for the maintenance of the roadbed, to protect them from shifting sand.
Not only that but they garnered wonderful crops of nuts.
MR. O'CONNOR: Concerning the planting of trees along the
roadside, what enemies have they? I have watched this very closely since
I have been connected with Mr. Littlepage's farm and I find that the
walnut trees and pecan trees have very few enemies. I think that he has
something like four hundred trees, and there were not three of them that
were troubled with caterpillars. What better could we have along our
road sides than nut trees when from the oak, the elm and other trees
there are pesky worms dropping down when you go along with an automobile
or carriage.
PRESIDENT LINTON: I want to say to the ladies present that the
ladies of Michigan are greatly interested in this work. We recently
established a state trunk line highway known as the Colgrove Highway,
named for the President of our Michigan State Good Roads Association.
Senator Penney was the introducer of that bill also and it became a law.
That particular road runs across our state in such a way that it is
about three hundred miles in length. One county that it crosses is known
as Montcalm County. At a meeting we had in their court house we had a
committee named in each township through which the highway passed for
the purpose of properly planting trees and beautifying that highway.
Upon my return home I received a letter from the county judge saying
that the people of Montcalm County would not stand for planting and
beautifying that one road alone but the whole county has been organized
and every township in it and half of the membership of each committee is
composed of women, and they want these trees and plants on every
township road as well as on that state road. That is the way in which
the work is going along in many sections of our state and it will soon
cover it all with the same enthusiasm. So that the ladies can be of
great good in this organization also. There is not a home or a residence
street but desires fine shrubs and fine trees. It is especially so with
the farmers. They want these beautiful things that the city people have
been having for many years in their front yards. They are going to
demand shrubbery and trees beyond any call that ever has been made for
them in the past. So you can readily see from our work, although much of
it is to be carried on in a public way by our agricultural colleges and
state institutions of that kind, that they will be able to furnish only
one tree or one plant in a hundred of those that will be demanded. That
feature I wish especially to impress upon the minds of any nurserymen
that may be present. The call in the next decade is going to be along
those lines, for ornamental shrubbery and for useful trees, just as the
fruit tree has been called for in the past.
MR. FAGAN: I don't know that I have anything constructive to
add to the road side planting idea. I know that our landscape gardener
at the experimental station in the college has, in the past few years,
been giving it serious consideration, and if I am not mistaken he has
taken the question up with our forest and state highway commissioners in
the state. How far it is going to go I don't know. There is a feature of
the roadside planting which has been mentioned indirectly this evening
that we must not overlook. Just as soon as we consider a program of
roadside planting we must also consider a program for the control of
pests. Regardless of whether they be pecan trees or hickories or
walnuts we are bound to meet with these pests. Whenever we begin a
systematic planting, or collection of plants, it does not make much
difference whether oak trees, or catalpas or chestnuts, or what not, we
can look forward to the time when we will be confronted with a pest
control proposition. As to roadside planting in New England it would not
make much difference whether it was a walnut or butternut or pecan. A
gipsy or brown tailed moth would just as soon eat the foliage off a
butternut tree as off an elm. We have here in New Jersey at the present
time the Japanese iris beetle and it will eat anything in sight. As soon
as we turn nature upside down, as we have nearly done in many sections
of the country, we are bound to bring in these pests. It would be well
in any law--and I know in this state we would consider a law, and an
experimental station could have charge of work connected therewith--that
one of the provisions we would insist on being put in the law would be
one to control the pests which may come. Right in our district today the
tent caterpillar is playing havoc with our walnuts; the oyster shell
scale is going through our timber in Center County; and I can take you
into the mountains five miles from any residence and I can show you
oyster shell scale on half a dozen of our native species. It is nice to
kid ourselves along to think our butternuts and our hickories would
never be subject to these pests, but they will be. When the Northwest
started to plant apple orchards they said they had no codling moths up
there. There were some orchards that didn't but sooner or later they
came. The time to nip those things is in the bud, and not let them
spread. Lack of foresight has cost New England millions and millions of
dollars just because they would not take the advice of one man when he
told them that the gipsy moth and brown tail moth had gotten away from
him. They laughed at him.
I wonder whether this association could not get our federal road
department back of this idea of roadside planting. I know that back of
the federal aid movement there is an important point of contact in
roadside planting.
SENATOR PENNEY: Our bill provides that the highway department
shall care for and maintain the trees. I think the bill is broad enough
to cover that subject. I think we all realize that we cannot stop
planting trees for fear of some pest that might come, but we have got to
provide the means of fighting it if it does come. Our highway department
in Michigan has employed a man, a graduate of Yale College who is an
expert in horticulture and all this work of planting and caring for the
trees is to be turned over to him.
DR. CANADAY: In many parts of Germany the practice of planting
trees along the state highways has been in vogue for perhaps half a
century. They have used fruit trees and it has been found to be very
feasible. The state has found that the proceeds of the trees has gone a
long way towards keeping up the highways. Of course they probably have
had their population under more rigorous control than ours has been.
They have been able to collect the proceeds of the trees better. The
question of the railroad rights of way might be taken up. A few of the
railroads in the United States have already begun planting trees along
their rights of way looking forward to a future supply of cross ties. It
seems to me the greatest difficulty that will be encountered in this
work will be the conflict with the telephone companies and the power
lines. If that can be satisfactorily solved, I think the rest of it will
be comparatively easy.
MR. SMEDLEY: In Pennsylvania near our large cities, the highway
department has become aware that the roads are all too narrow. There was
a bill passed in the last legislature giving the commissioner of
highways a right to establish the width of roads at thirty-three feet, I
think it was, with one hundred and twenty feet as the maximum. The
department is now making a survey of all the main highways near the
large cities. I happen to live just out of Philadelphia, about fifteen
miles, on the line between Philadelphia and West Chester. It is a
continuation of Market Street the principal east and west street of
Philadelphia. It was laid out sixty feet wide. That was one of the first
to claim the attention of the department and it will soon be, I
understand, established on the map as one hundred feet wide or probably
one hundred and twenty feet. That primarily is to stop the encroachment
of the buildings near Philadelphia so that when the question of opening
this road to its new width comes up damages will not be excessive. Some
of us living along there take great pride in that road and want to see
it developed but it is going to be some time before this is opened to
its full width and it is needless to plant trees until it is. I don't
know how you have things in Michigan but a great many of our
Pennsylvania roads are old highways that have worn down with banks ten
or fifteen feet high, and it is oftentimes a question where to put the
trees.
PRESIDENT LINTON: Our highways in Michigan are, ninety per cent
of them perhaps, four rods in width. That you will know is a good ample
width, sixty-six feet wide. The basis of the planting as adopted by our
state highway department, as I understand it, is thirteen feet from each
line fence, making trees forty feet apart on opposite sides of the
roadways. The main portion of the planting will be forty feet apart but
that is simply a detail and the entire matter is left with the state
highway commissioner and those who assist him. And, as stated by Senator
Penney, they are very competent men in that department. Of course some
trees would be placed further apart than others. There is no absolutely
fixed distance. I don't know of any movement that will more quickly
cause the planting of more trees than the one we are outlining at the
present time in undertaking to cover the highways of this country.
Michigan alone has six thousand miles of state trunk line highway. That
is only a small portion of the highways in our state. These are the
important roadways connecting our largest cities and business points.
Just as an estimate I would say that we have ten times as many miles of
roadway in Michigan as we have trunk line highways. If that average
should be maintained throughout the country in each one of the states,
and I imagine our state is an average one as to the number of miles of
roadway, you would see that there would be three hundred thousand miles
of trunk line highways alone, saying nothing about all the other
highways and by-ways. So that I believe within the next five or ten
years this roadside planting will cause more trees to be planted, and
useful and valuable trees too, than all the efforts made in this country
up to date in re-forestation. The people are alive to this subject and
are asking for this very thing. It is only for us to map out a plan,
arrange the details, and provide the sources from which they can obtain
their supply and the trees will be planted.
It was my lot and good fortune last fall, following our meeting in the
City of Washington, to visit Mount Vernon and there meeting the
superintendent Mr. Dodge. He said to me that our association could have
the products of the black walnut trees at Mount Vernon upon condition
that that crop should not be commercialized in any way but used for
public purposes. In behalf of the association I accepted the crop of
walnuts, and, as I recall it, got in the neighborhood of thirty bushels
of fine walnuts. They were selected walnuts the best and larger ones. It
so happened that they arrived late in Saginaw, where my home is, and it
was simply impossible to distribute them generally throughout the
country. When it became known that we had these walnuts, and it became
necessary to distribute these nuts and have them planted in our
immediate locality, our people were delighted with the fact, and every
school in every school district in the country called for them, and
every city school called for some of these walnuts. They were planted in
every school yard, in many cases with appropriate ceremonies along
patriotic lines, and that did a great deal of good. Our citizens as
individuals called for them. I was surprised to see the interest in it.
They wanted them in their yards and at their city homes. Following all
this I had about two thousand of these walnuts left. I wondered just
what I could do with these. It was impossible to arrange a program for
distribution so I asked the superintendent of parks of our city if he
would plant and care for them and he readily agreed to do it. So that
what was left of the consignment was placed in our finest and largest
park. Shortly after having planted these, and the papers having noticed
what had been done, I sent a copy to our honored first president, Dr.
Morris. Soon thereafter I received a letter from him saying that he
disliked very much to predict disappointment, but disappointment
certainly was coming to us for our efforts in Saginaw, because, he said,
"Mr. Linton, I have gone through this experience and the squirrels and
other rodents will certainly get every one of those nuts. You will be
disappointed in the results in the spring and I am telling you this so
it won't come to you all at once. I want you to be prepared for the
disappointment when it comes." I rather imagined it would come. I knew
that the trees in that particular park harbored a good many fox
squirrels and others, and I imagined they would get these walnuts. But I
was very much astonished this spring to see the entire crop come up
through the ground. I imagine it was a ninety-five per cent crop. So
that we have about two thousand young walnuts growing about as high as
this table from last year's planting. They are thrifty and they will be
distributed around the state of Michigan this coming spring, and at
other places. To show the interest manifested in that particular
movement I will say that I received letters from perhaps half of the
states in the country asking if they could not be supplied with some of
these walnuts from George Washington's former home at Mount Vernon. I
even got letters from the State of Virginia asking that some of them be
sent from Saginaw, Michigan, to them in Virginia for planting at their
home. So you can see how far reaching a thing of this kind can be. I
know that we have started something here that will sweep from one end of
the United States to the other, and will do more good along the lines of
re-forestation than any organization up to date has been able to do.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I move that a committee be appointed to report
at the morning session the best method of getting this bill before the
various legislatures. I thought first of attempting to formulate what
idea I might have in the form of a resolution, but it appears to me that
it is something that may require a little thought. Therefore I move the
appointment of a committee of three to report in the morning the best
form of a resolution or whatever seems best to adopt by this association
to get action.
This motion was put by President Linton and unanimously adopted.
The President appoints on this committee Mr. Littlepage, Senator Penney
and Dr. Canaday.
PRESIDENT LINTON: This action will close the discussion
relative to the tree planting law. Any other subject that you desire to
discuss can be brought before the meeting in any proper manner.
MR. BIXBY: As the secretary noted this morning, perhaps the
most extensive program of nut tree planting which has yet been carried
out has been on the other side of the world, in China. One of the
members of the association is Mr. Wang who lives near Shanghai and is
secretary of the Kinsan Arboretum there. Some time ago he obtained some
American black walnuts from Japan. He planted them and they grew so much
faster than he had anticipated, and I think faster than any other tree
with which he was familiar, that he conceived the idea of planting the
new highway, which was being made from Shanghai to Hankow, with these
American black walnuts. In due course he sent a money order to pay for
two thousand pounds to the secretary. Last year was not the best year to
get black walnuts, and the secretary forwarded the money order to me and
asked me if I could get these walnuts for him. There was more trouble in
getting them in New York last year than there usually is, but finally I
did get them and had them made up in twenty-two bags and shipped to Mr.
Wang at Shanghai. In due course they arrived and he is anticipating
great things from them. The growth that he reported of this first lot of
black walnuts was something astonishing. It seems to me that they grew
the second year ten feet high. It was a very astonishing growth, a much
more vigorous growth than I ever heard of their making here. At any rate
there are two thousand pounds of American black walnuts that have been
shipped to China, and if nothing happens to them they will grow and
adorn that new road from Shanghai to Hankow.
MR. JONES: A matter that will be of interest is that Mr. Wang
wrote me a letter in which he says that the black walnut grows three
times as fast in China as the Japanese walnut. Here in the nursery we
find the Japanese walnut doubles the black walnut in the first two years
in growth.
PRESIDENT LINTON: We would like to hear from those present who
are familiar with trees, as you all are, as to the merits and demerits
of the various kinds of trees that we desire to plant. In Michigan the
only ones we are considering are the black walnut, the hickory, the
butternut and the beech. The beech in our state grows to be a beautiful
tree, as it does in most states in our country. In addition to that our
state agricultural people are suggesting that we plant the hard maple,
which is a fine tree in Michigan, and the basswood, and one or two
others, to provide food along certain lines. The hard maple, for
instance, produces maple sugar, the basswood the bees draw honey from.
The simple and useful trees and shrubs are the only ones in our state
that we are giving any consideration to.
DR. CANADAY: What would be the best way to start a hickory
along the roadside? From the nut?
PRESIDENT LINTON: From my experience with the black walnut I
would say that would be the proper way to plant these hickories, to
plant the nuts where the trees would be. It is far less expensive than
any other method. It is easily cared for by the road men who take care
of a section of the road.
MR. MCGLENNON: I am interested in the cultivation and culture
of the European filbert at Rochester and have been for a number of
years, and I believe successfully. In different meetings of this
association that I have attended and in correspondence with the officers
of the association, filbert culture in this country has been referred to
as still in the experimental stage. Now when you have been in a thing
for ten or twelve years and have not had any set-back but progress along
all lines of activity, I believe you have passed out of the zone of
experimentation and have gotten down to doing something. That is what we
have done in Rochester with our nursery which I believe is the only
thing of that particular kind in the country. Mr. Vollertsen, my
collaborator, came to me with this idea years ago. He told me what he
believed could be done and what had been done in filbert culture where
he had been until about twenty years of age, having worked in a nursery
from the time he had been able to do manual labor. In this nursery they
had given especial attention to the cultivation of filberts and he had
learned their method of propagation. He told me about this and believed
it could be done in this country. I corresponded with some of the
prominent nurserymen in the New England states and they told me it would
be folly to attempt anything like that in this country, that I would be
wiped out by the blight. They had tried it with some of the European
varieties. Nevertheless I went ahead and imported five plants of twenty
leading German varieties from Hoag & Schmidt, a prominent firm of
nurserymen in Germany. I turned them over to Mr. Vollertsen having
rented land for him and furnished the funds for the fertilization and
cultivation of the land, paying a wage to him to go ahead and make the
experiment. I wanted to know rather than to believe. His method of
propagation was from the layer. Now we have fruited these propagated
plants and found them true. We started in with half an acre. We now have
two and a half acres, probably fifty thousand plants altogether. We have
never had the semblance of blight. Our cultivation has been thorough.
Our fertilization has been consistent. Mr. Vollertsen has been on the
job very steadily and understands his business thoroughly. I think that
this talk of blight is something that we should not take so seriously to
heart. On half a dozen occasions some of our good friends have said,
"What about the blight; don't you think it will wipe you out?" I think
it is well to be prepared for the truth but the same thing might be said
if I plant a peach orchard, that in a few years it will be wiped out by
the yellows. I can't make myself believe that the matter of blight in
filbert culture in this country is a serious menace. The consensus of
opinion in this association seems to have been that even if it does
appear there are remedies for it. Our esteemed first president, Dr.
Morris, when he visited our place in Rochester some years ago when the
convention met there, said that he thought we should not worry about it.
He was satisfied that if blight appeared it could be controlled by the
removal of the blighted part. I believe that the same principle applies
to the development of filbert nurseries as to any phase of life, that
eternal vigilance is the price of safety. I believe that thorough
cultivation, keeping the plants strong and healthy, will help them
resist disease. But if blight does appear, by watching closely it can be
removed and I think controlled, as suggested by Dr. Morris. Maybe it has
been all right up to the present time to be on our guard but there is
my work that has been going on for ten or twelve years. During these
last two or three years we have been sending our plants all over the
country, to California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa,
Indiana, Canada, and we have been getting fine reports with not a single
reference to the appearance of blight. On the contrary they report that
our plants are fruiting and they ask for more plants. As a specific
instance I can cite a prominent doctor in Louisville, Kentucky, who some
years ago got some plants from us and some filbert plants from some
other nursery. We had a letter from him the other day in which he spoke
in most complimentary terms of the plants he had gotten from us, that
they had fruited, were true, and he wanted to know if we could furnish
him from fifteen hundred to two thousand plants within the next few
years. William Rockefeller on the Hudson, another customer of ours,
reports plants doing splendidly and fruiting well. Mrs. Jones of Jones &
Laughlin Steel Company reports plants growing splendidly there. Those
are just a few of the instances I could cite. As I suggested to some of
the gentlemen today at the next meeting it might be well for me to bring
specific references from different parts of the country where our plants
have been planted and are bearing fruit and are doing well, with no
reference whatever to blight having appeared, and I shall be very glad
to do that.
* * * * *
It seems to me, too, that the filbert is one of the best nut producing
plants for use here in the North. Usually it is grown in bush form. It
is very hearty and begins to bear early and abundantly under proper
care. In view of the exceptionally wide range of climates and soils it
seems to be one of the good nut producing plants for this association.
Now it can be consistently considered that I have an ax to grind as I am
producing filbert plants for sale, but I assure you, ladies and
gentlemen, that it is not with this thought in mind that I make these
references. I have the interests of this association very much at heart.
My whole time and attention and money is given to nut culture. I am
extensively interested in the culture of paper shell pecans in Georgia.
Successfully, I might also add. And I want to be equally successful with
the filbert because I believe that it is the one great nut bearing plant
that this association can stand back of and urge the people to plant,
not because I am producing them but because I am a member of this
association, and I want to see this association a success.
Three weeks ago last Monday, on account of my interest in pecan culture
in the South, and having a good crop at our grove this year, I went to
New York and spent the day there conferring with a big commission man
down in the Washington Street section who handles large consignments of
nuts. The subject of the filbert was discussed and I found a very great
interest on the subject. They were one and all, I think I can say,
appalled when I told them that there was a nursery in New York State
producing filbert plants and filbert nuts. Mr. James, vice-president of
the Higgins & James Company, showed me a very fine filbert, a variety
with some unpronounceable name, I think Italian, and he said, "Isn't it
a beauty?" It was. But when I told him that we had just as fine in
Rochester and some finer he looked aghast. I invited him to come to
Rochester and be convinced. He told me, as others did, that there was a
wonderful future for the filbert in this country.
The filbert, too, I think, is especially adapted for waste lands on
farms. A great many farms have considerable areas of waste land which, I
believe, could be made very profitable by the planting of the filbert,
because just ordinary farm soil with ordinary fertilization, according
to our experiments, demonstrates that the filbert will make "the desert
to bloom as the rose." And it is a beautiful shrub for ornamental
purposes. Come to Rochester and go down to Jones Square, and you will
see a beautiful border of the purple filbert. Some of our customers are
purchasing it, William Rockefeller for instance and Mrs. Jones, for the
borders of walks and drives. I think that we should try to reach the
gardeners and the agricultural and horticultural societies of the
country in our campaign for the furtherance of nut culture.
In Dr. Kellogg's recent list of diets, fruit and grain and vegetables,
covering two pages of his pamphlet, he gives there as the food value of
the pecan in protein, fats, and carbo-hydrates 207.8, and next to them
the filbert, 207.5, and next the English walnut at 206.8, and next to
that the almond, at 191.1.
MR. BIXBY: I really think that Mr. McGlennon has done more than
anybody else to get the filbert on a practicable basis. He has also
mentioned why the association has been a little bit cautious in saying
too much about the filbert. In some of the early plantings the blight
made serious inroads. There has been a lot learned about the blight
since that time and apparently it can be controlled by cutting out the
blighted portions. I have seen filberts in certain sections of the
country where the blight went half way around the twig. Apparently that
can be controlled by cutting out that blighted portion. Or, if the worst
came to the worst, by cutting off the limb. But there have been a number
of filbert plantings made the last few years where that blight has not
appeared at all. One of the greatest difficulties with the European
filberts was that while the bushes would grow all right they would not
fruit, or fruit only once in a few years. Mr. McGlennon, when he
imported those plants from Germany, apparently took all the varieties
the man had. I believe that is one reason why Mr. McGlennon is raising
filberts when most of the plantings of one bush, or two bushes of one
kind have failed. He has enough varieties to properly pollinate the
hazel flowers. That is a thing that must be borne in mind. Any one
wanting to plant filberts must not ask what is the best filbert and
plant one. He must say, what are the best filberts, and plant several
varieties. I believe that is one of the things that has enabled Mr.
McGlennon to raise filberts when many previous attempts have failed.
MR. MCGLENNON: Replying to Mr. Bixby's remarks they are well
taken. I overlooked mentioning in my talk a fact, because I believe it
is a fact, that it is due to the number of varieties we have that every
variety has fruited. Now they are in the nursery and the principal
consideration is wood. We are working every plant for wood. We have not
been able to supply the demand for plants and won't be for another year
or two. Next year I shall probably have ten to twelve thousand plants.
We layered some twenty-five thousand plants last year, and we are
layering some twenty-five thousand this year. Mr. Vollertsen has been
very persistent with regard to the maintenance of the smaller nut
varieties, has insisted upon it, because we have found that they are
very much freer bloomers than the larger fruited varieties. We have made
up our selection, as catalogued, carefully to that end, including some
of the smaller fruit varieties. A party asked me the other day if I
would send them a plant this fall. I said, "No, but I will send you
three plants," meaning one of the small fruit and two of the larger
fruit. It is the larger fruit that the consumer is going to demand. He
is going to buy the larger nut, although the smaller nut is really
better for eating.
Convention adjourned until 9:30 a. m., October 7, 1921.
MORNING SESSION
Friday, October 7, 1921
The Convention was called to order at ten o'clock by President Linton.
THE PRESIDENT: The first on our program this morning will be
the report of the Committee on Uniform Bill for Roadside Planting. I
will ask the chairman, Mr. Littlepage, to make the report.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: The committee met last night after adjournment
and considered different methods of getting this bill (a copy of which I
now present) before the various states, and after some deliberation it
was decided to report, on behalf of the committee, as follows:
That the committee,--the same committee which has been appointed,--be
authorized by the association to prepare in proper and simple form a
sufficient number of copies of this bill, to be accompanied by a letter,
formulated by the committee, which letter will set out substantially
three things:
First: Call the governor's attention to the fact that this bill is the
one adopted by the State of Michigan, but that it should, of course, be
modified to comply with the special judicial or road machinery of each
particular state.
Secondly: A short argument in behalf of this character of legislation.
Thirdly: A request to each governor that he refer the bill to his
attorney general to put it in proper form to fit into the machinery of
his particular state, and that he also refer it to his appropriate state
board of forestry, agriculture or what-not.
We suggest, as I said before, that this committee be authorized to
prepare a letter along those lines, to be accompanied by a copy of the
bill, and that, after it is prepared and ready, it be sent out by either
the president or the secretary of the association. It was also thought
by the committee to be desirable, at the same time that this is sent to
the governor of each state, to send copies to the various agricultural
and horticultural journals of the respective states, that being done
with the view of getting some publicity. Then, too, the committee
thought that it might be well, at that time, for the respective members
of the association in these various states to write to their
representatives in the legislature calling attention to this bill.
Now that is the report of the committee, and, Mr. President, I move
that this report be adopted and the committee instructed to act along
those lines.
(Motion seconded and carried, and the report of the committee was
adopted unanimously.)
THE PRESIDENT: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I consider that we
have performed a most important task in the pioneer work connected with
roadside planting in America. There is no question but that with this
association the idea first originated; and the work to date along those
lines in the United States has been brought about by the Northern Nut
Growers' Association. It is a work in which I, personally as well as
officially, as you know, have been greatly interested and the unanimous
adoption of the committee's report, endorses that line of work. I wish
to thank you, individually and collectively, for your interest and the
action which you have taken.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I feel that our president in this instance has
hit a high-water mark. He has taken hold of a very important idea and
has developed it. After making an observation or two I am going to move
a vote of appreciation to our president and accompany it with a vote of
thanks to Senator Penney for coming down here from Michigan and lending
his aid and enthusiasm.
We listened last night to a discussion about this roadside planting. As
I observed before it is not without its difficulties the same as
everything else; but this proposition extends to the various state
boards of horticulture, highway, or what-not, one of the greatest and
finest opportunities. Personally I believe in nut trees; but you must
first get the public with you. Suppose you had a highway into Lancaster
lined on either side for a half mile with pink weigelias in the spring.
You would have the whole population going up and down that highway
looking at the display. And the pink weigelia is almost a fool-proof
shrub. It grows without cultivation and grows very rapidly and blooms in
the greatest profusion. Suppose in mid-summer you had another highway
lined with hydrangeas. I believe a particular one that is hardy is
called paniculata grandiflora. It is a fool-proof shrub also, requires
very little care and comes on after the other flowers go. It also can be
produced very cheaply. You would have the population looking at and
admiring the blooms and it would inspire, in each one of those
individuals, a desire to go and do likewise. Suppose you had a half mile
of sweet gum trees. If you go down through the counties of Pennsylvania
now you will see the sweet gums--some of them a deep dark purple, some
of them a bright golden yellow, some of them red, some of them with all
the colors and all summer a beautiful foliage--suppose you had a half
mile of those leading into a street of any city in America. The
population on Sunday would drive out there and admire their beauty. It
affords a wonderful opportunity. The individuals who care for those
trees and shrubs, while moving up and down the highway caring for them,
will be carrying with them a little university of horticultural
knowledge. The average farmer thinks it is a terrible thing to spray. It
is the simplest thing in the world as you know. This machinery by which
these trees and plants and shrubbery would be cared for would be a
moving university up and down the highway teaching the farmers how to
care for their trees. Mr. Rush's trees which we saw yesterday were the
finest examples of well cared for trees. You could not travel over the
country and find trees showing a finer degree of care. Nobody could look
at those trees without feeling that he would rather give a little more
care to his trees. So that, if this idea is carried out, as it will be,
it will become popular with the various state boards. They like to do
things that are popular or that please the people.
As I said at the commencement of my remarks I am going to take the
liberty of moving a vote of deep appreciation to the president (Mr.
Linton), and also a vote of thanks to Senator Penney.
(Motion seconded and carried unanimously.)
THE PRESIDENT: I desire to thank you, one and all, for this
vote of appreciation. My connection with the Northern Nut Growers'
Association has been of a most pleasant character. I have found a group
of men and of women who are interested not only in their own welfare but
in the welfare of the race. What we have started today--or rather
completed so far as organization is concerned--will do as much good in
the United States in the next decade as any movement that has been
started by any organization or association. It means re-forestation on a
larger scale with right trees and right plants, as stated by my friend
Mr. Littlepage. A new start will be made along those lines. The poor
trees will be cast aside and the next generation will have trees and
bushes and plants that not only will be beautiful to the eye but will be
beneficial to mankind and to those birds and animals that we desire to
have around us.
The greatest credit should be given to those of this association who in
a scientific way have endeavored to bring about better varieties of
nuts, better varieties of the products of trees, and their names
certainly should go down in history with that of Burbank, or with those
of other men who have devoted their lives to this kind of advancement. I
am sure that will be the result. I know that as the message goes down
along the line to the various states, their efforts will at least be
recognized as having been beneficial and advantageous to all.
I want again to thank every one of you for the kindness that you have
extended towards me and to my colleague, Senator Penney, who is most
actively engaged in this work. Situated as he was--a most prominent
member of the Michigan legislature--he was able to promote the very work
in our Wolverine State that we today are undertaking to bring about in
the United States, and I would call upon Senator Penney to say a word in
this connection.
SENATOR PENNEY: Mr. President, it seems to me that after all
these remarks have been made, this subject has been very well covered. I
was very much interested in the remarks of Mr. Littlepage because he
spoke of different ornamental trees and shrubs with which I am not
familiar and which are not grown in our part of the country.
Our esteemed president, Mr. Linton, is doing wonderful work up in
Saginaw at the present time in conjunction with our superintendent of
public parks. He is helping to lay out some of our parks and to plant
trees and shrubs there. One gentleman of Saginaw furnished the means to
buy one thousand trees and the matter was put in charge of Mr. Linton to
see that they were properly planted. This work and similar work that Mr.
Linton and I have undertaken to promote and to push. We have done
similar things in regard to the promotion of good highways. We have
absolutely no interest in stone quarries or gravel pits or in any kind
of contracts for the building of roads; yet we have spent several
hundred dollars or more in going about Michigan giving talks at
different meetings and promoting roads. One of the things that Mr.
Linton tried to promote was this tree planting bill. Inasmuch as I was
in the legislature I had the opportunity of helping to put this work
across. We have a wonderfully good highway commissioner in our state. He
is enthusiastic over this proposition. While our bill was passed just a
short time ago, he has already planted eighteen miles of trees in one
locality, and, he said, at very little cost. Just think what might be
done throughout the United States. Suppose the prominent highways
throughout the United States were planted with useful and ornamental
trees, beautiful shrubs and things of that kind. Wouldn't it be a
wonderfully beautiful and useful thing for the country?
In closing I wish to thank Mr. Littlepage and the other members of this
association for the very kind treatment we have received here.
THE PRESIDENT: We are fortunate in having a paper that was
prepared and will be presented by our esteemed treasurer Mr. Bixby, and
I take pleasure in calling upon him at this time.
WHERE MAY THE NORTHERN PECAN BE EXPECTED TO BEAR
_Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, Nassau Co., N. Y._
In the January 1916 issue of the American Nut Journal is an article by
Meredith P. Reed read before the Western Association of Nurserymen at
their annual meeting in Kansas City, Mo., December 1915 entitled the
Pecan Areas of the United States, describing the limits between which
the pecan may be grown. In this paper the matter of the Pecan Belts of
the country are discussed and their extent determined pretty largely by
the length of the season (in average years), that is by the number of
days between the latest spring frosts and the earliest fall frosts. A
map was shown on which these areas were marked out, and it has been very
useful to the writer in answering inquiries from persons who want to
know if pecans can be grown in _a_ given section.
Mr. John Garretson, Aspers, Adams Co., Penn., has on his place bearing
Stuart and Schley pecans, two of the standard southern varieties. These
bear nuts of typical shape but which are only a fraction of the size
that these nuts would be if grown in southern Georgia. This clearly
shows that some of the standard southern pecans require something which
they do not get at Aspers to enable them to properly mature their nuts.
The trees stand the cold of winter but the fruit does not properly
mature. Mr. Jones has suggested that it is heat that is lacking and has
advanced the idea that even though the trees are hardy to winter cold
they have not sufficient summer heat at Aspers to enable them to mature
their crops. This has brought up the question as to whether there was
any method of measuring the summer heat available for causing pecan nuts
to grow and mature.
Observations on northern pecans (and some southern ones) on my place at
Baldwin caused me to note that no pecans started to vegetate at Baldwin
before May. May is the first spring month here when the pecan will
leave out. May is also the first spring month when the average monthly
temperature here will reach 50°F. It occurred to me that if we note the
excess average monthly temperatures over 50° and sum these items for a
season we would get what might be termed a figure for "pecan growing
heat units." This figure of 50° is doubtless capable of some refinement.
There is no reason to suppose that further study may not show that it
should be somewhat more or less but it is the best we have so far and
seemingly it is proving useful.
If we calculate these figures for Evansville, Ind., for 1914, for
example, and show the method of doing it we will have
Average Monthly Average Monthly Temp.
1914 Temperatures in Excess of 50 deg.
January 39.6
February 29.9
March 42.0
April 55.4 5.4
May 67.9 17.9
June 80.0 30.0
July 82.2 32.2
August 78.0 28.0
September 69.6 19.6
October 60.8 10.8
November 49.2
December 31.0 _____
Total 143.9
The pecan growing heat units, pecan units they may be called for short,
for Evansville, Ind., in 1914 were 143.9. From this we might conclude
that a place where the pecan units for 1914 would figure out 143.9 would
be likely (as far as climatic conditions are concerned) to grow pecans
as well as Evansville, that is, of course if other years should show
similar figures.
With the idea of seeing if the experience of those who were growing
pecans would be anything like what might be calculated from the Weather
Bureau Records, letters were written to all members of the National Nut
Growers' Association to find out if pecans grew and bore well in their
sections and if so which varieties. From the replies received it has
been in a number of instances difficult to judge just how well pecans
grow in some sections. For this reason I have interpreted the replies
somewhat on the basis of my own knowledge and on certain facts told me
by Mr. C. A. Reed. Apparently at least 175 pecan units are to be found
in most places where the southern pecan is successful commercially. This
corresponds to a line through Augusta, Milledgeville, Macon and
Columbus, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama. There seems little question
but that pecans can be grown north of this line but until I get more
positive information than I now have I shall doubt if the planting of
southern varieties of pecans much north of this line is nearly as
advisable as it is south of it.
When we come to compare this figure with the pecan units for Ocean
Springs and Pascagoula, Miss., where a number of the fine southern
pecans originated which are now being propagated we find an average of
about 222 pecan units. To reduce this to a percentage we find that many
of the standard southern pecans grow and bear well when the pecan units
are as low as 79% of those of the place of their origin. In other words
the adaptability of the southern pecan is 79%, that is it will grow and
bear well where the pecan units are as low as 79% of those of the place
of its origin or to use rough figures, 80%.
When we come to ascertain the pecan units of the locations where the
northern pecan grows and bears well we will consider Evansville and
Vincennes, Ind., as places where it bears well; Burlington, Ia., as a
place where it does quite well, but not as well, as in Evansville;
Clinton, Ia., as a place where trees are growing well but where they
bear a large crop only once in several years; and Charles City, Ia., as
a place where the pecan does not mature its nuts. The pecan units are
also shown for several important places outside of the native pecan
area.
Highest Lowest Average
Evansville, Ind. (1919) 147.5 (1917) 116.4 135.7
Vincennes, Ind. (1914) 144.7 (1918) 123.1 130.8
Burlington, Ia. (1914) 125.8 (1917) 90.2 108.4
Clinton, Ia. (1914) 109.2 (1917) 75.3 94.9
Charles City, Ia. (1914) 91.2 (1915) 65.4 78.5
New York City (1914) 101.2 (1917) 85.2 94.3
Lancaster, Penn. (1919) 108.7 (1917) 84.9 98.4
Gettysburg, Penn. (1919) 108.4 (1916) 89.4 100.7
Cincinnati, O. (1914) 131.7 (1917) 88.9 109.5
Baltimore, Md. (1919) 127.2 (1917) 106.7 121.0
Washington, Md. (1918) 126.8 (1917) 104.7 119.3
Hartford, Conn. (1919) 88.9 (1917) 74.8 85.1
If we consider that Evansville and Vincennes are the center of the pecan
district near which most varieties have originated and that a place
should have 80% as many pecan units as in this Evansville district in
order to have the northern pecan do well, a place should have 105 pecan
units in order for one to feel reasonably certain that the northern
pecan will do well there. It will be both interesting and instructive to
see how well the applications that may be made from the conclusions
compare with observed facts.
We know that there are large numbers of pecan trees at Burlington, Ia.,
and that the trees grow and bear well. Its pecan units are 108.4. We
should conclude that at Baltimore and Washington with pecan units at
121.0 and 119.3 respectively that pecans would grow and bear well. There
are pecan trees over 100 years old at Marietta, Md., which is half way
between Baltimore and Washington. These trees bear nuts and although it
has not been possible to get bearing records it is evident that they
bear considerably for on the roads of that vicinity are hundreds of
young pecan trees which evidently came up from nuts borne by these old
trees. We should expect the pecan to do well at Cincinnati, O. In fact I
have been expecting to find it native there, but, so far all inquiries
have failed to do so. At Fayetteville, however, which is about 40 miles
east of Cincinnati and somewhat north of it, are bearing pecan trees
raised from seed brought from Shawneetown, Ill., which is in the
Evansville district. Seed from these Fayetteville trees planted at
Baldwin have shown nearly 100% germination.
There is some question as to how well pecans should bear at Gettysburg,
and Lancaster, Penn., and at New York City where the pecan units are
much like those at Clinton, Ia., where, on forest pecan trees, we get a
fair crop but once in several years. Perhaps with our present knowledge
these places should be considered on the borderland between the country
where the pecan is likely to do well and that where it will not mature
its nuts. We know that pecan trees have borne nuts at Aspers, Pa., near
Gettysburg, at Lancaster, Pa., and at Westbury and Glen Cove, Long
Island, near New York City but so far it has not been possible to make
sufficient observations to form definite conclusions as to what to
expect. It seems quite likely that fertilization and care may help
materially the maturing of crops in those sections which in our present
knowledge we must consider on the borderland.
Probably we should not expect pecan nuts to be borne at Charles City,
Ia., where pecan units are but 60% of those at Vincennes, and pecan
units at Hartford, Conn., are not so very different. There are northern
pecan trees at Charles City, Ia., which many years ago were brought
there, but the information I have about them is that they have never
borne. There is a large pecan tree at Hartford, Conn., but I have never
been able to learn of its bearing nuts.
As the northern pecan trees now being planted get to bearing age we
shall have actual experimental data as to what they will do in the
different sections. Until that time by the method outlined herein and
with the Weather Bureau Records for several years at hand inquiries
regarding its probable adaptability for a given section can be answered
with far more confidence than was possible heretofore.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: Is there any discussion upon the excellent paper
just read by our treasurer?
MR. JORDAN: May I ask if, according to that theory, the Stuart
and the Schley would not be expected to do well in Washington?
MR. BIXBY: I should say not. My intention was to indicate
roughly a dividing line between where the pecan would be an important
commercial crop and where it would not. We know the Stuart pecan bears
pretty well at Petersburg, Virginia; it bears at Aspers, Pa., which is
near Gettysburg, but the nuts are a fraction of the normal size and not
very well filled.
THE SECRETARY: We all appreciate the amount of work that is
represented by this report of Mr. Bixby and how valuable it is from a
scientific as well as from a practical point of view. I wonder if it
could be made more useful if Mr. Bixby could make a little map showing
the isothermal lines on the basis that he has followed in his
investigation.
MR. BIXBY: That could be done in a very general way, but
altitude makes such a difference that there would be many places
included in any belt at which, probably, certain pecans would not grow
nor would not mature. It is very evident that local conditions make a
great difference. I should say that a map to be useful would probably
have a series of dots all over the country indicating what pecans would
be best grown in that section; and while that would, to a certain
extent, form belts yet there could be selected many places in any one
belt where another pecan would be preferable.
MR. J. W. RITCHIE: I started in this nut-growing business
knowing nothing about it. I found that there were men in it who had been
working at it for years who knew many things that I wanted to know. They
forgot that I knew nothing and that I might want to know some of the
things that they had in their minds which gave them a background. I
think there ought to be some way by which all this knowledge that we
have can be brought together so that a beginner could pay a dollar or a
dollar and a half or, if necessary, two or three dollars and get it all
at once. I have visited Washington and have seen Mr. Littlepage. He
showed me some Kentucky hickories and Stabler walnuts and I then decided
that if I could raise any nuts there would be no trouble about selling
them. I can sell just as many of those nuts as I can produce; but yet I
do not know a thing about how many nuts will grow on a Kentucky hickory
in one year. If you will lay the facts before me and let me judge them I
will take the risk myself. I do not want anybody to tell me whether to
plant nuts or not to plant them. I will decide that question for myself
if you will give me the data to work on. I want a book that will give me
the varieties. I want to know what particular nuts can be put out in
this region here that would have a chance of commercial success. Then I
would like to know as much as I possibly can about those varieties,
their respective qualities, what they will produce and especially how to
propagate them. I happen to have a place where there are a great many
walnuts, butternuts and hickories. I would like to know, in detail, how
to propagate those nuts. In a conversation with the secretary he spoke
of northern pecans. I have read about the Marquardt, the Burlington and
the Witte. I do not know whether the term "northern" included those
three or not.
TREASURER BIXBY: I would be very useful if I could directly
answer a good many of the questions that are asked. A great many people
would like to know the pecan they can plant in their sections and be
sure of success. That I would like to tell them. I do not have the
information. It is frequently more difficult to answer questions than to
ask them.
Regarding the Burlington and the Witte pecans, they come from the most
northern section where good pecans have been found, where the heat units
are the lowest. They come from Burlington, Iowa, where the heat units
are 180, if I remember correctly. If we assume a place where the heat
units are 80 per cent of those at Burlington, those pecans should grow
and mature there. They would probably do fairly well in New York City. I
think we might feel justified in saying that they would not do well at
Charles City, Iowa, because pecans from near that section, or back north
of that section, have been growing for twenty-five or thirty years, and
have not fruited. There the pecan units are very low, only 78. It would
seem reasonable that at places where the pecan units are somewhat over
90, including New York City, Lancaster, southern Pennsylvania, and of
course practically all sections south of it, they ought to do well.
Those are the safest pecans, the Marquardt, the Burlington, the Witte,
and the Green Bay, to plant in the northern section.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: The Stuart pecan originally stood within fifty
feet of the Gulf of Mexico. There is where it originated. It is one of
the leading southern nuts; and yet I saw a Stuart bearing nuts in Mr.
Roper's orchard down at Petersburg, Virginia. It has grown beautifully.
There is a strictly southern pecan, nurtured by the waters of the Gulf
of Mexico, which has the widest latitude. You can find the same thing up
north. The fact that the Burlington grows at Burlington, Iowa, means
this, that it ought to grow in all similar latitudes, or else violate
known laws of horticulture. But it does not mean that some other pecan
that grew 250 miles south of that might not grow still further north.
The questions asked are important. Why does not the association, just as
fast as it gets information, stick a pin there and fasten it down? For
example, will pecan trees grow, say, on the thirty-ninth parallel, which
runs through my grove down in Maryland. They will. Will they bear? There
is one Major there that has this summer fifty pecans on it; another one
there with perhaps a dozen. On the 27th day of March of this year, which
was Easter Sunday, the temperature dropped sixty-eight degrees in
twenty-four hours. It is a wonder it did not kill the forest trees. But
with all that the pecan stood there just as hardy as the oak. It
destroyed some of the ends of the swelling buds, not the dormant buds
but some of those that had begun to swell a little, and that no doubt
affected the crop or we would have had, perhaps, all the varieties, the
Butterick, the Warrick, the Niblack, the Busseron, the Major, and the
Green River fruiting. Do we want to grow a Major? I do not know. But the
man that makes the mistake is the man who fails to set nut trees. How
about the Stabler walnut bearing? It bore matured nuts at the age of
four years on my farm in Maryland this year. The nuts are here. That
answers that question. I have very grave doubts about pecan trees
thriving in the Lancaster latitude; yet it may be that I am wrong about
that. There may be some particular variety that will thrive here. If I
lived in this section I would set out the trees so that when the one,
two, three or four varieties are found that will thrive here we will
have something to work on. There isn't any question about the black
walnut or filbert thriving here, or the hickory, because we find them
growing. If you go through southern Michigan and northern Indiana, you
will see the shagbark hickory by the thousands growing along the
railroad. This association should endeavor to get some affirmative data
and distribute it among its members.
I have a row of Indian hazels. I put them on the side of my garage to
make a sort of a screen because they grow those big crinkling pretty
leaves. That row is probably fifteen feet long. If I had forty acres of
those hazels with the same quantity of nuts on that are on there this
year I could buy another farm.
MR. OLCOTT: I would like to ask about Evansville, Indiana.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: Evansville, Indiana, is almost exactly on the
thirty-eighth parallel. The Busseron pecan tree grows almost exactly on
the thirty-ninth parallel which is the northern boundary of the District
of Columbia. The big orange groves in California are at the Lancaster
latitude, which shows just how such things twist and turn, how difficult
it is to learn them and why it is going to take a lot of experience to
work them out.
THE SECRETARY: I knew that Mr. Jones was a very patient and a
very courteous gentleman; but I did not suppose that his patience and
his courtesy would enable him to sit there for nearly a half hour with,
lying in his lap unopened, the new book on nut culture which has just
been published by Dr. Morris, probably the first copy that you or I have
seen. I see that Mr. Jones has finally yielded to temptation and has
uncovered the book. Perhaps that is the book that will supply Mr.
Ritchie's needs. I mention it now because I think that you all ought to
know that such a book has been published by Dr. Morris and that it can
be bought of the MacMillan Company, Publishers, of New York City.
MR. MCGLENNON: I think Mr. Jones has overlooked the following
on the fly leaf of Dr. Morris's book:
"_To J. F. Jones, first authority in the world today
on the subject of nut growing. With the compliments
of one of his pupils, Robert T. Morris.
"New York, October 3, 1921_"
(Applause).
THE PRESIDENT: If there is no further discussion along this
particular line, we will now receive the report of the committee on
grades of membership.
TREASURER BIXBY: The committee recommends that Article II of
the By-Laws be amended so as to read as follows:
"Annual members shall pay two dollars annually, or three dollars and
twenty-five cents including a year's subscription to the American Nut
Journal. Contributing members shall pay five dollars annually, this
membership including a year's subscription to the American Nut Journal.
Life members shall make one payment of fifty dollars and shall be exempt
from further dues. Honorary members shall be exempt from dues."
It was moved and seconded that the report of the committee be adopted
and the amendment to the by-laws made as therein recommended.
(Motion carried unanimously).
THE TREASURER: I would like to give notice of our intention, at
the next regular meeting, of moving to amend Article III of the
Constitution, by adding to the same the following:
"There shall be four classes of members: Annual, contributing, life and
honorary. Annual, contributing and life members shall be entitled to all
rights and privileges of the association. Honorary members shall be
entitled to all rights and privileges of the association, excepting
those of holding office and voting at meetings."
THE PRESIDENT: Notice has been duly made and will be filed in
the proceedings of the session.
We have with us Prof. F. N. Fagan to whom I am sure you will be glad to
listen at this time in connection with the work that is being carried on
at State College with which institution he is connected.
PROFESSOR FAGAN: At the Rochester meeting we reported on an
English walnut survey that was made in Pennsylvania. Since that time we
have not done anything except with Mr. Jones's and Mr. Rush's help, to
gather information about the parent trees of which we located definitely
about three thousand and indefinitely probably two thousand more. All of
these trees but one were in bearing. They were seedling trees and as
much variation was found in the trees as we would naturally expect to
find in seedling trees. Our problem is to determine the trees worthy of
propagation. It is necessary also to solve better the propagation
problem. We cannot expect to get any large amount of planting of any of
our nut trees until we can put the trees to the public at a price at
which it will feel that it can afford to invest. To the members of this
association, or to other people vitally interested, two or two and a
half or three dollars is not anything for a good tree; but to the
average planter of home ground or farmstead that is too much money. We
all know that it is not an easy task to propagate these trees and we are
not condemning the nurserymen. We know that they cannot afford to grow a
budded or a grafted tree of known parentage for any less. So the problem
of propagation is one of the largest that we have before us, and it is
one to which our station and I myself are giving all the thought and
time that we can.
We realize the importance of the nut industry in the state if for no
more than roadside and home planting. Whether commercial planting will
extend through the north with our black walnuts, our butternuts, our
hickories and our English walnuts, to the extent that it has in the
south with the pecan, is a question which time alone can solve.
We now have new land at the station suitable for the planting of nut
trees. It is going to be the best land that we have on our new farm and
we hope next spring to make a collection planting of varieties. We have
not much money but we can make a start. It is not going to be at a place
that will be set aside and not cared for. It is going to be along the
public road, where we will have to take care of it or we will be
criticised.
Until we solve our problems of selection and propagation we will go
along at a fair rate of increase in regard to our plantings; but we will
not reach the man who has a piece of ground and who says, "I would like
to plant that ground in walnuts, maybe fifteen or twenty trees but I
cannot put thirty dollars into those trees, or twenty dollars when I can
buy apple trees for twenty cents."
Yet the future looks just as bright to me as it did the day I started to
make the English walnut survey, just as bright because we will overcome
these obstacles.
I might close by saying that while we are ready at the college and at
the experiment station to go ahead we are not ready to plunge into any
extensive experiments. It requires money and the money does not come in
such quantities that we can plunge into anything in fact. But we are
ready to begin to build a foundation on which we expect later on to
experiment, and I hope that in ten more years, or in nine more years, if
this association comes back to Pennsylvania, we can invite them to the
experiment station to see what foundations we have laid and what
progress we have made in the experimental work of nut culture.
THE PRESIDENT: Will there be any discussion on the subject so
ably covered by Prof. Fagan? Are there any questions that you desire to
ask the Professor?
THE SECRETARY: I would like to ask Prof. Fagan if he has a good
word to say for the English walnut in Pennsylvania and in other parts of
the country as a profitable tree to plant, from the result of his
inspection of the trees of the state.
PROF. FAGAN: We get a letter probably on an average of once a
week, from some one in the State of Pennsylvania who wants to plant
anywhere from five acres to a hundred acres in English walnuts. We tell
him to go slow, to feel his ground out pretty well and to remember that
he is planting a tree that is a greater feeder, probably, than any other
fruit tree; that it must have food or it won't grow; and instead of
planting a hundred acres to plant maybe half an acre and select the best
varieties that information at the present time indicates, those that
lived through the winter of 1917-1918.
We have seedling trees in Pennsylvania, that probably date back to near
revolutionary war times; in fact there are some around Germantown that
no doubt were growing at the time of the revolutionary war, around the
old Germantown Academy. Personally I would not hesitate to plant as good
an acre of land as there is in Lancaster County, or ten or twenty or
fifty acres, to the better types of English walnuts that we have today.
It probably would not be profitable in my time; I do not know; but it
certainly would be profitable in the lifetime of my children. I would
not, however, want to plant the nuts on cheap and poor mountain land
where the most of our larger plantings, even of chestnut, have been made
throughout the country, on land that was not worth the attention of
other crops. When people write to us that they have certain types of
land we always tell them if they can grow an average crop of corn,
wheat, clover or potatoes on that land there probably isn't any question
but that if they plant English walnuts they will be successful in
raising some English walnuts. Whether they will raise them profitably or
not is another question. But nothing can take the place of one or two
good trees on every farm, especially in southeastern Pennsylvania. There
isn't much question but that those trees can be grown successfully from
a line through Allentown to the Susquehanna River, and on over to the
general range of the Allegheny Mountains, down to the Mainland and West
Virginia line. Even in our higher elevations of sixteen or eighteen
hundred feet I can show you some good old bearing trees that are ten or
twelve inches in diameter. No dwelling houses there. They are out in the
country and they are high up.
THE SECRETARY: As has been stated the essential thing in the
successful growing of Persian walnuts, and probably other nuts, is high
fertilization. I believe that many of our failures to grow the Persian
walnut are due to lack of sufficient food.
THE TREASURER: I do not suppose that any one in the association
has made more of an effort to get better records than I have--at least I
have made a good deal of effort. I have learned that in 1916, if I
remember correctly, the Stabler bore sixteen bushels of hulled nuts and
it was estimated that two were washed away by the rains. In another
year, I was informed the Weiker tree bore twelve bushels. In following
up other trees I found it impossible to get any results. I tried to get
information as to the parent Hales hickory and the most I could learn
was that the family had gathered as high as two or three bushels in one
year. But when I saw that the tree stood on the side of a well traveled
road with only a low stone wall to get over, and that the squirrels were
plentiful and the children undoubtedly likewise, I thought it a wonder
that the Hales got any of the nuts.
In the case of most of our fine parent nut trees they are either
situated in out-of-the-way places where it is a task to get to them, or
else they are situated on the side of a traveled road where the
passersby are pretty likely to get a great many of the nuts.
Take the case of the Fairbanks hickory in Alamosa, Iowa. It stands on
the side of the road on top of a hill outside of the limit of the houses
of the town. I do not see how it can help being that a great proportion
of the nuts are picked up by passersby. When we have grafted trees
planted where they can be protected and the crop can be watched we can
get reliable data for our records; but I am afraid that except in a few
instances, we cannot get such data for the parent trees.
MR. RUSH: California is the leader in the Persian walnut
industry and I think it would be better for us to fall in line and adopt
some of their varieties. I find that they are perfectly hardy here, just
as hardy as are varieties that have been grown here for a hundred years.
MR. L. N. SPENCER: Right back of the postoffice are some
English walnut trees. They are growing very nicely. They have withstood
all kinds of weather. I have not noticed any dead limbs on the trees nor
any other indications that the climate here is not adapted to the
growing of these trees. We would be glad indeed to show you the trees
if you would come to the postoffice. They are not on ground belonging to
the United States government but on private ground.
I have been very much interested in your discussion. I came here because
I expect to set out some more nut trees.
THE PRESIDENT: There are two items of business left for the
convention. One is, receiving the report of the nominating committee;
the other is, to determine upon a place for holding our next convention.
If there is nothing further to be brought before the session by the
members these two items will now receive our consideration. The first of
the two would be the report of the nominating committee.
MR. OLCOTT: Your nominating committee respectfully reports the
following nominations for officers of the Northern Nut Growers'
Association for the coming fiscal year:
President--James S. McGlennon, Rochester, N. Y.
Vice-President--J. F. Jones, Lancaster, Pa.
Secretary--William C. Deming, Wilton, Conn.
Treasurer--Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, N. Y.
Your committee begs leave to suggest that as the details of an
aggressive campaign to increase the membership of the Association entail
a considerable amount of correspondence and other work, the Secretary
should be relieved to as great an extent as is practicable, and to that
end particular attention should be paid to the selection of a Membership
Committee. It is the belief that this is one of the most important
committees of the Association and that systematic endeavor upon definite
lines should be made to extend the membership; that this work should
begin at once and be maintained earnestly throughout the coming fiscal
year.
RALPH T. OLCOTT,
J. F. JONES,
JOHN RICK,
C. S. RIDGWAY,
Committee.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I move the adoption of the report.
(Motion seconded and carried, and the officers therein referred to were
declared elected.)
THE PRESIDENT: The second item is to determine the place of the
next meeting. A motion would be in order covering that.
THE TREASURER: Inasmuch as we have in Rochester, New York, an
orchard of filberts which is beginning to bear real crops--and that is
something none of us has ever seen--if Rochester would like to have us
come I move that we go there next year.
MR. OLCOTT: Rochester would like to have you come.
MR. MCGLENNON: I was going to ask that the convention be
brought to Rochester next year. I would certainly like to see it there.
I second Mr. Bixby's motion.
(Motion carried unanimously.)
It was moved and seconded that the next annual convention be held on
September 7 and 8, 1922.
(Motion carried unanimously.)
MR. LITTLEPAGE moved (seconded by Mr. McGlennon) that Mr.
Harrison H. Dodge, Superintendent of Mount Vernon, be elected an
honorary member of this association.
(Motion carried unanimously.)
THE PRESIDENT: I desire to say that in this package I have four
seedlings from the walnuts that were supplied from Mount Vernon. A few
of the walnuts left from last year's supply were placed in the hands of
a nurseryman or florist in Saginaw too late for planting--the ground had
become frozen--and those few nuts be placed in pots in his greenhouse.
They grew very vigorously and I have four of those in little earthen
pots for planting this afternoon.
MR. MCGLENNON: I make a motion that a vote of thanks be
extended to Dr. Morris and the others whose papers were read by our
secretary yesterday morning and that they be notified accordingly.
SENATOR PENNEY: I second the motion.
(Motion carried unanimously.)
THE SECRETARY: I feel that we should express our appreciation
of the efforts of the local committee and the management of this hotel.
I therefore move a vote of thanks to Mr. Rush and Mr. Jones for their
work in the management of this convention, and to the management of the
hotel for the kindness they have shown us.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: I second the motion.
(Motion carried unanimously.)
THE PRESIDENT: We will now adjourn to gather here at two
o'clock in order to go on a sight-seeing trip or excursion around the
city and county and then to Long's Park at 4:30 o'clock for the tree
planting.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TREE PLANTING CEREMONIES AT LONG'S PARK, LANCASTER
COUNTY, PA.
4:30 p. m., October 7, 1921
PRESIDENT LINTON: The four young walnut trees that we have
before us are grown from walnuts from trees at Mount Vernon near the
tomb of General Washington. The trees there were planted unquestionably
during the lifetime of Washington, and have grown to be fine specimens
of their particular species. Last fall the ladies of the Mount Vernon
Association gave to the Northern Nut Growers Association all of the
walnuts upon the trees at Washington's home. They divided those nuts
into two lots and the best ones were presented to the association for
the purpose of public planting. Under no circumstances were the nuts to
be commercialized or sold for gain but were to be planted by the school
children of the land, if it could be satisfactorily arranged in the
short time that we had before the end of the planting season. We found
it impossible to distribute these walnuts throughout the country,
although the demand kept coming for them from many states, so they were
distributed first to the district schools outside of the city of Saginaw
in the County of Saginaw and there planted by the school children with
appropriate ceremonies. Then our city schools asked for them and in
every school yard in the city of Saginaw are some Washington walnuts
growing today. Following this distribution to the schools we had still
several bushels of the nuts, and one bushel was presented to what is
known as Merlin Grotto, a branch or division of the Masonic Order. As
General Washington was a member of that organization it seemed fitting
that that society should have some of the nuts. So in the beautiful
grounds outside of our city that are owned and controlled by Merlin
Grotto there were also planted some of these Mount Vernon walnuts. Then
we still had about two dozen of them left, and they were planted in what
is known as the Ezra Rush Park in Saginaw, our largest city park. They
are there in rows to be transplanted this coming spring and will be
again distributed to the schools, or to public places desiring them, as
long as they may last. The four specimens that you have before you,
gentlemen, are from nuts from trees planted during President
Washington's time at his home. We trust that they may live in this
beautiful park in Lancaster and that they may go down in history showing
the source from whence they came.
PROF. HERBERT H. BECK: Gentlemen: It is a very great privilege
to represent Franklin and Marshall College in extending a word of
greeting as well as comradeship to the Northern Nut Growers'
Association. I use the word comradeship advisedly because we have
interests that are indubitably kindred. Our two institutions are both
concerned with the cultivation of something that will contribute to the
strength and happiness of each as Americans--your institution in the
cultivation of useful trees--our institution in the cultivation of
useful men. It may well be said, show me a man who loves and cultivates
trees and I will show you a man who loves his fellow men and puts that
love into practice. That cannot be said, unfortunately, of every man who
graduates from college. It is to be doubted whether the name of John
Harvey, considered abroad as worthy of a higher place in the annals of
American horticulture, is greater than the name of Johnny Appleseed, the
man who took apple trees out into the frontier of the open road. My only
regret is that I have never been in a position to do so. I can say,
though, with Dr. Holmes, for whose opinion on such things I have a most
profound admiration, that I have an intense, passionate fondness for all
trees in general and for certain trees in particular. When I go out
among the trees I have a kinship there. I am never lonely when I am in a
forest and I cannot say that when I am alone in a big city. I like to
look upon an old tree as a patriarch with not only an honored past but
an interesting story locked up under its bark. As I go to such a place
as Valley Forge, I like to lay my hand on the rough bark of an old tree
and say, "Oh, but that you might tell your tale; you are the only thing
left which looked upon the scene in which a few were crucified that many
might live." Such are the thoughts that come to me when I stand by an
old tree. I like to let my mind run back to the beginnings of trees, to
the pre-historic times when this bed rock was laid down, when all this
region was an inlet or bay from the Atlantic Ocean and the upland was
treeless as our rock record shows. Then there were the beginnings of low
fern-like growth and clotted mass which gradually increased in size
until they assumed the enormous proportions which made the coal beds
possible. And then I like to follow the growth of trees on to the broad
leaf. We have the beginnings of the broad leaf, the sassafras, the
poplars, the maples, and the oaks, and then, as the crowning feature of
the evolutionary process, the nut tree. I like to let my mind run ahead
a bit, particularly at such a time as this when we are setting out new
trees. What sort of people will these trees live to see? Will there be a
decadence of the taste and fondness for trees, which we hope is
growing? Will these trees live to see a race of people who take no
interest in such things except a commercial one, who have no thought for
the beauty of the trees nor for the rights of posterity? Will these
trees perchance live to see an upheaval of the happy affairs which now
exist in this country? In one hundred and fifty years many things can
happen. There is much in the existing turmoil of war conditions that
suggests possible disaster within the next couple of centuries, and
possibly that the fair constitution of Franklin and Washington may be
submerged in a chaos of something that means nothing. The remote
possibility of the invasion of a conquering race to destroy all these
things--but banish the thought. God grant, that these young trees may
grow up to furnish shade and fruit in proper season to thousands of
happy people, that they may always be useful and that they may not live
to see the time when disaster may come to this fair land.
In closing, gentlemen, I wish to compliment you on what seems to me to
be the excellence of your personnel and organization. I am strongly
impressed with the fact that your organization has a prime scientific
value as well as a profound practical significance. I congratulate you
on these excellent qualities and traits of your association, wish you
all success and thank you for the privilege you have given me.
DEAN R. L. WATTS: This seems to me almost like a sacred moment.
As I stand here in this circle, the ground upheaved there and that hole
in the ground, I think of something else that we stand around sometimes.
In a very large degree, especially in considering the remarks of
Professor Beck, it is a sacred occasion. What could be more sacred? What
could we regard with greater solemnity than the planting of trees that
will help all mankind.
Particularly in connection with the planting of young trees I think of
my own boyhood experiences. Whenever I think of the boys and girls in
the woods picking up nuts it is pretty hard for me to think of those
boys and girls going wrong. One of the biggest things we have to look at
in this country is the question of maintaining high standards of manhood
and womanhood. In that the safety of our country rests.
I wonder why I was asked to speak at this meeting of the Nut Growers'
Association. I do not know whether my friend Professor Fagan suggested
that I be placed on the program or not. Perhaps he had heard about what
happens in my own home. I have never gotten away from liking a little
manual labor. I do not want too much of it but I do like a little of it,
making garden and taking care of the furnace. Mrs. Watts sometimes
blames me for wanting to take care of the furnace in the cellar in the
winter time from the fact that I have always a bag of nuts down there.
When I go down she hears me cracking nuts. From my earliest boyhood days
I have been tremendously interested in the whole nut proposition. What I
have to say here today I have put in written form.
A NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR THE PROMOTION OF NUT CULTURE
_Dean Watts_
I am highly honored in being invited to present a paper before the
members of the Northern Nut Growers' Association.
For twelve years your association has stood for all that is good in
American nut culture. You have considered the different classes and
varieties that are worthy a place in American horticulture. You have
discussed how the various classes may best be propagated and cultivated
and have disseminated whatever information is available concerning the
control of fungous and insect enemies of nut bearing trees. Some of your
members have conducted investigations of great value to the industry and
others have made a special study of the food value of nuts as compared
with other standard foods. The eleven annual reports of the association
are indicative of the broad field of study and service which has been
covered by a zealous and enthusiastic body of nut specialists.
Surely there is no doubt in the mind of any member of this association
concerning the importance of nut culture in the United States. From the
standpoint of food alone, we are more than justified in waging a
vigorous campaign for the planting of millions of trees. Who can mention
any article of food that is more nutritious, more wholesome, more
delicious than any and all of our native nuts as well as many imported
species? And what other class of trees even approaches the nut as a dual
purpose tree? In fact, as is well known, nut trees have four distinct
values; namely, to furnish food, shade, timber and ornamentation to the
landscape.
In view of the important place which nut trees should have in American
horticulture, can we not manage in some way to plan and carry out a
comprehensive national program for the promotion of this proposition?
Surely there are thousands of people and hundreds of organizations and
institutions of various kinds which would consider it a privilege to
have a real part in such a worthy cause.
For one who has been a member of this association for only a few hours,
it may seem a little presumptuous to even suggest a national program for
the promotion of nut culture, to say nothing of what should constitute
such a program. But, running the risk of someone hurling a chestnut burr
at me, I will venture a few suggestions, though they may be as old as
the sweetest of American nuts.
RESEARCH
The great fundamental need of all American agriculture is research. This
statement applies to nut culture more than to any other branch of
horticulture because it has received less attention from well trained
investigators. Much credit is due the members of this association for
their patient and painstaking studies. But instead of having a mere
handful of men devoting their time to nut investigations, there ought to
be several men in each state engaged in working on the numerous problems
of vital importance to the nut industry.
Prof. Reed of the United States Department of Agriculture should have a
staff of several specialists, in order that he might make greater
progress in working out projects of national importance. The State
Agricultural Experiment Stations have shown very little interest in this
matter. Funds should be made available in each state to undertake nut
investigations that promise results of economic value. However, if the
United States Department of Agriculture and the State Experiment
Stations are to make real expansion in nut investigations, there must be
demands and outside pressure from prominent people; as for example, from
the members of this association. More and more the farmers of the
country are petitioning their Experiment Stations to make certain
studies and it is unlikely that these institutions will do very much for
the nut industry unless the rural population indicate that they want
this line of work included in the experimental program.
Mr. President, cannot this association block out at least a tentative
nut research program for the whole United States? What are the problems
that should have first consideration? What do you think the Pennsylvania
Agricultural Experiment Station should do for nut culture in this state?
As Director of the Pennsylvania Station, I would like to have this
question answered by the nut enthusiasts of the state. Dr. Fletcher and
Prof. Fagan stand ready to carry out your wishes and I pledge them my
heartiest co-operation. Many of you know that the Pennsylvania Station
is now working under a great handicap financially, but this situation
may change within a few years.
TEACHING
I have been wondering whether all of the Agricultural Colleges give
instruction in nut culture. If they do, just how much consideration is
given to this important matter. It is one thing to give a careful,
thorough, systematic course, covering a whole term or semester but quite
another proposition to give a few disconnected lectures. If a committee
of this association could look into the matter and formulate a
suggestive program for the Colleges, it would stimulate greater interest
in the subject in all of the Agricultural Colleges.
In this connection let us not lose sight of the fact that the number of
College boys on our farms is increasing very rapidly. Not long ago I
attended a Farm Bureau meeting in Washington County, Pennsylvania, at
which there were twenty-five to thirty young men who had taken
Agricultural courses at The Pennsylvania State College. We can readily
see what an opportunity it is to teach these College boys the benefits
of planting nut bearing trees on their home places.
Again, we should manage in some way or other to permeate our town and
rural schools with the nut planting spirit. Thousands and thousands of
shade trees are planted where nut trees would be much more desirable.
Every country school ground might well serve as a demonstration center
of the best nut producing trees for that community. If such a scheme
were carried out intelligently, our farmsteads would soon abound with
nut trees. Let us not lose sight of the value of the demonstration idea
in any nut propaganda work that may be undertaken.
EXTENSION SERVICE
The United States has the best and most wonderful system of Agricultural
Extension of any country in the world. Are we using this system to
extend the planting of nut bearing trees. Do we not know of classes and
varieties which may be planted under suitable conditions that will be
certain to give satisfactory results? If so, why not get this
information in definite form before our County Agents and Farm Bureaus
and let them pass it along to the soil tillers. Perhaps the time is not
far off when the Colleges might appoint Nut Extension Specialists who
would work through the County Agents and public schools and handle this
matter in a thorough, effective, systematic manner. Surely we have the
machinery for the dissemination of whatever knowledge is available
relating to the selection, planting and care of nut bearing trees.
STATE DEPARTMENTS
All of the numerous State Departments of Agriculture, Forestry, Game
Conservation, etc., in this and every other state should be vitally
interested in the nut proposition. Perhaps some of the officials in
these State Departments don't realize the possibilities of nut planting?
Is there any way of educating them? For example, our Game Commissioners
are worrying over the disappearance of the chestnut as a source of food
for squirrels. Do they realize that the bush chinquapin might be
substituted with success, in some sections at least? And why not get
game and squirrel lovers and tree planters in general to enthuse about
the planting of black walnuts with a liberal sprinkling of butternuts?
The result would be food for the squirrels, for the kiddies and some for
the old folks, besides useful timber trees and also beautiful roadsides
and farmsteads.
THE PRESS
We ought to manage in some way to get more material relating to nuts
published in country papers and magazines, especially in the farm
papers. Millions of copies of the agricultural papers reach our farm
homes every week. They are read largely by the boys and girls who are
always very much interested in nuts.
STATE LAWS
I do not know how much can be accomplished by passing laws that will
encourage the planting of nut bearing trees, especially along the
roadside. All of us will watch with much interest the Penney Law of
Michigan. A very careful study should be made of this phase of the
problem and then urge the passage of such laws in each state as will be
most favorable to the development of the whole proposition.
ASSOCIATIONS
For real aggressive work we must rely very largely upon numerous
associations, national, state, county and local. This association should
take the lead and many others can render tremendous assistance in
carrying out a national program. Enthusiasts in every community should
see to it that the subject is properly represented at the local meetings
of horticultural associations and other organizations which discuss
rural problems.
In closing this paper may I again urge the importance of a constructive
research program, if nut culture is to make any considerable progress in
the United States.
APPENDIX
Members and others present: E. M. Ives, Meriden, Conn.; Jacob E. Brown,
Elmer, N. J.; Jacob A. Rife, S. J. Rife, J. S. Rittenhouse, Loraine,
Pa.; Christian LeFevre, W. Lampeter, Pa.; John Rick, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel
L. Smedley, Prof. H. H. Beck, J. E. Fortney, J. F. Jones, Harvey A.
Penney, James M. Balthaser, James S. McGlennon, Ralph T. Olcott, John
Watson, J. G. Rush, T. P. Littlepage, Mr. and Mrs. C. S. Ridgway, Prof.
F. N. Fagan, A. C. Pomeroy, C. M. Leiter, Ralph W. Leiter, Elam G. Hess,
W. N. Roper, Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Bixby, Mrs. N. R. Haines, Wilmer
Wescoat, Patrick O'Connor, Postmaster Spencer, Dr. W. C. Deming, W. S.
Linton, J. S. Ritchie, Dr. C. A. Cannaday, Dean R. L. Watts, Mr. and
Mrs. W. C. Rhodes, Ammon P. Fritz, Mr. and Mrs. Blockhauser, D. F.
Clark, Rev. and Mrs. Geo. A. Stauffer, Harry Stuart, Oliver S. Shaefer.
Exhibits: Black walnuts, Ohio, Stabler from original tree at Brookville,
Md.; Thomas, considered the best of the larger sorts, and perhaps the
best cracker among these, tree a very rapid grower and a good and
reliable bearer; Persian walnut, Alpine, from Benj. Mylin, Willow St.
Pa. grafted tree; Juglans sieboldiana or sieboldi, Japan walnut, rapid
grower and beautiful tree; Juglans cordiformis, Japan walnut, tree
similar to the sieboldiana but a better nut, grafted trees bearing very
early; Indiana pecan from original tree Wabash River bottoms, Oaktown,
Ind.; Niblack pecan from original pecan in Indiana; Weiker hickory
seedlings, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, from seedlings 60 years old from the parent
tree 200 years old at Lampeter, Lancaster Co., Pa., showing marked
variation from the type of the parent tree, which is believed to be a
cross between the shagbark and the shellbark; Kirtland shagbark from
original tree at Yalesville, Ct.; Laney shagbark-bitternut hybrid
from original tree in Rochester, N. Y. city park; Fairbanks
shagbark-bitternut hybrid from topworked tree, original tree near Cedar
Rapids, Iowa; Leaves, burrs and nuts of Morris hybrid chestnut No. 1,
American sweet chestnut pollen on chinkapin. High quality, good size,
prolific. Tree has not blighted to date after twelve years exposure to
blighting chestnuts and chinkapins. Leaves, burrs and nuts of Morris
hybrid chestnut No. 2, American sweet chestnut pollen on chinkapin. High
quality, bright color, good size, not so prolific as No. 1 and No. 3 as
it leaves some of the racemes of burrs unfilled. The tree has not
blighted to date after twelve years of exposure to blighting chestnuts
and chinkapins. Leaves, burrs and nuts of Morris hybrid chestnut No. 3,
American sweet chestnut pollen on chinkapin. Many Japanese and Korean
chestnuts were blossoming in the vicinity and this may be an accidental
pollination from them instead of from pollen of the American chestnut.
Quality not so good as that of No. 1 and No. 2. Nut dull in color
instead of bright. Tree prolific, has shown blight but once during
twelve years of exposure among blighting chestnuts and chinkapins.
Blight took place at a place where the tree was injured by a falling
limb from a dying chestnut tree. The blighted spot was cut out and did
not reappear. Filberts, Emperor, Du Chilly, Montebello, Noce Lunghe,
Italian Red, Des Anglais, Red Aveline, Cornucopia, Imperial Daviana;
Nelubium luteum, American lotus, also called water chinkapin, Yonkopin,
etc., an aquatic plant; Nelubium speciosum, Egyptian lotus, much
cultivated for its large, beautiful flowers.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern Nut Growers Association
Report of the Proceedings at the Twelfth Annual Meeting, by Various
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ***
***** This file should be named 19728-8.txt or 19728-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/7/2/19728/
Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, E. Grimo, Janet
Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
gbnewby@pglaf.org
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11